shmups.system11.org

GET STAR !!

SIMPLE MODE: It's like an Esprade or a Ketsui; use the lock shot to start a multiplier and destroy stuff until the timer runs out. This feature is also in the other modes but it is even more important here.

The multiplier is based on targets acquired, not enemies destroyed; thus, you can target a large enemy lots of times and one zako and--even if you didn't destroy the large enemy--the appropriate multipler will still start.

There's also a pointblanking aspect that the other modes do not feature. Completely fill the Break Meter (which only lets you bomb in Simple Mode) and pointblanking enemies will produce a certain number of stars per shot.

Further, it might be possible to use bombs to cash in on an active multiplier, if there are a lot of enemies on the screen; however. this would put off the pointblanking bonus for a little while. This needs to be looked into.

Of course, there are always no-death bonuses and the bonuses received from stars.

Also in Simple mode, it seems rank is affected by your bomb gauge being full. The bullets go quite a bit faster, in return for giving you the point blank bonus.

However, practice mode doesn't seem to support rank, or else rank is affected by something else as well. Going into stage practice on the stage 4 boss with 100%(or 99%) meter doesn't seem to make it as hard as when I'm fighting it in the main game, where I've chosen only star items over the extends. That is way harder than you can get with practice mode. Perhaps collecting the star upgrades increase rank further somehow?

Quick translation of the HTML manual included with the game. Yes, recklessly collecting stars in Simple Mode does increase the rank.

Thanks for that translation. That helped a lot. I'm surprised there isn't more action in this thread. I guess everyone is too busy playing it like I am haha.

This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJfWvIxAajw and the other videos on lte7's youtube site (http://www.youtube.com/user/lte7) helped me out a lot with scoring and overal strategy even though I cannot break like he/she does in the video.

Here some parts of the game I'd like to know more about.

- How to build break guage quickly. I know how to do it but there seem to be specific enemies (like the ones in the shell in stage 1) and areas that seem to build it quickly
- The requirements for the TLB. I reached them in Simple mode but I have no idea what the requirements are.
- Stage specific scoring tips
- Boss tips, mainly the Stage 5 boss

TLB (Crimson Heart) requires you to 1cc the Stage 5 Boss (Gorgonion) and you must also 1cc first incarnation of TLB to reveal second and final incarnation.
If you die at TLB and do not continue, scoreboard shows "EX BOSS". If you die but then continue and die again scoreboard shows "STAGE 6 BOSS".

Well getting to them isn't too complicated but actually getting through all of them without dying is going to be a pain. I think I can definitely manage getting through the first form with some more practice. I've reached the boss several times but with only a few lives and I've never beaten it.

Is there any way to unlock the TLB as a stage select?

If there is then no-one's found it yet.
Also forgot to mention that once you've 1CCd to Crimson Heart's second form then you can credit feed and still get the staff roll and amazing message! when it's finally destroyed

How the hell do you handle Stage 4 on Unlimited as Type-A? I saw that Treasurance got to Stage 5, but he hasn't given me any tips. The midboss seems to be impossible...

What a great message! So If I beat the first boss. Then I get to Crimson Heart's first form. If I credit feed through the second form do I still get to put my initials in for my high score after the staff roll?

Yes!

Can someone give me hints as to how to unlock certain items from the shop? I 1cc'd simple and got type z and am in the process of unlocking stages for stage select and music and whatever else I can buy but I can't seem to unlock certain things.

I'm having trouble reaching the kind of scores I want on most stages. I just can't seem to build break meter fast enough. I also want to confirm, if you have lock on multiplier say 9.2x, you are meant to pointblank popcorns with regular shot right? when you already have a lock-on multiplier going, is there any benefit in full lock ons to popcorns?

I love the scoring in this game. But it's only recently that I've had a chance to really dabble in it.

EDIT: Just realized this thread was posted before World Ignition. I'm talking about World Ignition.

Point-blanking is pretty much always beneficial. It builds your Break Meter faster, increases your Break Rate faster, and makes you do more damage. I'm pretty sure your multiplier affects your Break Rate and meter generation as well, so try to point-blank stuff with a full multiplier to maximize your score.


If you're not in Break Mode, killing enemies with your lock-shot builds your second Break faster (eg. only use the lock-shot at the start of stage 2 and you'll have a Double Break before you get to the big tank). I guess it extends your multiplier timer as well.

I haven't played the game in several months though so I'm not 100% sure about some of this.

multiplier is pretty much a break rate generation multiplier
i'm pretty sure that it doesnt affect break rate gain but Icarus seems to claim otherwise, either way if it does then t doesn't impact it as much as it does the break rate

I haven't noticed any difference in break rate gain either, if it does make a difference it's probably pretty minor.

Sometimes when you kill enemies with the lock-on attack the lock-on multiplier gets replaced with the new one, sometimes it doesn't and the timer just gets extended. Does anyone here know the rules behind that?

it only extends if the current multiplier is higher than what you would've got, lower multiplier cannot replace higher with the higher one active

obviously break and double break unlock higher lock counts=higher multiplier which you can carry and extend even after the break/double break ends

Bit of a bump, but does anyone have any tips for balancing resources vs. rank management in Arcade Boost? It's easy to get popped when the rank is high, but just blindly bombing every time the rank gets up there both murders my star count (fewer extends) and moves the bomb marker further from base.

Plus, it just feels wrong

One rank management technique is to bomb after killing a boss or midboss and immediately collect the energy powerup. That way you'll go back into break mode immediately before the timer has had much time to decrease - you'll only lose two seconds or so instead of having the timer decrease to a multiple of 30 seconds. Example here. You miss out on the star powerup but I think it's worth it for the rank control with minimal scoring/break-time penalty.

Are the extra star fountains based on break time or rank? I had always assumed the latter, but that would cause the "bomb then get the E" strat to not really work (since the incentive to stay in break isn't the time bonuses but the extra star fountains).

Are you referring to the stars that shoot up when you fire at enemies (most noticeable on bosses)? That happens when you point-blank enemies while having a full multiplier/break meter (fill up the bar again after entering break mode - there's a sound and the borders of the screen light up when you reach that point). It's the same as in the doujin version's Simple Mode, with the addition that you have to be in break mode (since filling up the bar when not in break mode sends you into break mode and empties the bar). Ideally you wouldn't bomb at all, but bombing and immediately grabbing energy doesn't lose you too much - it just costs you that point-blank bonus and some of your break rate multiplier until you fill up the bar again.

As long as you're in break mode for a reasonable amount of time you should have no problem reaching all or all but one of the star-based extends by the end of the game. In that run I linked above (which, by the way, is the WR with Type II), fufufu uses this technique several times and still exceeds the threshold by a very comfortable margin. It probably costs a couple thousand stars in total and more than makes up its cost if it saves you from even a single death or other bomb. You lose a lot more for not being in break mode at all than you do for not having maximum energy in break mode.

Ah, ok -- I had seen multiple "strengths" to the star fountain on the first boss (on runs where I had blown it somewhere earlier, I'd see only small stars, instead of the big ones I'd get on a good run), and had figured it was probably a product of rank. There's not many spots where it's likely to be relevant right after bosses or midbosses (start of st 3 and 5, maybe).

(I've never gotten more than two "star" extends, and I've made it to near the end of stage 4... getting all 4 star extends seems like one hell of a tall task)

Hmm, I'm not sure if there are different strengths to the star fountain. It'd probably be mentioned in the strategy guide DLC if that is the case, but I don't have that DLC.

Stage 5 is worth a lot of stars, so I think you should be able to reach at least the 450k star extend without a problem. 700k might be a bit of a stretch - most clears I've seen just barely reach it by the TLB. Getting the star powerups from the stages 4 and 5 bosses (which give the most stars) can help push you over the threshold if you're close.

That there are different strengths is easy to see -- do a proper NMNB stage 1 that enters break early, and point-blank the boss. Look at the fountain. Let him kill you, and shoot him until you re-enter break. Point-blank him again when you're back in break. You'll get a fountain of fewer, smaller stars.

The question is whether the strength is tied to gauge, rank, or break time. I'm not certain which myself, but it should theoretically be pretty easy to test by just bombing like a maniac in the first half of stage 1. I'll have a look when I get home tonight.

Should also be easy to test through the practice menu settings. Among other things, there are settings for break mode on/off, break gauge level, break mode timer, another timer which I think is how long your current streak of break mode has lasted, and the number of stars you've received at max break level. You can also start directly at the boss. Total star count also affects bullet speed slightly, at least in Original mode - I don't remember if this is also the case in Boost. I'm guessing that if it doesn't appear in the practice menu, it doesn't affect the gameplay.

When you're in break mode but not at max break gauge, you get a stream of small stars traveling directly from the enemy you're hitting to your ship. When you reach max gauge, the game adds an extra fountain of stars that gushes upwards before getting vacuumed into your ship. Is this what you're talking about?

Yep, that's what I'm talking about. Didn't think of "how much gauge I have" as the difference between the two; I had assumed (apparently incorrectly!) that it was either time or rank.

It's done easily by always getting extend items after each boss. What makes it easy for you to encounter it is having the maximum capacity (10 lives) between Stages 3 and 4.