Tyrian FAQ v0.3, with alpha equipment table
Mark Green
The Unofficial Tyrian FAQ, v0.3
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 earning yourself a place in the list of contributors!
Send additions and modifications to ma...@antelope.demon.co.uk.
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 shareware version?
[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 Shareware version?
[8] How do I get the registered version?
[9] What's the best ship configuration to get?
[10] What are these special weapons?
[11] Where are the secrets?
[12] How do I play Super Arcade mode?
[13] Is there any way I can cheat?
[14] What is Destruct, and how do I play that?
[15] Who wrote this?
Changes v0.1 -> v0.2:
The UK site address is now correct; as in, it's in the UK, instead of
being wuarchive. Sorry; Freudian drat.
Help Ship details added.
Many contributions added, including the secret level "Bubbles", a vastly
improved list of Special Weapons, and a trick with the first tank on
Asteroid 2.
Changes v0.2 -> v0.3:
Removed my scaremongering about the enemies on Bubbles. ;)
Added a sneaky, infinate-score trick.
Yet another theory on reaching Soh Jin.
Added a preliminary (and probably inaccurate) attempt at an equipment
availability table.
[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 exchangable 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 Shareware version?
It 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, and all the secrets currently listed are available.
The map of the levels is as follows:
----- 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
|
V
Deliani
(End)
(12 levels)
Shortest route: Tyrian -> Either asteroid -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines
-> Deliani (6 levels, 50%)
Longest route: Tyrian -> SohJin, Bubbles or Holes -> Asteroid 2 ->
MineMaze -> Asteroid ? -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines -> Deliani
(9 levels, 75%)
The items available in the full game in this version are as follows; note
that other items are available in Super Arcade mode. 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.
[There may be errors in the table due to this, since it means I can't
tell if a weapon's displayed because it's available or because it's the
one I was using. (Plus the fact that you don't want to see my handwritten
notes.. ;) ) This is, therefore, presented for correction (ie, alpha test)
in this version. Hopefully, v0.4 will be precise.]
Abbreviations:
TYrian BUbbles HOles SOhjin ASteroid1/2 Asteroid? mineMaZe SAvara BOnus MInes
DEliani
Ship Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
Talon x x x x x x x x x x x 6000
Fang x x x x x x x x 8000
Phoenix x x x 12000
SuperCarrot (special) 65000
Front Gun Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
PulseCannon x x x 500
Vulcan Cannon 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 750
Missile Launcher x x x x 850
Mega Pulse x 900
Banana Blast (special) 950
Mega Cannon x 1000
Heavy Missile x x x 1000
Hyper Pulse x 1050
Rear Gun Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
Vulcan Cannon x x x x x 500
Protron x x x x x x x 650
MultiCannon x x x x x x 750
Wild Ball ???? 800
Starburst x 900
Rear Mega Pulse x 900
Sonic Wave x x x x x x x x x x 950
Heavy Guided Bomb x x 1000
Fireball x x x 1000
Guided MicroBomb x 1100
Banana Blast Rear (special) 1100
Shield Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
Structural Field x x 100
Advanced Field x x x x 250
Gencore Low x x x x x x x x x x 500
Gencore High x x x x x x x x x x x 1000
Microcorp LXS A x x x x x x x x x 2000
Microcorp HXS B x 20000
Generator Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
MR-9 x x x x x x x x 500
MR-12 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 5000
MicroFusion x x x x x x x 10000
Sidekick Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De
Mini Missile x x x x 1000
Single Option x x x 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 8000
Plasma Storm x x 8000
Phoenix Device x x x x x x x 8000
Vulcan Option x 10000
Charge Cannon x x 15000
[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
independantly, 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 changable weapons.
Network/Serial Mode ... ? (Anyone played this?)
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 simoultaneous death bug. If you ever die
at the exact same time as a boss, 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.
Epic have notified me that a v1.1 patch is due for release which will
fix these bugs.
[7] What happens when I finish 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 earnt so far, meaning you can build your ship up greatly.
The other thing that (hopefully) happens is that you rush out and
order the registered version!
[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."
Vincent Torre:
"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."
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] 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). 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)
(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 picure 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 metioned above, it won't keep firing if you
just hold down the fire button). The weapon does not require any
time to recharge.
[11] Where are the secrets?
There's such a lot of secret stuff in this game it needs to be split up,
so Super Arcade Mode and Destruct have been given seperate sections. Here's
the list of secret stuff I've discovered or heard of so far in the actual
game. Contributions welcome! (I believe Secret Levels work in both modes.
PowerUp pods are nothing special in Arcade Mode, so they might not work
there.)
Note about secret levels: Once you collect the orb that gives you access
to one, you must complete the current level as per normal before you get
to the secret level. If you fail a secret level you can NOT make a
second attempt! (If you save before you enter the secret level, you can
restore and try again).
FOR THE TOUGH: 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!
A note about the difficult levels: There are in fact TWO seperate Savara
levels. Which one you get to play depends on whether you have chosen
Easy/Normal difficulty, or Hard/Impossible. It's possible that there are
secrets hidden on the "hard" Savara that aren't on the "easy" one.
A GOOD START: 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.)
HIDDEN REWARD: 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!
[There are two "free" PowerUp pods to be found on Deliani. I've also
gotten one on Savara, once.]
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.
SECRET LEVEL "BUBBLES": On the first level, 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. But if you destroy those bubbles,
they'll turn into gems! There are a couple more of those nasty lines before
you leave the level.
Note: There are three Secret levels on the first stage, but you can only
gain access to one. If you try to get more than one orb, you will find that
your ship flies straight over the extra ones.
SECRET LEVEL "HOLES": Immediately after the computer voice on the first
level 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. Do *not* destroy any of the other
ships in the wave. The one at the very back should drop an orb when he
dies. Get this to access the secret level.
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.
SECRET LEVEL "SOH JIN": After you fly through the spikes on the first
level, you are attacked by several waves of small ships, followed by a
wave of five ships heading across the screen travelling at different speeds.
Sometimes there will be a second ship behind the one in the centre. If
there is, shoot it to reveal a glowing sphere, and pick it up for the
secret level.
I'm not absolutely positive as to what makes the second ship appear, though.
Several theories have been put forward, and none seem to work. Vincent
Torre believes it to have something to do with the very last group of
tanks you encounter before you fly off the "enemy platforms" into the spikes.
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!
SECRET LEVEL "ASTEROID?": On Asteroid 1, there is a small platform with a
face on it. Destroy this face to reveal the orb. Correction from the
prior FAQ: You do not need to hit it with a sidekick specifically, but
it will take a lot of hits from a normal weapon.
SECRET LEVEL "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 orb
ship directly after it, holds the orb.
HELP ON ARCADE: These faces take on a new meaning in the arcade mode.
Destroy any one WITHOUT using a sidekick to get four power-up orbs.
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.
CARROT FROM NOWHERE: Sometimes, (it may be something to do with your
difficulty level selection), immediately after you complete the
game in Full Game mode, you will be returned to the start as usual but the
layout of your ship will have changed! If 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 this mode!
And a Super Carrot with two level 11 Banana Blasts, a Flare and two Plasma
Storms... well, you feel sorry for the enemy. This layout can kill the
Tyrian boss or any of the layouts on the bonus level in matter of seconds
without even touching the 'storms. Note that Banana Blasts are expensive,
but it shouldn't take much more than another round trip to build them up to
maximum.
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!
[12] 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 3 lives, but 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.
(Note: The weapons have "proper" names which you can see on the inter-
level screens, but I can't face getting all of them. If anybody has the
correct names, tell me and I'll substitute them in.)
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: Side fire - Shoot to the sides. A tad useless...
Purple:Homing bombs - Just like the ones you can get in full game.
Black: Double missile
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 Fire - 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: 4 way Angle - Four angular bullets in a spread fire.
(about equivalent to a level 3-5ish Sonic Wave)
Purple:Whirl Fire - Shoot blue, whirling balls.
Black: Side Fire
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: Missile Cross - Two missiles fired across each other.
Green: Tight Beam - 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: Spark Balls - Small blue/white ball shots.
Black: Homing Bombs - As full game.
Green: Side Fire
Purple:Side Whirl Fire
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: Hot dog shot - Similar to the banana blast, but slower and more
damaging. Fires hot dogs. In buns. With mustard.
Purple:Egg bullet - White circular bullets. They must be eggs.
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: Fast bombs - Similar to standard homing bombs but faster.
Black: Shuriken fire - Two blades, similar to those in the field.
Purple:Whirl fire
[13] Is there any way I can cheat?
It would seem likely that Tyrian contains cheat codes, but these are not
known at present. However, the following little trick from J.D.Collins will
get you infinate score, and hence infinate money in Full Game mode.
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, 200 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. ;)
[14] 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 recieves 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.
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!
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Maintained by Mark Green (ma...@antelope.demon.co.uk)
Contributors:
Zach Keene (fnlfa...@aol.com)
Paul Patricio (ppat...@mail.vt.edu)
Vincent "Dr. Wily" Torre (vto...@skull.castle.siberia.unk)
Adam Williamson (ad...@scss.demon.co.uk)
J.D.Collins (jdco...@ucsd.edu)
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! (The cheque's
in the post, guys..)
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