How do you avoid drains?

[nstraz]

I find Firepower to be the most frustrating table ever. Most games I can't seem to get past 50k points. Often the ball seems to find the outlanes before the flippers. How do you guys play this table? Are you nudging it all the time? How do you save the ball from the left outlane when the shield is not lit? How do you keep the ball launching from the shield to the right outlane?

Frustrated and ready to smash some glass,

Nate

 

[Fungi]

I don't play it. I hate it that much. Don't get me wrong, I love Firepower IRL. This one, I'm sorry, the outlanes are far too hungry. Worse than CV and STTNG.

 

[DrainoBraino]

FP outlanes are ridiculous. I can't play it at all on my android phone. Too frustrating.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

the problem is the slingshots! when a ball comes from the right and hits a sling it rebounds but on TPA its slips this results in a insta drain. The rubber on the posts by the outs might as well not even be there.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah, I'm thinking the slings are a bit out of tune.

 

[Baron Rubik]

FP outlanes are ridiculous. I can't play it at all on my android phone. Too frustrating.

I love TPA Firepower on Android (ball count bug aside), yet have so far avoided STTNG because it's a drain monster.

Firepower tips -

Always try to keep the kickback lit.

When shooting the targets - Always shoot opposite bank of targets to the flipper you're on - eg, if cradling on the left, only shoot the right bank. Shooting same sides due to targets angles quickly ends in outlane drains.

 

[Fungi]

When shooting the targets - Always shoot opposite bank of targets to the flipper you're on - eg, if cradling on the left, only shoot the right bank. Shooting same sides due to targets angles quickly ends in outlane drains.

And when you do hit the correct bank of targets, there's a good chance the ball will bounce towards a slingshot, and the slings are pretty much just giant triangle shaped outlanes. FUN!

 

[Palmer Eldritch]

I had a ball get ejected from the kickback right into the right outlane..

 

[Carl Spiby]

Punishingly hard table this one, maybe worse than Dr. Dude.

 

[ScotchYeti]

The old PHOF version was much easier, probably too easy. It's a real drain monster now, almost on par with "Big Shot" (but more fun). Shooting the targets is very risky but can't be avoided if you want to play Multiball.

I slightly nudge whenever the ball seems to be in danger - which is almost always. Nuding upward avoids many drains SDTM, especially when you try to hit the targets in the middle. The angles from the slingshot are also modified a bit and you are able to get control of the ball.

 

[Kolchak357]

Do you all think it is harder than a real life FP? I read some people on Pinside said it was tougher than the real deal. I haven't played a real FP in years, but I can't recall if it was that much easier.

 

[Fungi]

Do you all think it is harder than a real life FP? I read some people on Pinside said it was tougher than the real deal. I haven't played a real FP in years, but I can't recall if it was that much easier.

It must be. Because I actually liked the game IRL. If it was as punishing as this TPA version, it wouldn't have earned more than one quarter from my pocket.

 

[superballs]

I had a ball get ejected from the kickback right into the right outlane..

This is the only aspect of this table that makes me want to put my tablet/phone through a window.
Everything else seems legitimately hard. But this.....raaaaaaage....

 

[Vorlon]

I got about 1.250.000 on the PHOF Firepower and all standard goals, but this new version seems to hate me.

 

[monty22001]

It is painfully hard. I tried to get to 550k and got to 530k while getting my 5x goal. After that, no luck getting over 250k for the next hour so it's break time. Yikes it's a drainfest.

 

[nstraz]

I had some amazing luck tonight and I broke 1,000,000 for the tournament. My best game ever on FP. Now I just wish the tournament high scores were also saved locally.

 

[superballs]

"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

 

[norbert26]

Do you all think it is harder than a real life FP? I read some people on Pinside said it was tougher than the real deal. I haven't played a real FP in years, but I can't recall if it was that much easier.

i'm sorry i am late to this thread. The college game room brought this in in '84. The game was a quarter eater and everyone shunned it preferring 8 ball deluxe that was next to it at the time. The real life version was also outlane drain hungry. Fast forward to today i can't even nudge / tilt as it still locked due to me not completing all the goals at this time and constant drain fest parties hoping one in 20 games will be decent.

 

[phreaker47]

As said, keep the kickback lit. But here's what I started doing other than that... forget completing the banks ALL the time. When you have the kickback lit, just start shooting the spinner. The trajectory of the ball returning from the upper field often gives you a chance to trap. If you trap left, post-pass to right. You can keep the ball off the slings and away from the outlanes longer. Multiball doesn't have any jackpots anyway, and you can get an extra ball from completing FIRE enough times. Shoot the banks when you do need the kickback again, and you'll be lighting locks eventually anyway.

 

[norbert26]

Update: i found that tilt locked does not mean nudge is locked. i switched to shake nudge this seemed to help along with the above suggestions of don't worry about the targets shoot for the spinner . However getting the 550K for the last standard goal remains unreachable and will take an act of god. My best was somewhere around 250k or 300k i forgot exactly. There supposed to be an update coming that will allow wizard goals to be completed even if all standard goals are not if thats the case i can work around the 550k which i don't see happening i may get everything but.