EldarOfSuburbia
New member
- Feb 8, 2014
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(Note to mods: please move this thread to an appropriate sub-forum for AC/DC, once it is available. Thanks!)
I logged a good few hours with AC/DC last night, and got a reasonable feel for the table.
Like most of the modern Stern tables, AC/DC has a very deep, complex ruleset that can take a long time to comprehend and master. The instructions in SPA run to 998 "pages", more than twice the size of anything in TPA! That's a lot of reading and I'd be amazed if anyone has the patience to click through that much information, let alone absorb and understand it (I gave up after 3 Song Modes).
It's probably best to play a few games, experience some features, then dive into the instructions to understand how and why that feature activated.
Here are some ideas and general rules-of-thumb I picked up.
Always try to go for the Super Skill Shot: hold down the right flipper when the ball is in the Jukebox after plunging, and most of the time the ball will kick out of the Jukebox, back down the right loop, and will be a soft catch on the right flipper. Shoot any of the "main" shots - left orbit, left ramp, Bell, right ramp, right orbit - to score a Super Skill Shot and, more importantly, 2 VIP passes. The regular Skill Shot only nets 1 VIP pass, and since getting VIP passes any other way than via Skill Shots is time-consuming and not worth pursuing specifically, you're better off going for as many as you can when plunging.
Next, no matter which Song you choose, shoot the Bell 6 times in quick succession to get 3x scoring going. Once 3x scoring is running, regular hits to the Bell reset the 20-second timer, so try to keep going for the Bell from time to time. The Bell is usually a scoring shot in most Song modes anyway so you'll need to be shooting it to progress through Song Requests anyway.
Song Modes typically follow the same pattern: perform some task specific to that song (for instance in "TNT" hit all the TNT targets, then the target behind the drops), then make 8+ flashing/lit "Note" shots to light the Jukebox to allow you to spot the Song and change Song Mode. Spot all 12 Songs in the Jukebox to qualify for the Encore Wizard Mode. During Song Modes, the Song Jackpot builds; collect it from the Cannon, which is lit by completing the F-I-R-E inlane/outlane rollovers 3 times. The Song Jackpot has no maximum value, but it resets when you drain, and possibly when you collect it normally or change Song.
I won't go through all 12 Song Modes here; suffice it to say, some score better than others.
Extra Balls are hard to come by, but they are technically "infinite". Two ways to light an EB, and both are best done through general accumulation in a long game rather than trying for them. First and easiest is Combos; make any two major shots in a row to score a Combo. 25 Combos lights the EB. Keep getting Combos to light more EBs. Second and trickiest is through the AC/DC, TNT, and ROCK targets. Completing each target bank twice is supposed to light an EB, but I'm not 100% certain this is correctly explained in the instructions, because it didn't appear to work for me; but I'm pretty sure I did get an EB lit via the targets at some point, I just don't know how. As I said, both these methods of lighting EBs are best left to a secondary or tertiary objective, something that just happens during the course of a long game.
There are three multiballs: Jam, Album, and Tour. All three follow a similar pattern of scoring multiple jackpots, before lighting a Super Jackpot at the Cannon. All three can be stacked together, along with the current Song Mode. Stacking 2 multiballs doubles jackpot and Super Jackpot values; stacking 3 multiballs triples them. Jackpots are also affected by the regular playfield multiplier activated by the Bell, so this can result in up to 9x jackpots (I think). Album and Tour multiballs also feature additional jackpots tied to the Song being played, and completing the Note shots for the Song being played during any multiball will launch an additional ball and give you some ball saver time, once only. This last feature is especially useful since there is a generous grace period after multiball ends, and if you can finish off the Note shots in that time, multiball will restart. Told you the rules were pretty complex!
VIP passes are activated by pressing the Fire/Plunger button when the ball is in play. In Song modes, VIP passes spot lit Note shots. In multiballs, VIP passes score jackpots. Told you they're useful.
Finally, the lower mini-playfield ("Hell") is reachable only in "Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be" (shoot the Jukebox) and "Highway To Hell" (load the Cannon) modes. It's a fun diversion, and counts as the main "task" in these modes for lighting the Note shots.
Phew. Hope that all helps. Maybe I'll go plays some Jacks Open or something equally simple for a bit now....
I logged a good few hours with AC/DC last night, and got a reasonable feel for the table.
Like most of the modern Stern tables, AC/DC has a very deep, complex ruleset that can take a long time to comprehend and master. The instructions in SPA run to 998 "pages", more than twice the size of anything in TPA! That's a lot of reading and I'd be amazed if anyone has the patience to click through that much information, let alone absorb and understand it (I gave up after 3 Song Modes).
It's probably best to play a few games, experience some features, then dive into the instructions to understand how and why that feature activated.
Here are some ideas and general rules-of-thumb I picked up.
Always try to go for the Super Skill Shot: hold down the right flipper when the ball is in the Jukebox after plunging, and most of the time the ball will kick out of the Jukebox, back down the right loop, and will be a soft catch on the right flipper. Shoot any of the "main" shots - left orbit, left ramp, Bell, right ramp, right orbit - to score a Super Skill Shot and, more importantly, 2 VIP passes. The regular Skill Shot only nets 1 VIP pass, and since getting VIP passes any other way than via Skill Shots is time-consuming and not worth pursuing specifically, you're better off going for as many as you can when plunging.
Next, no matter which Song you choose, shoot the Bell 6 times in quick succession to get 3x scoring going. Once 3x scoring is running, regular hits to the Bell reset the 20-second timer, so try to keep going for the Bell from time to time. The Bell is usually a scoring shot in most Song modes anyway so you'll need to be shooting it to progress through Song Requests anyway.
Song Modes typically follow the same pattern: perform some task specific to that song (for instance in "TNT" hit all the TNT targets, then the target behind the drops), then make 8+ flashing/lit "Note" shots to light the Jukebox to allow you to spot the Song and change Song Mode. Spot all 12 Songs in the Jukebox to qualify for the Encore Wizard Mode. During Song Modes, the Song Jackpot builds; collect it from the Cannon, which is lit by completing the F-I-R-E inlane/outlane rollovers 3 times. The Song Jackpot has no maximum value, but it resets when you drain, and possibly when you collect it normally or change Song.
I won't go through all 12 Song Modes here; suffice it to say, some score better than others.
Extra Balls are hard to come by, but they are technically "infinite". Two ways to light an EB, and both are best done through general accumulation in a long game rather than trying for them. First and easiest is Combos; make any two major shots in a row to score a Combo. 25 Combos lights the EB. Keep getting Combos to light more EBs. Second and trickiest is through the AC/DC, TNT, and ROCK targets. Completing each target bank twice is supposed to light an EB, but I'm not 100% certain this is correctly explained in the instructions, because it didn't appear to work for me; but I'm pretty sure I did get an EB lit via the targets at some point, I just don't know how. As I said, both these methods of lighting EBs are best left to a secondary or tertiary objective, something that just happens during the course of a long game.
There are three multiballs: Jam, Album, and Tour. All three follow a similar pattern of scoring multiple jackpots, before lighting a Super Jackpot at the Cannon. All three can be stacked together, along with the current Song Mode. Stacking 2 multiballs doubles jackpot and Super Jackpot values; stacking 3 multiballs triples them. Jackpots are also affected by the regular playfield multiplier activated by the Bell, so this can result in up to 9x jackpots (I think). Album and Tour multiballs also feature additional jackpots tied to the Song being played, and completing the Note shots for the Song being played during any multiball will launch an additional ball and give you some ball saver time, once only. This last feature is especially useful since there is a generous grace period after multiball ends, and if you can finish off the Note shots in that time, multiball will restart. Told you the rules were pretty complex!
VIP passes are activated by pressing the Fire/Plunger button when the ball is in play. In Song modes, VIP passes spot lit Note shots. In multiballs, VIP passes score jackpots. Told you they're useful.
Finally, the lower mini-playfield ("Hell") is reachable only in "Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be" (shoot the Jukebox) and "Highway To Hell" (load the Cannon) modes. It's a fun diversion, and counts as the main "task" in these modes for lighting the Note shots.
Phew. Hope that all helps. Maybe I'll go plays some Jacks Open or something equally simple for a bit now....
