The Complete guide to ROME

[Simo1971]

About the "Mock Warfare" Extra Ball

After you started the minigame, look at the screen before launching the ball with the catapult. You will see different bonus scores appearing randomly in sequence. One of them is the Extra Ball, if you use the catapult when that bouns is on the screen and the shot doesn't fail, you will light the Extra Ball hole.

Other bonus are differen scores up to 750K and KickBack lights.
From what I've seen so far, the Extra Ball bonus seems to appear less rarely during the two ball locks, after the first two shots of the minigame.

Also note that if the shot miss the target you have to start it over (no lock ball enabled).

Cheers

[Cloda]

3) How do I get an extra ball: Again this is huge, if you want to score big you're going to need as many balls as possible. ROME is a little weird on this one. There are methods to activate the free ball light (below the Janus Hole) But they dont always work. Though they always work the first time. This leads me to believe it's eaither timed, or its a 1 time thing, (after you get the free ball via one method thats it) Any additional info would be appreciated.
The first and eaisest way to get a free bal is via the "Mock Warfare" mini game (see "Mock Warfare") All you need to do is finish the first part of this mission quickly, like make the shots on the first try, no waiting, and the free ball light will illuminate. From there just pop the ball in the Janus hole, and there you go, free ball. (see MOCk WARFARE)

The second way is via 6 shot combo. After hitting an orbit or ramp there is a timer for a few seconds, (shown with a blue light for conquer ramps and flashing lights for orbits) By hitting the ramps and outer orbits you will gain combos, accomponied by a female voice telling you how awsum you are. After 6 shots, (the max combo) The free ball hole will light.

As explained in some of the replies, the Mock Warfare extra ball got a bit more skill (and luck!) to it, I have not been able yet to get it through that method.

With regards to the 6 combo, I noticed something while playing today which is now making it easier for me to get the extra ball. I used to only go for the conquer ramps as I felt I could easier get the combo's rolling that way. What I noticed today is that after one or two combo's, if you miss a conquer ramp, even though the conquer blue lights stop flashing for the conquer ramp, the right ramp flashing light is still lit and if you hit it the combo count continues. This is especially helpful if you managed 4 combos and miss the conquer ramp as you can then shoot it into the right orbit and then the Jupiter loop which will then light the extra ball.

Can one of you wizard like people please confirm this for me... I have not been able to complete it often enough to be 100% that it is the way it happens!!

[II J0SePh X II]

Thanks for this. Although not perfect, it was a great help with this difficult table and I immediately upped my hi-score from 15m to 26m with the very next game.

I joined the forums because I was awarded 2 extra balls in very quick succession, and was oblivious as to how! Apparently I'd hit the onager in mock warfare when the dot matrix was showing "extra ball". In my hi-scoring game I failed to start the mock warfare minigame twice because I was looking at the dot matrix

I chose southern garrison whenever I got C-O-N-Q-U-E-R - you get:

250k - Janus head hole
500k - Romulus hole
1m - Garrison hole

Get enough holes and you light the Jupiter orbit - hit this to complete the mode.

BTW, don't worry about spoilers in a guide.

[Cloda]

OK - the Western Garrison mission used to be the thorn in my flesh or to use a more era appropriate analogy - the sword in my side!!!!

After trying over, and over, and over and...... you get the picture - loads of times I finally found an approach that works better for me and give me a more realistic chance of completing it successfully.

As soon as the mission start I catch the first ball on my right flipper by holding it up as the ball gets ejected from the janus head straight onto it. The second ball gets launched and then I focus on using the left top flipper to complete the Jupiter orbit. If you miss, let is fall straight through as ball saved is still active for a while and the ball will be relaunched. Each time you complete it you get a million points added - thus, by completing it three times you can then shoot the first ball from the right flipper into the active romulus hole (if you complete it say 10x before hitting the romulus hole, you will get 10 million!!). If you still have "ball saved" activated (which is quite possible, because you can achieve three orbits very quickly after the missions starts) work on catching the one ball again on the right flipper (easiest to shoot the ball into the janus hole because it will drop down safely onto the flipper) and allow the second ball to fall straight through so that it can be relaunched again. In this way you can complete the 3x (or more for more points) jupiter orbits quickly again and end the mission with a final activated romulus hole shot with the held ball on the right flipper.

If the ball saved is not active any more, it gets a bit more tricky but by working on first holding a ball on each of the two flippers you can then complete the galley orbit with the ball on the left bottom flipper and complete the jupiter orbit from there.

Another interesting observation is that it happened once or twice that the mission ended very quickly after shooting the ball into the romulus hole, even though I did not score the required 3 million points for a second time. I think it happens when you manage to shoot a ball into the romulus hole a second time very quickly after you have achieved it the first time. I would be grateful if somebody that have a better idea of what is going on there could clarify it for me.

With this all said, I still find the mission difficult, but at least I feel a bit more in control.

[IAMMRBONGO]

Lovely guide Mr. Logic. I just noticed something though. ROMULUS seems to score a lot more than a few million if accomplished immediately. I got 86 million from a single shot.

Crazy stuff eh? All I did was to shoot the captive ball and an orbit then hit it into the statue. Total score for the go 88 million because I was so confused at seeing a series of popups appear telling me a huge list of people I'd just beaten and I just let the ball go down the hole.

Given that I had been getting 3 - 4 garrisons complete before it seems odd that my 6 minute go stomped all over all of my previous goes.

Great fun though and a great table and solid guide

[Logic_FTW]

Lovely guide Mr. Logic. I just noticed something though. ROMULUS seems to score a lot more than a few million if accomplished immediately. I got 86 million from a single shot.

Crazy stuff eh? All I did was to shoot the captive ball and an orbit then hit it into the statue. Total score for the go 88 million because I was so confused at seeing a series of popups appear telling me a huge list of people I'd just beaten and I just let the ball go down the hole.

Given that I had been getting 3 - 4 garrisons complete before it seems odd that my 6 minute go stomped all over all of my previous goes.

Great fun though and a great table and solid guide

Yup, thank you much, and Fixed! (also fixed the Mockwarfare free ball)

[Numanoid]

Thread resurrection! Just in time for Easter...

Umm, anyway, I could use some help with the garrisons. I always used to to Coastal first because I knew what to do with it. No real problems there. After reading this guide the Southern one is now my first. I understand the 3 "holes" as targets (250k, 500k, 1 million depending on what you hit) but then what happens after that? The Jupiter orbit lights up and the Janus head is turned.

What is the correct target? I finished it with 1 second to go and got 3 million for it but I think it went into the Janus hole and not the orbit.

The other garrisons are confusing to me as well. Northern, for example, says to hit the ramps and avoid the targets. OK, easy enough, but what happens if I do hit them? What does 3/0 and 3/1 mean on the DMD? How many ramp hits are needed and what happens if I hit a target in between them?

Thanks for this guide, it has helped, but I need a little more info on the missions.

[rapierdwit]

I would really like if someone to write up the Garrisons Missions and have Logic add the to the guide.

[UranusIsBroken]

I would really like if someone to write up the Garrisons Missions and have Logic add the to the guide.

I concur. I agree that you should do a write up on the garrison missions....

[ZodiacMunch]

Thread resurrection! Just in time for Easter...

Umm, anyway, I could use some help with the garrisons. I always used to to Coastal first because I knew what to do with it. No real problems there. After reading this guide the Southern one is now my first. I understand the 3 "holes" as targets (250k, 500k, 1 million depending on what you hit) but then what happens after that? The Jupiter orbit lights up and the Janus head is turned.

What is the correct target? I finished it with 1 second to go and got 3 million for it but I think it went into the Janus hole and not the orbit.

The other garrisons are confusing to me as well. Northern, for example, says to hit the ramps and avoid the targets. OK, easy enough, but what happens if I do hit them? What does 3/0 and 3/1 mean on the DMD? How many ramp hits are needed and what happens if I hit a target in between them?

Thanks for this guide, it has helped, but I need a little more info on the missions.

It has been quite awhile since I've played Rome, even though I would say it is my favorite machine, but I will try to answer to the best of my memory.

For Southern, either the orbit or Janus will end the mission successfully. I think Janus just gets you more points.

For Northern, I can't remember the specifics, although if I recall correctly, hitting a target doesn't seem to be that bad of a penalty, if any.

I always thought the most challenging garrison missions were the 2nd and 3rd ones on the list. One because the timer isn't very long in between shots, so you don't time to dilly-dally. The other because you have to hold multiball while completing the objectives.

If I can get around to playing, maybe I'll go through and refresh my memory and then improve my comments.

Hope this helps a little at least.

[Nekro Neko]

For Southern, either the orbit or Janus will end the mission successfully. I think Janus just gets you more points.

Janus gets you 1m, orbit is 2m. You get your score doubled upon the 5th successful target, so if you get all 5 shots into the scales hole you will score 5m for the shots and then 5m again for your troubles, if you get 4.25m, you get another 4.25m.

[Tuff Tidds]

Thanks for the Rome guide, Logic!

Just registered to thank you for this Rome guide, Logic! I *really* appreciate all of your hard work.

[bwhitenb5e]

Same here, I registered just to say thanks for the guide(s)! I totally get the "no official guides" thing as part of the pinball mystique is finding the nuances of the tables yourself. That takes a *lot* of time, though. As one that will never have that much time to devote to the game (or video gaming in general for that matter), these guides increase my enjoyment of the experience immensely.

So, thanks and well done!

[UranusIsBroken]

The 5 is a type-o, supposed to be a 3. Sooo-ry geeze. As far as the Romulus thing, thats pretty amazing you where able to get in the 90's, From what I remebered I thought the countdown started at 10m? I'll have to look at it again...

And the garisons are totaly self explinatory, the Dot matrix tells you what you need to do. This is meant to be an explination of everything on the table, not a hand hold on every shot.

I've been getting into this table a bit lately, and I have some questions and comments.

Regarding the Romulus multiball. I'm surprised no one's added this little nugget. The trapped ball on the right, used to start the Galleon Multiball, is a crucial part of the Romulus multiball. Hitting it INCREASES the jackpot. If you pay attention, it is indeed flashing like an objective target when the mode starts. I was able to successfully get the number up to 140M! Not that I completed the mode at that mark, but you can use it to re-raise the level as it progressively decreases...buying you more time and more points.
Now for a question. WTF does it mean when it tells me "BLESSED"?

This seems to happen when I hit the right ramp on occasion. Similar to when you start the Romulus multiball, a door opens at the top of the ramp and eats the pinball. I haven't been able to tell the significance of the matter, or any earth shattering point value. What seems to trigger it, is doing a series of successful shots with the top left flipper. It seems as though whenever you hit the shot the first time, it lights up a white lamp on the table indicating to do it again. Doing it again opens the door at the top of the right ramp. Anyone have any information on this?

Another thing. What's going on when it says "Take heart, the gods are with you."?


Edit: This guide is great, but it desperately needs a section for the garrisons. Whether it's shown on the DMD or not, it would be nice to have a detailed explanation of what's needed to complete the various garrisons...akin to the Excalibur guide which explains the objective of each of the Knight's Tales. It can't possibly take that long. If need be, I'll be more than happy to pitch in where i can, and it can be copied and pasted into the main body of the guide.

[FIREBALL]

BLESSED indicates you have activated a universal 2x multiplier that lasts for a short time, as mentioned by Cloda and Heathensauce above. Apparently, it even applies to mission/garrison scores.

The guide refers to this as:
"Hand Of Jupiter: Located on top of the right CONQUER Ramp. Must be unlocked with 2 consecutive Jupiter Orbit shots."