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Hi Score Competition #24: Defender
Epyx:
I still can't break 20k consistently but ya the game gets addicting the more you play it...gloves are off tonight though and Ill spend a few more hours on it.
Ummon:
welliguessimdonehereijustcantseemtogetbetterthanmylastandimburntonthisgamebutaprettygoodrungodyouknowhowharditisnottous espaces
DrFrag:
24,025.
I think that's it from me. It's too frustrating to play a game with such biased collision detection.
tcleary:
Ive been playing a bit and my high score is arond 56k so far. interestingly one of my friends came to visit this weekend and had never played the game before. he played it some friday, sat, and sunday and got up to around 29k I think. I'm sure having the real machine/controls and some friendly competition helps (my brother plays it too)
tcleary:
time for some tips.
1. a lot of the time I hit thrust and fire at the same time to shoot really fast and keep moving at a good clip. when you want to slow down just stop pressing thrust and hit fire really fast, but still move both fingers really fast, just don't hit thrust. take a quick glance at the radar to get an idea of what is coming up, then get in position to take care of it and go up and down slightly shooting a ton of shots where stuff should be in relation to the radar. if you are focusing on the landers they typically go down, so if you see one in the radar a little ways away it will probably be a little lower by the time you get to it. or it might go for a human.
2. whenever you hear the infamous sound, go try to save the human if you are within distance to do so. you get a lot of points for rescuing and returning humans to the ground, so do it whenever you can. also it gets really nasty when all the humans are dead.
3. when you are out of smart bombs and things get crazy, stay low., take quick glances at the radar then focus on the main screen. don't go full throttle unless it is clear. take caution and when there are a lot of enemies around watch your ship and slow down/speed up to aviod shots. once you start encountering enemies take it a little slower and try to shoot them. sometimes I find myself doing a quick reverse/reverse to slow down an still be going in the same direction, this works pretty well. don't be afraid to smart bomb if things get too hairy, or try hyperspace if you are in a really crazy situation and out of smart bombs. i still really rarely use hyperspace but in a really crazy situation with a ton of enemies and no smart bomb it has saved me a few times.
4. focus on what is important. kill the green landers first. the boxes and pods are really not that threatening, the green landers are, mutants are nasty, especially when you have a few of them after you. so take out the green guys first, especially ones that are near humans. when you glance at the radar take note of where most of the green guys are and go in that direction and take them out asap.
5. whenever there are 2 or more pods in your screen, smart bomb them. this is the easiest way to get a lot of points. if you can get 3 pods in the screen and smart bomb them you'll get around 5,000 points for one button press. if there is only one pod, and you are not confident enough to kill all the little red ships in it, shoot it then quickly smart bomb. if you smart bomb when there is only one pod, a lot of the time it will not destroy the ships in it, but if you smart bomb 2 or more, most of the time it will destroy everything, so I doin't recommend smart bombing one pod, although sometimes it does work. shoot it then smart bomb. 2 or more, just smart bomb away.
6. when you are out of smart bombs and things get hairy, go to the bottom part of the screen and fire like a mad man. don't thrust at full speed, but keep going in one direction at a good pace, shooting all you can. if you can get to the next 10k and get another life/smart bomb you will be in good shape. whenever a level ends you really want to have a smart bomb so you can destroy a few pods at the same time for quick easy points.
7. this game takes a while to really get a handle of the controls. I don't think anyone can get the hang of this game quickly. if you keep dying without many points, it's still all good, you're getting skills simply manuvering the way you want to. eventually you will be able to control the ship how you want and it becomes a lot more natural. this took me a while, but now I'm pretty fluid with the controls, the ship does what I want it to do, at first this was a real struggle, but it's pretty awesome once you get the hang of it.
8. on the first level, be a point whore. on this level when the landers take up humans they go a lot slower than on the later levels. so you can use this to your advantage. if you just keep your distance and take out some landers and go slowly and then go for any that capute humans you can rack up around 6-7k on the first level without much trouble, this makes it pretty easy to get up to 10k on wave 2 so you have an extra life/smart bomb right away. if you just destroy all the aliens on sight on this level and don't die you get around 3200 points, but you can easily double this if you just have some patience and save some humans.
9. the radar is essential in this game, but you can't dawdle, to make the best use of it you glance at it and get an idea of what is where and what you should do next, then act and pay attention to the main screen. at first I think I was paying too much attention to the radar and would get hit by stray shots from landers and emenies I didnt' notice on the radar, especially ones that go from the top of the screen to the bottom, which is a bit weird at first since the enemies can do that but you cannot. eventually I learned to take a quick look at it and get an idea of the situation then act in the main screen. when things get really hairy the radar won't help you much, you have to pay attention to the main screen to live, but it's great for getting an idea of a plan of action when you are not in a really crazy situation.