Millipede

* Hints :

1) Destroy mushrooms near the bottom of the screen.

2) Destroy the DDT bomb when the Millipede is beside it.

3) When a Millipede hits a poisoned mushroom, it changes direction and falls vertically. Anticipate the place the Millipede will fall, because shooting it as it falls destroys all its segments.

* Know Your Enemies : This is the single most important aspect of this game. If you don't know how each of the enemies behave, you won't last long. The enemies are :

1) Millipede (Body and Head) - The main target of the game. Its role is basically identical to that of the Centipede in "Centipede". It goes back and forth across the screen and will drop to the next level when it encounters a mushroom, flower, DDT bomb, or the side of the game screen. It will go all the way to the bottom when its head hits a poisoned mushroom.

2) Spider - It appears from the top left or right of the player area. Its role is basically the same as in "Centipede". It will either bounce across the player's area at 45-degree angles or bounce in at a 45-degree angle, bounce up and down a couple of times, go to the middle at a 45-degree angle, bounce up and down a couple of times, then finally go to the side opposite its entrance (at a 45-degree angle), bounce up and down, then exit the area. It destroys flowers and mushrooms it passes over. In later stages, multiple Spiders will appear.

3) Bee - It can appear in any attack wave. Its role is identical to that of the Flea in "Centipede". It falls from the top of the screen to the bottom, randomly depositing mushrooms along the way. A Bee takes two shots to kill. The first shot makes it angry and causes it to speed up its descent. It will usually appear when you have cleared out most of the mushrooms in the player area.

4) Beetle - It appears randomly after the first wave. It enters from the left or right side of the screen, then goes to the bottom. It travels at least halfway along the bottom before going up to its original entry level. It then exits from the side opposite from which it entered. All mushrooms in its path are converted to flowers which are immune to the Archer's arrows. Hitting a Beetle causes the screen to go down one level.

5) Earwig - It appears when the Millipede begins with less then eleven body segments. Its role is identical to that of the Scorpion in "Centipede". It goes across the screen and poisons any mushrooms in its path.

6) Inchworm - It first appears when the Millipede begins with less then eleven body segments. Hitting one causes all enemies on the screen to slow down for about three seconds.

7) Dragonfly - It appears when the Millipede begins with less then ten body segments. It goes in a zig-zag pattern from top to bottom leaving a trail of mushrooms in its wake.

8) Mosquito - It appears when the Millipede begins with less then nine body segments. It flies in a diagonal pattern from the upper left or upper right corners. Hitting one causes the screen to go up one level.

* The Millipede will start out as a head with eleven body segments in the first wave. Wave 2 will be a head with ten body segments and a head that enters from the opposite side. Wave 3 will be a head with nine body segments and two heads that enter from opposite sides. This progression keeps going until Wave 12 where you have twelve heads. The cycle will then start over in Wave 13. This cycle occurs every 12 distinct waves.

* You must clear the first Millipede wave only once. Then, until your score reaches 20,000 points, you must complete each subsequent Millipede wave twice - first as the Millipede moves slowly towards you, then as it moves fast. After your score reaches 20,000 points, each Millipede wave will only need to be completed once.

* Shooting the Millipede can have two effects :

1) If you shoot the head, that part turns into a mushroom and the next segment becomes the new head and the Millipede will travel in the opposite direction (since it hit the newly-created mushroom).

2) If you shoot the middle of the body, then the segment hit will become a mushroom. The existing Millipede will continue in the same direction. The new Millipede will develop a head at the next segment after the break and head off in the opposite direction.

* A good strategy to ensure you destroy the Millipedes in one stroke and to keep the Bees at bay is to create 'mushroom corridors'. Mushroom corridors are basically corridors between two rows of mushrooms where you can funnel the Millipede down and destroy it when it is moving head-first at your Archer.

* In reference to the above 'mushroom corridors', keep in mind that after the fourth wave of each cycle, the mushrooms will undergo a period of 'Growth' that determines whether they stay alive or die in accordance with a modified version of the 'life' algorithm. The rules are as follows:

1) Any mushroom with fewer than two neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.

2) Any mushroom with more than three neighbors dies, as if by overcrowding.

3) Any mushroom with two or three neighbors lives, unchanged, to the next generation.

4) Any empty space with exactly three mushroom neighbors comes to life.

5) Any mushroom adjacent to a DDT bomb becomes poisoned.

6) Any non-poisoned mushroom adjacent to a poisoned mushroom dies.

7) Flowers cannot die, but do count as neighbors towards the growth of mushrooms.

After this period of 'Growth', you may have to clean up the area since some of your corridors may have been affected by this change.

* Watch out for the Spiders. They enter at either the top or bottom corners. Your Archer may be in the way if this happens. In addition to collisions, the Spiders wipe out all mushrooms that are in its path. This can create problems when you are creating mushroom corridors. It can also cause Bees to appear since you won't have many mushrooms in the player area. In later rounds, multiple Spiders may appear in the player area.

* At the beginning of an attack wave, take a quick look to see how many segments the Millipede has. This will determine the behavior of enemies on that or subsequent attack waves.

* Five different times during the cycle of twelve millipede attack waves, you will be bombarded by a swarm of insects. These waves are a major source of points.

After the 2nd wave : Bee raid
After the 6th wave : Dragonfly raid
After the 8th wave : Mosquito raid
After the 10th wave : Bees and Dragonflies raid together
After the 12th wave : Bees, dragonflies, and mosquitoes raid together

During these raids, special scoring applies for shooting Bees, Dragonflies, and Mosquitoes. Each insect kill of those types (even types not actually swarming, for example a single Bee randomly dropping during the Mosquito swarm) is worth a minimum of 100 points more than the previous kill, to a maximum of 1,000 points. Triple scoring from DDT applies as well, so DDTing a Mosquito or Dragonfly will immediately max the raid value at 1000, and DDTing a Bee will register at least 600.

It's very important not to die during one of the raids. If you stay alive, a raid can be worth up to 30,000 points later in the game. To prepare for a raid, don't shoot the last head until any Spiders and Beetles are near the side and leaving the screen. Clear a path to a DDT bomb if possible, so you can use it to kill several insects at once. It will quickly build their value to the maximum of 1000 points each.

Concentrate on one thing - shooting as many bugs as you can. Don't waste time clearing mushrooms until after the raid is over. As your score increases, the length of the raids also increases, making them worth lots of points.

* On the 9th wave, the mushrooms begin scrolling down very quickly, roughly one row every two seconds. They don't stop unless you kill the Millipede, shoot a DDT bomb, or lose a life. You have to do one of these three things quickly, or you'll be overwhelmed by mushrooms on the bottom.

First try to hit a DDT bomb. It's a good idea to clear a path to one before the wave starts. If you can't use a DDT, try to kill the Millipede before the mushrooms get too low. As a last resort, die on purpose.

The scrolling wave follows the Mosquito raid. If you can shoot a lot of Mosquitoes in the raid, the mushrooms scroll way up the screen, and you'll have plenty of time to kill the Millipede while the mushrooms come back down. Remember, if you scroll the mushrooms way up the screen, you won't be able to fire very fast. You'll have to take single shots, making sure you hit the Millipede each time.

* You can have a maximum of 4 DDT bombs on the screen at any given time. Wait until either the Millipede is right next to one or there is a heavy concentration of enemies before setting it off.

* Beetles can cause a lot of problems if they aren't dealt with quickly. Of course, if you have your mushroom corridor set up, they may be a blessing. Since they create flowers in their path that are immune to your Archer's arrows, this would help prevent you from shooting them accidentally. Of course, you still have to worry about the Spiders and DDT bombs.

* Keep track of where the Earwigs move across the screen. As soon as a Millipede's head hits a poisoned mushroom, it will immediately head for the bottom of the screen. The only way to stop this headlong plunge is to shoot it in the head. Unlike in "Centipede", the Millipede's head turns a different color when it is heading directly for the bottom of the screen. In the later attack waves, it is not uncommon to have multiple Earwigs going across the screen. They also provide the most points in the game.

* If you get unlucky and let the Millipede into your area, you need to destroy it before it gets to the bottom of the player area. Once it reaches the bottom, it will ascend again and remain in the player area. If it does reach the bottom of the player area, another head will come out from the opposite side to start its back and forth march across the screen. This will continue until you destroy all the Millipede parts in the player area or until your Archer is destroyed.

* If your Archer gets destroyed, all partially-destroyed mushrooms and all poisoned mushrooms are reset. Flowers created by Beetles are also changed back into mushrooms. You then start at the beginning of the wave you got killed on.

* Depending on the difficulty the machine is set up at, the following events occur :

1) At Easy, the Spider moves slowly up to 10,000 points. At Hard, the Spider moves slowly up to 5,000 points.

2) At Easy, the Beetle moves slowly up to 400,000 points and four Beetles appear in each round after 500,000 points. At Hard, the Beetle moves slowly up to 300,000 points and four Beetles appear in each round after 350,000 points.

3) At Easy, Millipede heads enter from the sides of the screen at timed intervals. At Hard, Millipede heads enter from the sides of the screen faster than at Easy.

4) Regardless of setting, the Inchworm will move faster after the player reaches 80,000 points.

5) All other enemies move at their same speeds.