There wasn't a topic already, so I figured I'd start one and share some thoughts/tips about the game. First of, I will be doing my best to fill this with spoilers, so don't read if you don't want to know what lies in the next level.
Simple tricks: These are useful almost all of the time but are easy to do.
1. Slow down. Once you get in behind an enemy, keep the arrow directly in front of your plane and as close to the nose as possible. The enemies don't seem to take advantage of this, so you can keep on their tails and shoot them down, all while completely safe.
2. Predictive movement. This one is just common sense. Fly on intercept courses, not straight at an enemies current position.
3. Shield & sword. If you've ever played bot arena 3, you know what I'm talking about. Have one of your planes equipped with the shield power fly in front of an enemy while the rest of your squadron comes up behind them. (for enemies that have turrets, like the balloons) The shielded plane can soak up all of the shots and remain unharmed, while the rest of your group gets a free ride behind them and fills them full of lead.
4. Gang up. This is another common sense strategy that applies to all strategy games. In real life, having more than one plane on an enemy's tail actually hinders, because they get in each others way. This is not true in this game. You can kill some of the deadly bombers in one or two turns, unharmed by ganging up on them.
5. Unfair play. Your planes actually have more range than some enemies with turrets (mainly the flying palace). Just slow down as much as possible behind them and laugh as your people take them down from outside of their range. It can take forever, because you sometimes have to break off after only one turn of firing, but it works indefinitely and you take no damage.
Enemy specific strategies:
1. Basic fighter. These planes only have one gun, forward firing in a shallow arc. Get in behind them and blast them out of the sky. Fly slow, and cut inside their arcs.
2. Gas planes. These are those annoying ones that drop the green gas behind them, jamming your guns. Have you ever noticed that these planes only have the gas as a defense? Head on runs will destroy them, and keep you safe. Just make sure you have time to break off.
3. Balloons. These fall prey to you fairly easily. You can shoot farther than them, and two planes working in concert can down them in one turn, if you time it perfectly and slow down a lot. It usually takes two turns if you have to worry about more than them, but that still is not bad at all for eliminating an enemy with no damage taken.
4. Flying wing. This one is a pain. I'm fairly certain that it actually has MORE range than you, so you really only have two options: Swarm it with all of your planes at the same time and hope it dies before you, OR, you can use the sword & shield method. I prefer the latter for when it appears later on in the game, because swarming it WILL cost you a plane or two, and you can't afford that later on. In fact, if you have multiple planes with the shield ability, you can even avoid taking damage at all. Just make sure the first shielded plane banks away, then have a second one slightly ahead of the rest of the group, ready to bank away on the second turn, taking all of the fire and (hopefully) able to escape unscathed, or at least only taking a few hits. This is only doable if you have at least three planes (modify it slightly and you can do it with FAR less efficiency with two planes) and have swept the rest of the map clean.
EDIT: After some playtesting, I realized that it can't shoot backwards. Very easy to kill after you realize this. You can do the above though, and if you pull it off you will feel like a mastermind. xD
5. The huge blimp from dogfight! Just kidding, this one is even easier to kill. Make sure you have killed everything else, then get all of your planes heading in at the blimp from behind, out of its range. Slow down as much as possible, and you will slowly gain on the blimp. When you start shooting, go forward as slow as possible for a couple of turns then break off (do it manually, if you use the 180 power you do a skid towards it and might end up getting shot) to set up the run again. This might take a while, but you end up killing the blimp with no damage taken.
Poooooowweeerrr(s)!
1. Speed boost. Use it to escape, and don't turn with it too tightly (you waste it if you do). You shouldn't be using it while making a pass at an enemy under normal circumstances.
2. 180. Extremely useful power, probably the best one. It's pretty straight forward, but you need to remember two things: You actually do a sliding motion in the direction you are facing when you use it, so don't use it to do an abrupt turn in the face of an enemy. Second, you turn 180 degrees, and no more or less. Set up your spin the turn before, making sure you are facing perfectly, because you can't adjust.
3. 360. I have no idea what the point of this move is. I guess you could use it to roflcopter in the middle of a gang of enemies, but other than that it's a waste of a turn.
4. shield. Use it to bug out, or when distracting an enemy.
5. Gas. Pretty cool. You can use it to create a barrier (fly across an enemy's path and force them to run into it) if you aren't sure you can hit them with it full force. It's really not that useful against normal enemies, because you have to let them get behind you and light you up to use it to its full potential.
6. Missiles. Make sure you don't point them towards an ally, because they will track anything that moves. One hit kill on the majority of enemies though, so it's rather nice if you pop one into a foe from right up next to them. Just be sure you aren't in immediate danger, because you won't be able to shoot for two turns.
7. Bombs. These are NOT just an upgrade for the gas. They seem to explode a turn after you drop them, and enemies can safely run through them on they turn they are dropped from what I've seen. You either need to be very fancy with them, or you just use them as insurance against an enemy getting in behind you.
I'm not going to do specific levels, because this isn't a walkthrough, but I will give this general advice: Kill the faster, more agile enemies first. If you need to, lure them away from the big enemy in later levels so you can finish them without it interfering. It's easier if you don't try to take on a flying wing while you have fighters buzzing around you taking pot shots.
So, do you have any better tactics? Have you found a use for the 360 spin?
Any suggestions for beating "The Final Countdown" level? That's the only level I haven't defeated yet. And the missiles the enemy fires doesn't do any damage to the enemy planes if it hits them, which I think is unfair. As for 360 spin, I only used it once, to keep myself in the same position, so I could keep on firing at a balloon while I was out of their range.
Yeah, the missiles are totally broken. For example, in the second bonus mission if you start off by shooting all three planes' missiles, the outside two will home in on your allies (I think, they loop around and come back at you, so they might be heading for the planes on the top and bottom) instead of the cluster of three enemies that they should lock on to. I'm kind of aggravated, because if they would do what they are supposed to, then the level would be easy to beat. Instead, you have to do all sorts of crazy crap. Another note: Balloons are very easy to pop, same for blimps. Just don't get in their range.
I'm Really stuck in 1939,Just can't get the freakin 4 stars. The enemy's plane just hits like way behind me but is still get hit. I know this is probably not the place to post this,it's just the thread I found.
@kompt: This isn't a walkthrough. It's not complete enough to be. It just details some strategies that seem to work for me, and I'm pretty sure that's what this forum is for. "Talk here about your favorite Flash games, strategy, and more!"
@Sliveron: That level is relatively simple: For the top plane, do the 180, then fly straight forward then 180 again and then zoom in at the enemy's tail. Your plane will be almost dead, but you will shoot them down. For the bottom plane, turn down and then turn again and again so you loop around at the bottom enemy's tail. If you need to, shield on the second loop so you don't take any damage. Then you should be on their tail after 3 or 4 turns. After that, the mission is over.
I just realized that you wanted the four stars. For that, do outside loops with both planes, you should stay out of their reach and then get in behind them.
I have 4 stars on every lvl up till 1944, but having trouble getting it on any lvls after that. The planes that seem to give me the most consistent trouble are the darts, because of the simple fact that they are so fast and maneuverable that i find it very hard to get behind them, especially if they start in a position where they are at an advantage. Its not hard to kill them, but to try to do it without them getting a single shot at you can be quite challenging. Anyone have any tips specific for the small quick darts?
Apparently the mods have a higher opinion of this than I do. :P
Anyway, @Nume: If your planes have the shield ability, you can use that to great effect for getting four stars. You really only need one turn of protection for getting in behind them. I usually like coming straight at them then shielding (you have to space it PERFECTLY though). Otherwise just do your normal looping procedure, adding in the shield if you have one. Otherwise, have one plane fly away as bait (out of their range, but close enough for them to follow) while another one gets behind them to destroy them. It's hard to do with a lot of enemies flying around, but if you really only need to distract the darts, the others you can outrun or are the lame gas planes with no guns.
Flag I have 4 stars on every lvl up till 1944, but having trouble getting it on any lvls after that. The planes that seem to give me the most consistent trouble are the darts, because of the simple fact that they are so fast and maneuverable that i find it very hard to get behind them, especially if they start in a position where they are at an advantage. Its not hard to kill them, but to try to do it without them getting a single shot at you can be quite challenging. Anyone have any tips specific for the small quick darts?
I have all four until 1946 so far.
1945 is quite hard, you should use the gas to distract the enemy so that they choose to chase on your aircrafts that have boosters, then turn back your slower crafts and fire from behind.
The game does not really get any easier unless you count growing older and wiser. Which would be much harder to complete then other game that have upgrades. I am only up to Deep Frost and its been easy going so far... I'll try it now.
I loved the game but when I play the big planes like blimps can shoot at all my planes ex. I'm surrounding the plane on all sides and use the sield on the guy that's attacking from the front and is closest to the enemy and all my planes are nearly dead when they had nearly full health (save the shielded plane which is still fired at but not injured.) I eventually kill the plane but with one plane left that's nearly dead.
