so true! I wish I could give this a million thumbs up

ST haters crack me up - it's like they give themselves one of those corny bro like high fives anytime they trash the game , and I'm not talking about a real high five, but ones with the awkard silence that follows like when you high five a stranger and realized you just high fived a stranger . A shame too cause they're missing out on one of the best strategic games alive. Ah well, their loss. One things for sure though; these are 4 top notch pins in the OPs title and all 4 would be awesome together in a lineup. Well, maybe except SM unless it had comic art, new dots, and some call outs modified *cough* maybe soon to be a reality?

EDIT: and I should mention that this post is not directed at aurich at all. I've talked to him about his dislikes and respect it cause they're actual detailed criticisms that irk him the wrong way just as any good pin doesn't always fly with all player types.

Lol, Nice try but my irks are the same as Aurich's, the monotonous shoot lit shot code, so you must be talking about him as well, or that would be a very hypocritical statement

The shots are great and satisfying on ST but the repetitive code kills the title for me personally. With better code this game could have been epic. I am a huge ST fan, I wish it was coded by Lyman

I wasn't referring to aurichs post specifically. I've talked to him and have read his in depth criticisms before. I'm just poking fun at you QG; not intended to be personal - just all in fun cause your passion makes me giggle *high five*

We wish Lyman would program all sterns pins, but Dwight did an amazing job bringing Star Trek back to life.

I might like Star Trek more if I was as good a player as Eskaybee

The reason I'm so passionate about it is because I am a huge ST fan and I was expecting it to be like STTNG but better. I love the shots like I said, that's probably why I kept it so long and dumped a ton into mods but ultimately the code didn't change enough to make it not boring for me. I wish the code made it like an adventure like STTNG is, now that is some awesome code! I also am not a good player so couldn't advance that far while I had it. But I did play a few of the level two modes and they were the same shoot lit shot mentality, didn't really try too many of the level three modes, are they any different or just shoot the lit shot too?

All the modes are basically the same.

Now Eskaybee is right about there being different strategic approaches, but that's about the meta game. You have to enjoy the strategy aspect of how you choose your paths.

There's just no creative thinking with the modes themselves. And the code might have crazy formulas for why this next shot is lit, but it appears to be basically random. So you start to feel like you're just shooting all over the playfield at whim, with nothing anchoring the gameplay but the bigger strategic thinking.

Yea there's more to it than that. But not in an accessible fashion where you can feel the logic. I just didn't find it particularly enjoyable to play after a while. The color changing inserts were basically wasted.

I really shouldn't try to fight the upward battle in this but I'll bite. To me there's a lot of repetition in a lot of great pins, take Metallica for example, bash the 4 main targets tons of times and when a mode starts hit flashing shots - feels like the same argument ppl have against ST.

as for the case of ST, the modes are all about combos and flow - and the direction of flow changes constantly from mission to mission. Even though it has 18 missions, it feels more of a scoring based game but it has that hidden depth of progression deep inside the code. I've stated it in Star Trek threads before, they're are a lot of similarities writhing about 30% of the modes - but that's what happens when you put together a big package of awesomeness in a speedy flow style game like ST.

But in the end We all can't agree on the same likes and dislikes on pins. And going against such opinionated hobbyist like ourselves is such an upward battle to show people the light.

Btw here's an entire thread devoted to the non repetitive play and elements of ST. I'm out.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/star-trek-strategies-for-the-average-player

Last time I played LOTR was the Ameristar casino game room in St. Charles Missouri. I won $100 instantly on a slot machine, so I went to the arcade, put $1 in, left 3 hours later after everyone else lost their money and had 8 credits left on the machine. It was a blast.

None of my friends play pinball (aside from the friends Ive made through pinball), so I pretty much just play by myself or with my cats.

Owned LOTR for eight years, own ST Pro, Played a lot of SM and have rarely played Tron.

1. ST
2. Tron
3. SM
4. LOTR

All great games and nothing against LOTR but I've decided I really don't care for super long ball time games (which is also why SM came in 3rd.)

Tron wins this contest for me. LOTR is a great pin too, but it takes long ball times to see a lot of the depth of the game. That can be good or bad depending on the rest of your collection.

ST is a great shooting pin, silky smooth. I owned it and sold my LE because the code sucked. I spent some decent time on a premium at PHOF which is my first experience since the custom Urban voice work was added. In all honesty, I think that his custom voice work made the call outs worse than they were before. Ugh! Saying he "phoned it in" would be putting it politely.

Code definitely seemed better though. More scoring options and I liked the Medals. Warp Ramp is still cool and one of the things I miss about the pin. Modes still felt too much the same to me though.

I agree with a lot of what you say, but tspp is also a great machine. The stacking possibilities in tspp are outstanding.

I'm back and forth on which I believe is the best stern, depending on an epic game I'll have on either. Acdc is the next best IMO.

A lot of what everyone else is complaining of just sums up my general feeling for a lot of stern code since around 2004. Even acdc doesn't really make you play out the game modes and advance, and if you're just going fr a big score, one song all game long is the best option.

Keefer presents a journey with all his machines, and I'm a solid fan of that. You are going to have to play it all, a ton of it, and the reward is always epic.

If I had to choose one of these four today, I would choose LOTR or Tron depending upon the rest of your collection. Tron has the three flipper/great flow and LOTR has the epic journey and rules. Choose your flavor.

another vote of Tron for the OP. He already has some long playing games like WOZ & TZ so while LOTR would make a great fit, it might be too much in this case. SM is normally a good suggestion but unless you are a die-hard SM fan (obviously this guy isn't or he'd have told us ten times already), then it probably isn't pulling his heart strings. ST pro might be one to suggest here, except there seems to be some divided opinions about the game and lack of cohesion with the code might make it a bit of a gampble for the OP. That leaves Tron, and it will compliment his TS but with 3rd flipper on the other side of pf. The spinning disk is fantastic to play against!

OP have you made up your mind yet? Do you have a first and second place pick? When are you moving ahead with the little purchase?

I'm waiting for a TRON VE... according to pinside & others it's on it's way with a few threads about this subject....

Is Tron VE on the way...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/is-tron-ve-on-the-way

Tron? --->>>> Is another VE on the way?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-is-another-ve-on-the-way

Tron VE ? seems like it
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-ve-seems-like-it

Would any previous Tron owners re-buy a Tron Vault Edition?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/would-anyone-who-previously-owned-a-tron-consider-rebuying-a-tron-vault-edition

Tron VE in 2015?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-ve-in-2015/

Tron VE, will it happen?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-ve-will-it-happen

Tron VE...It's coming....
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-veits-coming

How likely is a TRON VE and will it be any different?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-likely-is-a-tron-ve-and-will-it-be-any-different

Tron VE......It Came.............
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-veit-came

Stern's Next VE is TRON...... Maybe.
http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/sterns-next-ve-is-tron-maybe.17745/

Tron VE must be travelling with hobbits.

ST haters don't bother me. No pin can be everything for everybody. Some days I am more into one pin than another as well. That's why we all end up with more than one pin in our collection. ST, Tron, LOTR, and SM are all great games. The answer to which one to get is always all of them. lol

I do hope there is a Tron VE on the way. I've only been able to play Tron a few times but seems like a cool game. It would be great if they could improve the artwork, add leds, and have most of the LE features.