How To Play Bubble Battle

Bubble Battle ™ : How to Play

Background

As you pilot your starship back to earth, you find yourself caught in a torrent of subspace vortices, which threaten to destroy your ship if they hit you. You call out to your crew to transfer energy to the shields, and you power up your guns and penetrators to defend your ship.

Your job is to clear the star lanes of subspace vortices before they destroy your ship. But it won't be easy - the larger vortices will split into smaller one's if you shoot them with your guns, which can only be used to destroy the smallest vortices. If you use your penetrators instead, they can take out any size vortex with a single shot. However, your ship cannot afford the energy drain that the penetrators consume, or you'll begin to lose power. It's up to you to carefully manage your ships energy reserves while removing these dangerous obstacles to space travel in your galaxy.

Objective

Your mission is to clear the star lanes of subspace vortices by shooting them with your guns or penetrators. But watch out for enemy saucers, which may attempt to disable your ship.

Controlling the Ship

The following descriptions are based on the default setup.

Rotate ship left    Push the Left arrow key.

Rotate ship right    Push the Right arrow key.

Transfer Energy to Shield    Push the Up arrow key.

Transfer Shield to Energy    Push the Down arrow key.

Fire weapons    Push the Return/Enter key.

Thrust    Push either Shift key.

Select weapon (Guns <-> Penetrators)    Push either Shift key.

Subspace jump    Push either Ctrl key.

Repair all damage    Push the Backspace key.

Exit game to menu    Push the Escape key.

Configuring the Controls

If you select the Configure Controls choice from the Options menu, you can change the keys that correspond to the commands for controlling the ship. The default command set is the one listed above.

Power Management

Your ship's generators can produce the power necessary to complete your mission, but you'll have to be careful not to waste it. When you thrust, subspace jump, fire weapons, or conduct repairs, you will use up some of your ship's Energy. When your ship comes in contact with a subspace vortex, flying saucer, penetrator, bullet, or energy barb, your Shield power will be drained. In order to survive as long as possible, you must carefully manage your ship's power reserves by transfering Energy to Shield or Shield to Energy when necessary. Be especially careful that your shields don't get too low, or one accidental hit could destroy your ship.

Ship Damage

If a penetrator hits your ship, it will take some damage that will limit your mobility. For example, you may be unable to rotate your ship in a particular direction, thrust, subspace jump, or use your penetrators. In order to fix the damage, you must conduct repairs, which will consume half of your maximum ship's Energy.

Energy Barbs

Occasionally you will encounter these permanent deformations in space caused by the subspace vortices. Your only choice is to avoid them, for they will quickly drain your shields if you hit them, and they cannot be destroyed.

Energy Obstacles

Large vortex    1 point

Medium vortex    2 points

Small vortex    5 points

Enemy saucer    10 points

Energy barb    Indestructible

Power-Ups

Some previous space travelers have been less fortunate than you have in that their ships were destroyed by the vortices. However, these vortices still preserve some of their weapons and power crystals inside. If you see such a vortex, destroy it with your guns and touch the power-up with your ship to retrieve it. Power-ups include the following:

Enhanced Firepower

This item doubles your gun strength the first time you retrieve it then triples your gun strength if you get it a second time.

Subspace Disrupt

This power-up will split all large and medium vortices and destroy all small vortices when you pick it up. It causes some damage to nearby saucers.

Power Recharge

This item recharges both your Energy and Shield reserves to maximum.

Invincibility

This power-up prevents all power drain from your ship's Energy and Shield reserves for 10 seconds, so you cannot be harmed, and you can fire as many penetrators as you like.

High Scores

If your score is among the top ten, you'll be asked to enter your name in the Bubble Battle Hall of Fame. If you wish to view the current top ten, select the High Scores option from the Game menu.

Other Settings

From the Options Menu you can turn on and off the music or sound effects, plus you can enable "double size display" mode where the game is played in a larger window (for those with high-resolution screens).

Strategy & Helpful Hints

Try to avoid splitting too many large vortices at once, or you may be left with too many small ones to avoid.
Use penetrators sparingly - if your ship gets hit by one of them, you'll take some damage, so aim carefully.
Use subspace jumping only as a last resort. You may wind up on top of an energy barb if you do it too often.