Star Luster/How to play

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< Star Luster

Star Luster | Table of Contents | Walkthrough

[edit] Controls

[edit] Main Menu

: Press the Select button to choose between the Training, Command, and Adventure modes of play.
: Press Start to begin the selected play mode.

[edit] Combat Mode

: Pushing up causes the ship's nose to rise.
: Pushing down causes the ship's nose to lower.
: Pushing left causes the ship to pivot to the left.
: Pushing right causes the ship to pivot to the right.
: Press and hold the A button to accelerate your ship up to its maximum velocity. Release the A button to decelerate until your ship is standing still.
: Press the B button to discharge one of your beam guns. The beam will be directed towards the location of the crosshairs on your screen, which is always oriented in the direction of your ship's nose.
: Press Select to leave Combat mode and switch to Map mode. This will replace the long range scanner in your cockpit with the galactic map grid. You will be unable to move your ship in its current sector of space until you return to Combat mode.
: Press Start to pause the game.

[edit] Map Mode

: Use the direction pad to direct the galactic map cursor to the location on the map that you wish to warp to.
: Press the A button to warp to whichever location is currently selected by the galactic map cursor. If there are enemies in the sector that you just arrived in, you will immediately return to Combat mode.
: Provided that you have a supply of photon shots remaining, press the B button to discharge a photon shot to whichever sector of the galactic map the cursor is presently in.
: Press Select to leave Map mode and return to Combat mode. You will regain flight control of your ship.
: Press Start to pause the game.

[edit] Piloting the Gaia

[edit] Combat Mode

Understanding the information provided to you by your control panel is essential for success in your mission to save the universe. There are four major components of the cockpit view that are highlighted in the image to the right. There are explained below.

Damage Indicator	This section of the cockpit informs you of the condition of three different subsystems of the Gaia; the Radar, the Combat Computer, and the Energy Core. When any of these systems are functioning normally, their status is indicated as OK. Each subsystem has two responsibilities. If the Gaia receives a direct hit from an enemy weapon, it is possible that one or both functions of each system can be disabled. If only one function is lost, the status switches from OK to DA (damaged). If both functions are lost, the status becomes NG (no good). The subsystems are discussed in greater detail below.
Energy and Shield levels	These two meters indicate the current level of energy and shield power. As the Gaia warps, fires its weapon, and thrusts through space, or is hit by the enemy, energy is used up. If all of the energy is depleted, you lose the game. Energy can be refueled at any Base. The shield power automatically regenerates itself, and remains at full power until the Gaia is struck by an enemy weapon. The shield will be depleted proportional to the intensity of the weapon. Provided the Energy Core is not damaged, it should resupply the shield with energy. If the Gaia is ever hit without any shield power, the game is over.
Crosshair	The crosshair in the center of the cockpit view indicate where the Gaia's weapons will fire, at a certain distance ahead of the ship. As you pilot the Gaia in different directions, the crosshair will "lead" the ship. That is, they will move away from center in advance of the ship's motion. If an enemy is to your left, you do not have to turn all the way to the left until the enemy is centered in your crosshair to fire on him. As long as you are moving to the left, the crosshair will veer in that direction allowing you to take the shot on the enemy before your are completely facing him. The target lock-on functionality of the crosshair may become disabled if the Combat Computer is disabled.
Long Range Scanner	The Long Range Scanner (or LRS) is vital to your ability to hunt down enemy ships, or locate planets and bases. The LRS shows a flat two dimensional cross section of space along the plane that the Gaia is facing. Any object that appears inside of the lighter cone may be visible through your cockpit window. Objects will appear on the scanner as if being seen from a bird-eye view directly over the Gaia. In this way, you can tell how far an object is ahead or behind you, or to either side, but not above or below. This is important. Just because an object appears within your cone of view, does not mean that you can definitely see it. It may still be above or below you, and you will need to reorient yourself in order to face the object. More about finding objects will be discussed in the Walkthrough.

[edit] Map Mode

To the right is a zoomed in view of the Galactic Map as it appears in the place of your LRS in the cockpit. The ability to read this map is necessary to make good judgments about which sectors of space should be made a priority. While in this mode, you use the direction pad to position the cursor in a sector of space that you wish to hyperspace to, and press A. You may also select a sector of space with the cursor, and fire long-range photon torpedoes at the enemy. The number of torpedoes (4, 6, or 8) required to defeat any enemy squadron depends on its strength (more on this is discussed in the Walkthrough). Your torpedo supply is indicated by the eight smaller squares located directly to the left and right of the Galactic Map. In addition to the symbols that you see on the map, the position of your ship will also be indicated in it's current sector. The key to the map is as follows:

E	- An enemy squadron currently occupies this sector.
B	- A repair base can be found in this sector.
ж	- A planet lies within this sector.
::	- An asteroid field is located in this sector.

[edit] Ship Damage

As mentioned before, each subsystem of the Gaia has two functions. Damage to each subsystem can disable one or both functions, resulting in decreased performance that must be overcome or repaired at a base. The following table discusses each function and what will occur if that functionality it lost.

	1st function	2nd function
RAD	Displaying enemy positions on the long range scanner. Damage to this function will result in intermittent LRS displays rather than objects remaining on the LRS and updating in real time, the position of the enemies will blink on for a brief moment, followed by a longer period of radar silence, making it difficult to accurately track fast-moving enemies.	Updating the status of the galactic map. Without this function, the position of the enemies throughout space, and the status of bases and planets will never be updated, and it will be difficult for you to determine which enemy threat takes priority, or even if an enemy is occupying the sector of space that you think it is.
COM	Crosshair to enemy lock-on. If the crosshair lock-on function is damaged, you will not be able to lead your shots towards an enemy that is off-center from your view in the cockpit. You will be forced to bring the enemy within the range of your guns as they continue to fire straight ahead.	Photon Torpedo launch capability. When this function is lost, you will be unable to launch any photon torpedoes (provided you have any left) at an enemy's position in space on the Galactic Map view.
ENG	Routing power to the Gaia's shields. This is one of the most severe subsystem function failures. Without any shields, it will only take one shot from the enemy to destroy your ship. If this occurs, it would be wise to immediately cease whatever combat you are engaged in and return to a base immediately for repairs. Only the most daring pilots will risk continuing in combat without shields.	Providing full thruster capability. If the routing of energy to the main thrusters is disabled, you will be unable to accelerate to full speed through a sector of space. You will have no choice but to rely on your impulse thrusters which only provided 1/8th the maximum velocity of your main thrusters.

[edit] Enemy squadrons

When you arrive in a sector that an enemy squadron occupies, you immediately enter Combat Mode. In order to clear the sector, you must defeat all 10 of the enemies' craft. Despite the differences between the various ships, there are some features common to all of them.

Squads possess three degrees of strength. The color of the squad indicates their strength. A blue squad is the weakest. A gray squad possesses medium strength. And a purple squad is the strongest. The degree of strength determines how many shots are needed to defeat the craft, and how much damage their shots can do to the Gaia.
Only three ships will attack you at one time. As soon as you enter, three ships will engage you. Whenever you destroy one ship, it will be replaced with one from just outside the visible range of your LRS. When 7 ships are destroyed, the last enemy to arrive is typically the Deathraptor.
The enemy will only shoot at you when they are directly in front of you. As unrealistic as it might seem, enemies will never fire at your ship if they are above, below, in back of, or to either side of you. They must be, to some degree, in front of you before they will fire. This way, you never have to dodge an enemy bullet that you never saw coming.
The enemy will usually attempt to line up with you. Because of the rule above, in order for them to fire at you, they must attempt to reach your field of vision. So even if they start out above or below you, they will attempt to merge with the plane of space that your ship is currently in. In other words, don't try too hard to seek the enemy out. They will come find you.
Enemies use an approach and retreat pattern. Once an enemy has your position, they enter a particular flight pattern. From behind you, they fly over and away from you, firing backwards, as long as they remain in your field of vision. Once they escape the view cone on your LRS, they turn around and continue to approach you until they end up behind your ship, and repeat the pattern.
Enemy bullets are "attracted" to the front of your ship. The enemies do not fire straight shots. They fire bullets that continuously correct their velocity in order to hit the nose of your ship. Therefore, you can easily confuse the bullets by changing your orientation frequently, forcing the bullets to over-correct themselves and fly past you.

[edit] Ragra

This is the weakest craft of the Battura fleet. They can be destroyed in one shot, regardless of strength. Once they appear in your view, get them in your crosshairs quickly and blast away. Don't wait around to see if they are destroyed. They are defeated so easily, you're better off moving on to the next enemy threat right away.

	Shots to destroy	Damage to the Gaia
Blue	1	Light shield damage.
Gray	1	Medium shield damage.
Purple	1	Heavy shield damage.

[edit] Allef

The Aleph is the most common craft to find in each squadron. They are not the fastest, but they possess the most defense after the heavily armored Disruptors. Except for the blue Allef, more attention is required when fighting against Allef since they are not as easily dispatched as Ragras. Keep them in your crosshairs for as long as possible and fire continuously. Watch out for shots fired from purple Allefs, as they can damage one of your subsystems.

	Shots to destroy	Damage to the Gaia
Blue	1	Medium shield damage.
Gray	2	Heavy shield damage.
Purple	3	DA status to one subsystem.

[edit] Rate

Rates are, by far, the fastest moving craft in any squadron. Additionally, they are the second strongest offensively after Deathraptors. Fortunately, they aren't too common. Getting a Rate in your crosshairs is a difficult endeavor. Your best bet is to chase after one with your thrusters while it is flying away from you and fire at it's back.

	Shots to destroy	Damage to the Gaia
Blue	1	Heavy shield damage.
Gray	1	DA status to one subsystem.
Purple	2	NG status to one subsystem.

[edit] Disruptor

The fearsome Disruptors (which, not so ironically, looks like the Death Star) is the deadliest foe in the game. Fortunately, you never deal with more than one of them (with one exception in Adventure mode), and only after the majority of the squadron is defeated. They are the strongest offensively and defensively. The fact that they are slow is no help. That just means they will have greater opportunity to fire at you as you get closer to them, and their shots are entirely destructive. One shot from a purple Disruptor will completely destroy the Gaia, ending the game immediately. Constant motion is highly advised when you attempt to take these on. Standing still is an invitation for annihilation.