Starter's Guide

New to Thunder Strike? Not sure how to roll off onto a good start? Here's an elaborate guide on where to begin, what you need to know and what to look out for in this exciting and fast paced arcade-style shooter.

Note that this guide is *not official* to the intended path of play and may not follow through in accuracy, as it highly depends on each player's everyday decisions and consistency of play. **This guide is also written based on Editor's past experience. Composed by Spyduck627.**

For a guide on combating your opponents, visit our Combat Guide.

***WARNING: EXTREMELY WORDY PAGE - MAY CAUSE TL;DR or WALL OF TEXTICITIS***

## Introduction

**You'll be equipped with simple equipment that will guarantee your survival with decent mileage. After that rather lengthy tutorial, what's next? Some things you will want to know at this point-**

* Focus first on **getting as far out** into the stars as you can, the more Stages you open up, the easier you can harvest better materials.
* You will find that your progress is relatively fast early on, until the power curve begins to spike beyond the Aries Star Field. Leap into danger and don't worry. This game **does not penalize your Energy** count for failure. So go ahead and run wild, test your skills against the difficulty curve.
* As long as your Power level is not at a **difference of 1,200 points**, you will be able to inflict damage to your opponents. Just be prepared for longer plays.
* Your starting equipment can take you as far as Gemini and to the edges of Cancer fields and further as long as your **equipment and skills permit**.
* As much as possible, focus your free Diamond earnings on **inventory expansion**. To trigger the option, simply exceed your maximum inventory space and a pop up offer will appear whenever you try to add more items in. How much is enough, is left to you the players. 50 slots is simply not enough for any regular player.

Here's a quick list of daily tasks for the every day player-

 Endless Mode | Play 3x times
 Conquest | Complete the listed tasks
 Daily Log-In
 Daily Log-In 2

## Novice on the Roll

**You're out of the introductory stages, you've gotten pass 2-4 Star Fields and still going strong. What's next?**

* While it is tempting to do so, **avoid hoarding large varieties** of spare parts at the early stages for future upgrading. Doing so will constantly plague you with storage problems.
* If you must invest, pick a God of War associated part and work with it—it will ensure longevity in your inventory. The higher tier a part is, the more its end total power will be. Check out the **Gallery** at the bottom right hand corner of the Treasure Hunting section for the hierarchy of each part, figure out what you want to keep, and what you don't.
* While it is mundane to do so, **hoard up** daily on **Quantum and Mega materials**, your supply will get exhausted real fast later on. You can also obtain useful wreckage materials.
* Are you keeping up with your **daily tasks**? They are a welcome source of materials and resources for any budding new player.

## The Learning Strategist

**The main hindrance to many a player—Lacking a constant source of gold. Upgrading can be real costly when done in bulk, and soon you'll realize your daily earnings just won't keep up. How is one to maintain a treasury?**

* Always capitalize on the Meteorite Trap activity whenever available. It is any player's **main source** of capital gold, and is available on **3 different days a week**.
* Getting used to the Enhancing and other works? As you progress, better EXP resources become available to you. Beginning to see a pattern with certain exp materials creating that sweet spot where exp wastage is minimal? Congratulations, those are your **formulas**. Remember them well and you will save a lot on gold expenditure. **(Enhancing Formulas)**
* Fusion (Remoulding) is a powerful tool. **Use it judiciously** as your gold/diamond reserves would allow it. (It gets pricey)
* Willing to spend on your first VIP yet? You can invest some of the diamonds bought and **convert them to gold resource**.

## Treasure Trove

**Players will be stuck at the Scorpio Star Field for a while. Around this point is where players face both a blessing and a curse.**

* Players will need to **break the 9,000 Power barrier** in order to proceed. This requires at least two or more 5★ equipment with improved armour to survive combat with the boss. Lest you suffer one-hit KOs.
* **God of War components** can help to break the barrier but will require a lot more dedicated resources. Be wary of your spending as upgrading them is a costly venture.
* Getting stuck here also presents many opportunities for consistent resource gathering. The Red stages between **Stage 20-32** are the best source of Mega materials and the Yellow stages between **Stage 50-62** are the best for Quantum materials, both which happen to also yield very applicable EXP wreckage resources. (See Enhancing Formulas)
* **Make the best of this phase of the game**. It is beyond here that you will wish you have hundreds of sets of these materials to work with.
* Also, are you making full use of Activity Mode and Boss Mode for their resources?

## The Struggle

**The going gets tough from here. As the upgrading curve steepens due to the heavy need of components, resources and the like. Players will spend a lot of time acquiring resources and playing backward stages.**

* This is where the quit rate can begin. The monotony of doing the same thing everyday, playing old stages and just acquiring resources, waiting for that last component to finish the upgrade, will make players want to stop playing completely.
* By now, this is where players can challenge the Endless Mode's Galaxy Pirate in full-fledged combat.
* Yellow Stages from 66-78 will be your **main staple of Mega materials**. These areas are relatively fun with their continuous enemy waves without skipping a beat. The wreckages may have less EXP, but the reduced cost of play is well worth it. (See Stage Mode)
* It is here eventually, that you will face the first of the **Big 3** - Ruler X. If you can defeat Morgan here, slightly better rewards await you later on.
* Has your enthusiasm for this game renewed? Maybe upgrade your VIP even! Or continue expanding your inventory size (Max: 300)
* Are you taking on Purgatory Mode yet? It's time to begin or continue harvesting those materials.
* Joined a team by now? You should be adequately powerful to take on the challenges and earn your keep.

## The Combat Pragmatist

**Ruler X is down. With renewed determination, you forge ahead to meet the next of the Big 3 - Hera Goddess. With a need for full 5**★ **sets, the upgrading race is hot as ever. It is here that players will start accumulating full powered sets and maximizing their God of War components.**

* Going for the best and latest part is the norm. But that's a given, **you need every single bit of power** points you can muster to really challenge the boss ships here.
* The upgrading will never stop, you will need to start working on new parts as a means to survive the challenges that is in Purgatory Mode.
* It is probably here that you will start working on maximizing all your God of War parts available to you.
* Players can now participate in handsfree Endless Mode runs. This is an exceptionally good way to harvest components for both upgrading and throwing them to the fusion gutters.
* Unlike Ruler X, Hera Goddess will require you to throw all your resources in. **Spare no quarter** when challenging her.

## Maximum Resource

**You've done it. Hera Goddess is gone. By defeating her, you will now reach the final Star Field and have access to almost all resources available in the game.**

* This part of the game is an excruciatingly slow climb, due to the massive jumps in power gaps. We're talking a **5,000 point difference** between the final 8 stages in Pisces Star Field.
* If you've managed to clear out the 3 upcoming bosses, you're good to go in getting everything you can desire from this game.
* By now your Stage Mode runs will almost definitely consist of running through all the **Yellow Stages from Stage 50-62, 66-94**, due to the necessity of acquiring more Quantum and Mega materials for a lot of full upgrading.
* It is also at this point that your **Quark materials may begin to run out** especially so for the Controller and Reactor parts. (Due to where most players get stuck while trying to increase their power) Luckily, the player only needs these sparingly, compared to others types.

## The Final Push

**You now face the most daunting task of taking on the last of the Big 3 - Infernal Lord.**

* **There is no tried and true advice here**. Players will go on everyday, thinking of the day they are mentally ready to challenge Infernal Lord to a deadly war of attrition - mainly to your demise all the time.
* Spare no quarter once again, **all resources must be dedicated** to defeating Infernal Lord and not even once should you ever let up. *This endeavor is not for the complacent*.
* **Should you ever defeat him, your glory shall be lifted. ~~There is nothing else except to set self-applied goals for this game and await newer content.~~**

## Aftermath

**Now that you've destroyed that disastrous being, Morgan, what could be more threatening than him? Let us tell you what you need to know before you advance.**

* **Abandon all hope if you do not possess at least 23600+ power**. You will not be able to proceed beyond Stage 97 without tedium.
* That's all you need to truly know. **Beyond here is a battle with Demonic Spiders of the worst kind.**

 How about visiting our Combat Guide now?