Strainia questions

[DarkSlayer]

In my quest to play all the awesome 4:3 vertical Shmups I am now on Strainia the Stella machina

I can’t quite workout how weapon upgrades work.

I know I need to upgrade all weapons to their top dan rank for a bonus.

Does increasing a weapons rank/dan increase its effectiveness or is that just for scoring?

Also some weapons when picked up when already equipped will give a ‘2’ e.g missiles2 which I can see does upgrade the damage/firerate. Is it only the blue weapons that can be upgraded to their 2 version or can you upgrade the lasers etc as well?

Are the weapon colors just to show you what type of attack they are? E.g blue is spread and red is direct damage

Thanks for helping me answer my questions! Really liking this game, feel like it lets you get in the flow much better than border down. Maybe not quite as good as under defeat, I’m not sure yet

[BareKnuckleRoo]

To be clear, it's not the weapon you're upgrading but rather your skill rank with the weapon which you do by using it. It's basically a scoring thing, it doesn't affect how well the weapon works. Using the same weapons throughout the game doesn't seem to affect how they perform, and it's purely for scoring where you're encouraged to use weapons to rank them up (I can't remember if sword counts or if it's only projectile weapons). In addition to the bonus points for each rank you gain, every weapon at 1-Dan or higher when you clear the game gives a million points as a bonus.

In the standard game, blue projectile weapons can be upgraded by collecting the same weapon in the same slot twice, in Side Vower it's the red weapons that can be upgraded. The colour of the weapons is just to indicate whose team's weapons you're using. In the standard game, blue weapons are your own side's weapons and red weapons are ones from the enemy, and it's the opposite in Side Vower. Collecting the same weapon twice doesn't let you upgrade it IIRC if it's the opposite side's weapon. Blue team can only upgrade blue weapons, red team can only upgrade red weapons.

[NeoStrayCat]

I can’t quite workout how weapon upgrades work.
-The weapon upgrades are only applicable depending on the side you choose. If you choose the Blue/Strania side, you'll get theirs to Lv.2 max, same if you choose the Red/Vower side.

Does increasing a weapons rank/dan increase its effectiveness or is that just for scoring?
-The ranks are strictly for scoring. It doesn't have any effect on weapons unless you pick them up again depending on the faction. The scoring for the Kyu to Dan levels only happen as long as you keep destroying enemies with the same weapon and picking the same weapon up multiple times. Defeating bosses with the same weapon however, boosts them up slightly. As what BK Roo says, you'll get 1M bonus points for each weapon that has reached 1-Dan or higher. (Up to a total of 9M bonus points for all 9 weapons.)

Also some weapons when picked up when already equipped will give a ‘2’ (e.g.: Missiles 2) which I can see does upgrade the damage/firerate. Is it only the blue weapons that can be upgraded to their 2 version or can you upgrade the lasers etc as well?
-Yes, see first question, its basically the same answer. However, at least for Training mode, you can pick/choose Lv.2 version weapons for both sides before starting a stage. Though yeah, it won't work in normal gameplay since half of the weapons depending on the side cannot be upgraded to Lv.2.

Are the weapon colors just to show you what type of attack they are? E.g blue is spread and red is direct damage
-No, the weapons are based on the faction side. You'll see them more apparent when you defeat enemies. They'll drop their weapons depending on the faction. You won't be able to get your side's weapons unless you hit at a weapon box (or if you continue and 3 random weapons will appear).

[DarkSlayer]

Ah amazing thanks for the really detailed answers guys that’s cleared it up for me.

So for survival I should aim to have the best weapons for each situation and try to upgrade the same faction ones to 2 if possible.

Loving this game so far!