Radiation Bomb

(Up to Weapons (Worms Unlimited))

This bomb, thrown like a grenade, is little more powerful than a grenade, but has long lasting after-effects. The bomb contaminates the surrounding area with radiation, indicated by the healthy pulsating green glow it gives to the landscape. The radiation, and the glow, is stronger nearer to where the bomb went off. The radiation slowly disappears, taking it's glow with it, after many turns, similar to the fire of a petrol bomb but not so quickly.

Until then, the radiation has poison-like effects on any worms in contact with it, but it works in a revolutionary new way. Standard poison affects your worm indefinitely, taking off a set amount of health between turns. But the radiation only affects worms in radioactive areas, worms stop losing health once they are no longer in such an area. Worms lose more health when they are in highly contaminated areas.

What's more, worms don't lose this health between turns either. Instead they lose it only when it is their turn, and by the second. Every second health is deducted depending on how highly the area is contaminated, and can quickly diminish health if the player doesn't get out of the area.

Clearly the most important technical factor is in how the radiation should be programmed into the weapon. Defining areas of the landscape to be slightly, moderately and heavily contaminated depending on the placement of the bomb should be fairly simple, and applying a glow to the terrain depending on the definition of the area, and then letting it diminish between turns, should be fairly simple too. Then it's a case of intructing the game engine to deduct a set amount of health from a worm, depending on the definition of his location, every second, but providing it is his turn. Or it may be easier to tell the engine to ignore idle worms, depending on the code.

Of course, the game engine will also need to be told to prevent worms with one point of health losing any more.

Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to this weapon. The radiation that the bomb leaves behind only affects the enemy worms during their turn, so escaping will be their priority and you may end up not taking off as much health as you hoped. The weapon can also block off a region of the terrain making it impassible unless you have health to spare or a Fast Walk to keep exposure minimal. In this way it could make it a useful guard weapon, and can be used to stop enemy progress at places of important accessibility.

If you have a Protective Suit at hand though, walking through a contaminated area unharmed becomes an option.

A completely new way of creating poison-like effects in Worms, this weapon leaves the game open to much more strategy and tactical thinking.