Swarm Game Guide

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Swarm Game Guide

Submitted by Scratch58

Here are the "secrets" to getting started on Swarm. It is not complete by any means, and once you become accustomed to the game you will do some things a little differently.

FIRST: Get control of the center of the board as soon as possible. Bomb the bugs between the two center barriers before you do anything else. You'll have to duck under a barrier now and again.

SECOND: Once you have those guys out of the way, you can ease up to a barrier and shoot the ones in the two columns adjacent to the center one. The timing will depend on the speed that the bugs are moving at, and you will simply have to practice. Once in a while you will have to dodge a bomb. That's a good time to peek out on the other side of the barrier and take a pot shot.

THIRD: Having completed step two, you now have columns moving back and forth on the right side of the board and another one on your left. If you are at a 5+ level, there may have been so many bombs dropped that there is little or nothing left of the barriers. That is good. At this point, the barriers are just in the way. You might want to just sit under them and shoot them until they are gone. They have served their purpose.

Meanwhile: You will have orbs dropping down of several colors. For the sake of simplicity, and until you become more familiar with the game, avoid everything but a pale or dark blue orb. I really don't know which one is better. Each has its own pluses and minuses. See what works for you.

FOURTH: You need to break in the bottom of each of the remaining columns. This is the tricky part and it is where you are most likely to catch a bomb. You have to ease up to where a bomb will not drop on you and follow the bug as it is moving away from the center of the board. At first it is very hard to do this without catching a bomb, but with practice you will get the hang of it.

Then, just as the bug is moving back to you, fire the cannon and move back quickly. This takes some coordination that comes with practice.

FIFTH: Repeat this with the bugs that are higher from the bottom. this will not be nearly as difficult.

HOWEVER: Don't completely obliterate the bugs on one side, or the other ones will come sweeping across. Unless your barriers are still pretty much intact, you will probably get wiped out. So you want to leave one bug, preferably high up. Then go to the other side and work on those. When you are *almost* done, you should have two bugs moving back and forth on the opposite sides of the board. Then go and pick one of them off. Pick his buddy off as he moves to you. It is safest to "lead" him by moving in the same direction as you fire.

OTHER ORBS: Sometimes a pink orb will appear. This gives you an extra life force, which may be useful if you are going for a high score. but if all you want is your 1000 points, it is generally not worth bothering with.

The brown orbs will partially rebuild the barriers. But since the barriers just get in the way after the initial blasts, they are usually not worth going after.

The orange orb is interesting and fun, as it will give you multiple shots.
Unfortunately, it also makes you as slow and as fat as a basic tank. you'll probably get nailed. The only way an orange orb works well is if you get two of them and then cap it off with a blue orb. This will very rarely happen in the basic 1000 point game.

The green and yellow ones, of course, have no good features to them and should be avoided.

HAVE FUN!

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