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Season 12 ~ Week 18/19/20 ~ HomeBrew Weeks


Vocelli

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Aardvark: 198790

 

I think I finally figured out how to make the most of the Easter Egg to improve scoring in the early rounds.  All the scores I've posted up to this point have been without its benefit.  I'm hoping to reach 200k before the deadline.

 

image.thumb.png.d6f5d3f35f6ea743d4c5daac02dc206c.png

 

 

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6 minutes ago, mark griff said:

You know the bug at the bottom that clears the screen that's what I call it I have no manual

Ah, you mean the ant queens. I thought you had found a bug. :D 

 

Yes, these are really helpful. And eating the worms gives you a bonus points multiplier.

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10 hours ago, mark griff said:

I did not use the rainbow bug as much as I should have and did not realize I could eat the blue bug from behind. I found out late by accident or it could have been higher but ill take it

I figured out you could eat the slug from behind, but I am always struggling to even finish levels in time without running out of lives without consideration to score to try to maximize slugs for the multiplier. Or should I worry less about the lives and focus on improving score per level?

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It has been fun following the RAPTOR scores over the last two weeks.  I am genuinely impressed by the high scores, but also very encouraged at all of the improvements being made.  I don't think there are a lot of tricks to getting a good score other than these three basic things:

 

- Maximize points early by not using the boomerang bombs and getting the bonus points at the end of each convoy as well as destroying all of the bosses.

- Avoid overheating, especially avoiding the sky sweeper, which makes you more vulnerable to losing a bunch of lives at once.  Get a feel for firing the laser in short to medium bursts.  The laser temperature comes down faster than it climbs, so even letting up on it occasionally works pretty well.

- Bank as many lives as possible for the later rounds when it gets more difficult.  Starting around 700 points or so, there is a shift in the enemy selection criteria that makes the game more difficult (less blutonium trucks, more rocket trucks).

 

Remember, all scores of 1000 points or more are eligible for a free patch.  Just send me a PM if you are interested.  Here is a picture of the sample patch the vendor sent me today.  I encourage everyone to keep giving it a shot.  Even though the patches will still be available after the High Score Club Homebrew Weeks are over, I would like to give away as many of these as I can in the coming week.  Good luck!

 

 patch.png.c8207bad20e3a12fd7c2dc6d91f7ece4.png

 

 

Here are some additional insights/comments that may or may not be helpful:

- The RAPTOR is faster than everything on the battlefield, except for the rocket truck at its fastest speed.  Don’t immediately panic if any enemy gets by you.  Even when a rocket truck gets by you when coming onto the battlefield fast, it is guaranteed to slow down at least one time.
- Get a feel for the overheat cool down time of three seconds.  There will be times that you feel like a bomb may be need to be used, but you may get your laser back just in time.
- Unless you have a power boosted laser, be careful hanging out on the left side of the screen when the sky sweeper is active in the sky.  It is a recipe for an instant laser overheat.
- Where the sky sweeper exits the sky on the right side of the screen is not necessarily where it will reenter on the left side of the screen.  The idea is that these sky sweepers are being fired by the next forward command vehicle (boss).
- Two of the enemy vehicles move at the same speed as the sky sweeper: the humvee and the blutonium truck.  When either of these two are close to the same horizontal position as the sky sweeper, it is difficult to shoot them without touching the sky sweeper.  As the sky sweeper moves front-back (up-down), learn to fly in and shoot these enemies.  All other enemies move at a slower or faster speed than the sky sweeper, so you should be able to time a better opportunity to shoot them (sometimes just waiting a moment).  Beware though, at some point the sky sweeper's predictable movements do become slightly random.
- At any given point there can only be one jammer on the battlefield.  If there is a jammer on the battlefield when the random logic selects another jammer to come onto the screen, a rocket truck selection is forced.  So, there is some additional benefit for destroying the jammer as soon as possible.
- Similar to the jammer, there can only be one blutonium truck on the battlefield.  If a blutonium truck is on the battlefield and another one is selected, a rocket truck selection is forced.  Furthermore, when a laser power boost is active and a blutonium truck is chosen, a rocket truck selection is also forced.  This is usually not as big of a deal because the power boosted laser makes it easier to destroy the enemies.  But, that is why you may see more rocket trucks when there is a power boost.

- The enemy protective shields only block the RAPTOR laser.  So, it is possible to destroy an enemy with the RAPTOR laser even if the enemy is partially behind the protective shield.  Bommerang bombs always destroy enemies behind the shields.
-  It is imperative to destroy the forward command vehicle (boss) on every level.  Not only are the 25 bonus points a must for a high score, you lose two lives if the boss is allowed to retreat off the screen to the left.
- Starting with level 2, the boss always comes out firing the sky sweeper, so just wait for him to come out first.

- Only the end effector of the sky sweeper causes the RAPTOR laser to overheat.  The sky sweeper beam projected from the boss is safe (the RAPTOR is actually flying in front of it in that perspective).
- The sky sweeper firing length is constant, so when the boss fires is predictable.  During the alternating shields levels, the shield switching is also predictable, but the timing difference between the boss firing and the shield switching is not the same level to level.
- There is no penalty for overheating when battling the boss, so be aggressive.  Generally speaking though, it is better to attack him when he is moving left and just after launching a sky sweeper.  It doesn’t take a lot to destroy the boss, but sometimes it is more efficient when done in several small strikes rather than one lengthy strike.
- There is almost always a moment just before the boss goes off screen for when he will not shoot the sky sweeper.  But, don’t wait until then to inflict all of the damage.
 

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2 minutes ago, Armscar Coder said:

Remember, all scores of 1000 points or more are eligible for a free patch.  Just send me a PM if you are interested.  Here is a picture of the sample patch the vendor sent me today.  I encourage everyone to keep giving it a shot.  Even though the patches will still be available after the High Score Club Homebrew Weeks are over, I would like to give away as many of these as I can in the coming week.  Good luck!

 

 patch.png.c8207bad20e3a12fd7c2dc6d91f7ece4.png

That's a great looking patch!  Thanks for sharing the sample.?

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Aardvark is so good. Getting better and liking every minute of it. I *think* I may have found the easter egg people are talking about, but maybe not. I’ve decided to hit 10k on the first board before continuing on. Seems like a good spot to hit before the spider makes things scary. 

 

Lost my last life with a whopping 40 bonus points. Cool. 

 

Aardvark - 52,440

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Phosphor mode seems to have fixed the flickering issue! I also put an RGB filter on just for fun.

 

Improved to 18400. I am starting to get the feel for bullet speed and enemy movement, but like with Megamania my rhythm is just off and I miss by a pixel constantly.

 

image.thumb.png.47073d7b7d2dcc3569d5befa94ab47c1.png

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