Re: Tempest Gameplay Question

> So, tonight I was playing it for a while and a question came up. Do flippers
> flip at a constant rate or does one flip occur within a constant time
> interval?
>
> I was always under the impression that it is better to hang out on segments
> with an approach angle greater than 90 degrees. My thought was that it would
> take longer for the flippers to traverse the greater distance from one
> segment to the next thereby giving you more time to shoot them. Conversely,
> I thought that it would take less time for them to flip a tighter angle.

The flippers definitely flip at a constant rate. You are always better
off hanging out where you have a greater than 90 degree angle. For
instance, the last figure (the figure eight) is much easier from the left
side even though your movement is reversed. Once you get used to the
reverse movement, it is much easier as the flippers have to flip much
further to kill you.

Of course, once you get to the faster levels, it is not always possible to
stay where you want to so you just have to learn to be quicker...have you
gotten to the pulsars yet?

>
> Tonight, however, I constantly got stuck on the "bad" angles, and I
> terminated the flippers with a vengence. Whenever I got to a "good" angle, I
> got creamed. So I started questioning my long-held beliefs.

You were probably just getting a little lucky:). Seriously, you will need
to master all of the spots on every figure when you start to get to the
later levels, especially when you reach the black figures and beyond...the
game gets almost unbelievably fast at that point, but it is possible to
survive with a LOT of practice.

Have fun...hey, at least you don't have to pump a million quarters into
the thing like I had to way back around '81 or so to master it:). Wish I
could've afforded one back then, but I don't think my dad would have
allowed it in the house anyways (but I do have a nice one now...)

Jonathan

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Received on Wed Oct 11 00:51:29 2000