Wrong thread for this.... but I disagree. If you're able to consistently bash away at the coffin captive ball to your heart's content without extensive draining, then it's time to widen the outlanes and tighten the slings & tilt settings.

I also disagree with your over-simplification. It's akin to saying: in ACDC, every time the cannon is lit, you should shoot it, and always shoot for your lit song jackpot.

It was only a matter of time before the MET heads found my post and came out with their pitchforks.

Both METs I play(1 LE, 1 Pro) are location games regularly played in tournaments by high caliber players. They're set up fine.

And that's not how I would simply ACDC. I would do that by saying play Hell's Bells all day. I also like that pin a lot FWIW.

Guess I'm just a space loving lumberjack who loves chopping wood.

I dunno about you guys but Metallica is one Gigantic Redwood. Getting that sucker down takes a billion shots just to get a mode going. But don't get me wrong, I love metallica too; once the modes are coming, moving, and flowing the game is fantastic. Just a bit of some work to get the thing rolling.

I had noticed CAX set up CIU as easier to start.

Yea I did this to my MET when I owned it. Made it much better. I did the same with the blackened mode. Although, I was playing CIU modes so often they really felt the same besides the lighting , which is ironic cause everyone says ST modes are all the same.

Anyone have any insight into how the bonus is calculated?

I've had games where I got over 100mil in bonus. Usually a large multiplier was involved, but I'm more concerned with how to build bonus.

I'm assuming do good in the modes, get more bonus. Just wondering if anyone knew the specifics.

So my thought was maybe there is some way to exploit it, if you could do awesome in mode X you would get a bigger bonus. But if it's just tied to the medals, then there's likely not much exploiting to be had.

I love how when you disagree with someone online, you suddenly become an (insert pin name here)-head. And apparently a dissenting opinion = pitchfork. Ecto, your emotional tilt bob is set a bit too tight. Go check my history and see how many or how recent I've made a comment on MET. Actually, never mind... no point in having a discussion with you about that pin.... you've got it all figured out.

Now back to ST... and I did appreciate your comments on that, ecto. I don't know why I didn't think about using the L ramp looping strat on Nero 3. A VERY good idea, since I'm using that mode as a means to an end of scoring well on later modes.

Well I think I found a part of my problem....

Lack of COFFEE!

I rarely drink it but this afternoon I tried out my wife's new Keurig and fired up a game shortly after..

Normally I'm lucky to get warp three while rarely hitting warp when it comes out the pops and my warp record was 8.

Well today I sidled up to the machine all coffeed up banged out a quick 3 warps right off the plunge and shortly after made my way to 9.2

Played later that day after coffee had worn off and I was back to the same ol shit as before.

Will try another coffee tomorrow and see what happens!

Really! There is only one right answer... Duh!

st_met_altart.jpg

I posted this before but I'll post it again. I really like the away missions.

I start DTD first. Make 1 shot. Then try to start the away mission ASAP. I really like nailing the spinner and left orbit. 75k per spinner spin really boosts the score. Especially since the left orbit can be made with either flipper. I have found that I gotten better a making the warp shot now since i hit he left orbit more

I then hit KB 1-2-3 because KB 2 is easy n pretty much a free points.

STE next,start the away mission ASAP. It's pretty the same as DTD away mission. He the left orbit and warp ramp

SJ next and then PD to get 2-3 in a row bonus scoring.
I'm improving slowly and with this strat. I don't make it KM much.

This is my favorite game and I only play on location as I dont own 1 or know anyone who does but ive implemented some of these strats to get some good games going.

My personal best is 189 million and only time I ever got to kobayashi maru. This was before I read any rules or even knew that mode existed. Just played well that game and got thru the modes.

Last night I finally broke 100 mill again . Drained really early my first two balls, I wanted to try and get thru DTD3 first but didnt make it happen. I ended up beating the bottom three missions and stacked my Klingon MB with the KB1. Rocked the ramps and spinner and got i think 76 mill off that MB and stacked my multiplier for a 29 mill bonus.

Thanks for the tips! hope to keep improving, by far my fav game to play on location!

Just had this game happen. I should mention I just re-tuned my warp ramp. Going off memory, here's my mission progression:

NERO1, SJ1, NERO2 (Klingon MB), NERO3, PD1, DTD1 (vengeance Mb with double scoring - 89mil DTD1 score), STE1 (double scoring - 78mil STE1) {super ramps, super spinner}, STE2, KB1 (V2 extra ball), kobayshi maru, KB2 (V3 - drained on sudden death from a ball hop! Had 800mil score at time), DTD2 {super spinner}, SJ2 (Klingon mb), PD 2, enterprise amok! (But choked), DTD3, STE3, drained ball 3 on SJ3.

image.jpg

I had this post in mind as I was playing that 1 bil point game. When I had super ramps and spinner lit, my thought process was since I was on ball 2 I decided not to do Klingon battle and get kobayshi but rather go for STE2&3 and get more medals as well as light the right ramp 2x. However, mid mode of STE2, I drained. And now instead of choosing a breezy path to kobayshi I was on ball 3 and stuck in STE2. So I had to change strategies and finish STE2 , not go for STE3, and chose to save vengeance MB for KB1. I pulled it off and got to kobayshi. Then I was able to earn an EB during vengeance 2. From there, my whole goal was to finish the remaining level 2s and get to amok.

That's just one sample of changing up my strategy mid game. There was another one early on when I thought about trying to complete DTD2&3 before doing STE1 but drained before earning my warp ramp EB so decided not to risk going for the warp 2x.

For the record I got my warp ramp EB fixed at 9.5. Love this pin!

I'm still figuring out EA, but here's what I got.

It's stage based. You need to complete a certain number of shots to advance to the next stage. You get a ball save at the beginning of each stage.

The other piece, you get an add-a-ball at X switch hits.
I've seen some video of high-level tourney guys, and they definitley made the spinner a priority.

Not sure how many stages there are. I think I've been through 3 or 4.

The switch hits are ongoing through all the stages. The stages are a couple different lit shots per stage that need to be completed.

X amount of switch hits lights a certain shot for big points (600k lol) and add-a-ball. Complete all the different add-a-ball shots to light Portal I mean EA Super jackpot. It's an ok mode but wayyyy too many switch hits to make it compelling. Basically comes down to shooting spinner while holding balls on left flipper.

That's pretty freakin' awesome, actually....lol.. it's hard to get the ball back with just the right flipper if ya flub the ramp.

Uh oh, moment of reckoning SKB.

sk8ball, what's the gc score on your ST right now? (Assuming you still have it. If not, remember what it was?)

Nice, SKB. That's got to be tough to beat for anyone. Strange that you can get an incredible score and still not finish the game.

I had no idea a score like 1.1B was achievable on ST. Way to go!

I hate that celebration. Your reward for making shots is.... to blind you and turn out the GI momentarily. Fun!

YES - Medals rewards make it very hard to track the ball. I often miss the next shot cause the whole game is blinking off and on. Wish they left the GI on and only blinked the inserts!

I have been playing like garbage lately. I can't even seem to get to the kobayashi maru. I was putting up big numbers right after 1.61 but not so much anymore.

The highest I got is 325M and that was when I hit Warp 9.1 right before kobayashi maru and got double points for the medals.

Being impatient, I hit both flippers to bypass medal count for Koby Maru. Don't do that lol. The game still turns off the lights and back on as if it is counting the medals while you are playing. Good thing there is a long ball save. Music is also stuck on Koby Maru until you drain.

Although I somewhat agree with you that it's cool I find it hard to predict. It seems like the medals have a lower priority to other stuff going on and they aren't always rewarded right away.

I would be happy if the GI around the flippers would stay on. If you play in the dark like me you can lose the ball quickly.

One strategy question and one general help.....#1 = How do I activate the 'Special' next to the Away Team? #2 = Does anyone have a shortcut to CoinTaker for the 2 combo red lights for the Beta Ramp and Right Loop, to make them match the same brightness of the other combo red lights?

Special is awarded from the "Mystery Black Hole Award" The mystery is, I have no idea what i did to get it awarded..

http://cointaker.com/products/stern-spike-led

I ordered the red LED's fyi

Thanks Fresh_Wax! This strategy thread is very helpful! I plan to order the red LED's also!

I'm not sure how many people try this but I usually try for both skill shots on every ball.

If you hold the right flipper first and do a hard plunge you can bounce off the back gate and feed the ball to the upper flipper for a warp ramp super skill shot worth 1.5M.

Then if the ball drains before ball save timer runs out - or you hit the away team - you can hold the left flipper for the standard skill shot worth 1M.

Of course the values increase as you make the skill shots.

You can do the left button skill shot once per ball at ANY point in time when the ball is in the shooter lane. This includes hitting the away team start or during a multiball. So I typically ignore it for the start of a ball or on a ball save and use it later on.

Current skill shot pseudo code:

If (Right lane lit and relevant) {
Right Button
}
else {
Soft plunge
}

I've never done either of these. =|

A billion and 5 year mission will probably always be out of reach for me. My big goal is to make it to EA. I got so close once but choked.

Since it's so hard for me to pick and choose my shots on the fly at this time, I've just been aiming for Kobi. I've been able to hit it a few times now.

Going to stick with this until I'm more consistent on the warp.

On my 161st game the other night I managed to get to Kobiyashi and hit double scoring at the same time. Beat my previous GC by 100 million.

It was my best pinball moment yet. Such a good game.

image.jpg

Right on! Points galore especially when combo'd for 4x!