FLEA BOWL - 24/12/00
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"Hmm.. well that's the first time I've had my arse kicked by a bunch of fleas.. :/" - NJ_THUG, Flea Bowl BETA Tester


This AI will work as long as there is an ARMFLEA built by the Kbot Lab. This means it'll work unless you're using some TC that moves the unit to a different factory or gets rid of it all together.

This is an ARM only AI.  The CORE side is controlled by the standard AI, so you can team up with it if you need help.  Incidently, Queller FB usually beats the Cavedog AI in a 1 on 1. Yes, the Cavedog AI *is* that bad :).


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"Today you're in for a real treat sports fans.  Our reigning Champion, 
NJ_THUG is here to defend his title in our third annual Flea Bowl!  I'm 
Bob Jones and this is Joe Dwight, your preshow announcers.

This year folks, Thug's in for the challenge of his life.  His 
opponents, the dreaded Flea Lords, are now allowed to use twice as many 
factories!  That's scarrier than being smacked with a pickled herring!"

"Um... Bob... a pickled herring?"

"How about a frozen trout?"

"Mmm...better!"

"Alright.  Like I was saying, scarrier than being smacked with a frozen 
trout!  Now of course the standard building restrictions still apply, 
so the Flea Lords won't have it easy, but I'm predicting that they'll be 
able to put the hurt on Thug this year.  The lawn gnomes are going to 
fly this time!"

"Lawn gnomes....?"

"How about pink flamingos?"

"Um... just keep going Bob."

"Alright!  Thug will have to be resource full this year.  He's really 
going to have to pull something out to put the Flea Lords in the fish 
bowl this year..."

"In the fish bowl... Bob, what have you been taking...?"

"Oh I've just been taking these vitamins Joe."

"Bob, those are condensed sugar pills!  How many have you had!?"

"Mmm... about two... or three... bottles.  Hmm, this explains the random 
twitching of my eye... Let's hope Thug doesn't have this problem, 
because if his eye twitches he's gonna get run all over by our new Flea 
Lords!!"

"Um folks, we're just going to cut to the field early and watch Thug 
warm up, while I give Bob a few sedatives...  I'm Joe Dwight, and on 
behalf of Bob Jones, enjoy the fight... Bob, quit jumping on that 
shrubery!"
***********************


What is Flea Bowl?
------------------

Thanks Joe!  Thanks Bob!  Before we let you into Flea Bowl, lets have a quick look at how it was created.

This game concept originated on Cavedogs TA Forum.  After running short of topics, the discussion turned to Fleas and how useful they had been in large numbers when used by certain people, but more importantly, just what a good laugh it was to have hordes of Fleas charging one another then exploding in flowery showers.

This led to 269852964 inventing Flea Bowl.  This is a game type where Fleas come into their own.......mainly because nothing else can be used on the attack!


Installation
------------

OK, you know the background, now it's time to ready the Fleas!

TA:M

If you have the TA Mutation version, simply extract the files into your TA Mutation/AI subdirectory.  If you use O(riginal)TA (with or without Core Contingency) or Bugfix, now extract the files in the OTA ZIP into the same directory.  If you use UH, then extract the files from the UH ZIP into the same directory.


Non-TA:M

If you do not have TA Mutation extract all the files into your Totala directory.  Make sure to remove any other AI's and AI units first.  If you use O(riginal)TA or Bugfix, now extract the files in the OTA ZIP into the same directory.  If you use UH, then extract the files from the UH ZIP into the same directory.


HOW TO PLAY
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FleaBowl Standard
-----------------

This is very simple, you start with the Commander as normal, but you may build only Solar Collectors, Metal Extractors and Kbot Labs.  You can build as many Fleas as you want!  Be careful, if you lose your Commander, you can't build resources anymore!

Now you grab your Fleas, charge the enemy, and kill everything.  With that laser, you're gonna need a lot of Fleas.

NOTE: The original rules by 269852964 limited you to 6 Solar Collectors, 6 Metal Extractors and 6 Kbot Labs, but I found this lead to too many stalemate situations for my liking.  In the end I decided an unlimited Solar and Metal Extractor campaign would be more fun.

This AI is designed to work with 10K Energy and Metal, and may not perform at optimal levels if given less.


FleaBowl Challenge
------------------

There is another way to play FleaBowl.  Ally nine ARM AI's against you, then build whatever units you want in a desperate attempt to survive.  NJ_THUG tried this.......well, we still have the memory of him........

If you decide to just take on 9 Queller FB's while you use the standard units, don't use Air, underwater units, DT or Fortwalls, because these are things that Fleas simply cannot deal with, no matter how numerous.

This AI is designed to work with 10K Energy and Metal, and may not perform at optimal levels if given less.

THUG can beat this without breaking a sweat (in UberHack), lets see if you can.


Beating Fleabowl Challenge
--------------------------

People have been asking me, when have you actually beaten Fleabowl Challenge?  Well I have come up with these "official" settings.

* You must use 1000 metal and energy.
* You may only use Cavedog/UberHack units and may only play OTA, Bugfix or UberHack.
* There must be 9 ARM AI's.
* All the AI's must be allied against you.
* Each AI must have 10 000 metal and energy.
* You may not use any TA-Mutation mutators, except HoverFlea.
* You may not use Dragons Teeth, Fortwalls, nor anything that flies.
* You may not send amphibious units like the Commander underwater.
* You may not build underwater units.
* You must have LOS set to true.
* You must have mapping set to unmapped.
* Positions must be random.
* You may not pause the game to give out orders, check out the situation, etc.
* You must play at normal speed, or faster.
* You may not use the Commander or Con units to assist lab/plant production.

Once you win with these settings you have conquered Flea Bowl.......but we can always breed more Fleas, MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Remember, an open map is harder than one with choke points.  Starting in the middle is harder than starting on an edge.  There are many ways to challenge yourself.


Why Do Fleas Have A Laser?
--------------------------

The Fleas have a laser to overcome their pilot's feelings of inadequacy.  They were reported to have said the following at a combat briefing.  "*sniff* All the other combat units have weapons.  If we don't get a weapon then we have to hang out with those Spies, Radar, Jammer, and Con units.  And they're a bunch of weenies.  Please!  Give us a weapon."  At this point the Flea pilots began sobbing and crying.  Two Maverick pilots were so disgusted by the display that they promptly walked over and slapped the whole lot of them... killing them.  Arm Commanders issued Fleas token lasers more out of pity than anything else, after the Great Flea Pilot Massacre of 3197.  True story.


Common Problems
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Q.  Why won't the Kbot Labs build any Fleas?

A.  If you're playing with unmodified Total Annihilation, make sure you've downloaded the Arm Flea from the Cavedog site - http://www.cavedog.com/totala/ - as it doesn't come with the 3.1 patch.  If you're using some TA MOD, make sure it still has an Arm Flea in it.


Q.  Why is the AI still building Vehicle Plants and many other things it isn't supposed to?

A. This is likely either some left over from something such as the BAI, which has AI Vehicle Plants not limited to 0 by this AI, check your TA directory for files such as AIBoost.ufo.


Q.  The AI won't build more than three or four Kbot Labs, just like in Flea Bowl v2, why?

A.  Make sure you put the QuellerFBUnits.ufo file in your TA directory (TAM users, don't worry, TAM won't let you switch on Queller FB without all the correct files present.)  Also make sure there are no other AI units present in your TA directory, especially files such as AIBoost.ufo.


Q.  It says that Flea Bowl supports AI Unit Pack 8.  I've download it but I haven't seen the AI build a Fluxor or Quark, why?

A.  Make sure the file is in your TA directory.


Credits
-------

269852964 - Inventor of Flea Bowl
EMG Man	  - Joe Dwight and Bob Jones commentary
Drakken	  - The history of the Flea Laser
NJ_THUG   - BETA Testing

And thanks to everyone who pestered me to get the first version done.

































Easter Eggs At Christmas?
-------------------------

The manual is the best place to hide anything you want kept a secret :).  As my gift to you I have made what you'll hopefully find, a rather interesting addon.  However, this addon will make it much (MUCH) harder to win, and is reccomended for veteran players and the insane only.

You can download this addon pack from one of the following locations:

http://www.planetannihilation.com/dl/dl.asp?planetannihilation/taec/queller/fleabowladdon.zip

http://recon.homeip.net/ftp_shared/quitch/fleabowladdon.zip

http://homepages.f9.net.uk/htdocs/quitchy/fleabowladdon.zip