****************************************************************************** Stellar 7 Faq/Strategy Guide Version 1.0.2 Author: MysticWeirdo ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** CONTENTS ****************************************************************************** 1. Introduction 2. Version History 3. Game Basics 4. Strategy Tips 5. Missions 6. Briefing Notes 7. Slowing the game for modern PC's 7. LEGAL 8. Contact Information 9. Credits ****************************************************************************** 1. Introduction ****************************************************************************** I am MysticWeirdo also known by my real name Warren Grieder. Stellar 7 is a combat simulation that puts you in command of the Raven, Earth's most powerful fighting machine. You'll need to fight through the forces of the Arcturan Empire through seven systems from Sol (Earth's sun) through to Arcturus, where you'll need to defeat the flagship of the Arcturan Supreme Overlord, Gir Draxon, to save the Earth from destruction. This guide is based on the PC version of the game. There were also version on several other systems, of which I've played the C64 version which was quite similar. ****************************************************************************** 2. Version History ****************************************************************************** Version 1.0.2 January 2, 2006 Note added about destroying some obstacles to reveal warplinks that skip levels. Version 1.0.1 November 20, 2005 Some typos corrected. Version 1.0 August 13, 2005 Initial Version of this Guide. ****************************************************************************** 3. Games Basics ****************************************************************************** ============ 3.1 Controls ============ Up Arrow - Forward Down Arrow - Reverse Right Arrow - Turn Right Left Arrow - Turn Left Space Bar/Joystick Button One - Fire Cannon P - Pause Esc - Exit (required confirmation) F10 - Preferences F2 - Toggle Sound and Music Alt-S - Toggle Sound Alt-M - Toggle Music Alt-J - Toggle Joystick Support Alt-C - Calibrate Joystick Alt-D - Toggle Mouse Support Z - Toggle Zoom Tab/Joystick Button Two - Select Power Model Enter/Joystick Both Buttons - Active Selected Power Model Power Modules quick keys: E - EEL Shield T - MP Thruster I - Inviso Cloak S - Super Cannon J - Jump Thruster C - Cat's Eye B - RC Bomb ============= 3.2 Main Menu ============= The are five selection in the Main Menu: Begin - starts a new game Briefing - view the mission briefing (see transcript in a later section) Prefs - change settings including graphic details, mouse and joystick support toggles, music and audio toggles, difficulty select - easy, standard, or hard, and a story panel toggle. Score - Display High Scores Exit - Exit to DOS ================= 3.3 Combat Screen ================= The largest portion of the screen is a first person view of the current planet where you can see enemies, obstacles, pickups, and incoming fire. Other elements surround that. At the top of the screen is a bird emblem that goes when the inviso cloak is active. It flashes when the cloak is about to fail. Below that is the name of the current system. In the lower left is a display of the 7 power modules. Each module has three small boxes that will contain a mark indicating a remaining use of that module. The module will be grayed out if they are no remaining uses. In the lower center is the radar screen. Blue dots are obstacles, yellow dots are enemies, and red dots are weapons fire (both yours and the enemies).You're position is in the center. Below the radar is a meter of your remaining shield strength. When you get hit it will drop a bit. If you can hit when your shields are gone you will be destroyed. Easy difficulty allows two continues, and standard difficulty allow one. Continue reset the score and being in the current system. The lower right contains your current score and your cannon indicator. The indicator will be red when the cannon is ready to fire, and blue when it's reloading. Each shot damages .1 meters of an enemy unit's armor. ================= 3.4 Power Modules ================= You're capable of carrying up to three of each of the power modules. The inviso cloak starts with 3 uses in all modes, the others have 3 uses in easy, 1 in standard, and none in hard. Destroy 3 of certain enemies in a row cause a module pick to appear, drive across it to get it. EEL Shield (middle left) - Allow you to ram enemies to use their shields against them. Get a pickup by destroying 3 Prowlers in a row. MP Thruster (bottom right) - Give you a forward burst of speed. Get a Sandsleds by destroying 3 Prowlers in a row. Inviso Cloak (top left) - Make you invisible. Enemies will know your last visible position and will detect your position when you fire. Recharge by docking at a Fuel Bay. Super Cannon (bottom left) - Increase damage done by your cannon fire and eliminates reload time. Get a pickup by destroying 3 Assault tanks in a row. Jump Thruster (top center) - Gives you a brief vertical lift. Use in conjunction with the MP Thruster to jump over enemies. Get a pickup by destroying 3 Skimmers in a row. Cat's Eye (middle right) - Detect Cloaked Enemies. Get a pickup by destroying 3 Stalkers in a row. RC Bomb (top right) - Drop a land mine behind you. Get a pickup by destroying 3 Seekers in a row. WARNING: The pickups can be destroyed by weapons fire. ****************************************************************************** 4. Strategy Tips ****************************************************************************** If you go head to head against an enemy vehicle, you'll be heading straight into their weapon fire, thus this practice should be discouraged. If you find yourself in this situation take a single shot and turn to either side to get out of the way of the incoming fire. Turning left or right while tracking an enemy makes you a stationary target for other enemies, keep moving forwards or backward to avoid this. Shooting directly at an opponent is almost a guaranteed miss, except at point blank range or in head to head situation (see above). You'll need to lead your opponent to hit them it they're crossing your path. The amount of the lead will vary depending on the enemies speed and the angle it's traveling at relative to your own trajectory. If you're at point blank range and head-to-head, consider using the EEL shield and ram the enemies if it requires multiple hits. Or use the MP Thruster, Jump Thruster combo to evade it by jumping over it. A red dot on the radar without a corresponding enemy on the screen is probably a cloaked enemy. Use the cat's eye if available. Look for these in the sixth and seventh missions. Change direction immediately when you hear weapons being fired, if you don't you likely be hit. The fuel bays appear in the third and sixth missions. These are the only places to recharge you shields and inviso cloak. You can't dock with a fuel bay when cloaked. You start off with three inviso cloak charges. You could consider using one per mission at the begin of each mission to allow you to thin the enemy ranks with reduced risk of being hit, as you'll have a chance to recharge the cloak in the third and sixth missions. Try to go for three kills of the same type in a row to get the power module pickup to drop. This is especial important when facing the assault tanks in the fourth mission as this will drop the Super Cannon Module which is vital for defeating the guardians in the fourth and seventh missions. Save one of the charges for the super cannon for each of them, the remain charge (or two if you get another pickup in the fifth mission) can be used elsewhere. If there's an enemy following you, try dropping an RC bomb in its path. ****************************************************************************** 5. Missions ****************************************************************************** There are seven mission in this game. In each mission you need to destroy all of the enemies to get a guardian to appear. Destroying the guardian will cause a warplink to appear to take you to the next mission. NOTE: (from Sahuagin) In certain levels, if you shoot the obstacles enough they will be destroyed and reveal a warplink allowing you to skip some levels. (It's either level 1 or 2 that will warp you to the last level iirc). I'll present strategies for the new enemies for each mission as well as the guardian for the mission in the following subsections. ======= 5.1 Sol ======= Enemies: Hovercraft, Sandsleds, Skimmers Hovercrafts and sandsleds are typical land units, you'll need to lead them a bit. If you happen to ram into one, back up at take a shot. Try to get behind them if you can. The skimmers are a flying unit that can only be hit when they are near the ground making them difficult to lead. You're best opportunity will be when its about to go into a dive, which you can lead, or making an attack run at you. All of these enemies fall to 1 shot from you cannon. Guardian: The best way to deal with this large bipedal unit is to back away from it any keep firing. =========== 5.2 Antares =========== Enemies: Laser Batteries, Seekers, Prowlers, Sandsleds If you see a Seeker ahead of you start backing up and shoot it. If it touches you it will damage your shield and destroy itself (no points for this). Laser Batteries and Prowlers both take two hits to eliminate. The Laser Batteries are stationary, try to line them up from the side to avoid there fire. Prowlers are otherwise typical land units, threat them like the sandsleds and hovercraft in the previous mission. Guardian: Back off a bit while this arachnid unit is beaming down and let loose a few volleys while it does so. Then pursue it, constantly firing and steer around the webs it drops as this will slow you to a stop and destroy any tiny arachnids that it drops. ========= 5.3 Rigel ========= Enemies: Laser Tank, Pulsar, Stingers Laser Tanks require two shots. Otherwise a typical ground unit. Pulsars are stationary. More dangerous than the laser cannons as they fire in multiple directions. A single shot destroys them. Stingers are much like the earlier skimmers. One hit takes them out. Other stuff: Fuel Bay Use up you inviso cloaks and take out as many of the enemy units as possible before using the fuel bay to recharge your inviso cloak and shields. Guardian: Back away from this flyer when it beams down and fire a few shows. Keep it in you sights will backing up and fire when it drops of a pair of walker. Destroy the walkers with one shot each and line up the guardian again and repeat. ========= 5.4 Deneb ========= Enemies: Prowlers, Assault Tanks, Guisers, Heavy Cannon Batteries Assault Tanks are like previous ground units except that they require three hits to destroy. Do your best to get three of these in a row to fill up your supply of super cannon power modules. Guisers are stationary targets that look like obstacles, a single hit will eliminate that. They don't appear to pose a threat other than being required killed to get to the guardian. Heavy Cannon Batteries are stationary target best approached from the side like the laser batteries. They take four hits to destroy. Guardian: This guardian is a two legged walker, the strategy of backing away and firing won't work here. Hopefully you got stocked up on the Super Cannon module earlier in this system, as it can take the guardian down before it can close with you. ========== 5.5 Sirius ========== Enemies: Skimmers, Laser Batteries, Seekers, Assault Tanks Nothing new here. Try to replenish you super cannon with three assault tank kills in a row. Guardian: This guardian appears to be a stationary missile launch. Back away out of its range, firing constantly. Once out of range, go forward until it just become visible and you can shoot it with impunity. =========== 5.6 Regulus =========== Enemies: Stalkers, Heavy Cannon Batteries, Seekers, Guisers Stalkers are invisible tanks. If you have the cat's eyes you can make them visible briefly. Otherwise you need to rely on the radar, the brief moment when they make themselves visible some guesswork, and a bit of luck. Two hits destroy them. Other stuff: Fuelbay. Try to take out as much as you can and use up your inviso cloak before using the fuel bay to recharge. Guardian: This guardian looks like a scorpion. You'll need to get behind it to hurt it. Watch out for the webs that slow you to a virtual stop and the tiny arachnid that it drops. ============ 5.7 Arcturus ============ Enemies: Stingers, Guisers, Pulsars, Stalkers, Seekers, Prowlers The enemies are much more numerous than previous missions, although all of them are enemies you've faced before. You should have three inviso cloaks left from the fuel bay in the previous mission, use them while you thin out the enemies ranks. Drop any RC bombs you may be carrying, and use any remaining EEL shield charges for ramming enemies. Make sure you save one super cannons and maybe an inviso cloak for the final guardian. Guardian: Gir Draxon drives a tank with some powerful missiles. If you have a super cannon you can take him out with only a few shots. Defeat him to win the game. ****************************************************************************** 6. Briefing Notes ****************************************************************************** The following is a transcript of the briefing from the main menu: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Raven Commander-- The information you are about to view is CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET. Study it carefully. When you are ready to view the enemies, press the CONTINUE button. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SANDSLED Armament: Light Laser 2 shots per round Propulsion: Rocket Thrusters Speed: 200 kph Armor: .1 meters The Sandsled's runners allow it to operate only on those planets that have sandy or icy surfaces. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ LASER TANK Armament: Medium Laser 1 shot per round Propulsion: Nuclear Powered Treads Speed: 128 kph Armor: .2 meters The Laser Tank is the lease dangerous of the Arcturan front line tanks, you it still poses a serious threat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HOVER CRAFT Armament: Light Cannon 1 shot per round Propulsion: Jet Turbine/Air Cushion Speed: 192 kph Armor: .1 meters The Hovercraft is operational only on planets with an atmosphere. BEWARE! This little devil is tenacious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PROWLER Armament: Light Cannon 1 shot per round Propulsion: Nuclear Powered Treads Speed: 160 kph Armor: .2 meters Speed: 160 kph The Prowler's powerful weapons are augmented by the new EEL offensive/defensive shield mechanism. The Arcturan EEL shield is a copy of our own EEL device. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ASSAULT TANK Armament: Medium Cannon 2 shots per round Propulsion: Nuclear Powered Treads Speed: 120 kph Armor: .3 meters Caution: We Lost 3 scouts when they were attempting to gather information on this extremely dangerous Arcturan unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ STALKER Armament: ??? ? shots per round Propulsion: Agrav Generator Speed: ??? kph Armor: .? meters We have no holodata file on this top secret Arcturan Agrav unit. Some unsubstantiated reports indicate the Stalker is equipped with an Inviso Cloak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ LASER BATTERY Armament: Heavy Laser 2 shots per round Propulsion: None Speed: 0 kph Armor: .2 meters It has been reported that there is a unit similar to the Laser Battery, that is equipped with a heavy cannon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PULSAR Armament: Laser? ? shorts per round Propulsion: None Speed: 0 kph Armor: .? meters Little is known about this recently deployed Arcturan robot unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SKIMMER Armament: Light Cannon 1 shot per round Propulsion: Agrav and Rocket Thrusters Speed: 240 kph Armor: .1 meters Federation reconnaissance informs us that there is at least one other type of Flyer in the Arcturan Armada. All we know is its code name: 'The Stinger'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEEKER Armament: Fission Bomb - shots per round Propulsion: Agrav Generator Speed: ??? kph Armor: .1 meters Arcturan Seekers will 'home in' on their intended target and detonate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OBSTACLES The obstacles will obstruct movement and block shells and lasers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WARPLINK Colliding with a Warplink will transport you to the next star system. Warplinks appear only AFTER you have destroyed the Arcturan Guardian for the star system. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FUELBAY Docking with a Fuelbay will replenish your shields. We are certain there is a Fuelbay in the Rigel System. There may be Fuelbays in other systems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GUARDIAN This 'Guardian' was spotted on Sol, controlling the Arcturan units operating there. Each Arcturan force is believed to have a deadly Guardian Commander. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RAVEN The Raven is the most advanced destructive vehicle that mankind has ever developed. You will have to use all the Raven's powers to stop the horror of Gir Draxon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some of the enemies have thick armor, and will require more than 1 hit to destroy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Intelligence intercepted this transmission which originated from Deneb-- "Status Report: Guisers have been deployed. The Terrans will not be able to distinguish the from..." The rest of the message was garbled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You must reach Arcturus and destroy Gir Draxon. He will be commanding the Flagship of the Arcturan Armada. Good luck on your mission, Commander. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************************************************************** 7. Slowing the game for modern PC's ****************************************************************************** The first challenge is getting the game to run on a modern pc. This game plays a little fast on my 1.8 Ghz machine. While is not to the point of being unplayable, I still recommend using software to slow it down. I recommend using Dosbox, an opensource program available at http://dosbox.sourceforge.net This software does an admirable job of slowing down old software and emulating the sound cards of the time. A must have for playing vintage games like this one. To installing the game under dosbox, assuming you cd is drive D. mount c c:\ mount d d:\ d: install.exe Select VGA graphics, Sound Blaster DAC for Music and Audio, and Sound Blaster Midi for Sound Effects. The SoundBlaster settings are necessary to hear the voices in the game. Install to C: Run the game using C:\Dynamic\stellar7.bat (the mount command need to be entered first in Dosbox) ****************************************************************************** 8. LEGAL ****************************************************************************** This document is Copyright 2005, 2006 MysticWeirdo aka Warren Grieder. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Permission to host this document is given to the following: GameFAQs IGN Sites that DO NOT have permission and never will: fuska.nu cheats.de CheatCC.com cheatindex.com supercheats.de This file may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission, except GameFaqs and IGN. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. ****************************************************************************** 9. Contact Information ****************************************************************************** For suggestions and/or corrections for this guide please email: mystic.weirdo [at] gmail.com The most recent version of this guide will be on www.gamefaqs.com. Please check there before contacting me with additions/corrections. Please include Stellar 7 FAQ in the subject of any email regarding this FAQ. ****************************************************************************** 10. Credits ****************************************************************************** Thanks go to the following: Dynamix for making this game. The following sites for hosting this FAQ: GameFAQs IGN Thanks to Sahuagin for mentioning that some obstacles can be destroyed to reveal warplinks. ****************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************