Quoted from zacaj:It ends at 100 switch hits, 30 seconds, or ball drain
but if you don't collect the 100 switches does the light light? If not how can you re qualify it?
(Topic ID: 105360)
Linked Games
Pirates of the Caribbean
Stern, 2006
Topic Gallery
Rochester, NY
I C
So there's no point to the mode in fact, half the lights require little or no effort.
Jack
Heart
Davy Jones
Kraken
Seem to be the only somewhat difficult modes to light.
Brisbane City
Quoted from zacaj:It ends at 100 switch hits, 30 seconds, or ball drain
Normally, you'll get 5-7 million out of Collect Crew. But manage to start it while you have double or triple scoring going with balls trapped in Tortuga, and you'll complete it very quickly, and with well over 20 million points. You can't re-start the mode, unless you get to Four Winds and drain. If you have another ball left after that, the compass is cleared and you can start over again. Some things get harder the second time around though. I know that you need more hits for the first ship after Four Winds; there may be other things that get harder too, I haven't explored that yet.
Another reason why Four Winds is so hard to complete: if you fail to complete Four Winds and drain, Four Winds is done, and you have to complete the entire compass a second time. In other words, to complete Four Winds, you have to do it there and then; it doesn't carry over to the next ball.
Michi.
Quoted from rai:I C
So there's no point to the mode in fact, half the lights require little or no effort.
Yes, half of them happen pretty much by accident. I suspect that was done deliberately, to have something in the machine that appeals to less skilled players. The difficulty of Heart Super jackpot and Davy Jones amply compensate for that though. I think it's a good design: there is fun and challenges for players of all skill levels.
Michi.
Quoted from michi:Yes, half of them happen pretty much by accident. I suspect that was done deliberately, to have something in the machine that appeals to less skilled players. The difficulty of Heart Super jackpot and Davy Jones amply compensate for that though. I think it's a good design: there is fun and challenges for players of all skill levels.
Michi.
Yes inexperience players may get the idea they're making some progress, it's just the few hard bits (really only Heart MB and DJ).
Just played today and got Jack (complete hurry up) twice in the same game.
I need to figure out the stacking and scoring strategy better. IOW the double and triple play field stacking.
Quoted from rai:I C
So there's no point to the mode in fact, half the lights require little or no effort.
Jack
Heart
Davy Jones
Kraken
Seem to be the only somewhat difficult modes to light.
Yeah, they're the only ones you have to worry about, and you'll probably get kraken on the way to Davy Jones anyway. Jack isn't particularly hard, it's just that it's so worthless no one pays any attention to it
Quoted from rai:I need to figure out the stacking and scoring strategy better. IOW the double and triple play field stacking.
It's a good idea during multi-ball to put a ball into Tortuga whenever it's empty. Once you complete the Tortuga lights a second time, that lights the ball lock, and putting another ball in there gets you double playfield for 10(?) pinball seconds. Put a second ball in within that time, and you get triple scoring (and the timer resets too, I believe). It's also possible to reach quintuple scoring. I'm not clear though exactly how that happens. I seem to get it if I put a ball into Tortuga immediately after I've started it.
At any rate, stashing a ball into Tortuga also has the advantage that it gets that ball out the way for a while, so you have more time to shoot at something else.
Michi.
Funny to see how people have problem with DJ while that is one I get almost each game, while heart multiball for me is the pain....And if I have both then the F...ing monkey is the problem. In that way I never ever completed the compass in two years now;-( It will happen one day....
Quoted from PeterG:Funny to see how people have problem with DJ while that is one I get almost each game, while heart multiball for me is the pain....And if I have both then the F...ing monkey is the problem. In that way I never ever completed the compass in two years now;-( It will happen one day....
Interesting! For me, Davy Jones is a lot harder than Heart Super jackpot, and Jack is pretty easy.
You can work on Jack by practicing. Every time you have a multi-ball, just forget about everything else but Jack. Shoot in the general direction of Jack and see how it goes. Before long, you'll know where on the left flipper the shot sits, and you'll also learn to adjust for ball speed. (A direct shot from a mostly stationary ball is not in the same spot on the flipper as a shot on the fly from a fast feed from the left inlane.)
It is possible to backhand Jack too. Not easy, but I do it quite often during the ball-save period, where I can afford to drain. The shot is very early on the right flipper for a feed from the right inlane.
Michi.
I've had some luck backhanding Jack too, one trick is hit the ball with the tip of the right flipper before the ball lands on the flipper kind of like a live catch. You can also backhand Jack on a ball that's on the flipper but that's not easy.
Quoted from michi:Interesting! For me, Davy Jones is a lot harder than Heart Super jackpot, and Jack is pretty easy.
You can work on Jack by practicing. Every time you have a multi-ball, just forget about everything else but Jack. Shoot in the general direction of Jack and see how it goes. Before long, you'll know where on the left flipper the shot sits, and you'll also learn to adjust for ball speed. (A direct shot from a mostly stationary ball is not in the same spot on the flipper as a shot on the fly from a fast feed from the left inlane.)
It is possible to backhand Jack too. Not easy, but I do it quite often during the ball-save period, where I can afford to drain. The shot is very early on the right flipper for a feed from the right inlane.
Michi.
Got it, so the disc is always help either stash a ball or PF multiple. So either MB can stack?
But did you pre-qualify a MB start a ship then then add the MB?
I am in the processing of cleaning my POTC I removed all the parts and screws for the main ramp. The only problem is how to remove or better said how to fish out the switch from Walk the Plank side. The main ramp is in rough shape so I have a new one to replace it with. The easy scenario would be to remove the rivet and fish it that way. I was wondering if anyone in the group has any recommendations.
Quoted from marmar:I am in the processing of cleaning my POTC I removed all the parts and screws for the main ramp. The only problem is how to remove or better said how to fish out the switch from Walk the Plank side. The main ramp is in rough shape so I have a new one to replace it with. The easy scenario would be to remove the rivet and fish it that way. I was wondering if anyone in the group has any recommendations.
Why not just disconnect it first?
Quoted from zacaj:Why not just disconnect it first?
Zacaj -- The ramp is disconnected and the connections but the switch is to big to fit with the riveted ramp in place. I am not comfortable disconnecting the cables from the switch. I think the best will be to remove the rivets and then fish the switch through.
Quoted from marmar:Zacaj -- The ramp is disconnected and the connections but the switch is to big to fit with the riveted ramp in place. I am not comfortable disconnecting the cables from the switch. I think the best will be to remove the rivets and then fish the switch through.
You can easily disconnect the ramp from underneath the playfield and pull the cable and connector up through hole in the playfield. The entire ramp, complete with switches and lights comes away from the game easily.
The switches themselves are attached to their support brackets with two small screws each, so they should be easy to move. If your replacement ramp doesn't have the metal brackets for the rum ramp, broadside, and walk the plank exits attached, you can drill out the rivets for the brackets on the old ramp and blind-rivet them to the new ramp. I'd use a washer underneath the playfield on the stem of the rivets to avoid damaging the plastic when the rivet compresses.
Michi.
I am not an LED expert by any means, so I was wondering how POTC does with them? Does it need an LED OCD? Thanks
I just had a gnarly game on my PotC. I got everything except DJ and Heart lit (typical).
I got Heart started once didn't complete and DJ started twice did not complete. I have my game set to give *one* extra ball at 150M in addition to the standard EB awards. And for gosh sake, I got just 149M at the end.
I was noodling around with the Monkey shot and am able to backhand from a stop, about 3/4 the way to the end of the flipper.
Quoted from pinnyheadhead:I am not an LED expert by any means, so I was wondering how POTC does with them? Does it need an LED OCD? Thanks
No, no need for an LED OCD. I have LEDs for everything (except the Tortuga and Key lamps, for which I prefer incandescents). I use Comet non-ghosting LEDs, and there is zero ghosting. (I really mean "zero", not "little".)
Michi.
if you use ghosting lights you'd need OCD of course. I have some LEDs on the back wall for the disc can see some flicker, otherwise I'm still incandescent except for the flashers/spots.
I did a full LED kit for Tron (non-ghosting kit) didn't use an OCD it looks ok but I think the lights still cut off too sharply. I mean not ghosting but just not as fade in as I'd prefer. I assume PotC would be the same without OCD.
Quoted from pinnyheadhead:I am not an LED expert by any means, so I was wondering how POTC does with them? Does it need an LED OCD? Thanks
There are definitely inserts that need "non-ghosting" leds. A LED-OCD board isn't necessarily required, but PotC does have ghosting issues with standard leds. At a minimum, I would get non-ghosting for the compass lights. The others will still ghost/flicker, but may not be noticeable enough for you to care/justify the added expense.
Quoted from maffewl:The others will still ghost/flicker, but may not be noticeable enough for you to care/justify the added expense.
I originally bought the machine with non-ghosting LEDs. The flicker was horrible. Worst in the compass lights, but present on other inserts as well, with some of them ghosting quite badly. Seeing that the LEDs aren't that expensive and that, if I do the job, I might as well do it properly, I used the Comet non-ghosting LEDs for all the inserts. No more ghosting, period.
Before shelling out the money for an OCD board, I'd give the non-ghosting LEDs a try. Yes, they do cut off more sharply than incandescents, but it's not as if you'd be getting lots of horrible strobe effects or some such. In my opinion, they are just fine.
Michi.
Question for everyone about the rules regarding the Key inserts. I'm talking about the three inserts in front of the trunk, not the key lights on the backboard.
Normally, when I drain a ball, whatever Key inserts are lit are extinguished so, on the next ball, I have to spell KEY again. The one exception to this that I know of is when the trunk is ready for Heart multi-ball. In that case, when I drain, the Key inserts stay lit for the next ball, so a single shot to the trunk will start Heart multi-ball.
But, every now and then, I have, say, two or three Key inserts lit and drain. But, for the next ball, they are *not* extinguished. I can't figure out when and why that happens. Anyone know?
Michi.
Quoted from rai:So either MB can stack?
But did you pre-qualify a MB start a ship then then add the MB?
All multi-balls stack and can be started while any other multi-ball is in progress. In terms of scoring, they don't affect each other though. Shots aren't suddenly worth more just because you have two or three multi-balls going at the same time.
For Ship multi-ball, if Tortuga is ready, you can shoot the ship first, and then start loading Tortuga. But that goes wrong if you drain, so I think it's better to start Tortuga first, then start the ship once two balls are inside Tortuga. That way, you get to use the Tortuga ball saver to bash away at the kraken. (There is no ball saver for ship multi-ball.)
Once the kraken is dead, I tend not to shoot at it anymore. It's a lot of shots for comparatively few points. Instead, I tend to start either Heart or Tortuga multi-ball, and use the ball save time to work towards the next ship getting ready, as well as making progress on trunk and/or Jack, whichever is convenient.
If I'm in Heart or Tortuga and I'm down to two balls, a good option is to start a ship multi-ball. That acts as an add-a-ball and allows me to make more progress towards Heart Super Jackpot, or to stash more balls into Tortuga for multipliers.
For Jack, I tend to shoot at it mostly during multi-ball ball save time because that's safer. Once Jack is finished, I stop shooting at it deliberately, even if I have a chance to collect. There are not enough points there to warrant the risk.
Typically, I end up in the situation where I have one or two ships, and all compass lights except for Heart Super Jackpot and Davy Jones.
Assuming I'm chasing Four Winds (not a good tournament strategy), it now becomes an exercise in keeping multi-balls going and to use the ball save time as much as possible to make progress on the remaining ships and Heart Super Jackpot. In that situation, I try and start one multi-ball, and use the ball save time to make progress towards another multi-ball. That gets me closer to my goal (Heart Super Jackpot and Davy Jones). Ideally, I don't start two multi-balls at once (except for the ship add-a-ball) but let one multi-ball finish. Now I should be very close to another multi-ball. Rinse and repeat until I get to Four Winds…
For beating Davy Jones, the same strategy applies. Once down to two balls, if any other multi-ball is nearly ready, I focus on that instead of continuing to shoot at Davy Jones. That gives me four balls again and another ball saver that I can use to hopefully beat Davy Jones.
If I'm chasing points for a tournament, there is basically nothing of interest other than Tortuga over and over. Get to the point where the jackpots are maxed out at 2 million and keep grinding that for as long as possible. Put balls into Tortuga during Tortuga multi-ball for playfield multipliers, and shoot the chest occasionally to re-light jackpots. For maximum points, it is best not to stack Tortuga and Heart multi-ball. That's because, once a stacked multi-ball ends, I sit there with both Tortuga and Heart empty and have a lot of work to do to get back to a multi-ball. (Although it's fun to collect Heart Super Jackpot with a multiplier running.)
The South compass award (max jackpots) makes the game almost a one-ball game in tournaments. That's because, once collected, I can't get the jackpots back to 2 million again, unless I get to Four Winds, drain out of that, and still have another ball left with which I can start working on the now-empty compass a second time. With long balls, I can work the jackpot value back up to well over a million, but getting to two million requires 40 hits into the scoop (which I've never managed to do so far). And, as soon as that ball drains, the game resets the jackpot value back to 1 million; it's not possible to carry over more than 1 million jackpot value into the next ball. All this means is that, once the South compass award starts, most of the game points ride on that one ball.
Michi.
Warrington
Quoted from rai:I've had some luck backhanding Jack too, one trick is hit the ball with the tip of the right flipper before the ball lands on the flipper kind of like a live catch. You can also backhand Jack on a ball that's on the flipper but that's not easy.
POTC is full of great shots but JACK is easily the best and sweetest and one of my favourite shots on a modern Stern.
This game is brutal with the outlanes wide open. My high with them open is 320 mil on 3 ball and one extra ball at 120 mill, rest is factory, but for most games, I have trouble cracking 20 mil. Every once in a while, I'll have a great game, which keeps me coming back. On that 320 mil game, I had the entire compass completed except DJ. Getting triple scoring and hitting jackpots really is the fastest way to boost your score...easier said than done.
That is some great strategy.
Like it's better to have the tortuga first end then the ship multiball, to take advantage of the drain timer. Never realized that.
Is there a timer on hearts multiball or does it just stop when 1 ball left? I never noticed as I am to focused to get the completion.
Quoted from PeterG:Is there a timer on hearts multiball or does it just stop when 1 ball left? I never noticed as I am to focused to get the completion.
There is the ball saver at the beginning, which will kick in even if you have another multi-ball running already. Once you are down to one ball, that's it. Multi-ball ends at that point and, if sunk, the ship will come back up.
Michi.
Quoted from PeterG:Is there a timer on hearts multiball or does it just stop when 1 ball left?
Ah, sorry, misunderstanding, I think. You mean a grace period, I take it?
Yes, there is a grace period when Heart multi-ball ends. After you are down to the last ball and the Key inserts are extinguished, you have about five seconds to shoot the chest again to make Heart Super jackpot.
The other grace periods I'm aware of are for Jack, which also gives you about five seconds after the Jack inserts stop flashing to make the shot, and for the kraken, which you can still hit after the ship is all the way up.
Michi.
Quoted from rai:What's the Special award, can I set it to EB?
Standard adjustment #14 allows you select the award.
Michi.
Thanks
Just added EB award for Special
Also someone said Jack was not that valuable, but at least the first time even if you are not playing for wizard mode, because of the EB award.
Quoted from rai:Also someone said Jack was not that valuable, but at least the first time even if you are not playing for wizard mode, because of the EB award.
EB for Jack?
What are your settings? There is no EB or special for Jack with the factory settings.
Michi.
Quoted from michi:EB for Jack?
What are your settings? There is no EB or special for Jack with the factory settings.
Michi.
Jack + Kraken = EB on the compass.
Quoted from rai:Jack + Kraken = EB on the compass.
Ah, yes, of course 
What I meant was that, once I've completed Jack once, I don't bother with it a second time because the risk-reward doesn't stack up all that well. Same with the kraken. If in tournament play (where extra balls are normally turned off), I ignore both. Jackpots are safer and give me up to 2 million per shot, whereas the kraken requires several shots to get three million, and it doesn't advance me towards anything interesting in tournament play (whereas the chest does, both for jackpots and to advance towards the next multi-ball).
Michi.
I just became a member of the club. I noticed that my machine has an English and French version on it. I would like to put it back to the English version only and Sterns site does not have that available. Contacted stern - guy wasn't too helpful just said don't have it sorry. Can anyone send me the current English file for this game. Thanks in advance. Just a note as well. I'm getting a new CPU / Soundboard for the machine. Am I going to need anything other than the new code? Are there any other files that can be added to make the game better? USB update in these newer machine seems like a really nice idea to change things up a little.
Quoted from Crazypins:I just became a member of the club. I noticed that my machine has an English and French version on it. I would like to put it back to the English version only and Sterns site does not have that available. Contacted stern - guy wasn't too helpful just said don't have it sorry. Can anyone send me the current English file for this game. Thanks in advance. Just a note as well. I'm getting a new CPU / Soundboard for the machine. Am I going to need anything other than the new code? Are there any other files that can be added to make the game better? USB update in these newer machine seems like a really nice idea to change things up a little.
I believe you can turn that off in the settings. I had to do that as mine came up with the French option first time too
Quoted from PinballTilt:I believe you can turn that off in the settings. I had to do that as mine came up with the French option first time too
Yeah, every rom is dual language, but you can remove any reference to it by turning "Player language select" off in the adjustments
Quoted from PinballTilt:Does anyone have the pinball bulbs potc led kit? I'm considering one for my machine and wanted to see what others thought of it
Mine came with a led kit installed. May be them. Many of us have these kits. Common pictures show the ship lit greenish with whatever kit us and many others have. You can check out one of my last posts here for a picture of how it looks. GL.
Quoted from PinballTilt:Does anyone have the pinball bulbs potc led kit? I'm considering one for my machine and wanted to see what others thought of it
I have it, and am mid shop job. I used it for all the insert lights as well as both the trough lights and lights at the back top for awhile before I started tearing into it for the GI and have been happy with it so far.
Yes, the pirate vallen me yesterday. Starten with ball one, a total disaster. But then ball two....direct four wind multiball! Some great tortuga multiballs and even the heart multiball worked all in my favorite. Finally after two year owning this machine the end game. I came to the third wind. It was crazy.... great game!
Quoted from PeterG:Yes, the pirate vallen me yesterday. Starten with ball one, a total disaster. But then ball two....direct four wind multiball! Some great tortuga multiballs and even the heart multiball worked all in my favorite. Finally after two year owning this machine the end game. I came to the third wind. It was crazy.... great game!
Pics or it didn't happen.
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
