 
Phoenicas is a hardcore arcade scoring shoot'em up in the styles of exerion, ikaruga, phoenix and defender.
The aim of the game is to achieve the highest score,
on whichever mode it is that the player is playing in.
player.
The player controls the fighter ship, which can be moved left and right, fire, and use the shield. On expert control mode (if selected through the options menu), the player can also tilt the ship left and right and quickly autocenter the ship with a press of a third extra button. This gives greater accuracy and enables a more efficient style of play, but may be disorienting for beginners. Expert control - free enables free aiming, while expert control - spring autocenters and may be easier for some. Try them out and decide what you like best, there is no distinction in scoring or highscore tables regarding the control method.
the shield.
The shield can deflect alien shots (as well as aliens themselves if necessary), but once used, will need to be recharged by scoring 6 succesful hits (not necessarily kills) on alien craft. The main strategy regarding the shield, is make sure you shoot at some aliens right after you use it in order to have it back soon.
The shield can also be used to safely land and "juggle" vessels. If the player cannot get under a dropping vessel in time, use of the shield can ease the fall of the vessel. If done right - just before the vessel reaches the bottom of the screen - the vessel will be saved.
the vessels.
The fighter ship is protecting the 5 vessels, each containing a human. Aliens will make attacks and try to abduct the vessels.
When a vessel has been abducted, the player should shoot the alien ship carrying it in hope that it will be dropped. After a while, the alien may decide to destroy the vessel, by moving it offscreen to the top, so the player has to make sure it doesn't get to that. Aliens will also "change hands" between them and try various methods of making it difficult for the player to get the vessels back. If a vessel is dropped, the player has to make sure he/she will be there to catch it, or the fall may destroy the vessel. There are bonus points for rescuing and safely landing vessels. When all vessels are abducted, the game ends. At the end of levels, or every 15 waves in ultra mode, points are awarded for remaining vessels. Each vessel is worth 5% of points scored in the level, plus there is a bonus for finishing with all five vessels intact.
an alien abducting a vessel
bonuses, upgrades, abilities.
Every once in a while, after an elien kill, a bonus star will drift downwards. The player can pick it up to earn special powers, weapon upgrades, extra score or extra energy. Extra weapons and abilities last for specific amounts of time, so use them while you have them.
here are some examples:
humans land safely:
will make sure no vessel will be destroyed when dropped from high up.
autoaim:
ship will aim at most dangerous enemy to the best of its ability - autoaim can be cancelled by using the autostraight button, so make sure you know where that is!
weapon upgrade:
will upgrade player's main weapon. there are four stages in the main weapon upgrad path. If a weapon upgrade is picked up before the previous one runs out, the weapon will be further upgraded.
this is weapon upgrade 2
Remember that some weapons (like weapon 1 and 4) will overheat and decrease fire rate, so ease off the fire button when you can. remember: a weapon upgrade powerup will appear every time 5 aliens of the same type are killed.
there are other combos apart from 5-straight that give upgrades, for example a 4-4-2 and others.
remember, it is not always beneficial to carry upgrades - sometimes you need to aim correctly without missing shots, which can
be difficult if carrying the 7-shot upgrade..
scoring:
there are many ways to maximize your scoring, but using them all can be the best practice!
same-type alien kills:
when the player succesively kills same types of aliens, the score for each kill is multiplied by the number of aliens in the string. For example, if a bird-type1 alien is killed (worth 5 points) after 5 other bird-type1 kills, it will be worth 5*6=30 points. The player should make sure they dont break the "strings" of kills if they dont have to.
no-miss bonuses:
a bonus is accumulated as long as there are no missed shots (missed shots are the ones that go off the screen without touching anything). the bonus will be displayed at the bottom left of the screen and wil be awarded when the player finally misses. Huge bonuses are easy to build with this technique.
fastkill bonuses:
when an alien is killed and, quickly after the kill, another one is killed, a fastkill bonus is awarded. The string of fastkills can go on, but may be difficult to maintain.
sentinels:
there are 3 types of sentinels that will assist you.
type1:orange:
These are shooter sentinels, when an alien enters their zone, they try to shoot them down.
type2:yellow:
These are bullet forwarders. When the ship or a shooter fires at them, they "forward" the bullet to the enemy with double the power. They have a lorger zone than the shooters.
this is a bullet forwarder
type3:green:
Bullet protectors shoot down enemy bullets within their (limited) zone to the best of their ability.
the tutorial has detailed descreptions on the sentinel.
2player cooperative mode:
In this mode, the second player plays with the mouse. It's still player 1's show, but player 2 can help out.
When an alien is killed, credits are awarded (shown at bottom right). Player 2 can use these credits to buy sentinels and position them as they see fit. Use the 3 mouse buttons or keys 1-2-3 to make purchases.(A killer combination of sentinels is a forwarder right in front of a shooter, coupled with a bullet protector.)
When the mouse is moved at the top half of the screen,
different options appear: the second player has the right to participate in the action (for a price and limited time), or request a health or weapon upgrade powerup. When player2 participates, they can move the mouse pointer
a) on top of aliens player1 is shooting at to make them more vulnerable and double the score,
b) on top of aliens abducting vessels to force them
to drop the vessels,
c) on top of falling vessels to ease their fall, or they can
d) shoot directly at the aliens by paying the price of bullets.
When participating, player2 can also upgrade their bullet protecting power and shooting if they wish. Player 1 cannot use the mouse to control the ship in 2player mode.
controls:
default keyboard controls are:
z,x: move left and right
space: fire
right shift: shield
/: autostraight (or cancel autoaim)
<,>: rotate left and right (used in expert modes)
these can be changed through the options menu.
f1 pauses the game.
player can also use the mouse to control the ship. Left button fires, right button is shield, mid button autocenters or cancels autoaim powerup.
an arcade joystick like a hotrod or x-arcade is highly recommended.
what are spawners?:
spawners are a series of simply-designed waves that get progressively harder. Highscoring is the issue, ofcourse. For example, the bird spawner will first send 1 bird, then 2, then 3 etc etc. It is recommended that after the tutorial the beginner player plays the bird spawner to gain some experience.
online world rankings:
Phoenicas supports online scoretables (world rankings) for specific modes of play. No warranties are made or implied that the system will always function correctly or at all, but an effort will be made so that it does.
In the options there is a 'connect online' option. If this is turned to 'off', no attempts will be made from the program to connect outside the computer. No scores will be uploaded and no scoretables downloaded.
When this option is 'on' (default), when a player has finished playing an online-scoretable-enabled game, his/her name will be uploaded to the server. Phoenicas cannot go into windowed mode, so make sure the program has access to the internet if you want to upload scores. Make sure your firewall permits phoenicas to go online. No information other than the score, level and name entered is transferred.
The modes of play that upload scores are: main, main(easy), part 1 - practice(easy), marathon, ultra, bird spawner.
If you are playing the demo, there is a special scoretable, phoenicas_demo, that is exactly the same as playing part 1 -practice(easy) in the full game.
mouse control is too slow!
The movement is based on keyboard or joystick play, not mouse play. Phoenicas is meant to be played by joystick, mouse is not the preffered control method, however, it is perfectly feasable to achieve a high score with the mouse and play properly.
The main idea is, the mouse player shouldnt have an advantage over keyboard or joystick players. If the mouse player can zoom from one side of the screen to the other, they'd be able to avoid stuff easier and get all powerups, which is a no-no.
what unlocks what?
- easy mode main game only goes to part 2. player is then prompted to play in normal mode.
- when a part is reached, practice for that part is unlocked.
- when level 3 is reached, ultra mode unlocks. this is a totally different mode that spans more than 100 levels (waves) . ultra mode has infinite highscore potential.
- when main mode is finished, marathon unlocks.
marathon is like main mode, only it cycles and becomes harder every time. infinite highscore potential.
2 tips for part 1:
start:
Move to the right,and attack the five birds that appear on the right side of the screen. Be quick and try not to miss, to amass a no-miss bonus. As they are of the same type, you will get a weapon upgrade. Do not move to the left! Wait for the group on the left to come to the right, and dispose of them also. They are also 5 in number, so you will be able to upgrade your weapon to the third level! Do not shoot at the shields, your bullets will only bounce back to you. Now you are ready as can be for the main frontal attack that begins with the main musical theme.
end:
The 5 shields will hover downwards and kidnap all of your vessels! You will have to let them do it, as shooting at them is pointless (and dangerous), so get out of the way as they do so! When shields kidnap vessels, they rotate upside-down revealing their central weakspot. Shoot carefully at the weakspot and save the vessels that drop. It helps to have no weapon upgrades at this point, so you can concentrate your fire exactly at the weakspots.
stay calm and let them attack at the end of part 1
©2006 aristides mytaras
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