Your powers are weak old man, you should not have come back...
Ian McCall
Back when C64s were current but the 16-bit era was just starting, I
moved from a C64 to an Atari ST. On the day everything was ready for
the buyer to collect, I was -desperately- playing Psi 5 Trading Company
on my 64 hoping against hope to finally complete the hardest level. I
could pretty much breeze through the first mission, second mission was
also a do'able thing. But the last one - the last one eluded me.
Now, it's thirteen years later and I'm back on playing Psi 5. And I am
-rubbish-, drastically worse than I was when I played first time
around. I can't even get to the end of mission one anymore, let alone
attempt the third mission. I -thought - I'd be able to pick things up
again and after a few blasts get straight back into attempting mission
3 but nope - I'm getting absolutely nowhere.
Any tips? I've found crew selection tips on the (excellent) Psi 5
Trading company site here:
<http://www.cerebus.de/psi5/intro.html>
...but I'm really looking for an overall approach to stop me from being
dead in the water after just a handful of ships. I -suspect- I'm not
paying enough attention to my engineering and navigation departments,
but I still don't remember the damage and repairs mounting up quite as
quickly as they're doing at the moment.
Cheers,
Ian
bluebirdpod
It is amazing that a 8-bit machine could imerse a player into such a
wonderfuly crafted
realm. The people that wrote the games backthen really had a great
imagination to push
the available technology.
This game was hard from the get-go, I really only loaded it up to
listen to the music, that
was the extent of this one.
If you like space type games, find a copy of Space The Ultimate
Frontier, its a Star Trek clone
but it was crafted very well, has a overlay printout that fits either
C64 or C128s keyboard
with shortcuts to various functions. Ha the Krylons will get you
eventually.
DanSolo
> ...but I'm really looking for an overall approach to stop me from being
> dead in the water after just a handful of ships. I -suspect- I'm not
> paying enough attention to my engineering and navigation departments,
> but I still don't remember the damage and repairs mounting up quite as
> quickly as they're doing at the moment.
I think a lot of us seem to forget that back then we'd easily spend 20
hours a day for days on end playing a game. That's more dedication
that a professional sportsman. "Casual" gaming just hasn't kept us in
shape for the kind of challenge something like Psi5 throws down.
Best of luck with it. Try an emulator, and of course... CHEAT!!
Christian Brandt
> Psi 5 Trading Company. It is my lifelong nemesis, and has taunted me for
> years.
I happen to like Psi5 quite a lot myself, just look at my email
address, it is installed on my Netbook so I play it a lot while on train.
> Any tips? I've found crew selection tips on the (excellent) Psi 5
> Trading company site here:
> <http://www.cerebus.de/psi5/intro.html>
First mission is piece of cake, second mission rarelly fails on me. But
the third is mostly impossible!!!
Some months ago I hacked Psi5 to fill up shield and energy every
vertical blanking interrupt so basicalyl I always had 99 shield and
energy. Still you have nearly no chance at all. Even with 99 shield all
the time damage leaks through the shields faster than you can say "no
chance". I doublechecked, there are level three enemies which can kill
all your shield with one good hit and others which always bypass your
shield with 1-10% damage. Those enemies also take lots of damage, are
hard to hit and overall pretty badasses so you better never fight more
than one at once. After three failures I managed to make it through
mission three but not within time and only with 20% cargo left.
But lets discuss tactics, my choice of crew:
Weapons: Boris - works wonders with the cannon but the blaster is
useless, disable it to safe some power grid.
Scanning: Phyzo - isn't the fastest with tracking lock but very fast
with the info scanner. This is an absolute must have on harder levels as
optimal weapons kill the boggeys a lot faster.
Navigation: Nik Relpo - best evasive maneuvers and very fast reactions.
Fligronk Plgzur - can resort power grid fast and doesn't die easily.
Repairs: Bru Marmo - gets most jobs done on herself and is best for
scanner and droids repair.
Disable Blaster - it is totally useless on Boris. Resort your power
grid like this:
1. Shield Battery
2. Engines
3. Scanners
4. Weapons
5. Shield
6. Emergency Battery
While traveling put the Emergency Battery at Place 1. but watch the
scanner for boogeys - put the battery back at 6, otherwise your scanner
has no power. Scan the enemy while cruising at warp 8, if you get the
optimal weapon or if he opens fire drop to warp 2 or 3 with evasive
maneuvers, finish him.
If your reactor gets damages and you lack power then your shield will
be down already - put Shield Battery at Level 6.
The most vital System is you tracking lock, then your cannon, then your
info scanner. Everything else is "just nice to have".
Christian Brandt
Dmackey828
<daniel...@ucd.ie> wrote:
SNIP...
>I think a lot of us seem to forget that back then we'd easily spend 20
>hours a day for days on end playing a game. That's more dedication
>that a professional sportsman. "Casual" gaming just hasn't kept us in
>shape for the kind of challenge something like Psi5 throws down.
>Best of luck with it. Try an emulator, and of course... CHEAT!!
I'll 2nd that one. I wish I had the time I used to back in the
day to play games. Growing up SUCKS!! <LOL> But I can
STILL play with my old 8bit equipment..
WEB : http://www.n2dvm.com
Ian McCall
> But lets discuss tactics, my choice of crew:
>
> Weapons: Boris - works wonders with the cannon but the blaster is
> useless, disable it to safe some power grid.
Ah - good idea. Hadn't thought of turning off the gear he's no good
with. Boris has always been my pick too - fires madly away with barely
an order in site. Rating: psychopath.
> Scanning: Phyzo - isn't the fastest with tracking lock but very fast
> with the info scanner. This is an absolute must have on harder levels as
> optimal weapons kill the boggeys a lot faster.
ok - not one I've tried much with, so I'll have a go.
> Navigation: Nik Relpo - best evasive maneuvers and very fast reactions.
Yep - that's who I've been using. Suspect I should pay more attention
to this though and switch course heading more often.
> Fligronk Plgzur - can resort power grid fast and doesn't die easily.
Another one I don't use much - will try out.
> Repairs: Bru Marmo - gets most jobs done on herself and is best for
> scanner and droids repair.
Seconded.
> Disable Blaster - it is totally useless on Boris. Resort your power
> grid like this:
> <snip useful tips>
Thanks - definitely some ideas I haven't tried there. Oh and can we
confirm: the Cravenlator. It doesn't do a thing, does it? I remember as
a kid utterly ignoring it after I saw no practical benefits from
repairing it, and then later I used to repair it as a matter of pride
for arriving with most of my ship intact...
Cheers,
Ian
