I’m hosting our state SCS finals and wanted to know what the preferred settings are for these games.
Stars currently awards 100k for a special once per ball and requires both sets of drops for 3x.
Meteor Is set to factory as is Firepower.
Thanks for any input.
3x with one set required I’ve found is better because then you have another strategy rather than chasing the 100k… otherwise, whoever gets the 100k is just going to win. (Although I like shooting the right spinner)
Do unlimited 100k for stars for sure. Way more fun.
Both drops for 3x is good too. But Scott makes a good point.
Firepower is fine factory. For stars and firepower I leave EBs on and let the players play them.
I’m completely against hard settings for firepower that resets the stand ups each ball. Your progress should carry ball to ball. I believe that is factory.
Firepower is hard enough as it is, although I do want to try the mod of taking the gate off the top left and see how much harder that is. Or is the gate supposed to come off the upper right???
Stars with 1 bank for 2x and 3x is actually a lot of fun, otherwise, those drop banks tend to get ignored.
For meteor, you might be tempted to remove outlanes or center post rubber… don’t do it. With sufficient slope and speedy playfield, just not needed. Extra balls should be turned off though.
I do use a smaller post in the outlanes instead of star post.
My gate is off. I love it. Makes the players plunge better.
I used the settings I mentioned above for stars and firepower at pincinnati and they played mean. Stars average four player match took 11 mins. Haha. Firepower was like a 15 min average. No one got an extra ball on either the whole weekend.
At the end of the day, neither will play long, and just make sure any non stock settings are communicated.
How many points can you get off a lit spinner power plunge after locking a ball? I considered doing that in finals but wasn’t sure how the feed would work out.
Not much but to be honest I’m bad at power plunges and the risk of SDTM is too great. I’d rather short plunge, bounce off the shooter lane gate to a safe trap then get a controlled shot on the spinner.
Stars - in the parking lot.
Firepower and Meteor - factory sttings.
I half way kid about stars as it’s my kryptonite even though I love the game. I really like the 1 bank for 2x and both banks for 3x. I think that keeps them in play but doesn’t make it to easy.
For firepower keep it on factory but make the tilt somewhat tight but not crazy. Let the players use that skill but not allow them to throw it around. Risking losing your progress by tilting adds to the risk vs reward of making bigger saves.
Because of how quick Stars plays I’m going to switch it to 5 ball for the next few tournaments I run and see how it goes. At the end of the day, that’s an EM with digital scoring. Haha
Blasphemy
Meteor: put WOW and special on points, leave special lit at 7k rockets, spot target lights on more often, like meteor wows at 7x
I’d love to hear why outside of it having digital displays.
I agree completely. A lot of these really early SS are just glorified EMs. Especially games like SS Hot Tip which is literally the same as EM Hot Tip…
He’s probably responding to the comment that Stars should be in the parking lot.
My scores have ballooned on it since I’m ignoring actually chasing the special - I find the right spinner far more lucrative vs. dangerous shots to the stars targets. I take the drops etc. as they come, although it is fun to shoot for the center drop when it’s lit.
My most consistent Stars strat is just to shoot spinners and ignore everything else 