I recommend you take heed of those players you're listening to. It's definitely worth getting the Away Team shot down cold (Don't forget to "slam the door shut" when you shoot it by releasing the R flipper button as soon as the ball is past the tip of the R upper flipper). The GAT modes in Level 1 --outside of Nero's when you're in single ball play -- can be incredibly lucrative. Or in the case of Space Jump's GAT, allow you to advance more quickly to Kobayashi.

Further, on a Pro, the Away Team shot is a safer way to start your next mode than most Pro's left saucers, which have a tendency to eject the ball to the top of the left sling, putting the ball out of control.

First, to increase your chances of pulling off this strategy: (1) don't start Nero 1 GAT, and instead hit the left orbit when a combo is NOT lit to enjoy the slow feed from the pops, ignore the upper flipper, catch on R flipper. The goal here isn't to cash in on Nero mode combo values -- the goal is to survive Nero 1 without draining! Repeat until Nero 1 timer is spent. Alternatively, use Nero 1 to try to lite and collect your Klingon MB locks. (2) Start Nero 2 before playing Klingon MB, and patiently make your shots to start KMB (Nero 2 has no timer!) so Nero 2 will either complete itself, or you'll be far along completion by the time KMB is over. (3) For Nero 3, get the R flipper-controlled mode shot arrow on the L ramp, and then loop the L ramp with backhand shots for easy completion of Nero 3. Post back here when you make it, so we can all celebrate the #lifegoalachievement.

Second, you're missing the scoring potential of the Nero 3-deep strategy if you stick with your "use the L orbit to combo into other shots" strategy. The L orbit is what is 2x multiplied, so you want to be cashing in on the L orbit -- not using it to set up other shots.
Instead, after Nero 3-deep, start Destroy the Drill and after one shot, immediately start the DTD GAT mode. Shoot the L orbit for mode shot and Galactic Spinner 2x points. Ignore the upper flipper, and shoot the L orbit again quickly for FOUR X shots on the L orbit (2x from Nero 3-deep, and 2x from combo). Expert techniques: use Black Hole to extend your timer when it's low. And keep an eye on your eventual mode timer running out, and try to hit the L saucer as a combo shot.
Last step: enjoy the your new high scores.

Thanks for the write up Colin.

I have been a strictly "level one --> km" man up till now. And that generally gives me really good results, good games are in the 200-400m range.

I tried your strategy on one game just now, and ended halfway through Destroy the Drill on 100m (with 2 bad multiballs, admittedly.. Should have been more than 100m)

What scores are you achieving with this strat?

What do you do after Destroy the Drill? Plow through the other Level one missions to get to KMaru?

TIA

rd

Always go 3-deep as far as you can go before starting KM. KM mini wizard mode is worth wayyyyyy more than either EA or 5YM so take advantage of it. Also save your warp 9.1/ 9.9 shot for when KM is ready to get double medal collect.

Awesome vid. Only scored 2 billion more then I ever had. Haha. Now I want to go play st sgain.

my best is 350m, imagine being me right now

See what KME said. Go 3-deep on another mission whose resulting shot doubler award caters to what you want to do next -- and often depends on your current game state situation and the shots you're comfortable with. And all the while, you're juicing up your KM medals value. Since you've just played DTD1, then DTD 3-deep is a logical choice.

Nero 3-deep is the popular first choice because the L orbit shot is both a key shot and safe shot (from either flipper) for many other modes / GAT modes.

I don't recall exact scores after the Nero 3-deep + DTD GAT combo. But I believe I've seen DTD1 mode totals north of 50M alone.

STE GAT mode stacked with Nero multiplier is huge especially if you can loop the warp ramp with it

Thanks for posting the video Keith.

The best part of your vids (aside from the playing of course...) is always the selection of rock music playing in the background. I heard some Split Enz in the background of this one, amongst all the Roth era VH.

rd

It seemed those are not background songs, but rather replacement songs associated with each mode.

Fascinating

Indeed...

rd

Wow! Incredible! That was a perfect game!

I'm not sure if posting this in the correct topic or not, but seeing as you're all Star Trek players/owners....

Does anyone reduce the flipper power on their Star Trek? Its a super fast game, also wondering if this will help with warp ramp consistency etc, the flipper power is currently set at factory. Interested to see what others do.

I reduced slingshot power, and the left eject a little, both of which have improved the game for me.

Cheers

I don't know why you would turn down flipper power. I turned my slings down a bit to make things a little easier. Just a preference. I had to turn down the left eject because the ball often hit the top of the sling and then sdtm. Hate when games drain the ball without being able to put a flipper on the ball. Hitting the warp ramp is not easy. That's what makes it fun to hit. Once you get a feel for it, it becomes a lot easier. One little thing I do is hold the flipper up after a shot at the warp ramp. If I miss, the ball often bounces straight back, bounces off the flipper up the right orbit, and makes for a nice controlled 2nd shot.

Thanks, yes I hit the warp ramp fairly consistently, I meant when it flys round again to get consecutive shots - perhaps the reduced speed could help that because it really fires around there at the moment especially after waxing. I have adjusted the warp a few times (with the screw near the ramp exit) but can't seem to get it consistently coming back to the upper right flipper again. Perhaps more trial and error is needed.

Anyone hear any rumours about new Star Trek code coming out at all? Just wondering if 1.61 is it now.

I still love playing ST. I find myself holding the right flipper up while the ball is bouncing around on the PF in hopes that it passes under the right upper flipper n start a mission.

I have no inside info, but I would seriously doubt any further code updates to ST... other than fixing a bug associated with 5-year Mission wizard mode, which very few people have likely seen.

What elements of 1.61 do you find deficient?

Living dangerously!

Black Hole awards are lame. Pops score 200000 doesn't do anything. Could easily be improved with some additions.

Double flip should cancel medal award light shows after starting wizard modes.

Someone else mentioned this in another thread and now I can't unsee/hear it. When you complete 3 modes deep the screen reads 3 in a column, but the call out says 3 in a row.

Those and the 5 year bug would be cool. Anything additional would be a bonus.

OK. Definitely agreed on this.

The others would be nice to have, but they don't grate on me as much.

I couldn't agree more. Never knew pops score 200K did nothing. That's a shame.

Another (this would count as a bug fix) if the kicker misses the ball, the machine should know and give you a free ball (at least in single ball play). I mean the ball hits the switch and drains that means the kicker missed the ball.

You guys have any ball drop protection in your inlanes where the ramps drop the balls?

I do not, but have heard of people putting down some mylar there.

I think I'm going to put one on the left side as it is showing some wear as it hits the unprotected wood around the slot.

Right side not as bad, might just lay one there for symmetry.

They look pretty nice day installed

Hey everyone. I picked up a st pro recently on the old 1.5 code. Had 125 plays on it. I Played about 30 games and could barely break 100 mil. Once I installed 1.61 I broke 300 mil within 20 games. However since (200 plays) I can rarely break 200 mil. So frustrating and so rewarding at the same time and I just broke my gc score. 335 million!
I love this game! I keep trying different strategies and that's the ultimate hook for me. So many ways to go about playing.
My heartbeat has returned to normal and I'm not sweating so much. I'm off to try my next goal, 500 mil.
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Had a couple dud games and bam 357 million! Totally different strategy this time. Hit 9.1 and combo'd it into km.
1st time ever completing full set of bronze and full set of silver medals, few gold and totalled 96 mil I think just from medals. Heck I'm lucky to have a few silver and a gold usually.

This thread is awesome!!!
I've been away from my game for a few days so i read this forum again and tonight at halftime was my first chance to play. Shattered my warp, combo and grand champion score!!!
560,000,000
66 combos
34 warps

Completed 3 deep space jump and nero and completed all level 2 except for ste2. Completed vengeance 1,2,3,4,5. 3 extra balls total.

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Nobody probably gives a rats ass but I don't f'n care. Holy f'n christ. I'm done. I'll never match this game ever!! My first trip to AMOK which was insane. 2 full bronze, 2 full silver, full gold while 2x scoring (not sure if that counts to medals) 400+ million in medals. Finished to the point where nothing was advancing anymore. BUG??? Not sure. Drained and it resetted. Drained while on vengeance 3. Was ste3 and sj3 away from completing everything.
Factory default settings. Easy right lane. No extra balls.
And I'm a sweaty mess. Lol

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Nice! Double scoring def counts for medal count, I always try and combo that together for a big payout

Question for you all.

Is it possible to get 4x scoring?

I've been trying to get to warp 9.9 during the first 2x scoring at warp 9.

Has anyone done or tried this?

I think I might have done that once when I was dialed in on the warp shot. I had warp 2x going into k. Maru and then another in k. Maru. Hard to say because I think the doubler stops after medal count and I find most of the scoring a mystery anyway. I rarely make good use of 2x. I know you can get 4x on shots with the reward for finishing the 3 modes in a column and with a warp doubler.

Also Can get 4x on vengeance mode shots with hitting the shot in a combo and with warp 2x.

I know about the mini wizards getting 4x when 3 in a row completed but I wonder if 4x for the entire playfield is achievable if 9.9 is hit when in 2x scoring?
I was at 9.7 the other day when the timer ran out.

Well I discovered if you hit 9.9 while in 2x scoring from 9.1 that there is no 4x scoring.

I made it my 5 day mission this holiday that I would get to 5 year mission. I changed the settings so extra ball at warp 5 and vengeance 2. Also extended timers on klingon and vengeance mbs.
I completed maru on 1st ball. Dtd2 and sj2. 2nd ball finished level 2 for emok. Balls 3, 4 and 5 to finish level 3 missions. 5 year mission was crazy. Didn't know what to expect and maybe lasted 20 seconds max. What a blast.

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gosh thats great. I need to get back into ST. I just got TWD and LOTR in the past 2 month so I've been playing those two exclusively.

I got STLE 3 years to the day this comping Friday. Doesn't seem like that long ago. but it's my fourth oldest pin in my collection time wise.

Lol. Me, too. I got TS and MET this last summer and can't stop playing them. Got my ST almost exactly 3 years ago, too. Day after new years if I remember right. I finally got around to doing maintenance and fixed issues on all my pins. ST has been down for a while with a bad vengeance opto. Thought it was going to be a chore to fix but turns out it was the easiest one to get to. I just had to take off a few plastics. Nice to have it fixed but still playing my newer pins. I need to get back into ST and try to get to Amok. Came close a few times but never made it. I cannot imagine ever getting to 5 yr mission even with easier settings. Nice job. It seems so easy to make shots on level 1 missions but tough on level 2 and 3. It also seems like there is a point in the game when both start mode shots get 10x harder. I still wish there would be a code update to make starting modes a little easier.

I've gotten pretty good at shooting under the upper flipper from left flipper. Probably 80%.
Left start mission from right flipper only about 50%.
If I backhand a start mission it's a total fluke.

They could fix the bugs with amok and I don't like when you complete kobi maru you still have a multi ball going back to the missions

Just got my first DOUBLE SUPER JACKPOT last night!

I had two balls left in Klingon Multiball and had double super jackpot lit on the warp, and one of the two literally just drained - leaving me with one, I quickly shot the spinner round to the upper right flipper and must have just fired up the warp ramp before it registered that the multiball was over - DOUBLE SUPER JAAAACKPOTTTTTTTTTT!!

That was THE best. I think it'll be a while til I get that again.

I wish I knew what triggers the super jackpot... I hear sometimes, no idea what I did to get it.

I believe the 6th or 7th made shot is the Jackpot.
Double is the rover after you make all the shots twice.
Double Super is the warp ramp after the rover.

Such a great callout. Always fun to get.

I found this explanation online:

All shots are lit for jackpot - 6th jackpot is a Super Jackpot worth 6.25 Million. 12th jackpot is another Super Jackpot worth 10 Million. This is followed by a travelling Double Jackpot worth 4 Million. Finally, the warp ramp with light for a Double Super Jackpot worth 20 Million. You will also receive a single, gold medal. Then, the Multiball process repeats.

Found here: http://tiltforums.com/t/star-trek-wiki/456

Now do that, but stack something 3 deep and hit them jacks on a doubled shot after a combo

I really need to do some glass off testing, but I'm reasonably confident that there has been a long standing misunderstanding of the what completing all 3 levels of a mission actually does.

It seems most people think that completing them then gives you 2X for that shot for the remainder of the game.
Reading the tilt forum link above for Nero it says: "Completing the level 3 mode awards 2x on the Left Orbit."
I know that for a fact that either that's not true, or the screen doesn't display the correct score.

If you max the spinner out to 68k, hitting a solid spinner shot can yield 1mil+ . That's just for spinner points, no mode shot included. If the above statement were true, you could complete all the levels of Nero, then max out your spinner and get roughly 2 mil per shot. That's a ton of points per shot in this game.
I use that strategy frequently, and the points awarded never get that high. I've never actually compared scores before and after in that scenario, so perhaps the display score is wrong, but I don't think it is.

What I believe actually happens is that once you complete all 3 levels, your combo is lit on that shot for the remainder of the game. The catch is, the combo is only good for shots when you are in a mode. That is a very different scenario than just getting 2x on a shot for the remainder of the game.

I have the old read me files somewhere at home, and if I remember correctly I think that's how they explain it. I can dig them up later if no one else finds them first.

Why are you not in modes? Like, 95% of that game should be played in a mode. If you are not in a mode, you shoot the mode start or the GAT to start a mode. Or, if you arent in a mode you are probably in a wizard mode, cause you better be stacking your multiballs with a mode.

Nero stack then play destroy the drill, extend the mode, hit the GAT shot, then just crush left orbit all day. Then, play save the Enterprise, same thing, hit your black hole to extend mode, hit a shot and then GAT, then crush left orbit all day. You can forehand or backhand it and you get a safe return or hit some warps from the return.

Then you have super spinner and left orbit banging, and you end up with a ton of points.