Anyone have some tips for medal chaining? I feel like i get the medal pretty decently sized and then somehow end up collecting it by accident and having to start over. The mrdal's movements seem random as well so it's not like i cn reliably guide it to collect the other medals
It's possible to get it on the first stage. It'll require some nerve and patience at first.
Kill quickly the first wave of 2 big planes. DO NOT grab the medals untill you get the Slave (power ups ok).
Try to kill quickly the other plane that drop an "S"(slave). Grab that S quickly. It will now attract the medals.
Then if you know +- the Patterns on where the enemies will show, swing your ship from side to side to clear the most guys and get the medals.
The big tanks will drop multiple medals.
If you do it right, you shall get the final medal (giant purple one) by the first boss. If you missed some medals, you will find a few small tanks that will drop medals.
There's also a way to grab a lot of medals in the first boss area which is to find the Micus. Jeep firing at it to reveal lots of medals. Unfortunately, I cant find it all the time.
Then, on the beginning of the 2nd stage, do not collect medals untill you get to see a big explosion. That will unlock the golden medals at 10k each. They will multiply up to 100k each as far as I know.
It happened to me that the value of the medals dropped,but I guess it was due to having lost a Slave or to have used bombs. I'm not sure, but they kept scoring up again.
It's easier said than done. I happen to restart very often on the first stage due to missing a medal, which is frustrating as hell.
Hope it helps.