ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (11/24/88)
[ "Explain the logic underlying that conclusion if you please." ]
Instead of working today, I played Starglider II. I ended up with a
score of 170-something thousand. Not only that, but I think I won.
I say I *think* I won because the game didn't officially inform me
that I won. I gathered all the materials needed to construct the Neutron
Bomb, including Professor Taymar; I blasted some Ergon projector bases on
the moons of Milliway, blasted the Ergon mini-sentinels surrounding the
Ergon space station, launched the Neutron Bomb at it, and ran like hell. I
came back later, and found that the station was indeed completely gone.
But I didn't get a "You won" message, so I'm inclined to think I did
something wrong. Afterwards I ran around to see if anything else had been
affected. The projector bases were re-built, and construction started once
again on the space station. So I parked next to the space station and
watched it assemble itself, charge its guns, and go *PHWATTT!!* at Novenia.
Shortly thereafter, I got a message stating that Novenia had been destroyed.
And I could *still* wander around and blast things and earn points.
I suspect that I have to do things in a certain order, or have to
fulfill some other goal. The space station had not been completely
constructed when I nuked it.
So how do I "win"? How do I get a congratulatory message? Or is
Starglider II another one of those games that you keep playing until you
die? (If it is, I'll be sorely irritated.)
For those who'd like some hints at game play, here are a few I
picked up that made my life easier.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
<-- That was a ^L for non-rn users
This is your last chance.
The one that was the most helpful was that you don't have to be at
full throttle to use warp... er, stardrive. Jack up the engine to about 15%
power, and hit 'D'. You won't officially enter stardrive mode, but you'll
still be moving pretty quick, and consuming almost no fuel doing it. If you
want to truly enter stardrive, jack the engine up to 100% once you're moving
at a good clip. You'll pop into stardrive. Then drop it back down to 15%.
Press 'D' again when you want to leave stardrive. Done this way, you can
get from anywhere to anywhere on a half a tank of gas.
I didn't find the energy cubes to be a *lot* of use. Basically,
they let you destroy stuff in half the number of shots it would normally
take. It's still a neat toy to have, though.
How to get Professor Taymar: He's on the surface of Broadway in one
of those Toyota MR2's (actually, it's an Emma-2). Chase one down and
tractor beam it (admittedly, this is easier said than done). Wait for the
computer to identify it; do *not* collect it into the cargo bay. If you
have the right Emma-2, you'll get a radio message from it saying that
Professor Taymar is aboard, and he's just given you the energy cube
launcher. Now you can hit 'C' to collect him and take him back to Apogee.
If you have a crate of Castrobars in the hold when you collect
Professor Taymar, he will eat them.
I found the hardest things to collect were Professor Taymar and the
flat diamond, since both of them are moving, and you have to tractor beam
both of them.
If you don't feel like fulfulling a "contract" with one of the
depots ("In exchange for a nubile 16-year-old female, we'll give you a
dead parrot."), you can try blasting a pirate ship. Some of them drop
their cargo when exploding, which can turn out to be just what you're
looking for.
I found the following things are in the following places:
Item Where Planet #
Cluster of nodules (?) Dante 1
Flat diamond Vista 2
Cask of Vistan wine * Vista 2
Petrified tree Enos (moon of Apogee)
Bouncing bombs Castron <T> (moon of Apogee)
Castrobars * Castron <T> (moon of Apogee)
Asteroid <Between Apogee [3] and Milliway [4]>
Guided missiles <any moon of Milliway <T>>
Case of nuclear fuel Aldos 5
Ergon mini-rocket Aldos 5
Lump of mineral rock * Q-Beta (moon of Aldos)
(What am I forgetting?)
* It's sometimes easier to phaser a pirate ship for these.
<T> means you find it in a tunnel.
If you're lucky, you'll find a cask of Vistan wine on Vista itself,
but you have to be looking for it. Ergon mini-rockets are hard to come by
for some reason. If you can't find a crate of Castrobars anywhere else,
then you'll have to get a petrified tree to give to the underground depot on
Castron.
I found it next to impossible to scoop up energy from the sun. I
don't recommend trying it. Between low-power warpdrive and grabbing energy
from the asteroids in the asteroid belt, energy shouldn't be a problem.
I like the way the Ergon projector bases go BOOM, BTW.
Oh yes, you'll need to know what kills what:
This: Is destroyed only by this:
Ergon projector base Bouncing bomb
Ergon mini-sentinel Guided missile
One neat side-effect I observed is that the mini-sentinels don't
appear to get re-built, so you can go blast them early when you're out
looking for Ergon mini-rockets. The lasers bolts and energy cubes should
pulverize everything else that needs to be pulverized.
--------
Well, that's all I can think of. If you can tell me what I did
wrong, and how I can correctly win the game, I'd appreciate it.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
\_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor