Request SST strategy thread

[DanBradford]

cmon guys, show us what you got?

 

[Tarek Oberdieck]

cmon guys, show us what you got?

Simple strategy from me: Don't play this table...

 

[vikingerik]

The only way to score multiple billions is the hold-bonus feature. The entire multiplied bonus gets held, and can be multiplied again on the next ball, and held and multiplied again, and so on.

So (at my level of play) the game is mostly about grinding recon level 1 for the chance at hold-bonus. This can also award "Spot Species" which is a better (safer) way to clear out bugs than actually shooting them.

Ball control: My one big tip is with every scoop eject, use the mini-flipper to try to one-time backhand the ball up the right orbit. This works surprisingly often, and even most misses yield a safe railroaded rebound. I can't find anything else safe to do with this eject, and it's important because it happens about every eight seconds on this table.

Don't trigger Planet multiball early; it's better to stack up all 5 for the bigger jackpots.

I ignored the bad multiballs (the ones from shooting the orbits and from recon level 2), they score crap and aren't worth the risk of a double drain, just catch one ball and let the others go.

Don't chase the extra ball at the advance-rank hole. The shot is safe but the eject isn't. You won't recover 15 ejects from it before draining.

 

[ksmmspt]

Don't chase the extra ball at the advance-rank hole. You won't make 15 shots for it before draining.[/QUOTE]


Actually, you can do this in a safe way. Catch/trap the ball on the right flipper. With the right large flipper up, activate the mini flipper to send it into the saucer every time. Bouncy physics make settling the ball on the right flipper a bit tough....but its doable. Hitting Klendathu on recon level 6 is lucrative as well. I still have yet to get through all the planets to Klendathu the long way....Pain in the ass table!

 

[Stuzz]

Ermm. What's SST?

 

[Kolchak357]

Ermm. What's SST?

Starship Troopers

 

[Extork]

Starship Troopers

Woosh... Well let me put in my 2 cents. I'm one of the weird ones, like Captain, who actually really likes this table. I've never thought of doing the bonus held strategy. But like 90% of people, my games don't last 6 hours. I always go for orbit multiball when it's available. It really surprised me to hear that it's not worth it from VE up there. Even on the PAPA video, he was clearly going for orbit multiball. Otherwise, I'm always going for the ramps to boost the recon level. It's pretty safe, besides weak shots to the left ramp. But all of those ones that come dribbling back down can be nudged to the right. Literally every time you nudge to the right when that happens, you're fine. It's a lot like the kickout on jack*bot. As in, I'd rather just nudge right every single time than let it go and hope for it to bounce off the post. The 'graze' off the tip of the right flipper and then drain happens more often on iOS I believe. Like 7/10 times. Anyways, orbit myltiball all day, and boosting recon, that's what I would suggest

 

[invitro]

Actually, you can do this in a safe way. Catch/trap the ball on the right flipper. With the right large flipper up, activate the mini flipper to send it into the saucer every time.

I feel certain v.e. is talking about the danger of the saucer kickout -- it gives a drain more than 1/15 times.

 

[invitro]

I've never thought of doing the bonus held strategy. But like 90% of people, my games don't last 6 hours.

You don't need anywhere 6 hours for this strategy to benefit you. I think my #9 1B game was very short, maybe even under one hour. I'm not sure if you need any amount of hours at all... I think it gives a substantial benefit even with only, say, 3X bonus. It does take some practice to learn the scoop, its kickout, and the ramps to relight it.

I like SST quite a bit as it presents a fierce challenge, and is about as far from a one-shot table as they come. The audio still annoys me, but what seems to be crappy physics from Farsight (a rarity in Season 4) annoys me more. I should play it more... my #9 game was #2 for a fair amount of time after SST's release, and so putting in the time didn't feel worthwhile.

P.S. I am confident in saying that SST was one hell of a good pick by Farsight as a Sega representative. I've played maybe 2/3 of the Segas extensively, and I'd probably go with SST from among them. Maybe Baywatch or Maverick. I'd say Franky except for that unfortunate 9,999M limit. TPA is getting to have enough WMS tables so that Bayw and Mav are rising toward my most-wanted tables, with maybe also Goldeneye and an interesting-looking game I haven't played much like Viper, or even Batman Forever.

 

[Extork]

You don't need anywhere 6 hours for this strategy to benefit you. I think my #9 1B game was very short, maybe even under one hour. I'm not sure if you need any amount of hours at all... I think it gives a substantial benefit even with only, say, 3X bonus. It does take some practice to learn the scoop, its kickout, and the ramps to relight it.

I like SST quite a bit as it presents a fierce challenge, and is about as far from a one-shot table as they come. The audio still annoys me, but what seems to be crappy physics from Farsight (a rarity in Season 4) annoys me more. I should play it more... my #9 game was #2 for a fair amount of time after SST's release, and so putting in the time didn't feel worthwhile.

P.S. I am confident in saying that SST was one hell of a good pick by Farsight as a Sega representative. I've played maybe 2/3 of the Segas extensively, and I'd probably go with SST from among them. Maybe Baywatch or Maverick. I'd say Franky except for that unfortunate 9,999M limit. TPA is getting to have enough WMS tables so that Bayw and Mav are rising toward my most-wanted tables, with maybe also Goldeneye and an interesting-looking game I haven't played much like Viper, or even Batman Forever.

I like MSF too, but it's sounds have become kind of an inside joke between me and my work buds. ELIZABETH!!! VICTOR!!! geneva!!! Uhhhhhhhhh!!! WHO AM I!!!?

 

[invitro]

I like MSF too, but it's sounds have become kind of an inside joke between me and my work buds. ELIZABETH!!! VICTOR!!! geneva!!! Uhhhhhhhhh!!! WHO AM I!!!?

No fair, I want to work some place that has pinball inside jokes.

 

[vikingerik]

I feel certain v.e. is talking about the danger of the saucer kickout -- it gives a drain more than 1/15 times.

Exactly. Yes, the shot is automatic with the mini-flipper, but the eject isn't reliably controllable. It's maybe 75%. 75% feels good but that's a nasty trap, that's not good enough, you'll fail and drain before you reach 15 shots.

The audio still annoys me, but what seems to be crappy physics from Farsight (a rarity in Season 4) annoys me more.

I do agree the physics feel a bit off. It feels like most of the shots, particularly the scoop and firing range, can *only* be hit by the correct railroad from a catch or ramp feed. Trying to shoot from any loose or uncaught ball is very likely to miss. The same problem happens with HRC and POTO, the two previous DE/Sega/Stern tables.

Woosh... Well let me put in my 2 cents. I'm one of the weird ones, like Captain, who actually really likes this table. I've never thought of doing the bonus held strategy. But like 90% of people, my games don't last 6 hours. I always go for orbit multiball when it's available. It really surprised me to hear that it's not worth it from VE up there. Even on the PAPA video, he was clearly going for orbit multiball.

A PAPA tournament is a totally different strategic target than the TPA leaderboard. Orbit multiball is a safe and easy way to get a few tens of millions, exactly what you want in a tournament setting. But you (I) need way more than a few tens of millions to hit the top of TPA's leaderboard with scores of 1 or 2 billion. The only good way to get there is repeatedly multiplied Hold Bonus. And the risk of double draining out of the multiball is exactly what can interrupt the bonus train.

 

[Extork]

A PAPA tournament is a totally different strategic target than the TPA leaderboard. Orbit multiball is a safe and easy way to get a few tens of millions, exactly what you want in a tournament setting. But you (I) need way more than a few tens of millions to hit the top of TPA's leaderboard with scores of 1 or 2 billion. The only good way to get there is repeatedly multiplied Hold Bonus. And the risk of double draining out of the multiball is exactly what can interrupt the bonus train.

I'll never doubt you again. "We are not worthy"... So I've been playing SST nonstop. (On the PS3, this time. Makes me wonder why I've been playing on my tiny little iPhone screen for so long). But here's my 2 cents. It's surprising how often the double drains out of multiball actually happen. So yeah, it's not that I doubt you about trapping 1 and letting the rest go, it's just that my brain forces my fingers to play out every multiball, every time. Since I'm more of a flow player, I'm fairly good at hitting shots on the fly, and I prefer it, it's just really really hard for me to time something out. About the only thing I do time out is Seance out of all the tables. With Q's challenge being a close second. I absolutely hate that on for some reason.

This is an interesting little trick I've just found with SST. ...but it's so risky that it's not even worth it. All it is, is trapping the ball on the right from the left eject hole, in order to keep hitting it into the hole. Hold both right flippers, then right as it flies out, let off the upper right flipper. Instant trap if done right. Totally unrealistic physics though, so on a real table it would scream down the drain. But it's fun to do, and like I said, not even worth it.

I'm getting better at hitting the scoop for tron lvl 1. Keeps getting boosted to recon 2 though, like 50% of the time. It's very disapointing because it gives me Ground Attack way too often.

Still got a lot of work to do. Happy pinballing fellas