HSC16 Round 8: The Last Starfighter

[jblenkle]

How about just doing separate scoring for each level?

 

I have yet to come up with a good strategy for this game. I thought...at least on Level 1... if I held up on destroying the enemy bases they would send more ships and then I would have more ships to blow up and get more points. But every time I try that, my score gets worse even though I've protected most of the cities on the planets.

 

On Level 3 I've pretty much given up on protecting more than one planet. If I try to protect all of them, I lose fairly quickly.

 

And it's really maddening trying to blow up the enemy ships in space because they bounce around so much.

 

That's great going Joe We'll have to decide who will get the "win" for this round (probably between you and deteacher), perhaps total points difference on Levels 2 and 3 combined?

 

I've completed Skill 2 156,100 (41 Cities left) not too difficult, some great game mechanics but a bit more variety would have been nice, mopping up the remaining squadrons takes a bit too long. Level 3 tomorrow

TLS Level 2.jpg

[jblenkle]

The Last Starfighter (Level 2) - 120,200

...saw the Enterprise again while playing the game on Level 3...

[+therealbountybob]

Ok I'll nominate Jet Boot Jack again

ok

 

I'm sure this has no chance of winning, but I'll nominate Star League Baseball. When's the last time we played a sporting event (other than Summer/Winter Games) on here?

hsc9-round-14-hsc-olympics

or

hsc-season-15-round-3-the-hsski-winter-olympics

 

ok lets do another smaller summer games one in a couple of rounds

 

How about just doing separate scoring for each level?

 

I have yet to come up with a good strategy for this game. I thought...at least on Level 1... if I held up on destroying the enemy bases they would send more ships and then I would have more ships to blow up and get more points. But every time I try that, my score gets worse even though I've protected most of the cities on the planets.

 

On Level 3 I've pretty much given up on protecting more than one planet. If I try to protect all of them, I lose fairly quickly.

 

And it's really maddening trying to blow up the enemy ships in space because they bounce around so much.

 

interesting, perhaps it factors in some time calculation. I wonder if you have neutered enough of their sqauds if they all just wait around the barrier and block all the slots so no new ones can get to it. There is some skill to the shooting but yes it's trickier in space on the pod things, you can use the cities as bair when on the planets

[+therealbountybob]

Plenty of time to get into this impressive game, not one you want to play very often but nice to (re-)master it!

 

Basic Strategy v2: clear your own planets, (break off to defend the barrier), then get to the other map (space for map, and warp to the top left) and clear their cities (option to toggle weapon) to stop them making more squadrons, then return and clear up any intruders, then clean up the rest. You need to have the Space Bar, Option Key (and the rest of the Atari) on the desk in front of you!

 

latest table

THE LAST STARFIGHTER

scoring 1pt for playing; 2pts for completing a level, plus 1pt per place

Level 1
deteacher 183,100 5pts
jblenkle 170,500 4pts
trbb 168,700 3pts
carlsson 2,100* 1pt
RedThunder 2,100* 1pt

Level 2
trbb 156,100 5pts

jblenkle 120,200 4pts
deteacher 85,600 3pts

Level 3
trbb 155,600 5pts

deteacher 104,700 4pts
jblenkle 91,600 3pts
*=incomplete level score

first to spot the Enterprise bonus point
jblenkle 1pt

 

Round 9 POLL OPEN

[McKong]

2900 level 1

3500 level 1

 

Not really sure what I'm doing yet, even after scanning the instructions!

Edited May 20, 2019 by McKong

[RedThunder]

6200 HULL TEMP CRITICAL 6200
MESSAGE: STAR LEAGUE IS DISBANDED. RYLOS
HAS FALLEN TO XUR AND THE KO-DAN EMPIRE

[jblenkle]

The Last Starfighter (Level 1) - 173,200

[+therealbountybob]

2900 level 1

3500 level 1

 

Not really sure what I'm doing yet, even after scanning the instructions!

You need BASIC Strategy v2 (above)

 

6200 HULL TEMP CRITICAL 6200

MESSAGE: STAR LEAGUE IS DISBANDED. RYLOS

HAS FALLEN TO XUR AND THE KO-DAN EMPIRE

That's a major RedBlunder

 

The Last Starfighter (Level 1) - 173,200

 

have you tried my tip of shooting at their bases early before you have lined up with them... also I think you can disengage from the barrier ones as soon as the shot has hit them

[RedThunder]

19400 WARP ENGINES ENGAGED 19400
MESSAGE: STAR LEAGUE IS DISBANDED. RYLOS
HAS FALLEN TO XUR AND THE KO-DAN EMPIRE.

[roadrunner]

level 1


1,400

[+therealbountybob]

level 1

 

 

1,400

c'mon you guys, level 1 is easy to beat - kill of whats on screen, go to the other planets [space bar] in your solar system and clear them then go to the enemy solar system and kill of their bases [option key]- break of every time barrier is attacked and destory that sucker

[McKong]

Had another try 5800 . Haven't had any time to play recently

[Sikor]

Level 1 (difficulty 1)

And difficulty 2

Edited May 24, 2019 by Sikor

[+therealbountybob]

Reminder: this round closes tomorrow morning as does the poll for round 9 !

 

latest table

THE LAST STARFIGHTER

scoring 1pt for playing; 2pts for completing a level, plus 1pt per place

Level 1
deteacher 183,100 6pts
jblenkle 173,200 5pts
trbb 168,700 4pts
sikor 87,900 3pts

RedThunder 19,400* 1pt

McKong 5,800* 1pt

carlsson 2,100* 1pt
roadrunner 1,400* 1pt

Level 2
trbb 156,100 6pts

jblenkle 120,200 5pts
deteacher 85,600 4pts

sikor 52,800 3pts

Level 3
trbb 155,600 5pts

deteacher 104,700 4pts
jblenkle 91,600 3pts
*=incomplete level score

first to spot the Enterprise bonus point
jblenkle 1pt

[+slx]

Level 1, 121.600 (PAL emulation on Altirra 3.1 on a Mac with a USB gamepad)

 

I think I played for about 1 ½ hours. While the graphics are really great (although I don't care for all that eye candy instruments without actual information) my work is often less tedious than this. The starfighter feels more like a truck and with the joypad it must be even worse. My thumb feels numb from pushing towards those fighters and destroyers which are still most of the time just out of reach for my cannons.

 

Somehow this game feels a bit unpolished and unbalanced. It mostly requires patience as it seems to be hard to get finished off by the Ko-Dan as long as one hyper warps to a sun as soon as the energy falls low or something is damaged. Eradicating the enemy bases felt like a "tick off the boxes" activity and is there any more finesse to thwarting an attack on the barrier is attacked but warping there and push the fire button until there is nothing in the center of the screen?

 

Does it get any different on level 2?

 

[+slx]

I kind of knew this on beforehand, as I have trouble finding any sort of joy about Star Raiders, and this game is very much alike. Fortunately there are many other games for the Atari and other formats for me to spend my time on.

 

 

 

At least the "dogfighting" in Star Raiders feels a bit more dynamic than here.

[McKong]

On my machine pressing 'START' restarts the game so I can't destroy the cities. Am I on the wrong planet? I presumed the enemy planets were the ones in the top left of the map

[+therealbountybob]

On my machine pressing 'START' restarts the game so I can't destroy the cities. Am I on the wrong planet? I presumed the enemy planets were the ones in the top left of the map

It's OPTION the draft manual above is incorrect The enemy solar system is the one reached by warping to the top left location (one screen for them, one for us).

 

I'll leave this round open until tomorrow night 10pm to give you and anyone else a chance to post a score or two

 

Whle I agree with most of the comments from slx above (barriers, bases, instruments etc), certainly the game could be a lot better, the combat is good, if you keep an eye out for each batch of fighters appearing and position yourself right you can take them out nicely, the skill is to get all 3 each time, sometimes they scarper if they are in danger immediately and it's great watching them spiral off when they have taken a hit for the delayed explosion. The pod things there is skill to also, mainly waiting for them to descend and firing and diving with the shot to keep it on track. Playing on skill 2/3 the combat is improved on the fighters at least.

 

You really need to play using a joystick, how can you do multi-directional combat on a pad!!!

[+slx]

46000 on Level 2, but not finished. Let my planets unguarded for too long while clearing out the Ko-Dan bases. I'll give it a try with a joystick next time.

 

 

P.S.: Tried again with joystick, indeed better but then hit 2 START instead of SELECT when trying to switch back to cannons after returning to own territory (still a lot of Ko-Dan to kill, so don't know if I would have made it in time before losing my cities). Too tired to continue. See you in Fort Apocalypse.

[McKong]

Ok thanks.

 

Now i know how to attack the cities! 19300

[McKong]

Ok I'm getting into this now. 49800. Maybe another go later

[McKong]

64300

[+therealbountybob]

final tables for the round, I took the win but a notable performance from jblenkle who I shall now think of his younger self as the guy in the film Thanks for playing everyone

 

final table

THE LAST STARFIGHTER

scoring 1pt for playing; 2pts for completing a level, plus 1pt per place

Level 1
deteacher 183,100 8pts
jblenkle 173,200 7pts
trbb 168,700 6pts
slx 121,600 5pts

sikor 87,900 4pts

McKong 64,300 3pts

RedThunder 19,400* 1pt

carlsson 2,100* 1pt
roadrunner 1,400* 1pt

Level 2
trbb 156,100 6pts

jblenkle 120,200 5pts
deteacher 85,600 4pts

sikor 52,800 3pts

slx 46,000* 1pt

Level 3
trbb 155,600 5pts

deteacher 104,700 4pts
jblenkle 91,600 3pts
*=incomplete level score

first to spot the Enterprise bonus point
jblenkle 1pt

 

 

UPDATED Season 16 Current Standings