HSC Season 5 Week 2: Spacechase

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This week's competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

 

You left Planet Earth just moments ago for routine moon-based primary-satellite scout duty. You are commanding a squadron consisting of three heavily armed Mark 16 Starcruisers. Suddenly you are attacked by alien enemy raiders energizing from the ether...obviously molecularly energized from a distant galaxy.

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Spacechase
  
• Released By: Games by Apollo, 1981
  
• Left Difficulty: A / Expert - Harder Game
  
• Right Difficulty: A / Expert - Harder Game
  
• Game Mode: Game 1
  
• Chosen By: rheffera
  

Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday, Sept 26th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

If you want to suggest a game for future weeks, please send me a private message and let me know! I will add your game to the list. One one game per person will be kept on the list, so you will not be able to suggest a game until your first game is played! (Please note that due to time constraints, I very rarely reply to private messages... but I do read them all!)

 

Anyone can play! Just post a score and I'll add you to the list! Please read the Rules & Information if you haven't already done so!

 

Current High Scores

1. 41,225 (keilbaca) [+11]
   
2. 27,000 (Rom Hunter) [+10]
   
3. 26,700 (Deteacher) [+9]
   
4. 25,350 (Nathan Strum) [+8]
   
5. 24,850 (godzillajoe) [+7]
   
6. 22,200 (Blackjack) [+6]
   
7. 21,975 (rheffera) [+5]
   
8. 21,650 (theking21083) [+4]
   
9. 21,425 (toymailman) [+3]
   
10. 19,950 (PressureCooker2600) [+2]
    
11. 19,200 (shadow460) [+1]
    
12. 17,450 (atari2600land) [+1]
    
13. 16,475 (Kurt_Woloch) [+1]
    
14. 16,300 (Captain Beard) [+1]
    
15. 16,175 (Christophero Sly) [+1]
    
16. 15,350 (SpiceWare) [+1]
    
17. 14,575 (Impaler_26) [+1]
    
18. 14,375 (ed1475) [+1]
    
19. 13,175 (gospeedde) [+1]
    
20. 11,875 (Butterwasp) [+1]
    
21. 6200 (Artlover) [+1]
    
22. 4452 (LarcenTyler) [+1]
    

Best Tips

• Nathan Strum [+2]
  

Bounties and Challenges

• None
  

TwinGalaxies Top 3

(Game 1, Difficulty B)

• 416,605 (Todd Rogers)
  
• 175,400 (Rich Bryan)
  
• 93,300 (Ed Semrad)
  

Current Standings

(Note: These scores reflect the standing as of the beginning of this week, and do not include points scored from this game.)

1. keilbaca [14]
2. Rom Hunter [13]
3. Deteacher [11]
4. theking21083 [8]
5. keitaro [7]
6. Pressurecooker2600 [6]
7. SpiceWare [5]
8. Nognir [4]
9. Captain Beard [3]
10. ed1475 [2]
11. Recycled [1]
12. Christophero Sly [1]
13. RJ [1]

• toymailman [1]
• Nathan Strum [1]
• shadow460 [1]
• rheffera [1]
• Blackjack [1]
• godzillajoe [1]
• gospeedde [1]
• Impaler_26 [1]
• Artlover [1]
• Kurt_Woloch [1]
• Butterwasp [1]
• atari2600land [1]
• LarcenTyler [1]

Scoring Points in Spacechase

• Destroy a Level One alien ship - 125 points
  
• Destroy a Level Two alien ship - 200 points
  
• Destroy a Level Three alien ship - 275 points
  
• Destroy an alien missile - 50 points.
  
• Destroy a homing missile - 100 points.
  
• You advance to level two (and gain an extra life) at 10,000 points, and to level three at 40,000 points.
  

Hints and Tips

As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy available. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any specific hints.

Tips:

 

* Keep the fire button down. Let the game do the firing for you.

* Keep moving. Once you get the timing of your shots down, and the speed of the enemies, hitting them is pretty easy.

* Listen for the homing missiles (they have a different sound) and prepare to dodge them.

* Stay near the bottom of the screen. Avoid the temptation to move higher.

* When you reach higher levels, the game adds a new row of aliens at the bottom. Take them out first.

* Be patient. This game has less to do with twitch reflexes, than it does with just not making mistakes.

* When you get to the green skulls (10,000 points), at the end of each wave, move over to the right. This starts you further away from the enemy on the bottom row on the next wave, and gets you away from the "instant-death cheap-shots" that he unloads on you. It also gives you an extra second or two to figure out where he's at, and shoot him.

* (Regarding the second level: ) Nail the bottom guy first. Then the next two higher guys. Watch their shots - not them.

I tend to stay in the middle more than anything, just bust off a flurry of shots right when the ships appear and you're bound to take out one or two of them.

 

Try not to lose any of your lives fighting the 'Purple Millennium Falcons'.....your going to need them all when you face the 'Oval green faces'.

Tips:

 

While slow going at first, once you hit 10k points the enemy ships change and it gets much more challenging.

 

1) Beware the guided missile! No, it wasn't your imagination, that missile just swerved to hit you. You can tell when one has been fired as the sound that the alien ship makes changes from a single high pitched note to a double "blip" that's lower in pitch. Listen for this sound and look out.

 

2) Don't focus on your targets, focus on your ship and what's coming at it. You'll eventually hit your targets, but you have to make self preservation your priority. Play defensive.

 

3) Try playing near one of the sides rather than in the middle of the playfield. Your shots that miss will very often connect as the alien ship begins his trip back across the screen. It's like getting 2 shots at him instead of one. This strategy helped me a lot.

 

In short - focus on your ship, play near a side, listen for the "double blip".

I noticed something. Regarding staying at the bottom (which is a great idea, BTW.) If you move your ship up and fire, the shot doesn't travel all the way up to the top of the screen. This makes shooting the top row of ships even more difficult. Your shot has to be spot on in order to register a hit. If you keep your ship all the way down, the shots travel farther up the screen, allowing the enemy ships to collide with the side of your shot and be destroyed. Looks like a bug of some kind.

 

So, as was mentioned before, stay at the bottom of the screen.

Use Game 11 as practice, then see what happens.

 

I played aggressively, moving up as much as I could and wiping out the bottom rows ASAP.

(Regarding the 2nd level: )

1.Dont stay in one spot, move right to the edges of the screen, you can touch the landscape.

2. Fire Like a madman.

When you get to the second wave, don't just keep the fire button down

 

Move to the extreme right and try to pick off that bottom guy first, then you can resume holding the button and hoping the remaining enemies run into your shots

 

New strategy: On the second wave, stay to the left and as far up as possible and unload on the lowest enemy as soon as he appears.

Play starting on game select 3 to get used to the 2nd stage.

 

--Zero

[Artlover]

6200

 

[theking21083]

This is my first time playing this game so I'll give it another shot later tonight.

9,175

[Christophero Sly]

The way the graphics scintillate in this game is enough to give me seizures.

[+atari2600land]

my first score: 13575.

[rheffera]

The way the graphics scintillate in this game is enough to give me seizures.

 

Your Welcome

[+Nathan Strum]

19,350

 

 

Tips:

• Keep the fire button down. Let the game do the firing for you.
  
• Keep moving. Once you get the timing of your shots down, and the speed of the enemies, hitting them is pretty easy.
  
• Listen for the homing missiles (they have a different sound) and prepare to dodge them.
  
• Stay near the bottom of the screen. Avoid the temptation to move higher.
  
• When you reach higher levels, the game adds a new row of aliens at the bottom. Take them out first.
  
• Be patient. This game has less to do with twitch relfexes, than it does with just not making mistakes.
  

[Rom Hunter]

Weird shooter.

 

Never played this one before.

 

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

16475.

 

Correction for scoring chart:

Destroy a homing missile - 100 points.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2007 by Kurt_Woloch

[Lauren Tyler]

4.425

 

*yawn*

[Impaler_26]

12,100

[PressureCooker2600]

Never played this one before, either. Kinda basic. And Nathan's tip is the best.....the game isn't about twitch reflexes, just don't make any mistakes.

 

Since I don't have this one, I gotta use an emulator.

 

First score: 15225

 

Also, I tend to stay in the middle more than anything.

 

P.S. When I save a snapshot on Stella....where is it saved to?

[+stephena]

Never played this one before, either. Kinda basic. And Nathan's tip is the best.....the game isn't about twitch reflexes, just don't make any mistakes.

 

Since I don't have this one, I gotta use an emulator.

 

First score: 15225

 

Also, I tend to stay in the middle more than anything.

 

P.S. When I save a snapshot on Stella....where is it saved to?

The latest versions of Stella have the snapshot directory configurable from the UI, so you could visually check it and change it if necessary. Otherwise, if you haven't changed it, the default is the current directory. The default should probably be changed to the $HOME directory for Linux and OSX, though.

[Deteacher]

First score for me: 8,275. I think I have this one, so I'll have to try it out on the real hardware.

[theking21083]

When I save a snapshot on Stella....where is it saved to?

 

You can change it in the options/config files menu to whatever directory you want it to save to. I changed mine to my desktop so that I don't have to do anything to find it.

[PressureCooker2600]

Do you have to still have the game going on Stella to find the snapshot cause I still can't find it?

 

Oh well....I don't have a digital camera for when I play on real hardware so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

Back on topic,

Still haven't broke my hi-score yet. This game is kinda a breather from the craziness that was Berzerk.

 

On more tip.....since I stay in the middle most of the time, just bust off a flurry of shots right when the ships appear and you're bound to take out one or two of them.

[theking21083]

No you don't have to have the game running to find the picture. Check and see what your default directory is in the options and look for it there.

[Deteacher]

When I use the emulator, I just hit the print screen button. Then I open up paint, paste the screen dump, crop it and save it to my desktop. So, if you're having trouble with the snapshot feature in Stella, you could try this out. It's a few more steps, but it really doesn't take that long to do. Works for me, anyway. Hope this helps!

[Blackjack]

First time I've played it ever (and I even have the real cart). Kinda slow goin aint it.

 

9300

 

 

Watch out for guided missiles. I thought it was my imagination at first.

Edited September 19, 2007 by Blackjack

[PressureCooker2600]

First time I've played it ever (and I even have the real cart). Kinda slow goin aint it.

 

9300

 

I think it's the first time a lot of us have played it. It's kinda boring, but hey....it's HSC. This ain't about hardcore fun....it's about hardcore scoring.

 

Even Rom Hunter hasn't played it before, which tells you alot.

 

Thanks for the screen saving tip, Deteacher.

[theking21083]

This is my new high score I got while at work. Today was a slow day.

21,650

[PressureCooker2600]

A little better:

 

16025

[Deteacher]

16,650. Like everyone else, it's my first time playing this. The only time I ever powered this up was when I won it in a lot on Ebay. I turned it on to make sure it worked...and I played it just long enough to see if I scored one of the infamous monogramed carts. Of course, I didn't, so it went into the collection.

 

The game doesn't really get interesting until you break 10K. For those that haven't passed this point, keep trying. It does get more challenging...it just takes a long time to get past 10K, unfortunately.

[Blackjack]

I think it's the first time a lot of us have played it. It's kinda boring, but hey....it's HSC. This ain't about hardcore fun....it's about hardcore scoring.

 

 

This is one of the things I like about HSC. It makes me play games I ordinarily wouldn't. After the 10k mark, this is a decent game. I'm glad I played it!

 

Much improved

 

14975

[+atari2600land]

A little better...17450