HSC Season 5 Week 29: Stampede

[Ze_ro]

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

 

Climb into your saddle and start ridin'! You'll want to practice playing your horse and rider in the right position to rope and herd those dogies without letting any get by you - and to dodge any surprises on the trail.

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Stampede
• Released By: Activision, 1981
• Left Difficulty: A / Expert - Shorter Rope
• Right Difficulty: N/A
• Game Mode: Game 1 - Sidekick (Dogies will only run straight, and travel in specific patterns)
• Chosen By: midnight magicman

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 Thursday, April 3rd at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 35,524 (the 5th ghost) [+11][+2] 8989 (Deteacher) [+10][+2] 5959 (StanJr) [+9][+2] 5154 (midnight magicman) [+8][+2] 4234 (aftermac) [+7][+2] 4017 (darthkur) [+6][+2] 3951 (toymailman) [+5][+2] 3758 (SpiceWare) [+4][+2] 3715 (Captain Beard) [+3][+2] 3400 (keilbaca) [+2][+2] 3377 (Shannon) [+1][+2] 3239 (vintagegamecrazy) [+1][+2] 2504 (Gemini) [+1] 2468 (opeygon) [+1] 2074 (hrecker) [+1] 1940 (PressureCooker2600) [+1] 1914 (Bentley Bear!) [+1] 1748 (Kurt_Woloch) [+1] 1397 (Impaler_26) [+1] Best Tips Deteacher [+2] Challenges Patch Challenge - Trail Drive - Score 3000 points or higher and get 2 bonus points! TwinGalaxies Top 3 36,364 (Douglas C Korekach) 35,358 (David B Yancey) 17,981 (Stephen R Riesenberger) Game 1, Difficulty B)

Current Standings Deteacher [273] toymailman [258] keilbaca [165] Captain Beard [138] theking21083 [115] Kurt_Woloch [92] Impaler_26 [92] aftermac [91] homerwannabee [90] PressureCooker2600 [86] Nathan Strum [84] SpiceWare [66] rheffera [65] Gemini [54] Mister VCS [47] Recycled [44] phaxda [44] Bentley Bear! [43] DarthCalvin [36] LarcenTyler [36] Blackjack [35] Christophero Sly [35] midnight magicman [34] shadow460 [25] Rom Hunter [23] ed1475 [19] Butterwasp [18] the 5th ghost [17] StanJr [13] theKLT [12] lucifershalo [12] doctorclu [11] godzillajoe [11] Artlover [9] atariwarrior [9] Dauber [9] keitaro [7] lonewolfette9847 [6] Goochman [6] atari2600land [6] Omegamatrix [6] vintagegamecrazy [5] chuckwalla [5] Nognir [5] MrBeefy [5] cosmosiss [3] Shannon [3] Crazy Climber [3] SeaGtGruff [3] gospeedde [2] Phantom [2] Snider-man [2] EricDeLee [1] RJ [1] jboypacman [1] [d2f]Iggy*SJB [1] HatNJ [1] KaeruYojimbo [1]

 

Scoring Points in Stampede

• Black Angus - 100 pts
• Light Brown Jerseys - 25 pts
• Medium Brown Guernseys - 15 pts
• Dark Red Herefords - 3 pts
• After you reach 1000 pts, your stray count will increase by one. The number, however, will never get larger than 9.

 

Hints and Tips

• Keep in mind the particular sequences in which the different dogies appear. My advice is to establish a priority for roping the stampeding herd.
• One strategy is to lasso the high-point dogies first, while keeping the darker (low-point) ones herded in front of you. REMEMBER, herding is the most important part of the game. A dogie that is constantly herded with actually get stubborn and become more difficult to rope because he's too close to you; but he won't stray.
• You'll notice that the dogies appear in rows. When you rope the last one of a group of dark Herefords... get set for some fast action, 'cause there's trouble ahead!

We also played this game in the High Score Club before, you might want to check out that thread for more hints and tips

The Manual
As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a typed copy and a scanned copy available online for your viewing pleasure (Note that the typed version seems to be missing a good deal of content). Here are the hints it provides:
Deteacher
The cattle come out in a set pattern: Light yellow (fast), orange (medium), brown (slow). After that, you can expect the white skull or the black bull (it alternates between the two, so keep track in your head.) Then the sequence starts over. Knowing this sequence, you can start to devise a system to keep control of what type of cattle come out and when. I start by getting the slow, brown cattle on each row. Organize them so there's only one brown cow on each row. Then only take out a line or two of them. That will force the skull and bull to come out. Deal with the skull and bull, then take out the fast and medium speed cattle on those lines. When the slow brown ones come out again, get the whole herd organized again, then repeat the whole process again. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to rack up some serious points. I don't claim to be a master (my overall best is about 5K) but that strategy works best for me. There are YouTubes of this strategy at work. Here's one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBPmwTeoFLc I try to concentrate on 3 levels at a time. Once I get them to one slow brown cow each, then I do the top 3. Wash, rinse, repeat. Keep this in mind too: You have to alternate what sections you work on. Each time you bump the same cow, the distance it runs ahead of you gets shorter and shorter. This prevents you from working on only one row of cattle for the whole game. Pretty smart of the programmer to think of this.
StanJr
Controlling the flow of cows is key. I start by splitting the screen, 3 top/3 bottom. As the speed ramps, I cut that down to 3 sections, 2 top/2 middle/2 bottom, when things get out of control, I reset all cows to reddish brown and work on one at at time until I get things under control. Also, bump before you rope, especially when dealing with the sets of two and three, that way the ones you do not rope are immediately running away from you. Luckily, around 4K there is a break point in the pattern, and you can clean the entire screen without worrying about skulls and bum steers popping out and ruining everything. There is a pattern as to whether you get a skull or a bum steer. I'm about halfway to figuring it out. More on this later. The break point occurs again around 5K. Also, sometimes herdin' is more important than ropin'. Bumping them at the right time in the right order is crucial to survival in the later rounds. Rope 'em dogies!
aftermac
As far as the skull and bum steer pattern, it simply alternates. After you eliminate a row of the dark brown cows, if a skull comes out the next time you eliminate a row of them, a bum steer comes out... and so on... (To which StanJr replies: ) Right, but it is linked to the order in which you rope the cows. Do it in the right order and you'll never get a skull in the middle of the screen, only at the extreme top and bottom. A good way to avoid stumbling over them when things get hectic.
Shannon
As far as my advice goes. If you are gonna let any cattle slip by let the lighter ones go rather than the dark ones. Cause if a dark one slips by it will be replaced by the lightest colored ones and that just means more problems for you!!

 

--Zero

[StanJr]

BAM! I'm in! 5291

I think the shorter rope makes it a little easier; I'm less tempted to go for the long grab and get stuck with a cow under the rope. It is harder to make that quick grab on the bum steer though...

 

Edited March 27, 2008 by StanJr

[Mister VCS]

This week's game will be Stampede, Game 1, Difficulty A (Shorter Rope). There will be a bonus for reaching 3000 points.

 

Since I screwed up again this week, you'll have an extra day to play this week, so the competition will end Wednesday night instead of Tuesday night.

 

--Zero

 

I don't own the original cartridge, but this game is on my 32 in one cartridge from Atari. Is it the same game

(besides the colors) ?

Should I take a rest this week??

Edited March 27, 2008 by Mister VCS

[Deteacher]

This week's game will be Stampede, Game 1, Difficulty A (Shorter Rope). There will be a bonus for reaching 3000 points.

 

Since I screwed up again this week, you'll have an extra day to play this week, so the competition will end Wednesday night instead of Tuesday night.

 

--Zero

 

I don't own the original cartridge, but this game is on my 32 in one cartridge from Atari. Is it the same game

(besides the colors) ?

Should I take a rest this week??

 

No, I don't think you should have to sit out. If it plays the same, I don't see why you couldn't join in. Go for it!

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here's my best effort so far... 1748.

 

 

I don't think I'll be playing this game much longer since I don't like it so much, so don't be surprised if I don't post another score this week.

[toymailman]

My first one for the week.

 

3,951

 

[Captain Beard]

3353 for my first attempt.

[Impaler_26]

This game sucks!

 

I'm done for this week:

 

1,397.

[Osbo]

wow, two great picks this past two weeks! I'm tempted in dusting off my AtariDC and play some Atari

[keilbaca]

3362 for me, so far.

 

Man, they don't go very far when you bounce the cattle past 3k, huh?

[aftermac]

2,522

 

Best I've got for today.

 

[StanJr]

A slight improvement. 5600. I've got a pretty good pattern going, with the breaks that come after 4K, I think I can go pretty far if I can just keep it up and not make stupid mistakes.

 

Why so many people hate Stampede??

 

 

[Gemini]

I think I know why a bunch of people don't like this game. It's because you lose lives extremely easily. All you have to do is be out of range of a triad heading off the top or bottom and your game is pretty much over.

 

I, consequently, don't like this game either. So far my high score is only 2,504.

 

Edited March 28, 2008 by Gemini

[Deteacher]

I haven't posted a score yet, but I will by the end of the day. Here's a tip, though:

 

The cattle come out in a set pattern: Light yellow (fast), orange (medium), brown (slow). After that, you can expect the white skull or the black bull (it alternates between the two, so keep track in your head.) Then the sequence starts over. Knowing this sequence, you can start to devise a system to keep control of what type of cattle come out and when.

 

I start by getting the slow, brown cattle on each row. Organize them so there's only one brown cow on each row. Then only take out a line or two of them. That will force the skull and bull to come out. Deal with the skull and bull, then take out the fast and medium speed cattle on those lines. When the slow brown ones come out again, get the whole herd organized again, then repeat the whole process again.

 

Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to rack up some serious points. I don't claim to be a master (my overall best is about 5K) but that strategy works best for me.

 

There are YouTubes of this strategy at work. Here's one of them:

 

Hope this helps!

[aftermac]

A slight improvement. 5600. I've got a pretty good pattern going, with the breaks that come after 4K, I think I can go pretty far if I can just keep it up and not make stupid mistakes.

 

Why so many people hate Stampede??

 

 

I think I know why a bunch of people don't like this game. It's because you lose lives extremely easily. All you have to do is be out of range of a triad heading off the top or bottom and your game is pretty much over.

 

I, consequently, don't like this game either. So far my high score is only 2,504.

 

I think Gemini's answer is pretty close. One of the reasons you can lose lives so quickly is the impossible situations this game can put you in. For example...

 

 

This picture is Photoshopped, but I have been in this situation numerous times. I started moving to the top to rope or nudge the yellow cows when a black one comes up. Obviously, I need to rope the black one then continue moving up to nudge the yellow ones, so I don't lose two cows, but there is no possible way for me to get the second black cow.

 

Personally, I'm indifferent to this game. I don't like it or hate it. However, after this competition I don't see myself playing it just for fun... but, I also like competition and increasing my season point total too much to stop playing after one day.

[Deteacher]

First submission of the week: 5,521.

 

I try to concentrate on 3 levels at a time. Once I get them to one slow brown cow each, then I do the top 3. Wash, rinse, repeat.

 

I really like this game. Simple premise, but very challenging.

[aftermac]

3,575

 

Thanks, for sharing that video Deteacher! That strategy (after quite a bit of practice) gave me the boost I needed to get over 3k.

 

I had tried a number of my own (similar) strategies to avoid the situation I described above with varying success... the most I had gotten previously was ~2,900.

 

[StanJr]

Controlling the flow of cows is key. I start by splitting the screen, 3 top/3 bottom. As the speed ramps, I cut that down to 3 sections, 2 top/2 middle/2 bottom, when things get out of control, I reset all cows to reddish brown and work on one at at time until I get things under control. Also, bump before you rope, especially when dealing with the sets of two and three, that way the ones you do not rope are immediately running away from you.

 

Luckily, around 4K there is a break point in the pattern, and you can clean the entire screen without worrying about skulls and bum steers popping out and ruining everything. There is a pattern as to whether you get a skull or a bum steer. I'm about halfway to figuring it out. More on this later. The break point occurs again around 5K.

 

Rope 'em dogies!

Edited March 28, 2008 by StanJr

[128bytes]

A slight improvement. 5600. I've got a pretty good pattern going, with the breaks that come after 4K, I think I can go pretty far if I can just keep it up and not make stupid mistakes.

 

Why so many people hate Stampede??

 

 

 

Stampede is one of my favorite games ever. I chose it and had great fun with it in one of the earlier HSC's. Maybe I should fire it up

Edited March 28, 2008 by 128bytes

[aftermac]

Controlling the flow of cows is key. I start by splitting the screen, 3 top/2 bottom. As the speed ramps, I cut that down to 3 sections, 2 top/2 middle/2 bottom, when things get out of control, I reset all cows to reddish brown and work on one at at time until I get things under control. Also, bump before you rope, especially when dealing with the sets of two and three, that way the ones you do not rope are immediately running away from you.

 

Luckily, around 4K there is a break point in the pattern, and you can clean the entire screen without worrying about skulls and bum steers popping out and ruining everything. There is a pattern as to whether you get a skull or a bum steer. I'm about halfway to figuring it out. More on this later. The break point occurs again around 5K.

 

Rope 'em dogies!

 

Maybe I'll try 3 sections when things get faster... I'm having a hard time with 2 when I get to about 2,500.

 

As far as the skull and bum steer pattern, it simply alternates. After you eliminate a row of the dark brown cows, if a skull comes out the next time you eliminate a row of them, a bum steer comes out... and so on...

[StanJr]

Right, but it is linked to the order in which you rope the cows. Do it in the right order and you'll never get a skull in the middle of the screen, only at the extreme top and bottom. A good way to avoid stumbling over them when things get hectic.

 

Also, sometimes herdin' is more important than ropin'. Bumping them at the right time in the right order is crucial to survival in the later rounds.

[aftermac]

Right, but it is linked to the order in which you rope the cows. Do it in the right order and you'll never get a skull in the middle of the screen, only at the extreme top and bottom. A good way to avoid stumbling over them when things get hectic.

 

Also, sometimes herdin' is more important than ropin'. Bumping them at the right time in the right order is crucial to survival in the later rounds.

 

Ok, I see what you're getting at.

[Deteacher]

Keep this in mind too: You have to alternate what sections you work on. Each time you bump the same cow, the distance it runs ahead of you gets shorter and shorter. This prevents you from working on only one row of cattle for the whole game. Pretty smart of the programmer to think of this.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Man now that the Digitalpress contest is wrapping up I will start giving this more effort now. I will try to get some good scores for stampede in this week.

[aftermac]

Keep this in mind too: You have to alternate what sections you work on. Each time you bump the same cow, the distance it runs ahead of you gets shorter and shorter. This prevents you from working on only one row of cattle for the whole game. Pretty smart of the programmer to think of this.

 

Yeah, that's one of the strategies I tried. I actually managed to get ~2700, ~2800, and ~2900 in three games, but kept losing cows when I finally tried to rope them in.