ST:TNG Tactics and Strategies

[ostrich2]

I was reading through the IPA Pro tips, and one section mentions shooting the Beta Quadrant Ramp frequently to build the Explosive Millions value. Are they on crack? Is it actually possible to shoot for that ramp more than 3 or 4 times in a row without missing and having it ricochet and drain down the left outlane? That ramp is death.

 

[Clawhammer]

I was reading through the IPA Pro tips, and one section mentions shooting the Beta Quadrant Ramp frequently to build the Explosive Millions value. Are they on crack? Is it actually possible to shoot for that ramp more than 3 or 4 times in a row without missing and having it ricochet and drain down the left outlane? That ramp is death.

This can be viable on a real machine if you can hold the right flipper up to a trap on the left, particularly if you're playing on a hard STTNG and you're accurate on the ramp. But yeah, totally useless in TPA.

 

[Pinhead970]

High score so far is 135 billion. Would have several higher but the stupid game freezes up quite often with a high score in progress. Flippers stop working - balls disappear but the music keeps playing....lame to be an hour in and have that happen. Anyway always go for multiballs. Period. That's where the points come from later in the game. Once you get ten or so Borg multis the points are tremendous. And always take Battle Simulation on Command Decision and get the extra ball. Also always start with Lock ball or Video mode on plunger. Does anyone know where the Extra Ball on Video Mode is. Now that would be a game changer!

 

[Pinhead970]

That is the best strategy for points.....Have you ever had the game freeze up on you when you get that high? Lately for me it does - flippers quit but music keeps going - happens during multiballs......

 

[pezpunk]

yep, that happened to me during my best game. the DMD was frozen during an animation, the balls were all gone, music playing. attendant said ball not stuck. couldn't tilt.

 

[clembo2021]

A great tactic to use when the ball is coming towards an outlane (mostly the right one) is a well timed UP NUDGE. I can't really explain the timing, so just play around with it a bit. It works for me about 80-90% of the time now, as long as the ball isn't rocketing for a power outlane. Half the time it will jostle the ball out of the inlane/outlane entirely (which is preferable), the other times it will slow down considerably and just dribble into the inlane.

 

[pezpunk]

ok finally got 1000 points on this table.

i had previously managed 20 billion (800 pts) by doing repeated Final Frontiers. I'd read here that just going for Borg Multiball was the gateway to huge scores, but i was inexplicably terrible at it whenever i tried. couldn't get more than about 4 billion that way, and couldn't start very many Borg Multiballs.

so after my 20 billion game, i was very frustrated with my strategy because i even had another Final Frontier lit when i lost my ball. making that one dang shot to start it would have netted me another 6 or 7 billion (i had about 15 artifacts).

anyway, i decided to give the borg multiball strat another try ..... and i got to 34 billion without much trouble, and decided i'd better quit before i hit a game ending bug (the game was pretty long and i was getting a little bored too!).

the key for me was to pretend the upper right flipper was dead except during borg multiball. i tend to go for the delta quadrant a lot, i don't know why, but once i stopped doing that and just let the ball fall and dead-pass off the right to the left flipper and cradle, then starting tons of Borg Multiballs became easy. there's not a lot more too it than that. dead pass to the left flipper, shoot up the right lane to lock or light lock. over and over. shooting up the far right or far left lanes at basically every shot also tends to put a lot of balls into the bumpers, which raise the jackpot. by the time i ended the game, my super jackpots were worth about 1.5 billion each.

 

[Slam23]

Congrats Pez! Even with this incremental strategy it must have taken some time to get to 34B. I employ the same strategy and got to 16B. One of the key things to do I think is avoid Warp 5, because that will hold your bonus multipliers and prevents you getting the extra ball again from the same multipliers (8x is it, isn't it?). I myself am working towards 1000 HOF points on Gorgar but this post makes me itch again for STTNG...
Slam23

 

[Fungi]

It never occurred to me to ignore the Delta Quadrant. It's there so I shoot for it. It finally dawns on me how many balls I lose attempting that shot.

 

[pezpunk]

It never occurred to me to ignore the Delta Quadrant. It's there so I shoot for it. It finally dawns on me how many balls I lose attempting that shot.

it's the challenge. it's a tough shot and you convince yourself you can do it! and then it rolls back and power drains. wah wahhh.

 

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

it's the challenge. it's a tough shot and you convince yourself you can do it! and then it rolls back and power drains. wah wahhh.

Yeah, that does suck. However, nothing is more satisfying than perforiming a successful Picard Maneuver multiple times in a row - accelerates you to warp 9 within seconds!

 

[Slam23]

Well, the Delta shot has it merits when it directly scores a Super Jackpot during multiball, just keep an eye on balls that return from the bumper area and feed the right loop.

 

[pezpunk]

Well, the Delta shot has it merits when it directly scores a Super Jackpot during multiball, just keep an eye on balls that return from the bumper area and feed the right loop.

oh definitely. during multiball it's a different story. but my score went through the roof when i stopped going for it during single ball modes. and i am pretty good at making that shot. in fact the delta shot seems 10 times easier in TPA than it is on the STTNG in my basement. but it still leads to a huge percentage of drains in single ball mode. there's a lot of control to be had if you're careful, and it is VERY easy to cede control going for the delta ramp.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

Does anyone have tips for getting the ball trapped on the right flipper? Having hard time with Search the Galaxy wizard mode and a flipper pass seems too risky on this table.

 

[Paul Petrissans]

Hmm, seems like I completed the Search the Galaxy wizard goal both on iPhone and PS3, but the delta ramp was not registered as being made. Anyone else come across this?

 

[vikingerik]

i had previously managed 20 billion (800 pts) by doing repeated Final Frontiers. I'd read here that just going for Borg Multiball was the gateway to huge scores, but i was inexplicably terrible at it whenever i tried. couldn't get more than about 4 billion that way, and couldn't start very many Borg Multiballs. ...

anyway, i decided to give the borg multiball strat another try ..... and i got to 34 billion without much trouble, and decided i'd better quit before i hit a game ending bug (the game was pretty long and i was getting a little bored too!).

I just got TPA with the Steam release, and been focusing on high end strategy on STTNG. Final Frontier vs Borg Multiball is indeed a very interesting question. They definitely compete with each other: the choice between missions or ball locks arises very often, both at ball launch and on every left flipper shot.

I'm now pretty sure Borg Multiball outclasses Final Frontier in the long run. Final Frontier is a fine way to medium-high scores if your goal is something like the Q Continuum at 10B to 20B. But only Borg Multiball has the power to really break into the stratosphere at 100B-plus. The problem is Final Frontier's maximum of 250M per shot. The Borg jackpot grows without limit throughout the whole game. And Borg feeds on itself, since each Borg MB keeps raising the jackpot for all future Borg MBs. FF doesn't do that.

Some say the lock lane shot is hard to hit on TPA. I find it pretty easy, with the caveat that a running shot never makes it all the way into the lock scoop. I can hit the lock lane 90% with a trapped ball though. I also have quite a bit of success hitting the lock lane from a hold pass on a ball coming to the right flipper from the Beta or Delta ramps.

That's not to say you should ignore FF completely. On a running shot that won't be able to make the lock scoop, Mission Start is worth shooting, especially of course if it's Q with the third lock lit. So eventually a long game will get FF a couple times. But don't worry about artifacts from the missions, you'll collect enough from holodecks and warp factor 8.

Hmm, seems like I completed the Search the Galaxy wizard goal both on iPhone and PS3, but the delta ramp was not registered as being made. Anyone else come across this?

The Search the Galaxy goal requires winning the mode in perfect fashion for two artifacts. You need to hit Alpha - Beta - Delta in order and then also the Neutral Zone which is Gamma quadrant.

 

[vikingerik]

just let the ball fall and dead-pass off the right to the left flipper and cradle, then starting tons of Borg Multiballs became easy. there's not a lot more too it than that. dead pass to the left flipper, shoot up the right lane to lock or light lock. over and over.

This is an amazing tip. Yes, for just about any ball coming out of the bumpers, ignore the upper flipper and you can dead-pass to a catch on the lower left for another lock shot.

My first game doing that doubled my high score from 37B to 74B. Two games later, I doubled that again to 149B. The jackpot value was at 600M by the end of the game so supers were 1.8B. Final Frontier scoring can't remotely keep up with that. I had one FF in that game which scored about 5 billion, compared to Borg MB scoring well over 10B multiple times.

Also, try to avoid warp factors. You want to avoid holding the bonus multiplier so you can reach 8x again on each new ball for another EB.

One more tip: For a ball coming out of the Borg ship during multiball, just hold the right flipper. Usually the ball will bounce off the slings and slowly up the left orbit into the bumpers. Which means you get another Super Jackpot shot coming out of the bumpers. Which feeds the Borg ship again, rinse and repeat. I hit five supers in a row that way while holding the other ball on the left flipper.

 

[DanBradford]

i know this thread has been quiet for a while, but i need to improve my score on STTNG so i'm honing my strategy:- let me know if i missed anything important?

from what i've read,
the big points are from repeated Borg MB, so i need to shoot the R orbit a lot, which means plenty of trapping on L flipper (dead bounce from R orbit?)
also decent points from Final Frontier by starting loads of missions and hopefully collecting plenty of artefacts.
try to start the video mode before 450M so i get the EB in there.
also i can choose between going for warps (warp 7= lots of spinner points; warp 8=EB) or avoiding these to get EBs from the rollovers every ball instead. this makes a lot of sense, but if Bowen recommends the spinner, presumably it can be super valuable, right?

 

[Zaphod77]

In a godly game the spinner will eclipse everything else eventually.

That said borg multiball and final frontier are good ways to large points, and both are vulnerable to pounding the start mission shot repeatedly. If you have that shot down you can seriously pwn final frontier.

Q's challenge can be godly if you have the Picard maneuver down as well. It is particularly awesome during borg multiball, since the shots don't time out and you also get the 3x jackpots.you can roll the game right there if you are good enough. ANd of course you also will keep boosting that spinner.

If spinner action is awesome if you can actually let the ball past the upper flipper and keep one timing the spinner during super spinner, you can get serious points, but it's awfully difficult.

When comparing final frontier, keep in mind every 4 artifacts is a BILLION points right off the bat when starting final frontier, and this probably maxes at a huge amount, so final frontier isn't as bad as it seems compared to multiball late game, especially if you are good with the modes and can get 8 artifacts or more per cycle through.

Best strategy? go for everything at once. FF, multiball, and warp factors. eventually the spinner value will get ultra huge and then you just go for it instead.

 

[DanBradford]

Q's challenge ......during borg multiball .............you also will keep boosting that spinner

maybe i wasn't clear in my post, i don't actually understand the spinner points.

i know it starts low, and i *think* that its value goes up at warp 4 (temporary?) and is made "Super Spinner" at warp 6 to 10M/spin (temporary) and ?doubled by warp 7 (temporary?) and can be made to stick at SuperSpinner status during warp 9 mode ....? ...... and can the spinner value also be increased during Time Rift mission? does it go up in Worm Hole mission tto, or is it just increasing the Worm Hole value?

in short, i don't get the spinner and how it doles out points. how does someone get the spinner to be worth a load? spell it out for a limey