Strategy for 5-planet WG

[Zaphod77]

I stopped shooting the brain bug a long time ago, as it usually bounced to an insta drain.

Ahh the Drain Bug. (yes this SO happens in real life too)

 

[switch3flip]

That only awards you Klendathu, it doesn't nuke planets. In fact you don't want that, because it resets you back to the first planet and you need to start all over again.

Oh OK, sorry didn't realize they were two different goals.

 

[vikingerik]

As for shooting recon from the right flipper, my biggest issue is getting control of the ball and catching it there. Tips anyone?

There's lots of subtle moves you can do with the mini-flipper to deaden the ball and get control on the right main flipper. Hard to describe though. The simple one is on any right ramp feed, hold the mini-flipper and release it just after the ball touches it, and you'll get a catch.

 

[satandouche]

Finally finished this. Hope this video helps some people (especially tablet players) get this goal. Made it to Planet P on the first ball then almost choked. Used a recon kickout to left ramp to right flipper trap technique heavily and ye olde left flipper backhand orbit to get the 10x extra ball. Works well, but this goal is still excruciating. If you can master these trap methods it will help immensely. One ramp away from the Klendathu 50 million shot. Glad that one isn't a wizard goal.

Made this sweet outlane save that tilts 9 times out of ten normally.

Used the red flipper a total of 2 times cause iPad. What a disadvantage not being able to reliably use it.

There's a bug if you trigger the live fire assault multiball restart countdown that stops the "attack the next planet" hole from registering. You have to wait for the hurry up points to run out then the shot becomes active again.

Drenched in sweat and adrenaline by the end of it.

Good luck dudes.

The only good bug is a dead bug!

 

[Eternal21]

Here's a vid of me earning this goal on a PS4:

It took me almost 2 months, where I would play one game a day, because I just couldn't take any more of the bulls**t drains via right outlane. My strategy was as follows:

1. First 3 planets are easy, because you only have yellow, green and blue bugs. I would kill yellow bugs using red flipper when the ball would be returned via Recon Hole. At any other time I would simply aim down the center lane, to hit either green or blue targets.
2. The red bugs are the biggest problem, because there's no easy way to hit them, without risking bounces into the stupid right outlane. My strategy was going after yellow, green/blue targets, and then trying to go for Spot Species Level 1 Recon Award. Sometimes you'll end up hitting enough red targets just by accident in the process. In my video I manage to Spot Species on 4th planet, and hit all the targets the hard way on the 5th planet.
3. The easiest way to hit Arm Nukes hole (you need to do this on the final planet) is by cradling the ball in the right flipper, and then using the secondary flipper to hit the ball. Works every time.

I was so excited to finally get this goal, I completely failed on the multiball, and didn't get the Kandahar goal (drained all balls). Luckily it's easy enough to get via Recon Award 6 - got it on the first try after this game.

 

[skippycue]

This goal is by far the hardest goal for the Starship Troopers table. However, it's really not that hard because it's pretty easy to hit the drop targets with backhand shots from the right flipper, even the red one. For the last planet I was going to try to earn the spot planet award from the recon hole but decided it was not worth worrying about and went back to the drop targets. It's pretty easy to keep the ball in play assuming you don't press the wrong flipper button like I did when I lost my first ball, lol. Also, there are three easy catches to be aware of:

1. When shooting the left ramp, hold up both flippers and the ball will jump to the right flipper for an easy catch.
2. When shooting the right ramp, hold up the red flipper and let the ball trickle over it then let it go and hold up the right main flipper for an easy catch.
3. When the ball exits the recon hole, let it dead bounce to the left flipper, then hold up both flippers and left nudge as the ball starts rolling onto the left flipper from the left inlane to give it enough momentum to jump to the right flipper for an easy catch. Sometimes the dead bounce will also allow an easy catch on the left flipper. Controlling this eject helps a lot!