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The Manual

Prologue

Screenshot

The year is 3002.

In 2999, the Earth came under attack from a powerful alien force: The Imperial Alliance. The Earth's defence forces were unable to resist the onslaught and only the prototype space battleship: X-Bomber stood in the way of Earth's annihilation. The Alliance was temporarily repelled and X-Bomber left Earth in search of F Zero One; a legendary power capable of destroying the Alliance for good.

F Zero One was finally found and the Alliance's space fortress destroyed, but not before terrible damage was inflicted on the Earth.

This is where our story begins ...

The Alliance's retreat from Earth and its surrounding sectors liberated several of Earth's neighbouring solar systems. In the two years following the war, Earth restored peaceful relations with Simetra: a former Earth colony that was subjected to countless years of Alliance tyranny.

The process of rebuilding what the Alliance destroyed is underway.

6 hours ago, Earth's newly established Alpha Proxima Base reported an approaching Alliance Fleet then contact was lost. The Alliance has returned for revenge. X-Bomber, fully overhauled after its year-long mission, escorting 3 transport cruisers to Simetra, is the only warship within range to deal with the threat.

X-Bomber the Game follows on where the TV series left off as X-Bomber's refit is completed and her crew are brought back together after their early 'retirement' to deal with the resurging Alliance threat. Your job is to pilot X-Bomber, destroying waves of enemy ships, on a frantic quest to save the galaxy once more, grabbing power-ups, dishing out excessive firepower and, of course, making lots and lots of things explode.


System Requirements

Screenshot
  • Windows 2000, XP or later (64 or 32-bit) operating system
  • DirectX 9 (9.0c is already included in XP SP2 onwards)
  • 2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 equivalent CPU or faster
  • 1 GB RAM
  • DirectX 9-capable graphics system; ATI Radeon 9800 XT equivalent or faster
  • 500 MB hard disk space
The game should run on DirectX 8 so it will theoretically work on Windows 95, 98 and ME.
If neither DirectX 8 or 9 are available, it runs in 'software mode' using only the CPU. In this case, the game will only run very slowly.
The lower-left corner of the game's menu displays a message if anything other than DirectX 9 hardware acceleration is being used.

Installation

Screenshot

X-Bomber is a portable application.
To run X-Bomber, download the latest version and extract all the contents of the zip file. Then, run the "xb2-*.exe" application.

X-Bomber stores all of its configuration and save files within the directory where the program is located.
The only exception is the "hiscores.ini", which, prior to v0.84h is located in the "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming" directory (Vista onwards) or "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data" (XP and earlier).


Troubleshooting

Screenshot

If you have trouble running X-Bomber, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me either by email or on the forum.

In the meantime, I recommend checking the following:

  • Download, unpack and run the latest version of X-Bomber, in case the most recent release has a fix, or the game files have been damaged.
  • Run X-Bomber in full-screen (change resolution) mode.
    This should give better performance and still preserves the aspect ratio if the graphics card driver settings are set to allow it.
    The game launches in this mode but you can toggle between full-screen and windowed mode using Alt + Enter.
  • Check that your machine is on mains power, if it's a portable, and that the power plan is "High performance" (Windows Vista onwards) or "Home Office/Desk" (Windows XP).
  • Check that your drivers (especially graphics drivers) are up-to-date.
  • Update Windows fully. Some extensions used in X-Bomber might need Microsoft .NET Framework.
  • Scan for viruses and spyware.
  • Close any other programs and background processes; especially any that are shown to be using substantial amounts of CPU time and RAM in Task Manager.
    Make sure any torrent clients are minimised to the system tray and not open in a window, if you're running one in the background. uTorrent and other file-sharing programs can give X-Bomber a substantial performance hit when their windows are open.

Main Menu

The Main Menu has seven options and can be navigated with mouse interaction, the arrow keys, Enter and Esc.

Start

Displays the Missions menu, from which you can start the game from the beginning or start any level. You can also select which ship(s) to fly during the mission.

When you return to the main menu while playing a level, the Start option is replaced with Resume, which returns you to the current level at the point where you left off.

Options

Here, you can adjust the sound and music volume and configure controls and game settings (including the game's difficulty).

New

When you return to the menu while playing a level, this option displays the Missions menu, allowing you start any mission from scratch.

Instructions

... displays this help documentation in the default internet browser.

Scores

... allows you to save your current score, view your previous scores and upload any score to the Online High-Score Table.

Credits

... displays information about the game's production.

Exit

... prompts for confirmation before closing the game. You can close the game at any time without a confirmation prompt by pressing Alt + F4.


Briefing Screen

Briefing Screen

Page through the mission briefing by pressing the left and right arrow keys.
The fourth (and last) page of the briefing displays an animated map of the mission environment.

Clicking the image thumbnails on the right displays the image in the main window on the left.

Press Fire 1 (Z) or Enter to start the level.

Press Esc or click the red area in the upper-right corner to return to the Main Menu.


Controls

Assignable Controls

You can assign the following controls, from the defaults shown below, to keyboard keys or game controller buttons via the options screen.
Key Function Remarks
Arrow Keys Movement Hold 2 non-opposing keys for diagonal movement.
Z Fire 1 Hold for continuous fire.
X Fire 2
C Shield
A Airstrike Hold to summon F-Zero One.
Shift Select 1 Hold to change ship or transform.
Ctrl Select 2
S Transfer power to shields *
W Transfer power to weapons *
* The power transfer controls perform a different function for The Skull player ship, where they are used to rotate the ship.

Other Commands and Shortcuts

Key Function
Esc Saves the current progress and returns the game to the main menu.
Pause/Break Pauses the level, press any key to resume.
F5 Plays a new music track at random.
F6 Saves the current progress in the level.
F7 Reverts the level to a save point or checkpoint, whichever is more recent.
Restarts mission if neither are available.
F12 Captures a screenshot
Alt + Enter Toggles between full-screen and windowed display modes.
Alt + F4 Closes the program without prompting for confirmation.
Captain Carter
Turn off the sticky keys keyboard shortcut in Windows, to allow you to use Shift as a select button.

There are certain keys that the Clickteam Fusion runtime doesn't detect, such as Alt, meaning that they can't be used for assignable functions.

Instruments

Instrumentation Layout Screenshot

Counter-clockwise from top-left:

Shields

Shields
The shields filter damage away from ship's hull and, as the shield energy diminishes, the armour becomes more vulnerable.

While holding down Shield (C), the shields operate in 'blocking mode'.
In this mode, a protective bubble forms instantly around the ship. Your shields and armour take no damage from collisions but the shield energy drains relatively quickly.
This is useful to escape tight spots, where the ship might otherwise sustain heavy damage.
In this mode, you can use your ship as a battering ram.

The shield energy is topped up by collecting shield power-ups. The shields also recharge at a rate of 1% per second.
If your shields are already at 100%, the energy used to recharge them is diverted and your weapons energy recharges at double the normal rate.
Equally, your shields recharge at twice the normal rate when your weapons energy is full.

Armour

Armour
The armour indicator shows the ship's hull integrity. When this indicator reaches zero, your ship is destroyed.
The armour does not repair automatically but can be repaired by collecting Armour power-ups.

Weapons Energy

All of X-Bomber's primary weapons, as well as some special weapons, consume energy from this reserve while firing. 
Weapons energy can be replenished by collecting Weapons Energy power-ups.
Weapons energy also recharges automatically at a rate of 1% per second.
Some Special Weapons power-ups also boost the weapons energy reserve, while some special weapons feature an additional power generators that increase the rate at which the weapons energy recharges.
When the weapons energy reaches zero, these weapons can fire only intermittently.

X-Impulse

X-Impulse

This shows the number and type of available X-Impulse blasts, when the X-Bomber ship is selected.

When ships other than X-Bomber are in-use, this indicator is replaced with one that shows the amount of ammunition for that ship's secondary weapon.

When a ship is in-use that has multiple secondary weapons: such as Dai-X, the secondary weapon indicator is supplemented by a further indicator, showing which secondary weapon is selected.

Weapon Select

This indicator shows the currently selected primary weapon.
Primary weapons can be selected by pressing Select 1 and Select 2 (Shift and Ctrl) to cycle forward and backward through the available weapons.

This area also indicates whether a special weapon has been collected, and if so, which one.
Special weapons are obtained by collecting the multicoloured 'special weapon' power-ups.
These power-ups are colour-coded to the weapon that they install. For example, the yellow Special Weapons power-up installs the ADEN Cannons on X-Bomber. 
The special weapon indicator illuminates more strongly when the special weapon is selected and darkens when one of the built-in weapons is selected.

This area also indicates how much ammunition the special weapon has, if applicable.
If a special weapon that requires ammunition depletes its ammunition supply, then that special weapon is automatically ejected, since the only way to replenish the ammo is to collect another special weapon of the same type.

Objective

This typically shows how much more damage the current boss enemy can sustain.

Distance

This indicator shows the current distance from your objective and the estimated time needed to reach it in hundredths of a second.
This objective can often be the end of the level, where typically, an end-of-level boss will be located.

Score

This increments when enemies are destroyed and when escape capsules are recovered.
The score indicator appears when incrementing, then fades out.

Messages

Messages from the crew and other characters are displayed at the top of the screen.

Objectives

  1. Avoid hazards such as weapons fire, enemy ships, asteroids and other obstacles.
  2. Use your weapons to destroy the enemy.
  3. Collect power-ups to replenish your resources.

To complete a mission, you must survive to the end of the level and destroy the end-of-level boss enemy.

Other enemies can be destroyed at your discretion. Destroying too few can quickly leave you overwhelmed while destroying too many can deplete your resources unnecessarily.

Keeping your ship intact is more important.
Your ship can collide with enemy ships and their weapons fire, along with other hazards such as asteroids and mines. It can also suffer damage from radiation and nearby explosions.
Generally, if your ship is destroyed, the game is over and you have to start the level over from the beginning or from the latest checkpoint.

If a single Dai-X fighter is destroyed, the remaining two fighters return to X-Bomber and X-Bomber can continue the mission. The destroyed fighter is re-assembled in X-Bomber's hangar. The Dai-X fighters and Dai-X can be used again later in the mission, or in subsequent missions, once that fighter has been sufficiently repaired.

Missions may have other objectives, which are set out in the Mission Briefing.

  • Red markers highlight targets recommended by the ship's targetting computer. These may be targets whose destruction is critical to the mission or high-value targets that will cost you points if allowed to escape.
  • Blue markers highlight your destination. Fly your ship to this location.
  • Green markers highlight resources that either you must protect for the mission to succeed or that will cost you points if allowed to be destroyed.

Hints

Precautions

  • Sit well away from the monitor.
  • Try not to use too large or too bright a monitor.
  • Avoid playing when tired
  • Play games in well lit areas
  • Take a 15 minute break for every hour of game-play.

General

Glance at your instruments often but don't stare at them and take your eyes off the enemy for too long. You can change the position of the HUD or hide it altogether for an extra challenge using the options screen.

Don't forget to change ships, by holding Select 1 (Shift), if yours is damaged or runs out of energy or ammunition.
If X-Bomber is damaged, launch fighters or use Dai-X to cover for it while it recovers itself.
Your ships re-arm and repair themselves in the background when not being used.
Your ships are normally fully repaired and recharged after every level, ready for the next one.
Special weapons and their ammunition are carried over to the next mission.

Weapons

Use the right weapon. Spreadfire weapons are effective for crowd-controlling swarms of small enemies but slower at downing stronger individual enemies; like bosses.

Remember to make use of your secondary weapons by pressing Fire 2 (X). It's better to use an X-Impulse blast or two to get out of a snag than get the ship heavily damaged or blown up.

With slower weapons, you need to 'lead' your targets by flying ahead of them, matching their direction and letting them fly into your bullets. The benefit, however is that it makes it difficult for the enemy to hit you in return.

Damage

You can't collide with allied ships or with any ground targets such as tanks or buildings.

Explosions can cause damage to you and to the enemy. Detonating one enemy can damage or destroy other nearby ones.
You can't damage allies with your weapons directly and they cannot harm you with theirs. It is possible to damage your allies however with the splash damage from your missiles if one happens to explode near to them. By the same token, your allies' missiles can damage you slightly if they detonate close-by.
Avoid using missiles on close-quarters targets for extended periods. The splash damage can gradually wear you down.

Objects with over 50% damage trail smoke and those with over 75% shower sparks. Keep an eye out for damaged enemies and take them out first to clear the screen faster.

Movement

Make use of the whole screen and keep moving into open spaces. Constantly doing this gets you out of the way of lots of most bullets that are fired directly at you without you having to think too much about dodging them.

Don't worry about getting hit by smaller bullets if it means avoiding enemy ships and heavier enemy weapons fire. Your ships can take a fair amount of damage.

Sometimes it helps to stop firing back for a few seconds. Having fewer bullets on the screen can help you to concentrate on dodging hazards when you're in a pinch.

Relax. Take a break and think up a different approach if you're tired or stuck. You can adjust the difficulty in the options screen. The game is meant to be hectic but I also meant it to be fun, rather than frustrating.


Power-ups and Resources

Power-ups can be found floating in space or they can be left behind when certain enemies are destroyed.
Others are released as your score increases.

To collect a power-up, fly your ship into it. As a rule, if you can't shoot it, try picking it up.

System Power-ups

Three power-ups can be used by any player ship. Each comes in three versions: silver, gold and platinum, giving 25%, 50% and 100% boosts respectively:

Armour Power-up Shield Power-up Weapons Power-up
Repairs your ship's armour Recharges your ship's shield energy Recharges your ship's weapons energy

Power Transfer

When you collect a shield power-up, any surplus shield energy is transferred to weapons and vice-versa.
If both the shields and weapons energy gauges are full, surplus shield or weapons energy is used to activate the afterburners for up to 10 seconds. Excess armour is converted into points.

You can transfer power between shields and weapons manually by pressing "S" and "W" (default), however, the transfer is only 50% efficient.
Your ship's shields and weapons energy recharge themselves at a rate of 1% per second at normal difficulty but your armour doesn't repair itself.
Any of your ships that are not in use will repair themselves and recharge their shields and weapons energy more quickly.
Your ships' shields, weapons energy and armour are replenished after every mission.

Secondary Weapon Power-ups

X-Impulse Power-up Ammunition Power-up Missiles Power-up
X-Bomber
X-Impulse charge
Dai-X Fighters
Ammunition container
Dai-X
Missile container

Your energy/ammunition for secondary weapons is carried over between missions.

Special Weapons Power-ups

... are earned every 20,000, 30,000 and 45,000 points in Chapters I, II and III respectively.
They come in 10 colours: each giving a different special Weapon that is compatible with X-Bomber and Dai-X.

Yellow Weapons Power-up Blue Weapons Power-up Orange Special Weapon Power-up

Your special weapon and its remaining ammunition are carried over between missions.


Additional Features

Customisable Music

The game's music is stored in the "mp3" folder. You can supplement or replace these files with your own music.
X-Bomber indexes the files in this folder and plays them back at random in the game's levels.
You can press F5 to make the game select another track.

The game supports MP3, OGG, MIDI files and anything else that your PC's codecs allow Windows Media Player to play.
It also detects and skips files that it cannot play.

Night Mode

Night mode creates a night-time darkness effect in planet levels (3, 8, 9 and 11).
When starting a planet level, there is a 25% probability of night mode being activated and the effect varies every time it activates.
There isn't a way to disable night mode or to force it on all the time but if the effect is not desired, you can press F7, which will generate the level again, this time without night mode.

Screenshots

You can take a screenshot at any time during a level by pressing F12. The game gives the file a unique filename and places it in X-Bomber's screenshots folder.

The game also captures screenshots automatically to display as previews of the levels in the game's menu.
These are kept in the screenshots folder too and named "Mission __.png".
Deleting these files will prevent the game from displaying previews in the menu until the game creates new preview screenshots.


Section 2 - X-Project Player Ships

The X-Project

The X-Project was designed by Professor Hagen, prior to his disappearance, and built by the EDF in an underground hangar on the Moon under the supervision of Dr Benn.

The project was intended to maintain peace in Earth's Solar System and consists of the X-Bomber space battlecruiser, which serves as a mothership for the three Dai-X fighters: Braincom, Mainbody and Legtrax. These three fighters transform and combine into the giant robot: Dai-X.


Dai-X System

You can choose to fly X-Bomber, the Dai-X or any of the three Dai-X fighters at any time in any of the game's levels.

Press and hold Select 1 (Shift) to cycle between the X-Project ships in the following order:
	X-Bomber → Dai-X fighters → Dai-X

If either X-Bomber or Dai-X are destroyed, the mission fails. 
However, if one of the Dai-X fighters is destroyed, the two remaining fighters return to X-Bomber automatically and you can continue the fight using X-Bomber.

The lost fighter is slowly reconstructed inside X-Bomber's hangar.
Once all three fighters are ready, they can then be launched again.

X-Bomber

X-Bomber
X-Bomber is a 260-metre-long prototype space battleship, which was launched unfinished in 2999 to fight the Imperial Alliance. It is a fast and powerful carrier ship for the three Dai-X Fighters, transporting them over long distances and re-arming them after missions.

Its shields can withstand a good deal of weapons fire. A quantum reactor powers a devastating array of energy weapons.

X-Bomber is the toughest and best-armed ship in the game, making it a well balanced ship for new players. It is, however, not the fastest ship available.
Shields 625
Armour 400
Performance 50 km/s
Weapons Energy 2,500
Crew Shiro Hagan
Barry Hercules
John Lee
PPA

Primary Weapons

Press Select 1 and 2 (Shift and Ctrl) to cycle forwards and backwards, respectively, through X-Bomber's primary weapons:
Pulse Laser Cannons 2 x 120 TW
The twin 120TW pulse laser cannons destroy most soft targets in one shot. Their low power consumption means that they can be fired indefinitely.
Even when the ship's weapons energy is depleted, the pulse lasers can still fire intermittently, unless the ship's power is being drained by an external source.
This weapon is meant to mimic the appearance of the ship's blue pulse lasers in episode 22, where they are able to damage Orion's astrofighter carrier but not destroy it in time to prevent it from colliding with X-Bomber. (This is bearing in mind that Orion's carrier seems more difficult to destroy than other carriers).
Laser torpedo turret and heavy pulse laser turret 150 + 141 TW
The laser torpedo turret tracks a single target and fires a constant laser torpedo stream toward it.
The laser torpedo beam is so fast-moving that it is very difficult to avoid.
This is supplemented with a heavy, turret-mounted pulse cannon that fires at the same time as the laser torpedo turret and can track an additional target.
The pulse turret fires at a lower rate than the main pulse guns, but fires a much more powerful projectile.
This weapon has a steady rate of energy consumption but can be used for long periods. The weapon's behaviour makes it useful when used against larger single targets such as smaller boss enemies. The weapon can also be effective in shooting down large numbers of very soft targets.
Point-defence turrets 3 x 100 TW
Three anti-fighter turrets: one one either side of the bridge and one top turret, track enemies automatically, wherever they are on the screen, and fire a constant stream of laser machinegun fire towards them.
The bridge turrets are normally manned by Shiro and Hercules, but since X-Bomber's retrofit, all three turrets can operate automatically.
They are particularly useful for removing large numbers of fighters and intercepting missiles.
All three turrets combined can also have a useful attrition effect on smaller bosses.
Laser torpedoes 4 x 100 TW
This weapon fires a stream of electromagnetic napalm from each of the ship's four wing-tips. The weapon's continuous blasts reach the target faster than pulse lasers and the combined effect of all four streams creates more damage.
In the TV series, the four streams combine ahead of the ship into a single beam.
When I started work on the game there wasn't enough good reference material available. I didn't change it because X-Bomber's neck lasers would've performed too similar a function.
The grey special weapon (Converging laser torpedoes) and the X-Bomber Prototype player ship give you laser torpedoes that work much more closely to how they do in the show.
 2 x 250TW high-energy main lasers 
 - Mounted in the ship's neck, inflict substantial damage but consume energy rapidly
 - Power transfer from shields may be required for sustained fire.
 - Recommended for fast disposal of dangerous enemies
Special Weapon

Secondary Weapon

Augmentative X-Impulse
The X-Impulse was originally a single-use weapon, requiring a substantial recharge period between shots and draining X-Bomber's power down to 10% when fired.
The X-Impulse system has since been improved so that collecting a single X-Impulse power-up allows you to fire a reduced-power 1,100TW blast immediately.
When three X-Impulse power-ups are collected, these combine and allow you to fire a full-intensity 1,700TW blast.
Energy for three full-intensity blasts is the maximum that the system can store.
When a tenth X-Impulse power-up is collected, the three full X-Impulse charges are combined and allow you to fire the 8,125TW Super X-Impulse.
The Super X-Impulse blast has yet to undergo practical testing and it may have some interesting effects.

Auto Weapon

Rear-firing lasers 2 x 150 TW
The twin rear-firing lasers fire automatically when a threat is detected behind the ship and when weapons energy is at 20% of maximum, or above.
The rear lasers work on a slightly different principle to the laser torpedos and deliver slightly more damage per emitter for the same rate of energy consumption.

In early versions of the game, the rear lasers were a selectable weapon (#6), but the need to select them made them a lot less useful.

Dai-X Fighters

X-Bomber carries three advanced astrofighters that are stored in conformal recesses, or attached to hardpoints on its hull.
The fighters are boarded via a miniature internal monorail system that quickly transports the pilots from the bridge to their fighter craft.

To launch the Dai-X fighters, while flying X-Bomber, press and hold Select 1 (Shift) for 1 second.
X-Bomber will fly away and repair and re-arm itself in the background.
The default fighter is Braincom.  Pressing Select 1 (Shift) cycles through the Dai-X fighters in the following order, allowing you to select which one you want to fly:
	Braincom → Mainbody → Legtrax

Pressing Select 2 (Ctrl) resets the selection back to Braincom.

The remaining two fighters are controlled by the game and will form up on either side of you and help you to attack the enemy.
The unselected Dai-X fighters try to fly in loose formation with you and escort you while also trying to actively engage the enemy. 
The unselected Dai-X fighters cannot be damaged or destroyed, cannot consume power-ups and repair themselves slowly, ready for you to use again later.
Dai-X Fighter - Braincom Dai-X Fighter - Mainbody Dai-X Fighter - Legtrax
Braincom Mainbody Legtrax
Shields 133 200 167
Armour 100 167 133
Performance 70 60 65
Weapons Energy 667 667 667
Pilot Shiro Hagan Barry Hercules John Lee

Weapons

Rapid-fire pulse gun 100 → 133 → 175 TW
Each fighter is equipped with a main rapid-fire pulse gun that can destroy many soft targets in a single shot and consumes very little energy.
This main gun upgrades to fire more powerful and faster projectiles at higher rates of fire in chapters 2 and 3.
This mimics what is seen in Star Fleet, where the Dai-X fighter weapons fire green projectiles at the beginning of the show, yellow near the middle of the series, and red towards the end.
Special Weapon
Each fighter also has a unique special weapon that fires in tandem with the main pulse gun.
When a Dai-X fighter collects a special weapons power-up, the special weapons energy across all three fighters is topped up.
The Dai-X fighters also have a secondary weapon, which is reloaded or replenished by collecting the Ammunition power-up, which the game generates in place of the X-Impulse power-up when the Dai-X fighters are in-use.
Spacesuits
The projectiles fired by the Dai-X fighters' special weapons are colour-co-ordinated with the pilots' spacesuits.
Guided missiles
Each fighter has hardpoints for guided missiles that fire when the fighter's ammunition is full and a further ammunition power-up is collected.
Each excess power-up provides 20 missiles that are fired in pairs, once per second, and track two targets simultaneously.

Braincom

Braincom is small, extremely fast interceptor with a very small hit profile.  It is far more fragile than the other two Dai-X fighters and its shield cannot block incoming fire for long.

Its special weapon is a spread-gun that is effective in shooting down large numbers of smaller targets. It fires in a fan-out pattern either side of the ship in up to six directions.

Secondary Weapon - Cluster bombs 640 TJ
Braincom's secondary weapons are cluster bombs with 8 high-explosive submunitions each, which are carried on external hardpoints and released in pairs.
Braincom launches with two cluster bombs equipped and can carry a maximum of four.
Each Ammunition power-up adds 1 cluster bomb to Braincom's stores.

Look-In - Braincom fuel pod
In the Look-In comics, Braincom releases a fuel pod and detonates it with its rear-firing lasers.
You can see on Braincom that there are two fuel tanks or missiles on the underside (on the back of Dai-X's head).
It may have been one of these that was jettisoned.

I think this is where the idea of the cluster bombs came from.
The behaviour of the cluster bombs mimics the plasma bombs from the beautiful doujin shooter: Creature Jungle.

Mainbody

Mainbody is a large, powerful fighter-bomber. It is effective at destroying larger targets including capital ships but is relatively unmanoeuvrable. It can, however, withstand a fair amount of damage.
Its special weapon is an array of four forward-firing guns that fire in support of the main pulse gun and increase in output, velocity and rate of fire.

Secondary Weapon - Railguns 400 TJ
Mainbody's secondary weapons are a pair of railguns on the underside of the ship that fire simultaneously. These fire munitions composed of a cahelium/neutronium compound.
Mainbody launches equipped with four munitions (2 per railgun) and can carry a maximum of eight.
Each Ammunition powerup adds two munitions to the ship's stores.

Legtrax

Legtrax is a versatile, balanced and highly-dependable assault ship. 
In the Star Fleet TV series, it is seen to transform into a tracked ground fighting vehicle.

This ship is quite manoeuvrable but has a larger hit profile than the other Dai-X fighters. This compensated for in that Legtrax has an additional small-calibre pulse gun that fires intermittently.

Its special weapon is a series of smart-guns whose projectiles have a homing effect.

Secondary Weapon - Graviton blaster
Its secondary weapon is a miniaturised quantum blaster (based on the Go Nagai illustration in the X Bomber Encylopedia).
Legtrax launches, loaded with 4 energy cells: each sufficient for a single shot and can carry a maximum of 8 cells.
Each ammunition power-up adds 2 energy cells to the magazine.

Summary

The advantage of the Dai-X fighters is that you have three ships to engage the enemy with, rather than just one.
Even so, in the most difficult parts of the game, these small ships can quickly become overwhelmed and you may need to junction them into Dai-X or have them return to X-Bomber, as was the case in the series.
It can be quite fun replaying a mission just with the fighters, as this can provide a bit more of a challenge.

Dai-X

The three Dai-X Fighters transform and combine to form the Dai-X; a 70-metre-tall robot that can fly and operate in space or within a planet's atmosphere.

The Dai-X is well-balanced. It is equipped with a range of powerful weapons, is relatively agile and can withstand a substantial amount of damage.

To assemble Dai-X, launch the Dai-X Fighters by holding down Select 1 (Shift) for 1 second. Hold down Select 1 again to start the docking sequence. Your fighter will move automatically to the middle of the screen and Dai-X junction with the others.

To return to X-Bomber, press and hold Select 1 once more. The Dai-X Fighters will separate off from eachother. X-Bomber flies back onto the screen to recover the three fighters.

Dai-X Shields 500
Armour 400
Performance 60
Weapons Energy 2,000
Missile Capacity 4 mega missiles or 64 micro missiles
Crew Shiro Hagan
Barry Hercules
John Lee

Primary Weapons

Press Select 1 (Shift) to cycle through Dai-X's primary weapons.

Pulse Guns 200 266 350 TW
Dai-X has two pulse guns mounted on the right arm, which can destroy many soft targets with a single hit.
The weapon has a very minimal energy consumption and, as with the Dai-X fighters, this weapon is upgraded to fire slightly faster and more powerful yellow and red shots, rather than green in chapters 2 and 3.
Lasers 300 TW
Dai-X has two forward-firing lasers located in its eyes. These combined have substantially less power than X-Bomber's laser torpedoes or neck lasers, but can inflict significant damage to soft and moderate-sized targets.
Special Weapon

Secondary Weapons

Dai-X's weapons are more evenly split between primary and secondary categories than X-Bomber.
Press Select 2 (Ctrl) to cycle through Dai-X's secondary weapons.

Mega Missile
Referred to as the Dai-X torpedo in the show and mounted on Dai-X's left arm, this is an unguided, tactical thermonuclear missile.
The missile detonates on contact with an enemy, or when the missile nears the top of the screen, in order to avoid the effect of the missile being wasted: whichever happens soonest.
Firing a mega missile depletes 25% of Dai-X's missile stores.

In the show, Dai-X is only seen equipped with two missiles at any given time, but the game gives you a bit more flexibility about whether your missile stores are used up completely as mega missiles, micro missiles, or as a mixture of the two.
X-Tracer
The X-Tracer is a significantly scaled-down version of X-Bomber's X-Impulse system, mounted in Dai-X's X-shaped mask, that consumes 25% of Dai-X's weapons energy when fired.
The weapon fires a constant, blue beam with white tracers for 2 seconds, which is not blocked when it comes into contact with enemies, and shuts down after two seconds.
The triggered, the weapon immediately inflicts 100 units of damage to any nearby enemy.
Micro Missiles
Mounted in Dai-X chest are two eight-cell missile launchers, which rapidly release a salvo of guided missiles.
The missiles are not very powerful but they are very fast and home in well and the number of missiles thins out the enemy quickly.
Firing micro missiles consumes an eighth of Dai-X's missile stores.

This works in a very similar way to the very satisfying player missile attack in the beautiful shooter: Cloudphobia.
It is also more in-keeping with the diagrams of Dai-X in Fabulous Films and Starlog, where the chest cannons are shown to be missile launchers, which is a bit different to how they come across on the show.

Auto Weapons

Rear-firing rapid-fire pulse Gun 100 > 133 > 175
Legtrax's main gun, which is mounted on Dai-X's right foot doubles as a rear-firing gun.

Wingblade

WingBlade is a new, second-generation Dai-X fighter. It can serve as an augmentative weapon for Dai-X (if you collect the blue special weapon powerup while flying Dai-X). It can also undertake missions on its own.

The ship is highly manoeuvrable and equipped with a wide assortment of advanced weapons for its size. It is suitable for experienced pilots as it is limited in how much damage it can withstand.

Performance 60
Shields 250
Armour 200
Weapons energy 1000
Missile capacity 500
Pilot Rain

Primary Weapons

The three selectable primary weapons can be cycled by pressing Select 1 (Shift):

Rapid-fire pulse guns
WingBlade's dual pulse guns are similar to those found on the Dai-X and its constituent fighters. The new rapid-fire pulse guns were tested on Wingblade before being retrofitted to the Dai-X fighters.
The guns are upgraded in chapters 2 and 3 to fire faster, more powerful shots.
Spread-fire pulse guns
The pulse gun emitters rotate outwards by 11.25 degrees and fire at a slightly reduced rate, in a 4-way, fan-out pattern.
Hydra guided micro-missiles
WingBlade has internal storage capacity for 256 guided missiles. Missile capacity is increased in chapters 2 and 3 to 512 and 758 missiles, respectively, using under- and over-wing containers, mounted on external hard-points.
At the same time, the number of targets that the missile system can track doubles in chapter 2 and doubles again in chapter 3. The hydra missiles are reloaded in units of 64 by collecting the Ammunition power-up.

Auto Weapons

WingBlade has two additional primary weapons that fire without needing to be selected:

2 x Rear-firing pulse guns
WingBlade has dual rear-firing pulse guns that fire automatically when Fire 1 is pressed and a hazard is detected behind the ship.
2 x Wing-tip machineguns
Two gimbal-mounted, 40mm, 6-barrel rotary cannons can be deployed from their housings in the wingtips. The guns track targets automatically on either side of the ship and suppress or deter soft targets such as enemy missiles or fighters.
The machine guns fire whenever Fire 1 is held and ammunition is available. The weapons can be reloaded in 1,000 round units:sufficient for 20 seconds of constant fire, by collecting the Ammunition power-up.

Secondary Weapons

The three secondary weapons can be cycled by pressing Select 2 (Ctrl):

Dispersion cannon
The chapter 1 version of the dispersion cannon is based on the weapon of the same name from Fury3: firing a stream of shots in a repeating pattern.
The chapter 2 version mimics the spreadfire cannon from Descent, but in 2D form: firing a spread of three shots simultaneously in a rotating pattern.
In chapter 3, the weapon works similarly to the dispersion cannon from The Fury3 sequel: Hellbender, and fires a randomised spread of 5 shots.

The weapon has a fairly steady power drain in its later incarnations. Keep an eye on the weapons energy indicator during sustained fire.

Beam cannons
Wingblade is armed with two beam cannons that fire ahead of the ship.
The beams are cut off by enemy ships but destroy targets quickly. They have a fairly rapid energy drain, but are effective when used sparingly to supplement the primary weapons. The beam cannons are replaced in chapter 2 by the Delta Wave X-Impulse-style weapon, which requires brief pauses for cooldown during sustained fire. In chapter 3, the weapon can fire constantly. The delta wave can damage multiple targets at once and inflicts much greater damage per second that both beam cannons combined, while its power drain is only marginally greater than its predecessor. Homing lasers The ship has two banks of homing laser emitters: each with 4 firing ports. Initially, the homing lasers fire from one firing point on each bank, each time Fire 2 is pressed. In chapter 2, four homing lasers are fired for each press of fire 2, and in chapter 3, all eight emitters fire simultaneously. The number of targets that the homing lasers can track simultaneously increases as the game progresses.

The Skull

The Skull

The Skull is a mysterious space sailer that helps X-Bomber out of tight spots.
The ship is highly manoeuvrable and well-defended with good weapons coverage from a range of point defence turrets and other gun emplacements.
However, the ship is fragile in comparison to X-Bomber and its ability to inflict heavy damage on large targets is limited.

The ship can be rotated through 360', allowing it to use its side guns to fire a broadside up the screen, for example.
Press the power transfer keys (S and W) to rotate the ship clockwise and anti-clockwise respectively in 45' increments.
You can use the ship's rotation to track a target with your guns from anywhere on the screen.

In the game, The Skull has a further feature; it can transform into the more powerful Azuris space galleon.

The Skull Azuris
Performance 55 45
Shields 250 250
Armour 300 500
Weapons energy 1,875 3,125
Homing lasers 256 512
Crew Captain Halley
Lieutenant Ikeya (helmsman)
8 gunners + Kirara

Side Weapons

Press Select 1 (Shift) to cycle the Side Weapons, which are fired by pressing Fire 1 (Z).

6 x Dual pulse guns
The Skull has three dual weapon emplacements on each side that fire in a diverging pattern. The two guns in each of the six weapon emplacements fire in an alternating cycle, generating a witheringly high sustainable rate of fire.
This weapon is effective against crowds of larger targets and even bosses; especially if the target can be caught in the fire lane of more than one gun emplacement simultaneously.
8 x Point-defence guns
The Skull has four point defence guns on each side. These guns automatically track up to four targets simultaneously.
This gives The Skull even greater point-defence firepower than X-Bomber. However, the solution cannot be used for extended periods because the system drains The Skull's smaller energy reserve much more quickly.

Forward Weapons

Press Select 2 (Ctrl) to cycle the forward weapons. These weapons fire in concert with the side weapons when you hold Fire 1 (Z).

2 x Pulse laser cannons
The Skull has two high-calibre pulse guns that fire directly ahead of the ship in an alternating cycle.
These weapons are energy-efficient and create more damage than the side-mounted guns.
2 x Lightning cannons

Other Weapons

2 x Rear-firing lasers
The two rear-firing lasers that work very similarly to those on X-Bomber. They activate automatically when a hazard is detected behind the ship.
8 x Homing laser launchers
Press Fire 2 (X) to fire the homing laser launchers. The eight launchers fire simultaneously from a magazine of 256. The homing lasers are reloaded in increments of 64 by collecting the Ammunition power-up.

The Azuris

The Azuris

The Azuris is an upgraded mode of The Skull that can be accessed by holding Select 1 (Shift).
Azuris mode can be used for limited periods.
Azuris has considerably greater firepower and nearly twice as much armour.
However, the ship has no additional shielding and is the slowest player ship available.

Side Weapons

12 x Pulse laser cannons
The Azuris has six pulse lasers on each side that produce a total combined 1200 TW of firepower
They are very effective against a range of enemies including bosses.
2 x Beam cannons
The beam cannons fire from the wings, ahead of the ship. They inflict damage quickly on enemies but consume energy steadily.

Forward Weapons:

2 x Pulse laser cannon
2 x Plasma fusion cannons


X-Bomber Prototype

The Azuris

The X-Bomber Prototype player ship gives X-Bomber as it appeared in the original TV show.
In the TV series, the ship was launched in 2999 only 90% finished. The game is set in 3002 when the ship is fully-finished and upgraded.
The prototype X-Bomber's shield and armour strength are slightly reduced compared to the normal version, as is its weapons power. It is nonetheless a very powerful ship.
The functions of some of the weapons are altered so that alternative firing modes observed in the show feature in the game.

Crew: Shiro Hagan, Barry Hercules, John Lee, PPA

Performance: 50
Shields: 500, Armour: 400
Weapons energy: 2000, X-Impulse: 1

Primary Weapons

2 x Pulse laser turrets
Firing direction is changed by moving the ship while the fire button is released
Holding the fire button fixes the direction of fire and fires the weapon
Inflicts extensive damage with low power consumption
1 x Turret laser torpedo launcher
Locks onto an enemy automatically
3 x Heavy point-defence turrets
Lock onto three targets automatically
Fire high-velocity tracer
4 x Converging laser torpedo launchers
The four emitter streams, fired from the wingtips converge a few hundred metres ahead of the ship, forming a single, highly destructive beam that creates an explosion on impact and sets the target on fire.
The weapon lacks the coverage of standard mode but inflicts greater concentrated damage on individual targets.
2 x High-energy main lasers - Pulse-fire mode
Rather than firing a single, continuous beam, the emitters can fire individual compressed shots in rapid three-shot bursts.
These shots travel more slowly, allows you to lead a target while inflicting significant damage
Special Weapon System interlink
Most of X-Bomber's special weapons are compatible with the X-Bomber prototype
2 x Rear-firing lasers

Secondary Weapon

X-Impulse system: 1700
The prototype X-Bomber's X-Impulse system works more similarly to that in the show than the default one. In Star Fleet, the X-Impulse system can only be used very infrequently. It consumes roughly 90% of the ship's energy when fired and takes a significant amount of time to recharge. With the prototype X-Bomber, it fires a blast similar to that in the show, once three X-Impulse power-ups have been collected.
Only sufficient energy for a single X-Impulse blast can be stored. As with the default X-Bomber, the ship starts each level with one X-Impulse power-up, or carries over the power-ups from the previous mission: whichever is higher.

Dai-X

Dai-X has a few differences in its prototype form, which affect the operation of the three secondary weapons.
The missile launchers are loaded with different munition types and the x-tracer emitter behaves as it does earlier in the series.
Mega Missile	Incendiary spiral type
The mega missile, rather than releasing a nuclear fireball, releases two powerful submunitions that spiral outwards from the detonation point, leaving a trail of explosions behind them, which eventually encompasses the entire screen.
This mega missile type is quite impressive visually, but does less concentrated damage to bosses than the default. 
On the other hand, it can damage and destroy targets elsewhere on the screen. 
X-Tracer 	Type A
The x-tracer works in the same way as in episode 19, where it fires a yellow beam in a sequence of three shorter pulses.
The beam is a little narrower and can be blocked when an enemy flies into it.
It is a bit less powerful than the default x-tracer, but also consumes slightly less energy.
Micro Missiles	Dispersion rockets
The chest missile launchers work in a similar way to how you see them work in episode 25 ...
Both launchers fire a simultaneous spread of 16 rockets that fans out ahead of the Dai-X.

The dispersion shells are small, high-velocity, unguided rockets with high-explosive warheads that do significantly more damage on impact than the homing micro missiles.
They detonate either on impact or after travelling a short distance, limiting the range at which they can be used effectively.

One Missile power-up is sufficient to fire four salvos: twice as many as with the guided micro missiles. These rockets are substantially less complex and more compact than the micro missiles, occupying half as much space in the internal missile magazine.

This ammunition type is quite effective against bosses, if you can get close enough to get a decent proportion of the rockets to impact.
The downside is that it cannot affect targets outside the area in front of Dai-X.

Special Weapons Overview

This is Prof Hagan. I'm here to talk you through the special weapons that will be available to you during your missions.

Availability

There are two sets of 10 special weapons available: one for X-Bomber and one Dai-X. These weapons are introduced and upgraded gradually as the game progresses and are available, starting in the levels shown below:

Weapon Mk 1 Mk 2 Mk 3
Yellow, Blue, Orange 1 6 11
Green 2 7 12
Aqua 3 7 12
Red 4 8 12
Grey 5 8 13
Purple 9 13
Magenta 10 13
Lime 14
There are reports of astrofighter squadrons having encountered Alliance booby traps with counterfeit EDF IFF transponder attached, designed to make them look like special weapons containers.

In chapter 3, bogus Alliance special weapons power-ups start to appear.  If you pick one up, it will destroy the currently-installed special weapon on your ship.
It's hard to say exactly how these will appear on your HUD, so you need to be a bit careful which ones you collect.

Resource Management

Some special weapons consume their own ammunition, rather than consuming your ship's weapons energy.
These weapons are useful if you want to conserve your weapons energy, or divert it to your shields.
Alternatively, you can hold this type of special weapon in reserve, in case your weapons energy runs out.

Other special weapons draw power from X-Bomber or Dai-X's internal weapons energy, meaning that they never run out of their own ammo but can deprive your other weapons that they might need to fire, later on.

If a special weapon has its own ammunition, the amount provided is shown to the right of the heading.

X-Bomber Special Weapons

Yellow - ADEN Cannons 6,000,000

The ADEN cannon pod contains 4 x 90mm, 8-barrel rotary gauss cannons that fire depleted-uranium penetrators.
The cannons draw from a 6,000,000 round magazine, sufficient for nearly 70 seconds of continuous fire.
The weapon is good for shredding multiple targets at once, but is only marginally effective against larger targets.

Upgrades, comprising armour-piercing and hybrid high-explosive rounds, are planned to substantially increase effectiveness against larger enemies.

Ultimately, the ADEN cannons are oversized Gatling guns and require a short period to spin up before firing.

Blue - Guided Missiles 250 / 500 / 1000

The Star Arrow missile system tracks any threat identified by X-Bomber's main computer via infrared and LIDAR. Each fire-and-forget, high-agility missile has a powerful anti-ship warhead.

This weapon will be improved with a 500-missile magazine: firing through twin launchers, for a 50% increase in firing rate. The number of targets that can be tracked simultaneously will also be doubled.

Eventually, the Star Arrow missile system will be replaced with the Hydra micro-missile system, which is currently under development. These missiles are significantly smaller but inflict almost as much damage, allowing for a 1,000-missile magazine. This system can also track and even larger number of targets simultaneously.

Orange - Rotator spread gun E

This pulse weapon features an oscillating muzzle with four diverging barrels, which are offset at 45' from the forward direction of the ship. Two barrels fire at any given time to release a diverging, cyclical pattern of fire that covers a wide area.
The weapon also fires behind the ship between brief cool-down intervals.

Planned upgrades to the weapon include increases in firing rate and muzzle velocity as well as allowing simultaneous fire with other ship's weapons when the rotator spread gun is unselected.

Green - Plasma Cannons E

Plasma weapons were once reserved for use on space stations and planetary defence arrays, due to their high maintenance demands and power requirements. This miniaturised dual plasma cannon discharges over 5 shots per second per barrel. The weapon can blast through the toughest targets but has a steady energy consumption.
The weapon requires a short pause between volleys to prevent overheating

An improved, multi-stage helium-3 pulse cooling system is planned to allow indefinite periods of uninterrupted, sustained fire.

Aqua - Scalar Mass Driver E / 50 / 75

The scalar mass driver fires a 6-metre-long, cylindrical neutronium munition at multiples of lightspeed using scalar energy. 
The weapon has a 1 metre deviation over a range of 100,000 militons, making it the most accurate weapon in existence. 

Initially, the weapon needs to charge before firing, building up a full charge in 2 seconds.
The scalar energy charge is built up by drawing power from X-Bomber's internal weapons energy.
Hold 'Fire 1' (default: Z) to charge and then release Fire 1 to fire.

This weapon is an 80-metre long sniper rifle and is extremely effective against large enemies but extremely limited in its effectiveness against large numbers of small targets.

The SMD is being upgraded to add a magazine of 50 disposable scalar energy cells to propel the neutronium munitions, which will allow semi-automatic fire, rather than having to charge the weapon before firing.
Miniaturisation of the firing mechanism will allow the magazine size to be increased to accommodate 75 rounds.

The v1 version of the SMD doesn't run out of ammunition, to offset the fact that the weapon takes time to charge, and consumes the ship's weapons energy in order to do so.
The special weapon ammo counter is used to indicate the weapon's charge level.

In versions 2 and 3, once the 50 or 75 power cells respectively are depleted, the weapon is discarded.

Red - EM Napalm 3000 / 4500

EM Napalm Cannon
The electromagnetic napalm dispenser works on a similar principal to laser torpedoes but lacks a collimating mechanism, and therefore engulfs a wider area, dissipating after a shorter distance. 

The weapon has a variable forcefield projector, which receives instructions from X-Bomber's flight computer.
This in turn, manipulates the napalm stream, allowing it to snake and curve in accordance with X-Bomber's movement.

The EM napalm causes impacted targets to continue to disintegrate: even in space, inflicting further damage, even once they're no longer directly exposed to the napalm stream.

The EM napalm is a supercharged exotic matter plasma, stored in electromagnetic suspension.
The weapon is supplied with a 3,000 litre fuel supply; sufficient for 60 seconds of operation.

The fuel containment system is being miniaturised and reinforced to allow the weapon to be accompanied by a 4,500 litre supply; sufficient for 90 seconds of operation.

In the original, Japanese X Bomber TV series, the "laser torpedo" weapons are referred to as "EM napalm".
This, along with the napalm cannon from Descent3, which was a great addition to that game, made me want to make this weapon. The ability to steer the beam back-and-forth with the movement of the ship makes it fun to use.

Grey - Converging Laser Torpedoes

X-Bomber's original laser torpedo system was modified in order to comply with the EDF's non-aggression treaty and defence pact signed with the Simetran government.

Originally, the system fired four laser torpedo streams; one from each of X-Bomber's wingtip weapons pods, that converged ahead of the ship.
A single, powerful laser torpedo blast was projected forward from the point where the four beams converged that created a very large fireball when it impacted a target.   

This configuration was regarded by EDF's new allies as too devastating to be equipped during peacetime.
Therefore the weapon was modified to fire four individual, parallel streams directly ahead. This reduced the combined output of the weapon by over 20% but makes the weapon more effective against crowds of small targets since the weapon's field of fire is significantly wider.

Now that war with the Imperial Alliance has flared up again, the Simetra Defence Directorate were quick to agree to us reverting the system back to its original configuration.

This special weapon pack allows the laser torpedoes to be fired in their original mode.
The pack contains a microcomputer that re-installs the firmware and emitter control algorithms necessary to restore the weapon to its original configuration.
It also includes an additional power source that allows the system to be fired in converging mode for short periods of time without consuming any of the ship's internal weapons energy.

Once this power external reserve is depleted, the weapon will rapidly consume X-Bomber's weapons energy.
The external reserve replenishes quickly, however, when the weapon is either selected but not firing, or when another weapon is selected.

A new weapon designed to replace this system; the Positron Blaster, is currently in development.

Purple - Gunboys 6 / 8

These stationary sentry drones track targets and open fire on them with two laser machineguns that extend from behind slide-out side panels, whenever enemies are detected. 
The gunboys are heavily armoured for their size and hold a lethal surprise of 6 guided plasma missiles, which are released in the event that a gunboy is destroyed.

The gunboy container tube holds 6 units, which can be deployed anywhere by pressing 'Fire 1' (default: Z).

The gunboys will be upgraded with larger calibre pulse guns to make them more effective against larger targets.
An extended container is in production, which will contain 8 gunboy units.

Eventually, the gunboys' onboard power supplies will be augmented to power anti-ship pulse cannons.

Magenta - Laser Sabre

A rotating turret emits three diverging beams that damage and reflect off enemies. The beams cause greater damage the more times they reflect.

Lime - Booster

The Booster docks with X-Bomber and adds two phased plasma beam cannons as well as two 24-tube rocket pods with 1,000 rockets each to its arsenal. 
The beam cannons fire only when the Booster is selected and do not consume X-Bomber's energy.
The rocket pods fire regardless of whether the Booster is selected until the rockets are depleted.
When unselected, the Booster also charges X-Bomber's shields, weapons and X-Impulse systems and repairs the armour.

The Booster can be damaged and destroyed by enemy weapons fire. As the Booster sustains damage, its cannons become less effective.

Dai-X Fighter Special Weapons

The Dai-X Fighters' special weapons behave differently to those of X-Bomber and Dai-X.
Special weapons power-ups charge and upgrade the special weapon.
Therefore, the power-ups are colour-coded to the Dai-X Fighter instead; red for Braincom, green for Mainbody and blue for Legtrax.

The power-ups provide 20 units of charge in chapter 1, 30 units in chapter 2 and 45 units in chapter 3.
The fighters can hold a maximum of 1,000 units of charge and, the more charge is available, the more powerful the weapon becomes.
The trade-off is that, the higher the power level of the weapon, the higher the rate of depletion of the special weapons energy.

Each of the fighters' special weapons has 10 power levels, which are selected based on the amount of charge available, as follows:
	Charge		Power level  
	  1 -    99	 1
	100 -   199	 2
	900 - 1,000	10

The special weapon upgrade level is shared across all three Dai-X Fighters.  If Braincom has 500 units of charge, so do Mainbody and Legtrax.

Braincom - Spead-fire Weapons Pod

Braincom's special weapon consists of a pair of roughly knife-shaped weapons pods that attach on either side of the ship.
Each pod supplements Braincom's existing side-mounted, forward-firing, 30mm rapid-fire pulse guns with 3 further beam vulcans that fire in a diverging pattern.
This makes Braincom highly effective at shooting down large numbers of smaller enemies.

The first power level provides for only forward-firing guns to operate, while power levels 2-4 allow the first pair of side-firing vulcans to operate at increasing levels of output.
Levels 5-7 and 8-10 allow the second and third rows of guns to fire respectively.

Mean output: 256
  • Mainbody - Rapid-fire pulse guns 340 (mean)
    - Fire up to four streams of pulse shots directly ahead.
  • Legtrax - Rapid-fire Spread-gun 298 (mean)
    - Emits up to 5 diverging streams of fire at extremely high muzzle velocity.
    - Further upgrades provide an automated, turret-mounted pulse gun.
Braincom Mainbody Legtrax
1 forward 1-shot 1-shot
2 forward  
3 forward   2-shot
4 3-way 2-shot
5 3-way  
6 3-way   4-shot
7 5-way 3-shot
8 5-way  
9 5-way   4-shot + side
10 7-way 4-shot

Dai-X Special Weapons

Yellow - Wildfire Missiles

Two 16-tube shoulder-mounted launchers release a swarm of semi-guided missiles from a 500-round magazine.
The Wildfire missiles might not always go where planned but their high-explosive warheads make a definite impression when they get there.

Blue - WingBlade 60 / 75 / 90 seconds

WingBlade is an independent ship and an augmentative weapon for Dai-X. When unselected, it flies alongside the Dai-X, attacking the enemy independently.
When selected, it docks with Dai-X and fires a stream of lightning that curves and locks onto enemies that it touches.
This weapon is time-limited to 60 seconds - whether selected or unselected

Orange - Rapid-fire SpreadGun E

A back-pack-mounted weapon that projects two streams of pulse lasers ahead as well as four smaller calibre streams to either side at a high rate of fire.

Green - Plasma Grenades 1000 rounds

The plasma grenades are fired from two multi-barrel launchers on the shoulders.

The plasma grenades have no guidance or propulsion of their own.  That means a larger warhead and more shots per magazine.  The 1,000-round magazine lasts for a while.
The grenades can land practically anywhere, creating extensive damage over a wide area.
They leave behind a cloud of supercharged plasma that spreads out and damages nearby targets.
The limiting factor is its short effective range.

Aqua - DRAGOON Pack 6 / 12 / 24

The 'Six-Shooter' backpack stores and launches six 'remote weapon' attack drones; each with a beam cannon, that attack the enemy independently.

Red - Homing Lasers 3000, E

This backpack weapon is based on the smart laser technology featured on the Simetra Defence Directorate's Sylph gunships.  
It contains a large magazine of shielded nano-robots, each of which guides a plasma beam to its target.
The weapon cycles between three diverging firing ports on either side of the backpack.
When unselected, the weapon continues to fire at a lower rate.

The weapon consumes both its own ammunition, plus Dai-X's own weapons energy in order to fire.

Grey - Point Singularity Bomb

Purple - Quantum Blaster

The quantum blaster consists of two beam rifles that combine to launch a fireball of quantum particles that can be charged up for increased power.

Selected
The Dai-X combines the rifles together.  The weapon releases a quantum fireball with each press and release of the trigger.
The fireball can be charged exponentially by holding the trigger.
The fireball reaches maximum charge after 1.5 seconds, after which, an overload failsafe releases the blast automatically.
The blast can be released manually at any point prior to this by releasing the trigger.

The quantum blast travels through most small and medium targets.  If the blast hits a target that it cannot destroy in a single hit, the fireball detonates, creating a radiating sphere that spreads out, creating heavy damage to that target and those nearby.

Unselected
The Dai-X separates the blaster into its two constituent rifles and dual-wields them independently.
Each rifle fires charged particle beams in an alternating cycle.

Technical Data
The fireball inflicts between 62.5 and 562.5 units of damage on any target, with which it collides.
If the enemy's health exceeds the amount of damage that the fireball can inflict, the fireball explodes, creating an area of splash damage that expands to 200% of the fireball's radius.
The splash damage sphere dissipates after 1 second, inflicting gradually less-and-less damage as it expands.
The total damage that the detonation can cause to any individual target ranges from 312.5 to 2812.5.

Otherwise, the fireball destroys the enemy and keeps going.  This is useful if you can wait until smaller enemies are lined up behind each other.

When fired in unselected mode, the beam rifles output 300 units of damage per second.

Magenta - Classified

The arc sabre is a backpack-based weapon that locks onto up to four enemies at once and joins them up with a gluon plasma beam, resembling an arc of lightning.
The weapon is omnidirectional and requires no aiming.

Each target in the chain receives slightly less damage than the one before, as follows:  
	Target #	Damage per second
	1		200
	2		150
	3		100
	4		 50

If only one target is present, it receives the total 500 units of damage per second that would have been distributed out to multiple targets.

The weapon runs from its own internal power reserve; sufficient for 30 seconds of operation only.
However, this energy is only consumed when there is a target present for the weapon to engage.
If the trigger is held while no enemies are present, this consumes no resources.

This weapon is based on the weapon of the same name from the great vehicular shooter; Recoil and works in exactly the same way. One of the expansion packs for FEAR also contains a similar weapon, although I don't recall ever using it.

Lime - THOR - Tactical Heavy Ordnance Reinforcement

Works as a Booster for Dai-X, providing two phased plasma beam cannons as well as two guided missile launchers and two beam cannons. When not selected, THOR charges Dai-X's shields and weapons; reloads the missiles and repairs the armour.

Underwater Equipment

Underwater Environment - Mission 

11

RFUP: Rapid-fire Underwater Penetrator

Weapons Countermeasure
X-Bomber Z - RFUP - 3-directional (2000)
X - Hunter torpedoes (500)
C - Underwater laser x2
Auto-CIWS
Dai-X Z - UWP x4 (2000)
X - Cluster torpedoes (500)
C - UPG x2
Plasma flare dispenser
Braincom RFUP - 5-directional, wide dispersal ECM
Mainbody RFUP x4 Intercept
Legtrax RFUP - 4-directional, moderate dispersal Decoy drones

Characters

Shiro Hagan

Shiro Hagen

Shiro is X-Bomber's ace helmsman and captain, since her former Captain; Dr Benn was killed in action by the Alliance in 2999.
Shiro is a brave and impulsive leader with a burning hatred of the Imperial Alliance after they brainwashed and enslaved his instructor; Captain Carter.

Shiro handles all of X-Bomber's flight operations, performs power transfers and operates the X-Impulse superweapon.
He also pilots the Braincom astrofighter.

Barry Hercules

Barry Hercules

Hercules is X-Bomber's second in command and weapons specialist. He has a gung-ho approach, an endless supply of comebacks and is fiercely protective of his comrades.

Hercules reports on the status of X-Bomber's weapons systems and controls the ship's shields.
He pilots the Mainbody astrofighter.

John Lee

John Lee

John Lee is X-Bomber's communications and computer systems expert. Lee has a superhuman appetite and an uncanny 6th sense for danger.

Lee monitors the X-Bomber's systems and reports on the ship's condition. He also monitors sensors and communications and can notify you of available airstrikes.
Lee also pilots the Legtrax astrofighter.

PPA

PPA

PPA the 'Perfectly Programmed Android' has (unfortunately) survived all of X-Bomber's previous ordeals unscathed and acts as an overriding voice of caution and discipline to the other, more impulsive crewmembers.

PPA looks after X-Bomber when the Dai-X fighters launch and can report on the status of ongoing repairs.
PPA has been known to occasionally fall apart in a crisis and can to become unpredictable when the ship is exposed to powerful electro-magnetic fields.
He will also be sure to warn you when X-Bomber collides with something that it shouldn't.

Rain

Rain

Rain is the product of a secret supersoldier programme, run in the isolationist nation: Bereznik.
She managed to escape the programme and defected to the EDF in 3001 in order to fight the Alliance.

Her increased mental and physical capacities allow her to fly the advanced, second-generation Dai-X fighter: Wingblade for extended periods and carry out 'special assignments' behind enemy lines.
She likes to bend the rules but, underneath her harsh wit, has a mile-wide humanitarian streak.

Ishida Bridges

Rain

Ishida is an ace Simetra Defence Directorate astrofighter pilot and a veteran of Simetra's ongoing wars with the Imperial Alliance.

Ishida is part of the Defence Directorate's ultra-secretive Sylph squadron, which operates experimental Sylph stealth reconnaissance and attack ships and carry out suprise attacks against the Alliance.

Dr Benn Robinson

Dr Benn

Dr Benn, former captain of X-Bomber and commander of MoonBase was killed during a lethal raid on X-Bomber. The doctor's wisdom and principled command of X-Bomber has left a great impression on the three young crew members.

Lamia

Lamia

The mysterious Lamia: princess of a race of mystics proves to be the last remaining way of stopping the Alliance's total destruction of the Earth. Although Lamia vanishes after defeating the Alliance she is with the crew in spirit if not in person.

General Kyle

General Kyle

General Kyle, supreme commander of Earth Defence Forces provides a model of unwavering defiance against the devastating Imperial Alliance onslaught. His dauntless composure in dealing with the Alliance serves to reassure those around him, even in the most desperate of circumstances.

Professor Hagen

Professor Hagen

The father of Shiro Hagen and designer of the X-Bomber and Dai-X was presumed dead prior to being found by the crew of X-Bomber and returned to Earth where he returned to work completing his X-Project. The Professor's devastating weapons have continually saved the Earth from complete annihilation by the Alliance.


Allied Ships

EDF Astrofighters

McDonnell-Martin F-215 - Ocean Patroller
The F-215 is the mainstay interceptor for the Earth Defence Forces. It is extremely fast and manoeuvrable but has limited durability.
It is armed with a laser torpedo launcher in the nose and can be equipped with Vulcan cannon pods and/or guided missiles.

McDonnell-Martin F-218 - Mars Defender
The F-218 is a more balanced redesign of the F-215. It is a space superiority fighter; slightly slower but more durable and more heavily armed with two wingtip-mounted pulse cannons.
It can be equipped with a large number of guided missiles.

Sukoyan MU-129 - Pluto Defender
The MU-129 is a heavy bomber. Its manoeuvrability is average but it is highly durable and heavily armed with a laser torpedo launcher and two wingtip-mounted pulse cannons.
It can be equipped with a wide range of rockets as well as guided bombs as missiles.

Sukoyan MU-135 - Pluto SEW&C Sentry
The MU-135 is a long-range reconnaissance version of the MU-129, equipped with a powerful sensor dish.
It is armed with two wingtip-mounted pulse cannons and a rapid-fire pulse gun.
It can be equipped with a limited number of guided missiles.

EDF Prototypes

F-222 Viper, SU-237 Thunder, FMS-100 EDF/SDD Hybrid, MAC-15 Magnum, XXF-01 X-Fighter

SDD Astrofighters

SF-60, SA-80, SS-40, SI-40 Hunter, SV-70, ST-90

Impala Star Cruiser

The Impala Cruiser appears at random throughout the game to help you. It is a tough ally with a variety of weapons. It appears individually in Chapter 1 and in groups of 2 and 4 in Chapters 2 and 3 respectively.

The ship was designed by Brad Smith. I don't know anything about it other than what you can see in the render and that I really wanted to include it in the game.

Performance 60
Armour 500
Crew Unknown
Armament 4x Rapid-fire penetrator guns
4x Rocket launchers
16x Vertical-launch missile launchers
Rapid-fire pulse gun turret

Section X - Appendix

Information

Video 800x600 resolution, 16.7 million colours
Nominal Framerate 50 frames per second
Application Type Clickteam Fusion 2.5 32-bit DirectX 9 hardware-accelerated Windows executable
Sound Wave samples with lossless compression and 32-channel mixing
Music MP3 (replaceable)

Cut Content

The raising of X-Bomber's neck, to fire the neck lasers was originally activated via a separate button and would have impacted X-Bomber's performance and shield strength, but this made things a bit over-complicated.
Now, the ship lifts the neck automatically, when the neck lasers are selected and fired.

A similar mode change was available at one stage, where the Dai-X flew with its arms by its sides, which improved its performance somewhat, but prevented the firing of arm-mounted weapons.
XBSW 9. Anti-matter Torpedoes
The Antimatter Torpedoes are large, slow and easy to intercept. Should it reach its target however the weapon causes heavy damage to enemy capital ships. The torpedoes send out smaller bomblets upon detonation, seeking out surrounding targets. 

XBSW 10. Phase Plasma Cannon
The Phase plasma cannon eventually became the THOR booster.
The outcome is similar to the original idea.  The phase plasma beams would have fired in shorter, rectangular pulses that travelled through enemies.

It would have been the joint most powerful weapon, along with the anti-matter torpedoes

X-Bomber
	3-Way spread-fire pulse gun
	CIWS upgrade => laser torpedo turret
	Lock-on bomb
	Broadside spread lasers => The Skull

Dai-X
	3-Way spread-fire pulse gun - type B
	Rocket fists	
	SpreadFire XM Torpedoes => plasma grenades
	X-Wave
	Hunter-Killer Drones => enemy drones, dragoon pack
	Missile Blossom Packs => enemy weapon
	Pulse Cannon



Cut Ideas

Invincibility Shield as a power-up / storable weapon
This became redundant as soon as the blocking shield became a standard feature on player ships.

About Help

I wanted X-Bomber's help document to be like the game manuals of yore, where it would have a story, some world-building and a decent bit of information about characters and weapons, so that you would have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the game: even before you got it back home.
The cost of producing a printed manual and the availability of fan-made wikis and online guides and walkthroughs meant that such manuals went the same way as the physical media that carried the game data. With Half Life 2 in 2004, the game came with a single-page leaflet with just the default key bindings. Printed, published game guides went the same way.

I've tried to make this manual a bit like a strategy guide as well to help people get the most out of the game. It also contains a good amount of behind-the-scenes information, in case people wonder why certain things were made the way they were.

The Game

About
Downloads
Scores
Help

   Getting Started
      Prologue
      System Requirements
      Installation
      Troubleshooting
      Main Menu
      Briefing Screen

   Gameplay 
      Controls
      Instruments
      Objectives
      Hints
      Power-ups and Resources
      Additional Features
      Information

   X-Project Player Ships
      X-Project
      Dai-X System
      X-Bomber
      Dai-X Fighters
      Dai-X

   Additional Player Ships
      Wingblade
      The Skull
      The Azuris
      X-Bomber Prototype

   Special Weapons
      Special Weapons Overview
      X-Bomber Special Weapons
      Dai-X Fighter Special Weapons
      Dai-X Special Weapons

      Characters
      Allied Ships

Game Media

More
Rain Song
Releases
Screenshots - v084j
Screenshots - v084k
Screenshots - v084l
Sketches


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