Radiant Silvergun FAQ v1.0 
==========================
(Sections 1 and 3)

written by Alan KWAN Shiu Ho
  (mailto:tarot@netvigator.com)
stage diagrams and stage 3A strategy by Jef Lepine
  (mailto:jlepine@bbnplanet.com)
game system and enemy data information:
  special thanks Waka, maintainer of "Gamer's Heaven",
  http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~puni/index.html

0.0  Index
----------

  1.0  Game System
    1.1  Weapon System
      1.1.1  Weapon Types
      1.1.2  Weapon Levels
    1.2  Scoring System
      1.2.1  Chain Bonus
      1.2.2  Secret Bonus & Secret Chain
      1.2.3  Boss Bonus
      1.2.4  Merry Dog Bonus
      1.2.5  Weapon Bonus
      1.2.6  Scratch Points
  2.0  Stage Strategy
    2.3A  Stage 3A
    2.3B  Stage 3B
    2.3C  Stage 3C
    2.3D  Stage 3D
    2.3E  Stage 3E
  3.0  Story Summary
  4.0  Version History

This file contains only sections 1 and 3.  Section 2 is in
another file.


1.0  Game System
----------------

1.1  Weapon System

Your ship is equipped with 7 types of weapons.  You can fire any
weapon at any time by pressing the appropriate button(s).  The A,
B, C buttons fire the primary weapons.  Pressing two of these
together fires a composite weapon, and pressing all three swings
the Radiant Sword.  There are also one-button shortcuts for the
button combinations.

To fire a composite weapon, you do not need to press down two
buttons at exactly the same timing: holding down one button and
then pressing the other is recognized.

I feel that with the standard Saturn pad, the default button
setting is the best.  I can fire all weapons without having to
reach for Z or press B and C simutaneously, both of which being
straining for a large hand.

1.1.1  Weapon Types

Here are the weapons.  The level-up system will be explained
in the next section.

A - Vulcan.  Forward shot with automatic rapid-fire.  Good
firepower.  Level-up A to add extra shots.  When you start
firing, you first fire a double-power single shot.  This is
useful when sharp-shooting an enemy for the chain.

B - Homing.  Superb homing abilities but weak firepower.  There
is auto-fire, but you can do better with manual rapid-fire.

C - Spread.  Shots fired off at 22.5 degrees.  They detonate into
high-power spreads when they hit something or when you release C
or press A or B.  Level-up C for larger spreads.

A+B (Z) - Homing Plasma.  Two scan lasers scan the area in front
of your ship.  If one finds an enemy, it locks on and sends a
medium-power attack laser to damage the enemy.  If an enemy is
squarely in front of you, both lasers can lock on to it for high
firepower.  Lock-on is maintained until the enemy is destroyed or
leaves the scan area.  Can pass through terrain.  Level-up B to
increase scan area and scan speed.

A+C (Y) - Back Wide.  Fan-shaped shots to rear with single shot
to front.  Medium firepower, useful when enemies are coming from
behind.  Level-up A to increase size of shots.  You fire more
rear shots when C reaches level 8 and level 24.

B+C (X) - Lock On Spread.  Fires homing lasers towards enemies
within a certain range in all directions.  When the lasers arrive
at the lock-on targets, they detonate into medium-power spreads.
Can pass through terrain.  This is the only weapon which can find
Merry dogs.  Very powerful against bosses with lots of parts, but
too slow against fast-moving small enemies.  Level-up B to
increase lock-on range.  Every 5 levels of C allows you to lock
on to an additional target.  When C level is high, you can
sometimes use this weapon to cause slow-down, to your advantage.

A+B+C (R) - Radiant Sword.  Swings a sword which does excellent
damage and wipes out enemy "common shots".  If you're pressing
right or left, the sword will swing clockwise or
counter-clockwise respectively; otherwise it will swing in the
same direction as the last swing.  The magnitude of the swing
depends on the duration of the button press; by holding down the
buttons, you leave the sword extended out in front, or in the
opposite direction you're moving.  By wiping out 10 common shots,
you charge the Hyper gauge (displayed below your score).  Then,
the next time you press A+B+C, you'll swing the Hyper Sword,
which is a very powerful attack and also gives you temporary
invincibility.  (Even the debris after the swords crash does
damage.) 

1.1.2  Weapon Levels

In Silvergun, there are no power-up items.  You level up your
weapons by building your score.  Each of your A, B, and C weapons
are rated seperately.  When you gain points, the points are added
to the Experience for the weapon you're using, and the weapon
gains level-up when it accumulates a certain amount of EXP.  Each
level increases your firepower by 10% (relative to level 0), in
additional to any extra effects explicitly mentioned in section
1.1.1 .  Maximum level is 33.  The points gained with a composite
weapon are shared equally between the component weapons, and the
weapon level is determined by the average of the components.
Bonus points from bosses, Merry dogs, and scratching are shared
equally among the 3 weapons.

You can find a table for the EXP required for each weapon level
in the arcade mode at:
http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~puni/rsg/sgweapon.html
In Saturn mode, you need more EXP to level-up the weapons.
Especially, you need a lot of EXP (much more than that required
for higher levels) to level-up from level 10 to level 11: level
11 requires about 1.5 million EXP.  Apparently, this is a game
balance adjustment made to preserve the feel of the play from the
arcade version, since in Saturn mode, the player plays both
(instead of either one of) stages 2 and 4.


1.2  Scoring System

You get points for destroying enemies.  Most bosses and boss
parts are worth 10000 points each, but most other enemies are
worth something from 30 to 200 points each.  You also get a small
amount of points (depending on weapon used) when you do damage to
tough enemies.

Most of your score comes from the following various bonuses.

1.2.1  Chain Bonus

This is your most important source of points.  All enemies
(excluding bosses and enemies worthing 0 points, but including
mid-bosses) are colored red, blue, or yellow.  By destroying 3
enemies of the same color in a row, you get a chain bonus.  If
you continue to destory enemies in the same color, you'll get a
larger chain bonus every 3rd enemy.  The bonus is calculated by
the following formula:

  min(min('total score of all enemies in chain', 10000) *
    step# , 100 000)

For the less mathematically oriented, just think of it as

  'total score of all enemies in chain' * step#

Shooting an enemy of a different color, clearing a stage, or
dying ends the chain (and also the secret bonus sequence in
1.2.2).

1.2.2  Secret Bonus & Secret Chain

If you shoot red, then exactly 1 blue, then yellow, you get a
10000 points secret bonus.  If the yellow continues into a yellow
chain, the chain bonus becomes 10000, then 20000, 30000 ... up to
100 000.  Some players call this a secret chain.  This is an
important element in some stages, such as 3D and 2B.  However, in
most stages, there are not a lot of yellows.

1.2.3  Boss Bonus

If you successfully destroy a boss before time runs out (self
destruction), you get a Boss Destruction Bonus.  The value
depends on the boss, but is otherwise constant.

You are also rated with a "Destruction Rate", which depends on
which boss parts you have destroyed.  For a perfect 100%, you get
100 000 points; otherwise you get 500 points for every 1%.

You also get (usually) 10000 points for each part, plus you can
sometimes go for some weapon bonus.  Thus getting perfect on a
boss often makes quite some difference to your score.

1.2.4  Merry Dog Bonus

At certain locations, if you use B+C (Lock On Spread), a dog will
appear and bark, and you get a secret bonus.  The score value
depends on the location.  (The color only tells you about the
conditions under which the dog will appear.)  Merry is her name.

There is some deep meaning with the score value of each dog.  For
example, the dog near the end of stage 3C is worth 106550 points,
which is a Japanese pun for "Irem! Go! Go!"  ^_^

Extra dogs are added in the Saturn mode (relative to the arcade
mode), and the score value of some of the dogs are changed.

1.2.5  Weapon Bonus

If you keep using the same weapon and fulfill certain conditions,
you'll receive a 10000 point weapon bonus.  The conditions are
listed below.  Note that dying also resets the weapon conditions,
but most of the conditions can be carried across stages.

A (Vulcan)
Need: 200 hits with the 2 center shots.
Reset: a shot misses and flies off-screen.
(Hits on terrain and invincible enemies neither count nor reset.)

B (Homing)
Need: 300 hits.
Reset: a shot misses and flies off-screen.

C (Spread)
Need: 16 direct hits.
Reset: a shot misses and flies off-screen, or voluntary
detonation (releasing C etc.) of a shot.

A+B (Homing Plasma)
Need: lock on and hit for 10 seconds.
Reset: during lock-on, another enemy intercepts your laser and
you lock on to it.

A+C (Back Wide)
Need: 300 hits.
Reset: no hits for 2 seconds.

B+C (Lock On Spread)
Need: spreads hit for a total of 15 seconds.
Reset: using any other weapon.

A+B+C (Radiant Sword)
Need: hit for 5 seconds
Reset: using any other weapon.

In general, A+B is the best weapon with which to go for the
weapon bonus.  Unlike the others with which you must worry about
the reset condition, the reset condition for A+B is not too easy
to fulfill, even if you try.  When A+B initially locks on, the
firepower is lower than that of continued lock-on and hitting;
when you have stripped a boss down to its last parts (example:
stages 3B and 3E), you can get more hit time and thus weapon
bonus by hitting repeatedly in short bursts instead of sustained
lock-on.

Against bosses with many parts, B+C not only is powerful, but
also gives you weapon bonus rapidly.


1.2.6  Scratch Points

When you /almost/ crash into something, sparks will fly and you
get some points.  The amount is larger against lasers (because a
laser is internally treated as a large number of successive
shots).

Sometimes you can safely get scratch points from non-fatal
attacks (such as black hole spreads).


2.0  Stage Strategy
-------------------
(see other file)


3.0  Story Summary
------------------

On 9 July 2520, the Earth Federal Army dug up an octahedral
object from prehistoric earth layers.  Along with the object,
there were also the remnants of a "Creator"-type robot.  On 14
July, the object suddenly emitted white light and destroyed the
entire earth.  The only survivors were 4 people and a Creator
robot aboard the battleship "Tetra".  They were the captain,
Buster (1P, blue fighter), Reana (2P, red fighter), and Guy
(yellow fighter), the son of the General.  The last three were
test pilots for the latest fighter "Silvergun".

The stages are numbered in temporal order according to the story.
You begin with stage 3, one year after the destruction of the
world.  Your mothership Tetra is running low on fuel and food, so
you are returning to the earth.  You are attacked, and after you
kill UE2A-GAL, the octahedral appears from amist the explosion.
Stage 2 is reminiscence of what happeded shortly before the
destruction.  As you reached the control tower, the General
ordered you to return to Tetra, from where you witnessed the
destruction of dear planet Earth.  Stages 4 to 6 are continuation
of stage 3.  You fight your way to the control tower, where sad
and weird things happen.  And then, time warp to stage 1 ...


4.0  Version History
--------------------

v0.0  6 Nov 98
  sections 1 and 3 only
v1.0  26 Nov 98
  section 2 (stage 3) completed