Tips & strategies

[Slam23]

Hi fellow pinheads,

Let's start a thread about this fun table and discuss tips and strategies. I'm currently at 18th place with a 9.3B score, that probably cost me an hour, maybe a bit more.

EB before anything
As [MENTION=3745]vikingerik[/MENTION] 's famous saying goes: "just get more EB's than balls you lose". There are some fixed non-repeatables (8 & 50 right "speed" ramps), but all other EB's are repeatable as far as I know and have seen. I usually try to get the 8 right ramps from the bat to get a first cushion, also collecting POLE in the process. The 50 ramps will take care of themselves in the course of the game. The others are: Light EB mode, Completing 4 complete Light up Targets, Change Setup (I found an EB in 1 in 2 or 1 in 3 instances easily, just try not to pass one....), and Video mode ("Caution Mode"). I have never gotten past 9 obstacles max, and haven't seen that EB (and probably won't in my lifetime, that's a hard video game)*. So if you collect EB from the Mode and one from Change Setup before losing a ball, you are set for very long games. Change setup gets harder to activate after a while, because you'll need to hit the blue target an extra time after each Change Setup, with a max of 6 hits. **
One strategy would be to ignore everything and just go for modes to stack that freebie mode EB. You can even shoot speed ramps to move the mode light closer to EB if you want, that can take a few ramps though. When my cushion of EB's get too low (say 2), I may switch to this strategy, although I find it very hard to not play modes....

* Additional note: I just read the IFPA pro tips section and it states that you can drive through oil slicks if you don't steer. Those are probably the little round puddles you encounter. This could make the video mode easier. Will report back if that is the case...
** Additional note II: Change Setup can be a little mean heartbreaker, best summed up by Dan Bradford: "you go click-click-click-damn" as you just saw Light Extra Ball pass under your fingers. Those are costly misses, especially later in the game when Change Setup is activated less easily. I have found that I get the best results if I take it a bit more slowly and concentrate on the spot just under the "C" from "choose your award". This is the place where the "L" from "Light Extra Ball" will lign up under, and it's the only text that does that.

Scoring Points
Victory Laps are easily the best instant point total you can get, especially if you learn to stack them (and not hit one of them early!), AND combine them with 3x playfield. I got a cool 1.5B one time from 2 stacked Victory Laps (500M total) and 3x playfield, but that was an accident. Just don't shoot the center hole when it's lit for Victory Lap and always get modes from the right orbit shot. Max points to get here, is 3B (4 stacked Victory laps = 1B, times 3x playfield). Victory laps can be had from 200 laps, from "winning the race" which means advancing "passes" from 28th place to 1st, completing the mode circuit ("Checkered Flag"), and lighting 6 Light Up Waves (maxing all three Light Ups). So while the point total is instant, all Victory Laps take quite some time to reach, and in the mean time, you have to be careful not to inadvertently hit the center hole. This is especially difficult if you play a MB (or MB modes) in between collecting, a stray ball can go to the center hole quite easily, and you can collect Victory Laps at any time in the game. I haven't aimed at the stacked Victory Laps, but whenever I'm near 3x playfield and have a Victory Lap lit, I'll try to combine them. Otherwise I just collect them. If you do that, you just got points to the equivalent of 4 maxed Jackpot (=50M) ramps in Turbo MB, so it may be more profitable to play Turbo MB a lot.
Bonus can be a very profitable point total after a long ball time. You want to get the bonus X up to 8 to multiply Position and Laps, and the rest is just added Mode points (Laps do carry over between races, so they go above 200). I have had bonuses upward of 300-400M. Offcourse this also means losing a ball.
Regular or "Turbo" MB is a nice scoring mode, especially if you upped the Turbo to 50M (max) per jackpot. If you can get a flow going where you alternate ramps with two balls (I'm working on getting a good rhythm to that), it's probably more profitable and easier than shooting all three balls in the turbo for a Super Jackpot (worth 60M). Offcourse combine with 3x playfield for more fun.
To be clear: I haven't played the table long enough to have a preference for how to score (reliably) big.

Edit: Tarek gave advice in this thread: http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/11681-transcribed-Indy-500-rules-from-TPA He states: 'Start turbo boost multiball, catch one ball at the left flipper and shoot the combo right ramp - turbo boost with the second ball again and again. Not very much fun but the fastest way for big points... ' This maxes out at 90M per Jackpot

Play Style
I know Indy500 to be a brutally fastpaced game IRL, and the TPA version is definitively more forgiving in my opinion. An incomplete ramp IRL for instance is instant death, here you can save a lot of those balls. Anyway, the table will try to seduce you to play a flow style and if you rock that the right way, it's pure bliss. But as always this is also far more risky. Better get some ball control. I use a lot of deadpassing and (passive) flipper passing. Almost all the long returning balls can be safely flipper-passed (keeping one flipper up) to the other flipper for a cradle, though more easily from right to left, than left to right. Flipper-passing is also my favorite way to get a fast Pit-stop and starting a ball (playing POLE) in general: keep up the right flipper and you get the ball before the left to shoot the right ramp directly. You can also go for a right orbit depending on what you. This is one-timing but there are no shots impossible from the cradled position, so it's always the better and more safe option.
The left orbit is a sneaky bastard sometimes, especially incomplete orbits that return to the left flipper can suddenly veer toward the middle for a drain, although you can often save those with a timely right flip. The blue target at the left of the left ramp can also be instant center-drain-death if shot from a particular angle from the right flipper. So better be on target for those left ramps and orbits, or have a nudge ready. Hitting the blue target with a left backhand is far more safe. Indy500 is quite forgiving with nudging, just don't do a lot of them directly after each other. Tilting that big bonus away is costly, especially with EB's that can be had quite regularly. Be on the watch for screaming left-to-right orbits that go SDTM if you don't keep up the right flipper. This is usually foreseen with one ball in play, but with MB a lot harder. Outlane drains can be nudged back fairly easy, because they are quite slow to trickle over in a lot of instances.
I like to feed the right upper flipper with left ramps instead of one-timing a left orbit. That's quite a hard shot and can produce wild balls with misses. You can max those left orbit-Turbo combo's from 10 to 30M in steps of 2M which is no chump change. So if you got that shot pat, go for it.
The center hole is reachable via left and right flipper, also from running balls and cradled position. I find shooting it from the left the most easy and safe. The Turbo VUK can also be hit quite consistently and fast from the right flipper with a ricochet to the rubber post right next to the middle Target Light-Up. The right upper flipper can be used to guide balls back to the lower flippers when kept upright, just don't do that with screaming left orbits, because those will insta-drain at the left outlane.
Post-passing is very easy and safe on Indy500 and can be very valuable when pressed for time and wanting to shoot something from the other flipper.

Just experiment a lot with shots and flipper control, and in no time you'll have a solid strategy to go for. I love tables that facilitate this. I think this is a very solid release from TPA, one that I can see coming back to to just get one more game under the belt. And I don't even like car racing....

 

[DanBradford]

Yay for Joris!

Thanks buddy

 

[Slam23]

You're welcome!

Edit: oh, and now I see what transpired in the 'transcribed Indy 500 rules thread' by Invitro, http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/11681-transcribed-Indy-500-rules-from-TPA
That's what you call serendipity, I hadn't seen that thread before making this one. I'll add Tarek's viewpoint on big scoring.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

The max jackpot in Turbo Boost mode (two-ball multiball) is 90M, and yes you can just keep repeating it over and over again with one ball held on the left flipper. It's all left ramp->lock, rinse and repeat.

 

[Slam23]

So I'm getting a bit frustrated by my wifi instability, lost a 12B and 15B game to "no internet connection". But I had some interesting moments there:
- best pitstop so far: 2.6 seconds. A bit of luck involved, because the second ball can come directly through the hole at the onramp, or circle it a while taking precious milliseconds (although I'm not sure if the plunge actually triggers the countdown, or the switch in the inlane).
- best bonus so far: up to 1.4B. That was one long ball.
- biggest frustration: just passing the light extra ball in Change Setup. I do that probably 1 in 4 times and it frustrates me very much...
- stacking Victory Laps on purpose is definitely hard
- I'm not very good at playing Turbo Boost MB, but I can rack points up nicely in regular Turbo MB and Pitstop, although the latter takes some time to get the Jackpots up to a nice level

 

[relaxation]

I was trying to play the long run, was doing great on ball 1 + EBs for about an hour and lost them all 15 minutes later.
my breakdown, if you have to drain at least make it worth something.

IMO this table is No Fear 2.0, Now with more pointless modes.

 

[Slam23]

Wow, how did you keep track of this? The only way I can think of is making a video while you play and then analyzing afterwards?

 

[invitro]

- best bonus so far: up to 1.4B. That was one long ball.
- biggest frustration: just passing the light extra ball in Change Setup. I do that probably 1 in 4 times and it frustrates me very much...
- stacking Victory Laps on purpose is definitely hard
- I'm not very good at playing Turbo Boost MB, but I can rack points up nicely in regular Turbo MB and Pitstop, although the latter takes some time to get the Jackpots up to a nice level

My best bonus is 1731M. Are the rules for Bonus in the game incomplete? They mention 10k per lap, 50k per position under 33, this times Bonus X, plus Dueling Drivers, Caution, and Wrong Turn. It doesn't seem possible to get anywhere near 1731M with that. The position bonus should max at 32 * 50k * 8X = 12.8M, and every 200 laps is 200 * 10k * 8X = 16M. Hmm.

Ditto on Change Setup and stacking Victory Laps.

In the tourney, my best Boost MB had at least 16 jackpots at the 90M max. I had 2870M with 8:58 remaining (11:02 played) after that MB.

 

[relaxation]

Wow, how did you keep track of this? The only way I can think of is making a video while you play and then analyzing afterwards?

Yes, an hour long video isn't too bad at x2 or x4 playback speed to fill out some cells in a spreadsheet. My signature, PR Playlist(s), has all my current leaderboard score recordings for later reflection.

I had some thoughts on, 'oh if I risk trying to stack victory laps is that worth.. what 100M? or 1300M trying to move the playfield mode around too?', during the game and I wanted to see what the point distribution was like. keeping in mind I had trouble shooting the ramps just prior to that game and focused on going around the track for EBs and playing whatever came my way, also had issues with moving the mode around.. didn't seem to move like I thought I saw in Mr. Bowens tutorial.

Looking at the rulesheet now you need to make multiple ramp shots to 'advance speedway' but I still might have to repeat that process until I'm at the end of the modes.

 

[Slam23]

My best bonus is 1731M. Are the rules for Bonus in the game incomplete? They mention 10k per lap, 50k per position under 33, this times Bonus X, plus Dueling Drivers, Caution, and Wrong Turn. It doesn't seem possible to get anywhere near 1731M with that. The position bonus should max at 32 * 50k * 8X = 12.8M, and every 200 laps is 200 * 10k * 8X = 16M. Hmm.

Ditto on Change Setup and stacking Victory Laps.

In the tourney, my best Boost MB had at least 16 jackpots at the 90M max. I had 2870M with 8:58 remaining (11:02 played) after that MB.

I was wondering about the Bonus myself too, but didn't delve into it too far. Ball time * things happened seemed to be the most basic formula when I looked at when I scored my best bonuses. The one thing I saw was that laps are continuously counted, they don't reset with a new ball. Maybe they reset from something else, like scoring a Victory Lap or something. Will check it.

 

[Slam23]

Yes, an hour long video isn't too bad at x2 or x4 playback speed to fill out some cells in a spreadsheet. My signature, PR Playlist(s), has all my current leaderboard score recordings for later reflection.

I had some thoughts on, 'oh if I risk trying to stack victory laps is that worth.. what 100M? or 1300M trying to move the playfield mode around too?', during the game and I wanted to see what the point distribution was like. keeping in mind I had trouble shooting the ramps just prior to that game and focused on going around the track for EBs and playing whatever came my way, also had issues with moving the mode around.. didn't seem to move like I thought I saw in Mr. Bowens tutorial

Moving modes is not straightforward, it can take a different number of right ramps before it moves. And it seems to move only counter-clockwise. I haven't paid attention what happens after 99 ramps, if every ramp then changes mode as would be logical.

 

[DanBradford]

Joris, empty your messages inbox so we can continue our chat?

I was trying to send you this-

What do you mean 'always progressing the modes'?
And which easy instant EB do you mean? I know there's one from a mode but I think all the others I get from the random click-click-click-click-damn thing you light with the blue target.

So the big scoring mode only comes once per 12 modes, once per circuit? Oh ok, that makes it a once-only opportunity thing for me, I don't tend to go around more than once.

I've got a victory lap from 200 laps and from chequered flag and I think once from targets but never yet got up to more than about 3rd position. Bowen says to try for the 3rd door on G Alley but that right orbit is a tricky shot.

I wish they'd fix the damn points thing.

 

[Slam23]

Oh, sorry forgot about the max message thing. The thing about modes: the circuit graphic in the middle of the table has all the modes. If you play them all, you will have had a lit EB because it's one of the "modes". I said "instant" which is a bit misleading because you'll have to get it by shooting the center hole. But aside from that you don't have to do anything.
One way of getting those insurance EB's from the mode circuit is to activate modes but letting them time out. Not very sexy but quite safe. I haven't tried this to be honest, I'm curious if time stops as in TAF or if a ball search ensues.
I like your click-click-click-damn description of the Change Setup, just exactly how I fare often with it....

 

[invitro]

One way of getting those insurance EB's from the mode circuit is to activate modes but letting them time out. Not very sexy but quite safe. I haven't tried this to be honest, I'm curious if time stops as in TAF or if a ball search ensues.

But... after starting any timed mode except Go for the Pole and Quick Pit (I think; the other timed modes are Dueling Drivers, Gasoline Alley, and Wrong Turn), you can immediately light and start the next mode, right? So what's the point of letting a mode time out, except maybe Go for the Pole?

 

[Slam23]

Yes, that's true actually, like I said, I wasn't paying attention to how this works , I had too much fun actually playing the modes. Some of the rewards are quite nice, like the 10 laps and 15(?) passes from Gasoline Alley. 71M is all you get for a complete Dueling Drivers, and Wrong Turn may be worth something if you combine it with a MB.

 

[invitro]

Some of the rewards are quite nice, like the 10 laps and 15(?) passes from Gasoline Alley.

Here's a copy-paste from the rules...

Speedway Awards cannot be started when Go For The Pole or any
multiball mode is active. When Gasoline Alley is started, a 30 second timer
begins counting down on the Display. The object of the mode is to shoot the
Right Loop 5 times before the timer runs out for valuable awards. The first
shot scores 10 laps. The second shot scores 10,000,000 points. The third
shot scores 15 Passes. The fourth shot scores 20,000,000 points. The fifth
shot scores 25,000,000 points.

 

[relaxation]

Doesn't it seem odd we can't nudge the ball away from transfers into the victory lane saucer? Maybe we want to not pick up that Victory Lap yet but we cannot avoid it.

 

[relaxation]

Must be some kinda weird bug when you start boost multiball and immediately drain(?) a locked ball it pops out.. because multiball starts along with it and you score super jackpots along with the boost value(?) with just 1 shot to the turbo. I got this twice in my latest game.

 

[Slam23]

Happened to me also. I don't believe I got the boost value anymore. Seems to be in the same mold as the bug on HSII where you lose your Red Light Mania to a regular MB.

Another thing that happens, is when you got a Pit Stop mode active and inadvertently feed the left upper orbit lane, where the first ball is locked. In quite a few instances both balls stay locked and the mode times out. Fortunately the game seems to know that you have two balls active (which would also be the case come to think of it if you time out the mode anyway, but then on the table). The correct behaviour would be a release of the already locked ball, a bit like the Sword ramp lock in LOTR. I have seen the table do that also, so it is capable of it.

And the table can lose track of lost balls if you shoot the turbo too quickly again for a third lock, after locking the second ball (also and especially during Turbo MB). The table then goes into a ball search but won't release locked balls. Call assistant won't work because there is no ball stuck. Only tilting helps here, the balls get released and you can continue (providing you have a ball left to play offcourse). This is probably ROM related.

 

[Slam23]

Just posted two additional notes to the OP:

* Additional note (dealing with the Video Game "Caution Mode": I just read the IFPA pro tips section and it states that you can drive through oil slicks if you don't steer. Those are probably the little round puddles you encounter. This could make the video mode easier. Will report back if that is the case...
** Additional note II: Change Setup can be a little mean heartbreaker, best summed up by Dan Bradford: "you go click-click-click-damn" as you just saw Light Extra Ball pass under your fingers. Those are costly misses, especially later in the game when Change Setup is activated less easily. I have found that I get the best results if I take it a bit more slowly and concentrate on the spot just under the "C" from "choose your award". This is the place where the "L" from "Light Extra Ball" will lign up under, and it's the only text that does that.