Intelligentleman

Then we need tiered competition. What if I want to play on level 1 - practice mode? In that mode, I'm only going to get to face off against one dreadnaught. The only way for me to improve my score is to figure out how to blowup more targets before shutting the entire dreadnaught down, ending the game.

I see what you're saying, but that gets back to my original point. Why optimize the experience for the upper-echelon of Intellivision players at the expense of driving more overall participation?

If you can get a better score playing level 5, it could be because higher scores are possible in the level 5 as compared to level 4. If you played level 4 flawlessly, you will always score less than if you played level 5 flawlessly, thereby making this an apples-to-oranges comparison.

I remember we had this same conversation around Tron Deadly Discs. IntyFan didn't want to play on anything other than disc level, but in that game, the different settings slowed down or sped up the entire game, meaning there was little if any benefit to playing on slow-motion. This is not the case with Dreadnaight Factor, based on what I understand from the instruction manual.

Except that at the lower levels those people will never be able to compete with people who are skilled at playing the higher levels, thereby limiting the pool of people willing to try and discouraging more from joining in the fun. EDIT: Now, if we want to offer tiered competition levels in games like this one, I could get behind that. Just seems like a nightmare administratively.

We're already working with a very small pool of people interested in playing Intellivision games competitively on this board. Add to that the fact that some of the games we play are not what I'd call garden-variety games. Some are quite expensive to acquire, and while emulation is allowed, that's a whole other can of worms. Some people don't want to be bothered figuring out how to set that up while others would rather not play on emulation at all. Given all of that, my suggestion would be to keep offering a game setting that will be accessible and enjoyable to the most people possible. Most of the time, that means disc mode (or equivalent). In this case, I think level 4 is a good place to start for most players. For people who find any difficulty setting too easy (meaning, the 1% of this small pool of Intellivision players) that's where I think the bonus game comes in. With the bonus game, we can get however crazy we want without discouraging players who are either new to Intellivision, the current game, or who must take a more casual approach to participating in this friendly competition.

I think that is a fair point

Not if we have anything to say about it!

🤔

Agreed... I remember you saying that before and thinking ok, we'll just see about that... But you were right. Of the games I have (50-ish) it's one of the best. Do you know if this was a port or an original game for the Intelly?

I'm not ready to post a score yet, but I've been amazed by this game. The polyphonic sound, the seizure-inducing graphics... even the gameplay is pretty satisfying.

Oh sh... Slow...Clap...

I'm still playing that way. Going to try to post one more score tomorrow cresting 30k. After that, I'm about to get heavily into Frog Bog D&T mode.

Yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just something else that's possible within the logic of the game. May or may not be useful to you 😊

If you're going full speed it's really not that hard, even with the road at it's widest. EDIT: Essentially, it's the same thing as jumping across the water, except you just keep holding left or right until you're back on the road. As long as you're going the right speed, you're almost as guaranteed to make it back.

I like that. And I did read in this thread about the insane 50k bonus. Tried that approach a few times but decided it would be a long time before I cleared the first course without jamming anyone. Plus I didn't really love playing it that way. Sometimes I'd get 2/3 of the way before crashing someone, but at that point your score is going to be lame because you don't have enough time to smash many vehicles. So that's how I'm playing it 😊 EDIT: I averaged 21 crashes in season one and two, and then whatever else I managed in season 3. EDIT 2: The other thing I'd add is that I find it satisfying to smash cars. Especially several cars in a row... Or cause a chain reaction crash. Basically, I just personally find it more enjoyable to play it that way.

You guys know you can jump from the far left or right of the track and come back on the opposite side? You need to be going pretty fast, and you don't want to do it when the road gets all zig-zaggy because it can make it harder to land safely. But yeah, it's actually quite useful sometimes for clearing a bunch of cars without smashing any of them.

Well damn. I finally got around to playing this, for a little bit anyway. I broke 9,000 points, but didn't take a picture because I got it on my first try and didn't think anything of it. Never was able to crack it again. Doh.

Get outta here!

Well damn. I just got my copy of Dreadnaught Factor in the mail. That was some fast shipping.

Man, then I was very unlucky. There were several instances where the missus and I were almost perfectly overlapping in the air, with tongues outstretched, but SHE got the points.

Even in my most recent high-score games, the damn computer robbed me of SEVERAL tasty morsels. So, if it's like you say and we're playing against the computer, maybe it's not fair to mess with controller 2? I honestly have no idea. haha.

Lol, if that's the worst thing to happen to these controllers in their 40-year lifespan, that's pretty good!

That was good thinking. I like IntyFan's method of tapping the player 2 disc every once in a while to reset the computer AI on it.