A Conversation With Erik Mooney About FJ Strategy

A Victorian steam powered adventure

A Conversation With Erik Mooney About FJ Strategy

Postby Huggybaby » Thu Nov 21, 2013 4:46 pm

I dug up the thread from the PPPC Yahoogroup. (We were 10 years younger then!)

It's a porn spamtrap now, and I had to re-enroll to get access, and I also had to use Internet Explorer for some reason. Quite a painful process! But there's good info I wanted to preserve, so here it is. I don't think Erik will mind...
The formatting is inconsistent, but I've made it better than the original, I hope you can follow it OK.

You will learn that strategy is everything if you want scores well beyond what you're achieving now, and Erik is the master of strategy.


<Huggybaby2000 Oct 25, 2003>
I've been playing Pro Pinball Fantastic Journey for a few weeks now.
It is part of the Pinball Madness 4 collection, and is the only table
of the collection that I play.

I've been able to figure out some of the rules that aren't listed in
the guide. I was wondering, however, if Mr. Mooney had ever gotten
around to writing a strategy guide.

There is a Fantastic Journey guide erroneously listed at a few sites
which actually contain the Big Race USA guide.

I'm mainly interested in a few pointers that would outline the most
efficient way to increase my scores.

Also, why the stupid sex posts on this forum? Is there no moderator
to erase this stupid crap?


<Erik Mooney>
> I've been able to figure out some of the rules that aren't listed in
> the guide. I was wondering, however, if Mr. Mooney had ever gotten
> around to writing a strategy guide.

Nope, I never did for FJ. If you have any particular questions, I
might be able to answer them, though it's been a few years since I've
played the game myself.

> I'm mainly interested in a few pointers that would outline the most
> efficient way to increase my scores.

My strategy was this: shoot for the quick-modes at the left boiler
hole far more than for the adventures. Don't shoot for anything but
the quick modes until you activate Double Playfield for that ball, and
Super or Ultra Magnosave as well. I had a table physics setup - can
probably find it again if you want - that allowed that hole to easily
be shot from rest on either flipper. It's a very safe shot, and that
Mystery mode is worth tons especially with Double Playfield activated.

> Nope, I never did for FJ. If you have any particular questions, I
> might be able to answer them,


<Huggybaby>
Thank you.

>though it's been a few years since I've
> played the game myself.

1) So what are you playing now?

> My strategy was this: shoot for the quick-modes at the left boiler
> hole far more than for the adventures. Don't shoot for anything but
> the quick modes

2) Yes. Quick modes only require two shots to activate. But: No Combo
Sequences? No trips to the Jets to increase the Bonus Multiplier? No
shots at the left orbit to set up a frenzy?

>until you activate Double Playfield for that ball,

3) What exactly does Double Playfield double?

> and Super or Ultra Magnosave as well.

The Magnosaves require much presence of mind to activate in time.

>I had a table physics setup - can
> probably find it again if you want - that allowed that hole to easily
> be shot from rest on either flipper. It's a very safe shot,

4) By changing from 6 to 5.5 degrees, my right orbit has become
easier. I haven't experimented a lot though. What can you change and
still get a valid High Score?

> Mystery mode is worth tons especially with Double Playfield activated.

5) You have to go through 12 other modes to get to mystery mode.
Anything in particular you are looking at in the meantime?

NOTES NOT IN THE MANUAL:

If the Skill Shot is the "E" or "R", I will go for it.

I totally ignore Drops Challenge when it happens, because GAT are too
difficult and dangerous.

It seems most shots should be from the left flipper, but the ball is
usually on the right, so the left ramp shot should be mastered from
the rolling launch position and from the held position and from the
slow roll coming off a right ramp shot.

Usually when the ball spits out of the left boiler, you can leave
both flippers down and it will bounce into the left inlane, for an
easy LUCK rollover.

When the ball is released from the LUCK deadend, you can hold up the
right flipper and you will usually get a weak slingshot to the left
flipper.

Slingshots toggle outlane extra ball lamp.

Spinner rotates selected contraption piece.

Something allows you to begin collecting pieces for more than one
contraption at a time (that is, you'll have more than one big arrow
on a triangular field flashing at a time), but I don't know what it
is yet.


<Erik Mooney>
> 1) So what are you playing now?

Civilization 3 and Freelancer. I've got a Civ3 page here:
http://www.dos486.com/civ3/

I've also played much Diablo 2 and many Playstation and Dreamcast
games since FJ.

> 2) Yes. Quick modes only require two shots to activate. But: No Combo
> Sequences? No trips to the Jets to increase the Bonus Multiplier?

No

> shots at the left orbit to set up a frenzy?

It's been so long since I played it that I forget what the combo
sequence in FJ does. :) But I definitely know I didn't put it ahead
of activating Double Playfield and Super Magnosave.

I never worried about the bonus multiplier. I also generally didn't
worry about Steam Frenzy until having a chance to do it during an
Adventure. Steam Frenzy is hardly worth anything as compared to the
big points from the Mystery mode and adventures.

> 3) What exactly does Double Playfield double?

Absolutely every single point that you score, up to and including the
bonus at the end of the ball. Double Playfield is ridiculously
lucrative. Another way of thinking of it is that you score half the
points you could be scoring, if you do anything else on a ball before
activating Double Playfield.

> The Magnosaves require much presence of mind to activate in time.

Develop your presence of mind, young grasshopper. :)

> 4) By changing from 6 to 5.5 degrees, my right orbit has become
> easier. I haven't experimented a lot though. What can you change and
> still get a valid High Score?

IIRC, you can set any of the table physics settings (slope, table age,
flipper power) to anything you want and still be eligible for the high
scores.

> 5) You have to go through 12 other modes to get to mystery mode.
> Anything in particular you are looking at in the meantime?

Again, it's been quite some time since I played it, but the answer to
that is pretty much no. If it's all you go for, you can blaze
through the 12 modes pretty quick. Ignore the junk like Drop Challenge and
Mystery Jets; they're meaningless compared to the Mystery points.

Also IIRC, it's 11 modes, not 12, since the extra ball is only
available the first time around. (Am I right on this?) And there's
also Mega Gather in there, which saves you shots when you do want to
start doing the Adventures.

> It seems most shots should be from the left flipper, but the ball is
> usually on the right, so the left ramp shot should be mastered from
> the rolling launch position and from the held position and from the
> slow roll coming off a right ramp shot.

Agreed, although my table physics setup allowed the boiler hole to be
shot from a caught ball on the right flipper, so I could always do
something useful from it. Rolling shots to the left ramp are
important, though.

> Usually when the ball spits out of the left boiler, you can leave
> both flippers down and it will bounce into the left inlane, for an
> easy LUCK rollover.
>
> When the ball is released from the LUCK deadend, you can hold up the
> right flipper and you will usually get a weak slingshot to the left
> flipper.

Yes, I think I remember taking advantage of both of these. Good
observations.

> Something allows you to begin collecting pieces for more than one
> contraption at a time (that is, you'll have more than one big arrow
> on a triangular field flashing at a time), but I don't know what it
> is yet.

I also remember this happening but don't remember the details. I
don't think it was more than one contraption, though - I think it was
just the game giving you a choice of shots you could hit towards the
current contraption. I could definitely be wrong, though.

Man, now you have me wanting to dig out my CD and try FJ again :)


<Huggybaby>
Thanks for the excellent reply.
Our taste in games is similar.

Adjusting physics to make the Left Boiler easier is now on my list,
as is emphasizing the X2 playfield.

The Combo Sequence is when you hit the switches on each side of the
right ramp, then the right ramp blue Combo light comes on for a
while, and then it's right ramp, left ramp, left orbit, right orbit
or some such. I just follow the blue light around the table. Of
course if you screw up and hit something else the sequence is
terminated. I've gotten a triple combo so far.

It seems like every bit of talk regarding FJ just stopped in the year
2000, before the subject had been thoroughly explored. Lord knows the
Empire Ineractive/ Pro Pinball web site isn't much help.

I have Big Race USA for Playstation but it seems a little sluggish,
so I want it for my PC.
I have the Web for PC but haven't really played it.

Is Timeshock still the one to have? FJ does seem challenging to me,
but that's exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping my new skills will
translate to a real table!


<Huggybaby>
> > Something allows you to begin collecting pieces for more than one
> > contraption at a time (that is, you'll have more than one big arrow
> > on a triangular field flashing at a time), but I don't know what it
> > is yet.
>
> I also remember this happening but don't remember the details. I
> don't think it was more than one contraption, though - I think it was
> just the game giving you a choice of shots you could hit towards the
> current contraption. I could definitely be wrong, though.

The playfield shows you which piece you are going to collect next.
You can definitely be working on more than one contraption at a time.
So I can choose, for example, left ramp for a Drill piece or right
orbit for an Airship piece. And the spinner makes the arrows go
around. And for more strategy, I don't want to hit Mega Gather when
the selected contraption only needs one piece. I would rather use
Mega Gather to collect three pieces.

> Man, now you have me wanting to dig out my CD and try FJ again :)

EXCELLENT!


<Erik Mooney>
> The Combo Sequence is when you hit the switches on each side of the
> right ramp, then the right ramp blue Combo light comes on for a
> while, and then it's right ramp, left ramp, left orbit, right orbit
> or some such. I just follow the blue light around the table. Of
> course if you screw up and hit something else the sequence is
> terminated. I've gotten a triple combo so far.

Right, that sounds familiar. I'm trying to remember what it *does*,
though. IIRC, the left lane (the Steam Frenzy lock shot) lights all
the locks for you, but I can't remember what the rest of it does.

Timeshock's combo sequence credited all locks lit for a double combo,
all continents explored for a triple combo, Time Drive completed for a
super combo, and a pile of souvenirs for an ultra combo.

> It seems like every bit of talk regarding FJ just stopped in the
> 2000, before the subject had been thoroughly explored. Lord knows
> Empire Ineractive/ Pro Pinball web site isn't much help.

Yeah. Empire didn't even really want to publish FJ in the first
place, after disappointing sales for BRUSA despite a decent marketing
campaign. So no surprise there.

FJ is quite a bit less complicated than either of the previous two
games. You can figure out just about all of its rules by playing it.
That accounts for its lack of community discussion, along with its
lack of multiplayer; BRUSA online play kept it going in the community
for quite some time.


> Is Timeshock still the one to have? FJ does seem challenging to me,
> but that's exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping my new skills will
> translate to a real table!

Timeshock's still my favorite, yes, and the best for very high-end
play. BRUSA is more accessible for an average-to-good player, as
there's quite a bit more to do, it has much more character with the
cars, and the Air Bags make it very forgiving.


<Huggybaby>
> Right, that sounds familiar. I'm trying to remember what it *does*, though.

The Combo Sequence bonus just gives points as far as I can tell.
Maybe a miilion? to begin.

IIRC, the left lane (the Steam Frenzy lock shot) lights all
the locks for you, but I can't remember what the rest of it does.

Lock one ramp for 2X, both ramps for 4X, right orbit lights bonus at
spinner I think.
It's hard to catch these by myself. I have a friend who helps
sometimes by playing while I watch, but he's not around.

> Yeah. Empire didn't even really want to publish FJ in the first
> place, after disappointing sales for BRUSA despite a decent marketing
> campaign. So no surprise there.
>
> FJ is quite a bit less complicated than either of the previous two
> games. You can figure out just about all of its rules by playing it.
> That accounts for its lack of community discussion, along with its
> lack of multiplayer; BRUSA online play kept it going in the community
> for quite some time.

Do you think the relative simplicity of FJ's rules is due to a lack
of development, or was it a conscious design objective? It feels
fleshed out to me, and with only two flippers, relatively safe
outlanes, and some really precise shots built in, it seems like they
wanted to offer an updated old school feel.

I of course have printed out and read all your excellent strategy
guides just to glean what scoring approaches I could that might be
relevant to FJ.

> > Is Timeshock still the one to have? FJ does seem challenging to me,
> > but that's exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping my new skills will
> > translate to a real table!
>
> Timeshock's still my favorite, yes, and the best for very high-end
> play. BRUSA is more accessible for an average-to-good player, as
> there's quite a bit more to do, it has much more character with the
> cars, and the Air Bags make it very forgiving.


BRUSA sure feels different. No drop targets to slow you down and lots
of long ramps really give me that traveling feeling.

I'm really going to have to get Timeshock now. It's a great looking
table, that's for sure. I need to find someone that takes Paypal.

A couple of other things I've noticed:

If you hit the right ramp then right orbit you get 500,000, but
there's a way to make that number go up. It might be by simply
hitting the shot, I'm not sure.

The coolest thing I haven't figured out, though, is that there is a
mystery bonus you get by hitting some random unlit target. Once my
target was the left ramp. It was unlit by anything, but I got 9
million. The cool thing is that I hit the shot more than once and got
the bonus again. At some point it times out. So it seems that you
could get several hundred million if the mystery award is high enough
and your random target is in a repeatable location. I think the
mystery is incremented by the jets.
I'm really looking forward to nailing this one again, though it might
take weeks at my skill level.


<Huggybaby>
> > Right, that sounds familiar. I'm trying to remember what it
> *does*,
> > though.
>
> The Combo Sequence bonus just gives points as far as I can tell.
> Maybe a miilion? to begin.

It's 10 million per jackpot, so a triple jackpot is worth 30 million.

> A couple of other things I've noticed:
>
> If you hit the right ramp then right orbit you get 500,000, but
> there's a way to make that number go up. It might be by simply
> hitting the shot, I'm not sure.

It does go up, don't know how, but not just by making the shot.

Also, I usually get 125 million per adventure but I got 250 million
once, and I don't know why. It doesn't seem related to the bonus
multipliers or whether they are held.

A trick I use to help me see what points are happening is to set the
DMD display to fixed. If it's intelligent it doesn't show the bonus
points that well.

In a fast frenzy you put balls in the left orbit to add balls to the
frenzy. What's the maximum, I wonder? Seems like I read the number
ten somewhere.


<Erik Mooney>
> Do you think the relative simplicity of FJ's rules is due to a lack
> of development, or was it a conscious design objective?

Both. Cunning knew they didn't have a large development time or
budget, so went with a less complicated design that they did bring
just about to completion. FJ still is as deep as just about any
arcade pinball game, though.

> BRUSA sure feels different. No drop targets to slow you down and
> lots of long ramps really give me that traveling feeling.

Right. It falls down a bit on really high-end play; there are enough
extra balls that playing forever is very possible (the 100B-plus high
scores on the board take about 24 hours of gametime), and the
"spin-n-slide" physics are slightly more realistic but less fun than
in Timeshock.

> The coolest thing I haven't figured out, though, is that there is a
> mystery bonus you get by hitting some random unlit target.

Is this just Mystery Jets? That gives a bonus, intentionally not lit
on the table.

> > The Combo Sequence bonus just gives points as far as I can tell.
> > Maybe a miilion? to begin.
>
> It's 10 million per jackpot, so a triple jackpot is worth 30 million.

I could've sworn it did something more than just give points. You're
really going to make me try this again, aren't you. :)

> > If you hit the right ramp then right orbit you get 500,000, but
> > there's a way to make that number go up. It might be by simply
> > hitting the shot, I'm not sure.
>
> It does go up, don't know how, but not just by making the shot.

I remember this too, now, and I think it was just by making the
ramp-orbit shot. It wasn't worth enough points to bother with,
though, at any rate.

> Also, I usually get 125 million per adventure but I got 250 million
> once, and I don't know why. It doesn't seem related to the bonus
> multipliers or whether they are held.

This I do know. If your steam power ever runs out during an adventure
(it says "Shoot the spinner") or you drain, you get the 150M. If you
do it all on one ball without the steam power running out, it's 250M.
If you do an adventure very fast - like 20 seconds or less - you can
get more points, up to about 500M.

> In a fast frenzy you put balls in the left orbit to add balls to the
> frenzy. What's the maximum, I wonder? Seems like I read the number
> ten somewhere.

Fast Frenzy doesn't go beyond 4 balls, I'm pretty sure. BRUSA's final
mode is a ten-ball multiball, and Timeshock also has a hidden ten-ball
mode (not its final mode.) FJ doesn't have any 10-ball mode, I don't
think.


<Huggybaby>
A few more things I've noticed that lead to more questions:

1) SKILL SHOT

The manual doesn't give much useful detail regarding the skill shot.
As I've stated before, if the "E" or "R" is flashing I'll go for it.
As I've NOT stated before, the "Big Points" to which the manual
refers are actually 5 million.
You also complete GATHER with that one shot which awards an Ultra
Mode for the HER part, and it is announced.

I think you must also get the bonus for completing GAT, which is
Magnosave or Ball Rescue, and ordinarily too dangerous to shoot for.
It is not announced. I will check this later.

My ideal scenario is this:
Before I launch my ball, I notice the "E" flashing. A running shot
off the right flipper is safe and not very difficult. I manage to
knock down the "H" and the "E" simultaneously, scoring 5 million and
an Ultra mode, and the ball comes back to the right flipper. A held
shot and I nail the "R", finishing "HER" and awarding another Ultra
Mode. But I hit it off the right side of the target and the ball
makes a Right Ramp shot.
Two Ultra modes, a GATHER bonus, and a Ramp shot--with two shots.

I've actually done this more than once. It may not be the strategy
for world record scores, but I view it as part of my training. And it
sure is fun.

A trick (not worth being ROT 13'd): If you were to miss the "E" in
the scenario above, but managed to hit the "H" or "R" cleanly, keep
your cool. Get the ball on the right flipper and shoot again, the
Skill Shot will still be active. So you can get two Ultra modes and
the GATHER bonus with three shots instead of two. The simultaneous
Right Ramp shot is up to you.

2) Choosing Steam Modes, and Other Things

You hit the left or right ramp. The left boiler activates as
indicated by the white Start Mode indicator. Whatever is flashing
under that is won when you hit the left boiler. If that white light
isn't lit, the left boiler does no good regarding Steam Modes.
I've learned the value of extra balls from reading the other guides.
When I see the red square immediately under the white one, indicating
Extra Ball, the Left Boiler becomes my utmost priority.

How are the Steam Modes chosen?
Randomly. Then after you finish one, successfully or not, it stays
lit and another flashes, ultimately leading to Mystery Mode, which is
a multiball where all the ramps are lit for combos and other stuff I
have yet to fully comprehend.

---There is a way to change the upcoming mode: The Jet Bumpers.---
I suppose if you hit the jets a few times and used the double flipper
held technique to kill them at the right time, you could select an
early X2 Playfield!?

Choosing which will be the next contraption piece: With the spinner.
Look at the results (the smaller white "proxy arrows" pointing to the
contraptions) on the playfield. If you see Mega Gather coming up (the
very bottom, and red, steam light) you might want to hit the spinner
so your proxy arrow is pointing at a contraption with no pieces
before you collect it.

Choosing which is the selected Lit Outlane (It's a red light that
gives you another ball. The right side will kick the ball back
sometimes but the left can't. If you want for some reason to shoot
for "GAT" you would want the left Outlane Lit): The slingshots toggle
this. I guess you can have both outlanes lit but I haven't done it
yet. I guess you would have to get "GAT" a bunch of times on one ball.

The left ramp rewards Extra Balls, Multipliers Held, and other stuff
you can see in the Operator's Menu. Also for newbies, you might hear
extra ball and wonder why you didn't get it. Unlike steam modes, you
have to hit the boiler once to set it up and again to collect.

LUCK IS LIT: By making your DMD permanent you will see that you get
20,000 points for hitting the "C" rollover every ball launch. Just a
bit of trivia. By the way, EVERY TIME the ball hits a LUCK rollover,
you should have hit your flippers so the ball gets another letter,
that is, the ball is rolling over a non-lit circle, (which will then
become lit, natch). There's no reason not to, because it's free, so
NOT doing so is just sloppy in my opinion. So there.

The Value of Mystery Mode: Well, I've gotten less than 150 million
off of it before, and Blow the Boiler gives 80 million with three
magnetized spinner shots. So Mystery Mode is no gaurantee of high
scores! It's like having a X10 Bonus Multiplier-you really need a
long sequence to maximize the score.
So how about a X2 Playfield, X10 Bonus, Mystery Mode round? I'll let
you know. Maybe.

Question: Does that analog plunger trick you described for another
game work here as well? I turned it on but didn't see anything analog
happening. I sure would like to make a weak shot and see if I could
drop the ball into the jets from launch.

My manual says the web site has a complete operator's manual. Fat
chance. I can't find one for any of the Pro Pinball games.

All this stuff probably contains extremely small errors ;). Please
forgive.

And one final note: I've found I really screw up if I let any notion
of a "Timed Mode" get to me. It's fascinating to discover how if I
ignore time, balls can last very long, but as soon as I TRY to get a
combo sequence or a jackpot (timed modes), my timing is off and the
whole thing can crumble. This really leads to an understanding of a
physical/mental synergy that I don't think any other video game genre
can evoke.

Thanks for your time again, Erik. I understand that CIV 3 can take as
much time as you give it!


<ddog_2020>
Great to see people using this group for discussing pinball, not
problems!!

If I recall correctly:

> 1) SKILL SHOT

Making the lit sjill shot will relight both outlanes for
kickback/magno. Making either of the banks will relight them in
normal play (GAT lights kickback, HER lights Magno I think). This
makes it almost always worth going for if they aren't already lit.
You can even slap the ball again for a second chance if you miss
first time.

> > If you hit the right ramp then right orbit you get 500,000, but
> > there's a way to make that number go up. It might be by simply
> > hitting the shot, I'm not sure.
>
> It does go up, don't know how, but not just by making the shot.

It starts at 500,000, goes up by 100,000 each time you make it. If
you loop the right ramp it will double the total value for each time
you loop it.
I'm not sure why but this is one of my favourite shots in the
game!! I think it's beacause it gives you the chance to double up
and I love a gamble!

For BRUSA players:
When is a good time to be in the lobby? In recent months there
has never been anyone to play!


<lognoid>
Wow...really nice to see names of old friends and such a long
discussion about pinball. I too have peeked into the Brusa lobby
but usually get beat up by computer...:)) Does anybody
remember how to load the game and be able to play H2H
without going into the lobby? I used to hold down a key that
would launch H2H mode and be able to just play the computer.

I also still have Brusa t-shirts available for those who didn't get
them the first time around. These are the Official "Unofficial
Brusa" T-shirts made the express approval of ProPinball's Brusa
programmer Champie and certain to be a collectors item as
there was only a limited number made. Let me know if you are
interested.

Maybe an email to Empire to tell them to kick start the server
might help get the page up
again...http://www.empireinteractive.com/support/supcontact.asp

Best wishes to all old and new players,
coolmom


<Richard>
Hi coolmom,

> Maybe an email to Empire to tell them to kick start the server
> might help get the page up
> again...http://www.empireinteractive.com/support/supcontact.asp

Hmm, I wouldn't hold your breath. ;^)

I'll have a looksee if there's anything I can do to get it going again.

Champie - (once) Pro Pinball Programmer


<Erik Mooney>
OK, I dug out my FJ CD and played a couple games. :) It wasn't running
all that smoothly on this Windows 2000 machine (I used to play it on Win
95), but it was good enough for me to reach Space Adventure and put up a
14B score in my second game.

My table physics setup is 5.5 angle, Running-In, and flipper power 5.
This allows the left boiler hole to be easily hit from a caught ball on
either flipper.

The big thing I forgot about at the steam modes is Super Ball Rescue.
Activate that and Super Magnosave, and you've got both outlanes protected
from drains, and the center post always protects the center drain. These
are the important elements to activating Double Playfield and having it
last a long while, into a Mystery mode and then some Adventures.

Another thing to note is that Fast Frenzy and Steam Mania drop the
left-lane drop targets for you, thus lighting the Steam Frenzy lock for
free once those modes end. So banging on the quick modes even helps
towards that.

>How are the Steam Modes chosen?
>Randomly.

They're not quite random. After you activate one, the next one to be lit
will be the next one in clockwise sequence of the same color as the one
you just did. If there aren't any more of the same color, it goes to a
different color.

>Mystery Mode, which is
>a multiball where all the ramps are lit for combos and other stuff I
>have yet to fully comprehend.

Mystery isn't that complicated. It's just all the other Steam modes
running at the same time: Fast Frenzy (starting with 4 balls instead of
2), Steam Mania, Drop Challenge, Mystery Jets, and Blow the Boiler.
Generally, my strategy is to try and hit the left lane and Luck shot early
on to boost the Steam Mania value, then just go for Fast Frenzy jackpots
(which also scores for Blow the Boiler.) Feel free to let balls drain, as
they'll be relaunched into the bumpers and boost the Fast Frenzy jackpot.
Fast Frenzy is usually the biggest scoring component of Mystery if you hit
at least a few jackpots.

>I suppose if you hit the jets a few times and used the double flipper
>held technique to kill them at the right time, you could select an
>early X2 Playfield!?

Indeed.

>sometimes but the left can't. If you want for some reason to shoot
>for "GAT" you would want the left Outlane Lit): The slingshots toggle

The safe way to shoot "GAT" is to have Super Magnosave, and activate it as
the ball passes through the area. :)

>Question: Does that analog plunger trick you described for another
>game work here as well?

FJ doesn't have an analog plunger, no.

I tried the Combo sequence a few times. The Double Combo shot awards 4X
left ramp shots, and the Triple Combo drops the left-lane drop targets (so
you can shoot it for the next combo sequence), effectively lighting Lock
for you. The left lane is Super Combo, and then the Luck shot lights for
Ultra Combo, but I don't remember what that does because I wasn't able to
hit it. :)


<lognoid>
Champie!!...wow you still out there..lol...nice. How's those shirts holding
up?...:)) And here I thought it was my emails to Empire that got the page up
and lobby opened...lol. I did post them...got 4 emails...3 looked like form letters
...1 said they are looking into it.

Anyway...was in lobby this morning..so all's well with the world..:))

Best wishes to you,
Coolmom


<Huggybaby>
--- In pppc@yahoogroups.com, Erik Mooney <erik@d...> wrote:

> OK, I dug out my FJ CD and played a couple games. :) It wasn't running
> all that smoothly on this Windows 2000 machine (I used to play it on Win
> 95), but it was good enough for me to reach Space Adventure and put up a
> 14B score in my second game.

Dang, I have a LONG way to go!

> My table physics setup is 5.5 angle, Running-In, and flipper power 5.
> This allows the left boiler hole to be easily hit from a caught ball on
> either flipper.

Ineteresting how much more rubbery the flippers are just between
Maintained and Running In. With your settings I can just barely hit
the left boiler with the right flipper now. My outlanes seem more
deadly, however.

> The big thing I forgot about at the steam modes is Super Ball Rescue.
> Activate that and Super Magnosave, and you've got both outlanes protected
> from drains, and the center post always protects the center drain. These
> are the important elements to activating Double Playfield and having it
> last a long while, into a Mystery mode and then some Adventures.

So, an actual strategy sequence begins to emerge!

> Another thing to note is that Fast Frenzy and Steam Mania drop the
> left-lane drop targets for you, thus lighting the Steam Frenzy lock for

> free once those modes end. So banging on the quick modes even helps
> towards that.
>
> >How are the Steam Modes chosen?
> >Randomly.
>
> They're not quite random. After you activate one, the next one to be lit
> will be the next one in clockwise sequence of the same color as the one
> you just did. If there aren't any more of the same color, it goes to a
> different color.

Thanks for the correction and clarification.

>
> >Mystery Mode, which is
> >a multiball where all the ramps are lit for combos and other stuff I
> >have yet to fully comprehend.
>
> Mystery isn't that complicated. It's just all the other Steam modes
> running at the same time: Fast Frenzy (starting with 4 balls instead of
> 2), Steam Mania, Drop Challenge, Mystery Jets, and Blow the Boiler.

> Generally, my strategy is to try and hit the left lane and Luck shot early
> on to boost the Steam Mania value,

Could you expand on this a little? Steam Mania value?

> then just go for Fast Frenzy jackpots
> (which also scores for Blow the Boiler.) Feel free to let balls drain, as
> they'll be relaunched into the bumpers and boost the Fast Frenzy jackpot.

> Fast Frenzy is usually the biggest scoring component of Mystery if you hit
> at least a few jackpots.
>
> >I suppose if you hit the jets a few times and used the double flipper
> >held technique to kill them at the right time, you could select an
> >early X2 Playfield!?
>
> Indeed.

Alriight. Huggy figured something out. If only it was of value!

>
> >sometimes but the left can't. If you want for some reason to shoot
> >for "GAT" you would want the left Outlane Lit): The slingshots toggle
>
> The safe way to shoot "GAT" is to have Super Magnosave, and activate it as
> the ball passes through the area. :)
>
> >Question: Does that analog plunger trick you described for another
> >game work here as well?
>
> FJ doesn't have an analog plunger, no.
>
> I tried the Combo sequence a few times. The Double Combo shot awards 4X
> left ramp shots, and the Triple Combo drops the left-lane drop targets (so
> you can shoot it for the next combo sequence), effectively lighting Lock
> for you. The left lane is Super Combo, and then the Luck shot lights for
> Ultra Combo, but I don't remember what that does because I wasn't able to
> hit it. :)

Yikes.

Thanks for the great info.
I've played just a bit practicing your strategy. The first game, I
learned how unreliable my left boiler shot is.
The second game I set a personal best. I won't tell you what it was,
but it was lower than tens of billions!
I thought it kind of dull at first, partially because the left boiler
isn't yet my best shot, but with a little patience things really
started heating up. My lack of skill means that I got frenzys and
stuff without trying, just because balls tend to accumulate in the
left lock as I miss the left ramp. This seems safer than shooting for
locks on purpose, almost.
By constantly shooting the left boiler, you're guaranteed to pick up
whatever extra balls are lying around. My game started going downhill
when I realized how long my first ball was lasting!

How many ramp shots did you make? Do you remember? and what
difficulty setting were you on?

Factory default is infinite extra balls. Does this mean an eternal
game is possible?

Whats your preferred way to hit the spinner? I can't seem to get a
strong shot up there, especially when jackpot is lit!

Also, I just received confirmation of my payment on a new Timeshock!,
for which I paid 99 cents and 4 dollars shipping. Pretty good, eh? I
can hardly wait! I've some bids in on BRUSA as well, but none,
unfortunately, for a buck.


<Erik Mooney>
> Ineteresting how much more rubbery the flippers are just between
> Maintained and Running In. With your settings I can just barely hit
> the left boiler with the right flipper now. My outlanes seem more
> deadly, however.

All the right flipper->left boiler shots are "just barely" - but the ball
will follow that same just-barely-reaching track almost every time once
you get the hang of it. As for the outlanes, get Super Magnosave and
Super Ball Rescue. :)

> > The big thing I forgot about at the steam modes is Super Ball
> Rescue.
>
> So, an actual strategy sequence begins to emerge!

Well, that's pretty much what I meant before by saying to bang on the boiler. :)
But that's some more detail and rationale for doing so.

> > Generally, my strategy is to try and hit the left lane and Luck
> shot early
> > on to boost the Steam Mania value,
>
> Could you expand on this a little? Steam Mania value?

Steam Mania (either running by itself or as part of Mystery) works like this.
Any playfield switch scores 100,000 points, and these five shots are lit to
raise that value: left lane, left ramp, right ramp, right orbit, Luck. Hit any
of them and you raise the all-switches value to 200k. Hit another for 300k,
then 400k, 500k, and the value goes to 1M per switch if you hit all five shots
before Steam Mania ends. 1M per switch, times 4 balls hitting bumpers and a
MagnoBoosted spinner, plus Fast Frenzy jackpots, times Double Playfield,
equals BIG points. :)

> I thought it kind of dull at first, partially because the left

Shooting for the boiler over and over is kind of dull compared to the adventures,
yes. It is, however, the safe and lucrative way to go.

> How many ramp shots did you make? Do you remember? and what
> difficulty setting were you on?

Didn't really pay attention but I think I was around 70 left ramp shots. Normal difficulty.

> Factory default is infinite extra balls. Does this mean an eternal
> game is possible?

Indeed. :) However, there aren't a whole lot of EBs available repeatedly. You can
only get Outlanes Lit and Extra Ball Lit from the boiler once per game; same goes
for the bonus-maxed EB. The only repeatable EBs that I can think of offhand are
every 100 left-ramp shots and the ones offered randomly by Video Mode.

> Whats your preferred way to hit the spinner? I can't seem to get a
> strong shot up there, especially when jackpot is lit!

It's not that hard to hit the spinner lightly with a caught ball, which is sufficient
for a jackpot. You can't hit the spinner hard with a caught ball; if you try you'll
probably miss. Hitting the spinner with a moving ball is possible but not easy to do
reliably, and all I can suggest is practice.


<Huggybaby>
>
> Steam Mania (either running by itself or as part of Mystery) works

like this. Any playfield switch scores 100,000 points, and these
five shots are lit to raise that value: left lane, left ramp, right
ramp, right orbit, Luck. Hit any of them and you raise the all-
switches value to 200k. Hit another for 300k, then 400k, 500k, and
the value goes to 1M per switch if you hit all five shots before
Steam Mania ends. 1M per switch, times 4 balls hitting bumpers and a
MagnoBoosted spinner, plus Fast Frenzy jackpots, times Double
Playfield, equals BIG points. :)

Thanks, I needed that!

> > Factory default is infinite extra balls. Does this mean an eternal
> > game is possible?
>
> Indeed. :) However, there aren't a whole lot of EBs available
repeatedly. You can only get Outlanes Lit and Extra Ball Lit from
the boiler once per game; same goes for the bonus-maxed EB. The only
repeatable EBs that I can think of offhand are every 100 left-ramp
shots and the ones offered randomly by Video Mode.

Doesn't Video mode give you the EB at number 49? And if you shoot it
you lose it?

> > Whats your preferred way to hit the spinner? I can't seem to get a
> > strong shot up there, especially when jackpot is lit!
>
> It's not that hard to hit the spinner lightly with a caught ball,
which is sufficient for a jackpot. You can't hit the spinner hard
with a caught ball; if you try you'll probably miss. Hitting the
spinner with a moving ball is possible but not easy to do reliably,
and all I can suggest is practice.

Thanks.


<Erik Mooney>
On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 22:58:58 -0000, you wrote:

>Doesn't Video mode give you the EB at number 49? And if you shoot it
>you lose it?

Video mode offers the EB randomly (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the
time). And if you shoot it, you lose it, yes.

>I'm bidding on two BRUSA CD's. One is only labelled Empire and the
>other is labelled XPLOSIV with I think a smaller Empire as well.
>
>Does anyone know what the difference between these might be? Is one
>European (the XPLOSIV is in England)? Would one be newer or contain
>different features?

I don't know anything about this. (I don't have a BRUSA CD myself
currently.) The Pro Pinball games have appeared in a number of pinball
packages and compilations lately; I suppose XPLOSIV might be one of those.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's where the thread ended.
There are no differences in features between XPLOSIV and Empire releases.
The BRUSA lobby is still down, even though it added more to the longevity of these games,
and the enthusiasm of players, than anything else.
Coolmom is a member of PPPC2, my replacement forum, but she's not here. Hopefully this forum
will open one day to the public.
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Re: A Conversation With Erik Mooney About FJ Strategy

Postby ErikM » Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:59 pm

Wow, I don't remember writing any of that. Nice internet archaeology work.

It all still just boils (har) down to "ignore the adventures, shoot the boiler." Get the drain protections and x2 playfield, then get your points from Fast Frenzy and the Mystery mode.
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Re: A Conversation With Erik Mooney About FJ Strategy

Postby WakiMiko » Fri Feb 12, 2016 12:02 pm

Thanks for posting this. It had a lot of useful info.
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