How to play Custodian

[Atlantis]

I completed the first level of three (mentioned in the manual)... Puh!

Some advise how to play the game:

Pods needed:
lvl 1 = 8 pods
lvl 2 = ??? (but i guess between 12 and 15 [i got 6 this far, and had two more pods to destroy when I died])
lvl 3 = 20 (as mentioned in the manual)

When you get the last pod the boss called guardian comes (blast him off with 2 bombs "0" on the numpad)

Weapons on numpad:
1 = your cheap main weapon: buy it all the time and use it much (costs 1 point per shot)
2 = ignore
3 = ignore
4 = ignore
5 = ignore
6 = ignore
7 = ignore
8 = you have this weapon from the beginning: use it as spare
9 = 15 x homing missile is great, buy and use it often/when needed especially against the harder enemies (costs 400 points each)
0 = use it to kill the boss/Guardian who appear when you pick up the last pod; you need 2 of them to kill him, since he comes back one more time (costs 500 each)

Points:
Points/or money. You get them by killing enemy or picking up a pod. After a while you will earn more than you spend = success and progress!

Health:
Use teleport to heal up. It costs but it's good. You also get plenty of health back by destroying the pods.

The pods are destroyed in what I call the "black 3D simulator" at the for corners of the first level.

It's the same enemies on the second level so same tactics are used here as well. The best is to learn how the level is designed, and that takes some time. By now I know most of the first level design so it's kind of easy to plan my raid routes.

Great game! Fast and furious action! Good luck guys!

[Atlantis]

Also... when the pods shoot blue orbs, that will circle you and drain your health fast, the best way to get rid of them is to move in big circles.

Or drop fast downwards while zigzagging.

After a while they blow up.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Atlantis

[Atlantis]

Yes!
I just got to the 3rd level!

You need 12 pods to do so.

Correction:
You only need to kill a Guardian once! If you kill him and teleport he comes back. So better just go and destroy the pod and not teleport.

[masematte]

Wow , thank you, now i have an idea what i must do in this Game.

[+Saturn]

Yeah, thanks. Can't wait to play this again now

[Rick Dangerous]

Still haven't received mine yet but looking forward to it! Thanks for taking the time to post some strategies.

[+CyranoJ]

Still haven't received mine yet but looking forward to it! Thanks for taking the time to post some strategies.

 

It is a very weird game, however, after spending some time with it (Like, a LOT of time with it) it is actually a fun, challenging game - once you know what you are doing!

 

Lots of fun to pick up and blast away for a bit.

[Atlantis]

Thanks guys!

Last time I played it I got the last pod on lvl1 near the exit so I entered it, destroyed the pod and beat the level without killing te Guardian. So you actually don't need to kill him to complete the level if near the exit. But often you're not near the exit so you'll need to kill him anyway, but it's not a criteria to beat the level. Might be good to know.

Level 2 is a bit harder. I have only found one "3D simulator"/exit point. Now the "diamant" shaped tomb health parameter on the right becomes more important, since the pods will drain the tombs energy much faster giving you a deadline to destroy them. Since there is only one 3D sim/exit (that I know of) you need to sweep larger parts on the level at once to see if you bump into more pods and take out more of them at the same time, due to the deadline. This is different between 1st and 2nd level since the pods can be weak (lvl1) or stronger (lvl2). You can see this on the look of the pods: some are white/yellow and som are more red - the stronger ones!

Same goes with level 3. Tomb energy drain faster. And the level is huge and more linear, like you need to travel through corridors to proceed. Have only reached it once yet, but I know my next step and will try it asap.

I know believe there is a total of 4 levels in this game: with 8, 12, 16 and 20 pods needed. But it's still to be verified. Sigh. XD

[PikoInteractive]

One trick I will recommend is to sell the bullets you have when you start a level. They are worth 16 points and would award you a tonof points for you to buy other type of bullets.

[doctor_shred]

My copy arrived at the weekend. Spent about an hour with it and am finally getting an idea of how to progress. Thanks for the tips in this topic.

 

The game is tough but fun. It reminds me of the early 16 bit games in the late 80s. Game difficulty was so much higher then...

[doctor_shred]

Now made it to level 2 thanks to the tips above. Speed is the key. If you hang around you get annihilated pretty quickly.

[+save2600]

...It reminds me of the early 16 bit games in the late 80s.

 

There's a good reason for that… because it is!

[+CyranoJ]

No hand holding, can't fail, unlimited retries, auto play tutorial crap for us.

[doctor_shred]

No hand holding, can't fail, unlimited retries, auto play tutorial crap for us.

 

Yep, the modern generation of games are way to easy. The old school titles make your earn your progress and get a real sense of achievement.

[Zerosquare]

No hand holding, can't fail, unlimited retries, auto play tutorial crap for us.

Awwww. So I assume my idea of adding microtransactions and DLCs to Jaguar games is a no-go too, then?

[pitcrawler]

I've not played the Jaguar version, I'm assuming all mechanics are the same, but I have some advanced tips based on original version:

Not all of the weapons work against all of the enemies, while some work well against certain enemies.
The 50mm Heavy Demolition Rockets don't work against the small blue flying heads, the enemies that ram you or the enemies that hang around the corners of the screen and shoot you.

The Diagonal Multi Plasmas go through most enemies, however they do destroy all enemy bullets that they touch and they're very effective against the big enemies that ram you and also the ones that hang around the corners and shoot. They're pretty much the only defense against the big ramming enemies.

The Guardian is immune to the X15 Homing Kill Shot.

You know how the ammo shop tells you how much damage each weapon does? Well the Guardian won't die until you've done 600 damage. This is why it's essential to save a smart bomb for when he shows up, because it will kill the guardian in one hit.

------

The game manual states that the homing suckers that the pods fire will do more damage the bigger a pod gets. It works like this:
The pods grow through 6 stages. At the first stage, the homing sucker does 4 damage each frame that it is touching you. Every stage that the pod grows will add 4 to this damage, so at stage 6 it will do 24 damage per frame that it's touching you.

The Guardian's homing suckers do 24 damage per frame, just like a maxed-out pod does. You will die in a few seconds without evasive action. Try to use an up and down motion to shake it off you and make it go off the screen, and it will disappear.

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Tomb Energy:
The tomb starts with 512 energy. The yellow crystal shows the energy level.
Each pod remaining in the stage will reduce the tomb energy by (1 * pod stage) every 20 seconds. The pod stage goes up by 1 every 20 seconds up to a max of 6. Level 1 has 8 pods, so the max drain is 48 per 20 seconds.
When you get to level 4 and beyond, there are 20 pods per level, meaning the max drain is 120 per 20 seconds. I'll let you guys do the math.

 

Each pod destroyed gives you back 48 pod energy.

 

 

[JagChris]

Pwning