From: lopez@giskard.ils.nwu.edu (Chris Lopez)
Subject: Re: Is F14 Tomcat worth buying?
Date: 27 Jun 1993 16:41:44 GMT

Jan Christiaan van Winkel (jc@sci.kun.nl) wrote:
[stuff deleted]

: * Is the F14 Tomcat any good?

  One of my favorites

: * Does anyone have the rules for the game?

Goals
 1) Defeat Yagov by killing all enemy planes.

    You can do this by either shooting the left side which will kick
    the ball back at you like the raptor pit on JP (but from much closer),
    or you can shoot the center targets after an inlane.
    Killing Yagov earns an extra ball. (and a lot of screaming by Yagov)

    The center targets are drain shots if hit dead on.  Well aimed shots
    at thier edges have extremely predictable bounces though.

    The ball saver kicks in after a left side hit.  While you can almost
    always save the ball as it comes out, sometimes you want to let it drain
    (explained later).

    After your first Yagov kill inlanes no longer light the center kill shot.
    You can do something to reactivate them but I forget what it is.

 2) Get the Jackpot

    To earn the jackpot you must make 3 safe landings (right side) during
     multiball.
    Multiball is started by locking 4 balls.
    To light a lock you must spell tomcat.  There are two sets of tomcat
     letters.  One up between the upper flippers, one down near lower
     flippers (TOM where the bumpers are on TAF, CAT where the swamp is).
     tomcat can be spelled in any order using any combination of the targets.
    To lock a ball you must shoot the right side (safe landing) shot.

    The machine will fill any lit locks from plunger launches before putting
     a ball into play (thus the occasional intentional use of the ball saver).
     The plunger is manual, so you plunge multiple times.

3) Bonus Multiplier extra ball.

    Just above each top flipper is a swinging gate.  When one it hit,
    it lights 'increase multiplier' on the other gate.  Earning 10x(?)
    multiplier ON A SINGLE BALL lights the left side shot for an extra
    ball.  Bonus multipliers are not carried from one ball to the next.

: * Would you buy it if the price was right?

    Definitely.

: * Is F14 Tomcat goal or strategy oriented?

    Goal.

: * How many different achievements are there to go for in the game?

3.  Nothing by todays standards, alot for its time.

* Other

The game when properly maintained plays EXTREMELY fast.

Ball times are very long once you get good because there are no 'drain on a
near miss' shots (though hitting the center targets dead on is a good way to
drain).

The right outlane isn't bad, and the left one has a kickback.  The kickback
can be relit by hitting the lit center target any time except right after an
inlane (when they register kills).  Which of the 2 center targets is lit
alternates on a timer.  This shot is easy enough that you should almost never
have a left side drain.

I have seen a couple games where the top center bumper does not work
properly.  The game plays terribly without it.  None of the places seemed
able to fix it.  (One of them I know worked on it for a couple days in the
backroom.  For the others I just have their words)

:    |/  \   Jan Christiaan van Winkel                        jc@sci.kun.nl
:    |       Alternative e-mail addresses: jc@oreo.atcmp.nl and jc@atcmp.nl

--
Chris Lopez (lopez@ils.nwu.edu)

