TZ Tactics and Strategies

[phreaker47]

Not a chance. Guys will work their strategies out over the coming days. My PS3 score will be beaten. Some will take it further and beat the game to death and post even better scores. I will have moved on. Here's a clue. If I could avoid that magnetic flipper bull**** on the left, I could post monster scores. Was the same 20 years ago.

Have you encountered the gumball machine camera bug yet? http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...ll-machine-after-starting-powerball-multiball
I'd be surprised if you haven't. It happens on both PS3 and Vita (three times for me in barely one day, both PS3 and Vita, and I haven't even BEGUN to be good at this table yet)
Perhaps your strategy involves ignoring Powerball, so you also avoid that gumball shot...

My apologies that I did not pay sufficient attention to your recent accomplishment. Congratulations. In way of partial defense, allow me to point out that I've worked 55 hours so far this week, that I play in a pinball league on Wednesday nights, and that I don't own a PS3 and so can't reasonably be expected to pay attention to its leaderboards. So you'll certainly forgive me the fact that my concerns were directed elsewhere.

As far as adding to my strategy, go ahead and add away. Last I checked the thread was unlocked. And it says in the very first paragraph that the strategy presented is not meant to be the One True Way to play. In fact someone else recently updated/corrected my FunHouse strategy guide, and I'm quite happy they did.

Aren't the leaderboards consolidated across all versions? At least on the PS3 and Vita, it appears you see everyone's... on the PS3 in particular, it even has a column telling you which scores were posted on mobile platforms.

Okay, this is weird... I just checked the leaderboards from my Android phone (I don't really play the android version so I hadn't done this before). My Gorgar and Taxi scores are there (done on PS3/Vita), but my 998 Million Funhouse score is not there, nor are all the other higher scores by Roy Wils (703M) and others. The top score shows as 341 million. Why only for Funhouse are the scores not consolidated?

And the Funhouse addition, yeah that was me.
I personally welcome the challenge brought on by giving away the strategy. It could end up making me want to go back to the game, where otherwise I may not have.

Given up on Funhouse. Without the game ending glitch...

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...play-or-by-plunger-Call-attendant-not-working

I could possibly play it indefinitely. If they fix it, I'll post a monster score.

Strangely I've only encountered that bug once, through several very long games. Many other times I had balls fly off the table, but they reappeared in the plunger lane.
I could have gone well beyond 998 million as well, but I quit, being unsure if one billion and higher would even register. We know there are limitations on other tables, so I didn't want to do that all for nothing.
That was part of the reason I was more than happy to post my strategies, because I'm challenging someone to dare to post 1 billion or more, heh.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Aren't the leaderboards consolidated across all versions? At least on the PS3 and Vita, it appears you see everyone's... on the PS3 in particular, it even has a column telling you which scores were posted on mobile platforms.

The 360 version has its own leaderboards due to Microsoft's XBLA policies. I play for entertainment value only on the iPad due to the inferior nudging, so I rarely look at the leaderboards unless I have a particular reason to do so, like when I was asked about TZ score distribution during the argument over TZ's difficulty, or lack thereof.

As far as competition itself goes, I have no illusions that I'm the best or even one of the best at this game. I don't really have enough free time for that, and a lot of what free time I do have goes into playing physical pinball. I see myself more of a gatekeeper to what would correspond to TPA's "A Division", and in fact in the recent tournament I did better than 92% of the field despite deliberately only playing each table a maximum of 3 times. (I wanted to see how well I could do without grinding through each table until I got a miracle game.) So I guess what I'm saying is that players who can best my high scores have established that they have legitimate business challenging people like you and Mark.

My strategy guides, therefore, are intended to help intermediate players become advanced, through pointing out scoring opportunities, risk/reward analyses, and other relevant information that they may not have noticed. (My guides also can, with a few exceptions noted, be profitably employed on the physical tables.) They aren't really intended for players at my level or higher, because I figure people who were at that level before I wrote my guide have their own strategies and in any case aren't in need of my advice. Maybe you and Mark and some of the other top-flight players should do some "Advanced Tactics and Strategies" threads for the rest of us!

 

[phreaker47]

The 360 version has its own leaderboards due to Microsoft's XBLA policies. I play for entertainment value only on the iPad due to the inferior nudging, so I rarely look at the leaderboards unless I have a particular reason to do so, like when I was asked about TZ score distribution during the argument over TZ's difficulty, or lack thereof.

As far as competition itself goes, I have no illusions that I'm the best or even one of the best at this game. I don't really have enough free time for that, and a lot of what free time I do have goes into playing physical pinball. I see myself more of a gatekeeper to what would correspond to TPA's "A Division", and in fact in the recent tournament I did better than 92% of the field despite deliberately only playing each table a maximum of 3 times. (I wanted to see how well I could do without grinding through each table until I got a miracle game.) So I guess what I'm saying is that players who can best my high scores have established that they have legitimate business challenging people like you and Mark.

My strategy guides, therefore, are intended to help intermediate players become advanced, through pointing out scoring opportunities, risk/reward analyses, and other relevant information that they may not have noticed. (My guides also can, with a few exceptions noted, be profitably employed on the physical tables.) They aren't really intended for players at my level or higher, because I figure people who were at that level before I wrote my guide have their own strategies and in any case aren't in need of my advice. Maybe you and Mark and some of the other top-flight players should do some "Advanced Tactics and Strategies" threads for the rest of us!

Ah yeah, that makes sense about XBL. Forgot about their isolationist policies... Still strange though, discovering that Android does show PS3 scores and vice versa, but not consistently... console high scores are missing for Funhouse on Android.

I definitely recognized that your guides are geared towards a general audience and meant to encompass, or at least touch on, all of the features a table has to offer... and that you intentionally do not intend for them to be "hard core" guides.

So when I wrote my Funhouse post recently, it wasn't to say "I CAN'T BELIEVE THE OP DIDN'T KNOW THESE THINGS"... heh... it was more intended to be a companion piece, for those that wanted to focus solely on the highest score possible.

 

[Mark Miwurdz]

Have you encountered the gumball machine camera bug yet? http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...ll-machine-after-starting-powerball-multiball
I'd be surprised if you haven't. It happens on both PS3 and Vita (three times for me in barely one day, both PS3 and Vita, and I haven't even BEGUN to be good at this table yet)
Perhaps your strategy involves ignoring Powerball, so you also avoid that gumball shot...



Aren't the leaderboards consolidated across all versions? At least on the PS3 and Vita, it appears you see everyone's... on the PS3 in particular, it even has a column telling you which scores were posted on mobile platforms.

Okay, this is weird... I just checked the leaderboards from my Android phone (I don't really play the android version so I hadn't done this before). My Gorgar and Taxi scores are there (done on PS3/Vita), but my 998 Million Funhouse score is not there, nor are all the other higher scores by Roy Wils (703M) and others. The top score shows as 341 million. Why only for Funhouse are the scores not consolidated?

And the Funhouse addition, yeah that was me.
I personally welcome the challenge brought on by giving away the strategy. It could end up making me want to go back to the game, where otherwise I may not have.



Strangely I've only encountered that bug once, through several very long games. Many other times I had balls fly off the table, but they reappeared in the plunger lane.
I could have gone well beyond 998 million as well, but I quit, being unsure if one billion and higher would even register. We know there are limitations on other tables, so I didn't want to do that all for nothing.
That was part of the reason I was more than happy to post my strategies, because I'm challenging someone to dare to post 1 billion or more, heh.

I have encountered the gumball machine camera bug a few times. It's a pain, but not game ending, so I don't mind so much. If they fix the game ending glitches on FH, Elvira etc, I'm gonna post some bastard scores.

 

[pezpunk]

I could possibly play it indefinitely. If they fix it, I'll post a monster score.

yeah same here. i could pretty much go on forever. the only limiting factors are the game crashing if i pause and the ipad goes to sleep, and of course game ending bugs. TZ, Black Hole, and Funhouse are the three tables i can play essentially indefinitely on.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

If there was any remaining doubt as to whether I'm qualified to talk about TZ strategy...

Not shown is the fact that I went into Lost in the Zone while still on Ball 1. I more or less played the strategy described in my guide (a mix of regulation multiball, Powerball Mania, and LITZ), adjusted to account for the fact it's a real TZ.

Machine settings: V9.4H ROM, Medium difficulty, 3 balls per game, replay = special = nothing, buy-in disabled, outlanes mostly open, conservative tilt.

 

[phreaker47]

where do you go to play? Unfortunately where I live, there are no pinball havens...

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

where do you go to play? Unfortunately where I live, there are no pinball havens...

CP Pinball, near St Louis.

 

[phreaker47]

CP Pinball, near St Louis.

You pay admission? Is it free play then?

 

[Mark Miwurdz]

Pretty much no tables where I live nowadays.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

You pay admission? Is it free play then?

Yes and yes.

 

[Mark Miwurdz]

I'd spend all my time there.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Until you got tendinitis in your arms.

 

[phreaker47]

Heh I guess you just have to be courteous about letting someone else play the machine you're on

 

[ostrich2]

For clock millions and clock chaos I've found I can get a pretty good systematic rhythm at hitting the clock shot, basically trap the ball on left flipper, then shoot at medium strength (it takes a bit of experimentation to get a feel for the right strength but it's not too hard once you get it) at the clock target at a slight angle - so when it hits it ricochets off to the right and then ends up rolling down along the right loop. When it does, I fire it into the camera, you can pick up a camera award along the way, or in either case the ball will again come out the slot machine, and you can then let it bounce to left flipper, trap, and repeat. Often I can get 3 or 4 or even more hits in short succession this way.

I find this generally isn't too risky either - a lot of times if you miss the ball will just go up the left or right loop - if the former then you can just let it come back down to the left flipper and take another shot (although a bit more risky since it's not trapped and harder to control the strength). If it goes up the right ramp it messes things up more and you generally have to wait for a chance to either trap the ball again on the flippers or fire the ball into the camera again. And if you miss otherwise because of the lighter strength I find it rarely bounces anywhere really dangerous, usually you can regain control without major difficulty, although it may burn a lot of time. But since these aren't really huge scorers anyway if things go awry it's not a big deal to just abandon the clock and concentrate on getting the ball into a safe position again.

Using this technique I find it's actually easier to score more points with the clock than in multiball, usually in multiball there's too much happening I find to aim at the clock other than by pure luck.

 

[neglectoid]

this may be pretty obvious, but I just started playing this machine recently. during the skill shot, nudge the machine up or down to save the ball from falling into the hole, or to make the ball climb to a higher bonus.

also if you hold the left flipper up, you can make the camera shot from the bottom right flipper, by banking it off the back of the mini flipper. (which is kinda fun)
having not play the real machine IRL I wonder if this shot is possible on the real machine.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

also if you hold the left flipper up, you can make the camera shot from the bottom right flipper, by banking it off the back of the mini flipper. (which is kinda fun)
having not play the real machine IRL I wonder if this shot is possible on the real machine.

It is.

 

[superballs]

It is.

Nice. Despite all the gripes about inaccuracies its always nice to find out some subtle shots mimic the real thing

 

[Zaphod77]

I've found a few combos that haven't been mentioned.

left ramp to slot machine. with practice this shot is pretty doable. Note that this is even faster than left ramp, right ramp, piano.
lock lane, you just hold up the upper right flipper and it feeds to the light slot machine lane every single time. then peg the flashing slot machine.

On real machines with friendly slot kickouts, left ramp to slot to dead pass to left ramp to slot to dead pass works pretty well.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

On real machines with friendly slot kickouts, left ramp to slot to dead pass to left ramp to slot to dead pass works pretty well.

At least on my machine, attempting to shoot the slot machine from the left flipper is just asking for a center drain.