DPS = The damage your weapon deals.
AIM = How easy it is to aim your weapon / how large it is. Only Casey Storm has perfect AIM.
DEF = How many hits your ship can take before your pilot dies. Only Ginger Alex has perfect DEF.

-Tapping/Holding left multiple times will get your ships to face left and fire their weapons in that direction instead, vice versa to fire right. Some pilots fire their weapons based on how you're moving instead, so keep that in mind.

-Since there are only 3 levels and you can bring as many or as few pilots into levels as you want, you can choose to start your run only using one or two pilots if you're comfortable, and then save 3 or 4 for the last 2 levels to make the other ones easier. But do remember, the more ships you control, the harder it is to manage 4 separate hitboxes.

-If you go into a level with only one pilot, you will always have Last Stand enabled, and your ship will also have 1 extra DEF point (Ginger Alex can go up to 4 DEF with this trick).

This determines how your ships stay together when this particular character is the leader. Very important to swap to a leader with a good formation that will help you dodge particular enemies / patterns. Doesn't matter if you only have 1 ship left.

I = All ships stay in a straight vertical line.
F = All ships stay in a straight horizontal line.
0 = All ships rotate around your leader in a circle.
V = All ships form a V-shape behind the leader, above and below.
S = All ships follow your leader's position, trailing slightly behind, starting from your previous position before moving.
G = All ships move to guard your leader by moving in front of / behind them based on which way you're travelling.
J = All ships make a J-shape around your leader.

Overdrive

This is a special power-up button you can push when your leader's meter has filled. You fill the meter by dealing damage with that ship's weapon while it is in the leader position. Anywhere else won't count, so feel free to swap around leaders to get the bars you want filled and then swap around to use the overdrive ability you want.


Last Stand

This is a mechanic that makes your last remaining ship more powerful by enhancing its main weapon. It's active as long as your last ship as alive, unless you have the "In Mourning"
challenge on that makes it last a limited amount of time.

1. Azure Dolma
DPS = 2
AIM = 2
DEF = 1

Weapon: Orbiting Spheres (charge by firing, shoot forward by releasing the fire button)
This weapon creates a bunch of bullets that rotate around you indefinitely until you release fire to shoot them in the direction you're facing. Good for enemies in close spaces / hiding on corners in front of you, but risky due to close proximity.


Last Stand: Azure's orbs rotate much faster, making it easier to hit things in a circle around you.

Overdrive: Stasis
This freezes the screen scrolling and all enemy movement/bullets so you can maneuver around for a few seconds / lay into them. They won't blow up until time un-freezes, though.

Recommended Levels: Baenia
Dolma, like the other blue boy Kayn, is good in most situations, you just have to be careful with him due to his 1 DEF. Stasis is a powerful overdrive ability, but it may take a while to charge. I don't recommend using him on Dunomini, though, because his weapon easily gets nullified by the floors and ceilings, making it hard to save up for a big release shot on anything.



2. Kayn Blue
DPS = 2
AIM = 2
DEF = 2
Weapon: Assault Fire
Kayn fires a straight line of bullets that travel very fast. Great for bosses or large, stationary enemies.

Overdrive: Satellite
Kayn creates a small option turret that fires a weaker version of their main shot and follows them around. These can be destroyed by enemy fire, but they can keep creating them if you keep filling the bar and using their Overdrive again and again. I don't know if there's a limit, I've had 7 out at once before.

Last Stand: Kayn fires MUCH faster, basically doubles their fire rate and projectiles.

Recommend level: Baenia
Kayn is a simple pilot that does one thing well, but requires you to position them in the right spot for maximum DPS. They also can't really hit anyone at any angle other than straight-on.




3. Sasha Purple
DPS = 1
AIM = 2
DEF = 2

Weapon: Twin Shot
Sasha fires two wavy shots that travel forward in the direction she's facing and can hit slightly above and slightly below her. Unfortunately, it's pretty weak.

Last Stand: Sasha fires an additional two shots slightly above and below the other ones, for a total of 4.

Overdrive: Stealth
This power up automatically activates once you fill her meter, and it makes all other ships' hitboxes except 1 turn completely invisible. When she is NOT the leader, it will only turn her hitbox invisible while every one else is out as normal. It's a nice upgrade and certainly makes levels / bosses easier to survive, but it's not particularly flashy. You also can't build other character's meters while using her stealth in the leader position.
Note: while in Last Stand, this overdrive does absolutely nothing.

Recommended Levels: Any
Sasha's shot type isn't that useful, and her stealth is only useful when you have a large party. That being said, this is a "more the merrier" type of character and she can help protect your other ships when there are a lot of bullets on screen by swapping to her with stealth on and just breezing through with her lone hitbox.



4. Teal Keiko
DPS = 2
AIM = 1
DEF = 2

Weapon: Straight Fireworks
Keiko fires green orbs that travel slightly behind her and then rocket forward afterwards. These aren't particularly fast or strong, but you can move elsewhere while your shots are still travelling forward, letting you cover a wider area of the screen than pilots like Kayn or Sasha that trail their shots with their movement.

Last Stand: Keiko's shots become explosive and will detonate on contact with enemies, making them have much larger hitboxes. They will also turn around mid-flight if you change directions.

Overdrive: Repair
Heals all your damaged pilots 1 DEF point. Definitely useful if you have 2 or more damaged pilots and for keeping your team alive, but doesn't really help you defeat any enemies / bosses. Also, it feels like it takes a really long time to charge just because of how unreliable her weapon is.

Recommended levels: Dunomini
From my experience, it's very easy to get hit in Dunomini, so I've found her repair skill to be the most useful there. Bring a big party, charge her overdrive early, and keep it ready to go when it will heal the most pilots.

5. Lydia Green
DPS = 2
AIM = 1
DEF = 2
Weapon: Twin Wave
Lydia fires fast green waves at 2 diagonal angles, above and below her. Good for hitting enemies hanging out on the ceiling or ground, not so much for DPS directly ahead of you like certain bosses.

Last Stand: Adds an extra 3 shots covering the area in front of Lydia as well as additional diagonal angles. Gives her a lot more coverage and makes up for the weakness of her regular shot.

Overdrive: Plasma
Lydia fires a powerful green plasma shot in a straight line all the way across the screen. It will wipe out weaker enemies instantly, but when hitting bosses or enemies with lots of health, it will stop on collision. Useful for when she can't hit enemies in front of her or there is a long single file line of enemies.

Recommended Levels: Any!
Lydia's shot type helps with all kinds of waves and enemies that come at you from certain angles. It's a little hard to position yourself to hit enemies sometimes, but she's overall very useful.



6. Pink June
DPS = 3
AIM = 1
DEF = 2
Weapon: Rotating Shot
While stationary, this weapon fires 2 shots, directly above and below you. When moving, they will always fire in the opposite direction to the way you're going. It's very fast and can cover a lot of angles, but you have to be very maneouvarble to get proper use of it.

Last Stand: June gets a slightly stronger shot that fires directly in front of her at all times. Not bad, but not great either. It just makes her a bit more consistent, I guess.

Overdrive: Laserwave
June fires a series of lasers in all directions from her ship for a few seconds. Not particularly strong, but it does hit every angle for you and can clear the area if you're feeling pressured by enemies.

Recommended levels: Any!
You can hit enemies above and below you with her weapon, and her overdrive keeps the area clear when you're surrounded, which you WILL be by the bosses. She's generally good for firing while retreating to the other side of the screen.



7. Casey Storm
DPS = 1
AIM = 3
DEF= 1
Weapon: Casey fires a thunder beam all the way across the screen which will home in and constantly damage enemies he hits with it. The only weapon with perfect aim, it is definitely reliable, although it does very little damage.

Last Stand: Casey creates an additional ring of thunder around him, which has the same constantly damaging property of his main weapon.

Overdrive: Empower
For a brief amount of time, Casey's weapon becomes more powerful, doing more damage and in larger areas. This is the most straight-forward "power-up" in the game.

Recommended levels: Baenia
Probably the level with the most enemies in terms of sheer numbers, and the one you can get the most use out of Casey's weapon / overdrive. Do remember that he dies in 1 hit, though, so keep him safe.



8. Kim Amber
DPS = 3
AIM = 2
DEF = 2
Weapon: Penta Shot
Kim launches 5 projectiles that fire straight / diagonally up or down depending on where they were moving while firing it. The shots are fast and strong, so it's great for bosses.

Last Stand: Fires 9 shots in a wider area above and below them. Great coverage, can beat every level by themself with this on, honestly.

Overdrive: Missiles
Kim launches an array of missiles in a circle around them that seek out any enemies on screen and attack them. Pretty great when you're surrounded, or just all the time, since she charges it so fast with her DPS.

Recommended levels: Any!
Kim has the best stats out of any pilot. They're awesome in pretty much any scenario, but mostly for DPS. Don't let them die. Also, since you can only use them for 1 level, might as well make it count.



9. Ginger Alex
DPS = 1
AIM = 1
DEF = 3
Weapon: Bomb Lob
Alex fires a circular bomb that arcs ahead of him a set distance and explodes when it hits an enemy / the ground. Good for ground coverage, but requires precise aim.

Last Stand: The bomb's explosion hitbox is larger, and a bunch of extra shots release from the impact that can damage enemies at many angles.

Overdrive: Bombing Raid
A bunch of bombs fall from the top of the screen to carpet bomb the entire screen horizontally. Note: Do not use this in the cave part of Dunomini, because the bombs will hit the ceiling and be completely useless.

Recommended level: Inferric
Most enemies are on the ground on this level, making them a breeze for Alex to hit. His overdrive also completely wrecks the boss. You could beat this whole level with JUST him, honestly.

These are additional difficulty modifiers you can add to make the game harder but also add coins to your final score to increase your rank. It's all for bragging rights, but some of them can alter the way you play significantly.


The Convoy: Only the Squad Leader can fire (3 Coins)
Limiting yourself to just one shot type while also trying to keep multiple hitboxes alive is not easy, but it's do-able. The right use of overdrives will be key to completing this one.

Sabotage: All Ships are missing 1 Armor (2 Coins)
All ships take 1 less hit to die. Note that this doesn't affect pilots that already start with 1 DEF.

Still Reliable: Abandonware Have +50% HP (2 Coins)
All enemies and bosses have 1.5x health. They all take a lot longer to kill, and are on-screen for longer as a result.

Departed: One Random Hero is missing (2 Coins)
At the start of the run, one random hero is deleted from the character select and cannot be used. You basically gain one coin for free, but you can't use a particular pilot for any of the 3 levels.

Anarchy: Randomize Squadron Composition (2 Coins)
By selecting this, the game will give you a random squad (between 1 and 4 pilots) every time you select a level.

In Mourning: The Last Stand Bonus Only Lasts 15 Seconds (2 Coins)
This basically makes solo-ing levels MUCH harder since you lose the empowered shot bonus after the first 15 seconds of the level, and also makes you weaker if you were hoping you could clutch out the rest of a level after losing your other ships.

Scrap Legions: Extra Waves on All Planets (1 Coin)
Every level will have additional waves of enemies.

Nemesis: Bosses have +50% HP (1 Coin)
All bosses have 1.5x Health.

PUNKCAKE Delicieux for making this game.

You for reading this!