Catch a Falling Star Advanced Achievement Guide

Advanced achievement guide for the harder achievements in Catch a Falling Star, including 'Money Hoarder' (saving 2500 StarCoins) and 'Star Deity' (getting a score of 5000 points).

Introduction

Hi, this guide will not focus on the majority of achievements as most are self-explanatory and gained over time just by playing the game. Instead, it will focus on the following achievements:

• Money Hoarder - Save 2500 StarCoins
  
• Big Spender - Spend 1000 StarCoins
  
• All the New Looks - Purchase all the new basket designs
  
• Both theme achievements
  
• Star Deity - Score your first 5000 points. NICE!!

The guide will be split into two main parts, one dealing with the most efficient way to save 2500 StarCoins and the other with getting a score of 5000 points. Thanks for reading!

Maximising Profit: Earning 2500 StarCoins

To skip this section, head to Becoming a Star Deity. The two are meant to be read together, but can be read separately.

This achievement is the one that will take the longest and, at the time of writing, was the least achieved according to Steam's global achievement stats with around 2.6% of players getting it. While not necessarily hard in and of itself, the difficulty comes from the amount of time it takes to get to 2500. Outlined below is what I believe to be the most efficient method of making money in this game, and thus the fastest route to 2500 StarCoins.

The first thing to do is look at how StarCoins are found. There are three ways:

• 1) Catching the falling StarCoins that drop randomly whilst playing. Each single falling coin is actually worth 20 StarCoins.
  
• 2) Reaching 1000 points by depositing a basket. This nets you 5 StarCoins per every 1000 points (pts) earned. (Note that reaching a multiple of 1000 by bumping ice will not get you the coins - you will still have to deposit a basket to claim them)
  
• 3) Bumping ice with your basket. For every 5 ice bumped, you will get 1 StarCoin.

So, it is fairly obvious that the falling StarCoins are by far the most worthwhile to go for. You would have to reach 4000pts to earn the same as a single StarCoin, or bump 100 ice (though obviously all three are worth doing). Therefore the best approach must be focused around the falling StarCoins.

Junk Runs
So to begin with, start the game and focus on catching StarCoins, bumping ice, and if possible, reaching multiple thousands of points. The initial goal is to increase basket space to its maximum number of spaces, which will cost 250 StarCoins. This will not directly benefit the 'Money Hoarder' and related achievements except by making it easier to reach multiples of 1000pts, but will be essential for attaining 'Star Deity'. These will be the only StarCoins you should spend until you have reached 2500.
Now you are ready to start farming gold and earning the majority of achievements. To do this, you need to focus on junk runs. The principle of junk runs is simple: playing in a non-score-focused way. Whether for achievements or StarCoins, you need to realise that the purpose of these runs is not reaching a score of 5000.
Junk runs can be used to get most achievements out of the way, including the following negative ones:

• Ouch - Catch a "lose a life" penalty
  
• Masochist - Catch 10 "lose a life" penalties
  
• No Bonus for You - Deposit a basket that hasn't been completely filled with stars
  
• Ice Cold - Deposit a basket with at least 3 ice

Getting these negative achievements on purpose instead of waiting for them to occur naturally will save you a lot of time and effort. Once they are done, you need no longer think about them.

Making the Money
Now the junk runs can be focused on StarCoins alone. This is simply a case of changing the way you play to focus on those falling StarCoins above all else. Listed below are some of the ways you can catch falling StarCoins with maximum efficiency.

• If a star and a StarCoin are falling at the same time, go for the StarCoin. It takes some learning to override the impulse to always go for stars, but the logic is simple. Even 1000pts (far more than the max - 220 - you will get from depositing a single full basket) is worth 15 StarCoins less than a single falling StarCoin. It is ALWAYS worth it to go for the StarCoin instead of the star, even if you are on your last life. They are called junk runs for a reason.
  
• Bumping ice as much as possible. Despite being worth much less than falling StarCoins, they make up for it with the frequency with which they drop. Ice falls all the time - it should become second nature as you progress to always be judging if you can bump the nearest ice and still catch the next star. It only takes 5 bumps to earn you 1 StarCoin; on longer runs, this can really start to add up.
  
• Reaching multiples of 1000 points. This is worth aiming at for several reasons. Firstly for the 5 StarCoins, secondly for the practise for when your junk run becomes a real one. Though remember that this is still much less valuable than a falling StarCoin, and the falling StarCoin should be chosen instead of the points even if you are at 999 eg.
  
• Not buying powerups. For junk runs, buying powerups is never worth it. Spending 50 StarCoins on a "Faster Basket" powerup so you can catch one falling StarCoin worth 20 doesn't exactly make sense, does it? The only reason you would buy a powerup at this stage would be to save it for a real run.

Useful Powerups
Only a few falling powerups are useful for saving 2500 StarCoins:

• Faster Basket - This will never not be useful. Use it to bump as much ice as possible between catching stars. A rule I made for myself was to try and get at least one coin to drop from bumping five pieces of ice in the time the Faster Basket powerup lasted.
  
• No Wind - Simply to make falling StarCoins easier to collect.
  
• Extra Life - Useful to extend your junk run, though not essential. As always, if one of these falls at the same time as a StarCoin, go for the StarCoin.

Non-Useful Powerups

• All of the penalties.
  
• Less Ice - With ice as a somewhat decent way of making extra StarCoins, it makes sense not to go for this powerup. Only worth going for if ice going into your basket keeps killing your junk runs. (It is worth noting that the More Ice penalty should not be gone for either - the amount of ice that falls is more likely to kill your run than earn you a StarCoin.)
  
• Slow Stars - Though it might seem good, this powerup is, in my opinion, always bad. The stars fall slower, but they do not seem to spawn any slower. The end result is that as the powerup reaches the end of its timer, several slow-falling stars can be on the screen at once. These then fall at their normal speed, and can be impossible to catch. Whether doing junk runs for StarCoins or real runs for points, the Slow Star powerup should be actively avoided.

Knew I should never have picked up that Slow Star powerup...

The Role of Luck
Provided you are doing all the above, each junk run should net you anywhere from ~50 StarCoins to 150+. On longer runs it's possible to reach 200. Once your individual skill reaches a fairly high level, the only other factor at play is luck. Sometimes almost no StarCoins will fall, sometimes many will. Sometimes you will make all your money in a run simply from bumping ice and reaching 1000s of points, sometimes your run will be prematurely killed by badly timed "lose a life" penalties and ice slowing you down. It is so often solely luck of the draw, so don't be disheartened if you have a few bad runs.

Overview
If you follow this guide from the beginning of your time playing Catch a Falling Star, I think a conservative estimate of the time it will take to reach 2500 StarCoins is 6-7 hours. If, like me, you bought some baskets/themes before starting to save for 2500, expect this to take 6-7 hours on top of what you have already played. As stated at the beginning, the 'Money Hoarder' achievement is only difficult in that it takes a considerable amount of time.
Once you have saved 2500 StarCoins and have achieved 'Money Hoarder', you may find you still do not have enough StarCoins to buy all of the baskets/themes.

• 22 baskets = 2200 StarCoins
  
• 2 themes = 600 StarCoins
  
• Total = 2800 StarCoins

Once you have that total and have bought all the baskets, themes and at least one powerup, you will have earned all the StarCoin related achievements in the game. Congratulations!
What dreams are made of.

Becoming a Star Deity: 5000 points and counting

From Junk Runs to Real Ones
As your skill level increases, you will find that even on junk runs you are reaching higher and higher multiples of 1000pts. When this is the case, it is time to start thinking about real runs.
Any junk run can be transformed into a real run. My first 5000pt run started as a junk run. To know when to stop prioritising StarCoins and start thinking about reaching 5000pts instead, you should ideally have done one or both of the following:

• Reached over 2000pts without losing a life. 3000+ is hard, 4000+ is very hard; if you do not have plenty of lives in reserve, there is no point even thinking about trying a real run.
  
• Caught one or more Extra Life powerups. In a perfect world, a real run would start when you have five lives. Every life will bring you closer to 5000pts - the more lives you have, the higher your chance of success.

So you have 5 lives fairly early, or you have managed to get near 3000pts without losing a life? Then it's time for a shot at the 'Star Deity' achievement.

Handy Mechanics
Below the surface of Catch a Falling Star lie some interesting mechanics. Wind, powerups, bumping and positioning can all be exploited to help you get the highest score possible. Listed below are some key mechanics and other theories to improve your survivability and score in the real runs.

• Fully upgraded basket. This is essential for getting the highest full-basket bonuses. Fully upgrading your basket should be the first thing you spend any StarCoins on.
  
• Buying a powerup. On a real run, the only powerup worth buying is Faster Baskets. No Wind is possible also, but Faster Baskets would be the better choice in most situations. If buying a powerup, it is recommended to do it after saving 2500 StarCoins. (Just a note - I got 5000pts without buying a powerup. Buying Faster Baskets isn't essential.)
  
• Bonuses:
  > Full-basket bonus. You get this for depositing a full basket of stars. You should always be going for a full basket - the only situation where you should deposit your basket early is if you catch some ice in it by accident. All you can do then is deposit it and hope the next star lands close to you and not far away. Depositing a fully upgraded basket with the full-basket bonus will net you 110pts.
  > 2x bonus. This is a bonus for depositing your basket on the side of the screen furthest from you at the time you fill it. When your basket is full, the game will go into slow motion. You should start moving in the direction of the 2x side, looking only at the top of the screen. If the next star starts to fall on the 2x side, go for it and get the 2x bonus, then the star. If the star falls in the middle, check the wind and make a quick judgement. Erring on the side of caution is recommended. If the next star falls on the opposite side to the side with the 2x bonus, settle for the full-basket bonus only. This can be a little tricky, but with practise you will make the right decisions most of the time. Also, the slower the stars fall, the more time you have to get the bonus, so you should get it most of the time when <1000/2000pts and less so from then on. Depositing a fully upgraded basket with the full-basket bonus and the 2x bonus will net you 220pts.
  This is worth going for; there will be time to get the 2x bonus and the falling star afterwards. Note the wind direction
  
  This is not worth going for; there will not be time to get both the 2x bonus and the falling star.
  
  
• Bumping ice. Early in the run when the stars fall more slowly, it is usually safe to keep bumping ice. The points add up quickly for bumping ice; 5 ice bumped earns you 10 points (2 per ice). Only later, when the stars begin to fall faster, should ice be ignored.
  
• Bumping stars out of bounds. Just like bumping ice, stars can be bumped also (there is even an achievement for it). If they are bumped out of the bottom of the screen, you will lose a life just as if the star had fallen that way. But if you bump it left or right so it hits the side of the screen, the star will disappear just as if the wind had blown it away, and you will not lose a life. This is a reason why you should always go for stars, even if you're sure you won't reach them in time to catch them. You might just be able to bump them and save yourself a life.
  
• Positioning yourself in the middle of the screen. Whenever possible, move yourself towards the centremost position. It seems simple, but will give you the highest possible chance on average of catching each star.
  
• Positioning yourself in wind. When it is windy, positioning works a little differently. Let's say the wind is blowing strongly to the right. It might be wise to position yourself 3/5ths towards the right of the screen. This is because even if a star begins its fall at the far left, it will be blown quite a distance towards the right. Strong winds effectively lower the area in which you have to catch stars - try to position yourself in the middle of this smaller area.
  
• Gauging wind. It is important to keep an eye on the wind gauge as much as possible. Learning to guess where a star blown by wind will fall eventually comes naturally; the only difficulty comes when the wind quickly changes direction. Pay close attention or this could catch you out.
  
• Difficulty spikes. As you reach 2000/3000/4000pts etc., stars fall faster and wind becomes stronger. This is something to watch out for; the jump from 3000+ to 4000+ is particularly dramatic.
  
• Different basket sizes. Some say lower baskets give you a little more room for error when catching stars (the sieve eg.). I don't know if the hitboxes are any different for different baskets, I got all the achievements with a few baskets and couldn't see a noticeable difference.
  
• Japan theme. Some find this theme easier to get high scores on because of the lack of clouds. Bear in mind that spending the required 300/600 StarCoins (the first theme you unlock is random - it could be either theme) to get Japan will set you back on your journey to 2500 StarCoins and the 'Money Hoarder' achievement if you don't already have it. (Just a note - I got 5000pts with the stock theme. Japan isn't essential.)

Useful Powerups

• Less Ice - On a real run, forget about the StarCoins gained from bumping ice. Ice should be bumped when possible for a small amount of points at the start and later only to move it out of your way. Focus on the stars instead.
  
• Faster Basket/Extra Life - Self-explanatory.

Non-Useful Powerups

• All of the penalties.
  
• Less Wind - Given that wind effectively reduces the area in which stars will fall, it can be fairly useful. The only circumstance for catching this would be at 4000+pts if you are struggling with the wind changing direction so much.
  
• Slow Stars - The Slow Star powerup should be actively avoided. See Maximising Profit: The path to 2500 StarCoins > Non-Useful Powerups for details.

Overview
In the end, getting to 5000pts is a game of chance. You might get lucky and catch an extra life at 4000+pts, you might have 4 lives at 4500pts and lose them all (that actually happened to me!). Not taking risks, smart use of powerups, a little luck and a lot of perserverance and you will eventually reach 5000pts and the sweet sweet 'Star Deity' achievement to go with it.

See you on the leaderboard!

p.s. I realise that the nature of this guide isn't exactly in spirit with the casual nature of Catch a Falling Star! I wrote it for fun, based on thoughts I had while playing the game, and everyone is of course free to play the game exactly how they like :) Mistakes/Corrections? Comment, I'll credit you.

Game Feedback

I spent a fair amount of time playing Catch a Falling Star and I thought I'd talk about a few things I thought could be changed for the better. Most of this has to do with the 'Money Hoarder' achievement and how counterintuitive I feel it is.

So. 2500 StarCoins. That's a lot. A number that high wouldn't matter, though, but for the fact that collecting and earning StarCoins is so painfully slow. I think I see what the devs were trying to do with the 'Money Hoarder' achievement - give people a challenge achievement, something to strive for by those who want a higher level of difficulty and reward from the game.
Only it's not difficult. Just time-consuming. Reaching 5000pts had a real sense of progression for me in that at the beginning I was hardly making a few thousand, and at the end I was regularly pushing 4000+. I felt I was improving. The reward was there too - being on the leaderboard, seeing the achievement pop up, then beating my best score a second time.

But 'Money Hoarder' goes so far beyond that. It takes such a long time that my very reasons for doing it changed. I went for 'Star Deity' because I wanted the challenge, and I felt myself getting better at the game and closer with each try. I really enjoyed it. I went for 'Money Hoarder' because it was one of my last few achievements and, honestly, I didn't enjoy getting the last 1000 StarCoins at all. My feelings at the end of it were less reward and more relief. I wasn't glad that I had done it (necessarily), I was more glad that it was over.
It's different from 'Star Deity' in that there is no progression, just a grind. Saving and saving at a painfully slow rate.

I think the whole slow system of earning StarCoins could be fixed in a few different ways:

• Lower the amount of coins needed for the 'Money Hoarder' achievement. It would be easy to do, though I don't agree with this, as I don't think it would be in the spirit of the achievement. It was meant to be a challenge and my favourite achievements are the ones that challenge me. It just happens that at the moment the 'Money Hoarder' challenge is time-, not skill-based.
  
• Make StarCoins slightly easier to get. There could be lots of ways to do this that would enhance gameply without subtracting anything. Such as:
  
• > A powerup that makes more StarCoins fall for a few seconds. It could replace either Slow Stars or Less Ice, both inferior powerups in my opinion
  
• > 2/3/5 StarCoins earned when bumping powerups/penalties, just like ice but worth more. I feel like this could really add an element to the game, forcing people to choose between the powerup itself or the StarCoins you could earn by bumping it
  
• > Increase the StarCoins rewarded for reaching higher multiples of 1000; eg 5 StarCoins for 1000pts, 10 StarCoins for 2000pts, 15 for 3000 etc. Another incentive to score higher, and be rewarded for it

My other issue with 'Money Hoarder' is - and this is why it is counterintuitive - that it forces you to save your StarCoins. It is the only achievement that does this. Others require you to spend coins, and that is awesome. You spend the coins you earned, you get to try out cool new basket designs and enjoy new background themes, and on top of that you get achievements rewarding you for it. 'Money Hoarder' actively encourages you to do the opposite. You don't want to see other themes, you don't want to see new basket designs, you don't even want to buy powerups, all because you're saving for those 2500 StarCoins.
A theme I never bought because I was saving for 'Money Hoarder'

I feel like the achievement itself could so easily be changed from SAVE 2500 StarCoins to SPEND 2500 StarCoins, and suddenly it would be so much more worthwhile an achievement to get. You could buy, use and enjoy themes and their soundtracks, basket designs, and powerups, and be rewarded for buying them, instead of punished by not saving.

Just my thoughts. If anyone else feels this way, leave a comment. Would be great to get a discussion going.

Also, I don't know if anyone else noticed but there are a couple of typos in some achievements:

• No bonus for your - I'm guessing this should be 'No bonus for you', took me a while to figure this one out :)
  
• Star Diety - The i and the e are the wrong way round.

This isn't meant to be a criticism - everything else about the game I loved. The music and the graphics are great. I really, really liked the fact that beneath the surface, there is surprising depth to this game, there are things to be learned and skills to be mastered. For a self-styled casual game, it offers more by far than the average game in the same genre. I would highly recommend Catch a Falling Star to anyone looking at buying it. For what you get, it's a steal.

Sheikh

[robinrescues]

Thank you for your guide, I appreciate the tips!

[niX]

Man, I got to 3700 with all lives and then I blew through ALL of them without reaching 4000. The difficulty is unfair for a game where all you do is move back and forth. @_@

[Tostiman Ultimate]

You get actually 5 coins for 5 ice, which means that bumping ice is probably more efficient for mining coins than getting starcoins, since it is safer and you can get the'more ice' powerups to get more ice.

[Helevorn]

awesome work, thanks

[L1NU5]

Thanks for the tips

[ToxicDog]

Hello, I added your guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=963020290
I hope you enjoy it ^^

[ToxicDog]

Hello, I added your guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=963020290
I hope you enjoy it ^^

[Reckoning]

Very good Guide!

[祈愿丶]

0.0

[EmptyLife]

На русский может кто перевести?
Для игры где ловишь падающие звездочки- слишком уж большое руководство.