Gorgar Tactics and Strategies

[ScotchYeti]

I know what you mean. My poor skills have a harder time, very often the ball will drain before I have completed the drop targets 3 times to light all bumpers, which usually ensures some good points. It's a good game if one isn't in the mood for long gaming sessions.

 

[superballs]

Yeah, I'll get to it sometime...I don't play as much on my phone, and if i'm on my laptop, my 360 is being used for netflix by the GF or my daughter. Getting my scores up can be tough...from an accuracy point of view...

I do have some ok scores though.

 

[phreaker47]

Seems someone found a way to glitch the score on this game too. Just saw someone overtake my #1 score with some ridiculous number in the billions.

 

[smbhax]

I saw that--12 billion or something, gah.They have a ludicrously high score on one other table as well.

I'll have to try this shoot-the-hole strategy; I was trying the rollovers for a while but I seem to get a lot of drains with the unpredictable way the ball comes down from the bumpers.

 

[phreaker47]

It's no surprise most of these bogus scores come from mobile devices. Since you can jailbreak/root iphone/Android, there's a potential to cheat. There are even cheating apps out there that can help people find ways to cheat.

 

[smbhax]

Ahh. Yeah I was pretty surprised the first time I checked the tops of the score lists and saw so many "mobile" scores.

 

[phreaker47]

Just wanted to say kudos to FS for deleting that bogus high score off the top of the list... not for any PERSONAL reasons of course!

 

[Sumez]

Some points on ball control on this table... This might be a general thing for many older tables, but being mainly used to 90's pins, this was interesting for me, when playing Gorgar.

Basically, the slingshots are your friends on this one. I hardly ever get STDM drains, so whenever I lose the ball, it's almost always due to the outlanes.
If the ball approaches the outlanes, it's often possible to nudge it into the return lanes instead, but while the rollover bonus is neat, I find that it's way more safe to keep the ball from ever going anywhere near the outlanes. And on this table, I've never seen the slingshots send a ball to the outlanes (unless it's -really- limp), usually it will go slamming from side to side, which always sends the ball upwards towards the 2-3-4 targets, bumpers, and drop targets, which is where you'll want it most of the time. You won't lose control any more than a typical aimed shot towards the top half, since they all end up in the bumpers anyway - so usually what I do, if I feel that I can't trap the ball on a flipper, is nudging the table to send the ball violently into the closest slingshot, sending it far away from the outlanes, and keeping the game alive much longer.
Generally, I try to avoid the entire lower half of the playfield as much as possible (and never intentionally go for the 1-2-3-4 targets), unless I'm shooting for the left saucer, which can be done very safely.



It's funny, I just bought the table pack for Monster Bash, and I only ever played Gorgar on the PHOF collection because it was the freeplay table, playing it just enough to unlock one of the more flashy tables, quickly realising that tables made long before the 90's really weren't my cup of tea.
But after getting it on TPA, I've been playing it more and more, and it's really a refreshing break from the more convoluted (though typically much easier) tables. Simple scoring mechanisms, classic pinball action, and usually rather quick games, makes it a perfect table for "bite sized" game sessions right before you go to bed or whenever. It's getting to the point where Gorgar is a pin I'd definitely love to have a real life version of sitting in my home.

 

[phreaker47]

Some points on ball control on this table... This might be a general thing for many older tables, but being mainly used to 90's pins, this was interesting for me, when playing Gorgar.

Basically, the slingshots are your friends on this one. I hardly ever get STDM drains, so whenever I lose the ball, it's almost always due to the outlanes.
If the ball approaches the outlanes, it's often possible to nudge it into the return lanes instead, but while the rollover bonus is neat, I find that it's way more safe to keep the ball from ever going anywhere near the outlanes. And on this table, I've never seen the slingshots send a ball to the outlanes (unless it's -really- limp), usually it will go slamming from side to side, which always sends the ball upwards towards the 2-3-4 targets, bumpers, and drop targets, which is where you'll want it most of the time. You won't lose control any more than a typical aimed shot towards the top half, since they all end up in the bumpers anyway - so usually what I do, if I feel that I can't trap the ball on a flipper, is nudging the table to send the ball violently into the closest slingshot, sending it far away from the outlanes, and keeping the game alive much longer.
Generally, I try to avoid the entire lower half of the playfield as much as possible (and never intentionally go for the 1-2-3-4 targets), unless I'm shooting for the left saucer, which can be done very safely.



It's funny, I just bought the table pack for Monster Bash, and I only ever played Gorgar on the PHOF collection because it was the freeplay table, playing it just enough to unlock one of the more flashy tables, quickly realising that tables made long before the 90's really weren't my cup of tea.
But after getting it on TPA, I've been playing it more and more, and it's really a refreshing break from the more convoluted (though typically much easier) tables. Simple scoring mechanisms, classic pinball action, and usually rather quick games, makes it a perfect table for "bite sized" game sessions right before you go to bed or whenever. It's getting to the point where Gorgar is a pin I'd definitely love to have a real life version of sitting in my home.

It's only "bite sized" until you get hooked on the pattern of 15k saucer shots, trap on left, post transfer to right, repeat...

But I know what you mean. I've put more time into Gorgar, BOP, and now Taxi than just about anything (although I've spent significant time on TOM and MM as well). I'd add EATPM to this, but a horrible game ending bug makes me want to forget all about it.

 

[samtny]

It's only "bite sized" until you get hooked on the pattern of 15k saucer shots, trap on left, post transfer to right, repeat...

It seems in one of the recent updates this method became alot harder; the ball ejects at an odd angle about 30% of the time, versus 5% or so prior to the update/s. So you can make only 3 or 4 shots to the left eject usually before having to slap-save.

Still a viable strategy, but harder to make the real monster scores now.

 

[phreaker47]

It seems in one of the recent updates this method became alot harder; the ball ejects at an odd angle about 30% of the time, versus 5% or so prior to the update/s. So you can make only 3 or 4 shots to the left eject usually before having to slap-save.

Still a viable strategy, but harder to make the real monster scores now.

You play on iphone/ipad? I'll check this out on my ps3/Vita, since I remember someone a while back saying this was difficult even then. I suspected then that the physics may have varied slightly between versions. Now I'm curious if that has actually changed on PS3/Vita. I haven't played it since my 4.5 million game.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

Thanks for this. I usually start with the GOR and GAR targets then the extra ball, but I think your idea of going for the 3X first is a better strategy, so I'll give it a whirl.

This table is pretty brutal at times, but that's what makes it addicting for me.

Same here. I'm gonna try going for those rollovers, which I largely gave up on because of no lane change. However, going straight for GAR is likely not as safe as sending the ball through the spinner.

What I had been doing is spelling Gorgar twice, and milking that 20K saucer shot.

 

[Duchess]

For some reason I am having trouble with the last goal. Getting the 1-2-3-4 targets and hitting the special. I can't figure out how many times I've gotten them lit. Sometimes the are lit solid, then they go to a flashing number. According to the instructions (which, to me, are kinda confusing) you have to go through them 3 times, then hit the special wherever it lights up. I have tried for hours and hours and cannot seem to get this. Is there any way that someone can explain it to me so I can get this? It's probably VERY simple but my mind cannot seem to get how to do it LOL!


Oh and if anyone needs to know this, I use a Kindle Fire HD.
Thanks

 

[k88dad]

For some reason I am having trouble with the last goal. Getting the 1-2-3-4 targets and hitting the special. I can't figure out how many times I've gotten them lit. Sometimes the are lit solid, then they go to a flashing number. According to the instructions (which, to me, are kinda confusing) you have to go through them 3 times, then hit the special wherever it lights up. I have tried for hours and hours and cannot seem to get this. Is there any way that someone can explain it to me so I can get this? It's probably VERY simple but my mind cannot seem to get how to do it LOL!
...

My advice is to just try for the 1-2-3-4 and ignore high scores until you get the last goal. You'll soon figure out which of the four you hit the least.

Flashing just means that you have hit them at least twice (I assume a scoring difference.) You get one star lit for each set you complete. You know that you have achieved the third set when the triangle-shaped special light starts rotating through 1-2-3-4. You still have to hit the one lit for special to achieve the goal.

Lighting both D and E (the inlanes) will spot you one of 1-2-3-4.

It's a reasonably tough goal.

 

[ScotchYeti]

If you can keep the ball alive long enough (score of 600k or more) you will reach the goal almost automatically with all the random bouncing.

As k88dad has said, you have to complete the 1-2-3-4 targets three times. Complete them to start another sequence. After the 3rd time there will be a flashing arrow in front of one of the targets but again, you usually hit it anyway without even trying. Keeping the balls alive is more important.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

For some reason I am having trouble with the last goal. Getting the 1-2-3-4 targets and hitting the special. I can't figure out how many times I've gotten them lit. Sometimes the are lit solid, then they go to a flashing number. According to the instructions (which, to me, are kinda confusing) you have to go through them 3 times, then hit the special wherever it lights up. I have tried for hours and hours and cannot seem to get this. Is there any way that someone can explain it to me so I can get this? It's probably VERY simple but my mind cannot seem to get how to do it LOL!


Oh and if anyone needs to know this, I use a Kindle Fire HD.
Thanks

I agree with the yeti. Aiming for those spot targets is dangerous and will often send the ball bouncing side to side to the outlanes. Better to just keep the ball alive, and go for the extra ball. You are almost more likely to get the special by accident than you are if you aim for them. However, this does not apply to the spot target on the left by the saucer. In milking the saucer shot for points and the extra ball, you can often hit the spot target before the ball lands in the saucer. When it spits the ball out, sometimes it will roll over the return lane and cycles over the lit spot targets. It this way, you can register a lot of hits just going for the spot target on the left.

Of course, be prepared for the devastation of getting that special lit, and losing your ball trying to hit it!

 

[neglectoid]

I have been trying a new shot. when I have the ball cradled on my left flipper, I shoot a backhand shot into the leftmost bumper in hopes that I will knockout a GOR drop target or two with a lucky bounce.

just something I have been trying out...

me love gorgar.

 

[Zaphod77]

yeah this method of "shoot saucer over and over" which worked so well on PHOF is now very hard on iOS. There is significant randomness in the eject, and you can NOT always trap that ball. which is how it should be. these old saucers the ball didn't always settle in the same spot, and they eject before the ball settles, to give a fair amount of randomness in real life. you can always get your flipper on it, but you can not always trap it. which is good.

on phof i would patiently shoot the saucer until i qualified, then play for real.

 

[invitro]

Looping the eject was very easy on the PHOF and TPA/Xbox versions, and I got 1M regularly on it, with a high score of 1.4M. On PC, looping the eject is not easy, and though I have played the table seemingly 200 times because I love it, my high score sat at 951k today. Tonight I finally got a million, and then rolled on to a second million, ending with 2.08M (~#37).

The strategy for me is pretty much the same as on most tables: practice until I can get an EB on half my balls. I think that the total score per EB% derivative is very high when EB% is around 50%.

I was worried that the PC version was just too different from other versions, and that almost all of the Leaderboard top 100 are games on non-PC platforms. I now feel hopeful that mixing the PC version with other versions on the Leaderboard may not be unfair.

I still really wish I knew the platform (and date?) for the top 100 Leaderboard scores. If anyone knows, please help.

I love Gorgar ... I am amused that the sounds on it are better than on any Gottlieb ever made, even through 1996, 17 years after Gorgar was made. (And better than almost all DE/Sega/Sterns, too.) What a great and exciting game, and I wish Farsight would go for the 1979-1982 WMS/Bally tables (Flash, Xenon, Paragon, ...) instead of the 1985-1990 ones like Elvira, DrDude, BK2K, and PartyZone/Cyclone/HS if those are indeed coming.