HSC Season 6 Week 6: Star Fire

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This weeks competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

 

It is a time of crisis for the Earth forces. Years of constant assault from the EXIDY coalition have left Earth almost totally defenseless.

 

Intergalactic intelligence has discovered a new threat, several Exidy freighters, protected by an armada of smaller vessels, have entered a friendly sector of space and are advancing on Earth itself, loaded with enough weaponry to completely annihilate the planet.

 

The peoples of Earth have but one remaining hope for victory.

 

Launching from a secret base in the remote mountains, one of the few remaining STAR-FIRE class attack vessels races to counter the coalition threat. It's firepower an equal match for the enemy but it's rookie pilot, while eager, is young and inexperienced...

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Star Fire
• Released By: Xype, 2003
• Left Difficulty: Your Choice (A = Double Points, but laser overheats faster)
• Right Difficulty: Your Choice (Controls Y-Axis inversion)
• Game Mode: Game 1 - Wave 1
• Chosen By: toymailman

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 October 15th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 5366 (darthkur) [+11][+2] 4550 (toymailman) [+10][+2] 4499 (Deteacher) [+9][+2] 3674 (DarthCalvin) [+8][+2] 3553 (SpiceWare) [+7][+2] 3542 (Hornpipe2) [+6][+2] 3533 (LaserHawk3000) [+5][+2] 3045 (Impaler_26) [+4] 2232 (Nathan Strum) [+3] 1804 (aftermac) [+2] 1710 (ratfink) [+1] 1419 (LarcenTyler) [+1] 901 (Kurt_Woloch) [+1] Best Tips DarthCalvin [+2] Challenges Patch Challenge - Star Fire Elite Squadron - Score 3500 points or more and you get 2 bonus points! TwinGalaxies Top 3 7538 (Christian L Keilback) 3574 (Troy Whelan) (Game 1, Difficulty A)

Current Standings toymailman [54] Deteacher [48] DarthCalvin [46] darthkur [38] SpiceWare [35] jjd [30] aftermac [27] the 5th ghost [27] Zoyx [22] Kurt_Woloch [18] Impaler_26 [15] homerwannabee [11] Mister VCS [11] maf [9] Nathan Strum [8] LarcenTyler [8] chuckwalla [7] LS_Dracon [7] LoneWolfSeth [6] Spector [6] phaxda [5] Artlover [1] ratfink [1]

 

Scoring Points in Star Fire

• Enemy ships: dif "A" / dif "B"
  
  • Wave 1: 10 / 5
  • Wave 2: 15 / 10
  • Wave 3: 20 / 15
  • Wave 4: 25 / 20
  • Wave 5: 10 / 5 (cycles?)
    Seems to be a constant 5-point differential between "A" and "B". It only doubles in Wave 1, 5, 9, etc.
  
  
• "Big" ships: dif "A" / dif "B"
  
  • Wave 1: 40 / 20
  • Wave 2: 50 / 30
  • Wave 3: 60 / 40
  • Wave 4: 80 / 60
  • Wave 5: 40 / 20 (cycles?)
    Seems to be a constant 20-point differential between "A" and "B". It only doubles in Wave 1, 5, 9, etc.
  
  
• Diamonds: dif "A" / dif "B"
  
  • Wave 1: 10 / 5
  • Wave 2: 10 / 6
  • Wave 3: 10 / 6
  • Wave 4: 10 / 6
  • Wave 5: 10 / 6 (doesn't cycle?)
  
  
• Enemy Shots: dif "A" / dif "B"
  
  • Wave 1: 2 / 1
    Doesn't change at all based on Wave.
  
  
  Thanks to toymailman for figuring out the scoring!

 

Hints and Tips

The Manual

As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a text copy of it available online. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any real hints.

DarthCalvin

I've been playing with the difficulty on A/B, it seems that scores are doubled when set to A so even if the lasers overheat quicker, you would have to fight twice as many ships to make up the score. Not worth it as far as I'm concerned. I seldomly overheat it anyway, so not really an issue. I leave the second on B because inverted axis just feels more real. So far I've noticed that the enemy fire can't hit you once it moves off the screen, which is easy to dodge early on, but near impossible later on. I try to keep moving in one direction as much as possible because there isn't enough time to change directions to dodge the faster moving shots. It seems that about a half or so of the ships will eventually fade out like they're retreating so getting them before they disappear is key to scoring high in each wave. The crystals that recharge your shield seem to be plentiful at the beginning of a wave but non-existant at the end of it. If I don't already have a full shield I go for those first, then the ships that are closer to retreating, then the remaining ships. May the non-copyright infringing force be with you

Deteacher

I've got some tips. These are mostly for the harder levels, but they'll work on the easier ones too: 1: Use your radar to locate smaller groups of enemies. If you're on level 8 and you spot a group of 5 or 6 enemies, you want to steer clear of that portion of the sector until you absolutely have to take them on. 2. Fly against the direction of the enemies. If you and the enemy are both flying in the same direction, it takes so much longer to get that enemy into your sights. Not to mention that his shot will most likely hit you. Instead fly the opposite direction, when he comes onto the screen, a quick shot will either take him or his shot out. If you miss, let him fly off the screen and make another pass. 3. It seems that the warp hole appears after so many enemies have been hit. What's nice about that is that the diamonds seem to count as enemies. So, if you're in a hard level and are looking to get out as quickly as possible, or you "can't shake them" take out the diamonds (even if you don't need the shield recharge.) Granted, ducking out early doesn't really help your score, but if you're dying to know how much harder that next level is, this is a good way to find out.

 

--Zero

[darthkur]

4,368

 

 

 

This game sure does bring back some fond memories. I recall playing the arcade cab way back. It was so exciting because of it's use of ships from Star Wars. Almost made you feel like you were in the cockpit of an X-Wing fighter many years before the actual SW:TAG. I remember wanting this game for the 2600 so bad. Too bad it never came about until recently. Better late than never.

Edited October 8, 2008 by darthkur

[DarthCalvin]

2,781

 

 

Fun game

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here's my best so far... 901.

Edited October 8, 2008 by Kurt_Woloch

[Impaler_26]

Great game!

 

1,776.

[Hornpipe2]

I need to hook up my gamepad!

 

EDIT: I just did! Score +800.

EDIT2: I broke 3500 only once - but that's enough for the patch. I'm done : )

Edited October 15, 2008 by Hornpipe2

[DarthCalvin]

EDIT: 3,444 Yay! I made it to the 9th wave...for about 5 seconds

 

 

This game is a lot of fun and just the right amount of challenge. I've never played the original so I can't compare but on it's own this is great.

 

I've been playing with the difficulty on A/B, it seems that scores are doubled when set to A so even if the lasers overheat quicker, you would have to fight twice as many ships to make up the score. Not worth it as far as I'm concerned. I seldomly overheat it anyway, so not really an issue. I leave the second on B because inverted axis just feels more real. So far I've noticed that the enemy fire can't hit you once it moves off the screen, which is easy to dodge early on, but near impossible later on. I try to keep moving in one direction as much as possible because there isn't enough time to change directions to dodge the faster moving shots. It seems that about a half or so of the ships will eventually fade out like they're retreating so getting them before they disappear is key to scoring high in each wave. The crystals that recharge your shield seem to be plentiful at the beginning of a wave but non-existant at the end of it. If I don't already have a full shield I go for those first, then the ships that are closer to retreating, then the remaining ships.

 

May the non-copyright infringing force be with you

Edited October 9, 2008 by DarthCalvin

[Lauren Tyler]

1,419

[+Nathan Strum]

Awesome game! But I'm way out-of-practice.

 

2,232

 

[ratfink]

883

 

[toymailman]

Finally broke 4k! Just barely though. The shots come at you REALLY fast starting on wave #8.

 

4,021

 

I have also figured out some of the scoring system used in the game. It didn't seem to be explained in the manual so I am deciphering it from gameplay. It is as follows:

 

Enemy Ship = 5 points

Enemy Shot = 1 point

Recharging Diamond = 5 points

"Big" Ships = 20 points (Cruisers, Death Stars, Slave 1's, etc.)

 

The point value for each object is doubled if the left difficulty set to "A". Also, there is an added value based on the wave, but am still going through to determine its contribution as well.

[aftermac]

1,804

 

[toymailman]

I got better playing so much to figure out the scoring system.

 

New best.

4,550

 

Update on the scoring, it's a little quirky. See below.

 

Enemy ships: dif "A" / dif "B"

Wave 1: 10 / 5

Wave 2: 15 / 10

Wave 3: 20 / 15

Wave 4: 25 / 20

Wave 5: 10 / 5 (cycles?)

Seems to be a constant 5-point differential between "A" and "B". It only doubles in Wave 1, 5, 9, etc.

 

"Big" ships: dif "A" / dif "B"

Wave 1: 40 / 20

Wave 2: 50 / 30

Wave 3: 60 / 40

Wave 4: 80 / 60

Wave 5: 40 / 20 (cycles?)

Seems to be a constant 20-point differential between "A" and "B". It only doubles in Wave 1, 5, 9, etc.

 

Diamonds: dif "A" / dif "B"

Wave 1: 10 / 5

Wave 2: 10 / 6

Wave 3: 10 / 6

Wave 4: 10 / 6

Wave 5: 10 / 6 (doesn't cycle?)

 

Enemy Shots: dif "A" / dif "B"

Wave 1: 2 / 1

Doesn't change at all based on Wave.

 

This is what seems to be going on. So its not really a doubling of points when setting the difficulty to "A", but it is more. It is strange that the point system cycles too. I wonder if its a bug or if it was meant this way.

[DarthCalvin]

+100 pts to toymailman for figuring that out!

[ratfink]

1710

[Impaler_26]

3,045

[LaserHawk3000]

LaserHawk3000 (A.K.A. Laserhawk) returns after a crashed harddrive and a wrecked email account!!!

 

 

 

 

and has this many vaporised aliens score number!!!

 

3,533

[Deteacher]

4,499!

 

So close to you, Toy! I chickened out on a couple of those levels and left before clearing the sector. If I hadn't done that, I might have topped your score. One more night to try, but for now, it's Monday Night Football!

[Hornpipe2]

I just want to point out that (like Asteroids) it is possible to rack up a vastly huge score just by destroying all but one enemy in a wave and then shooting down every bullet the ship fires at you. I spent a couple minutes doing just that on Wave 1 - the only real danger besides boredom is missing too many shots and overheating. If you set it to Difficulty B you would have no problem playing infinitely.

[darthkur]

5,366

 

The diamonds get more and more scarce as the levels progress to the point were they are non existent. The last two boards that I was on I did not see one single diamond. I had to rely solely on the bonus shield you get upon completing a level. Needless to say that was quite insufficient.

 

[Deteacher]

I've got some tips. These are mostly for the harder levels, but they'll work on the easier ones too:

 

1: Use your radar to locate smaller groups of enemies. If you're on level 8 and you spot a group of 5 or 6 enemies, you want to steer clear of that portion of the sector until you absolutely have to take them on.

 

2. Fly against the direction of the enemies. If you and the enemy are both flying in the same direction, it takes so much longer to get that enemy into your sights. Not to mention that his shot will most likely hit you. Instead fly the opposite direction, when he comes onto the screen, a quick shot will either take him or his shot out. If you miss, let him fly off the screen and make another pass.

 

3. It seems that the warp hole appears after so many enemies have been hit. What's nice about that is that the diamonds seem to count as enemies. So, if you're in a hard level and are looking to get out as quickly as possible, or you "can't shake them" take out the diamonds (even if you don't need the shield recharge.) Granted, ducking out early doesn't really help your score, but if you're dying to know how much harder that next level is, this is a good way to find out.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Deteacher

[DarthCalvin]

3,674

 

I still can't beat wave 9, but at least I got the patch

 

[+SpiceWare]

3553

 

I've done better, but this will have to do for this go around.