Anybody played Darwinia?

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:07:04 +1300, Peter Huebner
<no.one.DeleteThis@this.address> wrote:

>I just picked this game up in a sale, since it got good reviews from sites that
>concern themselves with 'indie' games and out of the way stuff.
>
>Pretty counter-intuitive user interface, but I am slowly getting used to it,
>gameplay on the whole is pretty straightforward but I haven't managed to get my
>squads to kill those trumpet-like critters that shoot out virus eggs.

It works pretty well if you patch it.

>Manual says they are vulnerable close up, but the manual says lots of things
>(mostly about hotkeys) that aren't quite so in the game .... ?!?

All you have to do is get close enough to hit them. That's what's
hard to do.

Lasers: Ineffective.

Grenades: Only useable if they are on flat ground, otherwise the
grenades will bounce away.

Rockets: They work on flat ground but rockets don't shoot up very
well--you'll probably blow yourself up and not touch the flowers.

Airstrike: Get the smoke grenades on target (note: they stay put much
better than regular grenades) and you'll kill them every time.

When they are on flat ground they are basically no threat. When they
are on mountain peaks it will take a lot of working around to get
close enough to hit them. Try indirect routes.


Forget about the manual, it's all but useless.

There's one more problematic and non-obvious critter in the game: the
soul destroyer. They are *VERY* hard to kill because you need to hit
the head with explosives of some kind. They are flying critters,
though--you can't actually shoot at them. You have to fire at a point
on the ground and get the timing right so your stuff goes boom just as
it's flying past that point at low altitude.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:49:55 GMT, Sqwertz <swertz RemoveThis @cluemail.compost>
wrote:

>On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:07:04 +1300, Peter Huebner wrote:
>
>> I just picked this game up in a sale, since it got good reviews from sites that
>> concern themselves with 'indie' games and out of the way stuff.
>
>I just started playing the demo last night. I'm at the point
>where I need to take over the spawning domes(?) from the red
>guys, but I'm not sure what I have to accomplish to take
>possession of the thing and start pumping out green guys (I
>assume).
>
>The manual/help was no help on this subject. It says that once I
>take over the first spawner(?), the other red folks from the
>other two pods will start attacking. Well they start attacking,
>alright, but I can't seem to take control of the first spawner
>and quickly run out of good guys. All my other green guys have
>to come over from another island (only after the engineers take
>the souls back there) and I can't bring them over fast enough.
>
>I just keep getting inundated with red guys from the other two
>spawners.

I've never played the demo so I'm not sure what you are looking at.

Buildings come in two forms: Those that you take with an engineer at
a nearby control building and buildings which require Darwinians to
operate. You take these by killing any enemy Darwinians running it
and order friendly Darwinians to go there.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

"Peter Huebner" <no.one RemoveThis @this.address> wrote in message
news:MPG.220261a5cee86005989e5a@news.individual.net...
>I just picked this game up in a sale, since it got good reviews from sites
>that
> concern themselves with 'indie' games and out of the way stuff.

Neat game, but overrated, inevitably, by people who want to reward
creativity - newness - by pretending it's better than it is.

Pleasant diversion but not that fun. And too easy.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:24:58 GMT, Sqwertz <swertz.TakeThisOut@cluemail.compost>
wrote:

>> I've never played the demo so I'm not sure what you are looking at.
>>
>> Buildings come in two forms: Those that you take with an engineer at
>> a nearby control building and buildings which require Darwinians to
>> operate. You take these by killing any enemy Darwinians running it
>> and order friendly Darwinians to go there.
>
>These buildings don't have any control building. And Darwinians
>don't stick to these like they do the solar panels.
>
>This demo involves refueliung the rocket ship. You go through
>about 5 islands to get there, and activate all the solar panels
>on the way there. I'm not sure of the name of the scene.

There's no rocket in the real version.

>After reading the OP last night, I downloaded the full version
>and latest patch.
>
>There are several things that concern me, that make me think I'm
>still working from an old version.
>
>For instance, only three programs may run at once (Combinations
>of squads and/or Engineers. You can have at least 5 in the demo.
>
>Engineers can only collect 10 souls. In the demo they can
>collect 25 at one time.

These are not cases of old versions. Rather, they are due to the fact
that you don't have all the research completed yet. (Not that you
ever complete it all--you have to pick and choose what you get, you
can't max everything.)

>I have only played the first two scenes (and haven't finished the
>second one yet).

Be careful to save the Darwinians on that second one--you need a
certain number to complete the mission and if you're not careful about
saving souls you might run out.

>You're right - the manual is useless. I learned more in the
>in-game demo help than you could possibly learn in the full
>version. If I hadn't played the demo, I wouldn't have a clue
>what I was doing.

One more thing: Squads without orders will fire in self-defense
against enemies that come *CLOSE*.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

> Neat game, but overrated, inevitably, by people who want to reward
> creativity - newness - by pretending it's better than it is.

And underrated, inevitably, by people who think that a creative, fresh game
will be overrated no matter what.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

In article <1k98st09sfxjk$.dlg@sqwertz.com>, swertz.DeleteThis@cluemail.compost says...
>
> There are several things that concern me, that make me think I'm
> still working from an old version.
>
> For instance, only three programs may run at once (Combinations
> of squads and/or Engineers. You can have at least 5 in the demo.
>
> Engineers can only collect 10 souls. In the demo they can
> collect 25 at one time.
>
> I have only played the first two scenes (and haven't finished the
> second one yet).
>
> You're right - the manual is useless. I learned more in the
> in-game demo help than you could possibly learn in the full
> version. If I hadn't played the demo, I wouldn't have a clue
> what I was doing.
>
> -sw

Your observation about the engineers and the tasks is correct. Here is a tip:
open the task manager with the tab key. Move the cursor to the top of the
screen to scroll up. CONGRATULATIONS - you have found the RESEARCH screen. This
is where you set which troop or technology should be upgraded. Doh. Took me a
while to find.

In the demo, you get partly upgraded things to play with from the beginning.
However, it's been years since I tried the Darwinia demo (and finished it) so I
can unfortunately not remember anything about it other than a faint memory that
the trick was to take over the buildings that make red darwinians?!? - maybe.

I've upgraded grenades, squads (5) and engineers (25), lasers and task manager
(4) and rockets so far. I'm in the process of upgrading darwinians so they get
lasers

Finally managed to figure out that the egg-spewing 'triffids' *can* be blown
up, it just takes a good few volleys of grenades to do it. At least they can't
shoot back. Spiders, by the way, can ONLY be hurt by explosives, they are
immune to lasers. I hates them [gollum], particularly when they come in 5er
groups. 1 or 2 aren't so bad ....

Want to build another squad? hit F1! Why is that not documented?
<sigh>

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

Finally found a useful website for the game:

http://stellarmatter.net/darwikia/index.php/Darwinia/FAQ

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia? 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody played Darwinia?