As far as I can tell, the PS1 port is arcade-accurate outside of loading screens, so I think any discussion will apply both to the PS1 port and the G-NET original.
A lot of this was gleaned from the superplays on nico nico and superplay.net, as well as experimentation on my own side, since virtually no one talks about this game (perhaps with good reason?).
RayCrisis throws in a few interesting wrinkles to the formula that shake things up nicely: the Hyper-Laser and Round Divider. They are basic, risk-and-reward type of techniques that add some depth to the gameplay, along with RayCrisis' big change-up the Encroachment meter.
Encroachment: The Working Designs manual states that it "measures the amount of suckitude." The worse you do, and less enemies you kill, the higher this number will be. Getting to 100% will send you straight to the final boss, and the bad ending. To get to the final boss, you need an Encroachment average of ~30-40% for each of the game's three levels. To keep Encroachment down, you need to speed kill enemies - the more enemies on screen, the faster Encroachment will rise as they remain on screen. Encroachment is also brought down via chained laser attacks; the more enemies killed in a chain, the faster the number goes down.
Hyper Laser: When either WR-01 or WR-02 have all available lasers locked on to one target (with WR-02, it seems you need at least 8), a Hyper Laser attack occurs. Your lasers shoot a red, powerful blast, that creates area-effect explosions. Any enemies or bullets caught in the resulting explosions will add to a bonus multiplier granting you points up to 256,000. The amount of bullets onscreen determine the bonus points awarded as well. Thus, effective scoring requires you to risk survival with large amounts of bullets on-screen before you release your Hyper Laser.
The attack by itself doesn't grant any bonuses; bonus points are awarded by collateral damage of other enemies, bullets onscreen, or enemy-parts caught in the blast.
Note: I don't know if this attack does any more damage than a normal laser attack.
Round Divider: The game's panic bomb. It is charged up by locking-on successive targets. Its use is similar to the Hyper Laser - the more enemies and bullets on screen when it is activated, the higher the bonus points will be. This value can be up to 1,000,000 points!
So, when should you use either?
Larger enemies and item carriers are made to be attacked with the Hyper Laser; this is problematic with the former, because getting close to a large enemy puts yourself in harm's way. However, if successful, it can bring down Encroachment rapidly. This is best seen with item carriers: the best strategy seems to be to attack the carrier, destroying its back-package (whatever you wanna call it!), whilst simultaneously locking all your lasers onto it. Then, when smaller popcorn enemies start flying onto the screen, release the Hyper Laser, and the area-explosions will kill the enemies, bring down the Encroachment meter, and grant sizable bonus points. A good place to practice getting the hang of Hyper Lasers is the first section of the game, the Stage 0 portion, where you can Hyper Laser attack the item carrier, and the two green circular medium-sized enemies - the second one in particular, if timed right, can rack up a large bonus.
With the Round Divider, obviously, its panic-bomb functionality is helpful, but if you are doing good, you should use it when the screen is as full as it can get from bullet-spam (think Pro-tor's bullet attack) and can destroy as many targets as possible. It's mostly a one-and-done deal; very seldom during a boss fight can you recharge a Round Divider. In the stages though, there's a rhythm of using the Round Divider, then lasering and Hyper Laser attacking as much as possible to set up another use.
A note on Boss Battles:
The boss battles in RayCrisis are pretty cool, though frustrating due to the game's tilted perspective and hard-to-define hitbox. The name of the game is to destroy the bosses in mostly under a minute. This means aggressive-play; constant Hyper Laser spam will not be an efficient means of damaging the boss - though sometimes you can pull it off for bonuses: e.g. when Pro-tor's two satellite weapons come out firing destructible bullets; attack one with a Hyper Laser attack to rack up points - another example: Hyper Laser attacking Sem-loke's shoulders not only remove a highly hazardous attack pattern, but often give sizable points for it. In general though, there is no boss milking because Encroachment puts the pressure on you to kill bosses ASAP.
EDIT: there is some light boss milking (like using hyper-lasers on Sem-Slut's roving electric-ball attack), and using hyper-lasers has later been found to be a viable and in some cases necessary strategy to quick-kill bosses.
Hopefully, this doesn't contain errors; though I am still learning the ins and outs of the game myself. Well, that's why this is a GD!
=====ORIGINAL OP=====
Spoiler
I am hoping with this topic to get a discussion going on some of the more advanced techniques in RayCrisis, specifically RayCrisis: Series Termination. The game's scoring as of right now seems a bit unfamiliar, or worse, wonky, so I'd like to hear from more experienced shmuppers (or failing that, Wave Riders!).
**I should perhaps preface this and say i am talking specifically about WR-01, since i have not seen if this is the case with WR-02 and WR-03, though I would assume that it is the case.**
Recently I discovered [sort of on accident] the special attack your lock-on lasers do when they are all locked on to a single target. This overdrive [EDIT: it is actually called "Hyper-Laser" in-game] attack is not mentioned anywhere in the PS1 manual, so I think that's sort of a big thing to mention. In the replays I've watched it is utilized to rack up some real nice bonus points.
However, sometimes it offers no points whatsoever, whereas other times it does offer a great deal (as well as great area damage, really lowering Encroachment in the process). The same can be said of the Round Divider, where it sometimes offers no bonus and other times a lot. Now, the manual DOES state that the more things on-screen, the more effective the Round Divider will be for lowering Encroachment (and I assume raising score), but does that mean both the overdrive and Round Divider attacks need a certain number of enemies to grant a bonus? Or is it dependent on recent deaths? I'm just not sure.
Basically, from what I've seen, Hyper-Laser attacks are primarily used on item carriers, and minibosses, and the quick takedown of the latter offers the best opportunity for low-Encroachment (which will offer the most opportunity for scoring, resulting in longer levels). So a good score in RayCrisis will depend both on the traditional Ray- lock-on chains of eight or more, but also of successful use of Hyper-Laser attacks and Round Dividers.
**I should perhaps preface this and say i am talking specifically about WR-01, since i have not seen if this is the case with WR-02 and WR-03, though I would assume that it is the case.**
Recently I discovered [sort of on accident] the special attack your lock-on lasers do when they are all locked on to a single target. This overdrive [EDIT: it is actually called "Hyper-Laser" in-game] attack is not mentioned anywhere in the PS1 manual, so I think that's sort of a big thing to mention. In the replays I've watched it is utilized to rack up some real nice bonus points.
However, sometimes it offers no points whatsoever, whereas other times it does offer a great deal (as well as great area damage, really lowering Encroachment in the process). The same can be said of the Round Divider, where it sometimes offers no bonus and other times a lot. Now, the manual DOES state that the more things on-screen, the more effective the Round Divider will be for lowering Encroachment (and I assume raising score), but does that mean both the overdrive and Round Divider attacks need a certain number of enemies to grant a bonus? Or is it dependent on recent deaths? I'm just not sure.
Basically, from what I've seen, Hyper-Laser attacks are primarily used on item carriers, and minibosses, and the quick takedown of the latter offers the best opportunity for low-Encroachment (which will offer the most opportunity for scoring, resulting in longer levels). So a good score in RayCrisis will depend both on the traditional Ray- lock-on chains of eight or more, but also of successful use of Hyper-Laser attacks and Round Dividers.
