Just joined the club with our NIB Star Trek Vault Premium. We love it! Don't have a ColorDMD installed yet but we'll get to that soon enough. Great game... all hail Steve Ritchie.

Still looking for a more thorough ruleset out there than what's on http://tiltforums.com/t/star-trek-wiki/456 (ie. what are the launch skill shots, how exactly are "Punch It!"s earned & what exactly do they do in various modes, etc.) but it's still an excellent start.

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I actually talked to Stern about this via email, and they stated there was no difference in production between the Vault Premium and the original run.

I had reached out to Stern directly because their own website's page for Star Trek Vault Premium showed a different kick-out for the left side lock, in multiple images, and so I thought perhaps that was changed for the Vault edition. Turns out those photos were of a non-production unit and needed to be removed.

They're still there, now, however, and you can see them here:

https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/StarTrek-LE-Detail-04.png
https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/StarTrek-LE-Detail-09.png
https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/StarTrek-LE-Detail-02.png

(My Vault Premium was built in November 2018 and has the original vertical half-loop kick-out like all the production Premiums out there.)

No, they did not. I wouldn't really expect them to.

My guess? They took the marketing photos with a prototype late in development but before a point when it was decided the kickout into the left orbit "Warp" ramp wasn't reliable, and added the vertical half-loop kick-out as an 11th-hour fix. The production kick-out isn't 100% reliable, as is well-known, and the plastics/decals around it don't really blend into the overall style of the design, either... it all smacks of something that wasn't fully-baked.

I swear pinball machines do this on purpose... STDM the first two balls right after the Ball Saver ends, minimal points, then magically ball #3 gives you Best Game Ever™ and you poke deeper into the modes than ever before... or the first ball of the game is smokin' hot and you creep toward the high score table and BAM! #2 and #3 are duds. This is why machines have support for slam tilt.

The Premium's all-full-color-LED light show is *really* cool, though. I bought a NIB Premium only a few weeks ago, and don't regret it at all. The laser show for Klingon Multiball, too... so awesome.

ST owners... how obnoxious is removing the Vengeance mech/assembly to get at the plastics underneath so I can replace the rubber rings with new silicone? I'm giving my Vault Premium a nice overhaul (it sat mostly-unused for a few years) and the top-lane area is all I have left.

Thank you for this. I found your instructions and they were perfect.

Does anyone know how/where I can find out what the part # is for these rubber-ring posts with top-mount holes for the plastics' screws? I cannot find it in the manual that came with my Premium (2018 Vault build). I have one post in the pop bumper area that I accidentally sheared off a screw in and need to replace. They're all over the playfield but I cannot figure out a part number.

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Oooh! It just might be. I’d been looking on Marco Specialities under parts tagged for the specific game without luck.

Thank you!

You were absolutely 100% correct. Thank you so much!

This is 1000% personal preference, all the way. It's possible to retrofit either LED or LCD kits into Star Trek (and most pins, really).

I personally prefer the LED screens, because I've never liked the look of the LCD DMDs. It's really that simple: I just don't like the way they look. Others do, though, so pick what you think looks better. You might have to look for examples on different pins for comparison, in case there isn't footage of both for Star Trek readily available.