I also found the game extremely confusing when playing on site.
However I was able to get a loan of the machine for a couple of weeks.
It only took a dozen or so games, in conjunction with this rule sheet, that the game became a lot clearer and fun to play.
IMHO theme and integration of theme in a game is vastly overrated.
Something was pointed out on the Pinmasters stream that I was unaware of. When playing the Leia strategy, they said that any skillshots such as âLight Tatooineâ or âLight Death Starâ, give you an immediate 20M points. Great to know if you only need that much or less to win the game.
Of course, itâs more lucrative to earn the planet by making the shots and then âPassâ on starting the mode.
It seemed to make Bowenâs score jump by 50 mil⌠why??
Because Star Wars.
I didnât view the stream but Iâm guessing that it wasnât the first planet that was unlocked. The more you unlock, the more points those plant unlocks are worth. You canât always go by the temporary score shown on screen, it might flash 20mil but in reality itâs 50mil+ if it was the second planet or even more if it was the third planet unlocked. It also has to do with how many missions are unlocked within those planets. Unlocking Hoth with Leia (3 missions) is worth way more than if you unlocked Hoth with Han or Luke (1 mission).
What Hoochoo said was pretty much correct.
At Pinmasters this year, if one picked Leia and finished Endor / Hoth ramps with the 2x multiplier after Ball 1, they were all but guaranteed a 3 by choosing Light Tatooine and Light Death Star for balls 2 and 3.
I donât understand it exactly, but itâs a little more nuanced than this. If you choose light mode on ball one, youâll get a million points for it, but supposedly increase the value of future mode qualifications.
On Ball 1, I qualified Hoth and Endor. Then it shot the scoop for 10m, and shot SDTM. On Ball 2, I choose light Tatooine and got 40m off the plunge (due to 2x).
With mystery lit at the right saucer, if your next right saucer shot lights the Tatooine mode and your mystery award is âlight Tatooineâ, you will not have the option of starting the Tatooine mode on that saucer shot. Since you have already lit Tatooine by shooting the saucer, the mystery light Tatooine award should allow you to start it if you want after the mystery award is awarded and while the ball is still in the right saucer. Alternatively and less preferably, the mystery award possibilities should not include light Tatooine if the shot that awards mystery was the same shot that lit the Tatooine mode.
Just a heads up that code 1.10 has changed the requirement for one of the extra balls. From gaining an EB after completing 5 missions on the older code itâs now increased to 7 missions on default settings.
Itâs an interesting change. By pushing the missions completed EB into the late game territory, it now places more of a focus on trying to actively get the âDestroy 90+ TIE Fightersâ or the â3-Bank mini-screenâ EB as your first EB of the game.
Update Edit: Iâve now put in a lot more games on the new code and Iâve noticed the criteria to light up an EB from completing missions increased automatically from 7 to now 9! So it looks like it has something to do with how well youâre playing, maybe the average score on the machine, things like that.
The EB criteria changing on the fly is most likely for machines on location. And for me, 9 is a bit much for home use⌠Iâd prefer it to be set at a fixed number, so Iâm considering changing the default setting from Auto to maybe the previous codeâs default of 5.
@ScoutPilgrim Lewis can you explain the whole Parsec thing in Hyperspace multiball? When does the Parsec stage start and how do you collect them?
Just updated the rules document to match up with my current format; to anyone who has the game, can you help me figure out what awards can be given from Pict-o-Pops and from Mystery? Or the advanced TIE fighter extra ball requirements?
I have a number of contributions to the rules here, after playing my new Star Wars extensively for a few weeks. Not sure what the usual procedure is around here, if I should edit the original post directly? Here goes:
Luke character: I think the description of his character power is wrong here. He doesnât have any add-a-ball power (maybe he did in old code.) The action button doesnât do anything in Hyperspace or Tie multiballs, and during the planet multiballs it works the same as for any other character.
Lukeâs only actual character power is doubled scoring during Lightsaber Duel, and thatâs the only thing the in-game info screen says for his power. The description of âGood with the Forceâ is only thematic.
That said, Luke does have an indirect way of interacting with the Force: he gets the Jedi Training option at ball start, and any Jedi rank-up also spots one completion of the Force targets. (But this has nothing to do with any add-a-ball.)
Death Star 3: the description here is outdated from older code. You have to shoot any purple shot, then the TIE fighter on a short hurry-up. Complete four hurry-ups to win the mission.
Hoth 1: If Video Mode and Hoth 1 are both lit, you play the video mode only once (not twice back-to-back as in older code), but skip ahead to the next level of video mode to compensate.
Hoth 4: The first two shot sequences run in parallel. The 4x inner loops, and 3x left orbit followed by the 3-bank, can be progressed at the same time.
Victory Multiball: starting it adds 3 balls in play, which doesnât necessarily go to the max of 6, actually itâs most often 5.
FORCE targets: Double Multipliers does not last for the rest of the ball, but it ends when your multiplier expires. (This was a code change a few versions back.)
TIE Fighter Assault: itâs actually every TWO button presses destroys one TIE fighter. Each alternate button press either fires a laser OR explodes a TIE fighter.
Hyperspace Multiball on the Pro model: It starts with the Death Star locking the ball from the hurry-up that started it, and a second ball is launched. There is a hurry-up to dislodge the ball from the DS. If you do or if the hurry-up expires, another ball is launched. If you succeed the first time, you can do the sequence a second time (but not more), so Hyperspace goes to a max of 4 balls without additional stacking. After either two successful dislodges or any hurry-up expiring, the mode proceeds the same as on the Premium with all shots lit yellow for jackpot, and complete them all to restart the hurryup-lock phase.
Video Mode: When you play it as the Hoth 1 mission, the multiplier depends on the shot that you used to start the mission (so not necessarily the right loop; it could be the Death Star or Endor ramp or Tatooine scoop.)
Extra Balls: the amounts of missions or TIE fighters required are also percentage-based (the thresholds will auto-adjust.) I think the starting values are 5 missions and 80 TIE fighters. Iâve never seen an extra ball from Mystery, but the Pict-O-Pops can award one.
Jedi Multiball: It changed since the description here. It starts with two balls. Complete all blue shots to add-a-ball. There is a timer for this. If it expires, the blue shots will unlight and one or two shots will light red, with a new timer; you must shoot one red shot within this timer or else the Emperor wins and the mode ends. Completing either all blue shots or one red shot moves on to the next phase of blue shots. To win, you must complete a total of four phases. The mode continues if you go down to a single ball, but if you drain that, you lose the mode.
Multiplier note: It applies at the Tatooine scoop when Mystery awards Big/Bigger/Biggest Points (1M/5M/10M.) So always move the multiplier to the scoop while R2 is flashing the awards. The latter can actually be worth 400M at 40x!
Edited, thanks for the updates!
Hereâs the full list of Choose Your Path awards at ball start for each character.
Luke:
Jedi Training
Light Death Star Missions
+5 TIE Fighters
Hyperspace Hurry-Up
Max Time
Light Tatooine Missions
+5% Score
+3X Shot Multiplier
Light Video Mode
Light Endor Missions
Light Escape
+3X Bonus Multipliers
Bonus Held
Leia:
Light Tatooine Missions
Light Death Star Missions
Light Mystery
+3X Bonus Multipliers
Max Time
+5% Score
Jedi Training
Light Endor Missions
Light Hoth Missions
Hyperspace Hurry-Up
Light Escape
+3X Shot Multiplier
Bonus Held
R2-D2:
+3X Shot Multiplier
Light Death Star Missions
Light Tatooine Missions
+3X Bonus Multipliers
Max Time
Light Video Mode
+5% Score
Light Hoth Missions
+5 TIE Fighters
Light Endor Missions
Jedi Training
Bonus Held
Han:
Light Boba Fett Escape
Light Endor Missions
+5 TIE Fighters
Hyperspace Hurry-Up
Max Time
Light Tatooine Missions
Light Video Mode
Light Escape
+5% Score
Light Death Star Missions
Bonus Held
+3X Bonus Multipliers
Jedi Training
+3X Shot Multiplier
The in-game info screen lists the first 10 awards for each character, but more are possible and will appear when enough of the first 10 arenât available. I tested with the glass off to find those surplus options, by setting up the situation to eliminate everything that could be eliminated, then draining a ball. Doing this when Lightsaber Duel is lit cuts out the most options.
The offered choices are always the top four that are currently applicable (the list is never random.) Examples of unavailable options: canât light missions or Video Mode when any mission is already running or Lightsaber Duel or Jedi Multiball is lit/running; canât light a planet or Escape or Video Mode or Hyperspace Hurry-Up when itâs already lit; canât take TIE Fighters or Hyperspace Hurry-Up when LSD/Jedi is lit/running; canât take Jedi Training after that is maxed. The following four awards are always available and will comprise the list if all other options are eliminated: +3X Shot Multiplier, +3X Bonus Multipliers, +5% Score, Bonus Held.
Max Time is offered only during Lightsaber Duel and only affects that timer. Light Escape means the outlane (not Boba Fett.) Light Boba Fett Escape doesnât light or start the mode directly; it lights all shots white but they follow standard rules for progressing to EFBF from there (if you then enter a mission and shoot the shots that were white, they will unlight without progressing.)
Jedi Training can appear for R2-D2 and Han. Itâs very far down, such that itâs only possible while Lightsaber Duel is lit or running. If you drain then, you may want to take it since it wonât be available otherwise. Or even intentionally drain for it if you need it badly enough!
Bonus Held is also very far down the list for all characters. For everyone but Han, it can only ever be available when Lightsaber Duel is lit but not running - thatâs the only time that both +5 TIE Fighters and Max Time can both be off the list to open a slot. Han can see Bonus Held repeatedly by draining during LSD, and choosing it repeatedly can compound your bonus quite a lot. I once unintentionally did this, draining three times during LSD with Han; the repeated bonus-holding compounded to over 2 billion!
Also a couple more details overall:
âComplete the FORCE targets, then hold the action button, to add a ball once per multiball.â - This is listed under TIE and Hyperspace multiballs, but this isnât in effect then, this only applies to planet multiballs. However, an add-a-ball earned but not used during a planet multiball does carry over and can be used in TIE/Hyperspace MBs.
Victory Multiball requires only 6 shots not 7 for the medal (not the Tatooine scoop.) Also, the score for collecting a medal is subject to the multiplier at the last lit shot that collected it. (2.5M base so 100M at 40x.) This essentially functions as the super jackpot for Victory MB.
This is so cool if I understand it correctly. So you can shoot the mystery shot and then move the multiplier shot over there while the animation is playing?
Yes. I didnât specifically test, but Iâm pretty sure I saw the score increase by enough to know that it was happening. The timing is that the awards are awarded about two seconds after the final list appears; youâll know the timing if the announcer says Multipliers Doubled or something else like that.
And I worked out the exact scoring for Video Mode. Level 1 is base score, level 2 is 1.5x base, level 3 is 2x base. This and the shot multiplier apply to all of the following:
15,000 per asteroid dodged
40,000 per asteroid in your longest streak
1,000,000 for perfect (no collisions)
Itâs pretty simple; I thought there was going to be some increasing-returns component to the streak, but itâs just a flat linear number.
For a billion at level 3 and 40x, you need perfect and a streak of 210 asteroids.
No boost in score for using the button to go faster?
