RQ: chaining in Dodonpachi

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MovingTarget
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RQ: chaining in Dodonpachi

Post by MovingTarget »

I cant get the hang of it at all, ive only ever once chained all the way up to the mid boss of stage 1. I cant figure out what I'm doing wrong with the chaining, I can never find the right timing for linking the enemies consistently without dying. Therefore my scores suck, by stage 5 am lucky if I have 14,000,000.

Do the bees help a lot in chaining?

Can anyone offer any advice? thanks.
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BulletMagnet
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Re: chaining in Dodonpachi

Post by BulletMagnet »

MovingTarget wrote:Do the bees help a lot in chaining?
I've heard something to this effect...it makes sense, since a "perfect" run through each stage is possible, it should be possible to both expose and collect all the bees and keep your chain going; thus, following the bees should provide a hint as to the chain route. I'm lousy at chaining myself, but again, from what I've heard, that could be of some help...
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captain ahar
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Post by captain ahar »

i chained all of stage 1 once (up to the stage 1 Boss), and have never been able to replicate the feat...

it seems like the bees will help you draw the route somewhat but in the end, the timing and execution is all you.
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

I have a horrible time chaining in DDP and DDPDOJ.

I have videos and replays of it being done and I know the paths. I just cannot do it and do not know why. My meter always drops. When I watch the videos, their meter just hangs around.

It's really frustrating and a big part why I don't play too much of the games. They are fun to just play, but competing for score with them just blows.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Learn how long it takes for the chain gauge to deplete from full (about two seconds IIRC), and how much the meter is filled when you destroy something. I think the amount the gauge is filled is inversely proportional to the size of the enemy destroyed - smaller enemies fill the gauge a lot more.

Also, learn to tap the fire button - either Shot or Auto - to deal as little damage as you can, and learn to use the edge of your shot to take out single targets. By doing this, you can keep more enemies on screen, giving you more targets to help extend your chain gauge.

And applying Laser to large enemies is better than sweeping all over with Shot. Using Laser will also leave more enemies on screen, which is good for chaining (and bad for survival ;))

And one final tip: if you know the route, but keep breaking your chain at a certain point, try a different strategy to keep your chain going at that point. Different strategies with Shot and Laser work best in different situations.
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BER
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Re: RQ: chaining in Dodonpachi

Post by BER »

To chain well, you will need some knowledge about when to destroy certain enemies and plenty of time to execute a long chain even once. As for gaining knowledge, you can look at my web site for hints (I'll leave area 6 up to you, though):

http://www.shmups.com/beepreying/old/st ... index.html

If you wish, you can also look at some tool-assisted MAME replays:

http://park5.wakwak.com/~poo/per/replay/replay.html

I can give you the resources to make these replays work if you want.

As for the grounded bee items, I'm not sure. It might depend on the number of enemies that appear. Go ahead and take the advice of your fellow players. :)

Finally, it took me maybe fifty hours to link together one stage-long chain in area 4 and another fifty hours to get one 800+-chain in area 5. And I also started each stage from a save state. So you will need lots of patience to make good, long chains.
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captain ahar
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Post by captain ahar »

^ just like to tip my hat in your direction BER. i have to say that i don't play Dodonpachi seriously enough to consult your guide often, but have found it extremely helpful when i have. thanks for the resource. :)
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MovingTarget
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Post by MovingTarget »

Ive also found that guide very usefull, cheers BER :D

Thanks for all the other advice people,
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Post by Dave_K. »

Just yesterday I finally chained the first half of stage 1 collecting all the bees (up to about 186 hits), but have played probably 20 more times since then and haven't replicated it. I believe if you follow the mame replay and still are dropping the gague, its most likely you are killing things too quickly...at least this is what I believe is happening to me. Its not enough to learn the path, but all about timing (obviously) to maintain the chain. I have another route that I can take, which I can consistanly chain 176 hits on the first half, but I miss 2 bees. :(
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MovingTarget
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Post by MovingTarget »

Dave_K. wrote:Just yesterday I finally chained the first half of stage 1 collecting all the bees (up to about 186 hits), but have played probably 20 more times since then and haven't replicated it. I believe if you follow the mame replay and still are dropping the gague, its most likely you are killing things too quickly...at least this is what I believe is happening to me. Its not enough to learn the path, but all about timing (obviously) to maintain the chain. I have another route that I can take, which I can consistanly chain 176 hits on the first half, but I miss 2 bees. :(
I'm at this same stage too, getting closer and closer to doing it consistently now. I dont even wanna think about how hard its going to be to start learning the routes through stages 3, 4 and 5. :shock:
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Post by Icarus »

The chain records for stage 1 are 192HIT after the midboss, then 60HIT+. I've managed 191HIT - 57HIT for stage 1, using Type C-S.

Stage 2 is a trickier prospect as there are many sections where you are likelyto break your chain, but once you start to develop the feel for the chain gauge and how to manipulate it, linking the whole stage becomes second nature.
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Post by captain ahar »

the fluke i spoke of before stood around 150 before midboss, and 40-45 after. i guess i was really on that fateful day...
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freddiebamboo
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Post by freddiebamboo »

I still find stage 2 the most difficult to chain consistently, it's very fiddly in parts

Most of my score comes from 3 decent chains over stage 4 + 5
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MovingTarget
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Post by MovingTarget »

Its very addictice anyway, how long have you people been playing for? it seems like ive been playing forever and my progress is slow, yet I dont mind too much. Unlike with most other games :D

I suppose its because it feels like you learn a little something with every play through, and it feels like you could always do that wee bit better...

And its a shitload of fun too hehehe
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Post by Dave_K. »

Does anyone have a DoDonPachi superplay of a REAL PERSON playing (rather than slowdown mame re-play)?
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Post by freddiebamboo »

Dave_K. wrote:Does anyone have a DoDonPachi superplay of a REAL PERSON playing (rather than slowdown mame re-play)?
I think this is real;

http://www.ikaruga.co.uk/files/shmups

It's the DDP gamest video

There also a good replay on mame with all the stuff you need to play it zipped on the old ddp score thread - it's about a 100 mil run
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Post by Dave_K. »

freddiebamboo wrote:
Dave_K. wrote:Does anyone have a DoDonPachi superplay of a REAL PERSON playing (rather than slowdown mame re-play)?
I think this is real;

http://www.ikaruga.co.uk/files/shmups

It's the DDP gamest video

There also a good replay on mame with all the stuff you need to play it zipped on the old ddp score thread - it's about a 100 mil run
Thanks for the link. I downloaded the videos and they do not look like the PCB to me (maybe they are Saturn replays??) The fire around the ship blinks along with the hit counter in a way I've never seen before. Not that it should matter much as long as its a human player, but I was hoping to find real arcade superplays.
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Post by ArrogantBastard »

There's a SOF-WTN DDP Campaign Version video in the /shmups folder at Ikaruga.co.uk's Files section that's not tool-assisted.
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Post by Dave_K. »

ArrogantBastard wrote:There's a SOF-WTN DDP Campaign Version video in the /shmups folder at Ikaruga.co.uk's Files section that's not tool-assisted.
OMG! That is so freakin cool! I have been looking for this video for some time now. Thanks!
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Post by Dave_K. »

captain ahar wrote:i chained all of stage 1 once (up to the stage 1 Boss), and have never been able to replicate the feat...
How are you able to chain past the mid-boss? There is too much of a lag after he explodes and the star carriers arrive on screen for the second half.
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Post by captain ahar »

^ i mean that i got 150 before the boss, lost it, killed him and then started up again on another chain with the carriers (i think, its been a year since i did this, and at least 2 months since i've even played DDP).
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Post by Vorpal »

I'm having trouble with stage 2 chaining in one particular spot...

There are two oblong blueish buildings near the start, and large tanks come out of them. I can keep my chain up to the 3rd of these large tanks. After that, the delay for the 4th tank to come out of the blue building will kill your chain, unless you swing to the left and kill the grounded-powerup-plane, and quickly swing back.

I've only ever managed to pull this off twice, and proceeded to get some rather orgasmic score by stage 2 end as a result, but that is out of about maybe 50+ attempts. It seems to be a "pixel-perfect" type of move... that "swing to the powerup-plane and swing back to tank" move. Does anyone have any suggestions on maybe an easier way to maintain the chain there?

Or do I just have to learn where exactly (like I said, seemingly only a pixel or leeway here) to position myself.
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Post by Gakidou »

This is how I do it:
Take out the first large tank (try not to do this until it has already come out of the building, easier that way as you won't have to do two) with the laser. As soon as it explodes go to the right and as you take out a couple of the smaller tanks (they should be really close by) stop with the laser and begin firing ordinary shots very slowly (or as slowly as you can without losing the chain). There should be enough small tanks here to keep you busy until the second large tank comes out of the right building. When it does this use your laser to blast away first the building and then the large tank. Now, if you've timed this correctly your laser should "connect" to the purple building behind the tank (the one that has a roof that opens up) immediatly, and then you can continue chaining the rest of the level for MASSIVE scores. Not that I'm very good at that, have only chained the whole level one time.

That description is a bit confusing, but I hope you understand what I mean.
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Post by Marc »

Getting to the final stage consistently on one credit (1st loop as of yet), so I'm starting to look at my scoring in the first few levels.

Keep hitting the same problem on stage one - I'm loosing the chain at around 73-ish at the point where:

Pick up the bee on the far right just before the first red gun emplacement, left slightly to take the emplacement out, left again through the tanks to the far left for another bee, back all the way right along the thin stretch of ground taking out the little grey turrets, collect the bee at the far right there and then the green pod-shaped guy comes down from the top and seems to be the only enemy with which to carry on the chain. Mostly I loose it there but on a few occasions I've managed to take him out, go left for the few tanks that appear, back right for the bee just in front of the next red turret and then I always seem to screw up there. I usually do the first half of the level with one 73 chain and another 100 or so after I drop it. That little section just seems to stretch me a bit too thin, and after a couple of hours last night I still don't see any foolproof method to this. Help!

I take it also that there's no way of keeping the chain running for the entire level due to the scarcity of enemies at the mid boss point?

I occasionaly drop points by having to use a smart bomb on the second mid boss, I actually find the purply-blue bullets very hard to make out against the backdrop and end up concentrating so hard on those I get picked off by a stray shot.

Also the level 2 boss, after many hours practise the final spread attack with the central column of pink bullets and the blue shrapnel still takes the odd stupid life, or bomb off me. Currently my strategy is to position myself just to the side of the main pink shots and try and weave through the blue fire from that point, is there any other position that gives me a bit more room? Longest chain on this level is about 180 starting from just after the mid boss.

Level 3 actually seems to be coming together and on the whole I find it easier that the second :?: Reminds me of stage 2 in DonPachi. Chaining isn't brilliant as of yet but I'm getting there.

Last 2 stages are just one big adrenaline rush as of yet and scoring goes out the window :oops: Enjoying them so much that I don't really mind but I'd like to tighten up a lot on the first three.

Sorry if these sound like stupid questions, but any help or general advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance. :D
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Post by MovingTarget »

In stage 1 where you're losing the chain, the thing to do is move right while destroying the small turrets, then shoot the bee and drag the laser left slightly so that it hits the large ship about to come on screen. Dont worry about the stuff to the left until youve destroyed the bigger ship. If I remember correctly.... :lol:
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Post by Marc »

Yeah, that's my general method but it always just seems to be slightly too much of a delay. And the few times I have done it I get a fucking huge rush and generally loose the chain straight afterwards anyway :lol:
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MovingTarget
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Post by MovingTarget »

I cant do it consistently myself, still more memorisaton needed.
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Marc
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Post by Marc »

Almost last night... but the first grey turret after the red thing nailed me cause I was over excited. What ship do you use by the way? Using B-L myself.
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MovingTarget
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Post by MovingTarget »

for survival I use C-S, for score I use B-L, thing is I normaly survive a lot longer with C-S so my scores are still higher with that ship type.
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Post by Marc »

Had a go with both c-types, but I kill popcorn enemies too randomly with it to allow proper planning. Managed it once now with B-L, got a chain of 156 but haven't been able to replicate it as of yet. Not entirely sure how I managed it, but damn it was a rush :D
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