My entry in the first game of the shmups.com shooting game tournament 2k6. This score mostly sucks for a few reasons.
- I spent too much time trying to get past the start of the third boss (killing the tail) to set up for the milk. I would die in a variety of ways while trying to kill the tail. I incorrectly attributed this to my normal lack of consistency and kept attempting it without much change in tactics (there’s not much to change here, it comes down to raw dodging skill.) This was a bad move due to the time constraints of the competition.
- I really should have switched ships entirely. Aryustailm is harder to use due to the fact the only way you can do real damage is to get close to enemies with the charge shot. This isn’t so bad with proper planning, but in the case of that third boss, it leaves you vulnerable. Right at the end of the week I tried using Windina, and found the third boss issue disappeared entirely. Playing for an hour with Windina put me fairly close to my Aryustailm score; if I’d concentrated on this ship for a few days I would have done much better.
- I approached things wrong. I shouldn’t have worried so much about jacking rank up early; given other people’s scores it doesn’t gain you much. The key is having max gem value sometime before the later stages and then milking those bosses. Oh well.
video
Finally reached the 120M mark, which means I would at least qualify for the URA loop, assuming the whole no-miss/no-bomb part. (hahah).
I went bomb crazy a bit. I’ve started bombing more in stage 4 when I get in trouble, because I think I need to see the later stages more. I could credit feed to them, but I always play differently when I know the HS isn’t on the line…
I’m not entirely happy with my stage 3.
- I’m failing to extract 5-chips from the first big stealth bomber most of the time. I should also consider redoing the approach to this ship; specifically lock-shotting the popcorn enemies instead of just normal shot.
- My path through the part between the two boats in the canal up to the midboss is not optimal. I’m dropping my multiplier too much here, likely due to stray small enemy lock-shotting. I’m not so concerned about this part; I should address point #1 first as it has quite a bit of effect on the multiplier.
- I’m considering switching to SYO’s method of using the first boat during the midboss fight as a way of bumping my chip level up to 5 in preparation for attacking the rear part of the ship. Currently I lock shot this with the 5-chip from the front killing still active; getting more chips. This means in order to get an active 5-chip for the rear, I need to dodge through the bridge’s pattern, and normal-shot one of the turrets in the rear. This is risky, it puts me in position to get point-blanked if i mistime the approach.
- I still have problems with the bonus enemies. They’re worth lots of points if killed with lock-on, especially if you’ve carried a high multiplier through the midboss. You also need to 5-chip level here, as they give quite a bit of chips when killed this way.
- I’m about 600 chips shy of SYO’s DVD run, and about 8 million points off his stage 3 point gain. I’m TWO MILLION off his point gain before the midboss.
Stage 4:
- That early death? What the fuck?
- I need to work on the entire latter half of this stage. I’m horrible at taking on the last two big ships, and it’s hurting my end chip count badly.
- The second pattern of the boss still totally weirds me out. I’ve done it perfectly before, but…
Stage 5:
Killed by Panzer Jager 
I wanted that 1-up.
video
The 4th boss went really badly…
video
This was one of the #shmups topic competitions.
video
ALL clear. This was actually my second clear; I did it once before I owned any capture equipment. This clear improves upon my previous score by about 7 million points. Unfortunately I miss out on quite a bit of end game bonus, due to clearing the game on my last life. With my current stage strategies, a 1LC would get me just over the 50M mark.
Video
Quick video I made a while back showing a technique for destroying the upper ‘fan’ part of the USA boss. There’s an alternative way to dodge the two aimed shots from the sides: Just move up a bit and then move left or right around the boss. No idea if either of these works if you get USA in the 2nd loop.
gunbird-usa.avi
Reached 1-5. Didn’t last long
Video
