I’m finally starting to feel like I’ve got a handle on the secrets in sim5.  My approach to learning Raiden Fighters Jet has been a gradual one.  I ran through most of the stages first with no effort to score at all; I just focused on survival.  Then proper scoring technique in sim1, while just playing the rest of the game for survival.  That went smoothly enough, and yielded scores just shy of 40M for a full run.

Learning sim5 has not gone smoothly.  Hovering over the big turrets to reveal the 3 micluses in the early going is the hardest shit in the entire goddamn RF series.  I learned the TLB in RF2 more quickly.  Twiddle goes on about kamikaze planes trying to collide, but mostly I’ve had trouble with turret fire at short range while I try to sidle into position.  Maybe I’ve got a mental block about dodging sideways incoming fire. I come in sideways because I’ve got to shoot the stuff just upscreen from the big’un so that it can’t point-blank me while I’m hovering.

That’s falling into place now.  The micluses, anyway.  The DX bonuses on the trains are still elusive.  And I’m not maximizing at-a-time bonuses or all that jazz.

I was trying to summarize my approach to learning the game.  Once I have things a bit tighter on 5, I’ll start learning the secrets in 15.  And onwards, focusing on just a level at a time until success is assured.  I bring it up in part because the STGT folks are playing Jet this week.  What I’ve been doing is no kinda way to one-week a game.  My total time in is 13 hours, according to Aces, with a top score of 48M.  That’s not a great return on investment if you’re against a deadline.  And my scoring density sucks, since I play everything after 15 for survival.  I’ve reached Real Battle Phase 2, and plenty of folks score 60M+ without hitting Phase 1.

I find it suits, though.  At least for now.