Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Famicom)
                       Guide by E. Phelps, ver. 1.1
                           (aka LastBossKiller)


                - - - = = = ================== = = = - - -
                - - - = = = === Disclaimer === = = = - - -
                - - - = = = ================== = = = - - -

This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise
distributed publicly without advance written permission by the author. Use of
this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is
strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

Copyright 2015 E. Phelps


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               - - - = = = =================== = = = - - -
               - - - = = = ====== Intro ====== = = = - - -
               - - - = = = =================== = = = - - -

    Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (or "Legend of the Galactic Heroes") was originally
a series of Japanese science fiction novels written by Yoshiki Tanaka. They
take place in the 36th century and feature two main protagonists that
eventually become commanders of two opposing interstellar nations. Reinhard
von Musel becomes a commander of the Galactic Empire and Yang Wen Li becomes
a commander of the Free Planets Alliance. With protagonists featured on both
sides of the conflict, the reader finds him/herself conflicted about who to
root for since both sides are portrayed as good in their own way. The novels
have since been adapted into numerous anime and manga series.
    The NES/Famicom game Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is a strategy game developed
by Tokuma Shoten and published in Japan by Kemco in 1988. It is a very short
and simple game, although you might find it confusing at first. You are
Reinhard (ラインハルト) of the Galactic Empire. You have 11 fleets at your
disposal, each led by different characters from the novels. Your goal is
simply to capture the base of the Free Planets Alliance on the planet
Heinessen (ハイネセン).


              - - - = = = ==================== = = = - - -
              - - - = = = ===== Contents ===== = = = - - -
              - - - = = = ==================== = = = - - -

Search terms are given by square brackets []

1. Game Mechanics
  a. Overview [sec1a]
  b. Commands [sec1b]
  c. Battles [sec1c]
  d. Fleet Stats [sec1d]
2. Your Fleets [sec2]
3. Planets [sec3]
4. Strategies [sec4]


            - - - = = = ======================== = = = - - -
            - - - = = = ==== Game Mechanics ==== = = = - - -
            - - - = = = ======================== = = = - - -


                              ============
-------------------------------= Overview =------------------------[sec1a]---
                              ============

You are Reinhard, who must command 11 fleets to capture the enemy's base on
the planet of Heinessen (ハイネセン) to beat the game. You will conquer other
planets along the way, but the victoy condition is solely the conquest of
Heinessen. You lose the game if all of your fleets are destroyed.

On the first day of the game, you will only have three fleets to command,
but the rest of your fleets will trickle in over the next two days.

On the planetary map, all of the planets except for your base on Minyuas
(ミニュアス) will be colored red. They will be colored blue when you conquer
them. Every planet occupied by the enemy will have a fleet of ships to
destroy, which will generally range from 5000 to 12000 ships. There are also
fleets of enemy ships that travel around the planets in groups of 12000
ships, so the number of ships on any given planet can be changing day to day
and you might find many more ships on a planet than you expected.

To capture a planet, you must destroy all of the enemy ships occupying the
planet. This is done by defeating them in battle. The only factors affecting
the outcomes of the battles are how many ships you and the enemy have on the
planet and what battle formation each team is using. See the "Battles"
section for more details.

Each of your fleets contains 12000 ships. As you accumulate Fleet Damage
(カンタイ ダメージ), generally from battle, your ship numbers will decrease.
However, the ship number can be restored to 12000 by resupplying at certain
planets.

Aside from capturing planets, you will have to put effort into monitoring
the supplies of your fleets. They need to have Energy (エネルギー) in order to
be able to travel, and Rations (ショクリョウ) and Soldier Fatigue (ヘイノ
ヒロウド) determine the health of your fleet. These values can be restored on
certain planets (see the "Fleet Stats" section for more details).

At the end of each day, you will see summary screens that show the action
each fleet took and their current statistics.


                              ============
-------------------------------= Commands =------------------------[sec1b]---
                              ============

As Reinhard, you give commands to 11 different fleets. You can give one
command to each fleet per day unless a fleet is already busy. The four
possible commands are:
イドウ - "Move"
テイサツ - "Scout"
キュウソク - "Rest"
ホキュウ - "Supply"

Here are the meanings of each command:
Move - Fleet moves to another planet. The fleet can only travel to planets
    which they have enough Energy (エネルギー) to reach. If the destination
    is occupied by the enemy, a battle will commence upon arrival. The
    number of days it takes for the fleet to reach their destination is
    determined by how far away it is and the Speed (イドウリョク) of the
    fleet.
Scout - Learn about the state of a planet. The report of the planet will be
    given by this fleet at the beginning of the next day. On the fourth line
    of the first dialogue box, it says #ニチ ("# of days") which is the
    number of days it would take this fleet to reach the planet. It will
    also say what supplies can be acquired on the planet. If the planet is
    occupied by the enemy, you will be shown the battle formation the enemy
    is in and how many ships the enemy fleet contains. Also, you might be
    shown the faces of some characters not in your fleet. These are enemy
    commanders that are on the planet. They don't have any special strengths
    or anything, but it does mean that there are more ships on the planet
    than usual.
Rest - The fleet takes the day off. This command reduces the fleet's Soldier
    Fatigue (ヘイノ ヒロウド) by 30%.
Supply - This command is only available on planets that have resources. This
    command will do some of, or possibly all of, the following things
    depending on the planet the fleet is on: Restore Energy (エネルギー) by
    50%, increase Rations (ショクリョウ) by 50%, reduce Fleet Damage (カンタイ
    ダメージ) by 50%.


                              ===========
-------------------------------= Battles =-------------------------[sec1c]---
                              ===========

To beat the game, you must capture the enemy base on the planet Heinessen
(ハイネセン). To do so, you will need to capture other planets along the way.
You capture planets by moving one or more fleets to them and then defeating
all of the enemy fleet during battle. Two things affect your success in
battle: (1) The number of ships you have compare to the enemy number, and
(2) Your battle formation.

The biggest key to success is making sure that you overwhelm the enemy with a
large number of ships. However, to maximize your success, you should also
understand how the battle formations can affect the battle. Here are the
battle formations:

1: o o o o o o o o o o


2:          o
          o o
         o o o
        o o o o


3:          o
         o   o
       o       o
          o o
         o   o
           o


4:   o      o      o

      o   o o   o
           o
         o   o


5:         o o
         o o o
        o     o
       o   o   o


6:       o o o o

         o o o

         o o o


7:     o         o
     o           o
       o   o   o
         o   o

           o

If you and the enemy have a comparable number of ships, the outcome of the
battle will be predicted by these charts:

---------Enemy fleet in formation 1------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       2        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       3        |     3000     |    5000     |
|       4        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       5        |     4000     |    2000     |
|       6        |     2000     |    2000     |
|       7        |     4000     |    4000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 2------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       2        |     2000     |    2000     |
|       3        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       4        |     2000     |    4000     |
|       5        |     3000     |    2000     |
|       6        |     3000     |    1000     |
|       7        |     4000     |    3000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 3------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     5000     |    3000     |
|       2        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       3        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       4        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       5        |     3000     |    4000     |
|       6        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       7        |     2000     |    5000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 4------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       2        |     4000     |    2000     |
|       3        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       4        |     5000     |    5000     |
|       5        |     3000     |    4000     |
|       6        |     3000     |    5000     |
|       7        |     5000     |    5000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 5------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     2000     |    4000     |
|       2        |     2000     |    3000     |
|       3        |     4000     |    3000     |
|       4        |     4000     |    3000     |
|       5        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       6        |     1000     |    2000     |
|       7        |     5000     |    2000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 6------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     2000     |    2000     |
|       2        |     1000     |    3000     |
|       3        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       4        |     5000     |    3000     |
|       5        |     2000     |    1000     |
|       6        |     1000     |    1000     |
|       7        |     3000     |    3000     |
-----------------------------------------------

---------Enemy fleet in formation 7------------
| Your formation | Enemy losses | Your losses |
|---------------------------------------------|
|       1        |     4000     |    4000     |
|       2        |     3000     |    4000     |
|       3        |     5000     |    2000     |
|       4        |     5000     |    5000     |
|       5        |     2000     |    5000     |
|       6        |     3000     |    3000     |
|       7        |     5000     |    5000     |
-----------------------------------------------

By examining the above charts, you can see that you should choose the
following formations in each case to have the most success:

------------------------------------
| Enemy formation | Your formation |
|----------------------------------|
|        1        |        5       |
|        2        |        6       |
|        3        |        1       |
|        4        |        2       |
|        5        |        7       |
|        6        |        4       |
|        7        |        3       |
------------------------------------

You will only know the enemy formation in advance if you use the Scout
(テイサツ) command on the planet you are invading. However, if the battle
lasts for more than one day, then the enemy formation will still be the same
on the subsequent days, so you can adjust accordingly.

The enemy losses will be much greater per turn than the values listed in the
above charts, and your losses less, if you have a significantly larger number
of ships than the enemy. But the best formations are still the same.

If a fleet was engaged in battle on a day, but neither side was wiped out,
you may get the following options on the next day for that fleet:
セントウ ゾッコウ - "Resume battle". Engage in another round of battle.
タイキャク - "Retreat". Run to a different planet.

These options are only available if you have enough Energy (エネルギー) to
travel to another planet. Otherwise, you will automatically continue the
battle and a supply of Energy will automatically be sent to this fleet and
arrive on a later day.

The enemy will also periodically try to re-capture planets that you've
claimed. This seems to happen mostly on planets that have supplies. If this
is a planet that you don't have a fleet on, the game won't even give you any
indication that this has happened. You will simply notice that one of the
planets has returned to red in color.


                            ===============
-----------------------------= Fleet Stats =-----------------------[sec1d]---
                            ===============

Each fleet has the following stats:
イドウリョク - "Speed". In units of lightyears (光年).
エネルギー - "Energy"
ショクリョウ - "Rations"
カンタイ ダメージ - "Fleet Damage"
ヘイノ ヒロウド - "Soldier Fatigue"

Here are the effects of each stat:
Speed - Determines how many days it will take a fleet to travel from one
    planet to another. If you want fleets with different speeds to arrive at
    a planet at the same time so they can team up in battle, you will have
    to stagger their departure times. To see how many days it will take a
    particular fleet to reach a destination, have them use the Scout
    (テイサツ) command on the destination planet. The number of days
    estimated is often wrong by one day for some reason, but not always.
Energy - Used to travel to other planets and serves no other purpose. Can be
    refilled by using the Supply (ホキュウ) command at certain planets. If it
    is too low to move to another planet, a supply of Energy will
    automatically be shipped to the fleet. The number of days you have to
    wait for the shipment is said to you by the fleet commander each day.
    When it arrives, indicated by an animation showing cargo boxes entering
    a ship, the fleet's Energy will be restored to 100%.
Rations - This needs to be above 0% or else your fleet's Soldier Fatigue will
    increase each day. Rations decrease by 3% each day and can be refilled
    by using the Supply (ホキュウ) command on certain planets.
Fleet Damage - Each fleet contains 12000 ships to start with. As ships are
    destroyed, the Fleet Damage percent increases. The fleet is permanently
    wiped out if this value reaches 100% (all ships destroyed). This value
    can be reduced by using the Supply (ホキュウ) command on certain planets,
    and the number of ships in the fleet will increase again accordingly.
Soldier Fatigue - This value needs to remain below 100% or else the Fleet
    Damage will increase by 10% each day. Fatigue can be reduced by using
    the Rest (キュウソク) command on any planet.


           - - - = = = ======================== = = = - - -
           - - - = = = ===== Your Fleets ====== = = = - - -
           - - - = = = ======================== = = = - - -        [sec2]

You have 11 fleets at your disposal. The only differences in your fleets are
their Speed (イドウリョク) rating. Below, I list the fleets, their commanders,
and their speeds.

Fleet 1:
Commander - Paul von Oberstein (オーベルシュタイン)
Speed - 16 光年

Fleet 2:
Commander - Oskar von Reuenthal (ロイエンタール)
Speed - 20 光年

Fleet 3:
Commander - Wolfgang Mittermeyer (ミッターマイヤー)
Speed - 30 光年

Fleet 4:
Commander - Hildegard von Mariendorf (マリーンドルフ)
Speed - 16 光年

Fleet 5:
Commander - Ernest Mecklinger (メックリンガー)
Speed - 16 光年

Fleet 6:
Commander - Ulrich Kesler (ケスラー)
Speed - 16 光年

Fleet 7:
Commander - August Samuel Wahlen (ワーレン)
Speed - 16 光年

Fleet 8:
Commander - Fritz Josef Bittenfeld (ビッテンフェルト)
Speed - 20 光年

Fleet 9:
Commander - Ernst von Eisenach (アイゼナッハ)
Speed - 12 光年

Fleet 10:
Commander - Adalbert von Fahrenheit (ファーレンハイト)
Speed - 12 光年

Fleet 11:
Commander - Hauser von Steiermark (ハウサー)
Speed - 12 光年


             - - - = = = ====================== = = = - - -
             - - - = = = ====== Planets ======= = = = - - -
             - - - = = = ====================== = = = - - -        [sec3]

Here is the map of the planets:

             d       g
                  f
             b
               a    e

       I    L    Z X Y
G
  E      J         V W
F                 U
      H     K
D              M      O
        T          N
C
  B             S     P
A                   R Q

Below are the names of the planets and the resources they contain.
Planet A:
Name - ミニュアス
Resources - Energy, Rations, and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet B:
Name - ヒュプノィア
Resources - None.

Planet C:
Name - キュクレウス
Resources - None.

Planet D:
Name - ニュクテーナ
Resources - None.

Planet E:
Name - ドリュアント
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet F:
Name - ドーリア
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet G:
Name - バンフリート
Resources - None.

Planet H:
Name - コリューバスト
Resources - None.

Planet I:
Name - ライガール
Resources - None.

Planet J:
Name - マル ペッサ
Resources - None.

Planet K:
Name - トリプラ
Resources - None.

Planet L:
Name - ペルセボネ
Resources - Rations.

Planet M:
Name - ラグプール
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet N:
Name - シャンプール
Resources - Rations.

Planet O:
Name - レグニツァ
Resources - None.

Planet P:
Name - ガンダルバ
Resources - None.

Planet Q:
Name - マル アデッタ
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet R:
Name - エル ファシル
Resources - None.

Planet S:
Name - ランテマリオ
Resources - None.

Planet T:
Name - バーラト
Resources - Rations.

Planet U:
Name - ダゴン
Resources - None.

Planet V:
Name - メルカルト
Resources - None.

Planet W:
Name - バーミリオン
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet X:
Name - ネプティス
Resources - Energy, Rations, and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet Y:
Name - リューカス
Resources - None.

Planet Z:
Name - バルメレンド
Resources - None.

Planet a:
Name - ポレビト
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet b:
Name - カッファー
Resources - None.

Planet d:
Name - アスターテ
Resources - Energy and repair Fleet Damage.

Planet e:
Name - エリューセラ
Resources - None.

Planet f:
Name - リオベルデ
Resources - Rations.

Planet g:
Name - ハイネセン
Resources - Enemy base.


             - - - = = = ====================== = = = - - -
             - - - = = = ===== Strategies ===== = = = - - -
             - - - = = = ====================== = = = - - -        [sec4]

---Strength in numbers-------------------------------------------------------
The best way to win battles is to overwhelm the enemy with a large number of
ships. To do this, you will want multiple fleets to arrive at a planet at the
same time. Since fleets have different speeds, it is difficult to make them
arrive at the same time without a lot of scouting to determine planet
distances and taking up a lot of your time on planning.

Instead, group your fleets into fleets that have the same speed and have them
travel together. Your groups would be:
Speed 12 group - Fleets 9, 10, and 11.
Speed 16 group - Fleets 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Speed 20 group - Fleets 2 and 8.
Speed 30 - Fleet 3.

The speed 12 and 16 groups will be your workhorses in terms of invading
planets because they will have so many ships total that no planet will be
able to stop them. The speed 20 group will also likely be able to invade most
planets, but they may occasionally come across planets with comparable
numbers of ships. Fleet 3 can be used as backup in case you need more ships
to quickly arrive at a battle since it has such a high movement speed. You
can also break the speed 16 group into two groups from time to time.

Try not to leave fleets alone on a planet. Occasionally, enemy fleets will
invade your planets and a lone fleet will be forced to fend for itself. This
happens more often on planets that have resources.

---Battle Formations---------------------------------------------------------
As explained in the "Battles" section above, you can gain an advantage over
the enemy by choosing the correct battle formation. But you will only know
which formation to choose if you know the enemy's formation before the
battle begins.

You can learn the enemy's formation by using the Scout command. If you have
a fleet that can afford to waste its turn on scouting, then go ahead and do
so. But if you have a high ship number advatage over the enemy, your
formation choice won't matter as much, so you can avoid using the Scout
command in those situations since you'll win anyway.

If a battle lasts more than one day, the enemy fleet will remain in the
same formation, so you can adjust yours to get a better advantage on the
subsequent days.

---Planets With Resources----------------------------------------------------
To wander farther away from your home base, you'll need to find resources on
other planets. Therefore, you should plan ahead to focus on capturing planets
with resources. Take your time and be patient on your conquest and return to
planets you've already captured often to resupply. There is no time limit in
the game.

After capturing a planet with resources, there is a good chance that an enemy
fleet will arrive a few days later for a counter-attack. So keep a healthy
number of ships on the planet to meet it. It's good to face these attacks
since it will reduce the overall number of ships the enemy has in the map.

---Prolonged Battles---------------------------------------------------------
If a battle doesn't end in one day (neither team is completely wiped out),
then it will continue on the next day. If this happens for too many days in a
row, enemy reinforcements will arrive. If you have a large number of ships,
this should be no problem, but if you don't, you may find the battle to
become impossible to win. Therefore, never engage in a battle that you can't
win within two or three days with a small fleet.

---Endgame-------------------------------------------------------------------
You want to shoot for capturing the planet Neptis (ネプティス). It contains
all of the kinds of resources and is located near the enemy's base. After
taking Neptis, you can consider attacking the enemy base. First, have
someone scout it to find out how many ships are there. If the number is
high, you should probably invade some other planets and see if you can
lure some of those ships away. Also, scout the base to find out what battle
formation you should use.

When you attack the enemy base, the enemy fleet will be much stronger than
usual, so you need to have a much bigger ship number than usual. To have all
of your fleets arrive at the enemy base at the same time, have them parked on
Neptis with their Energy at 100% and their Fleet Damage at 0%. Then stagger
your departure days by following these diretions:

On the first day, send the speed 12 group fleets to attack the enemy base and
have your other fleets wait. On the next day, send your speed 16 group fleets
to join the attack and have your others wait. On the next day, have all your
fleets wait. On the next day, have the speed 20 fleets join the attack. On
the next day, have the speed 30 group join the attack. Now all of your fleets
arrive to decimate the enemy base on the same day. Here is a summary of these
directions:
Day 1 - Speed 12 fleets depart.
Day 2 - Speed 16 fleets depart.
Day 3 - No action.
Day 4 - Speed 20 fleets depart.
Day 5 - Speed 30 fleet departs.

After capturing the enemy base, you have beaten the game! The ending is
essentially just you (Reinhard) congratulating the fleet commanders on their
valiant effort. Only the commanders who survived will be shown. Also, the
number of days it took you to win will be shown, so you can try to beat it
in less days for some replay value.


               - - - = = = ================== = = = - - -
               - - - = = = === Conclusion === = = = - - -
               - - - = = = ================== = = = - - -

I hope you found this guide useful.  If you have information that you'd
like to contribute or other suggestions for how the guide can be made better
or if you find any mistakes, please send it to [email protected].  I
will give you the proper credit for your help.

Thanks to the NES FAQ Completion Project regulars for providing a fun
environment for exploring old, obscure games!

Special thanks to odino for correcting one of the commander names for me.