grrr, you two ruining my thread! ;) jk(posted 8767 days ago)Okay. The key to high scores lately is the multiple shot-into-close range attack combo kill. Like Barry noted, you get a certain amount of points per shot. You can unload approximately a dozen shots into them before they fall down, so a close-range attack must be done before then. A close-range attack is worth double the "base" value of whatever the soldier is.
Purple soldiers have a base value of 5000, and thus it's always worth going for multi-shot kills on them. Even if you make them drop, you can still earn 60k from them alone. Getting in 10 shots and a close-range kill would also give 60k, and a chance at a 30k diamond... so that's 90k from one enemy alone.
White soldiers have a base value of 3000. Almost always worth trying to get multi-shot kills on them too.
Green soldiers vary a lot. A few examples... the ones that walk towards you, but then back away and fire, those pussies only have a base value of 1000. So it's best to just roll through their shot and stab them. Most green soldiers that come out from "stalling" are only worth a base value of 500, even worse. The ones that "jump down" from the top of the screen, or the ones sliding down the hills on Jungle 1 and Jungle 2, are worth 3000. Soldiers that "get distracted" (such as the two that are "talking" at the beginning of Jungle 1, along with the one repairing the vehicle) are worth 5000. Their AI is unpredictable, as sometimes they'll freak out and run away, sometimes they'll try to stab you, sometimes they'll just shoot like mad. The last major type of green soldier are the ones located behind barrels... for instance there's two sets of them early on in Jungle 1. They're worth more than any other, 7000 points per shot!!! But it's tough to get multiple shots on them for some reason, I can't seem to figure out a reliable way (your shots make them fly up the screen for some reason)
oh, and there's the rocket launcher guys, I think they're worth 3000.
Anyways, the reason some of them don't drop items is because I probably fired too many shots at them before getting in range for the close attack... or I accidentally shot them before I planned to (this happens a lot when you pick up a special weapon, a few shots will go off automatically if you just did a close-range attack). Or, not every enemy in the game actually drops an item. 98% of them do, but some of them will never drop an item even if you do a close-range attack on them. There are quite a few in the last level that never drop items, so once you figure out which ones they are it's better to just unload shots into them until they drop.
I really don't believe 40 million to be possible... my patterns are pretty tight (although Barry chastised me on IRC for not leeching enough on Jungle 3, hahaha), although I still make a lot of screwups. I don't think there's too much left to squeeze out, I'm already going for as many combination kills as I can. I already thought 35 million would be tough to do, but it's obviously very possible now. 36 million? I doubt that, but who knows what I'll be thinking in a couple weeks. That's the great thing about this game, every time I think I've hit the wall, I find something out to increase points even more. I don't know how much longer I can keep that up, but if I know higher scores are possible, I'll definitely keep playing. Speaking of which, that's a good idea, I'm tired of typing and feel like playing. :)
oh, and 30 million on 2nd Squad... ummmmm... there must be something I'm missing there O_o
-BBH