TIPS AND STRATEGY GUIDE FOR PRO PINBALL: THE WEB ================================================ by Jonas Martinsson (dat95jma@lustudat.student.lu.se; http://www.student.lu.se/~dat95jma/index.htm) Version 1.1 Last revised 1996-05-24 *** WARNING *** Before you read the following you should know that I haven't hidden the Easter Eggs in this simulation. If you want to find out these on your own I suggest that you don't read this guide until you've played the game some more. *** WARNING ***(end) =-Contents-= 1/Introduction 2/In detail 2.1/Power Levels 2.2/Combos 2.3/Missions 2.3.1/Reactor Critical 2.3.2/Hunt Down 2.3.3/Destroy Ammo Dump 2.3.4/Sky Scraper Raid 2.3.5/Stop The Shuttle 2.3.6/Biker Challenge 2.4/Modes 2.4.1/Quick Shot 2.4.2/Super Launcher 2.4.3/Combo Mania 2.5/Space Station Frenzy 2.6/Fast Frenzy 2.7/Video Mode 2.8/Explosions 2.9/Ultimate Showdown & Showdown Spheres 2.10/Summary 3/General tips 3.1/General Multiball strategy 3.2/Changing flipper 3.3/Saving an outlane drain 4/Conclusion 5/Revision History 1/Introduction Pro Pinball: The Web is a computer simulation of a pinball game from Empire Interactive. This tips and strategy guide was written for version V1.40K of The Web. I assume the reader is already familiar with the rules of the game. An almost complete documentation has been written by both Cad Delworth and David M Smith. There are links to both of these documents from the Pro Pinball homepage at "http://www.empire.co.uk/propinball/". The terminology used here is the same as in Cad Delworth's help-file. Pro Pinball: The Web has one of the most complex game strategies I've ever experienced. The secret of getting a good score lies in how you coordinate the different subgoals. 2/In detail 2.1/Power Levels Beware of taking the Power Levels by shooting the left loop! This sends the ball down fast to the right flipper and it's very hard to get control over the ball after this. Use the right loop instead. This is a very safe tactic which involves practically no risk of draining at all. If you should slightly miss the loop you can usually bonce pass the ball back to the left flipper and try for the loop again! The Power Levels play a central part in the startegy of The Web. Power Level 8 is the only award which only can be lit once per ball out of the five awards that lights the Ultimate Showdown! Therefore you must light the Power Levels with care. Power Level 2 lights the Explosion hole. Make sure this hole is not already lit and thereby missing out on a chance of getting a nice award! Before you enter Power Level 5 check that the Video Mode isn't already lit. They do not accumulate! Another thing you should keep in mind is that Space Station Frenzy deactivates the Super Ball Rescue. You should try to start this frenzy before you have entered Power Level 6. 2.2/Combos The general tip when collecting combos is to watch out for the left loop which in my opinion makes you lose control over the ball. The easiest way to get some combos seems to be Left Ramp->Right Loop->Orbit->Dock Ramp. 2.3/Missions Remember that you can choose which mission you want to run next by switching off the bumpers when the ball is flying around in there. Just hold in both flipper buttons when the desired mission is active. Another way to choose a mission is to hit the Mystery Target. That advances the active mission one step at a time. 2.3.1/Reactor Critical An absolute must for trying to complete this mission should be to have the Super Ball Rescue lit. Otherwise this mission equals suicide! Personally I usually don't have the guts to go for the drop targets here but if you feel brave, here's what you should do: a) hit the Mystery target so that the Reactor hole stops reducing the percentage completed of the mission. b) Aim for the reactor. As the ball is fed to the left flipper a hold pass is required to achieve a). After this the ball is constantly fed to the right flipper if you hit the Reactor hole. To achieve b) either do a backhand from the right flipper or hold pass it to the left. 2.3.2/Hunt Down A fairly easy mission. The best way to hit the left sinkhole and the Jackpot hole is from a ball in catch on the right flipper. The Explosion sinkhole could be taken either from the left or the tip of the right flipper. When the Reactor drop targets are up the sinkhole is quite difficult to hit so consider hitting the mystery target instead and thereby lighting all of the four holes. 2.3.3/Destroy Ammo Dump An extremely difficult mission. Usually I don't bother trying to complete it. The lower entrance to the bumpers is narrow and the ball usually looses momentum here and drops back again, often SDTM. If you really want to complete this mission a shot from the upper left flipper through the Orbit seems to be the best chance. If the ball has too much velocity in the Orbit you could nudge the table to slow the ball down a bit and thereby make it come down through the rollover lanes and down to the bumpers. First, though, you should hit the Mystery target to decrease the number of bumper hits required. 2.3.4/Sky Scraper Raid Here is an extra ball you just can't afford to miss! First you must get up to the fifth floor. This is easily done by just making use of the lower left flipper. Now you should have at least 20 seconds left to complete the mission. Here comes the difficult part: to hit the Mystery target in order to light the sixth floor! To hit this target you should use the right flipper. Remember that you can't shift the ball to the right flipper by using the Jackpot hole because it would end the mission! I think the wisest thing to do is to shoot the Dock ramp directly after taking the fifth floor. Thereby you feed it to the right flipper (if it diverts to the left inlane a hold pass is all that is required) from where you get the Mystery target. Now you should only keep your nerves under control an enter the sixth floor and then shoot the Jackpot hole. EXTRA BALL!! 2.3.5/Stop The Shuttle Before entering this mission be sure that the Dock ramp isn't lit. Shooting this ramp could be an essential part of this mission! This mission is an excellent opportunity to pick up combos in order to light Combo Mania. 2.3.6/Biker Challenge Just remember that the Orbit gets lit after each successful shot. This is also a mission where you should pick up some combos. It could actually be an advantage to have dock lit when starting this mission. Imagine the dock ramp lit for the mission shot as well as Dock ball. This means that after shooting this ramp another ball gets launched to the upper left flipper with the orbit shot lit. That's half the mission completed! 2.4/Modes 2.4.1/Quick Shot If the countdown award is in the left loop it's probably not worth the risk going for it. The right loop is an easily collected award. 2.4.2/Super Launcher Use the magnet which is constantly lit during this mode. If you need some combos it is possible to collect quite a few here since the ball is fed to the left flipper after the Dock ramp. From here you could shoot Right loop->(Orbit->)Dock ramp->Right Loop... 2.4.3/Combo Mania When you start Combo Mania you have an interesting option of going for the more rewarding Secret Mania. The major drawback with this option is that you spend one Fast Frenzy (and thereby probably a Showdown Sphere) in return. Since the Showdown Spheres are more valuable in the beginning of the game (with more potential Ultimate Showdown's to complete) I prefer to go for Secret Mania only in the latter part of the game. 2.5/Space Station Frenzy This is usually the only multiball where the Super Ball Rescue is off (your choice). Therefore you should keep an eye on the ball rescue at all times. If the ball rescue shuts off you're primary objective should always be to turn it back on (of course this is true also when you're not having a multiball, but it's easy to forget here) because all balls seems to get sucked down into the left outlane by some mysterious force. The normal jackpots (1x, 2x, 3x) are best hit from a catch on the right flipper. If the Ball Saver is still lit after 3x Jackpot you could drain 1 or 2 balls in order to launch them to the upper flipper to get the Super Jackpot. To light the Ultra Jackpot the upper flipper is very handy when you're trying to hit the drop targets. I try to catch 1 or 2 balls on the right flipper during this multiball. The easiest way to get the Ultra Jackpot seems to be to have two balls in catch on the right flipper. Swiftly release the right flipper and one ball stays on the flipper while the other one goes into the right sinkhole!!!(This technique could also be used when getting the Super Jackpot or the drop targets) Now you could relax and just shoot the Dock ramp when the ball is fed to the upper flipper. ULTRAAAAAA JACKPOT! 2.6/Fast Frenzy Always lock 4 balls when you get to choose! An excellent opportunity of getting a Showdown Sphere. Just make sure you don't shoot the Jackpot hole before all drop target lights are lit. Making sure that the Super Ball Rescue is lit when starting Fast Frenzy considerably boosts the scoring! 2.7/Video Mode Here you should pick up a Showdown Sphere too. Just concentrate on the mines and ignore everything else. Do *not* be surprised :-) if there is an Extra Ball coming towards you and shoot it! The atoms seems to be coming in intervals. If you've just encountered one you can be pretty sure another one isn't going to show up right away. 2.8/Explosions Remember that an explosion award may be an increase in Power Level. If you have taken Power Level 5 and are waiting to get number 6 until after you've had Space Station Frenzy do *not* take the Explosion award. Similarily do not take the Explosion award if you're standing at Power Level 4 and have Video Mode already lit. Activate the Video Mode first. 2.9/Ultimate Showdown(US) & Showdown Spheres(SS) This is the way to get to the really high scores in the game. Try to collect as many Showdown Spheres as you possibly can. When you get to the Ultimate Showdown and pull it off these Spheres are worth appr. 1B apiece. If you can get to more than one US then the Spheres will be worth 1B per US, because you bring the spheres with you to the next US. I don't know of any particular US strategy. Since this is a six-ball multiball it would have been nice to park som balls in the bumpers. However that is not the easiest thing in the world with the hard to access bumpers. The best shot you have in achieving this should be to try the loops, but the chance is big the balls will just come fast out of the opposite loop. The score you get for completing the US is proportional to the number of hits you've made. So try to keep this mode running for as long as possible. You should keep returning balls into play by hitting the Mystery target! I'm not sure about this, but I *think* the number of returnable balls is equal to the number of SS collected. That is another reason for collecting the Spheres! 2.10/Summary To formulate a general strategy out of this gives: 1) Get the Ultra Jackpot 2) Light Power Level 6-8 3) Complete the missions/Collect as many SS's as possible from Fast Frenzies/Complete the combos/Complete the bonus multpliers. 4) Start Ultimate Showdown 3/General tips 3.1/General multiball strategy Along with the primary objective for the frenzies: Spheres in Fast Frenzy, Ultra Jackpot in Space Station Frenzy, Complete the US in US, there is another very importamt thing to keep in mind: the left ramp lights an extra ball after every 50th shot. If shooting this ramp is part of the multiball strategy you should get a few more extra balls! 3.2/Changing flipper If the ball is in catch on the right flipper and you would like to transfer it to the left you have the following options: a) Standard slingshot pass by swiftly releasing the right flipper b) Shoot the Jackpot hole. If the ball feeds to the right flipper again you could either do a hold pass or shooting the Jackpot hole again. c) Shoot the left sinkhole The options are more limited when opting for the reverse(left to right): d) Slingshot pass e) Shoot the Jackpot hole (more difficult than b) ) f) right loop-> Dock ramp 3.3/Saving an outlane drain The easiest way to do this is by doing a bang back. It's easier to succeed with this if the ball has low speed. If the ball has too much velocity you should push the table forward at the right moment to pass the ball over the trough and to the other outlane. Then the velocity should be perfect. Let's say the ball has drained in the right outlane. To do a bang back, raise the right flipper and at the right moment simultanously push the table hard forward and to the left. This should make the ball bounce up on the left flipper. You should get away with one Warning! 4/Conclusion It is possible to come up to a level of play where you can get extra balls at a certain ratio: one for every 50 ramp shot and one for every round of missions (Sky Scraper Raid). If you could keep up the play at this level, you could go on playing for a *long* time. My last game lasted 6 hours!! The score went through the roof and couldn't be displayed. This happened when I crossed the magical :-) 1000B-line! 5/Revision History Version 1.1: Minor corrections. Some language errors corrected. Good luck!!