Normal
Here are my guidelines for tournament settings.1) Extra balls and specials set to disabled or points. points is preferred. no more infinity. Exception for brutal EM tables with hard to get extra balls. ball time will never be a concern.2) install extra hard. if extra hard is not available, install hard. if those are not available, manual adjust features to be more difficult.3) set number of tilt warnings to ZERO. this is the only way to make it fair to analog and digital nudgers.4) have kickbacks not lit at the start of a ball. (if game is really too brutal, have it on)5) disable ballsaver completely in all circumstances, unless there is no way to avoid the bumpers at the start. T2 in TPA doesn't need it. BSD absolutely requires that ballsaver to be remotely fair.6) jack up the slope, and tweak the flippers to make sure the shots are still makable. this will take experimentation. on EMs, don't jack up the slope, because lo slope means more sideways motion which means outlanes. Most importantly, change the physics so that hold trapping is not reliable. if dead passing worked in real life for th etable it should work in TPA turnament mode too. SOme tables (Creature, for one) need serious physics mucking to make them tough.7) if possible remove rubbers from inlane dividers, and move up or remove the outlane adjustable posts. set slingshots to go off on a hair trigger. this makes many hold traps unreliable.8) if the game is still too easy, put lightning flippers on it, if possible.9) enable tournament mode in the rules, if the game has it. Note that this will not help any for jack*bot. casino run is ALWAYS random, and that is fine.I have special suggestions for certain problematic games, like Teed Off. To papatize it, 1) remove stoppers from wireform inlane feeds so balls go screaming down them too fast to trap, turn on reduced scoing, and set pitcy and putt to a flat value. disable nudge when a ball is in the plunger lane (done by checking x coords).For certain tables that are already "hard" in tpa, like POTO and Diner, simply turning off the extra balls is enough.
Here are my guidelines for tournament settings.
1) Extra balls and specials set to disabled or points. points is preferred. no more infinity. Exception for brutal EM tables with hard to get extra balls. ball time will never be a concern.
2) install extra hard. if extra hard is not available, install hard. if those are not available, manual adjust features to be more difficult.
3) set number of tilt warnings to ZERO. this is the only way to make it fair to analog and digital nudgers.
4) have kickbacks not lit at the start of a ball. (if game is really too brutal, have it on)
5) disable ballsaver completely in all circumstances, unless there is no way to avoid the bumpers at the start. T2 in TPA doesn't need it. BSD absolutely requires that ballsaver to be remotely fair.
6) jack up the slope, and tweak the flippers to make sure the shots are still makable. this will take experimentation. on EMs, don't jack up the slope, because lo slope means more sideways motion which means outlanes. Most importantly, change the physics so that hold trapping is not reliable. if dead passing worked in real life for th etable it should work in TPA turnament mode too. SOme tables (Creature, for one) need serious physics mucking to make them tough.
7) if possible remove rubbers from inlane dividers, and move up or remove the outlane adjustable posts. set slingshots to go off on a hair trigger. this makes many hold traps unreliable.
8) if the game is still too easy, put lightning flippers on it, if possible.
9) enable tournament mode in the rules, if the game has it. Note that this will not help any for jack*bot. casino run is ALWAYS random, and that is fine.
I have special suggestions for certain problematic games, like Teed Off. To papatize it, 1) remove stoppers from wireform inlane feeds so balls go screaming down them too fast to trap, turn on reduced scoing, and set pitcy and putt to a flat value. disable nudge when a ball is in the plunger lane (done by checking x coords).
For certain tables that are already "hard" in tpa, like POTO and Diner, simply turning off the extra balls is enough.
