Tips and Tricks for Vets of SFA

[bearbear245 9]

As there's no tutorial for this game, I thought I'd list out a few subtle additions since SFA. I encourage other users to add their observations to this list.

• There are tiered upgrades for your ship. At each tier, there's typically a new effect added to the weapon that isn't explicitly stated, rather than just the typical increased damage/fire speed etc.
  • Main Cannon: Each tier adds more bullets fired. At Tier 2, those bullets form a "Y" shape rather than firing straight forward. Prioritize upgrading the main cannon.
  • Missiles: While each tier simply adds more damage, I'm fairly certain that at Tier 1, the missile speed increases and feels like a more responsive lock on.
• There are in game "objectives" (achievements) which provide currency to unlock "technicians", which are passive bonuses. Whenever you see a red exclamation mark over the back button, you should check it out before hopping into another mission.
  • There's one objective that requires you to fire off X number of collectible power ups. If you defeat a stage and didn't use all your lasers/shields/megabombs, then quickly fire those off before the stage ends.
• You can now pay stars for a "card radar" system that has the chance to tell you where a card will be guaranteed to spawn. This is a godsend over SFA, as the endgame grind for cards won't be so miserable.

If I encounter anything else super novel, I'll add to this list.

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by bearbear245

[Big_Lebowski_Jr 13]

Thank you for the news, it is true that there is much more than in the previous version, I love this game but it is frustrating at first because the plane is really weak! Sorry for my English, I'm French and I do not practice much English .... for the different planes it seems that we get them by collecting bonuses during the levels, a bit like the cards.

[PlayAsGod 60]

This is really awesome game! It's cheap, it have nostalgic effect for those who played it back on Symbian like me. Moreover now it have not boring and tedious but well-balanced and difficult enough trophy list.

 

All other improvements were listed by OP.

 

Really like it. This is a good example of Day 1 indie game for me.

[LegendIsReal 10]

Is there any form of star doubler in it? I haven't come across anything so far but with soooo many upgrades this time around it would be super helpful

[locolukah 1]

Do we need friends who play this to get one of the Objectives?

 

if so add me: locolukah 

[ultravioletblade 8]

On 29/11/2017 at 11:56 PM, LegendIsReal said:

Is there any form of star doubler in it? I haven't come across anything so far but with soooo many upgrades this time around it would be super helpful

 

There’s a limited time card (15 minutes) which increases the amount of stars you can collect on a level

[bearbear245 9]

Here's an update:

• Card Farming.
  • I got all the cards over the weekend by abusing card radar and save scumming. It's tedious, but consistent. I recommend obtaining about 2k - 3k of currency, then only spending about 700-900 on card radar at a time. Since the cost of using card radar scales exponentially, try to aim for about a 25% success rate, and if it fails, you'll have enough left over to simply try again. 
• Star Doubler.
  • As ultravioletblade said, there is only a temporary card that provides this bonus, there is no permanent star doubler card.
• Difficulty Curve.
  • Also of note, I've found that later stages and higher difficulties are much more difficult than SFA, so I'd recommend farming cards once you hit a power plateau, which for me occurred around the time I hit Stage 13.  

[bearbear245 9]

Another update, geared towards easing the end game difficulty:

• Technician #5: Slow Mo Chan
  • This passively slows down all enemy projectiles, which makes many bullet hell stages much more manageable. I find this is a must have when gunning for those "Stay Untouched" medals.
• New Ship: Octopus
  • Not that it's possible to aim to unlock this ship, but know that this ship is invaluable for soloing the "Kill 100% of Enemies" medals. It fires multiple small missiles in addition to a typical cone spread of bullets, and it's charge shot (L2) unleashes a Macross Missile Massacre. This is much easier to use than any other traditional fire pattern, as you can hit anything on screen from any position with this ship.

[ultravioletblade 8]

haven't got the Octopus yet, would love to see some footage of the ship in action if anyones got any?

[jackhalu 0]

There you go. Nightmare no damage level 1

 

[ultravioletblade 8]

thanks, i got the ship a little while ago. my fave at the moment

[BB-BakkerJ 1,939]

Can anyone tell me in which stages the octopus parts are? Are there any requirements for them to spawn? I got all ships apart from the octopus and been grinding levels 9-13 on insane but have found not a single part so far.

 

Edit: It's always the same, you post something and you find something. Found my first part during the stage 11 boss.

Edited June 22, 2018 by BakkerJ