High Score Challenge - S21 - R8 - Arcadians

[KarateEd]

Stardot high score challenge
Season Twenty One: Round 8
Arcadians chosen by Venger

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RULES
Round Eight starts at 9pm on Monday the 13th of November and ends at 9pm on Monday the 27th of November
The aim is to score as many points as possible
Post scores and screenshots/photographs in this thread
The rules are here
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DISK IMAGE
http://www.bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=20
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INSTRUCTIONS

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SCORING
Points will be awarded using the following formula.
points = (YS / BS * 50) + ((NOP - YP + 1) * (50 / NOP))
YS = Your Score
BS = Best Score
NOP = Number of Players
YP = Your Position
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HIGH SCORE TABLE

table.png (11.31 KiB) Viewed 2568 times

Link to Overall High Score Table...http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=27385

Thanks to Galax for the Mode 7 fonts.

Well, back to fast and furious action again....good luck........Ed ...........
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[Venger]

Here's an effort from me. I was never hugely into Galaxians so I never really played this much. It's not a bad little shoot-em-up to be fair though, and it's quite addictive.

[KarateEd]

Starter Score:

[KarateEd]

A bit better.....

[Rod C]

Nice game!

[klintworth]

It’s been a while!

[Venger]

A slight increase. I think there must be a tactic that I'm missing as I can't get near the scores that were posted in previous competitions on this game. The game just seems to get ridiculously hard after about 4 or 5 levels. Hmm...

[Venger]

Last one for today. The game gets bonkers after a short while.

[Rod C]

Yes, it's pretty intense! Two cups of strong black coffee seemed to help.

[maniacminer]

The tactic is to shoot only aliens that are diving (charger) and then always get the 800 for the commander ship. I haven't played this in quite a while, but I do like a relentless shooter. Once I've finished RoboCop on "extreme" difficulty, I'll have a go with Arcadians.

[KarateEd]

Still a few k to go to beat my last time's score......

[KarateEd]

And a bit of a boost up......

[sydney]

I just can't resist ab bit of Arcadians.
Very good score for my first attempt, it's possible that I won't beat this.

11210

thydney-arcadians-11210.jpg (13.8 KiB) Viewed 3706 times

[FourthStone]

After many frustrated attempts I have come to the conclusion that I am not good at this game

Score: 6880

[Rod C]

A little bit better.

[Venger]

I don't know whether I'll get much more than this. It gets way too hectic.

[fwibbler]

I'm really rubbish at this one.
I'll let you know if I reach the scoreboard

[MatthewThompson]

My best score so far - this was one I got bundled with the Electron many years ago thought it was fantastic.

Still sounds and looks good - but gameplay is rather limited and repetitive.

[maniacminer]

I've been playing this all week the key is to only kill things that are flying (chargers) and get as close to the theoretical maximum of 3,760 per screen. After level 6 the game turns into a slalom and then I'm in my element. The earlier levels are far too slow, sitting waiting, for the aliens to swoop down so I can shoot them. Shooting the aliens in the formation throws away half the score and to kill a commander with the outriders gives a 16x boost I managed to get to level 11 (a 10 flag appears at the bottom of the screen) A fun game, I have played it a lot BITD and I do play it now and then, but I prefer Super Invaders as a shooter. P.S. I'm done with RoboCop now, it was one of the buggiest games I've played on release (not as bad as Cyberpunk though)

[Venger]

I've been playing this all week the key is to only kill things that are flying (chargers) and get as close to the theoretical maximum of 3,760 per screen. After level 6 the game turns into a slalom and then I'm in my element. The earlier levels are far too slow, sitting waiting, for the aliens to swoop down so I can shoot them. Shooting the aliens in the formation throws away half the score and to kill a commander with the outriders gives a 16x boost I managed to get to level 11 (a 10 flag appears at the bottom of the screen) A fun game, I have played it a lot BITD and I do play it now and then, but I prefer Super Invaders as a shooter. P.S. I'm done with RoboCop now, it was one of the buggiest games I've played on release (not as bad as Cyberpunk though)

Very nice score! Waiting for the damned things to swoop makes me impatient in the early levels; I just want to get on with things. One thing that catches me out is that there's a pause when the enemy's in mid-swoop a lot of the time; it's like it's taking a split second to decide which way to go. It messes up the timing and accuracy of shooting. I don't think it happened in the arcade game (although I couldn't swear to it).

Oh yeah, the maximum score is 3920 per screen. I had it once and regularly get in the high 3800's on the first screen. I know it doesn't make much sense as it should be 30x40 (1200) + 8x60 (480) + 6x80 (480) + 2x800 (1600) = 3760. I'll try and get a video of me scoring over 3760.

Looking at the video I recorded, it looks like you get 80+160+800 = 1040 for the 2 reds and a commander, and not 80x2 + 800 = 960, so you actually get an extra 160 points to make 3920 instead of 3760. I score 3860 in the video as I hit 3 enemies that weren't swooping. Extremely sloppy run too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtMuAiLJy-w

[maniacminer]

Thanks! I had a look at the video and the scoring looks to be bugged. The progression is 1880+80 -> 1960+80 -> 2040+880 -> 2920 - so I'm guessing the value for the outrider is still set when the command ship is killed. I vaguely remember this bug from BITD but never spent any time investigating it. I wonder if there has been a disassembly of the game? Google time http://level7.org.uk/miscellany/arcadia ... sembly.txt 0x43FE is where the collision is detected and then it is determined whether or not it is an escort and increments a memory location to be used as an index to get the 150, 200, 800 but I'm guessing that the 80 for the escort hasn't been cleared out so it is added on?

[Rod C]

Not sure how it happened but I got to level 7.

[fwibbler]

Well, I got on the scoreboard at last

[chrisn]

My best so far (includes one 800 pointer)... 5400

[MatthewThompson]

New high score.

[KarateEd]

High Score Tables Updated for Season 21, Round 8......

I think this game is another 'niche' game. It seems pretty good to me but I feel the collision is sometimes suspect especially when I see my bullet go right through the middle of one of the swoopers and it just keeps going, killing me in the process. I tried playing for a high score by getting all the aliens during their 'swoop' and mostly failed miserably. I was able to get through a few times to round two with 2 lives remaining but for the most part lost those quickly. I think that's the right way to play the game but.....it's not easy. You have to stay focused through the whole level otherwise you lose a life.

Again, we have a winner and that is ManiacMiner . Congratulations on an excellent score and win ManiacMiner.

On a side note I'd like to thank all those who played this round. We had 10 playing this game this round so.....Thank you!!! It seems we are mostly averaging out at 11 so this participation is a bit below average.

As usual please check to ensure I've not missed anyone's scores because it's easy to miss things on this and I really don't want to do that for anyone's hard earned score.