(CAPCOM / CAVE 2001)



power up
bomber
maximum
power
ring
stone


BASIC STRATEGIES
Refered Items  
Conditions

- If you destroy an enemy craft, all enemy bullets close to it turn into jewelry.

- the fighter mode (tapping the [A] button) produces rings
- the gunner mode (holding the [A] button) produces stones

- The type of stone the enemy bullets turn into, is equal to the ring level you currently reached

- A ring harvest increases your ring level to higher types of jewelry
- A stone harvest, decreases your ring level back to the lowest level (the small amethyst)

The basic strategies:

1. Shoot enemies in the fighter mode (tapping the [A] button)
2. collect rings by holding the [A] button - your ring level increases
3. continue 1.and 2. to build up your ring counter as high as possible *
4. Shoot enemies in the gunner mode (holding the [A] button)
5. collect stones by releasing the [A] button - your ring level decreases

Now you might ask yourself, why should you switch between these weapons all the time ?
The answer is quite simple:

- If your ring counter is low, rings would give you more points than the equal type of stone
- If your ring counter is high, stones would give you much more points than the equal type of rings

* Check the jewelry-table below to get a picture of the different levels and their values.

Credits: Seven Force, Brian Grissom, the Sheep


THE RING COUNTER
Refered Items  
Conditions

The ring counter is located at the left bottom of the playfield. It shows you the number of collected jewelry and your current ring level by a picture of the current ring type.

If you release your smart bomb by pressing button [B], a great number of rings from your ring counter are used for the duration of it's destruction. So if you don't want to loose your rings, avoid using the smart bomb.

Another action that costs you valuable rings from your counter is dying. Avoid getting hit by enemy bullets to keep your rings together.
Credits: the Sheep


THE JEWELLRY TABLE
Refered Items ...
Ring Level
Stone Type
Value as Ring
Value as Stone
1
 Amethyst (small)
10
10
2
 Amethyst (medium)
20
10
3
 Amethyst (big)
30
10
4
 Ruby (small)
40
20
5
 Ruby (medium)
50
40
6
 Ruby (big)
60
80
7
 Emerald (small)
70
160
8
 Emerald (medium)
80
320
9
 Emerald (big)
90
640
10
 Diamond
100
1280
 
Credits: T. Osusume, Seven Force


THE RIGHT MOMENT
Refered Items  
Conditions

All the rings and the jewel stones come out of the enemy bullets. So it is important to wait for the right moment before you destroy an enemy. I guess the right moment is when an enemy just releases a couple of shots. If the bullets are already moved too far from the ship, they don't turn into jewelry. If you shoot too early, there are no bullets to turn into anything.

For groups of small enemies, my advice is to wait for a maximum amount of bullets floating over the screen, before you shoot them all at once.

A single craft, like the big tanks in stage 1, you should weaken with shots in the fighting mode. If the body starts to burn, wait for the right moment and finish it.
Credits: Seven Force, Brian Grissom, the Sheep


DON'T GRAB THE STONES TOO SOON

 

The ring counter does not decrease as long as you
don't switch the weapon to attract the falling stones.

Example:
Imagine, you just reached the highest ring level (diamond) and switched over to the gunner mode which starts to produce diamond stones. Unfortunately it happens that you hit only a couple of small enemies, releasing a tiny bunch of 4 single diamonds. Normally you would instantly release the [A] button to suck them in, right ? Now imagine a fat, midsize plane coming along next with a freight of 20 stones. But cause you grabbed the four stones before, your diamond level is gone now, and you will get just lousy amethysts for a while...

My advice for such a situation:
Let the first few diamonds fall (or try to grab them manually), but don't release the [A] button until you destroyed that bigger ship for a greater number of stones !

You think that doesn't change a lot ?
Check the jewelry-table above and do the math:
What's better: 4 diamonds (4x 1280 points) and 20x amethysts (20x 10 points), or loosing the first 4 diamonds to get 20 of it ? - Instead of 5'320 you will get rewarded with 25'600 points !
Credits: the Sheep

ADVANCED STRATEGIES

 

Destroying an enemy turns all enemy bullets within a specific radius into jewelry - not only the ones of the destroyed enemy itself


Patience and that hint above (especially the second line) is probably one of the main keys to break the frame of average scores (5-10 Mio.) many players reach after a while of intesive practise. Let's take that big plane in stage 2 for an example: See those 3 cranes under the plane ? Normally you would destroy them all in one strike, as you do with small planes and small tanks, right ? What a waste ! All these small enemies could make you many points in connection with bigger enemies. Here's how: Stay close to one of those cranes and await the bullets of the big plane to arrive. As soon as enough bullets are close to it, destroy the crane. Surprise! The bullets turn into jewelry and you get a nice amount of points just by destroying that usless crane. Now do the same with the other cranes and the let the plane continue shooting at you. Finally take out the plane itself, part by part. You can use this strategy in the whole game to make points multiple times out of the same attacking vehicle !




Credits: the Sheep