Earth Defense Strategy

[Silencecm]

Been playing this table for a couple days now.
Looking for some shared strategy tips on the table/trophies, here is all I've learned so far;

Skillshot;
As you prepare to launch the ball, watch the pinball menu screen for the moving target/crosseye. Shoot as soon as it is over the robot walking over the city. This seems to award you with either a skillshot bonus (50,000 or 100,000), a right kickback, or a multiplier bonus (I've only seen 2x and 4x so far).

Fire the Canon Trophy
I'm not sure what activates the canon for the "fire the canon trophy" however once activated you must drain the ball down the left lane to fire it (and get the trophy). Otherwise there might be a flashing red target logo near the left middle side of the table...

Escape from pinball city Trophy
It seems this would come along with the below listed medal "Salvation". I have not earned this trophy yet, I can't confirm whether you have to be in the mission or not. It seems you should be able to get it by just shooting the rescue hole 10 times on one ball (proves to be quite difficult).

Earn 10 the medals;
Begin the missions by shooting the three green "bot gaurds" that stand in front of the large blue robot. Once the 3 green drop targets are down, shoot the ball into the hole to begin a mission of you choice. I avoid hitting the blue targets, they only seem to award you with a few petty points after dropping (2 hits to drop blue targets). My strategy has been to shoot at both the hole and drop targets from the left flipper. The right flipper pops it up in the direction but doesn't seem to be as consistent.
The first missions available seem to be;

Artillery
This prompts you to launch the ball, you have about 4 seconds to choose a ramp (left highway seems to be the easiest). I think the others listed are Right Tunnel, Central Overpass (this is the default ramp), Right Highway, and a spiral ramp. Once you have chosen a ramp (choose a ramp by pushing the x button) the ball will launch and you must shoot the ramp chosen. This is the easiest mission I've experience so far on the table.

Salvation
I have been unable to finish this mission but its seems pretty straightforward (only problem is I can't shoot the rescue hole consistently). The idea is to shoot the rescue hole; located just left of the center ramp. If you make the shot it should bump the ball up into a ramp and drop it by the left flipper. The goal is to save 10 people (10 shots), however once you have 5 people (5 shots) you must evacuate them by shooting the center ramp (which will be flashing). You can shoot the rescue hole and follow with the center ramp, but I believe it is easier to do 5 in a row to avoid flying all around the table. My strategy has been to shoot at the rescue hole from the right flipper, and the center ramp with the right flipper aswell.

City Destroyer
Keep the ball around the robot for 10 seconds; pretty self explanitory. It seems to be easiest to use the upper left and right flipper to ramp the ball around the robot. If you are away from the robot for too long the mission will be terminated.

Data Bowl
The 3 green "bot guard" drop targets are now randomly dropping. Avoid from sinking the ball behind the blue drop targets. I believe the object is to hit the drop targets that are up, or drop the ball behind them 5 times. If you sink the ball behind the blue drop targets, the pinball menu screen will warn you of how many lives/chances you have left before the mission is terminated.

I'm guessing the other medals do not become available until you have completed the first four listed above.

If anyone has any input, or is working on a guide, feel free to use any information. Personally I am just looking for some help, but would consider putting together a guide. Just trying to figure out how to get these trophies. I all the other trophies except "Genshin defeated" (and the newest table).

[MofoSLO]

Hope this helps a little.

[lade73]

Originally Posted by Silencecm

Been playing this table for a couple days now.
Looking for some shared strategy tips on the table/trophies, here is all I've learned so far;


Escape from pinball city Trophy
It seems this would come along with the below listed medal "Salvation". I have not earned this trophy yet, I can't confirm whether you have to be in the mission or not. It seems you should be able to get it by just shooting the rescue hole 10 times on one ball (proves to be quite difficult).

I'm guessing the other medals do not become available until you have completed the first four listed above.

If anyone has any input, or is working on a guide, feel free to use any information. Personally I am just looking for some help, but would consider putting together a guide. Just trying to figure out how to get these trophies. I all the other trophies except "Genshin defeated" (and the newest table).

I got this yesterday, and can confirm this. it has to be done with ONE ball, and its quite hard, but try to get it up there, against the hole and use the upper left flipper to help you out...

[lade73]

Originally Posted by Silencecm

Been playing this table for a couple days now.
Looking for some shared strategy tips on the table/trophies, here is all I've learned so far;

Data Bowl
The 3 green "bot guard" drop targets are now randomly dropping. Avoid from sinking the ball behind the blue drop targets. I believe the object is to hit the drop targets that are up, or drop the ball behind them 5 times. If you sink the ball behind the blue drop targets, the pinball menu screen will warn you of how many lives/chances you have left before the mission is terminated.

I'm guessing the other medals do not become available until you have completed the first four listed above.

If anyone has any input, or is working on a guide, feel free to use any information. Personally I am just looking for some help, but would consider putting together a guide. Just trying to figure out how to get these trophies. I all the other trophies except "Genshin defeated" (and the newest table).

You must NOT get the ball locked behind the drop-tragets, this will drain a life (you have 3) just hit a target 5 times and you get a medal

[Silencecm]

Thanks for the help so far, hopefully with some more practice I will be able to complete a guide.
As for the trophies on Excalibur, they came 10 times easier than this table...

[Silencecm]

I have discovered an easy strategy to get the first three trophies;

Fire the cannon;
All you need to do is drop the ball through the left Inlane. I've found the ball ends up there often when shooting late of the right flipper, near the captive ball. This will light the right orbit. Once the orbit is lit simply shoot it. This will open the cannon (as mentioned on the mini scoreboard). To get the ball to the cannon, shoot the Subway Hole (This is located just left, under the captive ball) when the cannon is ready, you will see a red target lit in front of it. This will fire the ball from the canon and you will get you the trophy.

To get the next two trophies, I sort of cheated, but it works.
These can be easy to get especially if you don't have a problem with restarting the game a few times One of the awards for the skillshot is an upgrade to the subway hole (It seems to be one of the earlier ones).
If you can get the subway hole upgraded easier, feel free to let me know. Anyhow, get the subway hole upgraded for the next two trophies.

To get the skillshot; When starting a game, wait/watch the mini scoreboard for the moving target. The idea is to shoot the robot when the target is over it.

Survive the Alien Invasion;
With the subway hole upgraded, you can replace the rescue hole, with the subway hole. So, simply wait for the timer on the mini scoreboard to reach 0, and the invasion to begin. In the few seconds you have on the first ball of the invasion, trap the ball with the right flipper and shoot the subway hole. This will quickly end the invasion, and win you the trophy.

Shoot the rescue hole 10 times on one ball;
With the subway hole upgraded you can reach the rescue hole by shooting the subway hole (much easier and less frustrating in my mind). Simply shoot the subway hole (easiest from the right flipper trapped), this will prompt a 5 second count down on the mini scoreboard. You can now choose a few locations around the table (by hitting the flippers) to take the "subway" train to. Lexington Hospital is the rescue hole (located one right flipper hit from the first choice) so all you have to do is hit the subway hole 10 times.
Even Easier You have enough time from shooting the subway hole, selecting the hospital, and catching the ball on the left flipper, to keep nudge the ball to the right flipper without tilting the table again, and again.

[VMethos]

Nice tip silencecm!

I had pretty much given up on the Earth Defense trophies, as hitting the rescue hole has been quite a struggle for me. The most I think I rescued on one ball was seven, but I must have missed the shot an additional 20+ times.

Other than a few of the other tables silver trophies (Tesla, Shaman, NGS2), I have been able to pull off all the other trophy requirements. But Earth Defense has proven much more challenging for the bronzes. Similar to the 10 Tesla coil ramp shots on one ball kind of frustration.

Now that I know this tip though, I will give the other bronze trophies another shot. I don't expect to be able to complete all of the medals for the silver trophy though. Hitting the center ramp and some other shots on this table just aren't coming to me as well as other tables like El Dorado or SF2 where I am very consistent at making just about any shot I want.

Thanks!

[Silencecm]

To further my discoveries;
It seems by upgrading the subway hole, you can use it during the salvation mission aswell. Although when I first shot it the other night, it immediately fired the ball back out, upon the second shot I was than able to choose Lexington Hospital, and easily teleport to the resuce hole.
I haven't had a chance to finish the mission yet, but I will hopefully have this figured out soon.

[Viarco]

Originally Posted by Silencecm

To further my discoveries;
It seems by upgrading the subway hole, you can use it during the salvation mission aswell. Although when I first shot it the other night, it immediately fired the ball back out, upon the second shot I was than able to choose Lexington Hospital, and easily teleport to the resuce hole.
I haven't had a chance to finish the mission yet, but I will hopefully have this figured out soon.

Thank you A LOT for this tip! With it, I got this medal like on the third try!

Just to shape it up: You have to choose the Hospital as a destination at ALL TIMES, as any other result will not count as a saved person.

As for the "Military AI" and "Threat Level" medals, I can guarantee that they can be achieved by replaying "Data Bowl" and "City Destroyer" two more times each (making it 3 times total each). Still trying to figure out the rest of the medals. Will post them here when available

Update: Airstrike: To get "Airstrike", you got to complete Achievements. These are pairs of shots through the left and right orbit (the ones which have military grades stripes flashing in front of them) and one final shot through a random ramp. Once you complete 2 Achievements (4 shots on the orbits and 1 random shot just to finish the first Ach.) the "Locker" sign (a white/yellow light aircraft shaped) will light in front of the "Rescue" hole and the dot screen will flash "LOCK IS LIT". At this point, hiting the "Rescue" hole will lock your ball. Once you lock 3 balls, the game will go into Aircraft Multiball and you'll get the medal.

Survivor: Just from reading the description and analyzing the table, I presume that you get this medal by triggering both kickbacks in one ball. Triggering doesn't mean enable them, it means use them (hence the name of the trophy).
To light the kickbacks, you got to play the "Lady Luck" twice (one per kickback). To start "Lady Luck", you have to hit one of the three red Lady targets scattered around the table. There's one under the upper right flipper, another one on the left side of the "Subway" ramp and another one above the left upper flipper. The last one is the easiest to hit since you can hit it accidently while juggling the ball wih the upper left flipper. After that, you have to send the ball through any of the grade stripes ramps to enable one kickback. When you lit up both, just let the ball roll through both and you receive the medal.

Note: The description says that the Cannon can be used instead of the left kickback. And the Cannon is one of the prizes from the "Skillshot". That said, Cannon becomes the new most appealing prize from the Skillshot due to:
- It enables the Cannon automatically;
- Once fired, the Cannon autoupgrades the "Subway" hole (handy for "Salvation" medal);
- The Cannon is aimed at the sinkhole that allows you to start one of the 4 basic medals, which is one of the trickiest shots on the table;

Rage Combo: You have to make two quick lauches through the left orbit (the one that passes under the "Spiral Flyover") in succession to enrage the robot and then complete it with a "Spiral Flyover" shot (located above the left upper flipper; accessible via right upper flipper). After that, the ball will follow a different route than the normal "Spiral Flyover" and end up on your right flipper and you'll get the medal.

[Silencecm]

Perfect Thanks for the help on this!
That should about sum it all up shouldn't it?

Artillery (Easy Mission)
Data Bowl (Easy Mission)
City Destroyer (Easy Mission)
Salvation (Easy Mission)
Fire the Canon Medal
Military AI (Data Bowl 3 Times Total)
Threat Level (City Destroyer 3 Times Total)
Survivor (Out Lanes)
Rage Combo
Airstrike Mulitball

All I have to do is confirm this will work, and come up with a more detailed guide.

I worry about why you have so many choices for Artillery, I know you achieve a medal for one shot, but why are the other ramps still available when you replay the mission?