Table of the Week Club...week 4: FLIGHT 2000

[Gus]

Nope, that's it. My 10.9M score, Ball 3 drained down the lit outlane to give me my final EB. As usual with most outlane EBs/Specials, scoring them is more a matter of luck than skill.

Starting multiball seems like a guaranteed way to get 2 quick outlane drains this table must have the shortest mb of all!

 

[Nat-1969]

Starting multiball seems like a guaranteed way to get 2 quick outlane drains this table must have the shortest mb of all!

Agreed. The whole game seems to revolve around the multiball which lasts about 5 seconds.

I still need the outlane special wizard goal. Kind of a mundane accomplishment. And last game I had it lit on ball one, had at least 4 balls drain out there and each time it was the unlit lane. Oh well, I guess it will happen eventually.

 

[Slam23]

Yeah, I've had that happen a couple times. But I wouldn't be able to tell you if its a bug or not. A couple of times the plunger actually pulled the ball out of the machine, which then fell to the floor. Kind of amusing. My HS before this was 4.5mil(ish). ive been slowly boosting it up. 5.4mil now. Finally a table of the week that I have a fighting chance with (against myself). That tip that vikingeric shared is what I'm always trying to do now. The first time it happened I about crapped my pants. Didn't look like it was gonna hit that center post.

I snorted my tea out of my nose reading that .....and the ball does do a funny thing indeed because it more or less grazes the center post instead of hitting it. It's also quite strange how the ball picks up pace hitting that particular spot where the inlane ends and the flipper begins. But I'll take it. I'm now experimenting in how to get that O directly from the start of MB because it's essentially the same situation where balls get launched out of the blastoff lanes. When all three targets are up, the 3rd ball does the trick if you put away the first 2 balls without hitting those drop targets. All other situations except with the lower target already down give you VikingErik's trick right from the bat or on the second ball. You can even try to get the configuration just right before starting MB so the first ball gives the "O". If I figure out how not to drain when doing the countdown, this trick will help me get to those higher scores. In Genie's strategy thread there is a guy who figured out the "good" vs. "risky" vs. "forbidden" shots to minimize draining. For shooting the 1-5 targets I could use a similar schematic.

[MENTION=4188]Gus[/MENTION]: this is strange, because I get it to work without a flaw and everytime. You say the ball goes toward another lane than the "L"? Haven't seen that happen, it's actually quite hard to get it to land somewhere else with nudging. Then again, somebody with a 10.3M score may not need it

 

[Slam23]

I think multiball is not implemented that well in this table, because I don't see a clear reward for keeping it going when you get it. Aside from how difficult it is to keep it going for a while, the question is also if that is a good idea when judging risk/reward. If you try to keep it going, scoring will go somewhat quicker but the risk of draining multiple balls is also quite high. On the other hand when trying to get balls into the blastoff lane as quick as you can, you have to be careful not to lose the other(s) because the "locked" ball is not counted as being in play. I had situations where I locked 2 of 3, and then saw the 3rd ball drain. So the other option is to play MB as quickly as possible over and over again. I haven't taken the time to find out which strategy is the most point efficient, but staying on the safe side and "lock" those balls again does seem better than trying to keep them in play and risk draining them. It kind of feels a bit futile though to do this....
Any thoughts on this?

 

[Nat-1969]

I think it is best to just play the mb, don't go for the lock. I just had a great mb (lasted maybe 45 sec!) and then 2 drain simultaneously with going in the lock, lock registered before second drain so it ended my ball altogether. You can really whale on the right spinner during mb, so if it is at 7k your score really starts to do some good things. Also got my last wizard goal (outlane special) during this mb. It was draining down unlit lane but then a different ball switched the lane and I got it at last second. Yay!

 

[vikingerik]

But it seems pretty random which lane of L-A-S-T the ball is returned through? Mostly I think it's through the L lane but many times it doesn't even bounce towards the drop targets at all for me.

I forget which one offhand, but it's always the same one, for the railroad that I'm talking about. If it finds different lanes for you (and you're not nudging), then it doesn't work the same way on your platform, the Blastoff eject kicker must have randomness that isn't present in my PC and other versions.

 

[vikingerik]

Multiball strategy: The reward is for starting it (300k-ish points as all the Blastoff contraption kickers fire many times), but yes there is no point to keeping multiball going. What I do is just catch one ball on a flipper and hold it for insurance as I try to play with the others. Don't lock during multiball if you can help it at all, since that just robs you of the ball, it's equivalent to draining. Mostly I shoot the left spinner while the lock is not yet lit, since that scores 70k each time in total between the spinner itself and the eject kickers.

 

[shutyertrap]

I still think Firepower's multiball is quicker. Can't tell you how many times I lost one ball to an outlane without even being able to flip it, whereas with F2k it always at least touches the flipper.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

All right guys, I made an article that should help you guys with completing BLASTOFF. http://digitalpinballfans.com/entry.php/182-PINBALL-DISSECTED-Flight-2000-(Stern-1980

 

[Slam23]

Well, I just couldn't resist having another go and upped my best by a million, topping out at 8.7M. And this was ended by a houseball, so more should be possible. Fun discussion btw on how to approach MB: take the 300.000 and change by stringing multiple MB's together, or spamming out on the spinners while trying to keep MB alive. I got my 8.7 primarily by strategy one.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

 

[Gus]

I forget which one offhand, but it's always the same one, for the railroad that I'm talking about. If it finds different lanes for you (and you're not nudging), then it doesn't work the same way on your platform, the Blastoff eject kicker must have randomness that isn't present in my PC and other versions.

It's not the same for me, so all iOS doesn't play the same, since it's working for Slam.

I just shot 11.2M

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

While testing last night, I got the railroad strategy to work. Thanks, [MENTION=3745]vikingerik[/MENTION]!

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

While testing last night, I got the railroad strategy to work. Thanks, [MENTION=3745]vikingerik[/MENTION]!

Worked for me as well

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Worked for me as well

I've repeatedly confirmed it doesn't work on Android

I need to play it on my PC. I have an 11.2M score to beat.

 

[Gus]

I've repeatedly confirmed it doesn't work on Android

I need to play it on my PC. I have an 11.2M score to beat.

Nothing like some competition for motivation It would be cool to have someone from the table of the week guys claiming the top spot, so go for gold Eldar! There is a chance on this table for sure. I'll give it a few more shots during the weekend.

 

[Locksley]

Just jumping in to say COOL!

Just keep those nice 80's tables coming

 

[Iguana]

Arghh! Still trying to break my 3.7 million. Definitely getting better at this table, though.

 

[Slam23]

10.1M for. 16th on the leaderboards. Had a gazillion games in the 6-7M range and I think I'm done with this table. Funny how the problem areas shifted to the "S" (before MB) and "F" (during MB with one ball left) rollovers where first the "O" seemed most problematic. Also shooting the 3 target without draining is sometimes a challenge (shooting a rolling ball from the right flipper brings it often nicely back to the left flipper). Getting in a groove with stringing multiple MB's together is the fun part, getting to MB without draining is still not easy.

 

[Gus]

12.8M, pretty close to top 3. I usually get S from the plunge. Agreed the 3 target is risky, but works out on a rolling ball or just spot it from a random inlane. O is definitely the hardest for me.