Skies of Arcadia Hydra Battle Tactics V1.02 By Bennettman AKA Ian Bennett >B-) ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS ======== * contents * so far * do i have the most recent version? * introduction * official faq websites * hydra tactics guide >> MOVES >> ENEMY TACTICS >> SO WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN THEN? >> MOVES TO MAKE * thanks & contacts * copyright information * extra information * epilogue ________________________________________________________________________ SO FAR: ======= V1.01 (8/5/2001) - "Hydra Moves"; "Enemy Tactics" to Round 6. Preliminary version. V1.02 (9/5/2001) - "Enemy Tactics" to Round 11; "What Does It All Mean Then?"; "Moves To Make" to Round 6. First published version. ________________________________________________________________________ DO I HAVE THE MOST RECENT VERSION? ================================== If you got this FAQ off my website at http://sonicsecretsuk.cjb.net, then you should have the latest version, unless of course I've finished one and not posted it yet :) If you got it off GameFAQs at www.gamefaqs.com, it'll be about 4-5 hours behind. Neoseeker at www.neoseeker.com will be a couple of days behind. Any other sites, official or no, I have no idea, though I usually send them the latest version at the same time as I send it to GameFAQs and post it on my own site. _______________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION ============ Of all the battles in Skies of Arcadia, the Ship Battle against Galcian's Hydra has to be one of the toughest. It can last for ages, especially if you haven't used any Captain's Stripes (like me :D). Took me half an hour the first time I did it, after blowing it a load of times :). And while doing it I started looking at what it did, wasted a couple of hours jotting stuff down, and then used that information to beat it. This guide will show the most likely moves the Hydra will make during the battle (there are variants, but it mainly does the same things), and also advise you on what to do during the battle. It'll be pretty basic though, as most ship setups are different, crew members, cannons and the like. I hope you have Urala though, or it'll take a while to power up the 'ole spirit! Hopefully this FAQ will eventually have listings for most of the Ship Battles in the game. This will _not_ explain the basics to Ship Battles, it is for people that are fairly well versed in them. Anyway, I'll leave that to the Ship Battle FAQ :) The first section will list the moves the Hydra can perform and describe what they do. In the second section, the tactics the Hydra should employ are listed round by round, as well as the order that you and the Hydra should fight (unless you use POW) and the colour coding you'll see on the screen. This will be G for Green, Y for Yellow, R for Red, C for Chance and SC for S-CANNON. The third section will give you an idea of what you should be doing move by move. ________________________________________________________________________ OFFICIAL FAQ WEBSITES ===================== These are the only sites that have been approved to display this FAQ, so er... BOYCOTT THE OTHERS!!! Nah just kidding! >> http://sonicsecretsuk.cjb.net >> www.gamefaqs.com >> www.neoseeker.com ________________________________________________________________________ HYDRA TACTICS GUIDE =================== I won't list what all of the crew members do, just get them off another FAQ (they're on enough anyway!). I recommend using MPureka's Ship Battle guide on GameFAQs as it says who's Passive and Active. Try to have as many Passive crew members as possible, and make sure you _definitely_ have URALA to max out your SPIRIT. MARCO should be there to give you double SPIRIT (or ROBINSON if you're really planning on attacking for a round). Have PINTA as a delegate for a bad round, as MOEGI is pretty much useless because the Hydra almost never uses magic against you. ________________________________________________________________________ ============= HYDRA'S MOVES ============= EVASIVE ACTION - This works just like the GUARD move in normal battles. It reduces the damage done by any attack by about half. No attack power, purely defensive. FOCUS - This does exactly the same as it would to you, creates more SPIRIT for the Hydra, though you can't see how much it has anyway! No attack, no defence. However, I have a feeling it can increase the attack power of a HYDRA SUBCANNON or HYDRA RAY, as it seems to be a little more powerful then. HYDRA SUBCANNON - This is the equivalent of, say a 10" or 12" CANNON. It's attack power is substandard, but it can fire at the same time as other moves as long as it is straight after the initial shot or a shot in that situation. So be careful if you see it, as it can fire again with a FOCUS, EVASIVE ACTION or another Cannon. HYDRA RAY - This is a single Cannon shot that does more damage than the HYDRA SUBCANNON. It can also be used more than once in a round, like the HYDRA SUBCANNON. HYDRA LAUNCHER - This is a single Cannon shot that does more damage than the HYDRA RAY. It can't be used more than once a round. HYDRA CANNON - This is a highly powerful S-CANNON attack which can be compared to the MOONSTONE CANNON on board the Delphinus. If unblocked it can do as much as 25,000 HP damage. However, like all S-CANNON attacks, the HYDRA SUBCANNON or HYDRA RAY cannot be used at the same time as it will be LOST. SACRES - Occasionally the Hydra will use SACRES magic, to recover 8,000 HP, which can be annoying if you've done little damage in that round. However, this is the equivalent of using Sacri in a normal battle for 500 HP when you need around 3,000, so don't worry about it, the only effective spell is Sacrulen :) It can be used at the same time as the HYDRA SUBCANNON and HYDRA RAY. ________________________________________________________________________ ============= ENEMY TACTICS ============= ROUND 1 ======= _______________ |SCG| C | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 2 - Player 3 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 6 - Player 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY ROUND 2 ======= _______________ |SCY| C | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 3 - Enemy: FOCUS 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 6 - Player 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA RAY ROUND 3 ======= _______________ | R | C | G | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA LAUNCHER 3 - Player 4 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 5 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION + HYDRA RAY 6 - Player 7 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 8 - Player =========================== CHOICE - UPPER PART or HULL =========================== ROUND 4 ======= _______________ | Y | C | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 2 - Player 3 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: SACRES (Upper Part) or EVASIVE ACTION (Hull) 6 - Player 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION (Upper Part) or HYDRA LAUNCHER (Hull) ROUND 5 ======= _______________ |SCY| Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 3 - Enemy: HYDRA LAUNCHER 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: FOCUS 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON ROUND 6 ======= _______________ | Y | Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 2 - Player 3 - Player 4 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION + HYDRA SUBCANNON 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: FOCUS 7 - Enemy: HYDRA LAUNCHER 8 - Player =========================== CHOICE - HULL or UPPER PART =========================== ROUND 7 - Hull ======= _______________ |SCR| G | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON 2 - Player 3 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA RAY 7 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON ROUND 8 ======= _______________ | R | C | G | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA LAUNCHER 3 - Player 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: FOCUS 6 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON 7 - Enemy: -dunno, i'll find out later ok? :)- 8 - Player ============== ROUND 7 - Upper Part ======= _______________ |SCY| C | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 3 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 6 - Player 7 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA RAY 8 - Player ROUND 8 ======= _______________ | R | C | G | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA LAUNCHER 3 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA RAY 6 - Player 7 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON 8 - Player =========================== CHOICE - UPPER PART or HULL =========================== ROUND 9 - Upper Part ======= _______________ | Y | C | Y | Y | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 2 - Player 3 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: SACRES 6 - Player 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION ROUND 10 ======== _______________ |SCY| Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 3 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON ROUND 11 ======== _______________ | Y | Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 3 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 7 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY + HYDRA LAUNCHER 8 - Player =============== ROUND 9 - Hull ======= _______________ | Y | C | G | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 3 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 6 - Player 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: SACRES ROUND 10 ======== _______________ |SCY| Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION 3 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: FOCUS + HYDRA SUBCANNON 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: HYDRA CANNON ROUND 11 ======== _______________ | Y | Y | Y | R | Colour Code |___|___|___|___| 1 - Player 2 - Enemy: HYDRA SUBCANNON 3 - Enemy: EVASIVE ACTION + HYDRA SUBCANNON 4 - Player 5 - Player 6 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY 7 - Player 8 - Enemy: HYDRA RAY + HYDRA LAUNCHER ________________________________________________________________________ ============================== SO WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN THEN? ============================== Obviously, 1 to 8 are the order that things happen in a round, so in the case of the above Round 11; after the player takes a go, the Hydra will have 2 shots. You can use these orders to ascertain the ideal move to take. As the S-CANNON is unavailable, the best move would be either to block or to use a strong cannon if you have enough HP to stand the two HYDRA SUBCANNON shots. If you're playing and spot a HYDRA SUBCANNON, there's a fair chance it will follow in the next move. In the next section, 1 to 4 are your 4 moves, and the ideal move to take in different situations. I consider the HYDRA SUBCANNON to be of low attack power, so I'll let you choose whether to attack or GUARD. If you need to heal, I recommend doing it during an attacking period, and always use either a COMPLETE KIT or the SACRULEN magic (KIRALA does the same, but you should have ISMAEL as your builder to maximise MOONSTONE CANNON DAMAGE. You should also cast INCREM or INCREMUS (lasts twice as long, costs 4x as much), or use RYU-KAN; and FOCUS whenever you feel you won't do much damage, as the extra SPIRIT could be useful in this big battle. Remember that you can set different characters' moves at different times, so if you can get more SPIRIT or STANDARD CANNON attack power out of one character, or different magic, then use it! ________________________________________________________________________ ============= MOVES TO MAKE ============= ROUND 1 ======= 1 - If you don't mind a HYDRA SUBCANNON shot then attack, otherwise GUARD. 2 - I would GUARD this round. Sometimes the Hydra fires both the HYDRA SUBCANNON and the HYDRA RAY. 3 - Lay into the Hydra, as you have 2 shots in a row. 4 - A HYDRA RAY follows, so GUARD. ROUND 2 ======= 1 - Attack, as the Hydra will respond with two defensive moves. If possible use the MOONSTONE CANNON. 2 - GUARD the HYDRA RAY coming up. 3 - Attack the Hydra. 4 - GUARD the HYDRA RAY. ROUND 3 ======= 1 - GUARD the HYDRA LAUNCHER. 2 - GUARD the HYDRA RAY. 3 - Attack. 4 - Attack, or GUARD the HYDRA SUBCANNON. ====== CHOICE: There's only two differences - The Upper Part has SACRES and EVASIVE ====== ACTION in the Upper Part, and EVASIVE ACTION and HYDRA LAUNCHER in the Hull (in Round 4). Choose either. ROUND 4 (This is a good round to use ROBINSON if you have him active) ======= 1 - Attack, or GUARD the HYDRA SUBCANNON. 2 - Attack as only EVASIVE ACTION or SACRES is used. 3 - Attack. 4 - Attack, or in the case of the Hull, GUARD the HYDRA LAUNCHER. ROUND 5 ======= 1 - You can attack before the EVASIVE ACTION, but I would recommend GUARDing against the HYDRA LAUNCHER coming up. 2 - Attack. 3 - Attack. 4 - GUARD against the HYDRA CANNON. ROUND 6 ======= 1 - Attack. 2 - Attack, or GUARD the HYDRA SUBCANNON. 3 - GUARD the HYDRA LAUNCHER. 4 - Attack. ________________________________________________________________________ THANKS AND CONTACTS =================== Thanks to me for raising the money to buy Skies Of Arcadia, playing the game for 60 hours in the first week, and researching and making this FAQ. Thanks to CJayC at GameFAQs for hosting this and my other FAQs. Thanks to everyone at Sega and Overworks for bringing us such a bangin' console and game. And finally, thanks to Pinta for all those items he got me on the VMU, and those cute little animals that currently run around Crescent Isle :) Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Hate mail? Send them all (except the hate mail :D) to ibennetty9@yahoo.com and check out my site at http://sonicsecretsuk.cjb.net ________________________________________________________________________ COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ===================== This FAQ is (c) Ian Bennett 2001. It may not be used to make an FAQ in your own name, or simply put in your own name on any site. I'm fine with it being put on other sites, as long as you email me and tell me the URL, and don't change it in any way, even putting it in HTML to make it look nicer. That way, I can list your site in the FAQ, and, the amount of emails I get nowadays, it should really bring the hits in :) If you find anyone ripping off my work, please tell me as I er... don't like it. :) Or should that be :( I dunno. And remember, plagiarism is the stealing of IDEAS (god I hope the guy that did the PSO FAQ that I saw this on doesn't mind me putting this on!). And if I ask for it to be taken off your site for any reason, please respect my wishes and do so. Other than that, hell, do what you like with it as long as it's just for your own personal use. You're not the only people that take big chunks out of FAQs so you don't have to print 50 to 100 pages ya know! :D ________________________________________________________________________ EXTRA INFORMATION ================= No extra info at the moment. If anyone can help me with some more Hydra info then email me and I'll be sure to put thank you personally on the FAQ if it's relevant. Also, don't really expect an update for a while. 60 hours of SOA in a week's enough for me. I'm back on Phantasy Star Online now, up to level 76 :) I'll update when A: I finish my PSO FAQ B: I get to Level 100 or C: I get bored again >:D. That is of course once I get back to that part of the game - God, can't they add anything to it? I mean, a 2 player 'vs' Mode would have been great, or maybe keep the game going so you can build up your character, or play levels and battles again, or get different ships... hmm! ________________________________________________________________________ _________ | | /EPILOGUE/ | | | | /________/ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | | | o o | o o o I'm tellin' ya, get Skies of Arcadia, its brilliant. Finish it even just to see Fina's Air Pirate clothes :) hehe. But most of all, have fun doing it. OK that's it! KEEP IT COOKIN'! And keep playing on yo Dreamcast! HAHAHAHA!!! >:) ________________________________________________________________________ Bennettman - It's all about the >B-) shades. ibennetty9@yahoo.com http://sonicsecretsuk.cjb.net Skies of Arcadia and all characters involved are TM and (c) Sega of Europe, Sega of America and Overworks. Eternal Arcadia is TM and (c) Sega of Japan and Overworks. Dreamcast and VMU are TM and (c) Sega Enterprises ________________________________________________________________________