worm ecology

[Pocus]

There is several things I wonder about the worms, surely some of you know the answer.

1. when you stumble into a worm, does it means it was really here, 100% time, or each entry into a fungus square means there is a possibility a worm is created instead?

2. how worms are generated (by Planet I mean), aside from fungal towers and blooms?

[Illuminatus]

1. There is a possibilty that mind worm was really there, moving in fungus, but hidden because it is in fungus, and you just stumbled upon it. But in vast majority of cases, whenever you try to move to fungus there is chance for mindworm to be created.

2. Aside from Fungal Towers and blooms, by popping land and sea Unity Pods, you can breed them in captivity (and later set them loose as wild mind worms). By Planet - there is a random parameter for spawning mind worms in fungus - it depends of mission year, your rating, ecodamage and nearby base etc., native life parameter you chose - someone will probably better explain how it is affected.

[Commy]

Rarely do worms just happen to be in the square you enter. They appear by pure randomness. So usually, unless your unit can make the attack, don't go into fungus if you can't afford the chance of a worm appearing. About the only worms that probably were originally there before you attempted to move into a square are sealurks...

[Pocus]

so you can exploit the system here by setting rover on patrol, triggering worms?

[Illuminatus]

Actually, it is a quite important strategy to patrol fungus areas, hoping to trigger worms. This is especially useful if you play with a green faction, like Gaians or Cult -> positive Planet rating will enable you to capture woms you trigger, or kill them from energy credits if capture attempt fails. I would not recommend directly patroling with a rover in fungus since it will need all movement points just to enter the fungus and any native units that encounters it in fungus will get a 50 percent modifier to attack against the rover - rather use native units to troll for mindworms if possible.

[Pocus]

i was thinking setting a rover on patrol on a river/fungus, with an infantry ready to kill the spotted worm.

[Illuminatus]

It could work - notice that you only need a plain scout patrol to kill units (perhaps with Empath Patrols) since only morale counts. It is best used near large patches of fungus with abudant lifeforms.

[Blake]

Planetpearl harvesting is nearly essential for Yang, who has support coming out his ears but miserable income. It's actually easier for Yang on maps with more native life...

[Lazerus]

More for the early SE changes then support in my experience