Can't raise shields during Borg multi-ball.

[MWink]

I just had an odd experience. I had Borg multi-ball going concurrently with Q's Challenge. I managed to trap two balls and loop jackpots with the third, till the shields dropped. Then I shot the spinner to raise the shields but they would just instantly drop again (in maybe 1 second). I did this at least 4 times and it happened each time. Am I missing something or was it a bug? Could it have been related to Q's Challenge also running? Amazingly, I managed to keep Q's Challenge running through Borg multi-ball, then as I locked all three balls again and started Borg multi-ball yet again. My Q's total was 1.785 Billion! (A personal record)

 

[Slam23]

Strange indeed! The only thing I could think of, that the shield would drop more quickly when you are on your umpteenth Borg MB, how far along were the jackpots? I haven't seen this behaviour though, or had the impression that the shield would drop more quickly in the progression of the game, then again, when the shields are down, I'm mostly finished with Borg MB anyway

 

[Fungi]

What happened was the shield's asynchronous neutron-flow buffer had reversed in polarity, resulting in a singularity resonance cascade. The only thing to do is to shut down the rapid wavefront harmonic and modulate the phase signal. Or reboot.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

What happened was the shield's asynchronous neutron-flow buffer had reversed in polarity, resulting in a singularity resonance cascade. The only thing to do is to shut down the rapid wavefront harmonic and modulate the phase signal. Or reboot.

Make it so.

 

[vikingerik]

This is normal. The shield timer gets faster and faster with each jackpot during a Borg multiball. After about 20 jackpots, it times out almost instantly like you saw. There is still a grace period of about two seconds after the verbal warning, so it's always still possible to get a second ball in the jackpot hole in time. Also, the upper ramp isn't subject to the shield countdown and always scores a super jackpot. Q's Challenge doesn't affect any of this.

 

[pezpunk]

Amazingly, I managed to keep Q's Challenge running through Borg multi-ball, then as I locked all three balls again and started Borg multi-ball yet again. My Q's total was 1.785 Billion! (A personal record)

well, Q's challenge never times out during multiball no matter what. for this reason, trying to start multiball right after starting Q's challenge is a known strategy for big points. same is true of Maximum Acceleration mode if i recall correctly.

 

[MWink]

Some interesting theories have been mentioned. I've always wondered if the shields dropped faster depending on some factor (such as number of jackpots scored, jackpot value, number of times Borg multi-ball has been activated, etc.). The thing is, there was nothing really exceptional about this particular game or Borg multi-ball (except that Q's Challenge was also running). It was early in the game, possibly the first or second multi-ball. The jackpot wasn't particularly big. Also, I don't think I scored significantly more jackpots than I have in other games where I didn't have this issue.

I'm glad to hear that you can still score super-jackpots after the shields have dropped. I think I've done that before and I wasn't sure if that was the reason or if it was just a grace period. I have noticed there is a small grace period where you can get a final jackpot even after multi-ball has ended. I had also noticed that Q's Challenge and Warp 9 didn't seem to time out during Borg multi-ball.

Maybe they should have had some spot targets remodulate the shields.