caper_26's tips for playing Tesla

First off my 2 basic rules to winning at any table are:
1. Keep the ball in play
2. Hit the high point values

Keeping the ball in play:
This strategy changes depending on what mode you are playing in. For example, if you are playing multiplayer, with 5 million goal, and 0% penalty, then keeping the ball in play is NOT that important. The only downside to losing a ball is you have to restart your experiment and time is lost waiting for bonus scores to be displayed and re-launching the ball. If you are playing single player with the goal of getting your highest score ever, then this is the highest priority.

On Tesla, some of the ways to keep the ball in play are
Ball Save
Kick back on Right Outlane
Magna Save
Avoiding the Left outlane
and of course, the Death Save (refer to general pinball wizard skills post)

Ball Save is achieved by:
a solid hit on the spinner resulting in 25,000 or more points and
successful completion of the "Bunch of Dollars" challenge (see skippcue's trophy guide)

Right kick back
Enable this by spelling FUSE by hitting the inlanes. Each the ball enters an inlane that is NOT lit up, you will light up a letter. The lit letters can be alternated by hitting the flippers, so if the ball looks like it will go down an inlane that is already lit, quickly tap left of right flipper so that it becomes unlit before the ball passes through. Left or Right flipper will determine which way the lights alternate.

Magna Save
Activated by hitting coil ramp 3 times. With this enabled, you can create a magnet in the center of the table strong enough to draw the ball up from under the flippers. Both flippers should be help in the UP position and press X to active the magnetic force. Make sure you do this before the ball goes down the drain.

Avoid left outlane
This outlane is this table's nemesis. If you try to "SLAM" the ball into the up kicker to get to the 'magnetic mini playing field' via the upper left flipper, and you miss, the ball will almost inevitably spin out and down the left outlane. Do NOT try to shoot the ball into the up kicker unless you have a ball save or magna save. If you opt to do this anyway, when the ball comes down, nudge the table down as it hits the top of the outlane post. So far this is the best technique that has worked to avoid the outlane.

High Point Areas.
There are a few areas that you can get high points pretty quick. The most common one is the Magnetic Field mini playing area. By browsing the table you will see that there is a mini-table in the upper right area. See the table's rule sheet for pics. To get the ball up here you need to hit the right orbit lane with the RIGHT SPEED, and hold the upper left flipper in the up position so that the ball comes down and bounces off it and redirects right, hopefully hitting the "up-kicker", sending the ball in the mini playing field. Now a technique I use is to NOT hit the right orbit with a clean hit, but rather a sloppy hit so that the ball actually 'rattles' in the orbit opening (losing energy) and then going around at a much slower speed. A few ways to do this are:
With the ball moving down the left inlane, without stopping the ball, try and make a properly timed shot off the orbit entry 'post'.
1- From the left cradle position, try and hit one of the "Bunch of Dollars" drop targets. Watch VIDEO .
2 - From the left cradle position, let the ball roll almost completely off the flipper before activating it. If this is done right, the ball will actually hit the right slingshot and go up the orbit. See VIDEO .
3 - Slam the ball in using the upper left flipper. MAY RESULT IN LEFT OUTLANE DRAINS!!
Other times, you may be able to fluke the shot with a backhand, etc

Once the ball is in there, use left & right flippers to activate magnets, which draw the ball toward the drop targets (called the backstop in Tesla, since they form a wall). When the up kicker first launches the ball in the magnetic field, I wait for it to hit the opposite wall and slow down, then I use Right flipper first, taking out the 2 right targets, then I switch to left. Depending on the bounces and which targets are left, you may have adapt and use whatever flipper is best at that point. Sometimes you also need to wait until the ball is down on the angled part, leading toward the bottom return hole before activating the magnets.
Once you get all the targets down, wait for the ball to get just below the words "Magnetic Field" and then activate the left one so send the ball to the left side up the Half Pipe, activating an experiment.
To change experiments, wait for the ball to come down to the bottom left corner and press BOTH flippers at the same time, which will draw the ball up the right side of the Half Pipe, down the Experiment selector return hole. The big Dial in the center of the table tells you which experiment will be activated, should you choose to.
NOTE: The less "shots" you take in the magnetic playing field will result in a higher bonus! If you hit each drop target, one at a time, without missing one, you will get 600,000. Every shot extra that you take reduces that pot by 100,000. Sometimes you get lucky and hit 2 with one shot, resulting in an Extra 100K !!

Multiplayer Speed Scoring Tip: Knock down all the drop targets for your 600K, then let the ball fall into the return hole (don't select or start an experiment). When the ball comes back out onto the table, down the right inlane, "nudge pass" (see Pinball skills thread) to the left flipper, and send the ball back up into the magnetic field again. If your timing is good, you can rack up a few million in no time, and collect your 100 points. WATCH VIDEO

To add on to the previous scoring tip, after you hit the bunch of Dollars drop targets, hitting the orbit with correct speed becomes harder since the drop targets are not there anymore. Do the Bunch of dollars challenge for a quick 950,000 points and get your targets back as well!
After you get the ball into the bunch of Dollars hole (using left flipper), it comes back out and you can grab the ball with the left flipper. 3 ways to hit the center hole for your quick cash are:
1 - Cradle the ball until it stops; make a quick shot up the center.
2 - Holding left flipper up, and just before the ball comes to a rest and is still just on the flipper a bit, release flipper and make the shot. If the timing is right, the ball's momentum will start rolling toward the cradle position, but then shoot up, hit the wall just to the right of the center hole and bounce in.
3 - This one is easiest to do, but wastes a few seconds for the setup: Nudge pass the ball to right flipper. Hit left orbit cleanly. When ball returns, it will go on left flipper. Hold the ball just until it stops rolling, but is still spinning fast, then shoot it into the center hold. This is almost a sure fire way of hitting it every time.

And last but not least, the highest point area on Tesla is the experiments. Any of the 1st 3 can be done with ease. The 5th one can as well, but your timing has to be like a Timex or else it is impossible. I will discuss the 1st and 3rd.
Induction: Not an extremely difficult experiment but can be frustrating because if you miss a shot, it can send the ball down left outlane in a hurry. The object is described in skippcue's Trophy Guide but to summarize, keep hitting the spinner.
caper_26's INDUCTION TIP: Raise the Steam Cannon!! The cannon is the thing that shoots the ball out after each spinner shot during the experiment. You may notice that sometimes the ball shoots out and lands nicely on your right flipper, and sometimes it doesn't; making this experiment harder. I usually do exp #3, Chain reaction, but if I activate this one by accident, hit one of the drop targets under the Cannon, and a red and/or orange light will illuminate, and the cannon will elevate. The remaining spinner shots will result in the Cannon shooting the ball right onto the right flipper with perfect control, allowing faster spinner shots to complete the experiment. If you can do this one, you can win goals with 5 million with ease. However, one miffed shot, and you may likely have to start over. The danger is if you just miss the spinner, and hit the post at the entrance, the ball deflects toward the upkicker, spins, and comes down on top of the left outlane post, and rolls down the outlane. Be prepared to use Nudge!
Chain reaction: Change the experiment selector 2 times, so that it points to the 3rd from the top/left. Activate experiment. You need to knock down the floating balls, and keep from draining them. Once you have 4, send them up to the magnet on the yellow Tesla in the upper part of the table. The only advice I have here is as you knock balls down, cradle all the balls as they come down...don't shoot them around wildly or you will lose one/all of them. This one is easier because if you lose one or more balls the experiment still runs and more balls come out. Only if you have one ball left, and miss the floating ball will it end (or draining). Also, you get 100,000 every time you hit a floating ball. If you are fast, you can win this way as well, or if you have a goal higher than 5 million, I certainly recommend doing this one repeatedly, as a novice or intermediate player. Check out my CHAIN REACTION VIDEO and watch how I execute the techniques discussed. I use the nudge pass, side drop targets, and magnetic field to score fast points.

To summarize: For multiplayer, I don't worry too much about the kickback, since the Goals are penalties are relatively small at this point. I go for experiment 3, Chain Reaction. If I am having an off game trying to get the experiment started, and end up getting 3/4 to the goal, I don't bother starting the experiment, and change my plan to getting points via magnetic field and Bunch of Dollars.