Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: dstewart+@cs.cmu.edu (David B Stewart)
Subject: Re: Creature/Whitewater ramblings
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1993 19:56:42 GMT

In article <1993Mar10.010247.17673@rtsg.mot.com> iott@rtsg.mot.com (Joel K. Iott) writes:
>I get really annoyed when I get one of the cheese-o mystery awards (5,6,8 M).
>Your whole game is different if you get a good award (Advance 3 rafts, advance
>to river class 6, etc) than if you get a cheese-o award.  And I don't believe
>there's any way to get a second mystery award (get all the whirlpool awards,
>perhaps?)

Yup, I get annoyed too.  Light Extra Ball is also nice award.  Compare an
extra ball to 5Mil measley points?

>It's also annoying how the river class resets after every ball.  Makes it MUCH
>more difficult to ever get the vacation bonus.

But that's part of the challenge.  However, because you can spot RIVER letters
by lighting the inlanes (selectable with the flipper) it makes it a lot
easier.  Just make sure that whenever a ball comes down to one of the
inlanes from the upper playfield, that you set the appropriate inlane to be
lit.  Also, when a ball kicks out from the Lost Mine (and it is not too
strong) you can hold up the right flipper, and the ball will roll up and
down the inlane, to give you 2 more letters.  Do this during a Whirlpool
challenge, and you can get to River Class 6 in no time.

>The Lost Mine kickout is too strong on the machine I play.

If it is too strong, then try one of the following.   The one that works
best will depend on the peculiarities of your machine:

    - don't hold the right flipper up.  Let the ball bounce off the right
	flipper to the left flipper.
    - Dead trap the ball.  That is, hold the right flipper up.  Release
	the flipper just as the ball hits the flipper after kicking out
	from the lost mine.  The ball won't roll up the inlane, so you
	won't get any RIVER letters, but at least it won't roll up
	the inlane and down the outlane if the kickout is too strong!

>It would be nice if the status report told you how many disaster drops were
>required for the various awards, not just extra ball.  This applies to all the
>new "varying award for multiple loops" games.

It doesn't have to.  The only award that is varying on the drops is the Extra
Ball (which I've seen anywhere from the 4th to 10th drop), which the status
report does show you.  Other than that, you get the following awards:

    3-drops:	Spot Hazard
    6-drops:	Bonus Hold (i.e. nothing ... anybody see a working bonus hold?)
    9-drops:	Advance Raft
    12-drops:	Spot Hazard
    Every 3rd drop afterwards (i.e. 15, 18, 21, 24, etc): Spot Hazard
    60-drops:	Light Extra Ball
	(don't know if anything fancy happens at 99 drops).

>Now it may be just because the Creature I play has the tilt set WAY too
>sensitive, but I don't enjoy it as much as I used to.  It just doesn't seem to
>have much depth or staying power, compared to Whitewater.

>On Whitewater, just
>getting to Wet Willie's is a challenge.  I don't think I will ever get the
>vacation bonus, although I'll keep trying!

Don't be so pessimistic.  Concentrate on not losing the ball.  If you do
that, and you aim for lit targets, you'll eventually get those awards.
As for achieving Wet Willies, just remember the extra ways of advancing
rafts and spotting hazards, other than hitting the lit target:

    - You can spot a Raft with the Whirlpool Advance Raft award.  If possible,
	shoot this award only when either you have difficult hazards to get
	(e.g. boomerang bend) or you have lots of hazards left.  If you
	shoot the whirlpool when only the bigfoot bluff hazard is lit, then
	you complete that raft, and advance the next raft too.
    - You can spot a raft with your 9th drop.  Don't shoot that 9th drop
	if you have an easy hazard to get.  Again, wait till you have
	a difficult or lots of hazards to get.
    - You can spot a hazard on every 3rd drop (except for 6th drop).
    - You can spot a hazard everytime you complete the 3 red targets,
	and your bounce-back is already lit.  I tend to hit these targets
	often during an un-controlled multiball :-).  When I notice only
	one target left to hit, it is often easier to hit that then to
	aim for something like boomerang bend, where if you miss you risk
	draining.
    - You spot a raft in the secret passage; although this one is more
	luck than it is skill, I noticed that if you back hand a moving ball
	from the left flipper into the boulder garden, it won't have
	enough ooomph on it to go all the way to the boulders, and often
	swings down through the secret passage.

I've also found that mastering the spine chiller can be very valuable
during the game.  It is not an easy shot, but if you practice it a lot,
you'll be able to hit it quite often, and makes a difficult hazard into
a fairly easy one.  This is also the preferred way to go to the upper
playfield when you have 5x playfield, as that 'millions' ramp now
awards you 10M,15M,..., which is much better than the measly points you
get by going to the upper playfield via no-way-out.

I know that Whitewater is not as "cool" looking as Creature; however, I really
like it because to do well does not only involve skill, but also lots of
strategy (I don't agree that the 'shoot whatever is lit' is the best
strategy!).  There are times when it is desirable to postpone certain shots
(e.g.  don't get the 9th drop if the only hazard you have lit is no-way-out)
until that same shot can be more valuable later.  By properly planning which
shots you do when, you can maximize the speed at which you hit Wet Willies and
the Vacation Bonus.  Another example, you don't want to start man overboard
when you have a difficult hazard lit.  It is much better to start it when you
have an easy hazard, or lots of hazards lit.  Same goes for the ideal time of
getting the 5x playfield.  For example, keep an eye on how many hot-foots you
have left before starting the bigfoot jackpot.  If you start 5x playfield, and
you only have one hotfoot left, then hit it, and go for the bigfoot jackpots:
50Mil a shot.  Of course, there are lots of other shots that make 5x
worthwhile, but a bad time to get 5x is if you are not close to Multiball,
have lots of hazards lit, but river class is only at I or II, and you
are nowhere near starting the hotfoot.

I don't think Creature has any such strategy.  To get high scores, you
do the following:  go for the F-I-L-M letters; start Multiball; shoot
left ramp 4 times with one ball; search for creature with other ball;
then go for jackpot and Super J.  I agree that the shots involved require
a lot of skill, but there is very little in the way of strategy and
planning as you go.

~dave