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Shattered SteelDifficult levels, poor hit detection & walkthrough [small spoiler](14 posts)solved(14 posts)solved
(14 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 26, 2009
Does anyone else find some of the levels are almost impossible sometimes? Either because of poor hit detection or being massively outnumbered when having to keep X amount of buildings standing?
So far by using mini guns and aiming missiles at the floor I am just about holding my own so long as I don't run out of ammo. Lasers, although they regenerate slowly miss the target (i.e. go straight through it) most of the time and are useless.
About mission 4 or 5 (Base name begins with a K (Sorry not on my gaming comp at the mo so can not get a more accurate name than that)) on the first planet when you have to keep 35 odd buildings standing (without any help) when attempting to destroy the advancing hordes and 3 transport pods, I can destroy 2 before the base is overwhelmed by enemies. Any one got any tips?
Anyone know of any walkthroughs for that mission and general weapon tips?
Thanks
This question / problem has been solved by Pratorimage
Posted May 28, 2009
Here's my tip: use your map.
The map will show you where all the enemies are, including the transport pods. Just make a beeline for the pods as soon as you see a window of opportunity. When all the pods are gone, you win, so destroying them as fast as possible will virtually ensure the survival of your base.
That said, I did find several of the levels arbitrarily hard. Running out of ammunition is my leading cause of death even on easy mode. There are two levels I can recall in particular, both on the second planet:
In the first, you're charged with defending a convoy of trucks while they set up a new military base. The enemies you're fighting are all fairly fast and extremely well armed, so just keeping yourself alive is a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to beat that without cheating to get an infinite supply of seeker missiles.
The second problematic level is the last level in the game, in which you need to help some scientists capture an alien portal. Defending the portal is a super-ultimate-uber-megaboss of doom who can take a direct hit with a nuclear missile and remain standing. He also has a ridiculous amount of attack power. The only apparent way to beat him is to have a mech that can run faster than he can turn around and keep circling him, BUT you have to beat him in five minutes or less because the five minute mark is where the scientists come in and if the boss isn't already dead, it will kill them. And when the scientists turn the portal on, it will start spawning an indefinite number of weak units, far more than you could ever destroy quickly no matter what weapons you had. Again, I couldn't win without cheating.
Post edited May 28, 2009 by Prator
Posted May 28, 2009
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Prator: The second problematic level is the last level in the game, in which you need to help some scientists capture an alien portal. Defending the portal is a super-ultimate-uber-megaboss of doom who can take a direct hit with a nuclear missile and remain standing. He also has a ridiculous amount of attack power. The only apparent way to beat him is to have a mech that can run faster than he can turn around and keep circling him, BUT you have to beat him in five minutes or less because the five minute mark is where the scientists come in and if the boss isn't already dead, it will kill them. And when the scientists turn the portal on, it will start spawning an indefinite number of weak units, far more than you could ever destroy quickly no matter what weapons you had. Again, I couldn't win without cheating.

There's an "easy" way to do that level, without cheating. Remember that you can destroy the terrain...
When you first start, put a nuke into the ground in front of the portal. The closer you can come to the portal without vapourizing it, the better. Makes a big crater. The boss falls in, and has a hard time attacking you from there >:)
When the crapflood of little enemies starts, all the ground units fall into the hole, so you only have to deal with the fliers. When they're gone, you can take your time with the rest. They're not going anywhere, so if you need to you can back off and let your shields regen.
Posted May 29, 2009
Thank you both for the tips, they really helped :)
Because of the poor hit detection I have been using mini guns and missiles exclusively. As pointed out both of those can run out of ammo on some levels because of the amount of units. I ended up cheating on those levels too (This is the only game I've ever had to cheat on to actually make progress) and giving myself some more ammo. I didn't upgrade my guns or give myself anything that I didn't already have, so I don't feel too bad. I tend to think of them as 'weapon drops' ;)
On the last level I tried the running around in circles but eventually picked up enough hits that I failed the mission. Next I tried the Nuke solution. Damns its hard getting that Nuke in the right position without destroying the gate! Even after killing the boss I had to do this mission again as the endless swarm of enemies eventually destroyed the game with their flaming wreckage as I show them down time and time again!
After doing that level I was treated to a cut scene of another world and then shown the credits. My immediate though was WTF happened to the rest of the game? I was really getting worked up as I had not had chance to saved the game from the last mission when I read the above replies again and noticed the 'last level' of the game bit.
After a bit of hunting round I found that through the multiplayer panel I can now move to the 6th planet (What happened to the other 3?) and do that funny world shown in the last cut scene.
This game is damn good in a lot of ways (game play, atmosphere, cut scenes, music etc) buts its so incredibly frustrating in others (hit detection, unfinished story etc). How I wish the had managed to finish it properly.
For a DOS era game that's 13 odd years old now its bloody impressive.
Thanks again for the tips. Time to finish the 6th world.
@ZamFear – Just to let you know that I wanted to mark your last reply as a solution too but unfortunately he site wont let me mark more then one post as a solution.
Post edited May 29, 2009 by bobscraphouse
Posted July 23, 2009
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Prator: Here's my tip: use your map.
The map will show you where all the enemies are, including the transport pods. Just make a beeline for the pods as soon as you see a window of opportunity. When all the pods are gone, you win, so destroying them as fast as possible will virtually ensure the survival of your base.
That said, I did find several of the levels arbitrarily hard. Running out of ammunition is my leading cause of death even on easy mode. There are two levels I can recall in particular, both on the second planet:
In the first, you're charged with defending a convoy of trucks while they set up a new military base. The enemies you're fighting are all fairly fast and extremely well armed, so just keeping yourself alive is a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to beat that without cheating to get an infinite supply of seeker missiles.
The second problematic level is the last level in the game, in which you need to help some scientists capture an alien portal. Defending the portal is a super-ultimate-uber-megaboss of doom who can take a direct hit with a nuclear missile and remain standing. He also has a ridiculous amount of attack power. The only apparent way to beat him is to have a mech that can run faster than he can turn around and keep circling him, BUT you have to beat him in five minutes or less because the five minute mark is where the scientists come in and if the boss isn't already dead, it will kill them. And when the scientists turn the portal on, it will start spawning an indefinite number of weak units, far more than you could ever destroy quickly no matter what weapons you had. Again, I couldn't win without cheating.

When I bring up the map it only shows the enemies within a certain range. Occasionally a transport pod will show up, but there seems to be no consistency in when they actually appear. The mission would be easy enough if I could rush towards the pod, but each time I have to search for them.
Posted July 23, 2009
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Asiaso: When I bring up the map it only shows the enemies within a certain range. Occasionally a transport pod will show up, but there seems to be no consistency in when they actually appear. The mission would be easy enough if I could rush towards the pod, but each time I have to search for them.
You should be able to zoom in, zoom out, and rotate your map, and as far as I know there's no actual limit on your map's radar range.. You'll know transport pods when you see them because they're the only things on the map that never move.
Posted October 08, 2009
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bobscraphouse: Does anyone else find some of the levels are almost impossible sometimes? Either because of poor hit detection or being massively outnumbered when having to keep X amount of buildings standing?
So far by using mini guns and aiming missiles at the floor I am just about holding my own so long as I don't run out of ammo. Lasers, although they regenerate slowly miss the target (i.e. go straight through it) most of the time and are useless.

I remember playing the original Mac OS 9 port of this game and I couldn't believe my eyes when I'd empty all of my guns into an enemy, only to find my shots passing right through them without doing any damage whatsoever. I still wonder if lasers and other such weapons are effective if you aim for a specific point on an enemy.
Post edited October 08, 2009 by rampancy
Posted October 08, 2009
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bobscraphouse: Does anyone else find some of the levels are almost impossible sometimes? Either because of poor hit detection or being massively outnumbered when having to keep X amount of buildings standing?
So far by using mini guns and aiming missiles at the floor I am just about holding my own so long as I don't run out of ammo. Lasers, although they regenerate slowly miss the target (i.e. go straight through it) most of the time and are useless.
avatar
rampancy: I remember playing the original Mac OS 9 port of this game and I couldn't believe my eyes when I'd empty all of my guns into an enemy, only to find my shots passing right through them without doing any damage whatsoever. I still wonder if lasers and other such weapons are effective if you aim for a specific point on an enemy.

They're supposed to be. You CAN blow off a mech's legs for an easy kill. However, deliberately aiming for the legs and hitting them consistently is no easy feat.
Posted November 23, 2009
1. [About mission 4 or 5 (Base name begins with a K (Sorry not on my gaming comp at the mo so can not get a more accurate name than that)) on the first planet when you have to keep 35 odd buildings standing (without any help) when attempting to destroy the advancing hordes and 3 transport pods, I can destroy 2 before the base is overwhelmed by enemies. Any one got any tips? ]
The hardest part of this mission is that if you take your time searching for the pods at west, behind the mountains, by the time you come back there´s a bunch of Tallons, half finished destroying your base. First thing, the pods DON´T appear in the Map at begining! Dispose of the weaker goons that arrive first. Second thing, the Tallons ONLY come out from the pod at EAST. If you take that first, you can come straight back, clean the smaller fish and go north, west and then south to burst the remaining pods
Posted December 16, 2009
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Prator: In the first, you're charged with defending a convoy of trucks while they set up a new military base. The enemies you're fighting are all fairly fast and extremely well armed, so just keeping yourself alive is a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to beat that without cheating to get an infinite supply of seeker missiles.

I think I know the mission you're talking about and If so then boy is that a hard one. It's made even more difficult by the fact that the fires from all the enemies you destroy can wind up destroying the trucks so even if you defeat all the enemies you still lose.
Posted December 25, 2009
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vitorsdias: 1. [About mission 4 or 5 (Base name begins with a K (Sorry not on my gaming comp at the mo so can not get a more accurate name than that)) on the first planet when you have to keep 35 odd buildings standing (without any help) when attempting to destroy the advancing hordes and 3 transport pods, I can destroy 2 before the base is overwhelmed by enemies. Any one got any tips? ]
The hardest part of this mission is that if you take your time searching for the pods at west, behind the mountains, by the time you come back there�s a bunch of Tallons, half finished destroying your base. First thing, the pods DON�T appear in the Map at begining! Dispose of the weaker goons that arrive first. Second thing, the Tallons ONLY come out from the pod at EAST. If you take that first, you can come straight back, clean the smaller fish and go north, west and then south to burst the remaining pods

THANK YOU! I gave up on the game a long time ago, but now I think it is time to give it one more shot.
Posted February 09, 2010
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bobscraphouse: So far by using mini guns and aiming missiles at the floor I am just about holding my own so long as I don't run out of ammo. Lasers, although they regenerate slowly miss the target (i.e. go straight through it) most of the time and are useless.

I messed around with the cycles setting on my dosbox.conf to get lasers to work. Other people have said cycles=2000 worked for them, but I had to put it to 80000 and there's still lag during large explosions that wasn't there when it was set to cycles=auto. Go figure.
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bobscraphouse: About mission 4 or 5 (Base name begins with a K (Sorry not on my gaming comp at the mo so can not get a more accurate name than that)) on the first planet when you have to keep 35 odd buildings standing (without any help) when attempting to destroy the advancing hordes and 3 transport pods, I can destroy 2 before the base is overwhelmed by enemies. Any one got any tips?

Karaan Defense is the mission in question. There's a trick to it. The teleport pods don't come in until you shoot certain enemies. Kill the walker in the west, and the pod in the east spawns in. Kill the spider in the south, and the pod in the west spawns. Kill one of the fliers, and the pod in the southwest spawns. By killing one enemy and taking down the teleport pod immediately, it makes the map drastically easier.
I'm in the early stages of doing a Shattered Steel video walkthrough on YouTube.
Posted April 19, 2010
level 4/5 and the final mission +useful weapons
for level 4 or 5 I find it very easy its probably because of the way i do it...I mess around with the weapons/shield/drive to give me max speed when im chasing the pods. Firstly I run into the base and kill everything there I immediately check the map and see 3 pods, I put drive up to 130% and hit the pod at the end of the 3,then the middle pod and then the one at the other end, after I go to the base first I never return I just destroy the pods as quick as possible and it works.
With regards the final mission i go in with a 70 mm and a nuke either shiva or raptor. When the scorpian comes out I leg it then I go back to find him when my shields restore when he lasers me i fire the nuke in his general direction and that gets him stuck in a massive hole! If u have the raptor you can swap the nuke for the fuel air mortar or if you have the Shiva you can bring it in with u, anyway the fuel air mortar will DESTROY the scorpion. when the multiple enemies come out well the shiva has quad primary mounts so quad 70mm takes care of them and you can use your spare secondaries. With Raptor you can swap the nuke for that bazaap weapon
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Prator: Here's my tip: use your map.
The map will show you where all the enemies are, including the transport pods. Just make a beeline for the pods as soon as you see a window of opportunity. When all the pods are gone, you win, so destroying them as fast as possible will virtually ensure the survival of your base.
That said, I did find several of the levels arbitrarily hard. Running out of ammunition is my leading cause of death even on easy mode. There are two levels I can recall in particular, both on the second planet:
In the first, you're charged with defending a convoy of trucks while they set up a new military base. The enemies you're fighting are all fairly fast and extremely well armed, so just keeping yourself alive is a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to beat that without cheating to get an infinite supply of seeker missiles.
The second problematic level is the last level in the game, in which you need to help some scientists capture an alien portal. Defending the portal is a super-ultimate-uber-megaboss of doom who can take a direct hit with a nuclear missile and remain standing. He also has a ridiculous amount of attack power. The only apparent way to beat him is to have a mech that can run faster than he can turn around and keep circling him, BUT you have to beat him in five minutes or less because the five minute mark is where the scientists come in and if the boss isn't already dead, it will kill them. And when the scientists turn the portal on, it will start spawning an indefinite number of weak units, far more than you could ever destroy quickly no matter what weapons you had. Again, I couldn't win without cheating.

As regards the military base mission It took me almost 2 solid hours to do. I went in with plasmas as 70mm keep runnin out on me, then heat seekers but be careful with them. When you are attacked by enemies you have a planet runner with you, keep him alive as long as possible, save your heat seekers for when your shields are very low or when your enemy is near your essential convoy. The plasma is a very good weapon for attacking planet runners and them fireball aerial units just make sure you hit them the second you see them, you generally leave the weaker flying units till you have all the dangerous enemies killed.
As regards the final level look the latest comment left, you could also use mines or rolling mines are better again for the smaller guys! If you have any other questions just ask me I know pretty much all the missions
Post edited April 19, 2010 by shatteredsteel
Posted December 04, 2020
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shatteredsteel: level 4/5 and the final mission +useful weapons

for level 4 or 5 I find it very easy its probably because of the way i do it...I mess around with the weapons/shield/drive to give me max speed when im chasing the pods. Firstly I run into the base and kill everything there I immediately check the map and see 3 pods, I put drive up to 130% and hit the pod at the end of the 3,then the middle pod and then the one at the other end, after I go to the base first I never return I just destroy the pods as quick as possible and it works.
With regards the final mission i go in with a 70 mm and a nuke either shiva or raptor. When the scorpian comes out I leg it then I go back to find him when my shields restore when he lasers me i fire the nuke in his general direction and that gets him stuck in a massive hole! If u have the raptor you can swap the nuke for the fuel air mortar or if you have the Shiva you can bring it in with u, anyway the fuel air mortar will DESTROY the scorpion. when the multiple enemies come out well the shiva has quad primary mounts so quad 70mm takes care of them and you can use your spare secondaries. With Raptor you can swap the nuke for that bazaap weapon
avatar
Prator: Here's my tip: use your map.

The map will show you where all the enemies are, including the transport pods. Just make a beeline for the pods as soon as you see a window of opportunity. When all the pods are gone, you win, so destroying them as fast as possible will virtually ensure the survival of your base.

That said, I did find several of the levels arbitrarily hard. Running out of ammunition is my leading cause of death even on easy mode. There are two levels I can recall in particular, both on the second planet:

In the first, you're charged with defending a convoy of trucks while they set up a new military base. The enemies you're fighting are all fairly fast and extremely well armed, so just keeping yourself alive is a challenge. I couldn't figure out how to beat that without cheating to get an infinite supply of seeker missiles.

The second problematic level is the last level in the game, in which you need to help some scientists capture an alien portal. Defending the portal is a super-ultimate-uber-megaboss of doom who can take a direct hit with a nuclear missile and remain standing. He also has a ridiculous amount of attack power. The only apparent way to beat him is to have a mech that can run faster than he can turn around and keep circling him, BUT you have to beat him in five minutes or less because the five minute mark is where the scientists come in and if the boss isn't already dead, it will kill them. And when the scientists turn the portal on, it will start spawning an indefinite number of weak units, far more than you could ever destroy quickly no matter what weapons you had. Again, I couldn't win without cheating.
avatar
shatteredsteel: As regards the military base mission It took me almost 2 solid hours to do. I went in with plasmas as 70mm keep runnin out on me, then heat seekers but be careful with them. When you are attacked by enemies you have a planet runner with you, keep him alive as long as possible, save your heat seekers for when your shields are very low or when your enemy is near your essential convoy. The plasma is a very good weapon for attacking planet runners and them fireball aerial units just make sure you hit them the second you see them, you generally leave the weaker flying units till you have all the dangerous enemies killed.
As regards the final level look the latest comment left, you could also use mines or rolling mines are better again for the smaller guys! If you have any other questions just ask me I know pretty much all the missions
What difficulty level were you on?
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Shattered SteelDifficult levels, poor hit detection & walkthrough [small spoiler](14 posts)solved(14 posts)solved
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