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Williams Tables - Retired Tables
Tales of the Arabian Nights (1996)
TOTAN Tactics and Strategies
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<blockquote data-quote="Sean DonCarlos" data-source="post: 5437" data-attributes="member: 152"><p>I don't have quite the real-world experience on Arabian Nights that I do on the Theatre, but I'll share what I know. High score so far is 226M; use that to decide whether to pay attention to me or not. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p><strong>General strategy:</strong> You have essentially two ways to go. The standard way is to progress through the modes, collecting Jewels and eventually rescuing the Princess for 20M. The other way is to stack 3X Lightning Lamp and Genie Multiball. I will mainly focus on the first option, as it does not depend on setting up a stack and is always a valid strategy, but pay attention to when you have the chance to stack 3X Lamp and multiball - choosing one strategy does not prevent you from exploiting the other when appropriate!</p><p></p><p><strong>Ball control:</strong> Unlike the Theatre, TotAN punishes errant balls swiftly and often. Learn to post transfer, live catch (it is possible, even with the bouncy physics), hold pass (it works quite often on TotAN), and if all else fails, learn to reflex the ramp from either flipper. Note that when the Bazaar ejects, you can always hold the right flipper up and trap the ball without effort!</p><p></p><p>In the same vein, be prepared to nudge and nudge often. Nudge to prevent Tiger Loops from going SDTM, to keep the ball off the slingshots - TotAN is infamous for sling-to-outlane power drains, to salvage bad lamp ricochets or Genie magnet drops, etc. You have a liberal tilt - a luxury not generally found on the real tables - milk it for all it's worth!</p><p></p><p><strong>First ball:</strong> Your primary objective is to accumulate lamp spins. Bonus on TotAN is a huge part of the game, and each set of 15 lamp spins (an incomplete set is lost after each ball) gives you 150K in <em>multiplied</em> bonus. In the extreme case, 119 lamp spins (the maximum) combined with 12X bonus (also the maximum) = 14.28M <em>per ball</em>, plus whatever you have in Genie hits and Jewels. For comparison, the bonus for rescuing the Princess is 20M. Nothing else you can do offers such a payback. Also, because bonus can be so huge, don't tilt.</p><p></p><p>Of course, being located right above the center drain, spinning the lamp can be quite hazardous. Envision the lamp as a clock and note the position of the posts. If the posts are at 12 and 6 o'clock, <em>do not shoot it from below.</em> You are just asking for a SDTM. Wait until the ball hits it from some other angle and knocks it to a more favorable position. If the posts are at 9-3, you should be safe in giving the lamp a solid whacking, but always be prepared to nudge/slap save if you get a bad ricochet. If the lamp posts are at an angle, aim for the <em>back</em> post. The ball is less likely to drain immediately this way, and sometimes the front post will swing around and thwart the ball's attempt to rocket down the center.</p><p></p><p>If you have mastered the Tiger Loops (by being able to nudge at the appropriate times to prevent center drains from the return), go ahead and rack up the first 6 Tiger Loops and claim your extra ball. TotAN for advanced players is essentially a 5-ball game once 6 Tiger Loops and 8M points are accounted for.</p><p></p><p>The secondary objective bonus-wise on each ball is to advance to 12X Bonus (by hitting alternating captive balls). In general, you do not need to aim for these shots, the ball generally collides with the captive balls often enough in the course of a decent ball to get you there on its own.</p><p></p><p><strong>Wishes:</strong> Before the first Princess rescue, I generally go for the Jewel, and almost always 2 Jewels if the Ruby is lit. Primary reason for this is that extra ball after the fourth Jewel. Exceptions:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If 3X Lamp Scoring is an option, and Lightning Lamp is running and you are about to start Genie Multiball, take it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If Collect Bonus is an option, and your bonus would be above 10M or so, take it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If 3 Tiger Loops is an option, and you have 3-5 or 17-19 Tiger Loops accumulated, take it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the Forty Thieves or Scheherazade mode is running, I generally take the right flipper option, simply because those modes are so easy to complete.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Harem Multiball:</strong> Ignore Harem Multiball. It's difficult to start and not generally worth enough points to bother with. However, if you get to H-A-R-E, you may as well make the fifth shot and start it up. During Harem Multiball, aim for the left orbit to get balls into the bumpers - the Harem Jackpot increases rapidly with bumper hits, and after it reaches 50K or so, Harem Multiball becomes a reasonable frenzy round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Genie Multiball:</strong> Aim for the Genie if the lamp is not in the way. If the lamp is in the way, deal with it appropriately given where the posts are. If, before Genie Multiball starts, you have Lightning Lamp running and you have a Wish, aim for the Bazaar scoop at all costs, take 3X Lamp Scoring (the table is very nice about giving this to you when Lightning Lamp is running), then start multiball and wail on the lamp. It will easily outscore the Genie Jackpots and is probably the most lucrative scoring opportunity on the table. Otherwise, it's just Genie, orbit, Genie, orbit, etc., for as long as you can keep it going. (Thanks to bavelb for the clarification that you must start 3X Lamp Scoring <em>before</em> Genie Multiball.)</p><p></p><p><strong>Fireball:</strong> Never take a risky Genie shot going for Fireball. If the lamp's in the way, just ignore Fireball and make whatever other shot is most logical at the time. Fireball can be worth decent points, but it's never worth enough to risk draining the ball.</p><p></p><p><strong>Lightning Lamp:</strong> The first few times this activates, don't kill yourself going for the lamp. Once it gets to 150K/spin or so (usually around the fifth activation, or 75 lamp spins), start pounding on it, even at single lamp scoring and single ball play. A good solid whack to the lamp is good for 12 to 14 spins; at 150K each, this is roughly 1.8M <em>per shot.</em> At 3X scoring and multiball, it's harder to line up a good solid shot, but so much accidental spinning is going on that the scoring is just plain glorious anyway.</p><p></p><p><strong>Modes:</strong> Unlike ToM's illusions, you have to finish these to make progress to Genie Battle. Strategy is more concerned with what you do with a Wish if one comes up during the mode. In all cases with modes that allow you open-ended chances to increase score before grabbing the Jewel, ignore it and make the ramp shot ASAP. Rescuing the Princess gives more points than continuing the modes do.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Rocs:</em> Shoot left orbit and make at least one bumper hit. I have an easy time hitting the left orbit, so I generally play this one. If your left orbit shots are questionable, you may want to wish Rocs away.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Ali Baba:</em> Shoot left or right standup targets six times. This is more dangerous than it looks, since side-to-side motion is generally a recipe for an outlane drain on TotAN. I wish this mode away.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Flying Horse:</em> Hit golden symbols until you find the "right statue". This can be a pain, as the correct statue is usually the last one you hit. Wish it away.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Scheherazade:</em> Optionally hit golden symbols to increase jewel score. Never wish this away, as you're always one ramp from completing it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Camel Race:</em> Hit golden symbols up to 4 times. Pretty simple as well, I usually play this one, but I don't kill myself to get first place. Just shoot the ramp whenever it becomes available.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Forty Thieves:</em> Hit ramp twice. Second-simplest mode, never wish this away but take whatever the right flipper award is.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Cyclops:</em> Hit either captive ball at least once. Not hard, play it.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Scheherazade and Forty Thieves are so easy that I consider hitting the Bazaar when a Wish is lit to be a mistake, as you'd rather save your Wish for harder modes or for when you have a Lightning Lamp/multiball stack ready to go.</p><p></p><p>Once you've rescued the Princess once, you may wish to focus less on Jewels and more on other awards from your wishes. Experimentation and experience will tell you what reward to take when.</p><p></p><p><strong>Genie Battle:</strong> You need to destroy 8 skeletons to complete the first stage. Shoot golden symbols or the Genie to destroy all skeletons but the last. You have to make the left or right loop to finish off the last one. Stay calm, there is no time limit, and even if the DMD shows an army of bones against you, you never have to make more than 8 shots to win.</p><p></p><p>For the second part: Get the damn balls out of the plunger lane ASAP. The Genie pulls the bottle faster if you have balls in the plunger lane. You have unlimited balls, so there's no sense in "saving" one. In the same vein, don't bother trapping balls, but instead just juggle them. You don't even really need to aim, you'll hit enough targets (all the golden symbol shots and the Genie) with 4 balls in play to win easily. Basically, if you survived the skeletons, you have no excuse not to win the second stage.</p><p></p><p>After Genie battle: A Special (extra ball) is lit in both outlanes, but only for the current ball (or maybe indefinitely, see bavelb's post below). Obviously, you want to avoid center drains, even if it means slamming the ball into a slingshot and to the outlanes.</p><p></p><p>That's about it. I notice bavelb is presenting a somewhat different strategy and choice of shots/Wish awards than I am, which is fine. Pick and choose from our strategies what works best for you. Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sean DonCarlos, post: 5437, member: 152"] I don't have quite the real-world experience on Arabian Nights that I do on the Theatre, but I'll share what I know. High score so far is 226M; use that to decide whether to pay attention to me or not. :p [B]General strategy:[/B] You have essentially two ways to go. The standard way is to progress through the modes, collecting Jewels and eventually rescuing the Princess for 20M. The other way is to stack 3X Lightning Lamp and Genie Multiball. I will mainly focus on the first option, as it does not depend on setting up a stack and is always a valid strategy, but pay attention to when you have the chance to stack 3X Lamp and multiball - choosing one strategy does not prevent you from exploiting the other when appropriate! [B]Ball control:[/B] Unlike the Theatre, TotAN punishes errant balls swiftly and often. Learn to post transfer, live catch (it is possible, even with the bouncy physics), hold pass (it works quite often on TotAN), and if all else fails, learn to reflex the ramp from either flipper. Note that when the Bazaar ejects, you can always hold the right flipper up and trap the ball without effort! In the same vein, be prepared to nudge and nudge often. Nudge to prevent Tiger Loops from going SDTM, to keep the ball off the slingshots - TotAN is infamous for sling-to-outlane power drains, to salvage bad lamp ricochets or Genie magnet drops, etc. You have a liberal tilt - a luxury not generally found on the real tables - milk it for all it's worth! [B]First ball:[/B] Your primary objective is to accumulate lamp spins. Bonus on TotAN is a huge part of the game, and each set of 15 lamp spins (an incomplete set is lost after each ball) gives you 150K in [I]multiplied[/I] bonus. In the extreme case, 119 lamp spins (the maximum) combined with 12X bonus (also the maximum) = 14.28M [I]per ball[/I], plus whatever you have in Genie hits and Jewels. For comparison, the bonus for rescuing the Princess is 20M. Nothing else you can do offers such a payback. Also, because bonus can be so huge, don't tilt. Of course, being located right above the center drain, spinning the lamp can be quite hazardous. Envision the lamp as a clock and note the position of the posts. If the posts are at 12 and 6 o'clock, [I]do not shoot it from below.[/I] You are just asking for a SDTM. Wait until the ball hits it from some other angle and knocks it to a more favorable position. If the posts are at 9-3, you should be safe in giving the lamp a solid whacking, but always be prepared to nudge/slap save if you get a bad ricochet. If the lamp posts are at an angle, aim for the [I]back[/I] post. The ball is less likely to drain immediately this way, and sometimes the front post will swing around and thwart the ball's attempt to rocket down the center. If you have mastered the Tiger Loops (by being able to nudge at the appropriate times to prevent center drains from the return), go ahead and rack up the first 6 Tiger Loops and claim your extra ball. TotAN for advanced players is essentially a 5-ball game once 6 Tiger Loops and 8M points are accounted for. The secondary objective bonus-wise on each ball is to advance to 12X Bonus (by hitting alternating captive balls). In general, you do not need to aim for these shots, the ball generally collides with the captive balls often enough in the course of a decent ball to get you there on its own. [B]Wishes:[/B] Before the first Princess rescue, I generally go for the Jewel, and almost always 2 Jewels if the Ruby is lit. Primary reason for this is that extra ball after the fourth Jewel. Exceptions: [LIST] [*]If 3X Lamp Scoring is an option, and Lightning Lamp is running and you are about to start Genie Multiball, take it. [*]If Collect Bonus is an option, and your bonus would be above 10M or so, take it. [*]If 3 Tiger Loops is an option, and you have 3-5 or 17-19 Tiger Loops accumulated, take it. [*]If the Forty Thieves or Scheherazade mode is running, I generally take the right flipper option, simply because those modes are so easy to complete. [/LIST] [B]Harem Multiball:[/B] Ignore Harem Multiball. It's difficult to start and not generally worth enough points to bother with. However, if you get to H-A-R-E, you may as well make the fifth shot and start it up. During Harem Multiball, aim for the left orbit to get balls into the bumpers - the Harem Jackpot increases rapidly with bumper hits, and after it reaches 50K or so, Harem Multiball becomes a reasonable frenzy round. [B]Genie Multiball:[/B] Aim for the Genie if the lamp is not in the way. If the lamp is in the way, deal with it appropriately given where the posts are. If, before Genie Multiball starts, you have Lightning Lamp running and you have a Wish, aim for the Bazaar scoop at all costs, take 3X Lamp Scoring (the table is very nice about giving this to you when Lightning Lamp is running), then start multiball and wail on the lamp. It will easily outscore the Genie Jackpots and is probably the most lucrative scoring opportunity on the table. Otherwise, it's just Genie, orbit, Genie, orbit, etc., for as long as you can keep it going. (Thanks to bavelb for the clarification that you must start 3X Lamp Scoring [I]before[/I] Genie Multiball.) [B]Fireball:[/B] Never take a risky Genie shot going for Fireball. If the lamp's in the way, just ignore Fireball and make whatever other shot is most logical at the time. Fireball can be worth decent points, but it's never worth enough to risk draining the ball. [B]Lightning Lamp:[/B] The first few times this activates, don't kill yourself going for the lamp. Once it gets to 150K/spin or so (usually around the fifth activation, or 75 lamp spins), start pounding on it, even at single lamp scoring and single ball play. A good solid whack to the lamp is good for 12 to 14 spins; at 150K each, this is roughly 1.8M [I]per shot.[/I] At 3X scoring and multiball, it's harder to line up a good solid shot, but so much accidental spinning is going on that the scoring is just plain glorious anyway. [B]Modes:[/B] Unlike ToM's illusions, you have to finish these to make progress to Genie Battle. Strategy is more concerned with what you do with a Wish if one comes up during the mode. In all cases with modes that allow you open-ended chances to increase score before grabbing the Jewel, ignore it and make the ramp shot ASAP. Rescuing the Princess gives more points than continuing the modes do. [LIST] [*][I]Rocs:[/I] Shoot left orbit and make at least one bumper hit. I have an easy time hitting the left orbit, so I generally play this one. If your left orbit shots are questionable, you may want to wish Rocs away. [*][I]Ali Baba:[/I] Shoot left or right standup targets six times. This is more dangerous than it looks, since side-to-side motion is generally a recipe for an outlane drain on TotAN. I wish this mode away. [*][I]Flying Horse:[/I] Hit golden symbols until you find the "right statue". This can be a pain, as the correct statue is usually the last one you hit. Wish it away. [*][I]Scheherazade:[/I] Optionally hit golden symbols to increase jewel score. Never wish this away, as you're always one ramp from completing it. [*][I]Camel Race:[/I] Hit golden symbols up to 4 times. Pretty simple as well, I usually play this one, but I don't kill myself to get first place. Just shoot the ramp whenever it becomes available. [*][I]Forty Thieves:[/I] Hit ramp twice. Second-simplest mode, never wish this away but take whatever the right flipper award is. [*][I]Cyclops:[/I] Hit either captive ball at least once. Not hard, play it. [/LIST] Scheherazade and Forty Thieves are so easy that I consider hitting the Bazaar when a Wish is lit to be a mistake, as you'd rather save your Wish for harder modes or for when you have a Lightning Lamp/multiball stack ready to go. Once you've rescued the Princess once, you may wish to focus less on Jewels and more on other awards from your wishes. Experimentation and experience will tell you what reward to take when. [B]Genie Battle:[/B] You need to destroy 8 skeletons to complete the first stage. Shoot golden symbols or the Genie to destroy all skeletons but the last. You have to make the left or right loop to finish off the last one. Stay calm, there is no time limit, and even if the DMD shows an army of bones against you, you never have to make more than 8 shots to win. For the second part: Get the damn balls out of the plunger lane ASAP. The Genie pulls the bottle faster if you have balls in the plunger lane. You have unlimited balls, so there's no sense in "saving" one. In the same vein, don't bother trapping balls, but instead just juggle them. You don't even really need to aim, you'll hit enough targets (all the golden symbol shots and the Genie) with 4 balls in play to win easily. Basically, if you survived the skeletons, you have no excuse not to win the second stage. After Genie battle: A Special (extra ball) is lit in both outlanes, but only for the current ball (or maybe indefinitely, see bavelb's post below). Obviously, you want to avoid center drains, even if it means slamming the ball into a slingshot and to the outlanes. That's about it. I notice bavelb is presenting a somewhat different strategy and choice of shots/Wish awards than I am, which is fine. Pick and choose from our strategies what works best for you. Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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