Starflight
- Achievement set difficulty: 4/10
- Estimated time to complete: ~4 hours
- Number of play throughs necessary: 2
- Missable achievements: 5
Originally released for MS-DOS on August 15, 1986, Starflight would receive a revamped port to the Sega Genesis on May 15, 1991. The Genesis port brought with it new graphics, modifications to the ship, and upgrades for the Terrain Vehicle, including equipment to allow for travel/mining over water. The enhancements did come at a cost, though: some of the game's content had to be cut down due to hardware limitations. In 2011, Mass Effect director Casey Hudson tweeted that "Starflight was a key inspiration for the Mass Effect series."
The vast majority of the set can be done in a single playthrough but there's a single achievement that requires a second run. The game is actually very short, however, with a full run taking less than five minutes. There are five missable achievements and they will be listed at the top of this guide. The rest will be listed in the same order as the Retro Achievements website.
Befriend an Elowan group.
- When hailing, use a friendly posture. If they ask "have you eaten headfruit?", reply no.
- If you have a Thrynn on your crew, have traded with the Thrynn recently, or have been friendly with the Thrynn recently, they will not be friendly towards you.
Important: If you destroy their home planet Elan for the achievement The Nuclear Option, they will always be hostile towards you, so make sure you do this achievement beforehand.
Befriend a Thrynn fleet.
- When hailing, use a friendly posture. If you have an artifact on you, they will want to buy it. This will trigger the achievement and selling isn't necessary.
- You can buy the Black Box from them if you have 30 Endurium+ to spare.
- If you have an Elowan on your crew, or have been friendly with the Elowan recently, they will not be friendly towards you.
- Destroying Thoss for The Nuclear Option doesn't impact their behavior towards you.
Destroy an 8 ship Uhlek battlegroup without enabling your shields.
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You can consistently encounter this battlegroup by using the flux at coordinates "136, 84".
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The easiest way to win the fight is to have the following setup:
- Engines: Class 4 or 5
- Armor: Class 5
- Shields: None
- Weapons: Buzz Bombs
- 100 or more Endurium+
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After taking the flux, face your ship to the east and wait. Once you get the message that you're being encountered, hold the accelerate button (Up) and start spamming buzz bombs.
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You can shoot three bombs at a time and they will trail behind you. As long as you fly in a straight line, their shots will usually miss you by a good bit.
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Once you're just out of reach of their projectiles, stop holding accelerate. Tap accelerate a couple of times, wait, tap, wait, etc. If you get too far away from the battlegroup, the encounter will end before you're able to destroy all 8. It's a battle of attrition, which is why you need a lot of Endurium+. Endurium+ is used as ammunition, as well as fuel, and if you run out, you're dead.
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You can scavenge the enemy ships by flying over their wreckage during the fight, which gives a good bit of titanium and a lot of Endurium+. The battlefield is infinite and loops around.
Important: If you do the achievement Bugging the Hive Mind, the Uhlek will no longer appear in the game, so make sure you do this achievement beforehand.
Encounter all alien civilizations in one session.
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Which civilizations you've met is not stored in the game's save file, so all seven must be encountered without powering down the emulator. If you close the game, the achievement can no longer keep track of which civilizations you have and have not encountered.
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The seven civilizations are:
- Ulhek
- Elowan
- Thrynn
- Mechhan
- Spemin
- Velox
- Gazurtoid
Important: If you do the achievement Bugging the Hive Mind, the Uhlek will no longer appear in the game, so make sure you encounter them at least once beforehand.
Purchase the Black Box from the Thrynn.
- If you are friendly with the Thrynn, they will sell you the Black Box in exchange for 30 Endurium+.
- The Black Box does nothing but is necessary for the achievement Heir to The Institute.
- If you have an Elowan on your crew, or have been friendly with the Elowan recently, they will not be friendly towards you.
Important: If you destroy their home planet Thoss for the achievement The Nuclear Option, they will always be hostile towards you, so make sure you do this achievement beforehand.
Find the remains of the Institute and learn how to save the galaxy.
| Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| 165, 84 | 1st | 75S x 66E |
Reach Heaven and log it's location for a new colony.
- Logging the planet also counts towards Dedicated Surveyor.
- Creatures can be found on the planet for Traveling Xeno-Zoo
| Starmap | Planet |
| 145,07 | 4th |
Find a 'Black Egg' planetary bomb."
Collect all three black eggs, they don't need to be in your cargo hold at the same time.
- Even if you use the egg, it still counts towards the achievement.
- It's one of two necessary items to finish the game.
- Creatures can be found on the first planet for Traveling Xeno-Zoo.
| Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| 143, 115 234, 20 238, 189 |
1st 2nd 3rd |
28N x 4E 35S x 99E 52N x 16E |
Steal the Crystal Orb from the Veloxi.
- The orb negates the Crystal Planet's defense systems and is one of two necessary items to finish the game.
- You'll need answer the questions given by a Veloxi Probe, or destroy it, in order to land on the planet.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Crystal Orb | 132, 165 | 1st | 46N x 14E |
Find the Dodecahedron and recover the Shimmering Ball from the Gartuzoids.
- The artifacts can be collected in either order.
- The planet where the Dodecahedron is located can be logged for Dedicated Surveyor
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Dodecahedron | 118, 146 | 4th | 16S x 20W |
| Shimmering Orb | 68, 66 | 1st | 12N x 32E |
Important: Do not save after getting the Dodecahedron if you have not done Daring Pacifist yet.
Find the Ring Device and Hypercube artifacts.
- The artifacts can be collected in either order.
- The 2nd and 3rd planets can be logged for Dedicated Surveyor.
- The 3rd planet can be blown up after being logged for Oh, The Humanity
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Hypercube | 215, 86 | 3rd | 12N x 104W |
| Ring Device | 215, 86 | 4th | 90N x 0 |
Important: Make sure to grab the Hypercube before blowing up the 3rd planet. Otherwise, you will blow up the Hypercube along with it, locking this achievement.
Follow the trail of Harrison to get the Rod Device and Ellipsoid artifacts.
- The artifacts can be collected in either order
- Following the clues isn't necessary in order to collect them
- Creatures can be found on both planets for Traveling Xeno-Zoo.
- The planet where the Ellipsoid is located can be logged for Dedicated Surveyor.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Rod Device | 180, 124 | 2nd | 59N x 22E |
| Ellipsoid | 81, 98 | 1st | 44S x 137W |
Fly into Uhlek Space and recover the stolen Red Cylinder and Tesseract artifacts.
- The artifacts can be collected in either order
- Creatures can be found on both planets for Traveling Xeno-Zoo.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Red Cylinder | 112, 200 | 3rd | 59N x 64W |
| Tessaract | 18, 50 | 5th | 15N x 44W |
Discover the artifact in the City of the Ancients.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Crystal Pearl | 56, 144 | 1st | 29N x 13W |
Steal the Crystal Cone from the Uhlek.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Crystal Cone | 20, 198 | 1st | 29S x 55W |
Important: Do not save after getting the Crystal Cone if you have not done Daring Pacifist yet.
Stop the solar flares before Arth is destroyed.
- Progression achievement for beating the game
Get the loyalty of the Mechans.
- Hail with a friendly posture
- The Mechans will ask you various questions which you need to answer correctly. Not all questions listed may be asked.
| Are you Group 9? | Yes |
| Do you serve Layton? | No |
| Are you ready for Heaven? | Yes |
| Shall we wait for Noah? | No |
| Should we maintain code blue? | No |
| Should we go to code red? | Yes |
| Are you an enemy of Noah? | No |
Befriend the Veloxi.
- Hail with an obsequious posture to start.
- If you have the Ellipsoid in your cargo, they will ask for it. After giving it to them, the achievement will trigger.
Subjugate a Spemin group without using the artifact to do so.
- Hail with a hostile posture and continue to make hostile statements until they become obsequious.
Get past a Veloxi Defense Probe by answering its questions.
- Answer yes to any number that is divisible by six and no to any that are not.
| 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 | 36 |
| 42 | 48 | 54 | 60 | 66 | 72 |
| 78 | 84 | 90 | 96 |
Encounter a Minstrel and listen to their poem.
- They will be encountered randomly as you travel. Hail with a friendly posture.
- The achievement will trigger once it starts talking.
Find a NOMAD Probe and retrieve its data.
- They will be encountered randomly as you travel. Hail with a friendly posture.
- They will give coordinates for viable planets to log.
Receive the Mysterion's message.
- They will be encountered randomly as you travel. Hail with a friendly posture.
- The message they give is in binary and has no real purpose in the game.
Fully upgrade your TV.
- Purchase all of the upgrades from Starport.
- Pontoons should be purchased first. If your TV sinks in water, it's destroyed.
- The value of selling the upgrades is equal to their cost.
| Upgrade | Cost |
| Ice Runners | 1,000 |
| Snow Treads | 2,000 |
| Pontoons | 3,000 |
| Extra Cargo | 5,000 |
| Turbo Chargers | 10,000 |
| Heavy Armor | 20,000 |
| Wide Angle Stunner | 50,000 |
| Radar | 150,000 |
| Mineral Scanner 2 | 450,000 |
| Total | 691,000 |
Fully upgrade your Starship.
- Purchase all Class 5 upgrades from Starport, including all weapons. Lower class upgrades are not necessary.
| Upgrade | Cost |
| Engine | 100,000 |
| Shield | 125,000 |
| Armor | 25,000 |
| Pulse Cannon | 1,000 |
| Tri Canon | 2,500 |
| Buzz Bombs | 50,000 |
| Fusion Blaster | 100,000 |
| Photon Torpedo | 250,000 |
| Lance | 8,000 |
| Twin Beam | 100,000 |
| Phaser | 450,000 |
| Total | 1,211,500 |
Log at least 12 viable planets for colonization.
- There are a lot of viable planets throughout the game. Here is a list of convenient planets that you have to visit, or ones nearby, if doing all achievements.
| Coordinates | Planet | Achievement |
| 145, 107 | 4th | Successor to Noah |
| 215, 86 | 3rd | Cradle of Humanity |
| 215, 86 | 2nd | Cradle of Humanity |
| 55, 32 | 2nd | Bugging the Hive Mind |
| 165,84 | 6th | What Needs to be Done |
| 81, 98 | 1st | Chasing Ghosts |
| 129, 33 | 2nd | The Nuclear Option (Thoss) |
| 118, 146 | 4th | The Scanning Device |
| 149, 133 | 4th | N/A |
| 175, 94 | 1st | N/A |
| 163, 119 | 3rd | N/A |
Have a 5 member crew where each of them has at least one level 250 skill.
- Each race has specific skills that can be increased to 250.
- All members of your crew can be the same race, as long as you have five total.
| Race | Skill |
| Human | Science |
| Veloxi | Navigation Engineering |
| Thrynn | Communication |
| Elowan | Communication Medical |
Have at least 14 different alien species in your cargo hold at once.
- There are a total of 20 different species in the game. Not all are listed in the chart but the ones listed can be found on each planet you have to visit if completing the achievement set.
| Creature | Coordinates | Planet | Achievement |
| Orbula Draggin |
143, 115 | 1st | Herald of Destruction |
| Spinster Termode |
165, 84 | 6th | What Needs to be Done |
| Aerodactyle Biwing Gigantick |
18, 50 |
5th | Galactic Explorer's Essentials |
| Crawleye | 112, 200 | 3rd | Galactic Explorer's Essentials |
| Amorphlux Wingwraith |
180, 124 81, 98 |
2nd 1st |
Chasing Ghosts |
| Octapede | 55, 32 | 2nd | Bugging the Hive Mind |
| Aspect | 129, 33 | 2nd | The Nuclear Option |
| Slugyte Zeeb |
125, 100 | 3rd | Next to Starport |
In one session, have at least 400 units of valuable mined minerals at once. These are silver, gold, platinum, plutonium and rodnium.
- You must mine and have it all in your cargo hold at once
- Buying any at the Starport trading center will lock the achievement and all related materials must be sold down to zero before it will unlock.
- Many planets have the necessary materials but here are the two best.
| Coordinates | Planet | Minerals |
| 125, 100 | 1st | Silver Plutonium |
| 217, 88 | 4th | Rodnuim |
Find all Artifacts except for the Flat Device and Whining Orb. They don't need to be in your possession all at once.
- You can sell, trade away, or use the artifacts and they will still count
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Black Egg | 143, 115 234, 20 238, 189 |
1st 2nd 3rd |
28N x 4E 35S x 99E 52N x 16E |
| Crystal Cone | 20, 198 | 1st | 29S x 55W |
| Crystal Orb | 132, 165 | 1st | 46N x 14E |
| Crystal Pearl | 56, 144 | 1st | 29N x 13W |
| Dodecahedron | 118, 146 | 4th | 16S x 20W |
| Ellipsoid | 81, 98 | 1st | 44S x 137W |
| Hypercube | 215, 86 | 3rd | 12N x 104W |
| Red Cylinder | 112, 200 | 3rd | 59N x 64W |
| Ring Device | 215, 86 | 4th | 90N x 0 |
| Rod Device | 180, 124 | 2nd | 59N x 22E |
| Shimmering Orb | 68, 66 | 1st | 12N x 32E |
| Tessaract | 18, 50 | 5th | 15N x 44W |
While keeping the Dodecahedron in your cargo hold, collect the Crystal Cone and clear the game without interfering with the Uhlek Brain World.
- These artifacts must be collected in this order.
- Do not save after collecting either one. Since the Crystal Cone is located in Ulhek territory, there is a good chance you will be attacked.
- If you die, the achievement will unprime and will not prime again until the Dodecahedron is picked up.
| Artifact | Starmap | Planet | Planet Map |
| Dodecahedron | 118, 146 | 4th | 16S x 20W |
| Crystal Cone | 20, 198 | 1st | 29S x 55W |
Win the game within two in-game days.
- The game can be completed in around five minutes following this route:
- Hire one Android and assign it to all five crew slots
- Purchase 2 cargo pods
- Spend the rest of your money on Endurium+
- Take the flux at
- Pick up the Black Egg at: 143, 115, 1st planet, 28N x 4E
- Pick up the Crystal Orb at: 132, 165, 1st planet, 46N x 14E. Make sure to pick up the Endurium+ off the ground.
- Fly to the Crystal Planet at 192, 152 and land at 47N x 45E
- Drop the Black Egg and fly away.
- It's recommended to save throughout the run. Dying and reloading does not lock out the achievement.
Land on a gas giant.
- Any planet that's large and red. When trying to land, you will be warned that trying to land will crush your ship.
Important: Getting this achievement will kill you, resulting in a game over. Save before attempting!
Destroy Earth.
- Drop a Black Egg anywhere on the planet and fly away.
Important: The Hypercube is on Earth. If you destroy the planet before getting it, you can't get it anymore. Make sure to get the Hypercube first!
'Settle' the conflict between the Elowan and the Thrynn by destroying either Elan or Thoss.
- You don't have to talk to either race, only blow up their home world. Show up, drop a Black Egg, and fly away.
- Thoss is recommended, since it can be logged for Dedicated Surveyor and has a creature for Traveling Xeno-Zoo.
| Race | Coordinates | Planet | Achievement |
| Thrynn (Thoss) | 129, 33 | 2nd |
Rebuilding the Old Empire Those Bastards Lied to Me |
| Elowan (Elan) | 148, 63 | 2nd | Seekers of Knowledge |
Important: Regardless of which you choose, make sure you any other achievements regarding their race first. After you blow up the planet, they will always be hostile towards you.
Destroy Spewia, the Spemin homeworld.
- You don't have to talk to the Spemin, only blow up their home world. Show up, drop a Black Egg, and fly away.
| Coordinates | Planet |
| 82, 148 | 1st |
'Destroy' the Uhlek Brain World by logging it for colonization after analyzing it.
- Show up to the planet and log it as viable.
- Due to a programming oversight by the game's developers, logging the planet has the same results as destroying it with a Black Egg.
| Coordinates | Planet | Achievement |
| 55, 32 | 2nd |
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee Envoy of Arth |
Important: Make sure you do the related achievements first. Unlike with other races, 'destroying' their planet causes them to stop appearing in the game entirely.
Destroy an Uhlek or Gartuzoid Battlegroup of at least 3 ships.
- This can be done at the same time as Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee
Discover the real identity of the Ancients.
- Progression achievement while beating the game.