Star Raiders

Story-related, cannot be missed. The "main storyline" means the main story missions, i.e. any mission that ends in A. These are the missions that either have a cutscene or Admiral Lin giving some background before the mission. For each sector there are 3 missions (A, B, C) and the next sector will unlock when you complete at least 2 missions from the previous sector. So you don't have to play every mission to get through the game, though I recommend you do at the beginning to get credits and do the other trophies.

The rank trophies are given as you go through the game. You don't have to do anything special to attain each rank, you automatically get them after completing certain missions. Below is a list of each story mission and where you earn each rank trophy.

Story Missions:
1A – Ares Major
2A – Ares Minor = Pilot
3A – Capra Trade Route
4A – Simerian Comet Cloud
5A – Sardius Worm Hole = Warrior
6A – Planet Hermake
7A – Quagmire Nebula = Commander
8A – Eris Corridor
9A – Planet Hermake = Star Commander
10A – Planet Isos = Star Raider!

Most of the levels are very easy. A couple can be a pain, namely 4A, 5A and 10A, as the game doesn't always explain exactly what you need to do. Below are some tips for the problem missions.

Mission 4A
In this one, you have to get a key in order to remove the force fields blocking the entrances to the mining asteroid. Destroy all the stuff on the surface of the asteroid and search by one of the structures - you'll find the key floating underneath one. Grab it and go into the asteroid. It's very easy to get lost in these tunnels, just search around for side passages, as the item you need to get (forget the name, exactly) is not visible in plain view. It took me some 10 minutes to find... just keep searching and you'll eventually find it.

Mission 5A
You have to find Rapture parts, but you must first destroy housings on the space structure to reveal them. In order to do that, you need to use an EMP on a generator so that the housings are targetable. The "generators" are the blue tanks on the ends of the structure. There are four of them. Use on the D-pad to use an EMP. To pick up the Rapture parts when the housings are destroyed, fly over them.

Mission 10A
This one is a pain. The first part is easy - destroy the generators (like those on a Frigate or Cruiser) to open up the tunnel into the core. Then you must wind your way through a sequence of tunnels on the way to the core. Shoot the fans to stop and destroy them so you can pass. Some tunnels will have larger spinning fans that cannot be destroyed and have very narrow openings to pass through - use Attack Mode and speed through them.

Tunnels will open into large caves where there will be some enemies. Be careful not to get killed until you get to the final cave where the large machine is - if you get killed before that you respawn outside the planet and have to go through all the tunnels again. Also be careful not to get confused on which way to go after fighting enemies in a cave. A good way to remember the right direction is that the lava will be flowing towards the core, so follow the lava.

In the last cave, you can safely die and you'll respawn there. Destroy the machine. You have to "bomb" the core at this point but the game doesn't tell you how. It took me forever to figure out that you just have to fly into the core to bomb it. You'll then have 3 minutes to get the hell out of the place before it explodes. Use Attack Mode because it's the fastest and ignore enemies. There will be explosions obscuring your view, but they won't harm you. Once you get out and the objective is complete, the trophy will pop.