therealbountybob, on Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:02 AM, said:
blinking heck deteacher... I just completed beginner on ROM well I thought I did, had some message about no planes returned (84k) so felt bad and had another go 93,870... then had a crack on Advanced, didn't go so well (especially if you live in Houston - my bad

) a few goes later I got 43,700 kept getting taken out by the fast jets
I would say that you still "completed" the game even if "all pilots were lost." You just don't get the mondo bonus points at the end. Thoughts, everyone?
Here are some tips for Advanced and Suicidal:
The fast jets start coming at you when you start reaching the end of the city scene. It's all about timing and knowing when they're about to come out. Firing as soon as they appear will usually take them out before they can fire on you. Yes, just stay low (but not too low) and don't even bother with the missiles. They're not worth the risk as you don't score many points for them. Buildings are where the big points are.
Destroying the silos isn't much harder in advanced, but it's pretty brutal in suicidal. What I do is set my altitude, fly across a silo and if my jet flashes pink, I know I'm at the right level. If it doesn't flash, then I adjust the height and fly by again. Once I'm lined up, I'll fly across and time my shot so I nail the silo without stopping my flyby. Again, practice makes perfect.
Attacking the castle is pretty easy, once you know how high to aim your mortar launcher. Take out the enemy soldiers first. The tank isn't much of a threat, so work around him. After you take out the soldiers, take out the doors and the various parts of the castle for big points. As enemy soldiers start to respawn, take them out. Once you've destroyed the castle and the doors, take out the tank.
Inside the reactor, it's all about practice. Know how to position yourself and your angle. Once you get it down, this part isn't too hard either. In advanced and suicidal, you will run out of discs and be forced to attack the castle again, but if you get good and knocking out the robots, you should only have to attack the castle twice in advanced and 3 times in suicidal.
One of the hardest things to do in suicidal is getting your jets out of the hangar. When it takes off, it will take off at a random angle and speed. Gain control of your jet before you open the doors. Be ready to fly out quickly because the doors don't stay open for long.
Hope these tips help. ROM was one of my faves on the Atari 8-bit and C64 back in the day.
Edited by Deteacher, Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:48 AM.