ST: Armed Police Batrider (21.7.14 - correct rank info)

[DEL]

^I've tried that already and got close, but at the mo I'm curious about Car-Pet ST.

[Aliquantic]

Does anyone know if there is any reliable way of increasing the points from chip damage? I've been experimenting with different characters, power-up levels and firing rates, but I'm not a good enough player to come to any solid conclusion (lower damage output seems to help, but it could be simply that it results in more parts getting destroyed). Thank you

[moozooh]

I believe using a character with piercing shot (Car-Pet seems to be especially good for this particular purpose) and maximizing autofire rate will give you the highest point gain rate from chip damage (be sure not to damage the sensitive parts if you want to milk this way!), but it'll also drive the rank insane in no time.

[Plasmo]

but it'll also drive the rank insane in no time.

It actually does not.

It was found out earlier, that even if you have max shot frequency and milk the shit out of the bosses, it doesn't affect the rank that much.

[moozooh]

I stand corrected then.

[shadowbringer]

Does anyone know if there is any reliable way of increasing the points from chip damage? I've been experimenting with different characters, power-up levels and firing rates, but I'm not a good enough player to come to any solid conclusion (lower damage output seems to help, but it could be simply that it results in more parts getting destroyed). Thank you

just a suggestion, I thought that Grasshopper (not sure which type) would yield more points from Gob-Robo's shoulders (or Black Heart's wings) than Car-Pet (S) (didn't matter much if she's near the top), on default firerates (in Special Course); of course, that's with the 3rd option formation :p

just another opinion, though, Car-Pet is better at collecting medals than Grasshopper is :p

Also.. if there are more parts being destroyed, as you mentioned, you may need to somehow be able to damage individual parts more than with your piercing shots (or other types.. such as Miyamoto or Bornnam); for example, you may use the aura attack on Confrict's flamethrowers as soon as they appear, and as long as there are no guns aiming at you (you may need to learn some timing on these guns to know when to retreat), or if you can't kill them with aura attack, try to not use piercing shots on them (if you have a charge shot, spend it where it won't damage the boss, try to damage the flamethrower the most with your shot -- not sure if shooting during the missile spam helps minimize the damage on the boss. Tap shot after you've used charge shot if you need to move the options again). There are also other parts from this boss which require some patience and some luck for the boss to reveal them (the side gunners and the frontal cannons on the main body). Hope this helps..

[captpain]

Does anyone know how the spinning lasers work at the second form of Discharge? Is there a pattern to the direction in which they rotate?

[Icarus]

Does anyone know how the spinning lasers work at the second form of Discharge? Is there a pattern to the direction in which they rotate?

Code: Select all

(on first appearance) spin, stop and fire ->
fire and sweep to left ->
spin, stop and fire ->
fire and sweep to right ->
repeat ->

[captpain]

Does anyone know how the spinning lasers work at the second form of Discharge? Is there a pattern to the direction in which they rotate?

Code: Select all

(on first appearance) spin, stop and fire ->
fire and sweep to left ->
spin, stop and fire ->
fire and sweep to right ->
repeat ->

Excellent, thanks. One less thing to worry about...

BTW, your Grubby no-miss video linked in the OP gives a 404.

[Icarus]

BTW, your Grubby no-miss video linked in the OP gives a 404.

Permissions error. Just fixed it, and working.
Let me know if you guys spot any other minor issues.

[BPzeBanshee]

Excuse my ignorance, but when it comes to submitting scores I SHOULD be playing with the Japan version B ROM shouldn't I? The threads I've seen just say 'defaults' and I couldn't really see much else for details MAME-wise.

[Aliquantic]

You probably should use Japan B since it's the "standard" and ideal for scoring, but the high score thread on here allows other versions (mainly for people with the PCB):

Please denote your version if you aren't playing Japan B. Use all defaults. Stage Edit, Team Edit, and Guest Players are allowed and recommended.

[BPzeBanshee]

You probably should use Japan B since it's the "standard" and ideal for scoring, but the high score thread on here allows other versions (mainly for people with the PCB):

Please denote your version if you aren't playing Japan B. Use all defaults. Stage Edit, Team Edit, and Guest Players are allowed and recommended.

Thanks, though I'm a stickit to having specific info for 'defaults' I think I'll be allright not changing any of the settings this time around. Japan B is easier than Europe version by far.

[captpain]

How do I know when Bashinet 1's last form is going to time out?

Is there a set amount of cycles? Does it depend on the time you've spent on his (her?) earlier forms?

[Plasmo]

No fixed amount of attack cycles, it only depends on total time of the fight (same with all other bosses btw). It's best to memorize how many loops the music does. IIRC he times out after 3 or 4 loops, but I'm not too sure.

[BPzeBanshee]

No fixed amount of attack cycles, it only depends on total time of the fight (same with all other bosses btw). It's best to memorize how many loops the music does. IIRC he times out after 3 or 4 loops, but I'm not too sure.

I think it's 3 loops in general for the bosses. When I took on Envy the other day I could've sworn it was three.

Speaking of Envy, is there any specific pattern to the purple laser field attack that occurs when the aimed blue laser turrets are blown off? I swear there's gotta be a deadzone for the attack patterns because I thought I found one the other day but I can't seem to figure it out.

[captpain]

I've been playing Car-Pet, and I'm definitely on my way to beating my Strawman Advanced score...

It's just driving me crazy how many times I'm biting it on Boredom. I guess it's because scoring on him requires you to be up behind and to the sides at points, and to use your options strategically.

How do Car-Pet players handle the drones? I've been charging them and leaving them off to the side as a shield, but I'm not certain exactly where I want to put them.

[Frederik]

Man, I got hooked on this game big time after I discovered that save states work in Shmupmame. I really liked Batrider before but being able to practice each stage or boss separately makes a huge difference for me. Especially the bossfights are so elaborate that not being able to savestate them made me mad (at least in the regular MAME build I was using, loading up a savestates messed up the graphics badly).

And really, after playing almost exclusively CAVE games in the past few months, going back to the boss-dismembering, stuff-bombing and medal-catching is wonderful after all these bloated enemy chaining systems. The wealth of options and scoring opportunities, the music and the unbelievable graphical detail still astounds me, even after playing this game on and off for four or five years...

Feels EXCELLENT! to be back in Violent City

[Thunderprince]

Thinking about trying to at least 1cc normal, then move on to advanced. I am collecting medals, but I want the difficulty as low as I can keep it. Would you say a solid strategy would be:
-Start with B type Tag-T/Shorty. My main team usually consists of Tag-T, Shorty, Strawman, Car-pet, or D.D.
-Blow up the copter wings on stage 1, get SPECIAL option power up right away and pray I keep them alive as long as possible.
-Don't worry about upgrading shot power ups, option only. This keeps the rank down right? Tag-T and Shorty have better options than shots anyway.
-Focus on medal chaining.
-Luck!

[BPzeBanshee]

Thinking about trying to at least 1cc normal, then move on to advanced. I am collecting medals, but I want the difficulty as low as I can keep it. Would you say a solid strategy would be:
-Start with B type Tag-T/Shorty. My main team usually consists of Tag-T, Shorty, Strawman, Car-pet, or D.D.
-Blow up the copter wings on stage 1, get SPECIAL option power up right away and pray I keep them alive as long as possible.
-Don't worry about upgrading shot power ups, option only. This keeps the rank down right? Tag-T and Shorty have better options than shots anyway.
-Focus on medal chaining.
-Luck!

Personally I just use Shorty Type-A and max out the options and the main shot as well, then stock bombs, forget medals and forget picking up anything else once I hit max power. For scoring I do somewhat the same but use bombs on like everything to get medals. Then again I've yet to really get the hang of figuring out how to pick up a special option powerup (drop x amount or something) so I make do with what I know. I especially try to avoid Envy but I once 1CCed the game using this strategy somehow enabling all three of the rival mechs at Stage 5 anyway.

[Thunderprince]

Made a fair bit of progress. I can make it all the way to the end of highway on one credit on normal mode, depending on the boss order Envy always kicks my ass. Always. That 1cc is so close! But it isn't a *true* 1cc. I hear about ways to avoid a certain boss on highway though, how do you do that? If so, I would try to skip Envy.
My team is Tag-T, Strawman, Shorty. Not always in that order though.

[Plasmo]

I hear about ways to avoid a certain boss on highway though, how do you do that? If so, I would try to skip Envy.

The ST is there for a reason. Read the first post and you'll find out. Skipping Envy is no prob if you know what you're doing.

• Highway Stage: Sobut, Blunt, Envy
  Listed in increasing order of difficulty, these three are the "default" bosses of the Highway stage. You'll always fight at least one of them; which one(s) you meet and how many will depend on your actions during the game.
  
  To begin with, each boss corresponds with a different stage:
  
  • Sobut (green) - Sewer System
  • Blunt (yellow) - Sky High
  • Envy (red) - Airport

At the end of the Highway stage, you will fight the boss corresponding with whatever stage you played as level 2, as determined by "stage edit". Because Envy is extremely difficult, it's a bad idea to play the Airport stage first if you're shooting for survival.

To fight more than one of these bosses, you must have a surviving Batrider character in your team, and fulfill the following conditions:

• Bosses for levels 2 & 3 - Get a shot Special Level Up
• Bosses for levels 2 & 4 - Get an option Special Level Up
• Bosses for levels 2, 3, & 4 - Get both option and shot Special Level Ups

Naturally, if you're trying to survive, avoid special level ups like the plague! The opposite is true if you're aiming for a high score.

[Deca]

OK, something that's been bugging me for a long time.

Sometimes when I continue shooting Conflict after it's been destroyed my score will jump up significantly in one or two bursts, and other times it'll just continue rolling over at a normal rate. This is after destroying all parts and then just focusing fire on the center bit. What causes this, is there a way to get it consistently?

[Icarus]

OK, something that's been bugging me for a long time.

Sometimes when I continue shooting Conflict after it's been destroyed my score will jump up significantly in one or two bursts, and other times it'll just continue rolling over at a normal rate. This is after destroying all parts and then just focusing fire on the center bit. What causes this, is there a way to get it consistently?

Depends on what ship is active at the time - ships that have piercing or splash damage attacks (eg Carpet, Miyamoto, Gain etc) get lots of tick points. Carpet is particularly good at it.

[Thunderprince]

Do C type ships raise the rank quicker? I was at #12, died, C type Strawman comes out and suddenly it's at #20. I die, B type Tag-T and it goes back down to #12.

[Icarus]

Do C type ships raise the rank quicker? I was at #12, died, C type Strawman comes out and suddenly it's at #20. I die, B type Tag-T and it goes back down to #12.

That's not rank, that's Shot Frequency (autofire rate). Different subtypes start with different autofire rates.

[Plasmo]

Sometimes when I continue shooting Conflict after it's been destroyed my score will jump up significantly in one or two bursts, and other times it'll just continue rolling over at a normal rate. This is after destroying all parts and then just focusing fire on the center bit. What causes this, is there a way to get it consistently?

Are you sure, you're destroying all parts before? Even the tiny bits to the left and right, which are covered by the arms before and are shooting huge spreads of bullets to the sides? Watch this video. I am referring to the bits that both shoot from 2:12 onwards.
Furthermore, when you destroy the boss just as he has opened the main core, where he randomly shoots bigger yellow bullets (exactly as shown in the vid, when ICR destroys the boss), this part will stay open and you can continue destroying it, even after the boss is finished.

These are usually the parts that give you quite a good score boost after the destruction of the boss. The strategy here is to harm the parts when the boss is still alive and then finish them off altogether.

Keep in mind that the missile backpack will not stay open during the destruction sequence, even if you've destroyed the boss while it's spewing missiles. This one you need to completely destroy before the boss itself.

[Deca]

Ahhhh I didn't realize the side launchers could be destroyed or that there were bits to destroy after the yellow shots are fired, that explains it.

As for the backpack, I'm guessing the only real way to do it is via bomb? I guess Garegga ships with the right option formation could hit it but it seems like they'd have a really hard time dodging the missiles.

[Plasmo]

As for the backpack, I'm guessing the only real way to do it is via bomb? I guess Garegga ships with the right option formation could hit it but it seems like they'd have a really hard time dodging the missiles.

A bomb would damage the boss itself too much. Indeed a careful approach with a Garegga ship is the (only?) way to go. However, since this is rather difficult to do, it should only be done if you're completely going to maximize your score. Not really worth it before you can't consistently 1cc Advanced mode for example.

[Icarus]

Found a nice Batrider Advanced run on nicovideo, this time with a Garegga team. Final score is M,539,130, player is TTH.
pt1: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13512472
pt2: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13512524
pt3: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13512619
pt4: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13512671

There's a 1.1GB version of the run for those who want a high quality version, here:
http://firestorage.jp/download/4711e80a ... 073de6c49a