Slam23
Active member
- Jul 21, 2012
- 1,279
- 2
Hi fellow pinheads,
I think I just played enough to discuss some strategy. Currently at 29B which is 2nd place behind Tarek, who has a great score of 99B.
Crime Scenes = Bonus and EB
I think the points on this table are in the accumulation of Crime Scenes, who add 1M to bonus, upwards to 255M, after which they -sadly- reset. You already shoot for them to get a repeatable EB, every 6 Scenes. So basically it comes down to get EB's more often than you drain. You can stack 4 EB's for a nice cushion. Once per game you can have your bonus doubled but that's it. I think the Martians will infinite this table in no time, especially if TPA takes scores beyond 100B.
Getting Crime Scenes
If you get proficient at hitting the inner loop with the upper right flipper, you are set because the rest of the Scene shots are pretty straightforward. This requires getting the ball on that right upper flipper in the first place. I prefer one of two ways: 1. Shooting the left loop will feed the ball to the kickback lane at the lefthand side. This will autofire and bring the ball across the playfield. 1 out of 2 times the ball will not hit the JUDGE standups and land on the right upper flipper instead. You can also try to one-time the inner loop when the ball comes screaming around from that orbit shot. 2. Shooting a bit early from the left upper flipper will let the ball graze the standup targets and put the ball right at the right upper flipper.
Anyway, if you hit the inner loop for a Scene, try to hit it again if you get this Scene as fifth one, they will all reset after five and you get a free shot at the new inner loop Scene. Plus you'll look like boss while doin' it
This reset after five can be a bit confusing at first, especially because the insert for the inner loop Scene is not very visible.
Other scoring
A good Ultimate Challenge can also provide nice points but require 9 Chain Link modes to be played first or you'll have to win Multiball which in itself will need a lot of shots to be activated after the first instance. I haven't won MB yet. The Chain Link modes themselves will not yield more than 30-40M a piece on average, although some of them can be more lucrative if maxed. Most of them can be played without a lot of risk, and even provide some welcome change of pace during a long grind. Stay away from playing Blackout which is a 2-ball MB without a ball saver, this will often end in a double drain. Also modes like Safecracker and Bad Impersonator are risky because they need you to hit the standup targets. I tend to play the safe modes but focus on getting lit Crime Scenes when playing them, sometimes they go together nicely, sometimes they just time out.
Miscellaneous
There are some players who report a potential rewarding bug in which Ultimate Challenge continues after draining to the last ball. Apparently real machines display the same behaviour, so it's probably a ROM thing.
The table doesn't tilt easily, so nudge to save those SDTM's. I find the outlanes to be not especially hungry, but when a ball goes there, it's quite hard to nudge them away.
Live catching works but doesn't happen very frequently, nor is very important imho.
Balls returning to the left inlane can be flipper-passed almost always without risk to the right, setting up left ramp and orbit shots, the reverse is not true.
I hope there's some more strategy possible but I'm not seeing any at the moment, so let's hear it!
I think I just played enough to discuss some strategy. Currently at 29B which is 2nd place behind Tarek, who has a great score of 99B.
Crime Scenes = Bonus and EB
I think the points on this table are in the accumulation of Crime Scenes, who add 1M to bonus, upwards to 255M, after which they -sadly- reset. You already shoot for them to get a repeatable EB, every 6 Scenes. So basically it comes down to get EB's more often than you drain. You can stack 4 EB's for a nice cushion. Once per game you can have your bonus doubled but that's it. I think the Martians will infinite this table in no time, especially if TPA takes scores beyond 100B.
Getting Crime Scenes
If you get proficient at hitting the inner loop with the upper right flipper, you are set because the rest of the Scene shots are pretty straightforward. This requires getting the ball on that right upper flipper in the first place. I prefer one of two ways: 1. Shooting the left loop will feed the ball to the kickback lane at the lefthand side. This will autofire and bring the ball across the playfield. 1 out of 2 times the ball will not hit the JUDGE standups and land on the right upper flipper instead. You can also try to one-time the inner loop when the ball comes screaming around from that orbit shot. 2. Shooting a bit early from the left upper flipper will let the ball graze the standup targets and put the ball right at the right upper flipper.
Anyway, if you hit the inner loop for a Scene, try to hit it again if you get this Scene as fifth one, they will all reset after five and you get a free shot at the new inner loop Scene. Plus you'll look like boss while doin' it
This reset after five can be a bit confusing at first, especially because the insert for the inner loop Scene is not very visible. Other scoring
A good Ultimate Challenge can also provide nice points but require 9 Chain Link modes to be played first or you'll have to win Multiball which in itself will need a lot of shots to be activated after the first instance. I haven't won MB yet. The Chain Link modes themselves will not yield more than 30-40M a piece on average, although some of them can be more lucrative if maxed. Most of them can be played without a lot of risk, and even provide some welcome change of pace during a long grind. Stay away from playing Blackout which is a 2-ball MB without a ball saver, this will often end in a double drain. Also modes like Safecracker and Bad Impersonator are risky because they need you to hit the standup targets. I tend to play the safe modes but focus on getting lit Crime Scenes when playing them, sometimes they go together nicely, sometimes they just time out.
Miscellaneous
There are some players who report a potential rewarding bug in which Ultimate Challenge continues after draining to the last ball. Apparently real machines display the same behaviour, so it's probably a ROM thing.
The table doesn't tilt easily, so nudge to save those SDTM's. I find the outlanes to be not especially hungry, but when a ball goes there, it's quite hard to nudge them away.
Live catching works but doesn't happen very frequently, nor is very important imho.
Balls returning to the left inlane can be flipper-passed almost always without risk to the right, setting up left ramp and orbit shots, the reverse is not true.
I hope there's some more strategy possible but I'm not seeing any at the moment, so let's hear it!
