Rocket Slime Notes (WIP)

Rocket Slime is in a weird place right now, being that I am the only one who speedruns it and most of the routing has been by me so far. There's plenty of room to improve the game so this routing isn't necessarily optimal, but for now here is a sort-of-guide on running the game.

Contents:

General Notes
Optimizations
Area Specific Notes
Boss Battles
Ammunition
Tank Battles


General Notes:

-Im not sure which version is faster yet, English or JP. English and Japanese are roughly the same text speed, and I can read English better. One of the tank battles in Tootinschleiman's Tomb says which cannon he is firing into, making it easier to hit his tank, so that makes English slightly faster for now.

-The Slimes which I save are the 50 most convenient up until Big Daddy/Mamma Mia, because saving those two in Callmigh Bluff allows me to go into the Goonins' Well to learn the more powerful elastoblast (master blast) which is needed to progress through the game. After those, any Slime saved is absolutely necessary excluding the first two in the Clawtress, who offer strong ammo for the last two tank fights. Saving every slime either mandated by the story or along the way in chests up until Callmigh Bluff Day 1 gets me 49 slimes. To get that 50th I fight an extra fight in Tootinschleiman's Tomb on Day 3 because it's a short battle. The reason I don't do an alternative is this:

1: The only remaining Slimes in Mt. Krakatroda are in longer tank battles or behind areas which cannot be reached before getting the upgraded elastoblast. Same thing with Callmigh Bluff.
2: Returning to Forewood Forest for one slime takes around an additional ~3 minutes, while the tank battle can be done in less than that.
3: Saving all the Slimes in Tootinschleiman's Tomb gets me a Broadsword, a nice piece of ammo for that early in the game which helps in the longrun.
4: I've tried finding a way to sequence break, to no avail.

-Don't bother picking up the Yggdrasil seeds, the cutscenes waste time and you don't really need more than 7 hearts.

Optimizations:

-The fastest way to move is by elasto-blasting frequently. There's a good rhythm to do it, which I demonstrate in my runs.

-Throwing a rockbomb into an engine-room barrier will destroy it instantly with no recoil, so you can destroy several in one throw.

-Movement is fastest in waterways, hence I go slightly out of my way to ride those whenever possible.

-Carrying things into cutscenes sends them back home automatically. This saves you the effort of having to throw them onto mine carts.

Area Specific Notes:

Forewood Forest - You do not have to backtrack here later on with my current route. Anyways, you can blow up most of the rocks with a well angled elasto-blast-rockbomb-throw, as throwing items while elastoblasting causes them to be thrown much farther. +7 Slimes are saved here. (Plus Flantenna who you save after the first real tank fight who I believe is added to this group making it +8)

Tootinschleiman's Tomb: Ride the waterways, and often you will want to carry around a bombshell to toss into a cannon later. This is the only area where we fight an optional tank battle. +17 slimes are saved here.

Krakatroda: Before the Slival fight try to pick up a rockbomb, an Imp and a Thousandweight for the totem. Practice the Bungees and make sure you don't forget any of the Slimes in the chests lying around. Seriously. +14 slimes are saved here.

Backwoods: Just don't forget the two Slimes in the chests. +6 slimes are saved here.

Callmigh Bluff: There are no Tank battles in this area, so you don't need to upgrade your ammo until you go to Necropolis. +5 Slimes are saved here. Once you reach 50, you no longer need to save any more.

Necropolis: Elastoblast across the waterways on the left path to the rockbomb (Thanks Crrool). The totem on the right path is Platypunk, Mimic and Imp.

Clawtress: Punch with Golems to move fastest. We save the first two slimes here for ammo. Once you defeat the killing machines, return to Boingburg to upgrade your tank ammo with all the stuff you got in the Clawtress thus far.

Boss Fights:

Bough Beater: It's possible to kill this guy before he gets a chance to attack. Just time your attacks on his face quickly and try to hit him right in the center, because hitting him on the side causes you to slide just past him.

Pot Belly: This guy sucks. Don't bother wasting time to hit him with a Chimaera wing unless he only has one HP left. Try to catch Firewaters as those can hit him up to 3 times, and rockbombs can hit him twice.

Harvest Loon: Pray for good RNG.

Lickety Spit: Try to have at least two cactiballs on hand, and catch the ones he spits out, while trying to avoid his spinning vines. If you're really daring you can try to get cactiballs to jump where his tongue comes out to when he's busy trying to eat the others.

Clawleone: Just hit his first phase as often as possible. His second one you can hit really frequently, so try to hit him while he's moving around the side.

Really the bosses of this game are pretty easy.

Ammunition:

-I open the letters from these slimes: Blubba, Peewee, Bubbily, Perry, (All Rockbombs) Flantenna (Oaken Club), Rollo (Holy Water), Prince Pigummy (Shuriken Recipe), Itsy (Shuriken), Flanpa (Iron Ball), Lady Poly (Iron ball), Early Burly (Broadsword), Swellington (BS-1 Crooze), RoboGlop (BS2 Missile), Curator (Lightning Rod). Those last two are very early on in the Flying Clawtress and are optional. I have their Japanese names committed to memory (I can read Katakana and Hiragana easily enough), but I'm not going to list those here.

-Select the "Leave it to me command", and edit out any unnecessary ammo (Healing herbs, shields, boomerangs, Claw Trap, Firewater and the like) for damage ammo or useful utility ammo.

-I collect chests and chimaera wings to fuse into Shurikens, as they are solid damage items and very easy to stockpile. It's good to have more Chimaera wings than chests because the spare chimaera wings are useful in tank fights (especially Slival) where you can use it to send enemies back to their tank, so it is useful to have one or two in your tank in a pinch.

-Slime Knights are your friends. They are useful for all kinds of situations in tank battles and thus having 3 in your ammo (2 from Krakatroda, 1 from Callmigh) is really solid.


 -I get the Oricalcum from Perry ASAP because it is by far the strongest piece of ammo that early and it never leaves my tank's ammo, and that only takes an additional 75 seconds.

-RockBombs are okay ammo early, but they become obsolete after shurikens and can be a bit of a pain so don't go out of your way to grab them. I don't grab Thousandweights or Obelisks because they don't deal enough damage to be worth their trouble. They do have the benefit of being able to pierce through multiple barriers in an enemies tank.

-Beyond Shurikens, anything else you get that's better will go into your tank, e.g. the Hellscythe, the Level 3 iron ball from Clawtress, up until the final Slival fight.


Tank Battles:

-The crew is Swotsy, Glooperior and Blubba for half of the game (Collecting enemies is tedious as hell). I swap Gooshido in Swotsy's place after Backwoods (before going into Necropolis) because

A: I don't have to keep him on my head the whole time to keep him from wasting time and ammo

B: The ammo he steals is typically better than what I have, and

C: He distracts enemies from attacking my tank, saving me some time.

-In tank battles after the first few (starting with the last tank battle in Tootinschleiman's Tomb), it is faster to let the tank run out of health and unload when the enemies stop firing. While waiting for ammo, I usually stockpile ammo in the cannon room with Swotsy on my head (since he can't be set to not throw ammo) until the skies are clear (until Swotsy gets replaced), or I simply invade the enemy tank since they have better ammunition. This is partly why I grab so many Slime Knights, because they help ward off invading enemies. Later on in the game it's just faster to steal from their ammo supply at first before defending my tank, since enemies just have better ammo than me.

-In said tank battles, set allies to passive commands if possible (i.e. keep intruders out and keep crew alive) until your HP is 0. DONT FORGET TO SET THEM BACK TO FIRE.


Specific Battles:

Boulder - I don't really count this as a tank battle, but just focus on unloading bombshells and rocks on the boulder. Lower cannon is slightly faster.

Platypanzer 1 - Bombshells > Rocks. He only fires one ammo at a time out of the Top cannon, super easy.

Platypanzer 2 - RNG based, hope you can get the Oricalcum to hit for half his HP.

Purrsecutor - Same as usual, less crew because the Jailcat always tries to invade.

Short Shooter - The one optional fight. He always tells you where he is firing, so pay attention to that and aim out the other cannon.

The Golemator - Go and invade immediately. Try to take 3 iron balls to make a bigger iron ball, and then 2 iron balls on top of it if you can before your HP reaches zero. Unload from there. This fight is RNG as heck because they still fire ammo when your HP is 0, though less of it. Try unloading weaker ammo before the iron balls.

Schwarzman (Slival 1) - Invade his tank for broadswords while leaving your crew passive until HP reaches 0, knocking him out to keep him from invading your exposed engine room. In fact, this is basically the strategy for all Slival fights, as he always has ammo that vastly outdamages yours. Just note that the later on it is, the quicker he respawns when you attack Slival himself.

Carrot Top - Now that you have shurikens, it's better generally to just wait till your HP is 0, unload and take out any enemies that try to invade with your slime knight. Carry Swotsy on your head to start to keep him from firing.

Pyramaniac -

Chrono Twigger -

Schwarzman 2 - (See Schwarzman)

Schwarzman 3 - (See Schwarzman)

Argonaut - Invade the tank for ammo, he has some amazing ammo. Just be careful with the statues, they can only be killed with a charged elastoblast.

DQ Swords - Invade for ammo, kill everyone before they can invade.

Daemolition Man - Same as the previous two. Don't bother with Kaboomamite.

Schwarzman 4 - (See Schwarzman)

The Dark One - This is the reason why we stockpile decent ammo when we basically steal most lategame ammo. The Dark One cannot be stolen from, so you depend on your own ammo. Typically I just throw all my ammo in the cannon room, grab Slival on my head, and then unload it when my HP reaches 0. Hold off on firing ammo and just stockpile when you see his tank aiming to fire its laser. Always try to fight Flucifer himself right outside your tank, he distracts Slival otherwise. If you have 2 slime knights, you can potentially hit him twice when he becomes vulnerable when timed right. Just be patient, this fight takes 10 minutes and 1 mess up is run over.




This is a work in progress, so there should be more in the future.