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High Score Competition (April: Starfort)


arcadeshopper

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So we're about to go for a new competition ...

 

There is unsettling news: Astronomers report that a gigantic fleet of alien spaceships is heading towards Earth! Below is a picture taken by a telescope, which shows a ship of the first incoming wave. And there seem to be many more coming...

 

This month February will be the month of defending our planet against the ... TI Invaders!

 

 

Great, love it ! (I was anticipating I read somewhere that Mizapf liked TI Invaders and have been playing on the Sony PSP in the airplane,

the PSP speed has a similar experience as the real TI-99/4A with speed, joystick reaction, etc).

 

 

>> this is for Michael >> have you ever played Xinvaders3D for Linux ?

>> http://xinvaders3d.sourceforge.net/xinv3d.p1.jpg It is really cool, kind of Vectrex / Elite based graphics and shooting invaders in 3D.

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Hello!

 

this is my second post in the forum, first one in the TI 99 forum. I lurked AtariAge for some time, undecided whether to join or not (because of the very few time available). But finally I could not resist because of this nice competition...well, not for the competition but for the fun of (re-)discovering wondeful old games such as TI-invaders!

 

So, hello to all 99ers and this is my attempt (at level 1 and with Classic99 configured as a European console)

 

 

ti-inv_05feb16-2.bmp

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If possible, could you export your screenshot as png, gif, or jpg? BMP seems to be unsupported for inline display.

 

We're at the same problem again, as in Parsec: The PAL version is definitely slower than the NTSC version. Should we consider a rule like if you are using an emulation you should choose the 60 Hz version?

 

By the way, nice score! I guess we'll see some higher levels soon.

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Hello!

 

this is my second post in the forum, first one in the TI 99 forum. I lurked AtariAge for some time, undecided whether to join or not (because of the very few time available). But finally I could not resist because of this nice competition...well, not for the competition but for the fun of (re-)discovering wondeful old games such as TI-invaders!

 

So, hello to all 99ers and this is my attempt (at level 1 and with Classic99 configured as a European console)

 

Welcome. Nice score. The European setup, which I believe is then running at 50 Hz (versus 60 Hz), makes the game run a bit slower. I guess that's an acceptable "cheat" ? ;)

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Wow... Nice score there. :)

 

I have played the game now on my real NTSC computer, Classic99 NTSC, and Classic99 PAL. There is a noticeable difference in the speed of the PAL version of the game, but I still only managed a little over 7,000. Your score is very good, any way you slice it. :)

 

Welcome to the forums, and I am very glad you have decided to join our scoring contest.

 

:D

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Welcome. Nice score. The European setup, which I believe is then running at 50 Hz (versus 60 Hz), makes the game run a bit slower. I guess that's an acceptable "cheat" ? ;)

 

Definitely. As I already posted in this thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241547-official-ti-994a-hi-score-competition/?p=3411296

 

For Parsec I had to learn new strategies. For instance, the European version almost never requires you to switch to Lift 2, always using Lift 3 for normal combat while Lift 1 is for the fuel tunnels. However, Lift 3 in the 60 Hz version is a bit too fast and skips too many rows. As you can see in my screencast, I made use of Lift 2 for the multi-ship waves, especially for the Saucers.

 

For TI Invaders you also have to adapt to the faster pace; I guess it's roughly two waves ahead of the European version in terms of speed.

Edited by mizapf
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@All: I agree that the NTSC version, which I can only try in Classic99 :-( , is faster and harder. I choose to play PAL because it's the version I played when I was 14 :-)

Ok, I will play a little bit more with the PAL setting, and later I will try to switch to the NTSC.

By the way, I think that the NTSC version of the TI99, it the canonical version, because it was much more used than the European version. (for the same reason I consider the PAL version of the Amiga the canonical one, even though the very first version was the NTSC).

 

@Mizapf: Indeed back in the days, when playing Parsec on my PAL TI99, I always thought that Lift 2 setting was useless! :-)

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Damn it! I can't seem to get past the 2400's so far... I even read the Space Invaders strategy tips online, and there are some useful pointers, but obviously a lot of the stuff will not translate to the TI version. Is there a trick to always score high with the saucers for example on the TI?

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Damn it! I can't seem to get past the 2400's so far... I even read the Space Invaders strategy tips online, and there are some useful pointers, but obviously a lot of the stuff will not translate to the TI version. Is there a trick to always score high with the saucers for example on the TI?

 

I tried to concentrate a bit more on the enemy droppings. ;)

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Damn it! I can't seem to get past the 2400's so far... I even read the Space Invaders strategy tips online, and there are some useful pointers, but obviously a lot of the stuff will not translate to the TI version. Is there a trick to always score high with the saucers for example on the TI?

 

Aim for the middle? :P

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Damn it! I can't seem to get past the 2400's so far... I even read the Space Invaders strategy tips online, and there are some useful pointers, but obviously a lot of the stuff will not translate to the TI version. Is there a trick to always score high with the saucers for example on the TI?

 

Position your tank on the side of a block of aliens so that they are coming towards you (so if aliens are going to the right, make sure you stay on the right of the entire block of aliens). That way you know you can safely evade their bombs by moving to the right (where there are no aliens). When they change direction, hide under a bunker until the block has passed you, or race towards the other side. Latter, rinse, repeat...

 

As CS1 points out, the closer to the middle you hit a (yellow) saucer, the higher the bonus. You can also 'wait out' the saucers and get at least four to appear per level instead of shooting the aliens as quickly as you can (each saucer will go more quickly than the previous one though, so they do get harder to hit). I tend to play for saucer bonuses, since they are the easiest way of increasing your score, but you might also want to just concentrate on shooting aliens to get to as high a level as possible :).

Edited by TheMole
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Tip for the yellow mothership: Move to the outer left or right edge, and try to figure out when to press the button. Note that the mothership also speeds up near the end of the wave.

 

Sometimes, I shoot a hole into the lines of the invaders to avoid having to move below them. I also managed to shoot the mothership straight through the lines, but this is more a lucky hit.

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300 for the yellow saucer, 500 for the red one in the interlude. I once managed to get the "SAUCER VALUE: XXX", which means I hit the saucer when it had only one single pixel left, then it became invisible.

 

Done that a few times. The first time I thought I had discovered a bug then I realized I could not see the saucer anymore. I have always been better at hitting the red saucer than the yellow for some reason.

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Position your tank on the side of a block of aliens so that they are coming towards you (so if aliens are going to the right, make sure you stay on the right of the entire block of aliens). That way you know you can safely evade their bombs by moving to the right (where there are no aliens). When they change direction, hide under a bunker until the block has passed you, or race towards the other side. Latter, rinse, repeat...

 

As CS1 points out, the closer to the middle you hit a (yellow) saucer, the higher the bonus. You can also 'wait out' the saucers and get at least four to appear per level instead of shooting the aliens as quickly as you can (each saucer will go more quickly than the previous one though, so they do get harder to hit). I tend to play for saucer bonuses, since they are the easiest way of increasing your score, but you might also want to just concentrate on shooting aliens to get to as high a level as possible :).

All good tips. My problem is likely that I get distracted by other stuff on the screen and forget to look out for falling bombs... I have read somewhere that the best players achieve a zen-like concentration level during play. Urban legend has them even unconsciously levitating :)

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All good tips. My problem is likely that I get distracted by other stuff on the screen and forget to look out for falling bombs... I have read somewhere that the best players achieve a zen-like concentration level during play. Urban legend has them even unconsciously levitating :)

 

I remember phasing in and out of this dimension when I hit my high score.

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