Quoted from per3per3:I just watched the most recent IE Pinball YouTube video where Karl got 12 billion. Can someone explain to me how the destruction jackpot works on the current code. I know that you get +1x for controlling each city and can also get +1x from other achievements like a certain number of jet fighters. Are these rules documented anywhere?
Also, more specifically, he got a super jackpot in tank multiball and then entered Godzilla multiball and had a roving tank insert for that multiball and for the rest of the game that was between 20 and 30 million in annihilation bonuses. How does this annihilation bonus system work?
When you play Tank, Bridge, or Tesla in a city, for the rest of the game, in that city, you'll have Annihilation jackpots that award a percentage of the points you make in that mode. So after playing Tanks, the Annihilation JP is a roving tank shot on the playfield. For bridge, the annihilation jp is lit at the magnet when you get enough switch hits (similar to how you do bridge damage to get to the mode in the first place). And the Tesla jp is a roving powerline target.
Karl does so well that his annihilation JPs are huge. They also multiply by +1x for how many of the 3 modes - Tanks, Bridge, or Tesla you've played on the current ball. When you drain from that ball the JPs reset back to a minimum base value that is basically like just 1 million points or so. So likely time to move to the next city after an inopportune drain.
Hitting destruction jackpots also ups the percentage of your total points (+1%, the base % varies between the three) from the modes that you get as what makes up the base Annihilation JP. So even getting a low point Destruction JP is always good, Destructions are always worth going for, as they pay dividends on annihilation values later.
Plus, the value from those Annihilation JPs all add to the Carnage Bonus you get when you change cities. That carnage bonus is multiplied by 2 if you did all of Monster Monitor features (so a battle plus Tanks, Bridge, and Tesla). Its multiplied another +1x for each of those (other than Battle) you did on the current ball to a total possible of 5x. You can build monster values there - Karl got a 9 billion carnage bonus on one those games he streamed. Which you get again, for each city as part of the Earth Bonus you get when you reach Planet X.
Obviously, when you change cities you lose the annihilation jps until you do it all again and play that mode again in the next city.
In simple terms, the city modes and getting all the monitor features and switching cities at the right times to maximize the annihilation and carnage bonuses on as many cities as you can to reach Planet X is an awesome advanced goal/scoring strategy. It's an interesting choice to move on through the cities prioritizing battle modes to reach tier 2s and ultimately Planet X vs staying in a city as long as possible to maximize annihilation jps values and # of collects and carnage bonuses, while risking draining and losing multipliers for carnage.
Keith and team have come up with genius scoring incentives to make every feature in this game something worth playing - its a masterpiece of pinball code. And it's not even done...