- Feb 19, 2012
- 8,144
- 2
We have a nice thread for TOM, and I've seen some various tips for TOTAN scattered in other threads, but it'd be nice to have a central thread for tips and strategies. This is the table I need to improve my skills on the most.
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Welcome Back to Digital Pinball Fans - please read this first
TOTAN Tactics and Strategies
- Thread starter Jeff Strong
- Start date
bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
copy paste from my post in the hiscore thread.
I have learned to really keep my cool when playing TOTAN. There are a ton of features on the table that make the ball make an unexpected turn and entice you into a flipfest. Don't get yourself lured into this, force yourself to put the ball on a flipper and take a breath. Especially the Lamp is so attractive to shoot to rake up the turns, wishes and lightning score, but more often then not it results into a drain. I now generally take the lampturns as they come, IGNORE the damn lightning lamp untill it gets into the REALLY attractive stages (150k and up) and don't put up the x3 lamp score at early stages unless you are 1/2 shots away from starting multiball with it.
At the start, use wishes for x3 fireball, x3 Tiger loops or Jewels. I tend to only use wishes for jewels when it's one of the harder/riskier ones (Roc, Ali Baba, Flying horse) or when I have a ruby (and even then I sometimes pass on a jewel if I'm on an easy one or almost finished one).
Fireballs are a hazard as well. I try to only shoot for it when the ball is on my left flipper, because shooting with the right can cause a ton of unexpected bounces and during fireball the bottle won't hold the ball with it's magnet. So when on the right flipper, I try to build it up by shooting the ramp untill the divider steers it to my left (or I can bounce/pass it from right to left) before I take a shot often resulting in a 800k shot (hopefully with the x3 modifier).
Another tip when it comes to shooting the lamp if you do want to rack it up a bit faster, is to shoot it when the geniebottle is lighted or multiball is about to start. This way the risk of a bouncing flipfest is lessened due to the magnet giving you a breather.
Also the genie is a damn hazard, really take note of the lampposition when deciding to shoot for him. Only shoot the genie from the right flipper when the "lampposts" are vertical or close to. Otherwise, use the left flipper to shoot the genie, either directly or by banking it of the spot targets above the lamp (the ones you can shoot to spell SESAME).
At multiball, ignore the genie. Focus on the lamp, the genie jackpot almost comes automatically that way. Keep at least 1 ball under control, while you take potshots at the lamp with the other(s). On early multiballs, you can even decide to trap all balls and let the lightning time out, so you can rack up 15 more spins, get another wish and another level (or 2) of lightning. This is ofcourse assuming you didn't get into multiball with a x3 multiplier on the lamp
Plus, I nudge like a mofo on that table, trying to avoid the areas that cause those unexpected bounces, or those STDM drains like Tiger loops.
I love TOTAN due to the above strategizing, the fact it lures you into certain pitfalls away from said strategies, a lot of times literally ("come, shoot it again!!") and the risk/reward factor of that damn lamp amd genie.
Addendum: if you aim to score high in the long run, then you need to start building your game slowly and avoid a lot of risks untill you can afford to take a few. Lamp shots, especially with an already spinning lamp, Genie shots with the right and sloppy rampshots (that post between the ramp and the genie is a *****) count as such risks.
Short term goal is simply collect jewels, spend wishes wisely (Tiger loops or 3 x fireball, 3 x lamp score if multiball is closeby, don't use it on lighting lamp imo, don't use it on jewels when it's an easy jewel or you are almost done with it, even if you have a ruby. Early on the Bonus is a bit meager bit normally still means a million or more) and get a lot of multiballs (try to get the secret lock early on) so you can safely ramp up lamp spins. Try to keep your wishes spend or as close to as, or you won't profit from bazaar.
Mid term goal: after you first princes rescue: Extra balls and keeping your cool, even if the lamp is lighted. Remember that if you get close to a maxed lamp (119 spins) a lighted lamp is already 200k. It's better to get a maxed lamp then to risk losing a ball to a lamp that is halfway. The game (especially "your genie") has a million ways to hype you up and trick you into rushing. F her and the lamp she rode in on, take your time and line up each shot and try to control each deflected ball or bounce. Spend less wishes on jewels and more on everything else (only exception would be when you have a ruby I think). It's even worth it to light the lamp now and take a few shots on it. Don't overdo it though. And never ever shoot at an already moving lamp. Try to keep your bonusmultiplier up (Wishes with a bonus on the right with a high bonus multiplier are golden by this point).
Long term goal: a maxed lamp, lightning and spin that b.... but line up your lamp shots by taking them from the correct flipper. Most of the time that is the left one, as you can get the best angle as described earlier. Get multiballs (spell Genie twice).
I have learned to really keep my cool when playing TOTAN. There are a ton of features on the table that make the ball make an unexpected turn and entice you into a flipfest. Don't get yourself lured into this, force yourself to put the ball on a flipper and take a breath. Especially the Lamp is so attractive to shoot to rake up the turns, wishes and lightning score, but more often then not it results into a drain. I now generally take the lampturns as they come, IGNORE the damn lightning lamp untill it gets into the REALLY attractive stages (150k and up) and don't put up the x3 lamp score at early stages unless you are 1/2 shots away from starting multiball with it.
At the start, use wishes for x3 fireball, x3 Tiger loops or Jewels. I tend to only use wishes for jewels when it's one of the harder/riskier ones (Roc, Ali Baba, Flying horse) or when I have a ruby (and even then I sometimes pass on a jewel if I'm on an easy one or almost finished one).
Fireballs are a hazard as well. I try to only shoot for it when the ball is on my left flipper, because shooting with the right can cause a ton of unexpected bounces and during fireball the bottle won't hold the ball with it's magnet. So when on the right flipper, I try to build it up by shooting the ramp untill the divider steers it to my left (or I can bounce/pass it from right to left) before I take a shot often resulting in a 800k shot (hopefully with the x3 modifier).
Another tip when it comes to shooting the lamp if you do want to rack it up a bit faster, is to shoot it when the geniebottle is lighted or multiball is about to start. This way the risk of a bouncing flipfest is lessened due to the magnet giving you a breather.
Also the genie is a damn hazard, really take note of the lampposition when deciding to shoot for him. Only shoot the genie from the right flipper when the "lampposts" are vertical or close to. Otherwise, use the left flipper to shoot the genie, either directly or by banking it of the spot targets above the lamp (the ones you can shoot to spell SESAME).
At multiball, ignore the genie. Focus on the lamp, the genie jackpot almost comes automatically that way. Keep at least 1 ball under control, while you take potshots at the lamp with the other(s). On early multiballs, you can even decide to trap all balls and let the lightning time out, so you can rack up 15 more spins, get another wish and another level (or 2) of lightning. This is ofcourse assuming you didn't get into multiball with a x3 multiplier on the lamp
Plus, I nudge like a mofo on that table, trying to avoid the areas that cause those unexpected bounces, or those STDM drains like Tiger loops.
I love TOTAN due to the above strategizing, the fact it lures you into certain pitfalls away from said strategies, a lot of times literally ("come, shoot it again!!") and the risk/reward factor of that damn lamp amd genie.
Addendum: if you aim to score high in the long run, then you need to start building your game slowly and avoid a lot of risks untill you can afford to take a few. Lamp shots, especially with an already spinning lamp, Genie shots with the right and sloppy rampshots (that post between the ramp and the genie is a *****) count as such risks.
Short term goal is simply collect jewels, spend wishes wisely (Tiger loops or 3 x fireball, 3 x lamp score if multiball is closeby, don't use it on lighting lamp imo, don't use it on jewels when it's an easy jewel or you are almost done with it, even if you have a ruby. Early on the Bonus is a bit meager bit normally still means a million or more) and get a lot of multiballs (try to get the secret lock early on) so you can safely ramp up lamp spins. Try to keep your wishes spend or as close to as, or you won't profit from bazaar.
Mid term goal: after you first princes rescue: Extra balls and keeping your cool, even if the lamp is lighted. Remember that if you get close to a maxed lamp (119 spins) a lighted lamp is already 200k. It's better to get a maxed lamp then to risk losing a ball to a lamp that is halfway. The game (especially "your genie") has a million ways to hype you up and trick you into rushing. F her and the lamp she rode in on, take your time and line up each shot and try to control each deflected ball or bounce. Spend less wishes on jewels and more on everything else (only exception would be when you have a ruby I think). It's even worth it to light the lamp now and take a few shots on it. Don't overdo it though. And never ever shoot at an already moving lamp. Try to keep your bonusmultiplier up (Wishes with a bonus on the right with a high bonus multiplier are golden by this point).
Long term goal: a maxed lamp, lightning and spin that b.... but line up your lamp shots by taking them from the correct flipper. Most of the time that is the left one, as you can get the best angle as described earlier. Get multiballs (spell Genie twice).
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superballs
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 2,654
- 2
Nice tips bavelb;
It's amazing how easy this table can seem when you are on a good roll, then it shows you who's boss
It's amazing how easy this table can seem when you are on a good roll, then it shows you who's boss
bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
The times I get a 50 million first ball, with 3 extra balls lined up (tiger loop, 4 jewels and 8 million score) only to drain the next 4 in a heartbeat are *numerous*. Even my current highscore is essentially based on 3 good balls out of 6/7.
superballs
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 2,654
- 2
I think this is the reason we play pinball...we say it's to get the high score, but this is the real reason
- Mar 17, 2012
- 4,293
- 0
I don't have quite the real-world experience on Arabian Nights that I do on the Theatre, but I'll share what I know. High score so far is 226M; use that to decide whether to pay attention to me or not. 
General strategy: You have essentially two ways to go. The standard way is to progress through the modes, collecting Jewels and eventually rescuing the Princess for 20M. The other way is to stack 3X Lightning Lamp and Genie Multiball. I will mainly focus on the first option, as it does not depend on setting up a stack and is always a valid strategy, but pay attention to when you have the chance to stack 3X Lamp and multiball - choosing one strategy does not prevent you from exploiting the other when appropriate!
Ball control: Unlike the Theatre, TotAN punishes errant balls swiftly and often. Learn to post transfer, live catch (it is possible, even with the bouncy physics), hold pass (it works quite often on TotAN), and if all else fails, learn to reflex the ramp from either flipper. Note that when the Bazaar ejects, you can always hold the right flipper up and trap the ball without effort!
In the same vein, be prepared to nudge and nudge often. Nudge to prevent Tiger Loops from going SDTM, to keep the ball off the slingshots - TotAN is infamous for sling-to-outlane power drains, to salvage bad lamp ricochets or Genie magnet drops, etc. You have a liberal tilt - a luxury not generally found on the real tables - milk it for all it's worth!
First ball: Your primary objective is to accumulate lamp spins. Bonus on TotAN is a huge part of the game, and each set of 15 lamp spins (an incomplete set is lost after each ball) gives you 150K in multiplied bonus. In the extreme case, 119 lamp spins (the maximum) combined with 12X bonus (also the maximum) = 14.28M per ball, plus whatever you have in Genie hits and Jewels. For comparison, the bonus for rescuing the Princess is 20M. Nothing else you can do offers such a payback. Also, because bonus can be so huge, don't tilt.
Of course, being located right above the center drain, spinning the lamp can be quite hazardous. Envision the lamp as a clock and note the position of the posts. If the posts are at 12 and 6 o'clock, do not shoot it from below. You are just asking for a SDTM. Wait until the ball hits it from some other angle and knocks it to a more favorable position. If the posts are at 9-3, you should be safe in giving the lamp a solid whacking, but always be prepared to nudge/slap save if you get a bad ricochet. If the lamp posts are at an angle, aim for the back post. The ball is less likely to drain immediately this way, and sometimes the front post will swing around and thwart the ball's attempt to rocket down the center.
If you have mastered the Tiger Loops (by being able to nudge at the appropriate times to prevent center drains from the return), go ahead and rack up the first 6 Tiger Loops and claim your extra ball. TotAN for advanced players is essentially a 5-ball game once 6 Tiger Loops and 8M points are accounted for.
The secondary objective bonus-wise on each ball is to advance to 12X Bonus (by hitting alternating captive balls). In general, you do not need to aim for these shots, the ball generally collides with the captive balls often enough in the course of a decent ball to get you there on its own.
Wishes: Before the first Princess rescue, I generally go for the Jewel, and almost always 2 Jewels if the Ruby is lit. Primary reason for this is that extra ball after the fourth Jewel. Exceptions:
Harem Multiball: Ignore Harem Multiball. It's difficult to start and not generally worth enough points to bother with. However, if you get to H-A-R-E, you may as well make the fifth shot and start it up. During Harem Multiball, aim for the left orbit to get balls into the bumpers - the Harem Jackpot increases rapidly with bumper hits, and after it reaches 50K or so, Harem Multiball becomes a reasonable frenzy round.
Genie Multiball: Aim for the Genie if the lamp is not in the way. If the lamp is in the way, deal with it appropriately given where the posts are. If, before Genie Multiball starts, you have Lightning Lamp running and you have a Wish, aim for the Bazaar scoop at all costs, take 3X Lamp Scoring (the table is very nice about giving this to you when Lightning Lamp is running), then start multiball and wail on the lamp. It will easily outscore the Genie Jackpots and is probably the most lucrative scoring opportunity on the table. Otherwise, it's just Genie, orbit, Genie, orbit, etc., for as long as you can keep it going. (Thanks to bavelb for the clarification that you must start 3X Lamp Scoring before Genie Multiball.)
Fireball: Never take a risky Genie shot going for Fireball. If the lamp's in the way, just ignore Fireball and make whatever other shot is most logical at the time. Fireball can be worth decent points, but it's never worth enough to risk draining the ball.
Lightning Lamp: The first few times this activates, don't kill yourself going for the lamp. Once it gets to 150K/spin or so (usually around the fifth activation, or 75 lamp spins), start pounding on it, even at single lamp scoring and single ball play. A good solid whack to the lamp is good for 12 to 14 spins; at 150K each, this is roughly 1.8M per shot. At 3X scoring and multiball, it's harder to line up a good solid shot, but so much accidental spinning is going on that the scoring is just plain glorious anyway.
Modes: Unlike ToM's illusions, you have to finish these to make progress to Genie Battle. Strategy is more concerned with what you do with a Wish if one comes up during the mode. In all cases with modes that allow you open-ended chances to increase score before grabbing the Jewel, ignore it and make the ramp shot ASAP. Rescuing the Princess gives more points than continuing the modes do.
Scheherazade and Forty Thieves are so easy that I consider hitting the Bazaar when a Wish is lit to be a mistake, as you'd rather save your Wish for harder modes or for when you have a Lightning Lamp/multiball stack ready to go.
Once you've rescued the Princess once, you may wish to focus less on Jewels and more on other awards from your wishes. Experimentation and experience will tell you what reward to take when.
Genie Battle: You need to destroy 8 skeletons to complete the first stage. Shoot golden symbols or the Genie to destroy all skeletons but the last. You have to make the left or right loop to finish off the last one. Stay calm, there is no time limit, and even if the DMD shows an army of bones against you, you never have to make more than 8 shots to win.
For the second part: Get the damn balls out of the plunger lane ASAP. The Genie pulls the bottle faster if you have balls in the plunger lane. You have unlimited balls, so there's no sense in "saving" one. In the same vein, don't bother trapping balls, but instead just juggle them. You don't even really need to aim, you'll hit enough targets (all the golden symbol shots and the Genie) with 4 balls in play to win easily. Basically, if you survived the skeletons, you have no excuse not to win the second stage.
After Genie battle: A Special (extra ball) is lit in both outlanes, but only for the current ball (or maybe indefinitely, see bavelb's post below). Obviously, you want to avoid center drains, even if it means slamming the ball into a slingshot and to the outlanes.
That's about it. I notice bavelb is presenting a somewhat different strategy and choice of shots/Wish awards than I am, which is fine. Pick and choose from our strategies what works best for you. Good luck!
General strategy: You have essentially two ways to go. The standard way is to progress through the modes, collecting Jewels and eventually rescuing the Princess for 20M. The other way is to stack 3X Lightning Lamp and Genie Multiball. I will mainly focus on the first option, as it does not depend on setting up a stack and is always a valid strategy, but pay attention to when you have the chance to stack 3X Lamp and multiball - choosing one strategy does not prevent you from exploiting the other when appropriate!
Ball control: Unlike the Theatre, TotAN punishes errant balls swiftly and often. Learn to post transfer, live catch (it is possible, even with the bouncy physics), hold pass (it works quite often on TotAN), and if all else fails, learn to reflex the ramp from either flipper. Note that when the Bazaar ejects, you can always hold the right flipper up and trap the ball without effort!
In the same vein, be prepared to nudge and nudge often. Nudge to prevent Tiger Loops from going SDTM, to keep the ball off the slingshots - TotAN is infamous for sling-to-outlane power drains, to salvage bad lamp ricochets or Genie magnet drops, etc. You have a liberal tilt - a luxury not generally found on the real tables - milk it for all it's worth!
First ball: Your primary objective is to accumulate lamp spins. Bonus on TotAN is a huge part of the game, and each set of 15 lamp spins (an incomplete set is lost after each ball) gives you 150K in multiplied bonus. In the extreme case, 119 lamp spins (the maximum) combined with 12X bonus (also the maximum) = 14.28M per ball, plus whatever you have in Genie hits and Jewels. For comparison, the bonus for rescuing the Princess is 20M. Nothing else you can do offers such a payback. Also, because bonus can be so huge, don't tilt.
Of course, being located right above the center drain, spinning the lamp can be quite hazardous. Envision the lamp as a clock and note the position of the posts. If the posts are at 12 and 6 o'clock, do not shoot it from below. You are just asking for a SDTM. Wait until the ball hits it from some other angle and knocks it to a more favorable position. If the posts are at 9-3, you should be safe in giving the lamp a solid whacking, but always be prepared to nudge/slap save if you get a bad ricochet. If the lamp posts are at an angle, aim for the back post. The ball is less likely to drain immediately this way, and sometimes the front post will swing around and thwart the ball's attempt to rocket down the center.
If you have mastered the Tiger Loops (by being able to nudge at the appropriate times to prevent center drains from the return), go ahead and rack up the first 6 Tiger Loops and claim your extra ball. TotAN for advanced players is essentially a 5-ball game once 6 Tiger Loops and 8M points are accounted for.
The secondary objective bonus-wise on each ball is to advance to 12X Bonus (by hitting alternating captive balls). In general, you do not need to aim for these shots, the ball generally collides with the captive balls often enough in the course of a decent ball to get you there on its own.
Wishes: Before the first Princess rescue, I generally go for the Jewel, and almost always 2 Jewels if the Ruby is lit. Primary reason for this is that extra ball after the fourth Jewel. Exceptions:
- If 3X Lamp Scoring is an option, and Lightning Lamp is running and you are about to start Genie Multiball, take it.
- If Collect Bonus is an option, and your bonus would be above 10M or so, take it.
- If 3 Tiger Loops is an option, and you have 3-5 or 17-19 Tiger Loops accumulated, take it.
- If the Forty Thieves or Scheherazade mode is running, I generally take the right flipper option, simply because those modes are so easy to complete.
Harem Multiball: Ignore Harem Multiball. It's difficult to start and not generally worth enough points to bother with. However, if you get to H-A-R-E, you may as well make the fifth shot and start it up. During Harem Multiball, aim for the left orbit to get balls into the bumpers - the Harem Jackpot increases rapidly with bumper hits, and after it reaches 50K or so, Harem Multiball becomes a reasonable frenzy round.
Genie Multiball: Aim for the Genie if the lamp is not in the way. If the lamp is in the way, deal with it appropriately given where the posts are. If, before Genie Multiball starts, you have Lightning Lamp running and you have a Wish, aim for the Bazaar scoop at all costs, take 3X Lamp Scoring (the table is very nice about giving this to you when Lightning Lamp is running), then start multiball and wail on the lamp. It will easily outscore the Genie Jackpots and is probably the most lucrative scoring opportunity on the table. Otherwise, it's just Genie, orbit, Genie, orbit, etc., for as long as you can keep it going. (Thanks to bavelb for the clarification that you must start 3X Lamp Scoring before Genie Multiball.)
Fireball: Never take a risky Genie shot going for Fireball. If the lamp's in the way, just ignore Fireball and make whatever other shot is most logical at the time. Fireball can be worth decent points, but it's never worth enough to risk draining the ball.
Lightning Lamp: The first few times this activates, don't kill yourself going for the lamp. Once it gets to 150K/spin or so (usually around the fifth activation, or 75 lamp spins), start pounding on it, even at single lamp scoring and single ball play. A good solid whack to the lamp is good for 12 to 14 spins; at 150K each, this is roughly 1.8M per shot. At 3X scoring and multiball, it's harder to line up a good solid shot, but so much accidental spinning is going on that the scoring is just plain glorious anyway.
Modes: Unlike ToM's illusions, you have to finish these to make progress to Genie Battle. Strategy is more concerned with what you do with a Wish if one comes up during the mode. In all cases with modes that allow you open-ended chances to increase score before grabbing the Jewel, ignore it and make the ramp shot ASAP. Rescuing the Princess gives more points than continuing the modes do.
- Rocs: Shoot left orbit and make at least one bumper hit. I have an easy time hitting the left orbit, so I generally play this one. If your left orbit shots are questionable, you may want to wish Rocs away.
- Ali Baba: Shoot left or right standup targets six times. This is more dangerous than it looks, since side-to-side motion is generally a recipe for an outlane drain on TotAN. I wish this mode away.
- Flying Horse: Hit golden symbols until you find the "right statue". This can be a pain, as the correct statue is usually the last one you hit. Wish it away.
- Scheherazade: Optionally hit golden symbols to increase jewel score. Never wish this away, as you're always one ramp from completing it.
- Camel Race: Hit golden symbols up to 4 times. Pretty simple as well, I usually play this one, but I don't kill myself to get first place. Just shoot the ramp whenever it becomes available.
- Forty Thieves: Hit ramp twice. Second-simplest mode, never wish this away but take whatever the right flipper award is.
- Cyclops: Hit either captive ball at least once. Not hard, play it.
Scheherazade and Forty Thieves are so easy that I consider hitting the Bazaar when a Wish is lit to be a mistake, as you'd rather save your Wish for harder modes or for when you have a Lightning Lamp/multiball stack ready to go.
Once you've rescued the Princess once, you may wish to focus less on Jewels and more on other awards from your wishes. Experimentation and experience will tell you what reward to take when.
Genie Battle: You need to destroy 8 skeletons to complete the first stage. Shoot golden symbols or the Genie to destroy all skeletons but the last. You have to make the left or right loop to finish off the last one. Stay calm, there is no time limit, and even if the DMD shows an army of bones against you, you never have to make more than 8 shots to win.
For the second part: Get the damn balls out of the plunger lane ASAP. The Genie pulls the bottle faster if you have balls in the plunger lane. You have unlimited balls, so there's no sense in "saving" one. In the same vein, don't bother trapping balls, but instead just juggle them. You don't even really need to aim, you'll hit enough targets (all the golden symbol shots and the Genie) with 4 balls in play to win easily. Basically, if you survived the skeletons, you have no excuse not to win the second stage.
After Genie battle: A Special (extra ball) is lit in both outlanes, but only for the current ball (or maybe indefinitely, see bavelb's post below). Obviously, you want to avoid center drains, even if it means slamming the ball into a slingshot and to the outlanes.
That's about it. I notice bavelb is presenting a somewhat different strategy and choice of shots/Wish awards than I am, which is fine. Pick and choose from our strategies what works best for you. Good luck!
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bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
@serenseven your post (unintentionally?) implies you can start a wish during genie multiball. This isn't true. You need to wish for x3 lamp before starting multiball. Either do it just before taking the final lock, or in the process of locking while yo keep the lighntning up (more risky).
Also the special in the outlanes keep lighted on subsequent balls in my experiences. Moreover, it relights each time you save a princess so it could be worth taking a short route to a new princess save if you are running low on balls)
Also the special in the outlanes keep lighted on subsequent balls in my experiences. Moreover, it relights each time you save a princess so it could be worth taking a short route to a new princess save if you are running low on balls)
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- Mar 17, 2012
- 4,293
- 0
Yep, that's bad wording on my part. I've fixed the post; thanks for the catch.
Could be the infamous Harem / Princess Rescue trick. There's apparently a way to activate Harem multiball, and simultaneously activate the Rescue the Princess. This makes a bunch of Jackpots active during the Genie Battle, and, as long as you keep the bottle out of the hands of you or the genie, you can rack up points as long as you want. That, or he just rescued the princess 40 times.
bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
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AFAIK that glitch was taken out with a ROM update, I'd assume FS wouldve used that ROM (or later/latest versions).
Strangely enough all those stupidly highscores seem one-offs from weeks/months ago. I've been in the weekly top 3 (or at least I was till a few days back) for the last 2 weeks with a more modest score (see sig).
Strangely enough all those stupidly highscores seem one-offs from weeks/months ago. I've been in the weekly top 3 (or at least I was till a few days back) for the last 2 weeks with a more modest score (see sig).
WilliamPorygon
New member
- Apr 21, 2012
- 30
- 0
This video pretty much explains the Harem/Genie Battle glitch. I don't know what ROM version the Pinball Arcade version uses (I'd think it would be the last revision but who knows) or whether it works in PA or not as I haven't actually tried it.
However, you definitely can stack lightning lamp with the genie battle (also mentioned towards the end of the above video), and if you don't lose your ball and keep the lightning lamp from timing out during the skeleton phase, the lightning lamp will stay active until the genie battle ends regardless of how long it goes between spins. Like in the harem/battle situation, the lightning lamp animation supersedes the genie battle animation so it can be tricky to tell if you're close to winning or losing at times, but if you've gotten good enough at doing the genie battle you can keep racking up ridiculous points essentially risk-free just about forever.
(FWIW, even with no special modes stacked on the genie battle you still get standard points for stuff you hit during the genie battle, at least in the ROM version Pinball Arcade uses. So if you're good enough that you can drag the genie battle out for a long time, you can still get tens or even hundreds of millions of points beyond the 20M rescue bonus.)
[EDIT: I can confirm now, the harem/genie battle stack can be done on Pinball Arcade.]
However, you definitely can stack lightning lamp with the genie battle (also mentioned towards the end of the above video), and if you don't lose your ball and keep the lightning lamp from timing out during the skeleton phase, the lightning lamp will stay active until the genie battle ends regardless of how long it goes between spins. Like in the harem/battle situation, the lightning lamp animation supersedes the genie battle animation so it can be tricky to tell if you're close to winning or losing at times, but if you've gotten good enough at doing the genie battle you can keep racking up ridiculous points essentially risk-free just about forever.
(FWIW, even with no special modes stacked on the genie battle you still get standard points for stuff you hit during the genie battle, at least in the ROM version Pinball Arcade uses. So if you're good enough that you can drag the genie battle out for a long time, you can still get tens or even hundreds of millions of points beyond the 20M rescue bonus.)
[EDIT: I can confirm now, the harem/genie battle stack can be done on Pinball Arcade.]
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bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
Yea, it's sort of amazing that TOTAN is the table I feel I can play best (and enjoy most), but my leaderboard ranking is worst due to not exploitong the genie battle. Which why I sort of abandoned the "All Time" leaderboard for it as it becomes more a test of endurance how long you can exploit a gimmick, and look more towards my Friendslist and the Weekly Hiscore to get my competition on.
I now moved on from TOTAN to RbioN and soon MM when it hits PS3. I have some catching up to do with those tables on my friendslist.
I now moved on from TOTAN to RbioN and soon MM when it hits PS3. I have some catching up to do with those tables on my friendslist.
Ammonitida
New member
- Apr 6, 2012
- 19
- 0
This glitch is making me avoid TOTAN (I guess you could put a time limit on your game to reduce the effectiveness of this glitch). And could there be an error in the rom emulation that is allowing you to get standard points while genie battle is active with nothing stacked? Never heard of that glitch before. Pretty lame if Farsight is using an outdated romset for TOTAN. Only the latest revision should be used.
- Mar 17, 2012
- 4,293
- 0
The Harem Multiball / Genie Battle stack issue was never fixed in any of the official ROMs, as far as I know. The ROM in TPA's TotAN is almost certainly the latest one (V1.4) - the balls in Genie Battle would be returned to the plunger much more slowly if it were not.
bavelb
New member
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,238
- 0
Another case of the source materials mistake then. Oh well, we wanted faithful recreations, we got them.
Cant say it really bothers me, Ill just stick with friends leaderboards. At least I know my own hiscore is achieved normally. Wouldnt want to use the exploit because then the hiscore is no longer a true reflection of my "skill" on that table and it just becomes a test of endurance, as the geniebattle is the easiest mode on that table.
Cant say it really bothers me, Ill just stick with friends leaderboards. At least I know my own hiscore is achieved normally. Wouldnt want to use the exploit because then the hiscore is no longer a true reflection of my "skill" on that table and it just becomes a test of endurance, as the geniebattle is the easiest mode on that table.
Jim O'Brien
New member
- Feb 28, 2012
- 361
- 0
That glitch is why you never see this table used in tournament play.
Actionball
Banned
- May 23, 2012
- 116
- 0
Glitches aside, if its score you want on this game it all boils down to one thing. That lamp. Once wound up to 119 with 3x scoring it will quickly eclipse all other modes. A single hit will often ring up for 5-7m points, you don't have to be a math wizard to know that keeping the powered up lamp like that for more than a couple of minutes is worth 100+m easily. 5 rescues for the same score would take a long while, I have only ever managed 3 and that game took forever.
Get 1 ball locked, wind up the lamp and lock the second ball. The trick is keeping the lamp up while hitting your wish in the cellar hole while NOT starting the multiball. If you can manage to lock ball 2 while the lamp is still spinning so you have full time it takes a bit of pressure off so you can transfer the lock ball, take a standard shot on the Bazaar and have lamp time left to start multiball and get another shot on the lamp, otherwise learning to backhand the Bazaar is handy.
Ignore the jackpot, it will get hit enough + it barely matters compared to the lamp. Smash on the lamp as much as possible while you have 3 balls. Being able to send one to the bumpers is handy, as so many balls will often stop the lamp as often as start it.
This is about all I concentrate on, the girl gets rescued from time to time as I use wishes for jewels if 3x lamp or tiger loops is not available, or if 2x jewels is an option with a ruby. But even with a ruby I will go 3x lamp vs 2 jewels if over 90 spins. Sort of a shame that such a cool game gets broken down to one feature once you go score hunting.
Get 1 ball locked, wind up the lamp and lock the second ball. The trick is keeping the lamp up while hitting your wish in the cellar hole while NOT starting the multiball. If you can manage to lock ball 2 while the lamp is still spinning so you have full time it takes a bit of pressure off so you can transfer the lock ball, take a standard shot on the Bazaar and have lamp time left to start multiball and get another shot on the lamp, otherwise learning to backhand the Bazaar is handy.
Ignore the jackpot, it will get hit enough + it barely matters compared to the lamp. Smash on the lamp as much as possible while you have 3 balls. Being able to send one to the bumpers is handy, as so many balls will often stop the lamp as often as start it.
This is about all I concentrate on, the girl gets rescued from time to time as I use wishes for jewels if 3x lamp or tiger loops is not available, or if 2x jewels is an option with a ruby. But even with a ruby I will go 3x lamp vs 2 jewels if over 90 spins. Sort of a shame that such a cool game gets broken down to one feature once you go score hunting.
Crush3d_Turtle
New member
- May 15, 2012
- 482
- 0
Actionball, I have been trying the focused lamp play like you suggest and am averaging about 40 million per game. I do see the potential in this method but am wondering how you are preventing the ball from getting shot down the left outlane? That is the only real problem that is holding me back right now because when you hit the lap hard and the ball is fired back the peg between the outlane and inlane doesn't even seem to exist because it goes down the outlane fast if the ball even heads over that way. My nudging skills aren't too bad, but even then I don't think it would help. Thanks for the tip though, it definitely sparks some life into the table as the standard rescue the princess gameplay can get a little tedious.