Picked up a used SE recently and I've only had a dozen or so plays on any WoZ before this one so some nuances of the game aren't 100% clear. If someone who knows more what a new machine plays like could answer these questions that would help me tune and fix.
1. Skill shot - Should the little pop bumper below the two lanes be very "active"? (There's only one, right?) Meaning pop more than one or two times when the ball comes out of the lanes? Can't tell if mine is weak or just how it should be. Also, how hard should the shot to the lanes be? My shooter rod slides easily but it seems like the knack to get just the right touch on it so it doesn't orbit but has enough momentum to make it to the lanes is pretty tight.
2. Ball launch bypass - If you launch the ball too hard and it goes around the orbit should it hit a pop bumper first? Mine seems to bypass them all and drain down the right outlane most of the time.
3. Autolaunch - Should the ball travel the orbit on autolaunch or drop back down the right side of the playfield?
4. Toto, No Place & Rescue modes - Occasionally during gameplay I'll get the video and audio (as well as LED color changes) for one of these modes when it isn't happening. I tried to see if, for example, a hard hitting pop bumper might be false triggering a NPLH switch, but I don't see any correlation between what the ball is doing and one of these modes triggering. Just out of nowhere I'll get the all blue LEDs, RESCUE on the display and the audio for the RESCUE mode. Once I hit another switch the mode stops but I wasn't sure if this was supposed to happen through some other combination of switches or just when I'm on the upper playfield (or when I am triggering NPLH switches, etc).
5. NPLH audio - Should it be pretty clear to hear the "There's no place like home" audio in proper order when the ball is hitting the pop & switches? Or is the muddled, words going over each other, out of order sometimes, audio is all there is?
6. Side notes... some things don't make a ton of sense yet but I still need to read the full gameplay part of the manual. One thing I don't understand, if the coils are so well controlled on JJP machines why not turn off the NPLH coil when in the NPLH or TOTO modes? Seems weird that others are turned off (at least if I recall correctly). Am I correct in thinking the NPLH mode is REALLY hard? Like even just to get RAINBOW is hard, I've never even passed stage two.
7. Throne Room VUK - Should this hit the left or right flipper? I had to turn it up to keep it from draining, so it mostly hits the left flipper now but sometimes still doesn't (so I turned it up more). Should I be trying for the right?
8. Extra Ball - What lights up the extra ball (aside from the Throne Room) and what do I need to do to get it? (Yeah, I know, RTFM)
9. Support - Does JJP respond to the online form? I submitted it twice so far (in the span of a year) and never have gotten a reply. When I call they answer, so I'll do that next, just wondering if this is common. I was under the impression that there was a playfield overlay for the NPLH area where it gets worn by the pop bumper. I already ordered some generic mylar from marco because I have other wear spots (near the top left two pop bumpers and where the ramp dumps the ball in the left inlane) that I want to at least cover. I saw on their website that JJP might have pre-cut mylar already for some areas so I'll ask about that too.
10. Power cycling - Since this is a PC based game system I am wondering if is one that would be better left on for several hours than power cycling it two or three times in a day. It boots pretty quick, but it's the new baby and I don't want to give it more wear than it needs.
11. Ball lock - I've had a few occasions where the ball lock doesn't contain the ball well enough and I end up with two on the playfield when I should not have two. The game seems smart about this (if one drains it doesn't kill the other one and if one gets locked again it stays there) and I turned up the "power" on the lock bar a bit but maybe it needs more?
Props to anyone who takes the time to reply, just put in a 256k score which is good enough for #4 on my virgin high score list, a great one for me so far