Star Cruiser (X68000): Ye Olde Slaughterwad

Based on what happened last time, I should head to Jupiter first, then look for the hyperspace gate to Rigel. First, I need to get off Saturn. Despite usually being fairly easy, this is tricky. Remember how I was saying this was simple up/down, left/right movement before? Well, if you go upside down, you're upside down until you turn back around. Even if you land and come out again. That, combined with how the pirates are actually bothering to take advantage of 3D space is troublesome. There's no using that radar when an enemy is right on top of you.

The ferry to Io is $1200. Which by any measure is costly when I could travel there in my spaceship for less, but you can't, so I'm being extorted. For another town on a moon around Jupiter. There's a repair shop, a place where I can sell my decoy flares, and then a bar where I meet Daniel again. He's got some info on where some Solar Wind troops are, but I need to pay to get them. At least this is a reasonable price.

But hang on, there's no place I can buy decoy flares! Just a store I can sell things at. So I look around some more and find a secret pathway to a dungeon. Oh, good. Secret passages, new varieties of enemies, which aren't too bad, but it's just ever slightly more tedious. And what's inside this dungeon? Metal ore, which I can't yet sell. Well, I guess I better head for where the Solar Wind ships are, which is near Saturn, but not quite on it.

It turns out that this isn't just a group of Solar Wind troops, it's the leader of Solar Wind, in the Cutty Sark. Uh-oh, that's not a good sign. I don't have decoy flares. He's got what appears at first to be two guys with him, but are actually after images or illusions. I can't tell because I quickly enough got the right one and hammered it. But, that said one of these days I should probably learn to stop chasing enemies and ignoring getting shot at. The big cheese is gone, and I'm $8000 richer.

Cherenkov calls me after to congratulate me. He tells me to head out to Joshua Aykroyd in the Rigel Kent system, which I previously just called Rigel. I'm to find the Gravity Catapult, and apparently until now I didn't have the pass for it. I love not having the manual. That said, the question is if I should go there by myself or go back to Solar Wind's Mars base to take out their remaining troops. I decide to since it's on my way of trying to find the place. There's nothing really worth talking about there, I just end up clearing out a few groups of enemies and pick up a little money.

At this point it occurs to me to check the map to see where the Catapault is, and it's near Saturn. Huh, I never saw that earlier. After getting my pass and paying the fee, I get a neat little cutscene of getting shot out of the catapult. Once I'm in Rigel, a guy blocks my path and tells me to head to some building where Joshua is waiting for me.

Joshua isn't happy to work with Brian, but since this is an emergency, he has no choice. Dude has issues, because Brian makes an off-the-cuff joke before asking what he's doing and this guy bites his head off. Terrorists have taken over Axis Station 3 and are producing weapons there. Find out what kind and take them out. Easy, peasy. I recharge and buy a Beam Booster 2 at the local shop. Hopefully that improves something.

Rigel Kent is a two star system. A yellow star and a red dwarf. Oddly, I remember that the red dwarf had strong gravity, so getting in there is tricky. I also remember the names Folder, Fantasia, Fowl/Egg and Hurricane, because some of those I commented on at the time. I do not remember Cherry Shuffle. I would like to think I would remember that. I start at Axis Station 1, which is in the down-right position around Rigel Kent A, Axis Station 3 is up-right to it.

The distances between places are quite a bit longer than on Earth, and hostile ships are now labeled enemy. Fitting, since they're terrorists. They're not like the mysterious ones I couldn't kill around the one station, but they're a step above the ones I could kill. Since they give more money in some cases. The ones I took out getting there don't seem any more dangerous than the last ones, but I did just upgrade my damage.

At first Axis Station 3 seems like a dungeon, but it's actually a town with a dungeon. The first building I enter reveals why the terrorists have captured this place, they're manufacturing weapons they need to assassinate the alien ambassador. Rather than get an explanation as to why they need specialized weapons to take out the alien envoy, presumably star ships, the guy talks about their ethics. You can guess, human supremacists, aliens can go suck it.

After clearing out the central area, I have two teleports I can take. One which was completely clear, and one which was guarded by some soldiers. I take the later, and I immediately regret my choice. Four teleports, each guarded by two guards. If I'm about to go through these guys only to get screwed I'm going to be so ticked off. The east path I go through leads back to the starting area, though still not able to return to my spaceship. At least I can recharge. North...just teleports me back to the center. West leads me to a different place like the first. Is this how this level is going? Glad I have plenty of cash from traveling around the Solar System, because this is a drain on my finances.

Interestingly, once I get through the final teleport in the second area, I'm sent back to my ship. It's one of the teleports in the first area which leads to the important stuff, guarded by a strange enemy which just eats damage. Take him out and it's a one-way trip, leading to a place with an elevator. There's a set of VOID Commanders asking why I'm doing what I'm doing, saying that the aliens want to kill all of us. Which is a strange statement from a guy wearing a domino mask over a bird helmet. Nice to see we're getting some concrete motivation for our villains since the backstory.

I'm running really low on energy, and now that I'm in this section there's no way back to recharge. Which is unfortunate. There's just not enough energy units lying around, just a ton of repair units. Even if I've been getting hit, I just haven't been getting hit enough for that to hurt. It's just the slow drain of energy on my ship from fighting and recharging my shield which is causing it, and I finally die for once midway through a fight with some pyramid ships. Nothing special happens.

After I reload, I make sure to get a full charge before heading into the area, then only going for things that either give me energy or move me forward. This makes things a lot easier, as is the realization that the pyramid ships aren't that special. I find another information card, in which I find out that the next shipment of "ducks" will arrive soon and they'll be "cutting them up". At first I think this is a metaphor for their weapons, but then I realize that ducks are aliens. Wait, Domestic Duck? And I didn't realize that "Planet Folder" referred to the planet Folder until later.

A second card tells me that the duck is about to play and the hunter needs a good gun or trap. It's next to another energy tank, which is full and very appreciated. There's nothing else to do here on this floor, so I wonder if I've missed something until I head back to the elevator and realize there's another floor. Here one of the various mocking commanders tell me that their weapon is already at the location, and the aliens will soon disappear forever. This guy is very confident in their equipment.

After going to the end of this section, I end up getting teleported near the start of this floor. At first I think it's a teleporter maze until I get teleported back to the same area. This confuses me for a moment, as I even go back to the elevator down to an earlier floor. It takes me a bit of searching, but there's secret passage which leads to the teleporter I need to get out of here. Whew, that was a lot of going over the same fights over and over again, but I'm done. I head back to Axis Station 1 to see what I need to do next.

Joshua says Brian was fast in clearing out the base before receiving the information. Apparently they're heading to Folder next, and that's where I should go. Folder is the third planet from Rigel Kent A, up and right from the star. From where I am, it's just up. Do you know the strangest thing that I've realized as I go across the system? There are barely anything more than a handful of pirates hanging around. Fortunately, the ones that are around more than make up for what I'm losing on fuel, but it is strange. Usually later levels have more enemies, not less.

I arrive at Folder just in time it seems. Star ships which have weapons are forbidden from entering the planet, but before Brian can get permission, something happens to the space traffic controller. Brian's going in without asking for permission. This place is a full on dungeon, with a boss fight right at the start. Multiple shields a shot, and firing off more bullets than the average guy. Fortunately, afterwards there's nothing but normal guys. Well, normal for this stage of the game, anyway.

There's another figure standing, and I fear it's another boss, but it's actually Diana. She plays captain obvious a bit, and she knows it. But at least she tells me that the terrorists want to kill all aliens. I've got about thirty foes to deal with before I can rescue the ambassador. Thirty not so well trained foes is what she says, but they're really the normal guys. After a few more, I run low on fuel and worry if I'll need to gamble with staying or if I can go somewhere else. I can.

After I get back, I start finding big energy tanks containing 5k units. That's half of one energy tank, which is a lot. I also find a couple sacks of money around, which I'm sure was intended to not be thought of or be some terrorist's cash, but it feels to me like I just stole some unlucky guy's money. Sometimes being a game with a story in an era where a lot of stuff was still very abstract for various reasons can be weird.

I find the ambassador at the end of a corridor which I don't have much reason to go down. He looks like Martian Manhunter and the Coneheads had a baby. Brian tells him to head to a safer zone now that he's cleared out most of the place. The way I did have some reason to go down eventually leads to another commander who actually surrenders and offers me information. The building behind him is their hideout; A factory which as a prototype laser that's as powerful as the one on a battleship. Which I presume is powerful since he's making such a comparison.

This actually leads to a town. Where I can buy a nuke shield, which doubles my shield strength, and a place which sells decoy flares. I mean, I don't need it anymore, but maybe it'll help. If I can ever figure out how to use it. There's also autobullets and a gravity gun. I'm not really sure what either do just yet, and I'll wait until later to figure it out. In the meantime, I find the way to the factory, guarded by a terrorist in disguise.

As I'm in the middle of fighting one group of enemies, I decide to try out the decoy flares. I find out that they work when you open the menu. Well, maybe on space ships, if you use a decoy flare on the ground, it crashes the game. So, after restarting I go further, finding a door blocked by a fake building, which turns out to be a trap which destroys my shields.

I find the switch, and head into the inner factory. There's an unmarked trap which damages my shields after I walk over it. It activates every time. Inside is a single enemy, a guy with a weird, missile tank design. I fight him cleverly, a bit farther than I usually do in order to avoid his shots. I suspect getting hit would hurt me. And then it's just sort of over. Is that it? I was kind of expecting something to happen after winning.

The rest of the guys are no trouble either, and lead to nothing new. But, on my way out, Diana is there, ready to congratulate me on my success. They exchange a bit of information, with Diana saying that they know nothing of VOID's next move. She gives Brian a card to get his ship tuned up by a Meister on Station 2, which is where I'll go next time.

This Session: 3 hours 15 minutes

Total Time: 9 hours 55 minutes