STGT '11 Team Thread - Contest over, we finished 14th!
- Thread starter DoubleThink
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Aug 15, 2011 at 12:56 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 3: P-47 Aces
Fun fact: in every STGT I've been in, my team has finished 13th during week 3
We have redeemed ourselves amongst the competition, and a couple more solid results should see us finishing in probably 13th (big gap now to 12th).
So, this week. Here's the known game info again, for posterity:
Strategy
Superplay
The playthrough is not particularly useful for scoring, unfortunately :[ Current strategy notes:
-Killing the ships at the end of stage 1 quickly will net a bomb drop off the third one.
-Bombing any part of the fuselage on the stage 2 boss will net extra points; in particular, the 'big' section just after shooting off the tail and the two cannons appears to net an extra 50k or so if bombed. Bomb scoring is likely to appear in other parts of the game as well, so keep an eye out!
-Speaking of the second boss, it will dip lower on the screen for each part of it destroyed, such that it's sort of possible to defeat it 'too' quickly. I can only suggest replaying the stage a lot until you find an optimal strategy.
The stage 4 boss gives a ton of points, enough to probably break the 1 mil barrier, so I guess that's target #1 for everyone. A few folks don't seem to be having much trouble with this game, but based on the difficulty of previous weeks and the fact that this is week 4 I don't think that many people will be getting much more than that. I reckon I'll stream tomorrow, probably at 11, so we can dig into this one nice and early.
EDIT: Also, BlackWidow confirmed as the best ship, at least to start off with, because its aimed laser automatically targets (most) hidden bonuses.
Fun fact: in every STGT I've been in, my team has finished 13th during week 3
We have redeemed ourselves amongst the competition, and a couple more solid results should see us finishing in probably 13th (big gap now to 12th).So, this week. Here's the known game info again, for posterity:
Strategy
Superplay
The playthrough is not particularly useful for scoring, unfortunately :[ Current strategy notes:
-Killing the ships at the end of stage 1 quickly will net a bomb drop off the third one.
-Bombing any part of the fuselage on the stage 2 boss will net extra points; in particular, the 'big' section just after shooting off the tail and the two cannons appears to net an extra 50k or so if bombed. Bomb scoring is likely to appear in other parts of the game as well, so keep an eye out!
-Speaking of the second boss, it will dip lower on the screen for each part of it destroyed, such that it's sort of possible to defeat it 'too' quickly. I can only suggest replaying the stage a lot until you find an optimal strategy.
The stage 4 boss gives a ton of points, enough to probably break the 1 mil barrier, so I guess that's target #1 for everyone. A few folks don't seem to be having much trouble with this game, but based on the difficulty of previous weeks and the fact that this is week 4 I don't think that many people will be getting much more than that. I reckon I'll stream tomorrow, probably at 11, so we can dig into this one nice and early.
EDIT: Also, BlackWidow confirmed as the best ship, at least to start off with, because its aimed laser automatically targets (most) hidden bonuses.
Aug 15, 2011 at 4:27 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
Also you get points for shooting the ground. Since you drop bombs, the closer you stay to the ground the more points you get faster.
Also you get points for shooting the ground. Since you drop bombs, the closer you stay to the ground the more points you get faster.
Aug 16, 2011 at 10:06 AM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
New playthrough, using Spitfire. Pretty much identical to the old one until the stage 6 boss, at which point things get trippy. Of course, this will only matter if any of us actually manage to get that far
Also, stick with BlackWidow or Thunderbolt, as Spitfire is pretty much just a riskier version of the latter.
New playthrough, using Spitfire. Pretty much identical to the old one until the stage 6 boss, at which point things get trippy. Of course, this will only matter if any of us actually manage to get that far
Also, stick with BlackWidow or Thunderbolt, as Spitfire is pretty much just a riskier version of the latter.Aug 17, 2011 at 3:05 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
Will stream tomorrow at noon, as I don't trust myself to make it any earlier. Lace, if you have to go before then or don't think it'll make much difference, do remember to post your score pleez.
Will stream tomorrow at noon, as I don't trust myself to make it any earlier. Lace, if you have to go before then or don't think it'll make much difference, do remember to post your score pleez.
Aug 17, 2011 at 4:47 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
New avatar!?
I'm leaving friday, which is the day after tomorrow, for you mister aussie. I've gotten about 500k tops atm - I'm really bad at stage 3.
New avatar!?
I'm leaving friday, which is the day after tomorrow, for you mister aussie. I've gotten about 500k tops atm - I'm really bad at stage 3.
Aug 18, 2011 at 1:46 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
I skipped the stream today because I didn't really have anything to add, but I will stream tomorrow at noon again totally and fo realz now that I've made some more headway. If I can just reach that stage 6 boss and really jam it in there before the end of the week I could pull as much as 2 million, but that might be pushing it a bit far. In the meantime, there are still plenty of scores languishing around the 500k mark, so none of you should worry about how well you're doing. More importantly, push on! We have a chance to make some serious inroads this week.
I skipped the stream today because I didn't really have anything to add, but I will stream tomorrow at noon again totally and fo realz now that I've made some more headway. If I can just reach that stage 6 boss and really jam it in there before the end of the week I could pull as much as 2 million, but that might be pushing it a bit far. In the meantime, there are still plenty of scores languishing around the 500k mark, so none of you should worry about how well you're doing. More importantly, push on! We have a chance to make some serious inroads this week.
Aug 20, 2011 at 3:16 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 4: P-47 Aces
I'll going to go see some racing cars tomorrow, so there won't be a chance for me to stream. I don't really have much to add though, aside from a couple of quick pointers:
-Try to stay high on stage 3 (when not focussing on large solo enemies), because it allows the Widow's aimed shot to hit things over the hills that will otherwise fill the screen with bullets
-You don't need to sit at the very back of the screen at the start of stage 4; in fact moving forward makes things a bit easier because it allows you to react to low-flying planes more quickly.
I have some actual strats for stage 5 and 6 now but I'm pretty sure Noxid is the only one still playing and he's stuck on 4 so I'll post up Lace's score over there now, and hopefully I'll have time to really push it to the limit tomorrow night.
I'll going to go see some racing cars tomorrow, so there won't be a chance for me to stream. I don't really have much to add though, aside from a couple of quick pointers:
-Try to stay high on stage 3 (when not focussing on large solo enemies), because it allows the Widow's aimed shot to hit things over the hills that will otherwise fill the screen with bullets
-You don't need to sit at the very back of the screen at the start of stage 4; in fact moving forward makes things a bit easier because it allows you to react to low-flying planes more quickly.
I have some actual strats for stage 5 and 6 now but I'm pretty sure Noxid is the only one still playing and he's stuck on 4 so
I'll post up Lace's score over there now, and hopefully I'll have time to really push it to the limit tomorrow night.Aug 22, 2011 at 6:23 AM
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Final week yo, and I AM THE MASTER OF STRATEGIES NOW. Blade Buster is a modern NES game made by some japanese guys or whatever. Anyway it's cool. You play the 5m loop and when you get to the end, leftover time and lives give you extra points.
Three keys to scoring big:
1) quick kill the two bosses
2) Collect pink diamond things
3) bonus points
Oh also not dying but that's kind of a given? Anyway:
There are several opportunities to score bonus points. The first is hidden tiles that give increasing amt. of points based on how many you've destroyed. There are more than what I have screencaps for (the most points I'd gotten for a single one was 40k?) but I guess I missed some the second time through
Here it's just to the left of my ship, I accidentally blew it up first..
The next big points bonus is these large blue circle things that don't really do much. Each type has a special way you can kill it to get extra points, I think. I've only discovered two kill methods.
When the parts come together to form a circle, stay in the middle and destroy it before it forms for 50k bonus.
There's another like this one later on as well.
Here, you have to destroy these simultaneously to get another 50k bonus.
Finally, there is a particular orange enemy that will move towards you and open up. Once it's fully opened, if you shoot it you get 3000 bonus points.
As for the bosses, I don't have any really groundbreaking strategies as they are both fairly easy. For the second one you can shoot the turrets on the back corners and destroy them, but I think you may actually not want to do that because when the boss dies the lasers they fire turn into crystals.
As a final comment, I think going at level 2 speed gives a considerable increase in one's ability to dodge and collect crystals. Level three is a bit overkill for me and at that point I start flying into bullets but if you can handle that then you're probably some kind of time wizard and don't need my strategies.
Three keys to scoring big:
1) quick kill the two bosses
2) Collect pink diamond things
3) bonus points
Oh also not dying but that's kind of a given? Anyway:
There are several opportunities to score bonus points. The first is hidden tiles that give increasing amt. of points based on how many you've destroyed. There are more than what I have screencaps for (the most points I'd gotten for a single one was 40k?) but I guess I missed some the second time through
Here it's just to the left of my ship, I accidentally blew it up first..
The next big points bonus is these large blue circle things that don't really do much. Each type has a special way you can kill it to get extra points, I think. I've only discovered two kill methods.
When the parts come together to form a circle, stay in the middle and destroy it before it forms for 50k bonus.
There's another like this one later on as well.
Here, you have to destroy these simultaneously to get another 50k bonus.
Finally, there is a particular orange enemy that will move towards you and open up. Once it's fully opened, if you shoot it you get 3000 bonus points.
As for the bosses, I don't have any really groundbreaking strategies as they are both fairly easy. For the second one you can shoot the turrets on the back corners and destroy them, but I think you may actually not want to do that because when the boss dies the lasers they fire turn into crystals.
As a final comment, I think going at level 2 speed gives a considerable increase in one's ability to dodge and collect crystals. Level three is a bit overkill for me and at that point I start flying into bullets but if you can handle that then you're probably some kind of time wizard and don't need my strategies.
Aug 22, 2011 at 8:34 AM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 5: Blade Buster
I was going to ask you if you wanted to do this
Anyway, I hope to get as many people on board as possible this week; we are knocking on the door of that 13th position and this game is very easy to get the hang of.
Speaking of fives, I have now had this account for five years
As an extra bonus, I have also just overtaken someone else in postcount for the first time since I had around half as many posts. Disparities!!
The final DESTROY has arrived.
EDIT: 1.5+ mil playthrough. It appears that there are two 50k bonuses for destroying each side of the green strip at around 3:30 without touching the other, along with a 40k bonus item right after.
EDIT 2: End-game bonus appears to be 10,000 per ship remaining and 500 per 1/10 of a second remaining.
I was going to ask you if you wanted to do this
Anyway, I hope to get as many people on board as possible this week; we are knocking on the door of that 13th position and this game is very easy to get the hang of.Speaking of fives, I have now had this account for five years
As an extra bonus, I have also just overtaken someone else in postcount for the first time since I had around half as many posts. Disparities!!The final DESTROY has arrived.
EDIT: 1.5+ mil playthrough. It appears that there are two 50k bonuses for destroying each side of the green strip at around 3:30 without touching the other, along with a 40k bonus item right after.
EDIT 2: End-game bonus appears to be 10,000 per ship remaining and 500 per 1/10 of a second remaining.
Aug 22, 2011 at 6:13 PM
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I think I have figured out the mystery of the last blue circle enemy pattern
The two ones that start on the left and right stationary then move offscreen, if you destroy them any way there is no bonus.. or so it seems!
They actually continue throughout the level, and if you don't destroy them individually then at the very end they come together for like a half second or so for a simultaneous destroy before skirting away offscreen
I've not been able to acheive this yet as it's kind of tough but I expect it is also a 50k bonus.
Also for the first boss, if you're fully powered and hang back mid-screen and aim directly at the main body the two side-shots should take care of most of the bowling pins he fires so you hardly need to move. Once that's down move in for faster shooting.
Second boss, there are two flaps to the left and right of his main eye that when opened, start shooting lasers. If you destroy one of the turrets while these lasers are onscreen, they all turn into large diamonds. They also diamondize when you destroy the final eye. This makes the boss more difficult so it may be worth it to just shoot the middle eye as fast as possible for the time bonus rather than uncap it and die by mistake.
The two ones that start on the left and right stationary then move offscreen, if you destroy them any way there is no bonus.. or so it seems!
They actually continue throughout the level, and if you don't destroy them individually then at the very end they come together for like a half second or so for a simultaneous destroy before skirting away offscreen
I've not been able to acheive this yet as it's kind of tough but I expect it is also a 50k bonus.
Also for the first boss, if you're fully powered and hang back mid-screen and aim directly at the main body the two side-shots should take care of most of the bowling pins he fires so you hardly need to move. Once that's down move in for faster shooting.
Second boss, there are two flaps to the left and right of his main eye that when opened, start shooting lasers. If you destroy one of the turrets while these lasers are onscreen, they all turn into large diamonds. They also diamondize when you destroy the final eye. This makes the boss more difficult so it may be worth it to just shoot the middle eye as fast as possible for the time bonus rather than uncap it and die by mistake.
Aug 24, 2011 at 11:25 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 5: Blade Buster
I've been really busy the past week getting ready for college and I assume that won't lighten up over the next few days, so I'm probably not going to get much of a chance to play this week.
Last week, so good luck gentlemen!
I've been really busy the past week getting ready for college and I assume that won't lighten up over the next few days, so I'm probably not going to get much of a chance to play this week.
Last week, so good luck gentlemen!
Aug 25, 2011 at 12:06 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 5: Blade Buster
I recommend practicing the game in halves until you learn where everything is (particularly the hidden bonus items); I've just about got the first half down now. We can't afford to be tardy this week, even though it's week 5. Lots of people hitting 1.5mil already >_>
Confirming this; the trick appears to be to damage them first before they leave the screen the first time. I can also confirm that quick-killing bosses will earn you more points, although on second boss it's fairly easy to shoot out the turrets for some extra big gems while still aiming for the core as long as you're fully powered.Noxid said:
I recommend practicing the game in halves until you learn where everything is (particularly the hidden bonus items); I've just about got the first half down now. We can't afford to be tardy this week, even though it's week 5. Lots of people hitting 1.5mil already >_>
Aug 27, 2011 at 2:46 PM
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Re: STGT '11 Team Thread - Week 5: Blade Buster
...Including myself
It really wasn't too bad, just took a couple of hours of practice yesterday night to learn where everything is. Chin up 
...Including myself
It really wasn't too bad, just took a couple of hours of practice yesterday night to learn where everything is. Chin up Aug 29, 2011 at 9:48 AM
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And it's done! Team CAVE DESTROY finished 14th out of 33 teams, matching our week 1 performance perfectly. It was a bit of a tight finish, but we managed to hold the chasing teams off - and to move up to 13th we would have had to gain a total of 72 total positions somewhere along the line, so I think this is about as well as we could have expected to do in our first year. Great work everyone!
Now, I believe I have some team awards to hand out:
The Flickering Heart award, for those who suffered personal damage during the course of the tournament:
Lace, JetHawk, Omega
The Broxxus Skillz award, for those who beat the team captain during one of the weeks:
Crankenstein
The Shovel Brigade award, for those aside from the team captain who played every week:
Noxid
The Lost In The Void award, for those who didn't play in any week:
JetHawk, Lowell
The Missed The Best Ending award, for those who were unable to play every week due to work/study/travel obligations:
Crankenstein, Yakkers, Lace
And lastly, the overall tournament awards for each team member that played:
Crankenstein - Best placing of 29th (week 1), 1 2
DoubleThink - Best placing of 30th (week 4/5), 22nd overall, 1 2 3 4 5
Noxid - Best placing of 54th (week 4), 73rd overall, 1 2 3 4 5
Yakkers - Best placing of 56th (week 3), 3 5
Lace - Best placing of 91st (week 4), 4
Weekly team total results:
14th week 1, 19th week 2, 13th week 3, 14th week 4, 18th week 5
= 14th overall
The numbers indicate which weeks a player was counted on the team score, and the colours should be obvious. Everyone who played helped us earn our final result, and aside from that small blip in week 2 (week 5 didn't matter so much) I'm generally happy with what we achieved for each game. Next year could be a pipe dream, but if not there are some targets we should aim to hit then, like better participation and the conversion of those 2nd place 50ths into 2nd-and-3rd place 50ths.
I will have more to add to this thread in the near future, but for now, once again, thank you to everybody who participated.
Now, I believe I have some team awards to hand out:
The Flickering Heart award, for those who suffered personal damage during the course of the tournament:
Lace, JetHawk, Omega
The Broxxus Skillz award, for those who beat the team captain during one of the weeks:
Crankenstein
The Shovel Brigade award, for those aside from the team captain who played every week:
Noxid
The Lost In The Void award, for those who didn't play in any week:
JetHawk, Lowell
The Missed The Best Ending award, for those who were unable to play every week due to work/study/travel obligations:
Crankenstein, Yakkers, Lace
And lastly, the overall tournament awards for each team member that played:
Crankenstein - Best placing of 29th (week 1), 1 2
DoubleThink - Best placing of 30th (week 4/5), 22nd overall, 1 2 3 4 5
Noxid - Best placing of 54th (week 4), 73rd overall, 1 2 3 4 5
Yakkers - Best placing of 56th (week 3), 3 5
Lace - Best placing of 91st (week 4), 4
Weekly team total results:
14th week 1, 19th week 2, 13th week 3, 14th week 4, 18th week 5
= 14th overall
The numbers indicate which weeks a player was counted on the team score, and the colours should be obvious. Everyone who played helped us earn our final result, and aside from that small blip in week 2 (week 5 didn't matter so much) I'm generally happy with what we achieved for each game. Next year could be a pipe dream, but if not there are some targets we should aim to hit then, like better participation and the conversion of those 2nd place 50ths into 2nd-and-3rd place 50ths.
I will have more to add to this thread in the near future, but for now, once again, thank you to everybody who participated.