STGT '12 Team Thread - Tournament landslide leaves Daves in position 16

You have no idea what I went through to get this looking good (at least for CS Dark ) because IP Board does something horrific to column spacing both in and out of code tags, but here's the team:
Team Name|||||||||||||||Location|||||Busy Weeks||||Team Position
DavidThink||||||||||||||Australia||||None||||||||||Flies south for the DESTROY
Professor Dave||||||||||Canada|||||||4|||||||||||||Davey told me to DESTROY you
Davegoose|||||||||||||||USA||||||||||4|||||||||||||Orange traffic DESTROY
DavidTiger||||||||||||||USA||||||||||None||||||||||Lustrous ThoriumDESTROY
Wedge of Dave|||||||||||USA||||||||||4|||||||||||||Soft texture with a full-bodied DESTROY
Dave2403||||||||||||||||Canada|||||||1, 3||||||||||DESTROY in two dimensions
DAVEXPERT|||||||||||||||???||||||||||???|||||||||||Wonderful wizard of DESTROY
Dave9|||||||||||||||||||Canada|||||||None||||||||||That wasn't very DESTROY

Let me know if you are happy with that name, and then
READ THIS BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE
I won't be signing up the team in one go this year, and there are a few things you all need to have prepared beforehand. Firstly, you must have a user account on shmups forum; join this with your regular user name or whatever variation of that you wish. Then, after reading the rules, make your way to the tourney registration thread, where you will need to fill out the participation form. It goes something like this:

Spoiler

Username: [Your team name, not your forum username]
Desired Team: Team DAVE DESTROY [get the capitalisation right]
Team Captain Vote: DavidThink [This part is mostly a formality, I don't think it has ever made a difference]
Desired Team Registration Status: Closed [This means the team is pre-planned and not just anyone can join]
Region: [Your country; I guess you can leave this blank if you really want to]
Expected # Week Participation: [Now, I know I've outlined your busy weeks above, but unless you think you're going to completely skip a week you can still say that you expect to play all of them. By the way, you get an award at the end for playing all weeks )

For example, this is what mine will look like:
Username: DavidThink
Desired Team: Team DAVE DESTROY
Team Captain Vote: DavidThink
Desired Team Registration Status: Closed
Region: Australia
Expected # Week Participation: 5

Finally, remember that to be on Team DAVE you need to have a person or character named Dave as your avatar on shmups forum (or from now on, a Daveatar)

This years' team banner (this will go in your signature on shmups forum, but isn't mandatory):

If you want to make something different, you're welcome to (though it must be 200x50 pixels or smaller), or you can make your own edit of the original (but remember to D that C)

This years' team theme song (this goes inside your heart):

Spoiler

5aLfCslnRr4

The team stream, where I will provide video assistance, eat food and possibly air drum. I will post in this thread when I intend to do one the following day and at what time. Everything important garnered from that will be repeated here, so if you miss it you won't miss out; if you have timezone difficulties and still feel you need the help, I'll be more than happy to arrange a separate stream for you, provided we can find a time that won't ruin my sleep schedule

Remember, confirm you are happy with your name before you sign up, and if you have still any uncertainties please let me know.

 

Getting the team into gearakacheezer
The first two weeks of STGT are always the hardest, as they have the highest participation and it takes a while to for one's fingers to warm up. From week 3 on it gets easier, so provided we start off fairly strong we can make up a lot of ground by the end of the tournament. Hopefully the busy dip in week 4 won't cut into that too much

Barring another slew of injuries, this time we should be able to function as a proper team, not only able to help each other improve but also to have some friendly inter-team competition to see who can get into the top three each week (to the new guys, remember that this is what makes up the team score). This will make it much easier to build on our own results and set targets, two very important parts of playing in this competition. Steady progress is the key to good scores, and also the key to keeping me from spending the whole tournament worried to bits

To encourage everyone to that end and get an idea of where we stand, I am announcing Week 0: Rapid Hero! Rapid Hero is an awesome game by the same developer that made last years' P-47 Aces, wherein you chase a robot that is also a ninja through space and shoot things until they die. By shmup standards it's easier than average, making it an excellent starting point. Scoring basically involves collecting everything (medals mainly, but also powerups) and not-dying, so bomb whenever you need to. You also get the full MAME experience, as the music doesn't work properly yet and the layers are messed up so that medals will disappear behind large enemies! MAME Plus may also crash when trying to load state, so watch out for that. (Here's an OST rip I found, if you want to know what it's meant to sound like.)

Normal STGT rules will apply; you can practice with save states, but you can only submit scores made on a clean run using a single credit. Submit scores like this:
Davename - Score - Stage Reached
(e.g. DavidThink - 1,234,500 - 5)
Go for it
______________________________________________________________________
Pre-Tourney Scores
DavidThink - 1,793,130 - 5
DavidTiger - 670,940 - 4
Professor Dave - 650,500 - 3
Wedge of Dave - 546,940 - 3

 

Can I be called Wedge of Dave instead?

Also, for the actual contest, is there anything to enforce that you actually got the score you say you got (i.e. replay data)? The shmups thread doesn't seem to say one way or the other on that...

 

I thought it more important to keep the "cheese" part than the "wedge" part, but it's your call. The scores are submitted on an honour basis, so no proof is necessary, although personally I post a screenshot with my final score submission. Cheating for something like this is really a waste of time more than anything, and it's not a problem for us anyway because we aren't going to cheat now are we?

Important extra note: Shmups forum is currently having trouble with a highly tenacious spammer, so if you are a new member that hasn't been approved yet it might take awhile for that to happen.

Other important extra note: Dunc has now used up the "Google search for a Dave" option, so I expect proper Daves out of the rest of you >:[

 

I played your practice game a bit; I got as far as about Stage 3 (236k) on my best run but there's lots of room for improvement
I just wish the ship wasn't so slow :/

 

You can't rely on speed to solve all your problems If I happen to catch most of you in IRC sometime I'll stream a bit.

 

My services are required elsewhere for the STGT, sorry.

 

My services are required elsewhere for the STGT, sorry.

classy. It takes a real great guy to sign up for something with a limited number of spots and then bail before contributing even a tiny bit.

 

Noxid :/ At least he's letting me know now rather than when I don't have time to change it

Edit: Replacement in place... ment

Edit2: On impulse, I re-recorded what I did earlier for anyone who wasn't there. Hope that will be enough for the time being. Still pretty streaky but we're going to have to live with it for now :<

Edit3: The weeks have just been announced, and the game choices range from decent to complete shit I'm mostly confident the team captains will come through and make some good picks most weeks, but be prepared

 

Wedge of Dave - 327,840 - 3
Wedge of Dave - 546,940 - 3

 

Scores now updated in the second post, along with a cruddy one I got before I went away. I'll get back onto updating the site etc tomorrow. Tourney starts in one week

 

I was actually able to get my score up to 670,940 sometime throughout the past week. I wish that I had more time to get a higher score because of he things that got into my way.

So yeah

DavidTiger - 670,940 - 4

 

DavidThink - 1,793,130 - 7

That should about do it Remember, it's fine if you don't want to play hard just now, but I will expect all of you to start putting serious time in once the tourney begins, which will be Monday/Sunday night. The Olympics start tomorrow too

 

olumpecs*

I will try my damndedst to not spend the entire night playing minecraft and maybe post a score for this that reflects more than 30 mins playtime

e: 650,500 - 3

I think that's as good as I can expect tonight as my fingers are getting tired. A good improvement from the last score but still could be much better

 

Alright peeps, the tournament is due to start 14 hours from now. I will be in IRC when it happens, so you're welcome to find me there, but I won't expect any of you to start playing seriously before you go to bed. Initially, I'll update the thread with a brief overview of whichever game is chosen *coughstrikerscough*, and later in the afternoon I'll post up a more detailed plan to help everyone get started.

BABY I'M READY TO GO~

 

Alright, in an unexpected turn of events, week 1 has been started early, and the game is indeed Strikers 1999/Strikers 1945 III, albeit only as the result of a coin flip (which is too fucking close IMO, but w/e).

As with all Psikyo games, this one is fairly straightforward, short, and hard. Scoring comes mostly from: Survival, picking up medals when they present their full face, and killing the bosses at the right moment (called a 'technical bonus'; I'll give details on these soon). Another element of Psikyo games is that the order of the first few stages is random each credit, but there's no rule saying we have to do this so it can be sidestepped by making a savestate at the plane selection screen.

How to unlock the best ship (which most of you will probably want to use)

Superplay:


You will probably initially hit a wall at around stage 4 3, but this is the sort of game that gets much easier when you spend more time with it and get used to the bullet speed. As with Rapid Hero, it's always better to bomb than die, and each ship also has its own charge shot which can be equally useful. I don't want this post to take forever so that should be enough to get everyone started.

 

I used to screw around with the first two Strikers 1945 games a while ago, does this one still have the awful input lag that plagued those two?

 

It doesn't appear to from what I've played on MAME Plus


Okay, info time:

Controls
Button A (Z) - Tap to autofire, hold to use charge shot
Button B (X) - Bomb
Button C © - Hold to autofire. If you value your fingers I suggest using this to shoot and A to use the charge shot. This also means that MAME autofire is not necessary/makes no difference.
The charge is increased by shooting things, and drains gradually upon use. Its power is determined by its level when it starts being deployed.

Ship Selection
Having tested them all now, I can say that the X-36 secret ship is not unequivocally the best, but it does have a lot of advantages. It's fast, but not so fast that it screws up manoeuvres, and that extra speed help with things like chaining and tech bonuses. Still, if you try it and think you'd prefer something else, here's a detailed list in roughly descending order of quality:

Spoiler

Name: X-36 More Than Meets The Eye
Speed: Fast
Main weapon: Straight with fast aimed shots
Bomb: Dropped in front of the ship, can be directed slightly. Must land on top of large enemies to do good damage.
Charge shot: Powerful straight laser
Opinion: The extra speed is useful, and the charge shot can dispose of problem enemies very quickly. Only real downside is the average bomb.

Name: F/A-18 Super Hornet
Speed: Medium Fast
Main weapon: Some spread with homing missiles
Bomb: Dropped directly in the centre of screen. Good for survival but not reliable damage.
Charge Shot: Powerful straight missile barrage
Opinion: If you want something like the X-36 but with a little more spread, this is basically that. Better coverage in exchange for being a little weaker overall.

Name: AV-8 Harrier
Speed: Medium
Main weapon: Straight with trailing missiles
Bomb: Screen-filling carpet bomb. Powerful and clears the screen fully.
Charge Shot: Options automatically fly forward and pointblank enemies
Opinion: Very strong, but requires a little more planning than the first two. Might struggle with fast patterns later on.

Name: F-22 Raptor
Speed: Fast
Main weapon: Straight with piercing lasers
Bomb: Cluster bomb that always lands roughly centre screen. Better damage than the F/A-18.
Charge Shot: Straight laser than can be placed
Opinion: Lacking a bit in main shot power, meaning that large enemies and bosses take longer to die. It's alright but there's little reason to use it over the X-36.

Name: F-4 Phantom II
Speed: Medium Fast
Main weapon: Some spread with trailing missiles
Bomb: Ship image that flies straight forward. Strongest in the game.
Charge Shot: Straight missile that can be placed
Opinion: The charge shot is awkward to use and the main shot lacks oomph. The bomb is nice but having a good charge shot is more important.

Name: F-117 Stealth
Speed: Medium
Main weapon: Some spread with slow-moving 'mines'
Bomb: Screen-filling lightning strike. Similar to the AV-8.
Charge Shot: Short-range pulsing attack
Opinion: Lacks both speed and power. Don't bother.

Playing Tips
The stages are all about planning when to kill medium-sized enemies with the charge shot before they start throwing out nasty patterns. If you can handle a pattern then save your charge, but it's very important to get under enemies properly in order to kill them, as those homing shots won't do the job on their own. Even taking out a couple of key threats will give you more space to work with. You should plan so that bombs are only used in places that the charge shot won't deal with quickly enough, or to conserve it. Stage 1 should always be fairly easy to beat without charge or bombs, leaving you will a full bar to work with from there.

Starting with the hardest in order, I'll call the first four stages train, ground, sea and air. As I said before, these four will be randomised and get harder in order of appearance, so picking a harder one to start with give you an easier time. Reset (F3) and savestate at the selection screen until you get an order that you're happy with.

'Perfect' coining isn't actually worth that much, so prioritise survival over picking them up. Tech bonuses on the other hand are worth quite a bit and help save your precious resources. They are achieved by flying close to the bosses' blue orb when it appears, until it turns red, and then shooting it, which will destroy them instantly. According to this guide, this must be done before the boss starts flashing red. The video I linked shows good ways of getting them on the first four stages; after that they get ridiculous and aren't worth bothering with. The water boss has the easiest one, just move in from the right side. Bombing at the right time will also protect you while still allowing you to fly in and get the bonus, if you aren't confident.

Leading boss patterns properly is essential to clearing them without dying. A lot of them are just hard, but if you find yourself getting trapped in a pattern, practice it and see if you can find a better way to navigate it. They may look intimidating at first, but the keys to a lot of them are small movements and careful positioning.

Rank (Difficulty)
As the rank increases, the bullet patterns become faster, longer and more complex. This is why you will need to be prepared to learn the first four stages in your order, as the patterns will not be the same as those in the videos. There is a method of controlling it: In Psikyo games, you power down instead of dying if you run into enemy ships, which will lower the rank a small amount each time. However, this is only worth it if you do it in bulk, and it also means you miss out on the 4000-point bonus for max power ups, so at our level it probably isn't worth bothering with.

Targets
The first and only extend is at 600k, which with four tech bonuses I got after beating the stage 5 boss. The glut of scores are probably going to be in the 400k-700k range, so stage 6/the extend will be good targets to aim for in the long run. For now, 300k is a nice start, especially if you can make it while I'm asleep tonight

If you want to have a video on-hand at all times, you can download another superplay here.

I am going to stream at 11am tomorrow, which is in 11 hours, so try to make it if you can; if not, I'll save it on my channel. I'll be covering stage tactics and tech bonuses in detail, which should be a lot more helpful than plain text or watching the same video over and over. This is a good week to start us off and we should make the most of it

I want to keep up with everybody, so if you can't make the stream or IRC please post in the thread or contact me in some way at least a couple of times each week to let me know how you're doing (I know Dunc's away at the moment). I believe all of you have the capacity to get some good results, and to make this years' tourney a really enjoyable experience


There was a test edit here, but now it's gone

 

The stream is due to start now but nobody's here, so I'll sit around and wait for a while

EDIT: Okay, for those of you that couldn't make it or that missed the edit I made, I saved today's stream here. The useful part starts 40 minutes in. Don't bother with the rest unless you want to fall asleep I'll stream again in a couple of days with improved tactics for the later stages, but in the meantime if you'd like me to repeat the first four let me know what time would suit you relative to today's.

 

I didn't sign up but may I post my scores here anyway for a little local forum competition? >:3

Also I suck at regular schmups, shit ate my quarters like nothing when I was a kid, never got any better.