Black Knight: Sword of Rage Rulesheet

Games Wiki Rulesheets
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Wow. Yeah I swear it almost feels like my game is nerfed now. Depressing to play for 20+ minutes and barely break 200M.

I did set my monster level to easy, which means one or two less shots to beat them, but given an average game is 1-4 monsters anyway, I doubt those couple of shots are what’s causing such low scores.

And yes KNIGHT retro mode is hardly worth it now. Spinner got nerfed big time.

Not sure if you have the setup or capability to do it, but if you have games you’re getting 500m+, it would be awesome to capture the playfield/screen on video and share it on YouTube or something. I’d love to see what it is I’m missing.

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Your first two Power usages are easier on the most recent code update and are definitely worth going for. Using and competing any mode other than Liches with Power should be 50m at a minimum and 60-70m with progress/flail hits.

WAR Hurryups are worth a fair chunk of points and even worth looking into while in between modes in single ball play. You have to shoot those shots, why not get paid well while doing it!

U-Turn auto adjustment will likely make the U-turn EB obtainable. Look out for it.

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What is the difference / interaction between the drop targets, the flail bashing, and the “POWER” insert in relation to making modes score more?

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I didn’t take me 20 minutes to reach 200M, that’s for sure. Probably less than 10 minutes. I played fairly well during the modes and Iwas really going for them. I also went for the WAR hurry-ups. For fun, more or less. But they seem to award more points now?!

I got 450M on a somewhat mediocre game today where I didn’t even reach Black Castle. I did nothing ordinary really, compared to the old-ROM-games I’ve played. My Black Knight Multiballs (two, I think) didn’t even go very well. Btw. I always stack a mode with the multiball and the modes were awarding 20-35M, or so.

As far as I remember a really good Black Knight Multiball would give around 120-140M on the old ROMs (from june). It felt like the Black Knight Multiball maybe gave less points now. Don’t know really.

I could try share it on youtube, I guess, but I felt that I wasn’t doing anything special and I don’t even know the rules of these new ROMs. :grimacing: There are probably better sources than me on how to play BKSOR. I’ll try to make a youtube-video when I can get 1B scores - AND know the rules! :slight_smile:

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Drop targets and center target build progress on the sword/Power meter. When the meter is full. Hitting the center target during a mode changes the rules and starts 2x mode scoring for the rest of the ball/mode. For example, Hydra and Magma Beast don’t un-light shots so you can shoot the ramp 8 times and be done. Hell Hand starts at 4 shots to a side so you have easier shot choices.

When not in a mode, flail hits boost the mode value (+200k or more a hit) for the next mode. Draining resets the value. Haven’t gone out of my way for it, but it definitely adds incentive for going with flail shots to light modes.

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It DEFINITELY does, especially early in a ball. Incrementing the mode value and then going exclusively for Power is a far more valuable strategy on current code.

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Semi-deep cut: If you drain down to one ball in MB and shoot the left saucer for add-a-ball during the grace period, you will both resurrect your MB and level up your Super feature.

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I was quite impressed with the content Tim included in the 1.01 update. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with it now and put a lot of plays in to my Pro at home. All my comments are based on the Pro, so they may not be relevant to the Premium / LE models. Also, I’m not a comp player - just a person who loves playing my games at home :slight_smile:

There’s some good info above from people, and I certainly missed the important update dot point about Supers not leveling up in MB mode anymore. Thankfully someone highlighted this above! Since the 1.01 update, my retro MB mode scoring has taken an incredibly sharp drop. At first I thought that retro mode was not applying the multiplier, but perhaps that’s not the case and it’s the changes to supers that are the cause? I find it hard to judge as the display doesn’t give much away in terms of what’s active or what’s currently building points. In some respects I didn’t like (in v1.00) that I could hit retro mode and suddenly add 150 - 250 million with little effort. I like getting big points, however that rapid points increase made it feel too strong (especially compared with the points available from the average monster battle). But now the retro mode has swung too far the other way and feels of little value compared with monster modes. For a mini wizard mode that’s tough to reach (you have to beat several monsters + war hurry up to earn the knight letters to reach it), it simply has have more value. I’m not sure if there was a bug in the scoring previously that’s been fixed, or there is something off in the scoring now, or it’s just the super changes. But I feel the current state of the retro mode scoring (how the supers fit in and the lit shots) needs more attention.

One of the situations (frustrations) I’ve experienced over and over with the knight mode too that is if you lose your ball when the Knight mode is ready, your super progress is lost and no way to build it again. At that point, the best you can hope for is to activate a few supers at level 1 (provided you don’t drain from the knight target while activating them), which will only be able to reach level 2 when retro mode starts. Since the left VUK is the only way to boost them and is also used to activate retro mode, you’re stuck at level 2 and little value to be had in retro mode. All the effort to get there, with little reward :frowning:

On the topic of retro mode, I just passed 1200 games on my Pro and have never made it to the second retro mode. In fact, I’ve never beaten the Black Knight (only faced him a couple of times). I really wish there was another way to reach the second retro mode. It could be made simpler with more knight letters available, but that could devalue the retro modes.

On the topic of the Black Knight “monster” battle. Losing the ball here sends you all the way back to the start to the first realm. That’s more punishment than challenge (not fun) :frowning:

Glad to see the 250K and 750K awards from mystery removed and replaced with the 2 - 5 million instead. These feel much more in line with the game scoring. I think the points for completing WAR should see a similar boost in the next code update as it’s currently only 100K, which feels like it’s lagging behind.

The power sword fill boost for the first 2 uses is very welcome and I find this now much more useful in game. Also having the knight target add to the sword power is a big help and am happy Tim added this. This of course leads to more value from the monster modes and helps lift the average scores for games.

Bringing the pop bumpers into the war hurry up value was a good move, along with boosting the point value of the feature. I really like seeing the war hurry up show moved to the top too as this helps with completing it. This was another good addition by Tim. I still only go for it in MB (if I can help it) - but certainly has a lot more value and the update makes it more worthwhile to shoot for.

Additional points for successful magna save is good too as the original 550K too small for a successful save when compared with other areas for scoring.

Supers - One step forward and one step to the side here I feel. Taking super jackpot collection away from the left VUK is an excellent move. I never really liked that I was forced to collect it from a shot that’s used for several other things in the game. It felt like a poor design choice and I was being punished as a player for shooting a shot I needed to hit for other features. Having them now run without a timer and being able to boost and build them as I play is better. I do like this change. I’m not convinced that a player should have to sacrifice their magna save to collect the jackpot however. This now feels like punishing the player for another design choice in not having a second button on the side of the cabinet for magna save. I don’t necessarily mind magna save being on the lockdown bar button (I have no ties to the original games, so have no expectations on where it should be). But I think first press to collect should not cost you your magna save. Another option would be to have the player press the lockdown bar button within 3 - 5 seconds of hitting the left VUK, but magna save should be disabled on the first press during this period. Switch the colour of the lockdown bar button during this window to help players identify when it’s open to collect. It’s a tough one though as activating your magna save isn’t exactly reliable at the best of times and a split second for a second press can be the difference between success of failure.

I’m not sure on the best solution here. However I just don’t see the connection with having to sacrifice your magna save to collect super. You could say it’s risk vs reward, but to me I don’t see the connection of these 2 features. As it is now though, I hit the left VUK, then press the button and sigh as my magna save is spent while watching the ball travel along to rail to the return lane to collect maybe 10-15 million points if I’m lucky.

In short though, I feel the 1.01 update is an excellent step in the right direction with some nice additions to the rules. The supers and retro mode scoring still aren’t where they need to be though. So hopefully there are still more improvements taking place and a new update coming. Again, these comments are based on playing my Pro at home, so may not translate to the Premium / LE models.

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Well said. And I think almost everything if not absolutely everything translates to the premium / LE, as well.

Tim (@timballs) , CONGRATS on your ROOKIE OF THE YEAR win! Well deserved.
Hoping you continue to build on this success with another solid update for us that addresses stuff like mentioned above!

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Thanks, @Ezatnova! I appreciate it!

There is a huge scoring opportunity in retro multiball to score a huge super jackpot, but it requires a lot of setup. If you can get a lot of super features to a really high level before you start retro multiball 1 and cash in a huge magna save bonus, I’ve seen that score in the hundreds of millions. That massive scoring opportunity, although it takes a lot of work, is why the rest of the scoring is so much lower. But, a lot of the time it’s easiest for me to see what strategies people are using in a competition where there’s a lot of video of the game. It’s a little more difficult on just 1 person’s stream because there’s less variety. Hopefully we get our competitions back soon and can see what else people are doing in the game.

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@timballs Thanks for the retro scoring info. Personally, I’d hope that some tweaks could be made to modify scoring for the 99% who play the game for fun and are not tournament pros. While that might leave a window to exploit for those pros, it would make it a lot more fun for the vast majority who work hard to get to that mini wizard mode and Be able to get some meaningful points out of it. It honestly just feels like a fun little mode now but no points benefit at all.

Interestingly, I messed around with the rules settings a bit, and found that reverting the monsters to “medium” (default) difficulty really bumped up my average good scores, close to what my good scores used to be on 1.0. I initially dropped them to easy mode to make progression to Castle a bit easier. But I think that hurt points totals a lot. I did then bump Knight letters to easy to get that one more for free. Mainly an effort to somehow let me see BK2000 some day. I actually had it lit yesterday and drained without being able to even make the initial drop target shot. So close though!

On a different topic, is there any chance or work being done to enhance code for the topper? I installed mine yesterday and love it! But, it would be nice to have some topper reaction for: Catapult MB, Retro Knight, (I assume there’s also nothing currently for BK2000 retro, as well, but of course I haven’t seen it), extra ball achievement, and Last Chance mode. Would be nice to have custom reactions and call outs for those special events. I think I did see him turn blue when I got Triple Knights, but I also started Lich Lords with the same shot. It was the darker blue though not the ice blue of the Lords monster mode.

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Indeed it was excellent to see @timballs receive official acknowledgement from the community with his personal award win. Congrats on that Tim! I honestly felt Black Knight should have perhaps won in a couple of other categories too, but then I’m probably a little biased :slight_smile:

I’m with you on tweaks needed @Ezatnova and the home player needing to be at the forefront. I am a little worried if the balance is to be focused around comp players and their approach to the game. Home players and comp players are two different groups in terms of how & why they play a game. I may be misunderstanding Tim there though as it can be easier to access comp videos/streams to evaluate than see what home players are experiencing. The games are also in a controlled environment. The approaches taken by home players (and their experiences) can be harder to evaluate as settings can vary wildly and feedback tends to come via forum posts, emails and maybe (if lucky) a few random videos. No doubt evolving the rules in a way to suit both groups is a challenge on any title, but given home players are the ones buying the games (in most cases), the balance should lean towards building the rules around fun.

I just reached 1300 games on my Pro today (managed to put on 100 games in the last 2 weeks – lunch breaks while working from working from home have never been so good ;). I’ve still not managed to defeat the Black Knight or even been able to activate the second Knight mode (not once in 1300 games!!). I could make it easier by playing with the settings, but I don’t like the idea moving away from what should be the “official” balanced settings from the designers for how to best experience the game. So I always play at factory settings. I did manage to have a great game yesterday and reached the Black Castle on ball 2. I had one last shot to hit to defeat the Black Knight and he ran off, forcing me back to the start. I bring this up because in a home environment, it’s so deflating to have the final boss run off after all the hard work to get there and you’re put back to the starting point. Just like being sent back to the first monster should you drain during the battle. I could understand this type of rule for a comp or with the difficulty set to hard. Or even if reaching the Black Castle was something achievable multiple times a game. But in a home environment with your average player, this sort of rule doesn’t make much sense and is not fun. The player could still be challenged by setting the Black Castle mode progress back on the next ball should you drain, but not the start of the game again.

With regards to the Knight mode set up Tim, speaking as a home player (on the Pro model – maybe set up is easier on the Prem / LE models?) - there is now too much set up required to achieve any valuable reward from the mode for most players. If the mode was easy to reach and could be done multiple times in a single game, then sure that lengthy set up makes more sense. It’s good that you’ve looked at it though, since under 1.00 code it was the primary difference between an average score and a super score as you only really needed to activate it to blow your score up. I do like that you’ve tried to bring more to the mode as it did/does need to be expanded. But the general low scoring nature of the mode in it’s current iteration (unless you jump through a lot of set up) leaves it mostly nerfed and unrewarding. The only time it looks to possibly be of value is if you happen to be on a great ball leading up to it when Knight mode becomes active. As I’ve experienced many times though, what sort of set up can you do if you drain when Knight mode is lit? Please correct me if my understanding is wrong, but if you drain when Knight mode is ready, then the absolute best you could hope for on the next ball is to activate all six supers (assuming you somehow don’t drain in the process) and get them to level two all at once when Knight mode starts. There’s no way to get them higher since the left VUK will activate Knight mode. At level two, even with all supers running, it’s not much value as the rest of the mode is low scoring. All the work getting to the mode is not reflected in the scoring return as you’re blocked from leveling up in that scenario. I love modes having layers (depth) that allow players of different skill levels to learn and get better in. But right now with the current set up, even a good ball time in Knight mode is unrewarding.

With all the time I’ve been putting into my game lately, I’m just not a fan of super collection costing your magna save AND having to activate the right return lane switch in order to do it. If it absolutely has to involve the right return switch, then the player should perhaps get their magna save back if successfully collecting a super at the same time. Even so, it feels like a waste to be activating the magnet and playing the magna save animation only to be collecting the super once the ball returns down the wireform to the return lane. Magna save isn’t needed here. Limiting collection to that side of the playfield doesn’t make much sense to me either and wrapping the two features into one doesn’t feel right. Another issue is the unreliable nature of magna save too, which can (and does) impact the ability to collect when the ball is in free movement. I hope the rules around this can receive some tweaking in the next update.

With my spike in play time, I’ve also come to realise just how underused supers are in a normal game for me. I rarely bother collecting supers unless directly after Knight mode. It’s the only time it’s ever worth anything. In most cases it’s not worth the few millions points at the cost of your magna save. I believe supers could be further worked into the game by not cancelling them when collected at default settings. Once activated, they are there (with their level) until the ball drains. Every time you collect, it flushes the jackpot value but keeps them going. They feel like an underused feature of the game at present and require further tweaking.

I’m curious about the scoring in Deep Freeze. This is one of my favourite modes but it seems to be more valuable to NOT use the sword of rage here. The double scoring on offer from the sword should make it more valuable like the other modes. However if you spot all 3 targets before collecting them (and then again once they are relit) you can get 6 hits for the mode which appears to be more valuable than activating the sword and hitting 4 targets with double scoring. This looks like it’s the odd one out compared with the other monster battles that are all worth more with the sword activated. It would be better to perhaps keep the goal similar when the sword is active:
– All shots are lit and first hit to a shot tags it.

  • A second hit to a tagged shot collects it
  • Collect 4 to complete the mode
  • The more shots tagged before completing the mode boosts the points

This of course could allow for some point pressing for those wanting to boost the mode score a little, but then Mud Bog already allows this with the sword activated, so it’s not out of place.

With so many of us at home at the moment across the globe due to COVID-19, we’re around our games and getting some solid game time in. Apologies for a couple of long posts. I love my Pro and I’m passionate about it’s rules and seeing it fill its potential. I hope my feedback on the current state of the rules in 1.01 is helpful, even if it’s just something to think over as you evolve the rules for the next update. Also, I’d love to see icons on the main screen too show the current status of TKC ball locks. I believe that will help with some decision making during play. The rule set is absolutely headed in the right direction, no doubt about it. But I think there is still more to be done. If things like audit dumps can help you analyse aspects of the game from a home environment, would it be worth putting a call out to owners like was done with Stranger Things? We all want the game to continue to grow and improve, so if there is anything us owners can do to help, don’t be afraid to reach out :slight_smile:

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@timballs I’d like to understand the game logic around the adjustment made to the U-Turn combo rule in 1.01 a little better: “- Added auto-adjusting Extra Ball to U-Turn Combo rule”. I’m hoping you can share some comments on this. Keeping in mind, my comments and feedback are on my Pro and I’m not sure if they apply to a Prem/LE model since I’ve not played them.

Pre 1.01 code, I could count on one hand (and have fingers to spare) the number of times I achieved the extra ball via the u-turn feature. At most I’d say three times, which is a tiny return across 600+ games on 1.00. This was primarily due to the number of u-turns needed. From memory it was around 25 which I felt was too high as even on my great games, I’d rarely even be close. As a result it became a feature I wouldn’t bother with. Maybe it’s easier on the Prem/LE model - does the upper loop count towards this? After the 1.01 update with the above mentioned change, I was eager to see if this feature would now work its way into my play. But sadly it hasn’t and after several hundred games on 1.01, I can still count on one hand the times I’ve achieved it. What I’m finding puzzling though is even with the setting now on “Auto” by default, the number of u-turns required remains in the mid 20’s and never drops lower - despite the fact I’m never achieving it. Shouldn’t the auto setting drop the value over time until it’s achieved?

Being curious, I had a look into the settings to confirm it was on auto (it was) and found that the highest fixed value it can be set to is 14 (range of 5 to 14, Auto and none). The second u-turn extra ball has a range of 31 to 75. So I’m thinking that the auto setting is intended to be adjusting somewhere in the range of 15 - 30? Based on the release notes, I’d assume the value to hover in that range - fluctuating based on how frequently it’s achieved. Is that incorrect? Are there other factors this rule considers to determine the value (e.g extra ball for completing first monster)?

While I always prefer to be playing on factory settings, I’m really interested in seeing this feature work its way into more games. So I decided to switch the first u-turn extra ball value to 14 (since it was the highest possible fixed value) and played 50 games to see what sort of return that would give me. I was able to achieve it every five games on average, which is actually making it worth shooting for and also opening up other scoring opportunities in the game as a result. This feels really good! I’m not sure if the “auto” setting is buggy since it’s not dropping, or my expectation on how it adjusts is incorrect, but I certainly think the number required needs to drop. Maybe 14 is a little on the low side, but then I’d say 25 is too high. I’d also say that having it on auto as a default is probably not the way to go since it’s hard to compare scores with a setting that’s floating (auto feels more like an operator setting than a home / comp setting). Please consider tweaking this for the next update.

On the subject of u-turns, I’d also like to mention there’s no way to view the current remaining count (outside of the animation that plays when hitting the u-turn). There’s nothing on the main display that you can check and nothing in the instant info section when the flipper button is held in. Can you please add something to the UI in next update that players can reference with the ball trapped? With regards to the animation that plays when the player hits the u-turn, I find there are many cases where the flame thrower character and point animations play on top of the XX remaining value. The animation playing over the remaining digits can make it very difficult to read at times (especially when the value is under 10). The ball flies around the u-turn so fast, a player only has a fraction of a second to look up and read the number - and when this value is covered by animation, it can be difficult to read.

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I think lots of info is missing from the flipper-hold info menu. Seems like almost a waste the way it is now. It should tell you progress towards multi balls, knight mode, castle mode, etc etc.

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so uh, you cant stack TKC and Black Castle. Just tried. LOL

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Tim, any sneak peaks on some upcoming enhancements or changes while we’re stuck at home? Hoping for something to make the Black Castle fight more rewarding (ie continuing even after you lose a ball). Also would love the super jackpots to feel a bit more rewarding again, rather than low points on just the magnasave.

Question for everyone…do you notice longer games getting more difficult because the flippers feel too weak to get the ball up the ramp? Seems like they get hot and weak or something. Especially the right flipper since the upper field uses the right button so much. Personally, I think if I wait 15 minutes and play a new game, they feel stronger again.

I do have notable bronze colored dust in the cabinet, but I don’t explicitly feel the coil stops loose or anything.

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Stern flipper power does fade after long play; I’ve installed fans on my Metallica and Tron in an attempt to keep them more consistent from powerup across long games.

The dust almost certainly means your stops are damaged, which can damage the sleeves and cause other issues. Start with replacing those first and see how the flipper strength holds up after long play.

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This has been disturbingly quiet!

@timballs, anything cooking in your shop for us BKSOR fans!?

Curious what the Stern “jukebox” code implementation might do here (I forget the name that they call it…sounds like it lets you choose amongst a games songs).

I want to play the Black Castle song (awesome tune) since it’s so rare and only plays until the Knight beats be down in 10 seconds anyway. Related to that, still would love to see a code change where you continue to battle the BK in castle mode if you have balls left after you drain one during the fight, rather than starting ALL the way over.

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Yes, too quiet!

So on my Pro the setting to disable the topper during attract mode doesn’t work. On either setting he still moves around all day while the machine is sitting idle. I’m a little/lot concerned that this will wear out his gears prematurely. Be nice if this could be fixed soon.

Also, for the next/final code drop how about some love for Pro players by adding a new 2-ball multi-ball. Lock/hold one ball in the scoop behind the shield and release it after the mode is started for a 2-ball multiball. Knight has captured your, uh, ball, and you have to rescue it “Moat Multiball!”.

Also mimics the original 2-ball multiball from the original BK.

One final long-shot challenge for the young-buck coders at Stern. How about making the original BK spinner sound the proper one, when the spinner is lit, with the dynamic/progressive/amazing spinner sound that starts low and goes higher and eventually wraps back around to low (“waa waa waa”) that to this day is my favorite sound effect in pinball. I bet you can’t do it. Not simple like playing a recorded sample over and over, requires real programming chops! :kissing_smiling_eyes: :grin:

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So on my Pro the setting to disable the topper during attract mode doesn’t work. On either setting he still moves around all day while the machine is sitting idle. I’m a little/lot concerned that this will wear out his gears prematurely. Be nice if this could be fixed soon.

I figured out that you can work around this bug by disabling the x and y motor functions in the settings specifically.