RQ: Layer Section II/Raystorm

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
Post Reply
tabithaboof
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:19 am
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Contact:

RQ: Layer Section II/Raystorm

Post by tabithaboof »

I have had this game for a while but am just getting into it after seeing a chap in the arcades get what must have been a near perfect run on the first 5 levels. I have a couple of questions about the game if anyone would be kind enough to help, I generally use the RG2 if that makes any difference.

- With the Percentage bonus at the end I seem to have HUGE variance in my percentages. Lock on percentage seems straight forward enough, how the total percent of enemies destroyed with the lock on laser. The problem I have is with the total enemies destroyed. Talking about the first level only I seem to vary from about 60 percent to about 95 percent even though my runs seem pretty much identical.

- How do the percentages equate to your final score bonus for each level?

- Lastly I dont know if these are appropriate questions for this forum but I have the Saturn version, is there any major difference between Saturn ps1? Also does anyone have any idea what a top level score for each of the craft is so I have something to aim for? Not that I expect to reach top level any time soon by the way.
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Post by BulletMagnet »

Ofhand supposedly the graphics are better on the PS, but there's an extra ship available in the Saturn version...I think there are a few other differences, but I don't recall what they are.

Not sure how such big discrepancies in the Total Enemies Destroyed count could happen...the more stuff you manage to blow up, the higher it goes, so thus, if you want the count to go higher, blow more stuff up. At least that's how it works to the best of my knowledge...
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Re: RQ: Layer Section II/Raystorm

Post by Randorama »

tabithaboof wrote:
- With the Percentage bonus at the end I seem to have HUGE variance in my percentages. Lock on percentage seems straight forward enough, how the total percent of enemies destroyed with the lock on laser. The problem I have is with the total enemies destroyed. Talking about the first level only I seem to vary from about 60 percent to about 95 percent even though my runs seem pretty much identical.

- How do the percentages equate to your final score bonus for each level?
Both percentage bonuses can give you up to 500k points if you get 100% (and thus: 500k*2=1M).. About the enemies destroyed: i'm not completely sure ( i will post tomorrow to confirm) but you you should destroy all bosses' parts, they should be included in the enemy count for percentage purposes.
Also does anyone have any idea what a top level score for each of the craft is so I have something to aim for? Not that I expect to reach top level any time soon by the way.
The records should be around 18M for R-gray 1 and 28M for R-gray 2. The huge difference lies in the scoring system, which works like in Rayforce (so please check my ST on said game for an explanation): since the R-Gray 2 has 16 instead of 8 lasers, the last laser hits can be extremely rewarding.

Also, when you bomb, if a chain is going on, all enemies on screen are worth the value of current laser (i.e. if you're at the seventh hit with the lock-on laser and its value is, for instance, 12,8k points, by releasing a bomb you will get 12,8k points per every target hit). This basically means that in some key spots you can get A LOT of points by bombing: also, you can replenish more quickly the bomb metre with R-Gray 2, especially if do long chains (the higher the number of hits, the more energy you get back in your bomb bar).

Other things worth of note: the fourth stage alone can be worth up to 10M (for R-Gray 2, about 6M for R-Gray 1), since there are many possible max chains (i.e. 16 lock-ons) and you can place a couple of very rewarding bombs.

Hope this helps a bit, please let me know if you have other doubts.
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
tabithaboof
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:19 am
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Contact:

Post by tabithaboof »

Thanks very much for the info. Very helpful. I was thinking about starting a Hi score thread for Raystorm but if the top score is around the 28 000 000 mark I think i need to do alot more work. I havent reached 10 percent of that yet. I think it might be the sort of game you need to watch a super play of (if there are any known ones?) to learn the optimum bombing locations and some of the harder chains.

Also one other thing, I seem to have trouble with the length of some of my chains. For example at the start of level 1 using the R Gray 2, I kill the 5 ships at the beginning, then 2 lock ons to the large green ship then the little triangluar formation of three ships, kill them.

Then I lock onto the next green ship,(total 2) the next triangle formation (total 5) then wait until the little squad of 5 ships comes in from the left, sometimes I seem to be able to continue my chain on through all 5 of these for a total of 10 lock ons, sometimes i cant chain the last ship in the squad of 5. The wierd thing is at this point I havent upgraded my lock on laser so it has a total of 8 lock ons but I can get a 10 lock chain. Any idea what is going on?

Sorry re reading that ist not really very clear is it?
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Post by Randorama »

I think you need a video to get a full grasp of the possible tricks you can do. The r-gray 2 has a TRAVELLING LASER, in the sense that you shoot one laser and it goes from target to target on lock-on order.Consider that the gameplay completely exploits the 3D settings, so if you lock-on a target which is very low in the back-ground, the laser will take some time to hit it: in the meanwhile, some enemies can appear on the screen and you can exploit this effect to extend your chains. Also, it's *fundamental* to know which parts of the scenery you can lock-on, most of the time they're here for the sole purpose of letting you extend the chain (end of the second stage, for instance). I don't have any access to videos right at the moment, however...one general trick is this, though: try to lock-on distant enemies once you have a chain going, so you have time to get back (in the lowe part of the screen) and thus chain incoming enemies. The laser tends to be slower than you, especially if it goes in the background, so you have to exploit this factor a lot. Hope it helps a bit.
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Post by BulletMagnet »

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, does "scenery" type stuff that you can lock on and blow up count as "enemies," i.e. if you miss some of it your shoot down % at the end of the level will be lower? Or is it just "extra?"
stratos
Posts: 278
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Caserta, Italy

Post by stratos »

I think that woul'd be better if I don't open another Raystorm thread, so we can keep all the information regaarding this game in one only discussion (even if it's an old one).


So, I have some questions about the boss parts chaining: as said in the Rayforce ST, if you do a chain the more enemiens you kill in it, bigger is the multiplier. But, in boss battles, you can hit the same boss part with a lot of laser hits or multiple parts without destroing them.

How work the multiplier in these situations? What shoul'd be the most profitable strategy in boss dissection?
User avatar
doctorx0079
Posts: 1277
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:16 pm
Location: Dayton, OH
Contact:

Post by doctorx0079 »

As for Total Enemies Destroyed count, and Total Enemy Lock-Ons, the boss does count. I think the boss is 25%. To get 100% for Lock-Ons you must finish off the boss with a lock-on. I think only objects that shoot at you count, not buildings or ships that don't fire. You can lock-on buildings and stuff to increase your multiplier. Normally I get 100% and 100% in stage 1 just by making sure that I blow up everything with a lock-on. On the bigger ships, use your regular laser for a while and then shoot a couple lock-on missles at it. Also, R-Grey 1 is good for a change of pace or for total beginners, but R-Grey 2 >> R-Grey 1. And use Manual not Auto.
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: RQ: Layer Section II/Raystorm

Post by Rastan78 »

Mega necro thread bump to add some info to the discussion. Just some random Raystorm factoids in no particular order. I'm not an expert on the game so feel free to add to these or correct me if I'm wrong about anything here.

Ship characteristics:
-Directional movement varies in speed with horizontal being the fastest, vertical the slowest and diagonal in between. The difference is slight.
The exact movement rates are:
Vertical = 1
Horizontal = 1.071
Diagonal = 1.036

-The player hitbox varies in shape depending on whether interacting with a projectile or an enemy. It varies in size depending on which of three zones on the screen you're in: front middle or back.

-There's no difference between 1P and 2P side. I asked WIZ about this and he said he plays on 2P side mainly bc he like the way the RG2 looks in blue.
(Note: according to RGray1, the player not the ship, 2P side maintains slightly higher rank after death??)

Rank:
-Rank has 16 difficulty levels
(Note: the gadget on PS4/Switch labels the 16 levels as 0-15 not 1-16 so rank will be maxed at 15)
-Rank increases by survival time, clearing a stage or achieving a high destruction rate.
(Note: I haven't been able to confirm about the destruction rate. It's definitely not the case that you can do a low rank play by simply not shooting down enemies. Maybe there's a very high threshold where rank increases? In practical terms I think the only thing most players would concern themselves with is the duration of boss fights. Quick kills will equal lower rank and long extended boss fights will result in higher rank due to the sharp increase of rank by survival time.)
-Aside from the faster bullet speed, some sections will have more enemy spawns at high rank.
-The only thing that lowers rank is a death.

Score:
-The end stage bonus is calculated as Enemy destroyed x Lock on rate x 50. So max score is 500,000 (100x100x50) Because the rates are multiplied if you didn't use lock shot at all your bonus will be 0 even if you achieved high destruction %.

-While boss kills account for 25% of both destruction and lock on bonus, with individual boss parts it doesn't alter lock on rate. If you want to go for boss parts shoot them with whichever weapon is convenient.
User avatar
Rastan78
Posts: 1964
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:08 am

Re: RQ: Layer Section II/Raystorm

Post by Rastan78 »

More random Raystorm info incoming.

Extra details on the hitboxes:
- The ship hitbox used to interact with bullets is a square sized 10 pixels on a side at midscreen. When you move up or down it decreases and increases in size. The bullet hitboxes are a single dot at the center. So in essence large ship hitbox tiny bullet hitboxes.
- The ship hitbox used to interact with enemies is smaller and round. At midscreen it is roughly 2 pixels and also scales in size with vertical movement. The enemy hitboxes are also round and of course vary in size per enemy.

Lock on laser:
- The duration of a lock on is 6 secs and the damage rating for a single laser is an identical 512 for both ships.

Hyper laser:
- This is the one that results from max locks to a single target. Bc it's a Taito game the damage is calculated by a complex algorithm. I'll list the important points.
- Damage output increases with higher max lock levels and increases over time the enemy stays in contact with the explosion.
- The hitboxes for both ships hypers are spherical and 3 dimensional. So they have limited vertical range, but an enemy can be directly above or below and still be out of range.
- The RG2's black hole does much more damage at its very center and damage is reduced by concentric rings going outward. An enemy that spends time in the direct lock zone will take much more damage than one that flies into the edge of the black hole momentarily.

Special Attack (A+B button)
- It's very useful for scoring purposes as the multiplier increases for each enemy destroyed. However it doesn't increase at the same rate as the lock on attacks. Whereas the RG2 can reach a max multiplier of x256 with 16 lockons, the special attack would require 28 enemies destroyed to max out at x256.
- SP gauge refill: It's refilled by using lock on attacks. A single laser landing on an enemy gains 20 units on the gauge. An enemy destroyed by lock on rewards 39 units.
- The cluster of 32 circular explosions produced is totally random in distribution so there is an RNG element to using it for score. The hitbox of each explosion is a 3D cylinder that extends throughout the play area vertically. The visible circular explosion is essentially a flat cross section of the hitzone. So any enemy that enters the circle will receive full damage regardless of height.
Post Reply