Any stratergy to make the microscope puzzle easier? No matter how good a lead I seem to get I always end up getting slaughtered and end up with only 6 or 7 pieces left.

The AI is just too good for most humans (even in the ScummVM version). It plays pretty much flawlessly, so you can't make ANY mistake or you'll lose.

The only way I can "beat" it is by pitting it against another AI, for example this one (To beat the 7th guest AI consistently you will need to set it to Level 4):
http://g.oswego.edu/dl/applets/micro.html

Nice find, although I managed to make a mistake and had to give up following that towards the end of the game it still had already gotten me into a good enough position to carry on and win :)

I know I've beaten this game back when i was a kid, I can't remember if I just got lucky back then or looked up something like this and have just forgotten about it.

Thanks.

P.S - Should point out that on the game I just played I actually got the "I'm going to have to start again" message several times, despite going on to win so don't automaticly assume you can't win and restart if you hear that message.

From what I heard the AI in the original DOS version actually plays better, the better your processor is, because it gets a certain time to think and on faster processors it can find a better move because it can try out and discard more moves during that time.

So it's perfectly possible you could more easily beat it as a kid because you used a slower computer (i.e. 386). The ScummVM version, as far as I could tell will always play on the same level, no matter the CPU speed, but it's already a pretty strong one (roughly equivalent to the original game on a 486 with 66MHz or even early Pentium).

It would have been a 486 I played it on back then, though I also played it on the CD-i, it could be thats the version I remember completing, don't suppose you happen to know how the AI in that compared do you?

No idea. Even the above are guesses which might very well be WAY off. I remember beating the game on a 486/33MHz, but that was after days of trying.

I'm basing my assumptions on the fact that the autor of the java app linked above writes that he needed a lookahead level of three to beat the 7th guest (DOS version I assume), but I find that I need a lookahead of at least 4 to consistently beat the ScummVM 7th guest AI, so the ScummVM version seems to be way stronger.

Any idea how to use mouse when game is minimized? I can't do it and want to try tht AI but when you minimize the game the cursor won't move.

You cant Alt tab out of full scrern mode or you get issues as you mention. You need to hit alt enter to go to window mode tben you should be able to visit the website.

Ah, thanks. Will try.

To beat the microscope puzzle, a great start is to move up the right side until your opponent does it's 1st jump. Then you should be able to turn that into doubling up your pieces so that there are 2 columns of 3 for the computer, and 2 columns of 4 making up the right hand side of the board. Your next move will be moving left and keeping pieces as you move towards the center, and on the top left-hand side you want to hug the topside of the board and try to do the same thing that you did with the bottom right.

Following this, your general idea should be to capture as much pieces where they cannot be turned again. The computer seems to jump occasionally when it doesn't need to, and you can usually take the opportunity to solidify gains. Sometimes you might only get 3, but this should not concern you as long as your 3 cannot be turned.

(Edit: Never mind.)

Here's a new, much MUCH faster version written in JavaScript rather than painful old Java:
http://analogbit.com/software/infection_ai/

Helped me a lot!

Yeah, you're not alone... first try, instant defeat -.-
And I'm terrible at this in general, even with "assistance". I always mixed up the moves, clicking on wrong tiles. Welp, gotta start over again. This whole puzzle is a mess. (Or.. it's me.)