Hyperspeed – Alien Combat Guide

This guide contains my strategies for fighting nearly all the aliens in Hyperspeed (with the exception of the adorable pupper dups that are known as the Halicot, among others which are listed in the guide).

Guide to Alien Combat Strategy

All credit goes to xmodius!

Prerequisite: Get a Joystick/Controller!

This game was made waaay back in the days when even sound was considered a luxury, so my hat goes off to the devs for making a game that you could (in theory) play with a keyboard alone, or even a mouse.

If you do, you must be a masochist.

Seriously, get a joystick or a controller (I use the former). Far easier for flying (and you will be flying the fighter craft a lot).

Acari

Never fought them (lord knows where they’ve been… pervy little boogers).

Spoiler:

Not a combat thing, but don’t open your capsule with these guys unless…

1. You don’t care about trading with them anymore (they’ll stop).
2. You want to get a peace treaty signed (better do it the moment after you open the capsule).

Arch Zevelut (Warning: Spoilers!)

Warning: These guys are invincible unless you put a neutron secondary in your main gun armament. The only way to get these is from a Zor (sacrificing stuff), Broodmaster (after eliminating all the regular Zevelut) or from the Collectors by:

1. Trading them your ship (very stupid).
2. Blow up their base (very easy).

After getting a neutron secondary, see below:

You’ll be within firing range of the base the moment you exit spindrive. Just like the regular Zevelut, every time your shot lands successfully, they will counter with a shot of their own, although with the Arch Zevelut, they launch their own kamikaze fighter which can do massive damage to your ship. So right after firing, launch a fighter to collide with it. This will destroy your fighter, BUT if you’re fast you can press “R” to recall the fighter without losing it. Repeat this process until they’re destroyed.

How do I get a neutron secondary ASAP?

For the Sassanid cluster, your best strategy (if you want the best ending) is to destroy the following in this order (with a prepped ship of course):

1. Collectors (for that neturon secondary).
2. Arch Zevelut (so the regular Zevelut will flee).

The only reason to trade your ship is for the single chance to trade for more than one neutron secondary from them. If your ship sucks and you don’t have a lot of spare components in the hold, go right ahead (but remember using your escape pod adds a solid 2 years onto your mission time).

Athdalde

They’re annoying, but you need only chase down their warships (helps to have upgraded engines) and fire your main gun at around the center of the ship. The closer you are, the harder it is them to dodge your shots, and the harder it is for their homing pods to hit you.

If the above strategy is too difficult, you can still chase them (to avoid being blasted too much) but also launch kamikazes and aim for their rear as they try to flee. Two per ship should do it.

Warning: Best to eliminate them early (unless you want a boon from the Monad) or you’ll find a lot of “Athdalde Husks” showing up in your cluster over time.

Automata

Small fighters and the 2-plate ships can be dispatched with your blaster turret (at a base they’ll usually fly right into range, giving you two free kills), or with a fighter of your own. For larger ships, fly at them and blast with the main gun, timing your shots to not hit their armor. Also periodically jump to the blaster turret to blow up the twin “pincer” shots they will launch at you.

Battleship & Star Base:

Launch a fighter and destroy the shield/armor plate generator (blue thing) on top of the ship, then engage with your main gun. If there’s an escorting battleship, destroy it first. The star base will launch small fighters once you’re in range, however if you press the attack, you’ll almost certainly destroy it before the fighters can do any damage (what little they even do will be recovered from scavenged components).

Balathide

One shot from the main gun or a kamikaze collision will destroy them. Don’t even bother trying to kill them when discovering their home (unless you want a free fuel refill), as they’re impossible to eliminate, unless…

Spoiler alert!

Find the Monad (assuming you’ve not eliminated any other alien species from the cluster) and ask it to eradicate them.

Blepharisma

Never fought him. Poor guy just wants a friend and he has good stuff for trade (things you will NEED to complete the game, hint hint). Yeah he’s a pirate, but not once has he ever attacked me in open space.

Broodmasters

For any ships (doesn’t matter the type really), launch a fighter to destroy their “red nose”. Let them come to you and simply engage them head-on with your main gun. For larger ships that have multiple spark launchers, you’ll need to switch quickly between your turret and main gun to destroy all the sparks before they land.

Star Base: The base is a joke. Just fly at it and blast it. Red parts can be destroyed with a fighter if you want, but your main gun will do that just fine as well. If there’s an escorting ship, don’t bother engaging it unless it’s directly in your flight path (otherwise you’ll just waste time). Fly at the base and blow it up.

Cicisbeo

Ask me to fight them for details. I never did in the main game and never cared. From what little I remember back when I tried the practice combat, they’re a joke.

Collectors

Much like the Zor or Didinium, it’s all about timing your shots. Fire when they’re still out of range but just before they’ll be in-range when they approach you (no need to move your ship). If timed right, the shot will land before their prism shield activates. They’ll retreat, then turn around and try again. Repeat above until destroyed.

Star Base: Programmers must’ve had an “off day” when they made this because you’re basically in range of the thing the moment you drop out of your spindrive, it poses no threat if you don’t move closer, and it also has no escorting ships. Aim for one of the two rotating “arms” and fire as they come within range of your gun, timing your shot for when the prism shield is about to go down. Time the shots right and you’ll blow the whole thing up without even moving. Your reward is a neutron secondary. Enjoy!

Dacians

These guys are a P.I.T.A! For the clusterboat, approach and fire the main gun till the spinning nuisance splits into smaller craft which you’ll then have to either chase down with a fighter, or wait until they come into range and blast with your turret.

Star Base: I like to just go in whole hog and eliminate it as fast as possible to avoid extended combat with the escorting ships. Approach the star base at full speed without warning. Once hostilities are opened (message prompt) turn to the nearest clusterboat in front and fire a shot or two to send it into evasive maneuvers. Next, launch a fighter and destroy the shield generator (blue area in the middle of the star base). After that, just pound away at it (main gun or kamikazes) until it’s destroyed. This will send smaller ships packing and you will avoid a lengthy (and costly) fight.

Didinium

Much like the Zor or Collectors, it’s all about timing your shots. Head towards them full speed. When they’re just touching the center ring of your radar, launch a kamikaze (for it to pull) or start firing your main gun. One of two possibilities here:

1. They’ll lock onto the kamikaze with their tractor beam, leaving you to blast them at will (two to four shots should do it).
2. They’ll take evasive action at the first shot of yours about to hit them. Press the attack and keep firing. You should destroy them before they get a chance to lock onto you.

For their base, use this method on the closest ship first (behind you). Approach them without engaging (will give you a head start on the other two), then repeat above steps. If your ship is lackluster, you can also launch several salvos of kamikaze fighters at the two ships behind you. This will buy you time to turn around and engage the next one without it locking onto you.

Fel

Too easy/too nice. Fight them in a combat simulator if you’re interested.

Halicot

You… you monster! How could you dare even think to harm such adorable pupper dups?!

Jot

Never fought them.

Lutin

Their rover is easily dispatched with a fighter or your turret (or a main gun shot if you’re good). Smaller escort fighters at a base should also be dispatched with the turret.

Star Base: Just approach and start firing. They’ll launch their own anti-proton ball at you, but your main gun’s rate of fire should easily out pace them. You’ll destroy their shots and damage their base. Stop moving before colliding with the base and keep firing till you see the kaboom.

Monad (Warning: Spoilers!)

Combat Tactics:

No! Just… no!

Spoiler alert:

This thing is God (or whatever you believe in as being the almighty deity) in the game. You cannot fight it (at best you can fight those stupid green rectangle ships at the beginning of the game), and if you’ve eliminated any alien species in the cluster, for the love of humanity do not talk to it!

However, if you have been a good little space-person and talk to the Monad prior to having committed any sort of genocide or engaged in combat first (that means you attacking them, not them attacking you), it will notice that you have been “wronged” by some alien species and will give you the chance to eliminate one species from the cluster. It doesn’t matter if that species never harmed you (it doesn’t fact-check). Great way to get rid of the Balathide (hint hint). After doing this, never visit it again or you will be punished.

It appears in the Cerberus and Ragnarok clusters.

Moon Chi

Never fought them. Ask, and I’ll post a strategy, though based on what I’ve seen, you would almost certainly blow them all up with a fighter or your turret.

Rill

Dang space rhinos!

These guys are irritating as they’ll just ram your ship repeatedly. Fire as they’re closing in and they won’t be able to dodge. You could use missiles when dealing with a group, but personally I find it best to just close in on the closest one before they know what’s happening and waste it, then turn around and deal with the rest.

Engaging them with a stock trailblazer (non upgraded engines) is NOT recommended.

Stentor

They duplicate themselves over and over. Whether fighting them mid-travel, or at the base, just launch a fighter and blast away at the red ships. You should have no problem destroying both red ships with a single fighter. All other ships (yellow, green?, never did let them duplicate much) will disappear when the red is destroyed.

Spoiler alert:

In the Hyades cluster, you can trade your own star base to them to have your ship upgraded. This is the only way to have a truly upgraded and powerful ship in what is the easiest cluster in the game. I’ve done this just for the extra challenge of basically having no refills on:

• Mining colonies (after getting resources to trade of course).
• Missile chassis.
• Fuel (hope you have plenty of spare components to barter with at the neighborhood alien gas station).
• Data Casings (better trade like a bad ass).

Frankly it’s not worth doing unless you just feel like piddling around with a super-powered ship (that you can get in any other cluster).

Thoth

Never fought them.

Trajan

I never engaged the original colony (and thus the star base), but would often blow away the new colony to “make room” for more new colonists (hee hee). The turret on your ship should be more than sufficient for blasting them. A fighter works too but it’s hard to keep track of them when they swarm your trailblazer.

Venge

Never fought them. Kinda reminded me of a rather hot-headed cousin of mine, except his horns are longer.

Vitagen

Never fought them.

Vorc

I’ve never seen these guys mid-flight; always at a base.

For starters if you do this right you will never even have to move your ship (other than swivel), so ease off that throttle!

Fighters will always fly directly at your ship and in range (even before combat starts), so blast them with your main gun and turret to quickly dispatch them.

The escorting Vorc Basic (big green triangular ship) is dangerous because of its tractor beam tech (like the Didinium). Same strategy as far as shooting it just before it gets into range, forcing it to dodge. Keep firing and you’ll destroy it.

Star Base: Do not approach this thing or it’ll lock on with a tractor beam and make you miserable. First launch a fighter and take out the shield generator (blue oval) on the top of the base. Dodge the small white anti-spacecraft projectiles as you close in. Once this is done, recall your fighter then launch kamikazes (to play it safe, just launch one at a time and pilot them). Aim for the edge of the spinning base and you’ll avoid all the anti-spacecraft projectiles. It will take 5 kamikazes to destroy the base.

Far as I know, these guys are smart in that they won’t lock their tractor beam on anything smaller than your ship, so this strategy is the ONLY way (I know of) to take them down. Stinks because it will cost you half your missile chassis as kamikazes to do it.

Vorticella

These guys are just plain sad.

When encountering them mid-flight, launch a fighter to do a sweep on two of the four ships (you should be able to destroy two in one run). Recall the ship, then fire your main gun at the closest one (they won’t even dodge, poor things). Finish off the final ship with another fighter or your turret.

Star Base: Launch a fighter to do one sweep on the two smaller ships. Recall it, then fly at the two Bigships approaching you. Fire away with the main gun (you’ll likely blow up their attacking projectiles too) until they drop. If they’re both firing at once, you can switch to your turret to shoot their projectiles down.

Zevelut (Warning: Spoilers!)

These lizards are annoying, but easily dispatched if you have destroyed all the Automata first. Failure to do so and you’ll make a fool of yourself even if you beat them as they’ll be completely rebuilt right after you’re done blowing them up.

Destroy the escorting ships. Just chase it down and blast it, then approach the base. Stop moving when just in range and fire the main gun. Every time your shot lands successfully, they will counter with a shot of their own. So right after firing, launch a fighter to collide with their counter shot. This will destroy your fighter, but if you’re fast you can press “R” to recall the fighter without losing it. Repeat this process until they’re destroyed.

Spoiler

If you destroy the Arch Zevelut first (much faster in my opinion), you can then go to every Zevelut base (yes you have to go to all of them) and talk to them. They will tremble in fear at your might and you can force them to surrender, making the area become abandoned without a fight!

Be warned, doing this means you won’t get any fuel if you just blew them up, so plan accordingly.

Zor

Just like the Didinium and Collectors, it’s all about timing. While spinning, they’re invulnerable. It’s only when they show their eyes that they can be hurt. Fire your shot when they’re just out of range (coming towards you). If timed right, the shot will hit them. Sometimes you can even get two shots off this way.

Star Base: Same as above, but you’ll need to be fast to switch to your turret to shoot down their projectiles. Focus on one at a time.