What a challenge!

[Chk1975]

Just downloaded last night and WOW what a fantastic table.
The best simulation of any af the tables so far.
Some say it is to hard I love the heart pounding non stop action and besides the table gives out extra balls like candy.
Best score so far 10 billion.
Keep up the fantastic work farsight.

 

[ThreePi]

After the first two days I just wanted to throw my hands up and just say to hell with it. That left outlane can be a real sonofa*****. Particularly if you hit the left target on the Beta Quadrant ramp at a good speed it'll drain on you. But kept at it, got decent at a lot of the shots, got to the Final Frontier and put up a 9 billion.

 

[Kolchak357]

Here's a YouTube vid of a guy comparing his STTNG to the TPA version. Thought it was interesting. I agree with some of his points, but certainly not all of them.
Disclaimer: I didn't make it so don't bash me if you don't agree with this guy.

http://youtu.be/-QlvX3SFrHA

 

[Sumez]

Wow, really don't have the patience for that video. Worst recording skills ever. :S

 

[Fungi]

Wow, really don't have the patience for that video. Worst recording skills ever. :S

Yeah, I had to stop after 5 minutes. Everything from, what he was saying, how he was saying it, and the camera movements... It was a perfect storm.

 

[Kolchak357]

I made it half way. But it was interesting. The STTNG I play is faster than his.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Agree with all of the above comments. That's a first ;-) Struggling and cursing at this table but in a good way. I love it! TZ is one of the easiest tables I have played in tpa and that sounds a bit off from what the real table is supposed to be.

Agree. I have been cursing at STTNG since it came out. Hard, but I love it. Major drains, but makes it fun and keeps me coming back.
I didn't realize that STTNG was a much harder table in real life than TZ. TZ is too easy, really takes the fun out of it for me. I love the real table though.
I am hoping they go back and tweak TZ a bit and make it more challenging. STTNG is perfect as far as I am concerned. Took me many many games to break 2 billion, and have only done it once so far. That sounds about right to me.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I didn't realize that STTNG was a much harder table in real life than TZ.

It's not supposed to be. Don't go by the relative difficulties of the two tables in TPA. The real TZ is much harder than most real ST:TNGs.

 

[Kolchak357]

It's not supposed to be. Don't go by the relative difficulties of the two tables in TPA. The real TZ is much harder than most real ST:TNGs.

Totally agree

 

[Fungi]

I just found this in the Pinball Archive Rule Sheet.

Slingshots
Finally there is a rule-sheet that doesn't say "The usual type of slings"! These slings are definitely not usual. They are similar to the normal ones in that they try to bounce the ball to the opposite outlane, but they are different in that each sling has a large gun on it. The guns are used to fire at different things (see below). The shape of the slings is different too; they are no longer triangular, but quadrilateral. Yes, they have four sides - except the top side is angled so that the ball is feed to the in/out lane area. The ball usually chooses the outlane as its destination, and the rubberless posts don't exactly make saving fun.

These... these slings are just cruel... and on purpose.

 

[David Greene]

Just scored 6.4B after changing my approach to this table. It all starts with your selection from the launch menu. At first my approach was to get to Final Frontier faster, so, I would choose Start Mission. My high score was 3.9B and I did get to FF..once...and most of my scores were 1B or less. The main problen was, while aiming for the Mission hole from the left flipper, any slight miss would bounce off the Beta ramp and straight down the left outlane (and,btw, CV's outlanes are still the most brutal..by far). After looking through the instructions I "saw the light". For big scores, start with Warp Factor 4. Many reasons: superjets and super spinners are lit, bouns hold is at Warp 5 (8x bonus lights Extra Ball), Warp 8 also lights Extra Ball. With the focus shifted to the right loop ( to send the ball to the jets/rollovers), most of my misses went up the Beta ramp for Shuttles. Missions could then be lit either by the Mission hole, or Command Decision with extended play from Extra Balls. Hopefully this helps if you're struggling.

PS Does anyone but me notice a resemblence between STTNG and PPTW?

 

[Fungi]

PS Does anyone but me notice a resemblence between STTNG and PPTW?

Yep, and also Zen's "Agents".

 

[Sumez]

Pptw?

 

[Bonzo]

ProPinball The Web

 

[Rudy Millard]

Changing your approach to the game is one thing, but that notorious left bumper really needs attention. As noted earlier in this thread, there is just no variance of the ball deflection...hit that fast and the ball is going to drain.

If there was some arcade owner getting money from those shots then fair enough, but with PA we are the arcade owners. I don't get an extra 50p when a new game starts due to a cruel shot...just an unnecessary sense of frustration.

 

[androidlove]

'Twas a very nice surprise this evening. I thought I'd check to see if this table was in the Amazon store yet (I'm a glutton for punishment). There it was in all its iconic glory. Wow, thank you FarSight. You've really been taking care of us.

I was never this bad at the real table. Jean-Luc's "Good luck" is sounding sarcastic.

 

[androidlove]

OK, I'm getting better. It's coming back to me.

Anyone else get in a situation where the camera backs out to launch position while a ball is still in play?

 

[iguanarama]

Just for my $0.02, this is the first TPA table that I feel is closer to the difficulty of the real table. I'm really enjoying it. The physics are so accurate that missed ramp/orbit shots are draining in exactly the same way as I get on the real table. I do find the TPA table slightly easier in that nudging is so effortless and consistent in its performance. (The real table is one heavy sucker.)

 

[PWolverine]

I personally think ST:TNG pinball is too hard when played on the iPhone. I don't mind the random drains, but the left post on the beta quadrant ramp is a killer. Nearly any hit there is a direct line to a left-drain. Played a real machine today which I found much easier then the table on Pinball Arcade - hitting that left post on the ramp was really much more random in direction. The ball seemed slower in real life even when flying around the table, and less 'slippery' then the digital version as the TPA version seems to have things flying around super fast and when it is at a good speed will just slide right off the flippers.

With the difficulty of this table I find myself playing it less and less. Its less enjoyable with the increased speed of the ball and the constant draining. Personally if the difficulty of this table has been set up harder then other tables on the Pinball Arcade i'd rather that they default to the easier settings, and make an optional harder setting when you finish all the Wizard Goals. At least this way it gives less experienced players a better run on the table and possibly more sales for the developer, whilst also allowing more experienced players to rack up the wizard goals and unlock a optional harder version of the table (physics etc.)

 

[pezpunk]

oh mannnnnnn i had my worst TNG moment ever!

i am slowwwly getting better at this table, but it's a struggle.

last night, i managed to hit the Gamma Quadrant in the "Search the Galaxy" mission, and I aced a bunch of other missions too, resulting in me having eight, count em, EIGHT artifacts for the first Final Frontier of that game. Considering my previous high score was only 7 billion, i thought i was on my way to high scoresville for sure. unfortunately, i drained every ball basically the second the ballsaver ended and my final score was under 5 billion, which is insane considering i got 2.8 billion for free just for starting Final Frontier.

if that isn't snatching epic failure from the jaws of epic win i don't know what is.