HSC18 Round 2: BLUE MAX

[Gury]

Eh, I am not good at this game. My last go... 1390

[+therealbountybob]

9 hours ago, David_P said:

A few things I have learned over time:
...

Great tips above, thanks David we look forward to your score

 

gury - a more general tip for antyone struggling - try flying mid height 50sh and move around L/R more to avoid being hit.

 

doctorclu - how about a doing gravity landing see if it crashes and if it works how about a no fuel gravity landing?!!!

 

8bitguy1 - yes as drc says get low about 30 before it appears, get up to the top of the screen and positioned ahead of time, there is usally one more plane then it's clear before the runway appears, yoy get used to it. I have not once been bombed on the runway or had to take off early.

 

Round 3 POLL OPEN

[doctorclu]

3 hours ago, therealbountybob said:

doctorclu - how about a doing gravity landing see if it crashes and if it works how about a no fuel gravity landing?!!!

Can confirm the no fuel gravity landing.  (wish I had recorded that one.)

 

3 hours ago, therealbountybob said:

8bitguy1 - yes as drc says get low about 30 before it appears, get up to the top of the screen and positioned ahead of time, there is usally one more plane then it's clear before the runway appears, yoy get used to it. I have not once been bombed on the runway or had to take off early.

That is an interesting claim.   I've noticed you tend to not get bombed when you have barely enough runway it is like the pilots are saying "He's dead." 

 

Also you tend to get bombed when you've gone through and decimated a lot of the targets, that tends to make them mad.   The manual even states this:

 

 

 

[carlsson]

Hm. Perhaps Synapse should've consulted a historian when they published this game. The term "axis" was first coined by Mussolini in September 1923, when Italy sought an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France. If Blue Max really takes place during World War 1 (1914-1918), there were no axis powers at that point. There may have been other alliances though, e.g. the Central Powers.

 

Something similar could be said about the school buses as pointed out before, that they may have taken a few creative approaches in history telling in this game.

Edited February 9, 2021 by carlsson

[doctorclu]

I have often wondered about columns of 10 story buildings in 1914-1918.  

 

 

[carlsson]

Skyscrapers in the range of 10-20 stories were built in the 1880s though (in the USA at least), so comparatively it would be slightly more likely to see tall houses in the mid-1910's than seeing motorized school buses.

Edited February 9, 2021 by carlsson

[+therealbountybob]

Ok get Polin and the Synapse guys in HSC HQ office (corner of dining room) this game needs a recall

 

re the landings, yes it is tight but not a problem usually, hardest thing is not landing on the left edge with the wind.

 

Great game

 

I'm really enjoying this season already!

Round 3 POLL OPEN

 

 

[doctorclu]

5 minutes ago, carlsson said:

Skyscrapers in the range of 10-20 stories were built in the 1880s though (in the USA at least), so comparatively it would be slightly more likely to see tall houses in the mid-1910's than seeing motorized school buses.

The school buses... true true.

 

Now back to tall buildings, using that link you shared, sure 10 story buildings existed.   Looks like we have this picture of what one of those ten-ish story buildings looked like this being the Wainwright Building, a 10-storey red brick office building in St. Louis, Missouri, built in 1891

 

 

But this was not the norm in WWI.   This is more what St. Louis looked like around that time...

 

 

Pretty tall, but not 10 stories.   Also that is in the United States.   I'm kinda hard pressed to find a place in Germany with columns (and that is the key word here) of 10 story buildings in Germany in WWI.   I mean Munich is starting to look like that, those six story buildings might have been there then.

 

 

Oh here we go... Hamburg!   that's looking pretty close to what we see in the game. 

 

 

Checking to see pictures of Hamburg I see this one from bombing runs in world war II.   A lot of six story buildings it looks like, not 10 story.

 

 

All this to say, that screen with all the 10 story buildings always seemed out of place to me even as a kid.

 

 

[carlsson]

Now I kind of want to play Pole Position in the next round, so we can dissect how realistic it is, in particular how hitting another car ever so slightly results in erupting flames.

[doctorclu]

 

[+therealbountybob]

Superb photos, who said this high score club isn't informative (no one)!

 

When I said about the gravity landings I ment can you get very low and then let gravity land you... not so easy now eh?!

 

[doctorclu]

4 minutes ago, therealbountybob said:

When I said about the gravity landings I ment can you get very low and then let gravity land you... not so easy now eh?!

 

Oh I was completely out of gas and only on glide.  And by glide I mean the way that bricks don't.

[mimo]

Not great, but at least I had a go this round 

 

My 65xe recently bought back from the dead. Must put it back together at some point ?

[mimo]

[+David_P]

When you're refuelling to take out the one last bunker you missed on your first pass through the city, and you're in the zone, and your boss calls and you have to take it so you have to abandon your game

[+therealbountybob]

6 hours ago, doctorclu said:

 

Oh I was completely out of gas and only on glide.  And by glide I mean the way that bricks don't.

but you are still moving u/d to land, can you get low and let gravity do the landing part from 1 to 0 AHHH Now trbb's explained it properly

48 minutes ago, David_P said:

When you're refuelling to take out the one last bunker you missed on your first pass through the city, and you're in the zone, and your boss calls and you have to take it so you have to abandon your game

Space is pause, then when your boss is paused you can continue with Blue Max

[graywest]

RULE BRITANNIA!!

Score: 7990 (Blue Max Class 4)

 

I honestly have no idea what I did differently this time vs. the other times I've beaten the game in the past week. If I had to guess, I'd say receiving Blue Max is a function of time to beat the game. My score is only a tiny bit higher than the last one I submitted (that I ranked Squadron Leader for) but if I'm remembering correctly, I reached the city after 3 or 4 stages. Then I got lucky and bombed all the bases on my first flyover.

 

Also, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I was screaming at my aging smartphone to "HURRY AND OPEN THE $!@*% CAMERA APP!!" so I could get a shot before the rank disappeared. ?

Edited February 10, 2021 by graywest

[graywest]

One more bit of trivia - I think there's a story behind the "Flying Tiger" rank. It seems you're awarded this rank if you bomb all three bases in the city, but are then destroyed before returning home for the final landing.

 

As it turns out, there's a WWII-era John Wayne movie called "Flying Tigers". I haven't seen it myself, but here's Wikipedia's synopsis of the ending. (SPOILER ALERT!?)

 

"...Jim receives notice that a vital bridge must be destroyed. The target is so heavily defended, however, that the only way there might be a chance of succeeding is to fly in very low with a single unescorted bomber; the mission appears likely to be a one-way suicide mission. Jim volunteers to fly the bomber, but Woody invites himself along at the last second, much to Jim's irritation. They proceed to attack the bridge too late to keep a crucial enemy supply train from crossing. Their aircraft is hit by flak and catches fire. Jim bails out with an unexpected push from Woody, expecting Woody to follow. Woody, however, has concealed the fact that he is bleeding, having been hit by shrapnel from a flak burst. He then takes the bomber's controls and crashes into the train, destroying it at the cost of his own life."

 

So basically, if you save the day but die in the attempt, you're a Flying Tiger.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers_(film)

Edited February 10, 2021 by graywest

[carlsson]

Ok, so yet another term possibly coined during WW2, in a game that takes place during WW1. Creative freedom indeed, and perhaps kids playing video games would be none the wiser what was the difference between the two years with a mere 20 years apart. I have a feeling as time will pass, future generations will know less and less about those and mix up details. If it wasn't for the fact that the title Pour le Mérite, informally known as Blue Max and awarded since 1740, stopped being used by the end of WW1, the entire game just as well could take place during WW2.

[+therealbountybob]

What a great thread

 

I watched Flying Tigers recently too (as well as The Blue Max) both good films.

 

Round 3 POLL OPEN

[McKong]

On 2/7/2021 at 12:36 PM, therealbountybob said:

Will start up the next poll in a few minutes!

 

Latest tables

Just using score now but Blue Max Rank will out rank lower scores (Blue Maxes split by class if anyone gets one other than 4, otherwise tied for win, score not used as lower may be better). I'm glad I know what I'm doing  See bonus point info below

...

I think ranking on score is a bit suspect as you can achieve a higher score by missing the objectives.

The best go I've had was where I pretty much went straight through and hit all the targets and achieved SL4. I think maybe if you complete the game after having multiple tries at hitting the targets in the city you'll rank SL but perhaps class 1-3

 

Squadron Leader Class 4 5480

[+therealbountybob]

9 hours ago, McKong said:

I think ranking on score is a bit suspect as you can achieve a higher score by missing the objectives.

The best go I've had was where I pretty much went straight through and hit all the targets and achieved SL4. I think maybe if you complete the game after having multiple tries at hitting the targets in the city you'll rank SL but perhaps class 1-3

 

Squadron Leader Class 4 5480

Maybe put it back next table!! So you are in the Class 1 is lower camp?

[McKong]

55 minutes ago, therealbountybob said:

Maybe put it back next table!! So you are in the Class 1 is lower camp?

Not sure, it would interesting to know what Deteacher and GrayWest did on their SL runs. I hit all three targets in the city first time but got a lower score than they did.

[graywest]

6 hours ago, McKong said:

Not sure, it would interesting to know what Deteacher and GrayWest did on their SL runs. I hit all three targets in the city first time but got a lower score than they did.

Most of the time I just bomb the crap out of everything. I find strafing to be too dangerous with the gravity on. I've gotten pretty good at bombing the boats in the river for extra points and shooting down enemy planes for 100 pts. apiece.

 

I'm thinking about checking the score for each item tonight against what's listed in Atari's manual. I'm not sure all the values are accurate. I think there may also be different values for things bombed vs. strafed (like the boats). Might take a look at that tonight.

 

EDIT: Here's what I came up with for a scoring chart. The Atari manual is fairly accurate, but a few items have different values depending on whether you bomb them or strafe them, and a few items were left out.

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by graywest

[McKong]

9 hours ago, graywest said:

Most of the time I just bomb the crap out of everything. I find strafing to be too dangerous with the gravity on. I've gotten pretty good at bombing the boats in the river for extra points and shooting down enemy planes for 100 pts. apiece.

 

I'm thinking about checking the score for each item tonight against what's listed in Atari's manual. I'm not sure all the values are accurate. I think there may also be different values for things bombed vs. strafed (like the boats). Might take a look at that tonight.

 

EDIT: Here's what I came up with for a scoring chart. The Atari manual is fairly accurate, but a few items have different values depending on whether you bomb them or strafe them, and a few items were left out.

...

 

I meant in terms of how you completed the city, first run or more. I thought perhaps that might have a bearing on the SL Classes