AFM Tactics and Strategies

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

Congratulations, vikingerik! I was getting too comfortable on that #1 spot with nothing to challenge

 

[Zaphod77]

I haven't figured out how to stack martian and normal multiball. but stacking with total annihilation works pretty well.

And i thought i was good because i broke 100 billion. was the game i got my RTU wizard goal (last goal) too. two re-elections, both on the same ball (so i carried in victory laps). Scoring was just insane.

I never had to worry about superjets since the action was good and multiball took care of it easily.

 

[vikingerik]

Start Martian Attack first, then start regular multiball during that phase while the Martians are bouncing. Then kill the 4th Martian while regular MB is already running and Martian MB will stack on top.

100 billion is killer awesome on the real table, but afraid it's merely good on TPA's teddybear version.

 

[Zaphod77]

Yeah i noticed that the force field targets are actually pretty safe to aim for on TPA. helps that with non analog nudging everything can be slapped saved.

 

[phreaker47]

I'll have to get back to this now that I'm revisiting Season 1 on the PS4.

For some reason I do much better on the older non-dmd pins. I can exploit the hell out of those things. I'm just slightly bummed that my new #1 on BOP got bumped after only like 3 days. The score I beat was there a long time. Could have gone forever... it's just one of those "how much can you take" things.

Anyway, this game is back on my radar, yeah... I never before focused on taking advantage of victory laps... gotta try that now.

 

[Zaphod77]

Just had another big game.

Yes carrying victory laps to the second rule the universe on the same ball is awesome.

The TA/MM stack is awesome. with a godly ball, the end of ball bonus can break 20 billion. Yes, you can get more from a drain then RTU! When i get the stack i just flail around a lot and try to keep the balls in play as long as possible, racking up a hundred martians easily, and they carry over for the entire game. Even when i don't have the stack, after i get a decent amount of points i flail around a bit so I can light martian multiball again. Killing a large number of martians is very beneficial to your score. if you can max bnux, then each martian killed is over 60 million points at end of ball. kill over 200 martians and you will certainly get over 20 billion in bonus.

It seems like you have to TRY to fail Rule The Universe in TPA, as even flailing around will get you lotsa martians and score the 5 billion, and you will usually squeeze out a super jackpot, an annihilation jackpot, or both. Flailing about at the saucer target is good, because you will also kill a lot of martians, and increase your victory lap score. Do try to collect some victory laps during RTU, though, it really helps you finish it faster.

 

[vikingerik]

You DON'T want to finish RTU faster. You want RTU to last as long as you can, for more Martians and more pounding on that drop target for Lap increases. Those are the ways to circumvent the 10B limit for RTU, setting up extra points for later collection. Don't worry about failing RTU, that just never happens.

 

[Zaphod77]

Maybe but if you do somehow manage to not collect a single annihilation jackpot, super jackpot, or victory lap, it is possible for the ballsaver to run out before you get the 5 billion, and then you might actually fail, which is depressing. Generally, you will end up making a few ramp or orbit shots by flailing at balls coming out of the stroke of luck, which will push it over.

And honestly if you make a effort to relight martian attack, you get MORE martians out of the multiball stack, which can last a LOT longer than RTU, especially if you keep whacking one of the balls into the bumpers. the bumpers are your friends.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

I'm having difficulty achieving the RTU goal because it's so hard for me to get the super jackpot. The rest of the requirements are easy. How are you guys going about getting the super jackpot? It's damn near impossible to hit the right ramp from a trap on the left flipper so that shot is what's killing me. The only time I can ever hit that ramp is on the fly, usually as the ball feeds down the left trail to the left flipper. Since the first ball at the start of multiball comes down the left trail, I try for that right ramp right away. If I miss the shot, I can rarely get to the super jackpot. I can usually get a ball trapped on each flipper during multiball, but then I'm stuck. I can try shooting the left ramp from the right flipper to get my left flipper feed, but then I usually end up flailing the ball I had trapped on the left away and things don't tend to work out after that.

I'm also having difficulty with this. Is there a way to stack multiballs on this table to increase the ball save time?

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

I'm also having difficulty with this. Is there a way to stack multiballs on this table to increase the ball save time?

It's mentioned above, Martian Multiball can be stacked with either Total Annihilation or regular multiball. Start Martian Attack first, then start the multiball. Once you kill the 4th Martian, Martian Multiball will kick in with a new ballsaver.

That said I've not had difficulty getting Super Jackpots. On the PC hitting the right ramp isn't difficult, and it can be done from a trap. Normally though I just shoot for the left ramp if I need the right ramp.

My issue is with Video Mode. I can get 30-ish saucers, but no more. One right on the edge always gets me in the end. [Edit] And yes, I both know about and always use the "Smart Bomb" in Video Mode.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

It's mentioned above, Martian Multiball can be stacked with either Total Annihilation or regular multiball. Start Martian Attack first, then start the multiball. Once you kill the 4th Martian, Martian Multiball will kick in with a new ballsaver.

That said I've not had difficulty getting Super Jackpots. On the PC hitting the right ramp isn't difficult, and it can be done from a trap. Normally though I just shoot for the left ramp if I need the right ramp.

My issue is with Video Mode. I can get 30-ish saucers, but no more. One right on the edge always gets me in the end. [Edit] And yes, I both know about and always use the "Smart Bomb" in Video Mode.

Thanks. Personally I've gotten all wizard awards, but on iOS, getting rule the universe is extra hard because those ramps are very tough to hit. Very often the Super Jackpot is the one thing keeping me from ruling the universe. I will focus on this strategy. Video Mode is probably the hardest goal to achieve.

 

[fromduc]

This video game is still a mystery for me, aven with all the advices here i'm not even close... I guss there's something i dont get... and the bad point is that u can meet this game on a couple of other tables. Hate it ^^

 

[MontanaFrank]

I would like to have some help on how you complete the video mode on AFM. I know I have one Martian Bomb; however, what do I need to do to save the bomb for the Mother-ship.

I've never destroyed more than ten saucers during video mode. I looked on YouTube and watched the vid where cows replaced the saucers; still, I'm clueless. It's the only video mode goal I would like to accomplish. AFM is one of my favorite machines and table on TPA.

Video games , except pinball machine re-creations, have never been kind to me. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede and other videos games of long ago still perplex me. I tried, spend alot of money in my youth and never succeeded.

I certainly would appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

I would like to have some help on how you complete the video mode on AFM. I know I have one Martian Bomb; however, what do I need to do to save the bomb for the Mother-ship.

I've never destroyed more than ten saucers during video mode. I looked on YouTube and watched the vid where cows replaced the saucers; still, I'm clueless. It's the only video mode goal I would like to accomplish. AFM is one of my favorite machines and table on TPA.

Video games , except pinball machine re-creations, have never been kind to me. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede and other videos games of long ago still perplex me. I tried, spend alot of money in my youth and never succeeded.

I certainly would appreciate any suggestions.

I don't think you can use Martian Bombs in video mode. However you do get one free launch button press that clears out all UFOs on the screen. It doesn't work for the Mothership though.

Usually I swerve the gunfire left and right over and over to try and get all the ships but feel free to find a different strategy.

 

[pinballchris]

Do not sweep the entire screen with the gun, only upper left corner to upper right corner and back, if a ship sneaks in, then use the bomb. You will get it, it is easier than the video mode on MM.

 

[MontanaFrank]

Do not sweep the entire screen with the gun, only upper left corner to upper right corner and back, if a ship sneaks in, then use the bomb. You will get it, it is easier than the video mode on MM.

Thanks pinballchris, that might help. I've been sweeping all the way over and all the way back.

Thanks for the clarification Captain B. Zarre. I knew you could clear this screen off with one launch button, that is what I mean by a bomb.

 

[Fungi]

I knew you could clear this screen off with one launch button, that is what I mean by a bomb.

That's from being oldskool and knowing what a Defender Smartbomb is.

 

[vikingerik]

I just finally put up a 999B score to take #1 just short of the trillion rollover.

Just some random stuff to report:

Farsight has indeed fixed the unshootable right ramp, at least on the PC version. It can be hit fine from a trap on the left flipper now. Makes lots of stuff noticeably easier: multiball jackpots, starting Total Annihilation, and the 5-way combo.

The new flipper physics do work, live catches are possible. It doesn't seem to make much of any difference to the game, though. I don't feel anything different in the flippers other than the catches. I think the right ramp was tuned separately from anything involving the flipper physics.

Something odd that happened: The drop target broke and never came back up. It happened at the end of an RTU. I shot the drop target and a jackpot that completed RTU at almost exactly the same time. I don't know if that caused it or if that was some coincidence. The ROM handled this okay and compensated fine: the important bit was that shooting the saucer still advanced and relit Victory Laps. This did indeed make the game easier, shooting the saucer became a way of getting loose balls under control easily.

Another oddity: Martian Multiball can resurrect regular multiball. I ended multiball with the super jackpot lit, so it went into Last Chance mode. I didn't need the SJ, so ignored it and started Martian Attack then Martian MB while Last Chance was still running. This resurrected multiball! During Martian MB, I saw the SJ tick several times more than there should have been time left on the clock. Then I shot the SJ, and all the jackpots relit - regular multiball was now running again along with Martian MB. (I'm really wondering if there's some loophole here to stack regular multiball and Total Annihilation.)

Strategic tip: Don't shoot the lock ramp from a cradle. I had a few washout games on my way to the 999B, as I then realized all my drains were coming from lock ramp rejections down the right outlane. The shot is makable from a catch, but not consistently. Weird things happen as the ball reaches the diverter; it doesn't follow a railroad, but randomly rattles around and doesn't like to go all the way up. And rejections from this ramp point directly at the right outlane, by far the most dangerous situation on the table.

To shoot the lock ramp reliably, you need more power with a moving ball than you can get from a cradle. Use a feed from the right ramp, or shoot it from a dead pass coming out of Stroke of Luck. There's two railroads that occur out of the SoL scoop. One bounces about a flipper-length up the right inlane (call this "low roll"), one rolls up to the right inlane elbow ("high roll"). From the low roll, there's a reliable railroad that cleanly makes the lock ramp. From the high roll, this doesn't occur, but there are reliable railroads up the left orbit and also left ramp.

(None of this is necessary for shots diverted into the lock, that's reliable. Only talking about the ramp, to light the lock or shoot multiball/TA jackpots.)

 

[neglectoid]

Another oddity: Martian Multiball can resurrect regular multiball. I ended multiball with the super jackpot lit, so it went into Last Chance mode. I didn't need the SJ, so ignored it and started Martian Attack then Martian MB while Last Chance was still running. This resurrected multiball! During Martian MB, I saw the SJ tick several times more than there should have been time left on the clock. Then I shot the SJ, and all the jackpots relit - regular multiball was now running again along with Martian MB. (I'm really wondering if there's some loophole here to stack regular multiball and Total Annihilation.)

this is interesting. could you please post if you are able to recreate this.