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?
