You’re correct, @raydaypinball. From my experience, you don’t get the 2x medal value Collect unless you have Warp 9 2x running.
A combo definitely doesn’t value of the EB when set to points.
Yeah doubling your entire medal bonus for the low low price of one left ramp would be a teensy bit OP methinks(heard a commentator say you could at Pinfest).
If you have a no switch outlane drain on bad girls, you get a scratch award of 500k. I’ve already seen it be the difference in multiple competitive games.
House balls are people too!
6 Likes
Reading “scratch award” now has me hearing Pool Sharks’ callout: “SCUH-RATCH!!”
1 Like
Earthshaker -
Everyone knows about the center ramp all day exploit, but did you know… if you sprinkle in a captive ball hit, you can light quick multiball? It works just like in Whirlwind - ramp builds the captive ball value, and if you cash in a max value, it lights quick multiball! There are also rumors that shooting into the quick multiball VUK when not lit will permanently advance the captive ball value up to a point, so perhaps you can use that to get even more quick multiballs.
3 Likes
Whirlwind factory default on Quick MBs is something like 3, but is a setting. I assume this setting only applies to Quick MBs from ramps + drop target.
Not sure if ES has a similar setting or correspondingly small default cap.
Also worth noting - scoring the million during Quick Multiball instantly starts normal Multiball as well if a ball was already locked before starting it. Plus, scoring three Quick Multiball millions in a game scores an extra ball. So definitely worth going for.
1 Like
No, that’s not in the code at all.
I believe it is
1 Like
This is done with the shelter lock, not the Quick Multiball saucer. Each shot to the shelter advances the captive ball value up to 150k, without a timer; when it reaches 150k it can no longer be advanced through shelter shots and the ramp must be shot to light 250k + Quick Multiball at the captive ball for 7 seconds.
Interestingly, the values at the captive ball can be repeatedly claimed if the shelter was shot before the captive ball, meaning you could hit it for 150k all day if you got it to that value. If the value is on a timer, it resets back to its base of 25k when the captive ball shot is made. It also resets to 25k if the captive ball times out.
Yeah I wasn’t sure what the term was so I said quick multiball VUK but I meant that little upkicker where you lock balls sometimes, not the one that feeds the upper flipper.
This makes sense why nobody would notice this if, every time after a ramp shot your value will one way or another go back to 25k. Kind of makes the “permanent” bump kind of meaningless, but maybe that was the point. Just a neat little extra thing sprinkled in
2 Likes
It’s a nice rule. There is no similar shot in Whirlwind to raise the value, but it typically resets to 75k until you’ve played a QMB and then resets to 25k thereafter.
The Earthshaker rule about doubling up the multiball also works on Whirlwind but in a different way – start QMB when 2 balls are locked and you instantly get both multiballs started. Lock stealing at its finest.
2 Likes
Indeed. It was on display during last “night’s” finals of pre-IFPA17 match on WW.
-
In semifinals, I believe it was Daniele that tried to take advantage of stepping up to his ball with 2 balls left in the lock, and QMB as his next up Cellar. He cashed in the QMB+regular MB stack, but alas, wasn’t able to hit any side ramps for those sweet 3+ million shots.
-
Also in semis, Drew Cedolia stepped up to his ball 3, P4, in last place, with two balls locked and QMB next up at the Cellar. Interestingly enough, Drew also had a regular lock lit (from qualifying it on his ball 2), and shot the under-ramp shot for virtual lock #2 – he didn’t need to. He then shot the lit cellar to lite QMB, and shot the under-ramp shot to start QMB and regular MB simultaneously. He could have done without the lock #2, as starting the QMB with the two balls locked would have given him the exact same stack. The good news? Drew made use of his stack.
1 Like
Ok, I was wrong about the fault hole and the zone 9 progression. That might help me decipher some more stuff in the code though.
The timed zone 9 timeout will still count down when you hit the center ramp to reset it, but it will stick at whatever you’ve ‘earned’ out of the fault hole. Didn’t wait for ball 2 to see if it sticks.
Zone 9 might be a safe shot on a backhand I’d think.
If it wasn’t said yet, Zone 9 will also spot any other zone. So if you can hit it safely…
The really deep Earthshaker cut is that your THIRD QMB Million award also awards an extra ball.
Also you can stack QMB and regular multiball on Funhouse too, if the clock is at midnight when QMB starts. I don’t necessarily recommend this stack, and it’s quite a bit of work to setup given the game will avoid QMB at all costs when lock is lit, but there you go. Plus, nowadays, I’d guess the majority of FH plays are in tournament mode, which, if you’re on the latest ROM, starts with QMB lit.
5 Likes
On a Star Wars Premium/LE, at least on the recently-shopped one we have on location, there are a few ways to “dodge” a neutral state (gameplay with no modes or multiballs running) by using the Hyperspace loop with Death Star modes lit. If the last shot in a mode is to the Hyperspace ramp/loop (unconfirmed if this works if you complete the mode but have an active Hyperspace Hurry-Up running), the ball will be immediately parked in the Death Star mode select “thing” to start a new mode.
The main reason for this is that it allows you to temporarily avoid Lightsaber Duel even when Lightsaber Duel is qualified.
5 Likes
I’ve also managed this (although I’m not sure I can reproduce it reliably, might be a timing thing) by comboing onto the left ramp to finish a mode with more endor modes lit
On Comet, if extra ball is set to award points, base value is 200k and it’s increased by playfield multipliers. If you set it up so 5x is running, and extra ball is at the furthest cycle ramp hole, you can earn 2,000,000 on a single shot if the cycle ramp is lit.
5 Likes