Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: PFREY%DREW.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (PETER C. FREY) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games Subject: Xenon II Message-ID: <45869@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Date: 27 Feb 91 00:03:51 GMT Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu Lines: 82 For those of you playing Xenon II, here are some tips on what to buy. I've read the so called 'help' message that's been going around on Xenon II. Well, it's got a lot of flaws. Mostly because they don't know it inside and out like I do! :) Well, I win at the game every time I play, though it takes me all three men to do it, and sometimes I have to continue the game. But I have lapped it twice and plan on doing it three times. Here goes: These hints are targeted at those who are at intermediate or expert level. Beginners need other info. I'm concentrating only on shops. Buy a rapid fire joy stick. You get a continuous line of fire. It's a cynch to master levels 1-3 when you get it. Shops: *Equipment/Weapons not mentioned are inferior to those I tell you to buy. The rockets launchers are pathetic compared to lasers, and they cost the same. Homing missiles are slow and weak. By the time you get a drone, it's pea- sized pellets are ineffective. *Leftover money cannot be saved for the next shop. If you have 1000 left over, and there is no reason to spend it on side/rear shot as described later, buy a mine. This way, you can sell it at the next shop. This is a "savings account" of sorts. Shop 1a: buy a small heart if you need it. Buy autofire if you have money left. Ignore Nashorn. It only lasts a few seconds. It's only a ego boost. Shop 1b: Sell your rear fire. You gain 500 more. Don't buy a small heart unless you have less than half energy. Reason: You get a heart early into level 2a with no real challenges before it. Buy side shot and double shot. Shop 2a: Sell any mines you have to get more money. Buy a heart if you need it. Do not buy sideshot enough to power to 3. It wastes your money because you'll get a free side shot towards the end of the level. Shop 2b: Sell any mines you have to get more money. Buy a heart if you need it. Sell your side shot! Sell your rocket launcher! Buy laser and power ups. Get two lasers if you can. Power them up to 2 power rather than getting a third. Do not buy rear shot unless you have 1000 with nothing else to buy. The reason: 2 rear shots appear immediately on the screen. Shop 3a: Sell your rear shot. Buy side shot at _least_ power 2. If you buy power up, it ups powers the double shot before the laser. Buy side laser. Buy power ups as much as possible. Never forget to get a heart. Buy mines for future expenses with any money left over. Shop 3b: Buy laser, heart, power up. A nashorn proves useful for the first time on the coming screen, though only minimally. If you still have only power 2 sideshot, do not power it to 3. You get a free one at the dragon. Shop 4a: Sell mines, if any. Buy power up and laser. If all expenses go well, you should have: double shot power 3, side shot power 3, 3-4 lasers of which at least 2 are power 2. You may power your lasers to power 3 if you are lucky. Caution: do not pick up the rear shot in the beginning of the coming screen. Otherwise, you cannot defeat the chameleon at the end of level 4, part 2. You do this by waiting for the tongue to retract (staying out of its range) then zipping upwards to where the laser cannot reach you (there are only two positions the eye-lasers can hit). Then, you just side shot it. Shop 4b: If you learned the trick of gathering as much money as possible from the bats, then you should have a field day! You do this by getting caught downstream from the bats, firing at them, and then picking up the coin bubbles in the middle. I usually spend 45 minutes or more getting through the bat section. I've gotten 94,000 coins that way! You can then buy the optimum of equipment: all 4 lasers power 3, double and side shot power 3, up to 9 lives, and large mines fully powered. Don't forget to buy a full heart if needed. A full heart means a life at 1/6 the cost. If you get over 100,000 coins, you can buy the other offerings: maximum protection, dive, homing missiles, and full autofire (you can shoot rapidly while setting mines). Shop 5a: Everything is half price, but Crispin still buys items at the usual prices (ranging from 1/2 to 2/3 price). Buy more lives. Sell mines. Get your ship up to max as listed above, if you did not previously do so. Make it through level 5b and you've won! It sends you back to level 1a with no weapons and everything twice as hard to kill. I've lapped it twice so far. I'm working on getting through it a third time. - Peter C. Frey PFREY@DREW.BITNET