TX-Sector strategy guide (long)
Josh Lehan - Krellan
parts, but it's mostly done. Could be trimmed for size, as it repeats
itself somewhat, but all the information has been put in there.]
TX-Sector Strategy Guide
When TX-Sector made an appearance at PAPA 13, it surprised many
people, with its unusually good music and sound effects. Gottlieb
games of this era were known for being rather cheap and mediocre.
However, Gottlieb did spend a relatively substantial portion of their
budget on their sound quality. Compared to other manufacturers,
Gottlieb sound was rather crisp and clean. This might not have been
the best business decision, though, because most players in noisy
arcades would never get to appreciate this. Gottlieb games thus
retained their mediocre reputation. Sales must have been poor,
because their games of this era are quite uncommon. They remain
unfamiliar to many players. I grew up near the Scandia arcade in
Rohnert Park, CA, which had one of these unusual Gottlieb games on
location: Robo-War. Like TX-Sector, it has very good sound, so I
learned to appreciate these games.
TX-Sector uses a clever gimmick: it invisibly "teleports" the ball
from one area of the playfield to another. It accomplishes this by
using staged balls. If you're unfamiliar with that pinball term, a
staged ball is a special kind of ball lock (not part of the regular
Multiball lock sequence) that holds the ball into a ready position, to
be quickly released when needed by the game, without requiring the
player to wait for the ball to be mechanically moved. A typical
modern game only uses staged balls to speed up regular gameplay, but
TX-Sector takes the idea to its extreme, making it the central focus
of the game. A minimum of one ball is kept staged at all times. TX-
Sector is a 3-ball game, but because of this, it only has a 2-ball
Multiball.
When the game is first powered on, it will release all 3 balls to the
trough, in order to count them (due to a Gottlieb design limitation,
there aren't enough trough switches, so the game must keep count in
software). The first time the player enters any teleporter entrance,
even if it is not lit, the game will lock the ball for staging. This
doesn't count as a regular lock, and the player gets no award, but
gets to hear the rare sound effect "Teleport sequence initialized".
This should only happen during the very first game played, after the
machine is turned on. After that, unless the game malfunctions (by
fumbling the staging of a ball), there should never be more than 2
balls loose on the playfield.
Typical to Gottlieb games of the era, there are almost no operator-
adjustable difficulty settings. Most of the 32 DIP switches are used
for coinage. There is only one setting that makes a difference, and
that is the memorization of Energy Levels. It can be set to clear
after the end of each ball, which makes the game substantially
harder. Unfortunately, it does not address a major flaw in the game's
rules: subsequent Multiballs are *easier* to get than the first
Multiball. So, the game is very unforgiving to new players, but a
good player can keep a ball going almost forever. By building Energy
Levels back up during a good Multiball, the single-ball workload
necessary to reach the next Multiball is dramatically reduced.
Unlike other Gottlieb games, I have not encountered any major
differences between 3-ball and 5-ball play, other than the fact that
some scoring values are lowered for 5-ball play. FIXME: Verify this.
Some Gottlieb games of the era are known for making lights toggle
during 5-ball that are otherwise solidly lit during 3-ball, such as
the carrier landing "jackpot" shot in Gold Wings.
The plunger lane design is brilliant. The ball enters a ramp, and is
lifted directly over to the top left flipper. Plunge gently, to
deliver a slow feed that is easy to control. Do not plunge hard,
because the ball can easily take a bad hop off the metal of the ramp
exit. The player is given unlimited chances to make a soft plunge
(some groups of players may wish to apply the Whitewater house rule
here, to make sure games do not take too long).
The right drain is unusual. There are three "Play More" posts down
there, forming a triangle, that provide the opportunity to get the
ball back into the plunger lane, for another shot. The player
receives no points for this, but the opportunity to keep playing the
ball is already an ample reward. The best way to extricate the ball
from this area is to shake the game from left to right. Watch out for
sudden tilt. Gottlieb games of this era have zero tilt warnings, and
will suddenly tilt out. What's worse, in a multiplayer game they are
very prone to also tilting out the next player's ball! This can get
you disqualified from a tournament, so be very careful. Definitely
sacrifice a ball or two during practice play, in order to feel out the
machine and know its limits.
The left drain is ordinary. Nothing to do there except listen to the
cheesy 1980's computer voice say "Power drain".
There are left and right kicking targets, just above each outlane
entrance. They add additional speed and randomness to the game.
Watch out, because similar to how the slingshots raise the ball
slightly and aim it at the outlane, these kicking targets will lower
the ball slightly and aim it at the outlane.
There are basically two things to do in TX-Sector: build your Energy
Level, and teleport for points. Your Energy Level begins at zero, and
goes up to 10. At Energy Level 10, Lock is lit. This begins a two-
ball Multiball, and lights Extra Ball (and possibly Special). At the
start of this Multiball, your Energy Level is reset to zero again, but
you can build it up during your Multiball. As mentioned above, this
makes subsequent Multiballs much easier to achieve than the first
Multiball.
There are 3 shots on the game which can be lit for teleport: side
ramp, left ramp, and a tunnel passage behind the side ramp.
The left ramp is the easiest shot to make, but it is obstructed by a
drop target that must be knocked down first. The tunnel passage is
buried back in the rear, on the right side of the game, behind the
side ramp.
Despite its location, the tunnel passage is fairly easy to enter, as
it can be reached from either a flipper shot or a lucky bounce from
the jet bumpers. The side ramp, however, requires a clean flipper
shot, and if you miss this ramp, it will most likely provide a
dangerous feed into the left kicking target.
The left ramp is easy to shoot, but its entrance is blocked by a drop
target, which is unusually wide. It is easy to knock down, but the
rebound from the target can be dangerous. This exposes the left ramp
for a limited period of time. If there is a teleport available on the
left ramp, a hurryup multiplier will be shown on the display. Nailing
this can be worth big points. The game will give plenty of "Warning,
warning, warning" just before the time expires. The game will then
raise the drop target, announcing "Interlink disabled". There is no
grace period, so the player will then receive no award, even if a ball
was already on the ramp.
Hitting the left ramp, when not lit for teleport, only awards a lousy
10K, and multipliers don't apply. Since the left ramp feeds the right
dead-end lane, which is more dangerous than the left dead-end lane,
this is not a wise use of a shot.
The teleport shots tie into where the staged ball is currently staged
at. Although it seems random at first, they are completely
deterministic. After accomplishing a teleport, a good player should
always know what teleport shots will next be lit.
If the ball is staged on the right side, the side ramp will be lit for
teleport. The left ramp will *not* light for teleport in this case.
However, since the resulting Teleport Multiplier is good for any
teleport, not just the left ramp, it can still be worth it to knock
down the left ramp's drop target.
If the ball is staged on the left side, however, the tunnel passage
will be lit for teleport. The left ramp *will* be lit for teleport in
this case, so go ahead and knock down that drop target. Whenever
you're thinking about hitting the drop target to light the left ramp
for teleport, first take a look at where the other teleport is: if
it's the tunnel passage, you're good to go, but if it's the side ramp,
it won't work.
Don't bother teleporting early in the game. Since the point award is
only 10K plus an additional 10K per lit Energy Level, your efforts are
best spent building up Energy Levels. To score from teleporting,
Energy Levels must be currently lit. Previously saved sets of 10
Energy Levels only count towards end-of-ball bonus, and don't count
towards teleport points.
So, at the start of Multiball, after your lit Energy Levels are saved
and then cleared, try to build up some more Energy Levels. Depending
on the speed of your game, though, you may want to play it safe and
defensively park the balls into the bumpers or a teleport, so that
they don't insta-drain at the start of your Multiball (something that
is distressingly common on TX-Sector).
There are 5 shots that increase Energy Level: left dead-end when lit,
right dead-end when lit, left and right drop target banks (always
available), and the rear target behind the bumpers (always available).
The left and right dead-end shots alternate being lit. The game
alternates the lights whenever they are hit, and also whenever a
powered rebound activates (jet bumper, slingshot, or kicking target).
This also applies to the Extra Ball and Special lights that are on the
dead-end shots. If the operator has disabled Extra Ball and/or
Special, the compensatory point value for each is a flat 500K, a
pretty good award, making them worth shooting for. The left dead-end
shot is a safer shot to aim for, as it cleanly feeds the upper left
flipper, much like the "H" shot in Doctor Who.
Because of the rear target that advances Energy Level, the bumper
garden on this game can be huge. If you're good at keeping the ball
in the bumpers, you can score multiple hits on this target, because
the ball will often deflect into it. Since every hit advances your
Energy Level, and it's always available, this can be the fastest way
in the game to build your Energy Level. Plus, TX-Sector has some of
the all-time best bumper sound effects of any game, especially when
combined with the spinner sound effects.
There are 2 center loop shots that enter the bumpers. The right shot
has the greatest chance of hitting that rear target, as it is aimed
more accurately at it, but the left shot also has a good chance of
rebounding off the jets into it.
There are 2 spinners, one at the entrance to each center loop shot.
Each is lit by opposite inlane, for 10K per spin. Early in the game,
these spinner points can be big, but later on, your time is best spent
trying to farm teleports and keep your Energy Levels high. Also, keep
in mind that Gottlieb spinners often don't spin as well as the
Williams spinners you might be more accustomed to, so even though 10K
per spin sounds huge, it isn't. FIXME: Check this. Is this really
opposite inlane, or same?
The 1X, 2X, 3X lights, near both 4-banks of drop targets, might look
like bonus multipliers, but they are not. Instead, they tell you how
many Energy Level advances you will earn, by completing the respective
bank. Once lit at 3X, getting three Energy Levels by knocking down a
bank of 4 drop targets provides good shot efficiency, especially if
you are able to aim a shot so that the rebound from a drop target bank
hits the targets in the other drop target bank. FIXME: Do these
lights hold over from ball to ball?
Both lights will always indicate the same value. Knocking down all 8
drop targets will increase that value. The lights tell you which
target bank(s) you need in order to complete all 8: if the light by a
4-bank is flashing, it's telling you that knocking down that bank will
make progress towards completing all 8. If the light by a 4-bank is
steady, though, it means that you have already knocked down that
bank. Completing a bank that is lit steady is still worthwhile,
though, as it will award the lit value, even though it won't advance
the value.
Even though they provide ample opportunity to advance Energy Levels,
the drop targets are generally to be avoided. The rebound from them
can be risky. It's rarely necessary to deliberately shoot the drop
targets, because they will be hit often enough by random rebounds from
other missed shots. If only a single drop target is remaining in a
bank, though, especially if the light is flashing for that bank, take
a chance and shoot it.
Once the lights reach 3X, completing all 8 drop targets apparently
won't do anything more, but after doing this at least once, the next
Multiball you start will also include a lit Special (in addition to
the usual lit Extra Ball). Unless your machine is on coin play,
trying to build up to this Special generally isn't worth it. FIXME:
What causes the lights to reset from 3X to 1X? Draining a ball often
times holds the value over. It might be like Blackout, and only reset
once the player drains with the maximum value lit.
The game keeps continuous count of how many Energy Levels you have
obtained, including earlier sets of 10. It seems to increase without
limit, and holds over from ball to ball, so end-of-ball bonus can be
rather substantial. (Point to ponder: as with many video games of the
era, it's an 8-bit computer, and the register might max out internally
at 255. Is it possible to eventually roll over the bonus? I saw
somebody do this on Robo-War, when the game was broken, having a jumpy
switch, causing bonus to freely increase randomly throughout the
game.)
The point award for doing a teleport is a base value of 10K, plus an
additional 10K for each lit Energy Level. So, if Lock is currently
lit (Energy Level 10), the point award is 110K. This is multiplied by
the current value of the "Teleport Multiplier" hurryup countdown, as
indicated on the display. When the drop target blocking the left ramp
is first knocked down, the Teleport Multiplier is initialized to 9X.
The maximum possible award for doing a teleport is thus 990K. The
Teleport Multiplier quickly counts down, though, resetting the drop
target once it lowers all the way back down to 1X.
This takes only about 15 seconds, so once you knock down the target,
immediately shoot for a lit teleport (it doesn't necessarily have to
be the exposed left ramp shot). The multiplier only lasts for a
single teleport, and the drop target will be reset immediately
afterwards. The drop target never needs to be qualified, so it's
immediately available to be knocked down again. Experiment with the
rebound from hitting the drop target, to see if you can get it under
control to a flipper that can quickly shoot into a teleport. The
ability to reliably collect teleports at 9X will do wonders for your
score!
End of ball bonus is simply 10K per Energy Level. No multiplier. If
you drain early in your game, before you can collect a single Energy
Level, you will be awarded a whopping bonus count of zero! Keep this
in mind, and nudge aggressively early on, because you have nothing to
lose if you tilt out.
Achieving the Lock (Energy Level 10) is the highest point value
teleport that is possible. After this is done, all lit energy levels
will be collected as if they were bonus, giving you 100K and the
pretty light show. They will then be cleared, so by the time you
shoot the second ball to begin Multiball, your energy level will start
over at 0. The 10 previous Energy Levels you had will still count
towards your end of ball bonus (scoring 100K with a loud "static"
sound effect), but they will no longer count towards any teleportation
you do. So, when you are at a high Energy Level, try to farm some
teleports with a high Teleport Multiplier, before completing the
advance to Lock. If Lock is collected under Teleport Multiplier 9X,
that's a total award of 990K! I believe this is the highest-scoring
shot in the game.
If you have the ball caught on a flipper, shooting for the left dead-
end lane can be safer than the right dead-end lane. The left lane
guarantees a return feed to the upper flipper, but the right lane has
no such guarantee. On some machines, the right lane rebound can be
quite dangerous, as it can graze the top of the right slingshot and
bounce out of control (as with the TAF Swamp kickout). Doing
teleports from the left ramp and tunnel passage will also
"reintegrate" the ball to the right dead-end lane, so be careful with
the feed out of there. Teleporting via the side ramp is safer, as it
will reintegrate the ball into the left dead-end lane, feeding the
upper flipper again (sometimes the ramp can be looped, on a machine
that is extra generous, but this is unreliable).
When you begin Multiball, the first thing you should do is check the
dead-end lanes, for lit Extra Balls or Specials. If any were to
light, they would do so at this time. In tournament settings, they
are worth 500K each, so they are still worth shooting for. The game
does not announce them or anything like that, it just quietly turns on
their lights, so pay attention. The lights will alternate with the
bumpers.
Since Extra Ball and Special light so rarely, if their bulbs burn out,
it will be hard to tell if they're lit. Before playing, watch the
attract mode carefully, to see if the bulbs are working. If you're
unsure, just shoot the lane blindly. This is a reasonable strategy in
Multiball, since the other ball is probably bouncing around randomly,
so it could help you by bouncing into a bumper and alternating the
lights so that the lane becomes lit by the time the first ball hits
it. Plus, taking the shot frees up the flippers, which will most
likely be needed soon for saving that other ball that's randomly
bouncing around.
The "Shoot Again" lights are doubled-up on this game, for whatever
reason. As is typical of Gottlieb games, they are hot pink, and flash
in a rather distracting way when earned. If you already have Shoot
Again lit, Extra Ball will not light. So, you can't stack more than
one Extra Ball at a time. FIXME: Is this correct? The player might
have the additional limitation of only having one Extra Ball per ball
in play, not just one Extra Ball at a time. This might be an operator
setting.
In Multiball, watch out, if you relight the entire sequence of 10
Energy Levels, they will simply be reset to zero! There is no award
for doing this. The 10 Energy Levels you had, though, will still be
remembered by the game for your end-of-ball bonus count. To avoid
losing your lit Energy Levels, it might be worth sacrificing a ball
during Multiball, especially to avoid the risk of "double drain"
during Multiball. FIXME: Verify they are still remembered for end-of-
ball bonus.
Having a single ball in play, under control, can often be more
valuable than having two balls that are out of control. It's possible
to get the best of both worlds in TX-Sector, though: in Multiball, if
you are lucky enough to get a save via the right outlane, you can
leave the ball parked on the plunger lane while you play the remaining
ball. As in Firepower, this is among the best possible situations a
player can get into, during the course of the game. Unlike modern
Gottlieb games, TX-Sector does not penalize the player in any way for
leaving the ball on the plunger switch, so it's like having a free
Extra Ball. FIXME: Better also verify this.
The most difficult thing in TX-Sector to do, is to get the music out
of your head once you are done playing :)
Josh
OTTOgd
Wow, this is awesome. I only just picked up a TX a few weeks ago. I
was actually just trying to work out a final bug before finding this
thread: the right drop-target bank is locking up then blowing a fuse.
Disconnected, the game plays fine.
Thanks a lot for the strategy guide!
Kev
Mike
Gotta reiterate, this is an awesome strategy guide.
Mike
ps If you would have sold me your Congo, I might have said something
nice about the strategy guide
Gott Lieb?
typical GTB Sys80B. You can even hear some lifted WMS sounds in the
game. IIRC, the upper left target uses a sound clip from Pinbot. The
artwork is very cheesy, IMO, but the gameplay and sound definitely
compensate for this.
Thanks for the write up!
"T-t-t X-x-x"
Jim
On Aug 24, 11:15 pm, Josh Lehan - Krellan <krel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Because of the ...
>
> read more »
MrMarco
Thanks a lot! I played this at MPE, great game with excellent
sound!
Terrible translite! hahaha!
I would love to get one of these as a project.
Suerte,
MrMarco
FunWithBonus
Wow! Awesome write-up. I had no idea how the multipliers worked in the
game. Now I want to go play it again.
Steve B [SSB]
Schus
>
> read more »
I've owned a TX for a couple of years now and I still love it!!!! Nice
strategy guide and thorough! I'll give the condensed version for high
scores....The key is in the "Infinity Zone" and the spinners.....
Josh Lehan - Krellan
Sector! Here's some revisions.
The left and right dead-end targets can be alternately lit for an
Energy Level advance. Hitting the slingshots or kicking targets (but
*not* the jet bumpers) will toggle which target is lit. Hitting a lit
target will *not* cause the light to toggle away from it. So, it's
possible to repeatedly hammer on a target, scoring many advances.
I recommend feeling out both dead-end target shots, and the rebound
feeds from each, at the start of your game. If you can find a rebound
feed that's controllable, and repeatable, you're golden. It might be
easiest to start with the left dead-end target, since the rebound from
that will always feed the upper left flipper. That might lead you
into thinking that the side ramp is a repeatable shot, as on Doctor
Who. While it's certainly possible to loop the side ramp on TX-
Sector, it's not worth it, because it awards very few points when not
lit, and it's risky. If you go halfway up that ramp and miss, it's an
almost sure feed to the left outlane area.
It might be worth experimenting to see what the rebound feed from the
left dead-end target lane is, when you don't use the upper left
flipper at all, and let it roll back to the lower area of your game.
If you don't get into too much trouble with the left slingshot, this
might be a better alternative than trying to use the upper left
flipper. Alternatively, evaluate the difficulty of shooting for the
tunnel passage if it's lit, and also, try shooting for the left ramp
drop target from the upper left flipper (the angle on this shot can be
tough, but it's worth it, as the rebound will usually be easier to
control than if you had taken the shot from a lower flipper).
When in Multiball, immediately shoot for any lit Extra Ball and/or
Special. As soon as your Multiball ends, these will be turned off, no
grace period. Collect the awards as quickly as possible, to avoid
losing them in the event of a bad Multiball.
Other than that, there's no real objective to Multiball. There's no
jackpot, or anything else that's not in the single-ball game. A good
strategy, once you get control of both balls during Multiball, is to
use one ball to knock down the left ramp drop target, then at the same
time send the other ball towards a lit teleport. Once the drop target
is knocked down, hopefully the other ball will be in position for you
to immediately make the teleport shot. That will give you the best
chance of collecting a teleport when the Teleport Multiplier is at 9X,
which is only possible during the first few seconds after the drop
target is knocked down (this time constraint makes it almost
impossible to achieve during single-ball play).
On easier operator settings, it's possible to light the Special as
soon as the 3X advance is lit at both drop target banks. It might not
be necessary to knock down both drop target banks again after lighting
3X.
The game still resets the advance value of both drop target banks to
1X. This makes it rather unrewarding to shoot for the drop target
banks, as all progress will be lost at end of ball.
If you overdo your Energy Levels during Multiball, you will get the
familiar sound and light show as they are collected, earning a total
of 100K points. This is rather disappointing, because this consumes
all of your Energy Levels, at a time when you would much rather have
them still lit. FIXME: Is there any other award that the game gives,
for doing this during Multiball?
There are 2 spinners, and 2 inlanes. Each inlane will light the
spinner on the opposite side of the game, for 10K per spin, when lit.
If the spinners haven't been lit yet, there will always be one inlane
lit at a time. The lit inlane is toggled back and forth whenever the
slingshots or kicking targets (but *not* the jet bumpers) are hit.
Hitting the lit inlane, in addition to lighting the spinner, will
immediately move the light to the opposite inlane. The spinner will
stay lit for a while, but after being hit by the player when lit, it
will only stay lit for a short time more. FIXME: I'm pretty sure this
is how it works, but I'm not sure of the exact timing of the spinner
lights, or what happens when you try to light both spinners at once.
Unlike most other Gottlieb games, I was unable to find any gameplay
difference on TX-Sector between 3-ball and 5-ball play.
If you own a TX-Sector, good for you, as I'm pretty sure there was a
decent upward spike in the value of this game right after PAPA 13 :)
Josh