Star Luster/Adventure

The goal
The galactic map for Adventure mode is as complex as it gets. With ten enemy squadrons (3 blue, 3 gray, and the remaining 4 a deadly purple), four bases, eight planets, and four asteroid fields, your chances of finding a map where many of the squads are not touching something important are small. Still, hunt around for a map that you like just as you may have in Command mode. If you start out with too many enemies touching bases and planets, there's just not enough time to save all of them, even if some of the enemies don't necessarily attack what they are parked next to.

You have a choice in goals this time around, but you may only accomplish one or the other. The easier goal is the same as before: Complete destruction of the enemy squadrons. You will receive a score and performance rating just as you always have. However, to reach the true ending of Adventure mode, you must fulfill a greater mission. You must gather all seven of the colored planet keys, and take them to planet Earth for the purpose of locating the position of the invisible dark planet. In order to reach the dark planet, it's not enough to know what sector it lies in. You must find, and warp to, the exact pixel of the grid that the planet lies on. It won't be easy to find, much less defeat. For this reason, the protection of planets has a slightly higher priority than the protection of bases in Adventure mode. If the Earth, or any planet that you have not collected a key from, is destroyed, you can not earn the true ending.

Completing your objective
Naturally, you will start out the Adventure game just as you did in Command: by assessing the situation and choosing whichever base or planet is in the most immediate danger and closest to you. With 12 objects to defend, and little space for the enemy to travel through in order to cause a problem, you need to react as quickly as you can. Any hesitation will give the enemy ample time to attack and destroy a base or planet. Once the pressure dies down, and the threats are contained (which may not happen until you are down to three or two squads), you can concentrate on obtaining the keys.

In order to collect the planet keys, you must defeat one enemy squadron for every key you wish to obtain. You must defeat those squads in real combat, and not through the use of photon torpedoes (although with 10 squads around, you can certainly blow up a squad or two without risking success). Provided you have destroyed enough squads, you can dock with any planet (besides Earth) to collect their keys. Each planet has a different color of the rainbow, and they keys are identified by the first letter of the color, so the entire set of keys is ROYGBIV. These letters will appear above your damage indicator as you collect each key.

You will not know which planet you are warping to until you've visited it once. Along the way, you are likely to stumble upon planet Earth. If you're not sure if it's Earth or not, when you dock with Earth, and the shuttle comes flying towards you, it will simply say "HELLO" instead of giving you a key (assuming you are entitled to a key. If you're not, all of the planets will say "HELLO.") Once you have all seven keys, you want to return to Earth. As soon as you dock with Earth, pay very close attention to the galactic map. As soon as it appears, a pixel on the map will flash, indicating the position of the hidden dark planet. Now you must warp to that exact pixel if you wish to fight against Battura.

Note that before you warp to the dark planet, it's a good idea to visit each of the remaining bases to receive the full benefit of the power-ups that they can provide you with. You'll need it for the final fight. Remember not to destroy every enemy squadron, or the game will end before you have the chance to visit the dark planet. Leave the least threatening squad on the map alive.

Defeating the Battura
If you successfully warp to the hidden planet location, the usually black outer space will turn blue, indicating that you warped to the right place. At that time, you will automatically enter Combat mode, and purple strength enemies will launch their attack upon you. Even if you manage to defeat ten such enemies, they will simply continue to send Disruptors at you non-stop. Once you are encountering nothing but two Disruptors repeatedly, you are ready to find the dark planet.

While fighting against the Disruptors, and dodging the deadly shots that they fire at you, proceed to locate the dark planet with the same method that you use to locate bases and regular planets. The difference is that in addition to the yellow dot indicating the planet, there will be two other yellow dots for the Disruptors. The planet dot will be easy to identify, however, since it's motionless. It will only move around the LRS in relationship to the movements of your ship. Once you get the planet within range, prepare yourself for a difficult fight.

By now, you may have noticed that slower moving enemies pose a greater threat to you than fast moving enemies. Fast moving enemies force you to change your orientation constantly in order to hit them. Slower moving enemies make you move less when you want to hit them, which actually makes it easier for them to fire at you. The dark planet doesn't move at all, so your only defense against the planet's weaponry is to move constantly, taking pot shots at the planet as you slide the crosshair around the screen. Hit the planet with fifty shots, and you will be triumphant against the Battura force.

Score evaluation
You can only achieve the highest ranking of Marshal of Force Paragon in Adventure mode, courtesy of the 1000 point bonus you earn for defeating the dark planet. Your score is tabulated as follows: TARGET SCORE × 5 + BASES       × 50 + PLANETS     × 100 - USED TIME - USED ENERGY ÷ 128 ———————————————————— TOTAL SCORE