Cyclone Tactics and Strategies

vikingerik

Active member
Nov 6, 2013
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Don't seem to have a strategy thread, so guess I'll start one. Just put up 70M, first #1 score I've had in a while.

The big tip: Ignore Comet. Shoot Cyclone.

Cyclone is both an easier shot and more forgiving. It feels like there's a considerably wider timing window to hit it than the narrow Comet ramp. (This isn't at all unusual in TPA. Farsight's flippers always seem better at hitting outside shots than interior. Compare the orbits to the ramps on AFM, or the castle loop to the mystery scoop on BSD.) And Cyclone is less steep - shots rarely fail to ascend Cyclone, while of course Comet loves to dump you into the dangerous bumpers. Finally, misses to Cyclone are also much safer, hits to its left post will railroad back to a catch, while Comet is chancy and has a rebound off its left post into the left outlane.

So ignore the Comet million, and get your points by collecting jackpots at Cyclone repeatedly. Don't bother building the jackpot, just keep collecting 500K at a time on Cyclone. In fact, Cyclone scores exactly as much as Comet: 50K + 100K + 500K per three shots is the same as 20K + 40K + 60K + 80K + 100K + 1M per six shots. But of course hitting three in a row without timing out is a lot easier than six, so prefer Cyclone.

The big tip for ball control: any feed to the right inlane can be nudged for a hold pass to a catch on the left. This works 100% if you time the upwards nudge right. My indicator is an instant before the ball is aligned with the word "Show" on the right inlane. I get a catch on the left almost 100% reliably, and if I don't, the timing was my own fault. Just do this to loop Cyclone for jackpots.

The shooting gallery duck targets (right side) are key to the game. Besides lighting Cyclone towards the jackpot, they also light extra balls of course. They are mostly safe, there are lots of railroaded rebounds back to catches, although there is one off the lowest target that finds the left outlane. I've learned to identify this early and nudge early away from the outlane.

The instructions say that you're allowed a maximum of two extra balls per ball in play, so six total throughout the game. This is correct, what it means is that you're allowed two EBs as long as you're on "Ball 1", but then no more until you advance to "Ball 2". However, this only applies to EBs collected from the outlanes and wheel. EBs collected from reaching the replay score do NOT count towards this limit, so are truly unlimited. Like several System 11 games (Pinbot, High Speed, Taxi, Dr Dude, but oddly not any of the Lawlors), Cyclone re-awards a replay for another EB each time you roll over and reach X2,000,000 again. Scoring 10M per ball means going infinite.

Also, the game can make you think you have one more EB available than you really do. If you've already collected one EB this ball, the game will still allow you to light both outlanes from the shooting gallery. BUT, if you then collect one to reach the EB limit, the other outlane will unlight.

Besides Comet, also ignore the ferris wheel and spooky house (the backglass wheel spin). They score little and are risky. Ignore double scoring, the bumpers are never worth the risk. If you get it, don't rush on trying to hit Cyclone for points, take your time, better to let it time out than to drain. Also ignore the ball toss targets (left side standups) which light Comet. It might be OK to try to complete them once on a ball towards Hold Bonus, but never more than that.

But one shot NOT to ignore is Boomerang, the leftmost sinkhole that increases bonus X. It is lit from either inlane. This is a very easy shot, I hit it like 98% accurate. This is because even if you miss low, there is a railroad that makes the shot anyway by glancing off the left slingshot. Always shoot Boomerang from a catch, never from a rolling feed or loose flail, that is risky, but it's safe and reliable from a caught ball. Boomerang is important not just for the bonus X, but also because it scores 100K per shot after that's maxed (which is actually more than bonus X can be worth which is max 99K.) Actually, it scores 150k per lit shot, since it also silently scores an extra 50K whenever lit in addition to the 100K the game displays. Boomerang is well worth shooting whenever you have control and you're not on a timer for Cyclone.

In fact, I think the optimum risk/reward play is not even to try to light the jackpots, but just loop back and forth between Cyclone and Boomerang endlessly. Boomerang ejects to a guaranteed catch, Cyclone relights Boomerang and yields a near guaranteed hold pass and catch, so just post pass L2R and do it again. The unlit Cyclone still scores 25K and the inlane is 5K, so this is actually 180K in total per cycle and actually scores just about as fast as going for Cyclone jackpots. It's hellaciously boring though. I did this for a sequence of about 10M points during my high game, which worked, but was so dull that eventually I went back to jackpots.

Finally, bangbacks are possible. I've done it from the left outlane three times now. Hit the upwards and rightwards nudges an instant apart and you might just get lucky in bouncing onto the center pin. I haven't managed it from the right side yet, but have come close and I think it's possible.

That's all I got, but there is a decent amount to cover on this simple but elegant table.
 

Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,315
2
Yeah. boomerang is rather safe to shoot for, and is quite important.

Often to shoot the cyclone ramp i simply hold the flipper up, and it will hold pass to a position you can easily flip again to send the ball up the ramp. this DOES work in real life too. :) no need to mess with trying to nudge it to a trap. just practice the shot. once you get the jackpot, then trap it and go for the boomerang.

The ferris wheel is also a pretty safe shot that adds up, and it is often lit. if the ball is on the right flipper, and the boomerang is NOT lit, shoot it to transfer the ball to the left and go for the cyclone.
 
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Tarek Oberdieck

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Jan 18, 2015
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After a few more games I can confirm that the strategy to play for the Cyclone and the Boomerang only seems to be the best for scoring and safe play.

For the ball control I play different and shoot the Boomerang always from a running ball with the right. This worked for me also 98 percent of the time.
Only sometimes the shot was to hard and the ball bounced back but can be catched safe with the left flipper.

It´s the same discussion I have had with Mark Miwurdz about Addams Family, not my style to nudge every few seconds to catch the ball on the left.

I´ve stopped my last game at 99M cause I won´t risk a possible rollover glitch.




EDIT: I always try to relight the Cyclone after collecting the Jackpot. Playing the combo Cyclone-Boomerang without is much slower and very boring. And it´s important to have both outlanes lit for EB to maximize the chance to get two EBs every ball in addition to the main feature one EB for every replay score.
 
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invitro

New member
May 4, 2012
2,337
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Don't seem to have a strategy thread, so guess I'll start one. Just put up 70M, first #1 score I've had in a while.

Thanks so much v.e., and you too Tarek, beautiful stuff. I love Cyclone and play it lots, but my high is only 13.5M (#90).

What about an edit with game times, maybe # of minutes it takes you per 10M.
 

vikingerik

Active member
Nov 6, 2013
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My 70M game was slower than that, I think about 2.5 hours, although I was still experimenting with shot angles and railroad tactics. And of course shooting Boomerang on the fly is faster, but I find that much less reliable (about 75%) so I prefer the slower hold pass method.
 

invitro

New member
May 4, 2012
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Well I just used your strategies to get 34M, which is #4, so I'm very happy! Thanks again.

The main change from what I had been doing is to after a Cyclone shot, shoot the Boomerang instead of Ferris Wheel. And I always use the Boomerang to move the ball from being caught on the R flipper to the L one, instead of post-passing. And I made no attempt to light double scoring.

I had been sometimes trying to complete the Shooting Gallery even with Cyclone lit, to light the outlane EB. Do you guys do this?

I still fairly often shot the Spook House if it was open and I hadn't gotten the 2 EBs per ball in play yet. I'm not suggesting this is a good idea; I just feel like I have a high %age for that shot. Does the wheel's EB stop getting awarded other than the 2 EB limit?

I think I lost most of my balls down the center, which should tell me something.
 

vikingerik

Active member
Nov 6, 2013
1,205
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I had been sometimes trying to complete the Shooting Gallery even with Cyclone lit, to light the outlane EB. Do you guys do this?

No. I collect the Cyclone jackpot before going back to the shooting gallery. Cyclone is so safe if done correctly, might as well take the jackpot. It should be trivial to survive three jackpot sequences before completing the targets a third time.

Does the wheel's EB stop getting awarded other than the 2 EB limit?

I think so, though that's just a guess based on typical behavior of random awards in Williams games. I've never seen it any time other than very early (1st/2nd spin of the game.)

I think I lost most of my balls down the center, which should tell me something.

Cyclone does seem to do that more often than most recent tables. It feels like there's a dead zone at the flipper tip that's wider than on other tables. Sometimes what should be a slap save drains anyway. I don't know if this effect is real or just some skewed perception.

Oh, and Tarek, I may have to stop posting strategies if you keep using my own words to beat me. ;)
 
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Zaphod77

Active member
Feb 14, 2013
1,315
2
petty much as soon as you collect the jackpot or a comet million or otherwise break 2 million the wheel gets ludicrously stingy, and does zilch and 5k awards 99% of the time. The game decides you are a good player and don't need help. :)


Shooting early gets extra ball or 200k.
 

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