Introduction

You are an elite captain. You have been awarded your own Class A Starfighter to use on missions against the alien race the humans are currently waging war against. Your ship is the pinnacle of human spaceship technology with the highest standard of manuverability, largest capacity of secondary weaponry, and upgradeable speed and lasers. Your enemies are as numerous as they are ferocious. Survival is not guaranteed.

Weapons

Each secondary weapon you can hold can lock on targets or not, can be offensive or defensive weaponry. The table below shows the locking ranges for homing secondary weapons.

Miscellaneous

If your shields get low, run!
I don’t know how many times I’ve saved myself from certain doom simply by running away from enemies to let my shields regenerate. Once they reach a critical point, it is advisable to run as quickly as possible away from the enemy. Note that speeders still can catch you if you attempt to run away from them, as well as black hole bombs. Mine layers are a possibility, but only if your speed is lower than a certain amount.

Use your secondary weapons!
If you are facing a reflective shield ship and you are way too close to avoid reflected lasers, then fire a torpedo or disc to damage and possibly destroy the ship. Electrostatic orbs are best used if you want to buy some time to escape or to deal damage. Large groups of turrets or the alien base are perfect targets for a PCB, as one will do the job. Stealth systems are great for avoid getting locked by enemy weapons. Your weapons were meant to be used, not just for show!

Use your allies.
If you have an ally, even just one ship, they can help you destroy ships that you may have difficulty destroying since they have an unlimited supply of secondary weapons. They can also serve as a valuable distraction when you are facing huge groups of enemy ships in order to sneak up on a few.

Before starting level 30, spend all your credits.
Seriously. Number 1, all the extra weaponry will be a great help. Number 2, if you don’t, all the extra credits will go to waste. If you hit the maximum amount on secondary ammunition (that is highly unlikely), then use it on ship upgrades. Unless credits can be carried to the next game you play, they all just disappear.

Remember, space station shields recharge.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good on level 15 since the space station can recharge during a momentary ceasefire. It’s bad on level 30 since any damage you have dealt to the space station will go to waste. Either way, the recharge limit is 500.

Walkthrough

Level 1-4
These levels are fairly simple: Just follow instructions and progress through each level.
Note that the speed boost of the propulsion enhancer is only maintained if you keep moving forward.

Level 5
This level is just as simple as the target practices. Just shoot until the asteroid breaks up. Then blast the fragments until they’re nothing but dust. Repeat.

Level 6
As the mission briefing states, there is a basic defence ship stranded out in space. Even though it recommends purchasing propulsion enhancers, you could reach the ship just as easily without. When you laser the ship, hit the ship from the side or from behind so it can’t shoot you.

Level 7
Here, you get to use allies in a battle against enemies. What I normally do is turn around and give the order to attack just as I begin moving forward. This enables you to keep your ally near you. There are two defence ships coming from the bottom and from the top. Focus on one group and then turn around to face the other. You should make quick work of them, unless one of them launches an orb.

Level 8
Reading the mission information, it seems that this turret will be quite a challenge to destroy. In fact, it is rather easy to destroy once you know where to shoot it if you’re using lasers. If you stay at the limit of the laser’s range, by the time the laser reflects off the turret, it will fade away before it reaches you. Also, take advantage of the fact the turret turns slowly and shoot it from behind. Keep in mind it can launch the same laser guided torpedoes you can launch yourself. Positronic discs have a greater range and you’ll be basically picking him off. Just be careful not to forget that there are defence ships trying to stop you from destroying their precious turret.

Level 9
Speed is of the essence in this mission. You also get introduced to a new ship, the speeder. No matter how much you upgrade your speed, you’ll never match that of a speeder. Its favourite (and only) tactic of destroying enemies is to rush them, and then back off as their target tries to turn around to shoot them. This is extremely annoying to me, but the fact that they charge mindlessly at first can be exploited to your advantage. When one gets close (you are checking the distance, aren’t you?), turn around and reverse in the same direction the speeder is approaching. Once you attain that position, just keep lasering until he goes down. If he manages to get away, don’t follow; or you’ll just end up as scrap metal. Continue reversing and try again. If you are not attacking a speeder, you should be approaching the cargo ship. What I recommend doing is to command your allies to attack the primary target. A speeder or two may try to kill them, but almost all the time you allies will live. Use the propulsion enhancers dropped by the dead speeders to narrow the distance to the cargo ship. Once there, shoot until the ship explodes. Even though you have completed the objective of the mission, you can still go out and kill speeders for the enhancers they drop, as they will come in use later.

Level 10
From this point on, the game will be throwing more difficult missions as you progress. This level has one speeder, two defence ships, and four basic turrets. From the location you spawn, you’re pinned between the speeder and the two defence ships. The speeder will approach from above and the defence ships from below. I opt for the speeder, since it uses no secondary weapon and there is only one of them. Once the speeder is toast, back away from the defence ships for a bit to allow your shields to recharge. The turrets may change the location of your closest enemy, but the ships will eventually show up as closest and you can focus on them without interference from the turrets. When handling the turrets, keep in mind that “basic” means only lasers and no reflective shields. These also turn slowly and can be shot from behind. Spiral in to the turret without getting to close and blast it from behind. Use this tactic on all four.

Level 11
In this level, we meet a ship that is rather similar to the speeder: the mine layer. This ship is quite fast, but has poor manuverability, meaning it can’t turn as fast. As the name states, this ship will drop mines that do a whole lot of damage in a moderately large blast radius (it actually stretches slightly beyond the explosion). Three to four blasts can kill you, so following it is not exactly a good approach. There are two of these mine layers and five defence ships as far as I know. Your ally will do well against the defence ships, but doesn’t realise that mines can and will be dropped by the mine layers, therefore making him a poor choice to fight the mine layers. Try to approach the mine layer from the side and laser him before he gets away and manages to leave you highly damaging gifts. On the other hand, if you do destroy him, he leaves you with a gift you can actually use: an RBM mine. These mines are not the same as the ones they drop, as the RBM will gravitate to nearby objects and explode when they get close enough. They can do severe damage to other ships, including yourself if you’re not careful! They’re also good for using against ships following you.

Level 12
At first, the level may seem just like level 5, but don’t be fooled. There are 5 stealth ships lurking out there and they fight in groups. Though they have no secondary weapon, they are extremely lethal since they have groups of two or three with lasers ranging from levels 2-4. With the tremendous amount of firepower directed at you all at once, you’ll be dead in a matter of seconds. However, you can destroy even a group of three if you shoot them down in those precious seconds you have to use. You’ll see the distance for a nearby asteroid, but soon the target will change signifying stealth ships are on the approach. The only way you can tell where they are is the engine exhaust or their shields when you shoot them. They will leave 5 seconds of use of the LBFASS (Light Bending Field Stealth System) each and will prevent enemies from using homing weapons when the system is in use. Press ‘z’ to activate the system and ‘z’ again to deactivate the system whenever you wish to end its effect. The stealth ships are divided into a tight group of two and a looser group of three. The pairs will be the first attacking you. The triplets can be eliminated one by one. Then you can safely destroy the two asteroids.

Level 13
Given the fact that you have acquired two long range attack ships, this level will be very easy to do. When you start, you will notice your allies are already firing torpedoes at the turrets. There will also be a basic defence ship approaching from below. Try to save both you ships. Switch the command to “follow” and get the ships within 1000 units of the nearest enemies, but no closer than 500. There are three groups of turrets, each group with two basic turrets guarding an advanced turret. One group is also protecting laser guided torpedoes (10) stored in containers that can be shot open. Repeat for the other two groups. As I see it, this is more of a test of patience.

Level 14
Here’s where the neutron propulsion enhancers you saved from level 9 (if you did collect them after the mission) come into use for the first time. Four basic turrets will be guarding the wormhole and limitless numbers of speeders and mine layers will be assaulting you. Often, the ships come in groups of three-one speeder and two mine layers. The speeder will come first to annoy you, and then the mine layers will pulverize you with mines. Unless you want to collect more mines and propulsion enhancers, I would just get the heck out of there instead of fighting it all out. The turrets will do little to stop you, as you’ll end up zooming past them. There are another 2 reach location type missions later on, so collecting is optional. If you have a thing for speeders and mine layers, be my guest and keep blowing them up.

Level 15
This level will most likely make you more miserable than any other level (with the possible exception of level 20) now that yet another ship is added to the alien fleet. Long range laser ships have the longest range of any weapon. The long range laser is extremely powerful and can travel great distances (from what I have seen, about 3000 units). Unfortunately, more defence ships guard these ships. Fortunately, they turn slowly and are big targets, making them a little easier to kill. The base is considered an ally, but you cannot give the station orders, even though they can be cycled through. The shield of the station reads 750, but once it goes below 500, it can only recharge to 500. Above that, it won’t charge at all. When you first start, a lone long range laser ship will be waiting above you. When you get there, you’ll notice he is not able to line up a shot. Show him the effects of lasers at close range and then head for the base. Even though the ships have long range lasers, they aren’t smart enough to realize that they can stay out of the space station’s turret range and charge it instead. Simply rushing the attack groups is suicide. The attack force is divided into two main groups, one approaches from above the base, the other from the right. Each main group consists of 2 to 4 sub-groups consisting of one laser ship and 3 or 4 defence ships. Stay near the base and attack the closest enemy to you and the station may help out a little. The turret will always point to the nearest enemy to it. If you shields get low, you can hide in the space station. The station will take the hits, but you will still be there to protect it. This level will test your abilities to destroy enemies since you can get overwhelmed if you take too long to destroy a ship.

Level 16
Now is the time to restock on some weapons you may have used in the previous level. Two basic turrets, one speeder, and three stealth ships protect the ammo reserve. Be warned that the turrets have level 6 lasers and will kill you easily. The reserve itself has three electrostatic orbs, two convergance discs, three kinetic fields, and an electrostatic field converter. Quite an arsenal. This weaponry will become useful later. Also, the mission states that you can collect the weapons at your leisure, but they force you to take at least what was in the containers.

Level 17
Ever feel that aliens like creating ships? Now they’ve developed an advanced attack ship, defined by red marks on the sides of the hull. The shielding is 4 times as powerful as that of a defence ship and can hold convergance discs, electrostatic orbs, and torpedoes (as far as I can tell). I also have seen them drop RBM mines, even though I have not seen them use the mines. When you get there, immediately charge the main target destroying any defence ships that get in your way. Keep shooting until the ship goes down. When the ship is destroyed, hit the hyperspace and get out before the defence ships overwhelm you. In the past, when I played this level with a cheat, I rushed in only to find that the advanced attack ship became the level 10 laser ship in level 23!

Level 18
Finally, the humans get a new toy to play with. A very destructive toy. The PCB (Photon Compression Bomb) is extremely powerful. On one occasion, I got caught in the blast radius and found that my shields instantly drained from 100% to –574%! I was also three-quarters out of the blast radius at the time. This weapon is locking, but moves slowly. That won’t matter since we’re using it against motionless targets. Find the bomb, destroy the turrets guarding it, destroy the two basic defence ships that come to pester you and collect the bomb. Fly in, lock on a turret, deploy the bomb, and run. Simple unless you got destroyed. In that case just move the respawn point away from the blast radius if you managed to deploy the bomb. If not, try again and get out with a propulsion enhancer.

Level 19
Secret mission eh? Well, we’re off to race to another location again. This time, the advanced attack ships have replaced some speeders. If you notice a reading of the shield of the primary target, ignore it as it is only the strength of the shield on the space station and the enemies won’t attack it. Use any propulsion enhancers you have to get there and only destroy enemies if is absolutely impervious to destroy them. Be wary of convergance discs that the advanced attack ships fired.

Level 20
If you recall the guide for level 15, I mentioned level 20 being a huge pain. Now you can find out what that huge pain is. Once again, the aliens have managed to create another ship type. This time, it’s more or less like a moving turret. It bears reflective shields that will make you shoot yourself while the ship itself is shooting you. Not exactly good. Even though you are provided long range attack ships, they won’t last long and neither will you, especially if you have high powered lasers. They may manage to destroy a few, but soon they’ll get overwhelmed and start using lasers. When that happens, they hurt themselves and eventually die. That is your cue to run away. When you have reached a long distance, (I would recommend about 3000 units) turn around and shoot. This enables you to shoot the ships at the farthest possible distance. Use any secondary weapon you can, including kinetic field disrupters since they dissipate laser fire. From what I’ve seen, there are 8 ships to contend with.

Level 21
If you’re expecting reflective shield ships to be here, or any other level from now on besides 30, relax. There are no reflective shield ships until the final level. Once again, we are chasing down a cargo ship to prevent it from delivering radioactive powder to the aliens. This level is basically the same as level 9, but mine layers are a new factor. They are actually faster than the ships you get, thus making them vulnerable to them. What I would do is make them follow until the only enemy ahead is the cargo ship, so that you can get them to rush the cargo ship without interference. One weird thing I found on this level is the fact that there is an asteroid sitting below you and that a speeder is underneath it. The weird part of this is the fact that the speeder’s engines are firing, but the ship is not moving and that you can’t shoot it down (nor can it shoot you). Is Ben trying to tell us something, or did he forget to delete it off the game. Anyway, just blow up the ship and then zoom off/collect goodies.

Level 22
Long range laser ships will be the main feature in this level. In fact, these laser ships will be the only alien ships you meet in this level. I hope that you can live through the beep that sounds when a weapon is locked on you since the lasers will trigger that alarm and will continue going off until the long range laser fades awa. Destroy as many as you can before you are forced to run away. Then, turn around and stop. If you reverse, you will still be running away since the ships travel slower than you do in reverse. Keep in mind that they will not fire their lasers until you are within a certain range. Punish their stupidity by lasering them one by one at the same place. There are 18 for you to deal with.

Level 23
Remember the level 10 laser ship I mentioned earlier? Now you can meet him. He looks just like an advanced attack ship, but with a blue symbol in the centre. This guy can also use convergance discs, long range torpedoes, and electrostatic orbs. Along with him is a cluster of asteroids and a plasma relay. Even though the briefing states that the ship is using its lasers on asteroids, it immediately uses them on you! Once he’s toast, you can just take your time destroying the asteroids and collecting the plasma relay. If you plan to use the plasma relay on ships and turrets with reflective shields, forget about it since the relay will reflect and possibly come back at you!

Level 24
We have a new bomb added to the game, but this time it belongs to the aliens. Vortex Bombs as stated create a black hole that will collapse and explode. If you are caught in the blast radius, you will be given moderate damage with a power faliure. These bombs will be detonated by your presence or by being shot. I have counted 15 bombs, where just three explosions in quick succession will destroy you. To actually complete the mission, you must destroy a particular 4 bombs.

Level 25
This is one of the more chaotic levels in the game. Assisted by two Class B Starfighters, you wage a battle against groups of enemy ships. These enemy ships include defence ships, stealth ships, and mine layers. You will be set upon a small group at the start, but a massive and lethal group are on their way. If you have noticed, the defence ships have level 8 lasers. The ships have been upgraded and you can tell by the alien symbols on the hull have changed. Apparently, the more complicated the figure, the more sophisticated the ship is (this includes turrets, with a slight colour change added).

Level 26
Remember the second cargo ship we destroyed? It happens that these heat discs are made from the same kind of powder: Xandelevium. These heat discs act similarly to convergance discs, except for a shorter locking range and less damaging. There are also four basic turrets hanging around and another 2 long range laser ships. The discs are relatively easy to evade since they travel slower than convergance discs. I don’t think that the turrets deserve the term “basic” anymore.

Level 27
If you thought advanced turrets were easy, then would you still think it is easy once the short range torpedoes are replaced with long range torpedoes? Two advanced attack ships and four advanced turrets will be guarding the long range advanced turret. All turrets have reflective shielding. There are also 6 orbs sitting in the middle of the turrets. Level 6 lasers can be shoot beyond 1000 units, the locking limit for long range torpedoes.

Level 28
When you played levels with allies, you may realize that the Class B Starfighters had the same laser level and speed as you did. Now they are enemies to you and still have the same weaponry as you do! The Class Bs will be the main problem for you as they are near matches to you. They also like to fight like speeders. There are also two long range attack ships, and strangely, they have the same speed as you do.

Level 29
Wait a minute. Speeding to reach a location in space for some important purpose whilst getting shot at? I think we’ve gone through enough of this. This time, however, everything is thrown at you from defence ships to long range advanced turrets with the exceptions of reflective shield ships and basic turrets. Yes, it includes black hole bombs. Once again, the only thing we will be doing is running away. If you keep maintaining speed, you can speed past the black hole bombs before they explode. The long range turrets guarding the wormhole may cause a delay, but you should be able to escape.

Level 30
Here we are, the final level. Beat this level and you will be given the glory of defeating the aliens of this game. When you start out, collect the weapons that Star Command so considerately left you. Then, lead your allies onward to wade through the waves of enemies unleashed at you. Just keep methodically destroying ships and turrets and you will come across the alien base. By now, either all of your allies are crippled or one or two are gone. In that case, just use them as a distraction while you plant a PCB on the base. The thing costs 3000 credits, but it will save you time in the destruction of the base. If you can’t afford it, use up all of your weaponry since it will go to waste if you don’t use them. Remember that the space station’s shields will recharge over time. Once you destroy the base, enjoy the ending cutscene. Note that there are unlimited numbers of basic defence ships and advanced attack ships. Also, defence ships will continually spawn, while advanced attack ships will spawn one by one for some time, then stop, then start again. There are also 2 stealth ships, 2 reflective shield ships, 2 long range advanced turrets, 2 mine layers, and 2 heat disc ships. These 10 ships combined with the advanced attack and basic defence ships will make it seem like the waves of enemies in level 15.

Congratulations! You have completed Starfighter!