[Sector Editor]

How many possible "winners" would you be expecting? 16 max, I would think...

[Rules of the Game]

Formations seem to come from random bases. I turned cheats on and basically waggled back and forth in the same spot/hovered in the top left section of the map, 9 successive formation launches came from random of the 4 remaining bases, noted same random behavior on 3 rounds.

[Rules of the Game]

Spy ship hitting an asteroid or mine or shot fired by the base also randomly score 200,400,800

[Rules of the Game]

When in Condition Red, I've seen up to 4 P/I types come at me in quick fashion. A Battle Station Alert can still be called and once the formation in on the screen, the kamikaze Condition Red ship don't spawn

[Rules of the Game]

Regarding the Spy Ship:

 

playing in MAME confirms this:

Identifying and destroying Spy Ships is especially important. If Spy Ship sees you (which occurs whenever you see a Spy Ship), and manages to get away, you will typically end up in a red-alert scenario, with massive amounts of P-Types and I-Types coming after you. If you miss a Spy Ship the first time that you notice it, don't worry. It will typically pull a 180 and do another run or two past you. Do not let it get away during this time. The only other thing that can prevent a red-alert beside you shooting the Spy Ship, is if the Spy Ship inadvertently collides with an Asteroid or a Mine.

 

from:

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Bosconian/How_to_play#Spy_Ship

 

 

and it looks like the Spy Ship scores randomly 200, 400 or 800 with no pattern that I can see.

When the massive amounts of Red Alert P-types and I-types come at you they spawn just off screen in front of your ship (ie if you are heading straight up then they attack from the top, directly in line with your ship, but with some randomness as to how directly in line they are.

[Station revisions]

I think even on the lower levels, bases will shoot through each other (if you follow their shots across the screen far enough). They seem to just ignore each other.

correct

[Station revisions]

On higher levels, one base will shoot thru the other

Invincibility On

The pod at A will shoot at me if I am in its firing arc, even if I was in the middle of the base to the left.

The pod at B CAN'T shoot me because I am above it's arc.

[Station revisions]

Haven't tried it, but these mame invincibility cheats for bosconian could be useful for determining firing behaviours? http://www.mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=324 Chris

I'll try that, I was trying to get the mame movie recording to work so I can record then just frame step thru after playing but I can't get any convert tool to convert the mame goofy format properly...got annoyed and went back to playing

[Station revisions]

I'll play farther in but I'd say that each pod has a firing arc that overlaps its neighbor but does not break 45ish degrees from center of the compass direction that it sits on. It cant fire in the red zone but can fire in the green (green zone approximate)

 

[Station revisions]

Did some goofy testing. The pods have a narrower firing arc than we think which is why the arcade never shoots itself. It is not any fancy collision avoidance

I wangled back and forth in this zone and neither closest pod could shoot me. The pod at NE could not shoot straight down. The pod at SW could not shoot straight east.

[Revised station shots]

You could still do 3 pods firing, you'd just have to detect if a shot will go through the station and not have the "problem pod" fire at that angle. A lesser angle could be used, however inaccurate it may be. Or not fire at all.

Wha does the arcade game do?

The arcade game doesn't shoot thru the base, destroyed pod or not

 

[Revised station shots]

Yes, I was flying left to right, the pod at "A" fired thru the station just as I crossed the threshold between lower left intact pod and the destroyed lower right one. my ship would have been dead centre between the lower two pod spots

[Revised station shots]

Closest pod and neighbors include pods that have been destroyed, so if all 3 are destroyed the station won't fire at all.

 

As such, A shouldn't be shooting at all as the closest is the pod aabove the ship, and it's neighbors are the leftmost pod and the destroyed pod to the right.

 

Shooting from A could happen if you were flying to the left just before that screenshot was taken.

I'm pretty sure I was flying left to right then turned down just as I took the screen shot, I'll try again

[Revised station shots]

I agree on the 2 Pods only firing, the 3rd often shoots thru the station. But even in this scenario, a shot from "A", a diagonal shot ( currently inside the circle) can sometimes go thru the station

 

 

Thanks for posting the steps, it is neat to see the pod AI visualized.

[Rules of the Game]

The stupid things you notice...and now will bug me forever...

 

Compare the horizontal base vs the vertical.

They rotated the missile launcher bay but they didn't rotate the pods...now the pod window orientation is screwy on the vertical shooting base

[Rules of the Game]

 

I don't really consider the rules to be a "To Do" list. I've been leaning towards green due to legibility - all those Es end up looking like Cs to me.

Well, it is your list, so whatever works for you

I can see where you may also need to cut certain features/details (like the no death bonus above) so from that point of view the green does make sense. What about another color for "won't/can't implement"

[Rules of the Game]

Interesting tidbits here:

https://www.arcade-history.com/?page=detail&id=320

Like us old farts would be good enough players to succeed in this:

"Bonus for no-miss clear (completing a round without dying) - this bonus is given only when the game is set to auto difficulty : multiplier x number of bases, the multiplier starts at 100 points and increases by 100 points each time you get the bonus up to 1,000 points."

[Rules of the Game]

I'm thinking about marking up Rules of the Game to keep track of what's been implemented. Any preference between these?

• this has been implemented

  this has not been implemented

  ---

• this has been implemented

  this has not been implemented

 

If it has been done, cross it off

[Rules of the Game]

I'll have a look at the vizzed page tonight. I'm also wondering if there are major differences in scoring or other things between Older, Old, Newer and midway vs Namco rom sets. I'll do some digging tonight

[Rules of the Game]

Typo. I meant 1500

[Rules of the Game]

Funny, All the times I've played it, in the 80s and in Mame, I never noticed the Midway and Namco map differences. I also just noticed there are two different type of asteroids, both worth the same points.

 

It seems the pod closest to you on the side you are on will shoot, a second pod will also shoot as I fly by, I've never had 3 shoot in quick succession, but maybe higher levels

[Rules of the Game]

Additional note: A space station can't shoot through itself, so if you take out all of the pods on the side you're on, it can't shoot you.

 

Additional question: Does the order you take out an enemy formation affect the points earned? eg. leader first, or leader last?

same bonus points for killing a formation no matter what order, but killing the leader causes the remaining ships to turn and run away

[Rules of the Game]

Verifying now, but I believe it is

6*200 if you just shoot cannons

or

5 *200 for all but one cannon +1500 for center

I was wrong. You get 6*200+1500 for destroying the station by shooting all 6, its best way to score points (or shoot 5 and the core)

You get 1500 for ramming the station (killing you and the station)

You get 1500 for just shooting the core

[Rules of the Game]

Verifying now, but I believe it is

6*200 if you just shoot cannons

or

5 *200 for all but one cannon +1500 for center

[Rules of the Game]

• Verified in Bosconian Older in MAME

Does player earn points if missile collides with asteroid or mine?

Yes, same points as player shot