ANDROID SPECIAL: Steambirds Hints Part 2

Your tactics will depends on what you have and what your enemies have. Let's discuss the common "special abilities' and how they can be used.

* Shield -- protects the plane for ONE TURN from all hits, but cannot fire

Shield is used to get BEHIND the enemy, esp. when combined with the U-turn. Use the shield to get through enemy fire, then U-turn and blast it from behind.

Shield is also used to get "through" an enemy gas cloud so you can get INSIDE his turn.

* Speed -- makes the plane 50% faster for one turn

Speed is usually used to gain some distance on the enemy. Great for the "bait" plane. Gain some distance. Otherwise, not that useful, actually. 

* Gas -- spreads green gas behind the plane for one turn, damage all who fly through it

Probably the best weapon in the game, but a bit hard to use. Get in front of the enemy and lead the enemy right through the gas cloud. Gas cloud is persistent but it takes prolonged exposure to kill an enemy (i.e. fly through a lot of it). Figure out which enemy plane is chasing you, and try to get the gasser in front of them. 

* U-turn -- makes 180 degree turn in one turn and a very short distance (maybe 5 plane lengths)

U-Turn is useful to get behind the enemy then turn around quickly to tail him, and/or making firing passes against very slow enemies, such as balloons and zepplins. 

* 360-spin -- makes a flat-spin and keep going, shooting in all directions\

Fly between / through group of enemies (but out of their weapon range) and blast enemies in all directions. Not that useful.

* Missile -- missile always make a LEFT turn, unless there's an enemy almost directly in front in a respectable distance.

It is GREAT for balloon busting, but the main problem is it is very dangerous as missiles that didn't hit anything will keep circling and they don't care if they hit friend or foe. Try to stay just RIGHT and BEHIND the missile shooter so the circling missiles will miss you.

* Bomb -- string of 5 bombs, detonates one turn later.

Try to get the enemy fly right through it. Not persistant like gas cloud, so a little harder to use. Get the enemy to bunch up first. Find out who's chasing who. Use similar to gas cloud.