There are three different kinds of gems you can obtain and insert into stations. They are obtained from presents (often shown as a '?' In a box on the map).

LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS SPACETIME is a frantic 1- to 4-player couch co-op action space shooter set in a massive neon battleship. Only through teamwork can you triumph over the evil forces of Anti-Love, rescue kidnapped space-bunnies, and avoid a vacuumy demise.

One present is always given after you complete a level (before you begin the next one). Gems are lost when you finish a campaign.Gems can be picked up and thrown into stations to modify them with (usually) helpful abilities. Inserting a gem into a station with no free gem slots will destroy the existing gem and replace it. Stations can only hold one gem initially. Gaining ranks by rescuing Friends (space-bunnies, space-frogs, etc.) will allow you to permanently upgrade stations to have two slots for gems and allow for interesting combinations.If you place a gem into a station which already has two gems, the gem that has been there the longest will be replaced. Power: A pink gem which generally makes the station better at doing what it does. Beam: A yellow gem which improves the station, usually involving lasers of some sort.

Metal: A gray gem which modifies the station in interesting ways. The results are generally powerful, but sometimes situational and tricky to use. Remover: Not really a gem as such, but applying it to a station will retrieve any gems currently inserted, allowing them to be repurposed. It can only be used once.

Instead of being obtained from presents, a single Remover may be granted between levels (it looks like a toolbox). All ships have multiple turrets, which by default rapidly fire low-damage bullets with a small spread.One-Gem Upgrades. Power: Improves the firing rate of the turret.

Beam: Turns the turret into a railgun. It fires a very fast projectile which deals heavy damage and pierces enemies, but has to reload after each shot. The turret shows a charge meter and a laser pointer to assist aiming. Metal: Turns the turret into a ball and chain. Holding Use/Fire will extend the ball, and it can be swung around by rotating the turret. Releasing Use/Fire retracts the ball, though it can still hit targets while returning.

It does heavy damage to anything it hits but is unwieldy to use against small enemies.Two-Gem Upgrades. Power + Power: Further increases the firing rate and eliminates bullet spread. Power + Beam: Turns the turret into a rapid-firing laser gun.

This does decent damage and is perfectly accurate but does not pierce enemies. The turret turns slower while firing. Power + Metal: Turns the turret into a guided missile launcher. Once launched, missiles can be controlled by the user as they gradually accelerate. If the missile is flying straight, pressing Use/Fire will boost it very quickly in that direction after a short delay.

The missile causes heavy damage in a radius around its impact, but only one missile can be launched at a time. Beam + Beam: Upgrades the railgun to have two barrels. Two shots are fired in quick succession with each trigger press, with a reload between each. Sometimes the turret will glitch and only load/fire one shot. Beam + Metal: Turns the turret into a ball and chain, but the ball has laser guns on it. Extending the ball with Use/Fire will charge the lasers. When charged, releasing Use/Fire will fire lasers forwards and both sides of the ball.

The lasers allow it to cover a larger angle but it may still struggle against quick targets. Metal + Metal: Adds a second ball and chain next to the first. They are controlled simultaneously, but will typically fly apart from each other a little.The two-gem upgrades are shown here, in order (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) as listed above. All ships have one engine (duh!), which can be swivelled around the ship (except for the Jelly Roll ship, which swivels with the engine). Use/Fire applies thrust in the direction the engine is facing. It can take some getting used to flying backwards.One-Gem Upgrades.

Power: Gives a small initial boost in thrust when Use/Fire is pressed. Two boosts are stored, indicated by lights on the engine. They recharge quickly. Tapping Use/Fire will use both boosts rapidly. Beam: The engine charges a laser when Use/Fire is held. When charged, releasing Use/Fire will fire the laser directly out of the thruster, propelling the ship away as well as dealing heavy damage to anything it hits.

Metal: The engine fires caltrops at a moderate rate when in use. These do not fly very far, but linger in place for a while. When an enemy or projectile touches them, the caltrops deal minor damage and are destroyed.Two-Gem Upgrades.

Power + Power: The engine now stores four boosts instead of two. They recharge at the same rate. Power + Beam: Holding Use/Fire charges a laser. Once charged, the laser fires continuously from the engine out to a short distance.

The laser also increases thrust while active. Power + Metal: The engine has the same two-boost system as the Power upgrade, but each time a boost is used, a spread of 5 caltrops is launched from the engine. Beam + Beam: Charges two beams side-by-side when Use/Fire is held instead of one. Beam + Metal: Charges a single beam when Use/Fire is held. When the beam is fired it also leaves a line of caltrops along its path. Metal + Metal: The engine now regularly fires two caltrops at once while in use.The two-gem upgrades are shown here, in order (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) as listed above.The two-gem upgrades are shown here, in order (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) as listed above.

ShieldsAll ships have a shield station. The shield covers an arc of the ship, absorbing projectiles and preventing damage from colliding enemies or walls. By default, it covers a small arc.

Using the station allows the shield to be rotated around the ship, but it does not provide protection while being moved.One-Gem Upgrades. Power: Increases the arc covered by the shield. Beam: The shield now reflects projectiles.

The angle of reflection depends on how close to the centre of the shield the projectile impacted, as well as the projectile's incident angle. Reflected projectiles can be very deadly to enemies. Metal: Adds spikes to the shield. Enemies which touch the shield will be damaged. The shield is also no longer deactivated while turning, but turns significantly slower.Two-Gem Upgrades.

Power + Power: Further increases the arc covered by the shield. Power + Beam: The shield reflects bullets like the Beam upgrade. Instead of increased size, any reflected projectile is replicated, so outgoing fire is doubled. Power + Metal: Combines an increased shield size with minor damage to anything the shield touches. Additionally, the three 'prongs' which generate the shield also deflect projectiles and objects, even while turning.

(Thanks Obvious!). Beam + Beam: The shield size is increased slightly, and reflects enemy projectiles with more force. (needs confirmation). Beam + Metal: The shield becomes a row of 5 'cells'. When a projectile strikes the shield, it spawns a cell attached to it. The added cells spawn additional cells attached to them when struck, allowing the shield to be extended outwards. Cells are destroyed if they strike an enemy, dealing moderate damage to it.

They are also destroyed if they touch a wall or after a set time. The shield is also not deactivated while being moved, but turns a little slower. Metal + Metal: Turns the shield into a spiked metal barrier with a larger angle of coverage. This deals moderate damage to anything it touches and is not deactivated while being moved, but it turns significantly slower. The Yamato Cannon is a large yellow gun which rotates around the ship. Players cannot control its facing direction.

When activated, it fires for a short duration, while continuing to rotate, before needing to recharge. Its charge is indicated by the yellow tank that makes up most of its station.By default the Yamato Cannon fires large energy bolts which deal heavy damage to anything struck, instantly killing weaker enemies.Interestingly, modifying the gem slots of the Yamato Cannon will instantly recharge it.One-Gem Upgrades. Power: Rapidly fires small homing missiles which move slowly and steer towards enemies. Targets are indicated with a large crosshair. Beam: Fires a continuous laser instead of energy bolts. Metal: Causes a sawblade to spin around the ship for a short duration. Although short-ranged, the sawblade spins more rapidly than other weapons.Two-Gem Upgrades.

Power + Power: Fires even more homing missiles. Power + Beam: Fires small lasers in random directions from a 'focus crystal' at a high rate. This can potentially cover a wider angle than other combinations. Power + Metal: Launches spinning sawblades away from the ship, two at a time. The sawblades move quickly and bounce off walls.

This depletes the Yamato's charge very quickly. Beam + Beam: Fires three continuous rotating lasers in a cone from the gun. Beam + Metal: Spins a large sawblade around the ship as before, however the sawblade moves away from and towards the ship in a periodic motion as it rotates. Metal + Metal: The spinning sawblade extends further from the ship while active, and also has two small sawblades orbiting around it.The two-gem upgrades are shown here, in order (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) as listed above.

@Warax40: Nah. Best multi-human setup is bouncy ship with:Engine: Power, CaltropsShield: 2x Power or Power MetalYamato: 2x Beam or single metal (certain bosses)Turrets: Beam, Metal (top), 2x Beam (sides)Bouncy ship so hitting walls is a valid strategy, pilot adjust shield if needed, but it should be on your front (if traveling) or broadside (if fighting). Caltrops are great at stopping missiles and make it so your shield is put to better use.Player 2 (or pet?) mans best dps turret or flail depending on enemy type, every time he runs to the other side he can quickly shoot a missile or pop Yamato.If Yamato is used, pilot can steer ship in opposite direction to keep the laser stationary for max value. Similiarily, you can also turn opposite for a rapid spinning Yamato (similiar effect as the Power, Beam combo).Last but not least, bouncy ship only has 3 turrets, with only 2 needing to be manned in most situations. This makes it a very good ship for 3-player couch co-op.

Here's a few more I tried:Shield+Beam= a small beam shield that reflects attacksShield+Metal: instead of an energy shield you now get an orkish looking slab of metal to spin round the ship;PEngine+Power+Metal: speed + you still drop mines in the wakeYamato+Metal: Creates a huge buzzsaw that spins round the shipTurret+Beamx2: adds a 2nd railcannon on each turretTurret+Beam+Metal: Ball on lazer chainTurret+Power+Metal: Turrets now shoot one large missile that you can steer into targets after firing. My complete list. I hope i remembered everything correct:-)Gun:Beam - railgun (pierces, good dmg, slow rate of fire)Might - as the basic gun but with higher rate of fireMetal - a morning star, i dont like it as it isnt reliable enough.Beam+Beam - a railgun which fires two times. Solid choice.Beam+Metal - as the morning star, but additionally powers up and releases 3 railgun-shots (one in each direction, none in the direction to the ship) on button release. Covers a good area.Beam+Might - ultra high speed railgun, but with far less dmg.

Turning while firing is slow, but normal when not firing. Good, but I dont see much improvement over the normal Might gun.Might+Metal - a single rocket which can be controlled. Firing while moving the rocket accelerates her very much, but wont let you control her anymore. Has a small explosion radius. Pretty good.Metal+Metal - two morning stars, pretty good and covers much area. Try sweeping them left and right for an enormous coverage and range.Might+Might - like the Might gun, but even faster.Shield:Might and Might+Might - shield gets bigger. Shield is inactive while moving it but moving is fast.Metal - shield becomes larger (I think the same like the might ones).

It stays active while moving the shield, but moves slower. I like the might ones more, because its not hard to stop moving the shield for a sec when a bullet is about to hit you and you often want to move the shield fast from one side of the ship to another. Maybe the metal increases collision dmg?Beam - the shield becomes very small but reflects the bullets. Can be useful, as the shield can be used as a indirect weapon while still giving a small defense.The other combos work like you would guess.Yamato Gun:Metal - a giant saw circles around the ship.

Quite fast, covers 360°, but the very limited range renders it useless imho.Beam - a giant beam with infinite (enemies off screen always invincible I think) range circles the ship, quite slow, covers 120°. I like it, because it reliably clears his sector, so you just cover the left sectors with your guns/shield.Might - a lot homing missles are released. Only had them a short time, but they seemed very useful.Might+Might - even more homing missles.Metal+Metal - like Metal, but with two smaller saws circling the bigger one which nets in a bigger radius. Circles the ship twice (720°). Very good as a mix of offense and defense because its radius is finally big enough to hit something and as it's circling the ship twice it can kill many bullets.Beam+Beam - 3 giant beams rotate around the beam that would be released from the 'Beam'-Yamato (think of it in 3D). Covers a bit more than the 120° because the beams rotate.Metal+Beam - Like the 'Metal', but the arm which holds the saw extends and retracts.

It covers more. Sometimes, some enemies near your ship slip under the extended saw.Might+Beam - the Yamato gun fires Railguns in all directions while rotating. Circles around 120° or 180° i think.

Mega miner unblocked. Pretty nice, but not reliable enough for me.Metal+Might - some sawblades are shot which ricochet off walls, maybe enemies. One of the worst imho.Engine:Might - the engine gets two boosts which recover quickly. Whenever you thrust, a boost.erm boosts you a bit. Not very much on the first look, but my girlfriend is very good manouvring with it =)Metal - you drop little spiky mines while driving (they dont damage you).

Also really useful.Beam - you engine charges while you accelerate. After two or so seconds you can release the button to fire a railgun-like shot from you engine.Might+Might - 4 boosts.Might+Beam - as long as you accelerate a medium long flame/beam comes out of your engine which does small damage to everthing it touches, but is great for killing bullets while manouvering. Needs maybe a second to start the flame/beam-thingy.Might+Metal - 2 boosts, but every boost additionally releases a fan of 4 mines.Beam+Metal - while accelerating your engine charges, after maybe 2 seconds you can release your button to fire a straight line of around 10 mines.Metal+Metal - like 'Metal' but you drop two mines each tick. Thanks for posting y'all!For the beam+metal ENGINE, you can change the direction of the engine while it's firing and spread them out slightly.

So like a slanted line relative to the enginebeam + YAMATO is nice where the lasers can penetrate walls. For one level, I was able to go through the wrong way of a 1-way door even though the switch was on the other side, but was able to hit it with this!Metal + TURRET oddly enough can go through certain blast doors. Kill them now with impunity. This can also go through water surfacesFor the power SHIELD, no gems seems to be around 60 degree arc.

At double power gems, it covers a wide, 90 degree arc! Makes defending much easier!! I just have a few things to add.One thing missed is the very weird and wonderful beam+metal shield.

Instead of reflecting bullets, it absorbs them, making them part of your shield. I only had this upgrade for one boss battle but it seems like your shield quickly turned into a largish club (they stick wherever they land, so it seems possible to have a 360 Degree shield).

But when the boss crashed into the shield you went back to normal. So I think it would act like a defensive/offensive club in practice, allowing you to swat enemies who get too close.Also,The beam+metal morning star it unique and wonderful in that you have a 360 degree arc of damage potential. The morningstar itself can rap around the ship enough to get well over 180 degrees of death, with the rail gun bullets you can hit things on the opposite side, you have no blind spots, making it the most adaptable weapon in your arsenal.The double beam turret is really good to have for bosses. Long range, high damage.The only special attack that seems worth having is the metal, and metalx2. As they are one of the/the only attacks which you do not have to time correctly to matter. When you need a special attack, you never have time to wait 2 seconds for the gun to get into place. And it is in the most dire straights, surrounded by masses of enemies, that the metal saw attack is most useful, typically it kills the entire hoard surrounding you.

Most of the other ones are never worth using.Metal+power guided Missile. Really slow, really hard to use. Probably really powerful in some situation with a very skilled user, but in general horrible and unusable.