RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
Post Reply
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

Post by SPM »

Does anyone know what exactly is going on here? The score increases by almost 50%!!! Without this trick these enemies give you 5k each. (Vs 465k in this case)

I've tried to do it and results vary a lot (100k-250k) and nowhere near as high. I wonder if the WR-tier scores depend on the success of this trick over everything else (which would be a bummer if it's not consistent at all)

Image

SOURCE: https://youtu.be/ZFSVdU8cW6M?t=974
Another (less lucrative) case: https://youtu.be/1l6XGLGkDhU?t=1018

-------------------------

EDIT: I've just thought of a theory (not proven): enemies can't die while the lasers are active and you're getting a lot of 5k tick points once the enemy's health reaches 0 (and if you don't hit them again once the lasers are off they'll remain alive)

Does this make any sense? Are the differences related to timing and (auto)fire rates then?
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Interesting discovery, well done spotting it. Based on what's going on here:

• Aside from weakening them briefly, the player shoots at the pods only when they're firing the 4-way diagonal lasers.

• At a certain point, shooting them when they fire the 4-way lasers gives 5k per tick. This is the same value for killing the enemy normally, which can't be a coincidence.

• The enemies only die when shot after the 4-way laser, suggesting the 4-way laser makes them briefly invulnerable when firing.

What I suspect is happening is this: the enemies can be lowered to 0 health and shot repeatedly when they're using the 4 way laser. If shot during the animation when at 0 health, the game fails to trigger the death animation because they're in a special attack animation, but the game incorrectly gives you points as though they've died with each hit, allowing you to milk tick points from them, with each tick equal to what you're supposed to get from killing them.

It appears this is the same thing you've concluded based on the footage, so we're in agreement this is probably what's happening. Should be testable easily enough for confirmation. If they can't be killed in their 4-way animation and give points per hit when doing so when the shots should kill them, that'll confirm it. I've found several other videos of the game where these tick points are triggering under these circumstances when shot at low health during the 4-way laser, so it's pretty safe to assume this is what's happening here.

What's not clear is:

• Which weapon is the most lucrative? Is green used deliberately because it's better for this milking than red is? I'm going to assume green is the best simply because someone who is aware of this trick would immediately think to try all 3 weapon types (as well as launching pods), but just in case red is better it's worth testing. Probably not though, you can see I triggered the tick points with the red weapon on one of the pods in this 1CC and it wasn't worth much.

• Is there a timeout? The less lucrative video you posted seems to never stop firing so I don't think it's aware of the milk potential whereas the first video link clearly knows what's up as it waits to pointblank the orbs. It does aggressively kill the second orb though on the second milk, so is that a mistake, or was it because the orbs were about to timeout?
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

Re: RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

Post by SPM »

Yeah, green seems better at dealing more hits and the orb was about to time out.

Current WRs are 5,753,690 without autofire and 5,933,550 with it (probably set with optimal Hz for this).

The run on youtube ended at 5.62M, so "not too far".

If we are correct, having such a finicky and relevant scoring trick at the very end of a run is kind of annoying. I guess it's time to create a save state and see how finicky it really is.
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

How much are extends worth compared to this trick? Is optimal milking worth suiciding to redo the checkpoint too? :lol: Off the top of my head I think extends are pretty damn lucrative for the end-of-game score so I suspect it's not worth it (unlike Formation Armed F where final boss checkpoint milking gives you nearly 8 times what a normal 1CC would be worth).
User avatar
SPM
Posts: 452
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:04 pm

Re: RQ: R-Type Leo, ~500k scoring trick

Post by SPM »

Just imagine hehe but I don't think so. Remaining lives are worth 1M each.

I've tried a save state and got scores within the range 180k-560k. So... quite finicky!

I guess routing this part to weaken them enough without killing them, and practicing the timing and distance would narrow this down, but damn!
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
Post Reply