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Internet Message Format | 1995-11-10 | 64.8 KB

Date: Thu, 09 Nov 1995 22:12:46 GMT From: Mark@antelope.demon.co.uk (Mark Green) Ve. dNb dNNP .eNNNNNNNNNNNNNo dNNN dNN" dNNP _oNNNc oNNNNNNP dNNNNNo dNNP dNNNNb dNNNNNNo `F dNNP dNN"`NN "; 8NN~ dNP "NND dNNP dNV"NNN dNP dNP dNNP dNF NNN dNN~ dNP .odN~ dNNP dNV dNN dNP dNP . ONNbedNF "NNNNP dNP "NNNeeNNNP ,NNNNe8"dNNdNP dNP ,ND """"" dNN' """ """"""""""""""" """" ,dNP .,eNNP dNF' """"""""""""""" !NNb Unofficial Frequently Asked Questions "NNb v0.52 "" As the version number implies, this FAQ is still developing. Some information may be wrong, and some may be missing. If you find one of these, please don't jump around and say "How dare I write a FAQ with an error in it...".. send me the correction, and make the FAQ better, as well as getting yourself a place in the list of contributors! Contributors: Zach Keene (fnlfanatic@aol.com) J.D.Collins (jdcollin@ucsd.edu) Mike Marcelais (mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu) Christopher Nice (CN3612@aol.com) Jared Ong (jong@owl.csusm.edu) Paul Patricio (ppatrici@mail.vt.edu) Andy Shawaluk (andys@solaria.mil.wi.us) Andrew Schultz (schultzaj@centum.utulsa.edu) Vincent "Dr. Wily" Torre (vtorre@skull.castle.siberia.unk) Adam Williamson (adam@scss.demon.co.uk) Daniel ("Venom") (venom@highnrg.sbay.org) Maintained by Mark Green (mark@antelope.demon.co.uk) * NOTE: The above is my personal address. Updates should be sent to tyrian@antelope.demon.co.uk. Ascii Logo by Rex Mendoza (rex.mendoza@789.gigo.com) Thanks to you all (especially for not flaming me when you corrected the really blatant mistakes ;) ); without your help I'd never have made this! And thanks especially to Epic, for making this cool game! NOTE: This FAQ now applies to Tyrian v1.1. Some secrets listed may not work in v1.0. If you have Shareware release v1.0, you can probably find an update wherever you found the game. All legitimately registered copies are v1.1. The NEW, IMPROVED Index (To find a topic quickly with a text search, search for the number in square brackets.) [1] What is Tyrian? [2] Where can I get the Shareware version of Tyrian? [3] How much is in the game? [4] What's the difference between these play modes? [5] Sometimes I find the ship constantly moves in one direction. What's happening? [6] Are there any other bugs? [7] What happens when I finish the game? [8] How do I get the registered version? [9] What's the best ship configuration to get? [10] How much are those purple bubbles in Arcade mode worth? [11] What are these special weapons? [12] Where are the secret levels? [13] Ok, I've won on Hard, now what? [14] How can I quickly power up my weapons? [15] Help! My ship just turned into a carrot! What's going on!? [16] Can I use my arcade mode weapons in full game mode? Or vice versa? [17] What's a twiddle weapon? How do I use them? [18] How do I play Super Arcade mode? [19] Is there any way I can cheat? [20] What is Destruct, and how do I play that? [21] Miscellaneous useful stuff. [22] Completely useless trivia. [23] Rumours. [1] What is Tyrian? Tyrian is the latest game from Epic MegaGames; it is a vertically scrolling Shoot'em'up game with considerably more features than any other one on the PC. It features a complex exchangeable weapon system allowing up to 300 different combinations of weapons, and several different forms of play. And it's a darn good game, too. ;) [2] Where can I get the shareware version of Tyrian? Most major ftp sites should have a copy by now. It can be found, in particular, on ftp.uml.edu, or wuarchive.wustl.edu, either in the games uploads directory, or the Epic MegaGames specific directory. Users in the UK may prefer to get their copy from ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk or ftp.demon.co.uk. [3] How much is in the game? The shareware version is a 1.3mb zip file. The shareware version of the game contains 7 standard levels and several more secret levels. All of the play modes are active. The registered version is 9mb in total, provided either on multiple disks or on Cd-Rom. The map of the levels is as follows: EPISODE 1 (all secrets found): ----- Link --S-- Secret link --A-- Link followed automatically if not in Full Game Mode --* *-- Overlap - no actual connection /----S--> Soh Jin /--S-> Asteroid ?--\ | V | ^ V |----------->+---------> Asteroid 1 ---*|*------> Savara ---\ | ^ | S | ^ | Tyrian | \A-> Asteroid 2 ---*|*-----/ | V | |----\ | | | Bonus |----S--> Bubbles | \--S-> MineMaze----/ | | /----| V |----S--> Holes | Mines | /-----/ | \----S--> Windy V Deliani (End) (13 levels) Shortest route: Tyrian -> Either asteroid -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines -> Deliani (6 levels, 50%) Longest route: Tyrian -> SohJin, Bubbles, Holes or Windy -> Asteroid 2 -> MineMaze -> Asteroid ? -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines -> Deliani (9 levels, 75%) EPISODE 2: (incomplete; 2 more secrets to find) /--- Mistakes ----\ S | | V Torm ----> Gyges ----> Bonus ----> Asteroid City ----> Soh Jin | | | A /--- Botany A <--/ | Gryphon <---| | (End) \--- Botany B <------/ EPISODE 3: (probably complete) /-S--> Sawblades ---------\ | V Gauntlet --> Ixmucane --> Bonus --> Stargate ------------------------>Camanis | ^ | \-S--> Asteroid City -----/ | | | V New Deli <---S--- Savara-Y <---S--- Tyrian-X <---S--- Fleet <---------- Maces (End) (End if no secret) (Bonus) The items available in the full game are as follows; note that other items are available in Arcade mode, but some weapons are never available in the unregistered version. The Availability field indicates from which levels you may buy the weapon; an X indicates that the weapon may be bought immediately BEFORE you fly that level. Note: The weapon(s) you possess can ALWAYS be sold/upgraded, wherever you are. EPISODE 1 (Escape) Abbreviations: TYrian BUbbles HOles SOhjin ASteroid1/2 Asteroid? mineMaZe SAvara BOnus MInes DEliani WIndy Ship Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi Talon x x x x x x x x x x x x 6000 Fang x x x x x x x x x 8000 Stalker 10000 Phoenix x x x 12000 Maelstrom 15000 MicroCorp Stalker 20000 Stalker-B 25000 Stalker-C 50000 SuperCarrot 65000 Front Gun Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi PulseCannon x x x 500 Vulcan Cannon x x x x x x x x x 600 Protron x x x 600 MultiCannon x x x x x x x x x x x 750 Missile Launcher x x x x 850 Mega Pulse x x 900 Starburst 900 Laser 950 Banana Blast 950 Mega Cannon x 1000 Heavy Missile x x x 1000 Lightning Cannon 1000 Hyper Pulse x 1050 Hot Dog Front 1100 Zica Laser 1100 Rear Gun Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi Vulcan Cannon x x x x x 500 Protron x x x x x x x 650 MultiCannon x x x x x x x 750 Wild Ball x 800 Starburst x x 900 Rear Mega Pulse x 900 Scatter Wave 900 Sonic Wave x x x x x x x x x x x 950 Heavy Guided Bomb x x 1000 Fireball x x x 1000 Rear Heavy Missile 1000 Guided MicroBomb x 1100 Hot Dog Rear 1100 Banana Blast Rear 1100 Shield Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi Structural Field x x 100 Advanced Field x x x x 250 Gencore Low x x x x x x x x x x x 500 Gencore High x x x x x x x x x x x x 1000 Microcorp LXS A x x x x x x x x x x 2000 Microcorp LXS B 4000 Microcorp LXS C 5000 Microcorp HXS A 12000 Microcorp HXS B x 20000 Generator Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi MR-9 x x x x x x x x x 500 MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x x x 2000 Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x x 5000 MicroFusion x x x x x x x 10000 Advanced MicroFusion 15000 Graviton PulseWave 50000 Sidekick Availability Cost Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi Mini Missile x x x x 1000 Single Option x x x x 3000 Side Ship 3000 Super Missile x 4000 Microbombs x x 4000 Dual Option x x x x x 6000 Post-it Mine x 7000 8-way Microbomb x 7500 Atom Bomb x x x x 8000 Plasma Storm x x 8000 Phoenix Device x x x x x x x x 8000 Vulcan Option x 10000 Buster Rocket 12500 Charge Cannon x x 15000 Flamethrower 20000 Wobbley 25000 Charge Laser 30000 Charge Zica 50000 EPISODE 2 (Treachery) Abbreviations: TOrm GYges BOnus AStcity MIstakes SOhjin BoTany GRyphon Ship Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr Talon x x x x x x 6000 Fang x 8000 Stalker 10000 Phoenix x x x x x x 12000 Maelstrom x x x x 15000 MicroCorp Stalker x x x 20000 Stalker-B x 25000 Stalker-C 50000 SuperCarrot x 65000 Front Gun Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr PulseCannon x x x x x 500 Vulcan Cannon 600 Protron x x 600 MultiCannon x x x x x 750 Missile Launcher x x 850 Mega Pulse x x x x 900 Starburst x 900 Laser 950 Banana Blast 950 Mega Cannon x x x 1000 Heavy Missile x x x 1000 Lightning Cannon 1000 Hyper Pulse x 1050 Hot Dog Front 1100 Zica Laser 1100 Rear Gun Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr Vulcan Cannon x x x x 500 Protron x x x 650 MultiCannon x x x x 750 Wild Ball 800 Starburst x x x x 900 Rear Mega Pulse 900 Scatter Wave x x 900 Sonic Wave x x x x x x x 950 Heavy Guided Bomb 1000 Fireball 1000 Rear Heavy Missile 1000 Guided MicroBomb 1100 Hot Dog Rear 1100 Banana Blast Rear 1100 Shield Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr Structural Field x 100 Advanced Field x x x 250 Gencore Low x x 500 Gencore High x x x x x x x x 1000 Microcorp LXS A x x x x x x 2000 Microcorp LXS B x x x 4000 Microcorp LXS C 5000 Microcorp HXS A x x 12000 Microcorp HXS B 20000 Generator Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr MR-9 x x x x x x 500 MR-12 x x x x x x 2000 Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x 5000 MicroFusion x x 10000 Advanced MicroFusion x x 15000 Graviton PulseWave x 50000 Sidekick Availability Cost To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr Mini Missile x x x x 1000 Single Option x x 3000 Side Ship x 3000 Super Missile x x x 4000 Microbombs x 4000 Dual Option x x 6000 Post-it Mine 7000 8-way Microbomb 7500 Atom Bomb x x 8000 Plasma Storm x 8000 Phoenix Device x 8000 Vulcan Option 10000 Buster Rocket x 12500 Charge Cannon x x 15000 Flamethrower x x 20000 Wobbley 25000 Charge Laser x x 30000 Charge Zica 50000 EPISODE 3: Mission Suicide GAuntlet IXmucane BOnus STargate SAwblades CAmanis MAces FLeet TyrianX SavaraY NewDeli Ship Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd Talon x x x x x x 6000 Fang x x x x x 8000 Stalker 10000 Phoenix x x x x x x x 12000 Maelstrom x x x x x x 15000 MicroCorp Stalker x x x x 20000 Stalker-B x x x x 25000 Stalker-C x 50000 SuperCarrot 65000 Front Gun Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd PulseCannon x x x 500 Vulcan Cannon 600 Protron x 600 MultiCannon x x x x x 750 Missile Launcher x 850 Mega Pulse x x x x x x x x 900 Starburst 900 Laser x x 950 Banana Blast 950 Mega Cannon 1000 Heavy Missile x x x x x 1000 Lightning Cannon x x x x 1000 Hyper Pulse 1050 Hot Dog Front 1100 Zica Laser x x x x 1100 Rear Gun Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd Vulcan Cannon x 500 Protron x 650 MultiCannon x x x x x x 750 Wild Ball x 800 Starburst x x x x x x x 900 Rear Mega Pulse x x x x 900 Scatter Wave 900 Sonic Wave x x x x x x 950 Heavy Guided Bomb 1000 Fireball x x x 1000 Rear Heavy Missile x x x x 1000 Guided MicroBomb 1100 Hot Dog Rear 1100 Banana Blast Rear 1100 Shield Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd Structural Field 100 Advanced Field x x x 250 Gencore Low x x 500 Gencore High x x x x x x x 1000 Microcorp LXS A x x x x x 2000 Microcorp LXS B x x x x x x x x 4000 Microcorp LXS C x x x 5000 Microcorp HXS A x x x x x x 12000 Microcorp HXS B 20000 Generator Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd MR-9 x x x x x x 500 MR-12 x x x x x x x 2000 Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x 5000 MicroFusion x x x x x 10000 Advanced MicroFusion x x x x x 15000 Graviton PulseWave x 50000 Sidekick Availability Cost Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd Mini Missile x 1000 Single Option x 3000 Side Ship x 3000 Super Missile x 4000 Microbombs x x x 4000 Dual Option x x x x x x 6000 Post-it Mine 7000 8-way Microbomb x x 7500 Atom Bomb x x x x x 8000 Plasma Storm x 8000 Phoenix Device x x x x 8000 Vulcan Option x x 10000 Buster Rocket 12500 Charge Cannon x 15000 Flamethrower x 20000 Wobbley x 25000 Charge Laser x 30000 Charge Zica x x 50000 The current best-equipped ship available is: Hull: SuperCarrot, 65000 from Mistakes Front: Zica Laser, 1100 from Sawblades Rear: Guided Microbomb, 1100 from Holes Shld: HXS-B, 20000 from Ep.1 Soh Jin Gen: Graviton PulseWave, 50000 from Mistakes or New Deli Kick: Charge Zica, 50000 from Fleet [4] What's the difference between these play modes? Tyrian offers a large number of different, selectable, modes of play: - Arcade Mode - 2-Player Arcade Mode - Super Arcade Mode - Network/Serial Mode - Full Game Mode There's another hidden game in there, but more on that later... ;) Arcade Mode is basically your standard progressive shoot-em-up game. Killing certain enemies will drop off bubbles; collecting these allows you to change your weapons around and to upgrade the ones you have. 2-Player Arcade Mode is a cooperative two player game with the arcade mode rules, but with a new twist. Both players' ships can function independently, but if you wish the two ships can join together. If this happens, one player controls the motion, while the other play controls a fully rotatable gun that is only available while they are connected. Super Arcade Mode is a secret mode, discussed later on. It allows you to play arcade mode with one of several special types of ship, most of which are not available in any other mode. The bubbles are of different types, and every one of these ships has a unique set of changeable weapons. Network/Serial Mode is similar to the 2-player Arcade Mode, except both players are further away. The game can be played over a null-modem cable, over an IPX network, or over a modem. For network games, an arena interface is included where players can talk and challenge each other. The game also includes a "BBS interface". However, this feature will be, in practice, no use because Epic have announced they do not intend to release the host end. Their statement is as follows: "Despite the demand from sysops and users, Epic MegaGames and Diversions Entertainment have decided not to release the BBS host program for the network and modem release of One Must Fall 2097 and Tyrian. With other projects taking precedence and the arrival of Windows 95 as a viable gaming platform, the window of opportunity for this product would have closed before it was ready for release and would have resulted in a delay in the delivery for the yet unnamed sequel, which will feature play over the Internet. To see a copy of the press release regarding the cancellation of the OMF/Tyrian public challenge arena, visit us on the web at http://www.epicgames.com." *OUCH*. Looks like Bill Gates has struck again, and now the only way you'll ever play like that is if you're lucky enough to have a direct non-serial internet link into your PC.. (Why do I foresee a lot of people in colleges asking for a boss screen to go in the sequel? ;) ) Full Game Mode is the campaign game. In this mode, you collect money rather than upgrades for killing enemies. This money can be spent on upgrading and customising your ship at will. In addition, data cubes can be gotten by killing certain enemies; these will later reveal messages which reveal more of the plot and possible hints as to later stages. Also, you will have the option to choose your own path through the levels, unlike Arcade Mode, where the route is fixed. [5] Sometimes I find the ship constantly moves in one direction. What's happening? This appears to be a bug. A similar symptom can also happen on the scrolling data viewer. Trying to move in the opposite direction will not work. To rectify it, when playing on the keyboard, wait for the ship to reach the extreme point of whichever direction it is moving (the left edge if it's going left, etc), and then tap the key for that direction. 90% of the time, this will sort it out. Be warned: because your ship starts at the bottom, it is possible for the ship to have this bug active and you to not notice it until you dodge upwards to avoid that bullet.. and don't move. [6] Are there any other bugs? Only one I've found so far: the simultaneous death bug. If you ever die at the exact same time as a boss in version v1.0, the game will start to scroll endlessly forward along the level, with neither ship visible. If this ever happens, you must call up the control screen with Escape, and abort the level. If you don't, the program will crash nastily when it reaches the end of the level and tries to scroll off it. [7] What happens when I finish the game? If you have the Shareware version, you will be able to start the game over, possibly choosing a different route and/or finding more secrets. You will keep all the money and weapons you have earned so far, meaning you can build your ship up greatly. When you win the game, you are given a random "secret tip", and are told one of the passwords for Super Arcade Mode. When you finish the Registered version, you will move on to the next episode. When you complete the final episode, you will be rewarded with a ray-traced closing animation, and then the game will wrap around again as before. [8] How do I get the registered version? Check out the ORDER*.DOC files in the archive for more details on this. [9] What's the best ship configuration to get? Entirely up to you! Almost all of them are powerful. The one item that is truly worth special mention is the Plasma Storm sidekick. It is the most powerful in the game.. if you can hold the Plasma Storm on a boss for about a second, it'll probably die just from that! My personal favourite configuration is: Front Gun: Multi Cannon Back Gun: Fireball or Sonic Wave Left Kick: Plasma Storm (for big stuff) Right Kick: Phoenix Device (for screens full of weenies) Paul Patricio says: "I've always found the Phoenix device useless. I use a Vulcan sidekick. I also use sonic cannon, because you can kill enemies directly behind you or directly beside you, while switching modes allows you to clobber anyone in front of you. Switching modes on the fireball is pretty useless." Zach Keene: "Just to add to the best weapon config debate, I personally like to use a laser, sonic wave (set to front), and a dual shot option on both sides." Mike Marcelis: "Just for difference of opinion, I prefer: Front Gun: Pulse Cannon Back Gun: Sonic Wave Kicks: Dual shot or Charge cannon {no ammo!}" Andrew Schultz: "Front Gun: Mega Cannon. It's pretty bad if it's not powered up, but it can dish out the damage. It doesn't have a rapid firing rate and so doesn't penalize you for using special weapons. It's lack of spread doesn't clutter up the screen so you can't see anything. Rear Gun: Banana Blaster. The banana bombs are cool and it helps make up for the Mega Cannon's lack of spread. Left&Right Sidekick: Ammoless and powerful (doesn't seem like it if you continuously fire, but if you let it "charge" up, it is quite powerful)." Actually, since reading this, I've become a sonic gun fan.. The fireball has good coverage at lower levels, but the sonic gun is far better at higher ones. [10] How much are those purple bubbles in arcade mode worth? At the start, your weapon is at level 1. To increase to level 2, you need one sphere; and from then on, to increase to any level, you will require double the number of spheres you required to increase to the previous level. The spheres are not worth any monetary amount. [11] What are these special weapons? Special weapons are gained during the arcade mode. To make them available in the arcade game, you must have reached power level 8 (in practice this is equivalent to having 8 lives). Mike Marcelais points out that this power level is in fact equal to the power level of the front gun. It *IS* possible to gain a special weapon during full game mode, although lots of weird things happen in full game mode later on.. It normally happens when you are close to maxing out either your front or rear weapon. One of the ships that would normally drop you a powerup pod will drop you a special instead. Note: they do sometimes still drop useless power up pods. (see the secrets) But if you do get a special in full game mode, you cannot sell it. (The following list, from Vincent Torre, replaces my own which was previously here, since Vincent's is far superior) Soul of Zinglon - (indicated by a picture of a ship with a small column of white light behind it) - creates a vertical beam of light that slowly expands out from your ship, then contracts and disappears. Any enemy in the beam will be damaged. The weapon is activated when you press the main fire button (i.e. it will not continue to fire if you just hold the fire button down constantly), and takes a few seconds to recharge before it can be used again. Repulsor - diverts most enemy shots away from your ship. The weapon is activated by rapidly pressing the main fire button (the more you push the fire button, the more effective the repulsor will be in repelling the shots), and does not need time to recharge. [ This is very useful when you first hear that dreaded "chung" that tells you your shield's fallen, and your armor is being hit. Sit somewhere safe and hit space rapidly and you repulse all their bullets while recharging your shield! ] Attractor - (indicated by a picture of a ship with several small objects heading towards it) - attracts power-up and bonus items (coins, gems, bonus stage spheres, etc.) towards your ship. The weapon is activated by rapidly pressing the main fire button, and does not require any recharging time between uses. Flare - (indicated by a picture of a ship with a bright red aura around it) - causes multiple flame explosions all over the screen for a few seconds. The weapon is activated when you press the main fire button (as with the other weapons, simply holding down the fire button will not cause it to re-activate), and requires several seconds to recharge after each use. Pearl Wind - (indicated by a picture of a ship with three(?) pearl-colored spheres being fired from it) - shoots pearl-looking spheres from your ship. The spheres travel in straight lines, but are not all fired at the same angle, thus covering a wider arc in front of your ship. A sphere is fired each time you press the main fire button. The weapon does not require any time to recharge. Ice Beam - (indicated by a picture of a ship with a single ice shot being fired from it) - shoots a ball of ice from the front of your ship. If an enemy is hit by the ice, it becomes frozen (turns white and blue), and will not be able to fire. The frozen enemy will not stop, but will continue to move in whatever direction it was traveling at at the time it was frozen (due to inertia, according to Epic). The enemy will unfreeze if hit (I think...), or if left undisturbed for too long. The weapon seems to work on most of the enemies, with the exception of some (all?) of the larger stage-end bosses. An ice ball is fired each time you press the main fire button (as with the other special weapons mentioned above, it won't keep firing if you just hold down the fire button). The weapon does not require any time to recharge. [12] Where are the secret levels? A secret level is accessed by picking up a glowing orange orb that will be dropped by a destroyed enemy. If you get an orb, then at the end of the current level, you will be taken to the secret level instead of the next in sequence. (Once you have the orb, you cannot choose not to go to the secret level.) If, somehow, you reveal more than one orb in any level, you will only be allowed to take one. You just won't be able to pick up a second. If you die on a secret level, you will leave that level and continue with the game (with one exception - Soh Jin). You will still be shown the destruction level details, etc. (If you don't see them, you're using v1.0. It's worth upgrading.) A note about the following, which applies to all the information on secrets: when I say "a sidekick", I mean "a sidekick that you have to fire specifically". The single, double and vulcan shot options, and the charge cannon, are not fired individually and hence do not behave as normal sidekicks and can be used to collect secrets that normally require you not to use a sidekick. So, without further ado, here is where to find those orbs: BUBBLES: On Tyrian, you will meet a series of long ships which split up into three parts as they fly; destroying these by shooting the front of them reveals three coins. At one point, while encountering these ships, (I believe it is at their second appearance) there will be a small rocky outcrop on the VERY maximum right (scroll the screen). Destroying it will reveal a small blue area; fly over this to access the Secret Level. Before you warp into this secret level, I *strongly* recommend kitting out your ship so that it can deliver a LOT of force into an enemy directly in front of you. A plasma storm will help but may not, alone, be sufficient, since it has low ammo. Contrary to my previous statement, it is possible to get a good enough ship right from the start of the game, but you need to concentrate on forward firing. Adam Williamson recommends a level 4 sonic wave, level 3/4 multicannon, and mini-missiles. When you enter the level, you will see why. Large lines of bubble formations stretch right across the level; the one bubble in the middle that is a different colour is the vulnerable spot. Shoot there quickly; it is important that you destroy the lines rapidly, since if you can't destroy the line fast enough, you'll fly into it.. and it's strong enough to kill you in one. And since it's a secret level, there's no second chance. The good point of all this is: destroying one of those lines will get you a big score bonus (and some odd bonus items - an Amiga tick? A pint of beer?). Even better, just beyond the lines lies a huge area of free coins, just lying there! For this reason, if you get an Attractor later on, a visit here is highly recommended! Watch out though, and do keep shooting - there are some hidden bubbles in the layout that will damage you if you hit them while you're collecting coins. On harder levels, they will also generate smaller, moving bubbles. But if you destroy the large bubbles, they'll turn into gems! There are a couple more of those nasty lines before you leave the level. WINDY: If you are playing on "Hard" level, or higher, you use the above method to get to "Bubbles", and you are playing v1.1, you will not go to "Bubbles"; you'll go to "Windy" instead. Windy has the background of Tyrian a maze-like map similar to Soh Jin. Certain walls are marked with dollar signs or other symbols; destroying these will reveal bonuses. However, there are also mean turrets mounted on some walls! HOLES: Immediately after the computer voice on Tyrian says "Danger", and the screen displays "Approaching enemy platforms", a wave of circular ships enters on the left. Kill the leader, then kill the one at the very back of the wave. The one at the very back should drop an orb when he dies. The actual key to this is *not* that only those two ships should be destroyed, but that you must destroy at least two ships, including the last one, *in order*. Even one hit with a weapon on an enemy out of sequence (even if it does not kill said enemy) will disqualify the orb. The above is just the simplest way of achieving that. Holes is a long and difficult level. The enemies are similar to those encountered on Tyrian. Be warned - there are several places where a clone of the Tyrian boss will pass you, firing considerably more densely than the original one did! By the way, on both "Holes" and "Bubbles" you can find a data cube which, when collected, will contain a message from Steffan of OMF2097. Another one has been found on "Holes" which seems to be an advert for Jazz.. SOH JIN: At the very start of Tyrian, you are attacked by a wave of U-fighters. Do not destroy any of these fighters (except for the leader to get your powerup pod - see the separate section.) Later, after you fly through the spikes, you are attacked by several waves of small ships, followed by a wave of five ships heading across the screen travelling at different speeds. There will be a second ship behind the one in the centre. Shoot it to reveal a glowing sphere, and pick it up for the secret level. Soh Jin is a maze of walls and turrets. The walls are very dangerous - flying into one will severely drain your shield. There are no mobile enemies on the stage, apart from the Help Ship. You'll see odd objects, resembling keys, lying around on the floor in this stage. Each is worth 500 points! Also, unusually, you can retry Soh Jin until you get it right. Even more usefully.. in Arcade Mode, destroying the turrets on Soh Jin gets you weapon pods. In Full Game mode, check out the upgrade ship menu right BEFORE you battle at Soh Jin. There are several weapons, and a powerful (and expensive!) shield, available there that are not available anywhere else. SILLY CHALLENGE: There's no award for doing it, but if you fancy a challenge, try this: Fly through Soh Jin without ever firing a shot. It's possible, but rather difficult. Your shield will be up a lot of the time, but if your armour gets low, watch out.. 'cos you'd have to fire to destroy the help ship! ASTEROID?: On Asteroid 1, there is a small platform with a face on it. Destroy this face to reveal the orb. MINEMAZE: On Asteroid 2, there is a place where there are three faces on a platform arranged like this: ,', . Destroying the one on the maximum right will reveal the orb. THE INTER-SECRET WARP: You can move directly from "MINEMAZE" to "ASTEROID?". Here's how (info from Vincent Torre): At one point in "MINEMAZE" there is a stage where five strawberries fly down the screen, down a small channel. The snag is, this channel is bracketed on the left and right by one-way magnetic barriers that allow you - indeed, try and force you - to fly out of the channel, but won't let you into it. Get the strawberries if you can then head out of the channel, across the barriers, on the left. Do NOT rejoin the main path of the level - stay on the left even when the gate/door and the new set of one-way barriers comes in on your right, and you will fly up a small passage on the left of the main level. WARNING: Do NOT fly back over to the right! The barriers will render you unable to fly back left and hence unable to get the secret. You will meet a series of small ships that swing back and forth at the top of the screen, dropping missiles as they go. I believe that either the third of these, or the ship directly after it, holds the orb. MISTAKES: The orb is on ASTCITY on Episode 2; it appears near the right, just before the wall of turrets. But I'm not sure how you make it appear - I think you may have to have the maximum possible number of bombs. TYRIAN-X, SAVARA-Y, NEW DELI: These secret levels appear automatically after you finish the third episode on Hard difficulty or higher. I strongly encourage you to go for this - they are very nice levels; a lot of the data available on them is very funny, New Deli reveals something you probably didn't know about the game interface, and the music on the first bit of Savara-Y is the best in the game (Imho) - it's so good I almost didn't want to fire over it... ;) [13] Ok, I've won on Hard, now what? Try Impossible. When the game asks you to select your difficulty level, type a capital G (shift-G). A new level, "Impossible", will appear at the bottom of the list. If even that's too easy for you, after adding "Impossible" as described above, type } (shift-]); this will add the level "Suicide". On this mode, bullets move impossibly fast and even the basic enemies are incredibly tough. I've tried shift-everything after this and haven't found another one yet. ;) While we're on the subject of extended menu items: there's one in the SETUP program too! In Setup, move to the "detail level" option and press shift-W. The detail will change to "Wild", which is the same as Pentium but with moving shadows on the ground. If you have anything less than a Pentium, forget it; even with one, it might slow down. Also, if your detail level is set to Wild, and you decrease it with the left arrow DURING THE GAME, the detail level changes to "Laptop VGA". [14] How can I quickly power up my weapons? Some ships will release special power-up pods that will immediately boost your weapons by 2 to 5 levels. These are EXTREMELY useful for building up your ship. Here's where they've been found: 0) There are two free ones on Deliani. 1) At the very beginning of the game, a batch of U-fighters zoom down dead vertical until they reach the bottom of the screen; then they track back up again on a diagonal. Without destroying any of them, let them reach the bottom and move back in the diagonal and then fry the leader with a sidekick. He will drop a Rear Weapon PowerUp pod! (Note: you may not get the pod if your sidekick weapon kills any other ship in the wave at the same time as the leader. Also, killing any other ship apart from the leader scuppers your chances of going to Soh Jin.) 2) On "Asteroid 2", at the very start of the platforms, you will see a small tank tracking about on the floor. Let it alone until it turns to fire at you and then destroy it for a PowerUp pod! 3) On "Minemaze", near the beginning, there is a spot where there is a magnetic barrier with an isolated blue sphere just below it. After passing this barrier, keep to the extreme right, and you'll pass through two gates. Destroying the weak point of the second reveals a PowerUp. 4) Again on "Minemaze", try to remain in the middle when you see five strawberries go past. Keep in the middle, and blast the gate you pass through; beyond are two ships, one of which has the Power Up. Note that this makes it very difficult to get the secret level "Asteroid ?" 5) On "Gyges", very near the start, is a triangle shaped enemy with smaller ships flying around it in a circle. If you can destroy (or shoot through) the circle and destroy the triangle, it'll drop you a powerup. 6) On "Sawblades", ever so often, a SuperCarrot will attack you. If you destroy all the SuperCarrots on the level, the very last one will drop a special power-up pod that will convert both your front and rear weapons to HotDogs. You may not want to do this, though, especially if you just bought the Zica Laser. 7) On "Asteroid City" (Episode 2), destroying a wave of three of the yellow ships will reveal a small bomb. If you have one of these bombs, then when you next fire your sidekick weapon, a small missile will be fired as well that will break into microbombs. An indicator at the bottom of the screen tracks how many of these bombs you have left. 8) On "Camanis", there are several places where crystal-type ships appear. Sometimes they will appear in a formation with a large crystal in the middle, and many small ones nearby which sweep away from it. In this case, nailing the large crystal will get you a powerup. It may be required that you do not hit any of the smaller ones in the process. [15] Help! My ship just turned into a carrot! What's going on!? 1/6 of the time, immediately after you complete the game in any mode, you will be returned to the start as usual but the layout of your ship will have changed! If you are in Full Game mode, and you examine the upgrade ship display, you'll discover your ship has been changed to type "Super Carrot", and your front and rear weapons have become "Banana Blasts". The Super Carrot actually has a higher armor level than any other ship available in the game! Note: Do not sell the Super Carrot. If you sell the Banana Blasters, you can get them back, but if you sell the Super Carrot, it's gone for good. Also be warned - if you complete the game again, there's a chance of the game giving you the Carrot back again. If it does this, then your weapons will go back to Level 1 Banana blasts EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAD BANANA BLASTS AT A HIGHER LEVEL! The carrot can fire weapons other than Banana Blasts. See "FoodShip Nine" in the Super Arcade Mode section. [16] Can I use my arcade mode weapons in full game mode? Or vice versa? Yes - you can transfer your arcade-mode ship into full-game mode, or vice versa! This has several advantages; you can bring a weapon into full-game mode that you can't buy anywhere else, and upgrade it at will, then take it back to arcade mode. Or you can just start full-game mode with a slightly better equipped ship. Ok.. here's how to go from arcade mode to full game. (You can't get weapons out of Super Arcade mode.. sorry.) Start a game in arcade mode. Play until you get the weapons you want (a trip to Soh Jin for lots of weapon pods is a good idea). Finish the level you got your weapons on. Then start the next level and immediately hit ESC, and Quit the level. Then, quit your arcade-mode game, and select Load Game from the main menu, then select "Last Level" at the bottom of the screen (or you can start a Full Game and use options/load). Suddenly, your weapons, ship and score appear in Full Game mode! Your ship is listed as a "Stalker", and has a value of 10000. But be warned.. if you bring stuff into full game that's not normally available in full game, and you sell it, it's gone for good. Going the other way is a little trickier, because there's normally no way to load a game in Arcade mode. The way to do it is as follows: 1) Select Start New Game. 2) Select 1 Player Arcade. 3) When the episode selection screen comes up, do NOT select an episode. Press Escape to return to the main menu. 4) Load a game. This will load that game as an arcade mode game! [17] What's a twiddle weapon? How do I use them? First of all, if you have v1.0, skip this bit. It won't work for you. Go and get that upgrade. ;) Ok, in v1.1.. you may have, once or twice, found that your ship can fire a weapon it doesn't even have, or one that doesn't normally exist. If that's the case, congratulations! - you've just discovered a twiddle weapon. Twiddle weapons are very similar to special moves in fighting games; if you execute the appropriate motion using joystick or keyboard, you will get a powerful effect. Be warned, however - your shield and/or armor will also be drained. It seems that having a special weapon can interfere with the operation of twiddle weapons. Here are the twiddles currently known: USP Talon Invincibility Down, Up, Down, Up+Fire - You are invincible for a second or so. Missile Spread Movement Unknown - Fires mini-missiles forward. Stalker (arcade mode) Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice - Your armor level is increased. You can go above the level at which you start. It is not, however, a permanent increase. This will drain your shield to a very low level; the higher your shield level was when you used the twiddle, the more armor you will get. Energy Barrier Up, <hold fire>, Left, Down, <release fire> - Your ship is surrounded by a barrier that lessens damage done to you by collisions. Bullets seem to be unaffected. Microbomb Shower Movement Unknown - The ship will *FLOOD* the screen with MicroBombs. *Microcorp* StagU; Repulsor Hold fire, alternate left/right - Just like the special weapon, except for the shield drain. Prototype Stalker-C Post-it Spread Movement Unknown, Unconfirmed - Suggested by data on Savara-Y. USP Fang Invincibility Down, Up, Down, Up+Fire Bomb Spread Right, Left, Right, Down+Fire - Fire five high-speed guided bombs. (Look out - this drains your *ARMOR*. Too many times, and you're into Warning.) Gencore Phoenix Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire - Five ice shots; they behave like the special ice weapon. Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice Gencore Maelstrom Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice Super Carrot Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire Hot dog feast Up, Down+Fire - Five hotdog shots fired forwards. Dragonwing (two-player) Symbiosis Hold Down, Fire twice - Drain your shield to increase the other player's armour. Repulsor Hold fire, alternate Left/Right Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire [18] How do I play Super Arcade mode? Super Arcade Mode is a special mode where you will play an unusual ship with unique weapons. You get a fixed 3 lives; and you have a super weapon that is always active. To play Super Arcade Mode, you must type a password at the main menu to select the ship you want to play. Here is a list of the ships available, their passwords, and their weapons. As mentioned before, their specials are available all the time. Instead of the standard way of upgrading weapons, the weapon pods will be gold with a colour in the middle. Each colour is a different weapon and the power of the weapon is determined by the number you've collected of that colour. You start with Level 1 Red. Some of the ships available here are clones of other ships that you can play during the normal game mode. If this is the case, and you have v1.1, then you'll usually find you can use the twiddles of the ship of which the one you are flying is a clone. Ship: Experimental PQZ Password: TECHNO Special: Soul of Zinglon + Minefield (RECHARGE): A standard Soul, plus a large number of mines cover the screen. Red: Hyper Pulse - A fairly standard cannon. Blue: Zica Laser - A large laser beam, which can shoot several enemies at once. Green: Scatter Wave - Shoot to the sides. A tad useless... (Andrew Schultz suggests this power-up was put there by the enemy to handicap your ship.. ;) ) Purple:Guided bombs - Just like the ones you can get in full game. Black: Heavy Missile Launcher Ship: Stormwind the Elemental Password: STORMWIND Special: Sandstorm (RECHARGE) Just like the minefield, but the particles are smaller. Red: Mega Pulse - Another relatively standard cannon. Blue: Lightning Cannon - A big energy bolt forward, and a smaller ball backwards. The ball is fired at an angle from your ship, and inherits your velocity if you move. Green: Sonic Wave Purple:Protron Wave - Shoot blue, whirling balls. Black: Rear Mega Pulse Ship: Tx SilverCloud Password: UNKNOWN Special: Proton Dispersal (RECHARGE) A series of mines dropped in a spiral around the ship. Red: Multicannon - Have a guess (all the reds are basic..) Blue: Zica Laser - As PQZ Black: Rear Heavy Missile Launcher - Two missiles fired across each other. Green: Laser - A constantly fired, TRUE laser, that does major damage if held on target. Purple:Vulcan Cannon - Just like in full game. Ship: Captured U-Fighter Password: ENEMY Special: Dual Vulcan (RECHARGE) A very fast series of forward shots. Not enough to destroy a wave. This ship sucks. Red: Vulcan Cannon - This is what the game calls it but it's not the same as the normal one. It only fires at an angle to the sides. Yeuch. This ship REALLY sucks. Blue: Mega Cannon - Small blue/white ball shots. Black: Guided Microbombs Green: Rear Mega Pulse Purple:Protron Ship: Foodship Nine Password: WEIRD Special: Banana Bomb (RECHARGE) A large number of bananas are fired from the back of the ship. Red: Banana Blast - A standard gun, except it fires bananas. Blue: Orange Juicer - A series of oranges in a helix around your ship. Black: HotDog Front - Similar to the banana blast, but slower and more damaging. Fires hot dogs. In buns. With mustard. Purple:Protron Z - White circular bullets. Green: Wild Balls - As full game. Ship: Ninja Star Password: STEALTH Special: Blade field (RECHARGE) Just like minefield, but with whirling shurikens. Red: Starburst - Semi-random angled side fire. Not a good start.. Green: Poison bomb - A standard bomb, but when it hits, it splits. Blue: Guided Bombs - Similar to standard homing bombs but faster. Black: Shuriken field - Two blades, similar to those in the field. Purple:Protron wave Ship: Nort-Ship Z Password: NORTSHIPZ Special: Nortship Dust (CONSTANT) As you move left or right with this ship, a blue dust will be released from the sides. It damages anything it touches. Special: Astral Zone (RECHARGE) This is a *Weird* one. It turns the background into a starfield and fills the screen with Zica lasers. It seems that moving, or firing, while the zone is actually in effect produces more lasers. Red: Super Pulse - Similar to the normal cannon, but wider range. Grey: Spreader - Similar to the U-fighter's "vulcan" cannon. Green: Spreader B - Fires pearl-windish spheres at 45 degrees. When they hit, they release a number of damaging dust particles AND bounce off. (Overrated - quite weak.) Blue: Orange Juicer - As FoodShip Nine. Purple:Poison Bomb - As Ninja Star. (Someone wrote to me claiming that there were over a dozen codes...) [19] Is there any way I can cheat? Yes, there's two ways. The first way is only for people who really don't believe in earning your privileges and such.. Instead of typing TYRIAN to start the game, type FILE0001 LOOT but do *NOT* hit return. Now hold down the ALT key on the main keyboard, and type 254 on the numeric keypad. (A small square should appear on the command line.) Release ALT, and press RETURN. Start a 1 player full game, and you'll have 1 Million credits! (Make sure the word LOOT is typed in caps.) The other way is actually just as much a cheat, but it doesn't use a cheat code; it uses a loophole in the game itself, so you may feel better using this. Besides, it lets you have technically infinite money. Kit your ship out so that you can fire forwards well, and can defend against bullets from the side, but so that your fire range isn't TOO spread out (level 4 multicannon, level 3 sonic wave works well). Get to the secret level "ASTEROID?" by whatever route. In this level, you'll notice that there are turrets that fire unusual things at you - grey bubbles, missiles, etc. At one point in the level, a turret firing those grey bubbles (LOTS of them!) appears as a mid-stage boss. When you get there, move your ship into the corner such that you can kill the bubbles as he fires them, but such that you are not in fact shooting him. Every time you kill a bubble, 100 points; and you'll be killing lots of them. As long as you're defended on the sides, he probably won't be able to hit you with any; neither you, nor he, will ever die. Weigh down the fire button and go and have a cuppa, do the crossword, whatever.. and come back to a massive score. Then, kill the turret normally, finish the level and go and upgrade your ship rather a lot. ;) (Don't leave it TOO long, though - an overflow will crash the game.) [20] What is Destruct, and how do I play that? Destruct is a small, hidden subgame. It is a variant of Scorched Earth, with more variety, and played in real-time. To play Destruct, simply type the word "destruct" at the main menu. Press F1 to view the keys. By default, the computer will play the left hand player, but you can turn this off and play 2 player by pressing F10. A second press will return you to 1 player mode. Destruct offers you five types of game: 5-Card War: Each of the players receives five randomly selected vehicles. Destroy all the opponent's vehicles to win! Traditional: One tank each. He who doesn't die, wins. Heli Assault: Fly your helicopters in against the computer's (or second player's) guns. Heli Defence: The same in reverse.. shoot down the computer's helicopters before they destroy your guns. Outgunned: One player gets several jumpers and helicopters.. the other just gets guns. The types of vehicle that are available as follows: Gun: Choose angle with left/right and force with up/down. There are several types of gun, which fire different types of ammo. Helicopter: Arrow keys steer the copter around; it always fires at 45 degrees downwards. If you switch away from the copter while it's in flight, it will fall out of the sky! Jumper: While on the ground, it shouts upwards. Press up to make it jump in the air; while in the air, it fires downwards. Repulsor: Can't move and can't fire. But if you select it, and hold down fire, all the opponent's bullets will be pushed away from it, just like the Repulsor special in the game. It's kinda fun to make them shoot themselves. ;) Each vehicle has different weapons. Some are more powerful than others, but after firing a powerful weapon you will have to wait a while before you can fire again, whereas weak weapons will have a far shorter reload time! [21] Miscellaneous useful stuff. THE HELP SHIP: Whenever you are low on armor and the alert is sounding, watch for a little red ship that drops from the top of the screen, pauses in the middle, then heads up top again. Shooting that ship will drop you an armor bonus. If you are deep into alert (the alert noise gets faster the nearer you are to death), the bonus won't be enough to get you out of it, and you may have to wait for a second Help Ship. Note: The Help Ship does not fire, and crashing into it does not destroy it or you. BONUS LEVEL: Do not touch your sidekicks on the bonus level. The awards are FAR greater for shooting down the layouts with a standard weapon than for gunning the lot down with specials! Note also that sometimes a large enemy from the layout will swoop downwards. Destroying that will generally get you a good bonus - generally at least a small gem. GAMMA CORRECTION: Just like Doom, Tyrian has Gamma Correction. Press F11 during a game to cycle through the different levels. [22] Completely useless trivia. - "Tyrian" means 'red or purple', or 'a native of Tyre'. - If you scan the web for "Tyrian" with a loose Lycos(tm) search, you'll find (amongst other things) a poem called "Ode on the death of a favourite cat by drowning in a pool of goldfish". - The computer voice in Tyrian is called Susan. [23] Rumours. - You can get a Super Arcade Mode ship into Full Game by doing something involving the number 2. - There is a Super Arcade password ENGAGE. (I've tried it, and it doesn't seem to work.) --