The tools are (currently) in the form of a custom build of WA (known as the tool-assist version) which writes encrypted replays, making them only playable with the tool-assist version. Currently, each time I want to make a tool-assisted replay public, I have to send it to one of the two developers (Deadcode or CyberShadow) and ask them to decrypt the replay for me, so they can verify my intentions with the replay. This is to prevent me (or anyone else with the private tool-assist version) from cheating.
Deadcode plans to, before making the tool-assist version public, make the regular beta version of WA write encrypted replays instead of the tool-assist version. It is quite logical, that way, especially because it then allows tool-assisted players to edit their replays in any way they want and disallows unassisted players from doing so. The only protections against unassisted players editing their replays or speed-cheating currently are: memory checksums written to the replay after every weapon shot, and a byte written to the replay every x amount of real time (not sure of the value, but then again, I'm not looking to cheat).
Would-be-double-post edit:
I was told the video linked in the first post might be too fast and difficult to understand what's going on for people unfamiliar with the Worms series. I totally understand. Rope racing is a very extreme end of the diverse Worms Armageddon gaming experience.
Therefore, I've decided to encode a TAS much closer to Worms' roots. This time, it's Worms Armageddon mission 2, Operation Market Garden, beaten in 2 turns and 0.00 seconds of turn time.
You may be wondering why these strange timing rules are being used. This is a minor history lesson. When players started attempting speedruns of WA missions, there was no such thing as a tool-assist version of WA. The speedruns were measured based on the time during which players had control of their worm and a length of time: the turn time. Since that was true, that would make it possible to constantly use 0 turn time by firing shots at the beginning of each turn until the mission is complete, which is pretty unimpressive. So, the number of turns used (the lower, the better) was determined to be more important than turn time. This presented some very interesting challenges and players came up with amazingly-brilliant solutions in many cases.
Deadcode, the only WA developer at the time and oblivious to tool-assisted speedruns (as far as I know; I'll ask him later), started developing tools to help discover possibilities for mission speedruns and various famous rope race speedruns. He created tool-assisted mission speedruns solely to compare to the unassisted speedruns. As his tools got more and more advanced, his tool-assisted speedruns kept getting faster and faster, each comparing directly to the last. This is why the tool-assisted speedruns are still using that timing system.
I have been beating many of Deadcode's tool-assisted speedruns with my extensive usage of AI manipulation (making the computer's worms kill themselves) and other forms of luck manipulation recently. Most recently, I've been starting to keep in mind what the absolute fastest (in total game time) mission completions are, in case we ever switch to absolute game timing for tool-assisted mission speedruns. I am very content with the turns-first/turn-time-second timing currently in use, though, because it promotes extra-creative, and often more entertaining/hilarious, solutions.
By the way, the
.WAgame file for this video is linked on the
WKB mission records page, playable by those who own a copy of Worms Armageddon and have applied the
3.6.28.0 beta update to it.
Here's the video, encoded with the same codec as the previous one:
Lex - TAS of WA mission 02 - Operation Market Garden - 2 turns - 0.00 sec turn time.x264.avi
Edit: Updated mission records page link.
