Battle for Naboo - Platinum Medals

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Re: Battle for Naboo - Platinum Medals

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Fri Aug 31, 2018 3:59 am

A huge difference between Rogue Squadron and Battle for Naboo is the accuracy required to earn Gold/Platinum.
In Battle for Naboo you usually need 70%-80% accuracy to get the Platinum, and though it seems a daunting requirement, it can be done provided that you don’t waste ammo on purpose (well, 89% accuracy in Mission #7: Glacial Grave is actually a little excessive).

In Rogue Squadron 40%-50% accuracy is enough to earn the Gold medal in every mission, except for the 2 Y-Wing missions, Battle above Taloraan and The Death Star Trench Run.
This doesn’t mean achieving that accuracy in Rogue Squadron is easy, because TIE Interceptors are a little smarter than Vulture droid fighters, the targeting system is slightly different and there are less objects you can hit to increase your accuracy.

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Post by Nairb » Fri Aug 31, 2018 3:57 pm

After playing for plats for so long, even back when BfN was released, I have no gauge to say which game has harder gold medals overall. But after starting a new BfN file and getting all plats going back to earn all golds in RS is very easy. RS golds are most certainly not equal to BfN plats. I found that the time and accuracy requirements in RS are usually pretty lenient and the only stats that are tougher are kills and saves and even then very attainable after a few tries.

I will say that beating RS is harder than beating BfN though. The missile launchers and ultra-aggressive-homing-TIE Interceptors are annoying and I'm personally glad they didn't include those in BfN. There are missile launchers in BfN but they are toned down.

Rescue on Kessel can be tricky because you need to kill every enemy including some slightly out of the way transports at the beginning. I think most people struggle with Prisons of Kessel more. When I went back to Prisons I forgot to wait to destroy the bunkers until the stormtroopers came out of them and was short on kills.

The aiming mechanics are different between the games. BfN has much sticker auto aim which is great for ground missions but not so much for flying missions. When in the air shooting at an enemy moving at an angle is very tough because your ship will auto aim you and prevent you from leading the target like you could in RS. And that bugs me since BfN has a larger draw distance but you can't take advantage of it except when shooting stationary objects.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:28 am

I have the impression that Rogue Squadron and Battle for Naboo were designed with 2 different visions of difficulty.
In both games missions become harder to complete as you progress, but for different reasons: in Battle for Naboo Mission #15: Battle for Naboo is surely more complex than Mission #1: Escape from Theed because of the simple quantity and mobility of enemies, whereas in Rogue Squadron Mission #15: Moff Seerdon’s Revenge is much harder than Mission #1: Ambush at Mos Eisley because of the missile launchers and those ultra-aggressive-homing-TIE Interceptors (have you ever tried X-Wing Alliance at Hard level?) which will almost surely make you lose a craft.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:30 am

As for earning Gold medals, my feeling is that difficulty works in a completely different way: in Rogue Squadron going for Gold gets harder as you progress through the game, whereas in Battle for Naboo this logic doesn’t apply.
I mean earning Gold in Ambush at Mos Eisley is a piece of cake, but going for Gold in Moff Seerdon’s Revenge you will have a hard time. The strange thing is that in the following mission, Battle of Calamari, earning Gold is simpler.
In Battle for Naboo the increasingly harder Gold medal logic doesn’t work, so an experienced pilot coming from the X-Wing series might get the Gold in Mission #15: Battle for Naboo the first time he plays it (you are also allowed to lose a craft and still succeed) and struggle to earn the Gold in Mission #1: Escape from Theed because of time requirement.

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Post by Epsilon Eridani » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:56 am

Speaking about Platinum medals, in most missions where you fly the N-1 starfighter it’s impossible to earn Platinum without cheating.
Cheating=using Cluster Homing Proton Torpedoes
In Rogue Squadron the V-wing is loaded with a similar weapon, but it never recharges its shields (hope I’m wrong), so in a certain way the V-wing in Rogue Squadron is balanced and the fully upgraded N-1 starfighter in Battle for Naboo is not.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:16 pm

There is also another factor to consider when flying the V-wing to earn a Gold medal: the accuracy loss due to rapid fire mode.
I can usually handle this problem by sparing my cluster missiles for TIEs, and using rapid lasers only against bunkers and those hard-to-destroy AT-STs.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:19 pm

Nairb wrote:
Fri Aug 31, 2018 3:57 pm

Rescue on Kessel can be tricky because you need to kill every enemy including some slightly out of the way transports at the beginning.
And your X-Wing is not loaded with Proton Torpedoes.
And you cannot select a different craft.
And you can’t afford to lose more than 1 wing-mate.

Definitely 1 of the 5 hardest Gold medals in Rogue Squadron.

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Post by Epsilon Eridani » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:49 pm

If Rescue on Kessel is one of the hardest Golds, what to say about Escape from Fest?
You are locked to fly a T-47 speeder, no other craft is allowed.
Time is extremely short and you absolutely need to take down all those 3 AT-ATs.
All friendly AT-PTs must complete their mission to satisfy the friendly saves requirement, and they obviously get attacked while you are busy with the AT-ATs.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:54 pm

Mission #12: Escape from Fest is by far the hardest Silver medal in Rogue Squadron for the reasons you’ve just listed, but my top 5 hardest Golds were:
5) Mission #9: Rescue on Kessel
4) Mission #12: Escape from Fest
3) Mission #11: Battle above Taloraan
2) Mission #15: Moff Seerdon’s Revenge
1) Mission #18: The Death Star Trench Run

However, in the end difficulty depends on playstyle and experience with similar games.

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Post by Nairb » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:58 pm

Phoenix Leader wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:54 pm
Mission #12: Escape from Fest is by far the hardest Silver medal in Rogue Squadron for the reasons you’ve just listed, but my top 5 hardest Golds were:
5) Mission #9: Rescue on Kessel
4) Mission #12: Escape from Fest
3) Mission #11: Battle above Taloraan
2) Mission #15: Moff Seerdon’s Revenge
1) Mission #18: The Death Star Trench Run

However, in the end difficulty depends on playstyle and experience with similar games.
Fest, Taloraan, and Seedon are all tough RS golds but why do you think Death Star Trench is hard? You need to close your S foils in this level but that doesn't make it more difficult in my opinion.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:26 am

Even if you are keeping your s-foils closed, there are simply too many ways you can die in Mission #18: The Death Star Trench Run.
The trench is full of turbo laser turrets and TIE fighters (a quantity never seen in any missions before), and you also risk colliding with the surface when turning.
The biggest problem, however, is that when a TIE fighter or a turret takes you down, you lose control of your craft just like in all the previous missions, so you risk going away from the trench and getting the “Mission Failed” message on the Alliance insignia.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:43 am

You could argue my reasons lead to conclude Mission #18: The Death Star Trench Run is simply the hardest mission to complete, not the hardest Gold medal to earn, but this mission also has the third highest enemies destroyed/time ratio (0,182 kills/s) after Mission #11: Battle above Taloraan (0,214 kills/s) and Mission #7: Imperial Construction Yards (0,205 kills/s).
Even if 0,182 kills/s is nothing compared to that 0,50 kills/s needed to earn the Platinum medal in Escape from Theed, keep in mind that you cannot shoot if your s-foils are closed, and you need at least 0,5 seconds to open or close your s-foils.

And you cannot select a craft different from the X-Wing: N-1 starfighter and the V-Wing are not allowed.
And an outstanding 70% accuracy is required to earn the Gold medal in Mission #18: The Death Star Trench Run.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Thu May 07, 2020 5:30 pm

Phoenix Leader wrote:
Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:57 pm
My PB is 10 Platinum medals, 6 Gold medals and 1 Silver medal.
The mission where I got no more than the silver medal is Mission #8: The Andrevea River.
The problem I have in this mission is that I always lose a gunboat.
My gunboat never recharges its shields in Battle for Naboo, and the droid bombers keep bombing me in both the fighting areas.
No hope to save the first gunboat.
UPDATE
I played this old game again last month, and I have upgraded my PB to 12 Platinum medals and 6 Gold medals.
I earned access to "The Dark Side" Secret Level 3 (Mission 18) by obtaining at least a Gold in every mission.
And I also got a Platinum at it.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Thu May 07, 2020 6:56 pm

The only missions where I still "only" have the Gold medal are the following ones:
Mission 1: Escape from Theed (Nairb said this is the hardest platinum to earn)
Mission 2: Neimoidian Plunder (the problem is that there are no references)
Mission 7: Glacial Grave (the accuracy required here is insane)
Mission 8: The Andrevea River (I've been stuck at silver for a long time)
Mission 14: Panaka's Diversion
Secret Level 2 (Mission 17): Coruscant Encounter

Did any pilot (other than Nairb) get a better record?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu May 07, 2020 7:09 pm

Was this different to Starfighter?
I'm not sure if I have it here somewhere or not. Vague memories. Did it come out on PC?
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Post by evilmark » Thu May 07, 2020 11:23 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Thu May 07, 2020 7:09 pm
Was this different to Starfighter?
I'm not sure if I have it here somewhere or not. Vague memories. Did it come out on PC?
Different game from Starfighter, Battle for Naboo played a lot like the first Rogue Squadron (was made by the same devs). Wikipedia says it had a PC release but I only played it on Nintendo64.

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Thu May 07, 2020 11:41 pm

Battle for Naboo got a PC release by Factor 5 dated 2001, but it offered very few graphics improvement over Rogue Squadron, a game dated 1998.
That's why Battle for Naboo did not get excellent reviews, so I doubt we will see a GOG release. It can still be played on 32-bit systems though.

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Post by Ace Antilles » Thu May 07, 2020 11:51 pm

Phoenix Leader wrote:
Thu May 07, 2020 11:41 pm
Battle for Naboo got a PC release by Factor 5 dated 2001, but it offered very few graphics improvement over Rogue Squadron, a game dated 1998.
That's why Battle for Naboo did not get excellent reviews, so I doubt we will see a GOG release. It can still be played on 32-bit systems though.
I'm sure it's here somewhere but it's just out of sight buried behind stuff lol
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Post by Mark_Farlander » Thu May 07, 2020 11:57 pm

Phoenix Leader wrote:
Thu May 07, 2020 6:56 pm
The only missions where I still "only" have the Gold medal are the following ones:
Mission 1: Escape from Theed (Nairb said this is the hardest platinum to earn)
Mission 2: Neimoidian Plunder (the problem is that there are no references)
Mission 7: Glacial Grave (the accuracy required here is insane)
Mission 8: The Andrevea River (I've been stuck at silver for a long time)
Mission 14: Panaka's Diversion
Secret Level 2 (Mission 17): Coruscant Encounter
Phoenix, I suggest you take a look at this: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/n64/91423 ... faqs/67082
The Platinum Medal Guide was updated a few months ago. Hope you will find more info on how to get the platinum in those 6 missions.
I don't judge tactics. The Battle is the best and only Judge.

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Post by Nairb » Fri May 08, 2020 2:45 am

Looks like I'm still subbed to this topic. Here's some quick answers to the various questions from earlier:

There's probably around 50 people that I know of with all Platinum medals, so it's not a super exclusive group. And I'm sure there's hundreds of others with all Plats.

If you want try for the remaining 6 Plats, here's the order I'd do them in:
1- Coruscant Encounter. By far the easiest one listed. When you start, brake for second and pause before firing your first cluster at Maul. If you shoot too soon sometimes your missiles will spin off course.
2- Andrevea River. The best tip for this one is to take your time, don't speed run it. When you see an enemy, let off the gas and go normal speed. You'll be on the outside of their range and be more accurate. Time yourself in the mission and use the remaining seconds at the end to shoot a building to increase your accuracy. Accuracy is the hardest requirement here.
3- Glacial Grave. Similar to Andrevea River in that you have more than enough time but the accuracy requirement is very high. Make your shots and clusters count and then shoot at the hangar at the end for like a minute in the gunboat to increase your accuracy.
4- Neimoidian Plunder. This is a very balanced medal. No single requirement is too hard (assuming you can get all the saves regularly) but there are no easy requirements here either. You really just need to know the level and the route you want to take.
5- Panaka's Diversion. This is a warm up for Escape from Theed. Once you earn a Plat on this, move right into Theed. This is still one of the harder medals though.
6- Escape from Theed. This is the hardest Plat. Use the Gian Speeder.

The game did come out on PC, but never digitally. You'll need the disc to play it. That's what I've been playing on. With a couple file tweaks, you can play it on a new PC too with no issue. I can post the link with the instructions if you'd like. I never played Starfighter, and I'd guess that Battle for Naboo might be a little more arcadey than Starfighter. The negativity from the PC release was that the game was literally an N64 port with no improvements. The game looks great by N64 standards, but not as much by 2001 PC standards. Of course, graphics don't mean much when playing a game this old anymore. It's all about enjoyment and nostalgia.

I worked with SubSane to update the Platinum Medal Guide last year. That's actually how I found this site. I was researching everything I could for Battle for Naboo and this topic popped up in a search, and I dropped by. The guide got a nice overhaul with all the gaps getting filled and new tips being added. I hope it helps!

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Fri May 08, 2020 10:41 am

Nairb wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:45 am

1- Coruscant Encounter. By far the easiest one listed. When you start, brake for second and pause before firing your first cluster at Maul. If you shoot too soon sometimes your missiles will spin off course.
Yes, that did the job. Still, even if I slow down and wait a second, there are times when I cannot reach the accuracy required.
I would say it only works 40% of the times. And the other 60% I risk spending 24 seconds to complete the mission instead of 23.


Nairb wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:45 am

2- Andrevea River. The best tip for this one is to take your time, don't speed run it. When you see an enemy, let off the gas and go normal speed. You'll be on the outside of their range and be more accurate. Time yourself in the mission and use the remaining seconds at the end to shoot a building to increase your accuracy. Accuracy is the hardest requirement here.
I've just watched your video linked in the guide for this mission and... well, I didn't know even mere rocks counted to increase the accuracy.
I understand platforms and buildings, but rocks? OK, this definitely "rocks".

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Post by Nairb » Fri May 08, 2020 2:47 pm

Phoenix Leader wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 10:41 am
Nairb wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 2:45 am

1- Coruscant Encounter. By far the easiest one listed. When you start, brake for second and pause before firing your first cluster at Maul. If you shoot too soon sometimes your missiles will spin off course.
Yes, that did the job. Still, even if I slow down and wait a second, there are times when I cannot reach the accuracy required.
I would say it only works 40% of the times. And the other 60% I risk spending 24 seconds to complete the mission instead of 23.
Coruscant Encounter is the most luck based Plat medal. It feels like the game sometimes just assigns your accuracy based on how it's feeling and how fast you were. If you were quick, you'll get a bad accuracy. If you were slow, you'll get a great accuracy. Getting Plat accuracy on this mission a little below half the time seems about right.

Most 3D objects will increase accuracy: Trees, statues, bridges, buildings, etc. Anything that emits a small explosion when you shoot it will help accuracy. If you see sparks when shooting at an object, that will hurt your accuracy.

Here's the link to run the game on PC. I should have just posted it last time. Note, occasionally Malwarebytes picks up a sketchy ad and will block that specific section, so make sure your device is protected before clicking. I saved down the text and can post that instead if anyone would prefer, but I'm not sure how well it will read with the formats and layout.
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Star_Wars ... _for_Naboo

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Post by Tony Knightcrawler » Fri May 08, 2020 9:25 pm

Well this is an unexpected blast from the past. Hey, Nairb.

Phoenix Leader, yes there is someone else on this board with all Platinum Medals. Also, I am pretty sure Factor 5 posted the Platinum Medal requirements on their website a few months after we earned them all. There was also a password they posted for unlocking the Platinum Medal rewards, probably because they weren't sure anyone would ever do it.

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Post by Nairb » Sat May 09, 2020 2:03 am

Whoa, Knightcrawler! Hey! I didn't think I'd ever come across another Plat Hunter in the wild. Do you visit GameFAQs at all anymore? You should stop by the BFN N64 board and say hi. SubSane is still around and is doing a lot with Simpsons video games and there's a couple other people that pop in every once in a while.

For you X-Wing Alliance guys, Knightcrawler is one of the original Plat Hunters. He was the very first person to earn the Battle for Naboo (mission) and Trade Federation Secrets Platinum medals. An awesome achievement since at that time I don't think anyone even knew Platinum medals existed outside of The Dark Side and there were no known requirements or guidelines back then.

Just to catch you up a bit, snooozer never finished the Platinum Medal Guide, but GauRocks saved all the old topics with the walkthroughs and tips. SubSane compiled all the good stuff from those files and posted the FAQ in 2013. In 2018, after like 10 years of not playing BFN or any of the Rogue Squadron games, I picked BFN back up and revisited all the old info. That's how I ended up here actually. Near the end of 2019, we posted an updated Platinum Medal Guide. I've also been making some BFN videos and putting them on YouTube (sorry for the self plug) since it's a very under served game, especially compared to Rogue Squadron.

I found another pocket of active Rogue Squadron players too. The Rogue Squadron group at speedrun.com has a discord server. They talk mostly about RS1 but have channels for the other two Rogue Squadron games as well as for Battle for Naboo. Here's the link if anyone wants to join:
https://discord.gg/0ob95hW93tM5m5St

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Post by Phoenix Leader » Sat May 09, 2020 6:01 am

Nairb wrote:
Sat May 09, 2020 2:03 am

For you X-Wing Alliance guys, Knightcrawler is one of the original Plat Hunters. He was the very first person to earn the Battle for Naboo (mission) and Trade Federation Secrets Platinum medals. An awesome achievement since at that time I don't think anyone even knew Platinum medals existed outside of The Dark Side and there were no known requirements or guidelines back then.
Mission 15: Battle for Naboo is my favorite mission because it's the most X-Wing Alliance-like. On the other hand 4 out of 5 missions where I still only have the Gold are ground missions.
I've just found the screenshot of my platinum medal earned in Mission 15: Battle for Naboo and I compared my stats with the required ones reported on Factor 5 website.
Link: http://www.factor5.com/secrets_battle_for_naboo.shtml
Time 3:22 (required 3:51)
Kills 52 (required 41)
Accuracy 96% (required 78%)

That outstanding 96% accuracy was simply achieved by shooting at the Lucrehulk-class Battleship Vuutun Palaa every time possible, no matter the component hit.
I've also taken a look at your video (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3WVXRA ... e=youtu.be) and found that you completed the mission in 2:33.
The difference is that I destroyed the shield generator by firing from the inside of the Vuutun Palaa whereas you hit it from the distance.
I needed to take down the internal 3 turrets on the starboard side of the Vuutun Palaa, then I could not brake for too long because I was followed by droid fighters.
So I took evasive maneuvers just like in X-Wing Alliance while continuing firing at the Vuutun Palaa to boost my accuracy.
In the end more accuracy at the expense of completion time.

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