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The Red Planet (Page 1 of 2) |
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It is the home of the 2 red alien ships that pursue the Gravitar ship in the home base area. Quick Advice: Learn to complete the Red Planet (in the 1st Solar System). A completed mission on the Red Planet (as the first planet) awards the player 20,000 Bonus points and 7,500 fuel units and 500 points for activating the Reactor Link. Click here to visit the Red Planet page with screen captures of each of the different variations on the red planets (23, 21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11 and finally 9 seconds) • Description from the manual • The Super Bonus • My Experience & Advice • The Planet Timer • Here's some good news • Several reasons for not attempting the Red Planet beyond the first solar system Description from the manual:The red alien planet (worth 9,000 points) is home for the red alien ships that must be shot down or avoided. The alien planet looks the same in every solar system; terrain consists of a spiral tunnel with a reactor at its end.Under a decrementing timer, the player must maneuver through the tunnel without hitting the walls and shoot the reactor. (Hitting the walls or not escaping in time places the player back at home base.) Shooting the reactor will make it glow and pulsate. Then the player must escape before the timer reaches zero. (In the next solar systems, the timer of the alien planet decreases by two seconds, and there are shooting bunkers to overcome.) Completing the mission on the alien planet places the player in the next solar system with an additional 7,500 fuel points. • Attack the red alien planet first for maximum challenge and 20,000 bonus points! Completion of this planet immediately places a player in the next solar system where all planets are worth 9,000 bonus points. Top The Super BonusA Super Bonus is awarded on completion of mission on first planet of player's choice. Super Bonus points are based on the difficulty of the first planet completed, with each planet in the first solar system worth progressively more points. If the player successfully completes mission on a chosen higher planet, he or she earns a bonus based on the number of points for the planets skipped as well as for the one just completed.The word SUPERBONUS and the number of superbonus points appear in the middle of the screen ONLY after a completed mission on the first planet in the first solar system. These superbonus points are awarded on the basis of initial difficulty of the first planet successfully completed. The higher the bonus point value of the planet attacked, the higher the superbonus awarded. No superbonus points are awarded for attacking the 2,000 point (easiest) planet or for attacking the four regular planets in consecutive order of difficulty
So now you can see why it's beneficial to learn to complete the Red Planet as the first planet in the first solar system Top My Experience & Advice:The Red Planet is near impossible to complete (even for skilled players) beyond the 3rd Solar System in the Positive Gravity/Visible landscape universe. Trying to pilot your spaceship down a narrow corridor and shoot the reactor and exit the tunnel is a difficult task, especially with the addition of 8 bunkers shooting at you.In the first solar system, the timer on the red planet starts at 23 seconds and counts down to 0. In each successive Red Planet, the time given to activate the link and exit the tunnel is reduced by 2 seconds -- to 21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11 and finally 9 seconds is the lowest starting point (the maximum minimum) of the timer. For the remaining solar systems the Red Planet will start the timer at 9 seconds. If you complete all 4 universes the game starts over, but the timer continues to start at 9 seconds (and does not reset to 23 seconds). I have completed the red planet in 23, 21, 19, and 17 seconds (so that's the first 4 solar systems). I have activated the link (several times) in the red planets with starting timers of 11 seconds and also 9 seconds (including the 3rd solar system of the positive gravity/invisible landscape -- honestly, I never thought I would be able to do that - so I surprised even myself.) ** If you really want to attempt to complete the Red Planet past the 2nd Solar System, My advice is to shoot as many of the red bunkers on the way to the link - exiting is easier without having bunkers to contend with. Start shooting right away and keep shooting -- use your shield, especially when in close, as you need to destroy the bunkers or get past them. Ultimately, you do not have to destroy ANY of the bunkers, IF you can activate the Reactor Link, AND exit in the amount of time counting down - regardless if you destroy 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 bunkers, if the Reactor Link is active when you exit the tunnel, you will advance to the next solar system (that is easier said than done). Top The Planet Timer:Click here to visit the Red Planet page with screen captures of each of the different variations on the red planets (23, 21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11 and finally 9 seconds)Here's the breakdown on the Red Planet and the starting timer: 1st Solar System - Positive Gravity/Visible landscape 23 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet (allowing you to jump to the next solar system) Zero red bunkers to contend with - Enter the planet, activate the link and exit the planet (boom - transported over the remaining planets in the 1st solar system with a 20,000 point bonus and 7,500 additional fuel units) 2nd Solar System - Positive Gravity/Visible landscape 21 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with - they only become visible and active once the Link is activated 3rd Solar System - Positive Gravity/Visible landscape 19 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen. 1st Solar System - Negative Gravity/Visible landscape 17 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen. 2nd Solar System - Negative Gravity/Visible landscape 15 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen. 3rd Solar System - Negative Gravity/Visible landscape 13 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen. 1st Solar System - Positive Gravity/Invisible landscape 11 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen, but the landscape is invisible. **9 seconds to activate the link and exit the Red Planet 8 red bunkers to contend with from the beginning of the screen, but the landscape is invisible. 2nd Solar System - Positive Gravity/Invisible landscape 3rd Solar System - Positive Gravity/Invisible landscape 1st Solar System - Negative Gravity/Invisible landscape 2nd Solar System - Negative Gravity/Invisible landscape 3rd Solar System - Negative Gravity/Invisible landscape Game starts over - few players see this point. **9 seconds is the maximum minimum starting point for the timer in any of the Red Planets. Top Here's some good news:• Gravity does not seem to be a factor in the Red Planet (spiral tunnel) even when you get into the reverse gravity & the invisible landscapes universes - the gravity does not play a roll.• Also, if you are inside the Red Planet and the timer counts down to zero (whether or not you activate the link) the planet explodes, and you are placed back in the solar system where the Red Planet use to be located. • Let's say you manage to activate the reactor link, but cannot exit the planet before time runs out, the planet explodes but you still have the remaining planets in that solar system to complete before advancing to the next solar system. Obviously if you activate the reactor link and exit before time runs out, you will advance (skip over the remaining planets in the solar system) to the next solar system. ** But since the Red Planet is blown up, now there are no alien ships chasing you around the solar system, and it gives you a chance to catch your breath -- you can hover around the Death Star (being careful not to crash into it, of course) but there's not much to do out there, so get back to blasting bunkers and scoring points. Top Several reasons for not attempting the Red Planet beyond the first solar system:1. It is extremely difficult (beyond the first solar system)2. There are no more 20,000 bonus points awarded with 7,500 fuel units - that was the reward for the very first Red Planet, that plan has ended and the new plan is "don't go there" without some real game playing experience, control of the ship, etc... 3. If the goal is to experience playing the game, then stick to the regular planets -- they are way more fun. Also you will score much more points playing & completing the regular planets. (a ballpark figure is about 100,000 points per universe) Top |
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