PS3 IOS STTNG Kickstarer Tournament

[Canadian365]

I'm just curious to how some players are able to get over 50 billion in PS3 STTNG tournament. Also how some have over 400 billion in table standings leader boards. Are some people hacking, cheating somehow. I can only manage just over 5 billion so far playing for about 30 minutes. How do those high scores not get ball drains? The right drain is almost a 90% drain when ever it goes there for me, even if I nudge. Any tips for better scores would be great. I did read the Pro tips, and tips online, but has to be more that people use to get over 400 billion...insane!

Some crazy scores being posted! Can FS tell if a game score is a result of a cheat or hack? If so do they check the score before offering rewards! I noticed The TZ tournament listed 196 players, but when tournament was over, it said only 177 participated? was the difference due to cheats?

 

[VMethos]

I always wondered what it is that I didn't know from the STTNG table that made scores over 100 billion possible. I wasn't involved in this tournament, so I don't know how many high scoring games there've been, but I have seen the ludicrous scores posted on the regular PS3 leaderboards and often wondered what had to be done to get a score that high. I can somewhat frequently get a score between 5 and 7 billion or so in about 30 minutes of play, making it to The Final Frontier a single time. Assuming someone is good enough to continue a better pace than that, they should be able to post about 15 billion per hour, maybe a little more... still, it would take over 6 and a half hours to break 100 billion at that pace.

With Twilight Zone, I was able to consistently make it to Lost in the Zone on a single ball and tack on an extra ball in reserve, my longest game lasted 4 hours... so, there may be a similar trick to STTNG. Do you get an extra ball awarded each time you make it to warp factor 8? My guess is that the high scorers are getting an extra ball in reserve almost everytime they start a new ball, then working towards Final Frontier. The extra balls in a tournament end up becoming a battle of attrition. And a 400 billion game would probably take 24 hours of game time or more. If it's legit, which is possible... it's ridiculous.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I am not very good at ST:TNG, but from what I understand the value of the Borg Jackpot has no limit and will continue to accumulate throughout the game, so the optimal scoring strategy is to start Borg Multiball over and over and score Triple Jackpots. Eventually the jackpots will reach a point where they eclipse what can reasonably be achieved in Final Frontier, and it's much easier to start multiball than it is the wizard mode.

 

[Mayuh]

I'm not a very good player, but I managed 53 billions on the real machine (with extra balls on). I've seen a game of rbion with well over half a billion on ball 1 played on ps3... I guess there really are gifted guys out there

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/3487-1-Ball-Challenge?p=65298&viewfull=1#post65298

Oh... Was deleted...

 

[VMethos]

I am not very good at ST:TNG, but from what I understand the value of the Borg Jackpot has no limit and will continue to accumulate throughout the game, so the optimal scoring strategy is to start Borg Multiball over and over and score Triple Jackpots. Eventually the jackpots will reach a point where they eclipse what can reasonably be achieved in Final Frontier, and it's much easier to start multiball than it is the wizard mode.

Ah. I knew I was missing something. Thanks for the info Sean.

 

[bailorgana]

Bobby told me last year they were aware there was some kind of way to hack the scores from iOS and PS3. I'd love to know who the guy is who has 59 billion.

I was thinking you would have to pause the game and come back to it after a long period of play, maybe after every final frontier.

 

[netizen]

It's nice to see that Android players aren't being blamed for all the obscure and strange scores any more.

 

[Tann]

It's nice to see that Android players aren't being blamed for all the obscure and strange scores any more.

Yep, just hackers. Mobile or not.

TAXI top score: 6.5 billions. (but I didn't remember if they're is (Mobile) beside the player ID )

 

[Canadian365]

Well I was able to get a few more points with Borg Jackpots etc. Thanks Sean DonCarlos! Maybe the ability to pause games during tournament should be disabled, just a thought. Holding third place, for now! Had a heart stopping moment when my score seemed to reset to zero. But that was due to table score roll over after 10 billion!

 

[brakel]

Well I was able to get a few more points with Borg Jackpots etc. Thanks Sean DonCarlos! Maybe the ability to pause games during tournament should be disabled, just a thought. Holding third place, for now! Had a heart stopping moment when my score seemed to reset to zero. But that was due to table score roll over after 10 billion!

How can you do this? Does TPA support an auto launcher to launch the ball after X many minutes? Otherwise the ball can sit in the trough for a long as someone wants to take a break.

 

[Gorgar]

The only two remaining tables that I would support on a kickstarter are taf and Indy, so it better be one of those.

 

[VMethos]

I think the key change that would greatly benefit tournament play is to remove the extra balls (including the additional EBs gained from Specials/Replays)
It would vastly reduce the games length of time and change the focus of strategy towards maximizing point scoring as opposed to obtaining extra balls and playing the sure but steady safe point game route.

I think the main reason actual tournaments have conditions about pauses in play is mostly due to the fact that they need the tournament to keep moving along as other players are waiting to play. When the game is at your home or on your portable device where there is no one else waiting for you to finish before they can begin, I don't really see an issue with pausing.

Slightly more on topic:
Borg multiball is definitely the way to go. Attempted a couple games last night and managed to nearly double my high score in a fairly short 30 minute game that wasn't even played all that well. 13 billion without getting to Final Frontier and missing a bunch of shots and jackpots certainly tells me that 50+ billion is attainable.

 

[bailorgana]

Well I was able to get a few more points with Borg Jackpots etc. Thanks Sean DonCarlos! Maybe the ability to pause games during tournament should be disabled, just a thought. Holding third place, for now! Had a heart stopping moment when my score seemed to reset to zero. But that was due to table score roll over after 10 billion!

Saw you knocked me out of 2nd last night. Congrats. Does anyone know when they say top 20%, do they mean if your score is 80 or above, or do you really need to be in the top 20%? As of right now, that would mean only 1-2-3rd will get prizes?

 

[Worf]

Actually, these are things that helped:

1) Explosive Millions - the right ramp and middle ramp. Keep hitting them CONSTANTLY. 5M-10M-15M.. up to 50M. If you can keep it at 50M per shot, well...

2) Missions - make sure you get 3 of the 5 items - Isolinear chip, Duranium Sphere, Singing Stone, etc. This makes Final Frontier shots worth 100M each. The items are had during the missions - 4 Time Rifts, 3 Asteroids, all quadrants (search the galaxy), etc.

3) Borg - you can get very decent scores if you can get the Borg jackpot up there. Especially if you hit the center hole 3 times in a row.

The missions are important - with 3 items, you get 1B for starting FF, and 100M for each shot with multiball. I ramped up from 1B to 4B in FF this way.

In addition, during the skill shot, chose "Start Mission" to get FF quicker. Ball control is essential so if you have trouble, cradle during the missions.

 

[Cyborg]

Bobby told me last year they were aware there was some kind of way to hack the scores from iOS and PS3. I'd love to know who the guy is who has 59 billion.

Heh - just saw this... You rang? Here I am. What do you wanna know?

 

[VMethos]

Ok... Borg multiball is where it is at. While I agree that the missions, explosive millions, and final frontier with all four items certainly help a score... repeatedly starting multiball and hitting each of the 1st 3 shots to increase the jackpots (along with increases from bumper hits) is pretty much the be all and end all for score. I played 2 games this afternoon and managed to rack up a 98 billion in a game that was somewhere around an hour and a half long. I reached Final Frontier once with all 4 items, but it didn't last very long as the camera switched to the ball launch views, but that didn't matter as 85% or more of my total score had come from Borg Multiball jackpots. By the end of the game the jackpot value had risen to about 750 million which meant that the 3x super jackpot was a bit over 2 billion. The score was rolling over the 10 billion mark so often that I lost track of my score and thought I was about 20 or 30 billion lower than what I actually had. On a really good day, I could probably double that, so I don't doubt that the crazy high scores aren't just some amazing players.

EDIT: Played once more last night... 2.5 hour game, 335 billion. I really wish the score display didn't roll over until 100 billion instead of 10. I didn't think I had more than 250 or so, but with a jackpot value over 1 billion the score starts to rollover quite often during multiball while racking up 1x, 2x, and 3x jackpots and is very challenging to keep track of.

 

[bailorgana]

Heh - just saw this... You rang? Here I am. What do you wanna know?

What is your non-tourney high?

I wish these scores went to the leaderboard. I doubt I'll ever get higher than what I have now.

 

[Cyborg]

What is your non-tourney high?

Honestly, I don't know and would have to look. It's not even remotely close to what I have in this tournament. I'm somewhere in there, but I'm usually not that good at this table to matter and I'm missing the proper incentive to try harder. Which is a funny thing considering the 59 billion score - it was one of the first games I played in this tourney and it was just insane... One of those very rare games that just seem to play itself, with 2 or 3 Final Frontiers, lots of Borg Multiballs, repeated EBs from the 8x multipl... "Thank you, Mr. Data!"

During the game I lost track of the score and had no clue how high it actually was until it was over. I was a happy camper, of course, but fully expected to be beaten by the end of this week. And it's not over yet - still some time left!

Although I came close once with 52 billion, I haven't been able to top it myself. Still trying...

I wish these scores went to the leaderboard. I doubt I'll ever get higher than what I have now.

Yeah, me too. Or if the scores were saved in the local high score list, for starters.

 

[Jj Johnson]

I can't beat my own score now of 91 billion on mobile. Pezpu k got super close with only a few hours I believe left to play if even that shoot it mite be over now stupid time zones. I almost got it there yesterday 53 billion my borg jackpot 3x built to 2 billion I know how to play this gamenow because of this tourney.

 

[bailorgana]

No official winners announced yet?