My HS is 15,380. Got it a couple years ago. I can regularly get 10K, even on the first guy, but man the difficulty ramps up quickly after that! It's pretty manageable until you hit the first wave of White robots, which are the first that shoot as fast as you do if I remember right.
Here are a few tips that I follow:
- It's all how you move once the board starts. You get a couple seconds to assess your vulnerabilities before the robots appear and start shooting. Try to anticipate where the same spots are and move immediately before they shoot. This is really where I wish I could get better once the levels get higher. You can have shots coming at you from above, below, right, and even the upper and lower right angles, sometimes all at once. The easiest approach is if there is a wall to your right you can hug until they shoot. If your in an open area, you're in trouble.
- Always exit out of the right exit if possible. I know some people just cycle through levels clockwise to stick to less variety, but I've always followed the levels from left to right.
- Don't exit until all of the robots are destroyed. Not only does that prevent you from being called a chicken, but it also gives a 10 pt bonus for every robot killed.
- Move through the screen from the top when possible. The robots always shoot from the same side and height. If you block their shots will a wall immediately to your right, and you can move them up to the edge of that wall, then you can shoot them before they move up high enough to shoot back. They can shoot you if you are moving down below a wall.
- Don't forget Otto can kill robots for you. I know it shows in the attract mode, but sometimes people forget this. This is very handy when it takes too long to make it to a section where you can get a clean shot off on a robot. Head quickly to an exit then let Otto do the work.
If I think of any more tips, I'll let you know!