Hot Air Balloon
From Worms Knowledge Base
This transport utility is very similar to the jetpack, allowing greater control over movement but being very slow. When activated, your worm sits in the Hot Air Balloon on the ground, controlling the flame for heating up the air inside. Naturally, the up arrow increases the flame output and the balloon will rise, the down arrow doing the opposite. The default setting prevents the balloon from rising or falling.
Horizontal movement is controlled by a propeller on the side of the balloon's basket that allows a specific force to be applied to propel the Balloon left or right, similar to that of the jetpack. The Hot Air Balloon is affected by wind, but only by a very minimal amount, much less than that of the parachute, and the propeller for horizontal movement can easily over-ride the wind's effects.
The Hot Air Balloon is extremely slow, but this allows more accurate movements to be made. No fuel is necessary for the Balloon to stay afloat.
The Hot Air Balloon remains perfectly stationary with the worm inside it when the turn comes to an end. The Balloon then remains there like a regular terrain object (only floating), but capable of being blown up like a barrel if struck by a weapon.
Weapons can be used from the Balloon, only with greater variety than with the jetpack. Guns for example, can be used. When a weapon is selected, the Balloon remains still and arrow-key controls are diverted to aiming.
A worm may even abandon the Hot Air Balloon with tools such as bungee or parachute. The Balloon remains stationary at this point, and can be re-occupied by any worm capable of transporting himself to the basket, at which point the Balloon can then be controlled by that player.
Most of the potential gameplay possibilities were covered nicely in that in-depth description. As for the programming of the Balloon itself, it is very similar to the jetpack and so shouldn't be a problem to program. One thing that might be of concern however is the concept of the Balloon being abandoned and then re-occupied by another player. That might or might not be possible. Using weapons from the Balloon in the fashion described might also present problems.
Being such a slow transport utility, this certainly isn't suitable for just movement to another location. Instead, it is designed for the purpose of attacking the enemy, by providing a more suitable location from which to shoot. Whether it's dropping bombs from above or shooting guns from a distance, the Hot Air Balloon provides you with not only a good view of the landscape but also a moderately safe place to stay, perched high up in the sky being a small target to worms below. Just hope they don't have a homing missile to bring you down.
It doesn't have a time/fuel limit, you can use more weapons from it, and it doesn't fly about erratically like the jetpack does...who could ask for more? One of the most important things about introducing new weapons into Worms, especially transport weapons, is making sure that they balance out, and aren't superior to similar tools in every way.
The similar tool I'm thinking of here is the jetpack - the Hot Air Balloon seems to have all the advantages over it. All except one - its speed. Being awfully slow in a time-restricted environment gives it an enourmous disadvantage, balancing out all its desirable and superior features, and making it useful in only a very carefully planned situation where there is plenty of time to throw around. Also, unlike other transport utilities, it can blow up.
