CV Tactics and Strategies

[Mad07]

There is a problem in Multiplyer Mode:
look e.g. 2 balls with different player on the ramp. If the 3rd ball comes to the other two -also if it is the first which should locked or the second, normaly ony 1 ball shoud be released. But here all 3 balls are released like a spez. multiball.

reproducable 100%
Android 4.1.2


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[DanBradford]

What is going on with this table, anyone know?

I am used to it being buggy (mostly to do with the camera not behaving as intended, it ignores the shooter lane when needed there, it ignores the cannon ball run when needed there, it sometimes won't let you plunge when needed - all irritating but generally you can play round them) but wtf is it getting worse? Did they ever fix this or is it now 2 years since this one was fixed up?

I just almost had a good game. I say almost because I was mastering the universe and being epic and being Voltaire and battling and all that good stuff when suddenly I just lost control and had to watch as all my balls drained over 30 sec or so, powerless to operate flippers or pause to call attendant or anything. I felt cheated.

So who do I have to ask to get this table debugged?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[canuck]

I like the table too, but it is way too buggy.

 

[vikingerik]

I don't know what other factors might influence when the ringmaster gives up (Long time without draining any balls? Surviving at the higher recovery speed long enough?)

I believe I've figured this out. The ringmaster gives up when you're one shot away from winning. (That happens when the 4th light is illuminated and you score another hit.) Through at least 20 Ringmaster Battle attempts, that's always held true. I've had it going for 5+ minutes without him surrendering, and I've had him surrender within one minute on nailing that critical second-to-last hit. Every time he gives up, the next shot always wins the battle. Drains don't matter, time doesn't matter, progress doesn't matter other than that penultimate hit.

Next question: can a surrendered Ringmaster be turned into TOTAN-style unlimited score milking? You've got unlimited balls while the ringmaster is in that state, just as long as you can avoid hitting him again. Points can still be scored - go into the status report and you can see your score during Ringmaster Battle, I did that and checked that it still increased from odd change like slingshots and spinners. But I'm not sure what you can do on the table that's safe from hitting the Ringmaster again.

 

[Zaphod77]

I finally got the wizard goals here, and do have some advice.

on pc at least, the ringmaster kickout can be safely dead bounced to the right flipper, but shooting it from the right flipper after is hard. it tends to hit the standups. so it's still doable after you raise the ringmaster because the standups seem to count.

Stacking multiballs is good. strike an arc mulitball has an annoyingly small ballsaver, but the other ones tend to have a big one. so stacking strike an arc with any otoher multiball is a good idea. you can get strike an ark, highwire, and a ringmaster multiball going at the same time.

The ringmaster is pretty darn safe to whale on. the ball nearly always comes back in such a way you can control it. Real life is not so kind usually.

The ballsaver for when the ringmaster tosses the ball down is ACTIVE. so if the ball drains off of it, you get it back.

To get the pesky ringmaster hideout award in real life, you'd nudge foreward and hope it falls behind. this never works in TPA. but if you get a Sneaky Lock, the ringmaster will stay raised for a bit, and you can then soft plunge the ball to the flippers and sneak it in there.

The genie battle milk DID get fixed. it was stacking harem mulitball with genie battle. there's not much you can do to milk a surrendered ringmaster. in theory you could get points, but it will take so darn long it's not worth it.

I also think that eventually, after enough time has passed, the ringmaster starts strengthening faster regardless, because people were playing the mode forever before.

 

[Slam23]

Phew, I'm over 1000 HOF points at last, clocking in at a modest 270M. But I did it without milking the Ring Master Battle, which teaches me to always check out the Tips & Strategies thread first.... Great read and explanation as always Sean!

I do have some additional points to make that may help:
- firstly, any defeated Ringmaster that ends with a multiball (Frenzy, Razz, Special) can be best stacked with Juggler MB in my opinion. If you time it correctly and master two shots, hitting the Ringmaster hole and shooting the Juggler orbit, then you can stretch out those multiballs indefinitely (in theory). The thing with Juggler MB is that you can lock balls whilst being in the MB and that's not the case with Highwire or Strike-an-Arc MB. Via the Juggler and Acrobat Orbits, you essentially can lock two balls for a short time before they are released again. This is my favorite setup: activate the Ringmaster round (any collar lights already activated are icing on the cake and diminish the risk of losing both MB chances before you stack) and start working toward Juggler MB and activate it. The first orbits can scream around the bend, but they can be deadpassed from right to left and it's even possible although a bit tricky to backhand the Juggler orbit from the left flipper. Defeat the Ringmaster with the Juggler MB and activate the Ringmaster MB. Don't worry about losing a ball before defeating the Ringmaster, getting the Ringmaster MB will resurrect the Juggler MB. Controlling this situation works best for me with 2 balls, so I lose 1 or 2 balls depending on the particular MB on purpose because they tend to get in the way of my aimed shots. Alternate hitting the Ringmaster and shooting the Juggler orbit. The Ringmaster kickout can be deadpassed from the left to the right and cradled for an orbit shot for Juggler MB jackpots and locks. You start with a normal jackpot (500.000) and within two timers can get up for a double (1.000.000) and super jackpot (2.000.000). If a timer runs outs, the locked ball will be released at the Juggler kickout, this ball can be trapped immediately at the left flipper. From there you can hit the Ringmaster (jackpots range somewhere between 300.000 and 600.000, double when you hit two balls quickly in succession), after which the ball can be dead-passed again from left to the right for an orbit shot. The trick is to get in the right rhytm and alternate between shooting orbits and the Ringmaster, and feeling like a wizard when you get it rolling! The point rewards are fairly nice, with 3.500.000 for a completed Juggler MB cycle and Ringmaster jackpots in between. 20 M is easily gotten from this setup, and I have probably scored 30M or 40M or more on some occasions. I'm still debating if it's better to not score the Super Juggler MB jackpot, because this releases the two balls fairly quickly after each other. This can be controlled but is also the hardest situation to get back in rhytm and requires shooting in flow, not from cradled balls. On the other hand is scoring the 2M the most attractive points reward from this setup.
- On iOS a ball that returns from the Highwire ramp can be cradled on the fly by holding the right flipper up. The hole at the end of the ramprail will absorb a lot of momentum and the ball will lose enough speed to cradle. But be careful: 1 in 10 balls will tip over the right flipper and you better be ready to save it with the left flipper! This cradle is essential in controlling the ball in the second Cirqus stage when you have to unmask Voltaire because it sets up a controlled ball for shooting the Ringmaster again, after shooting the ramp. If your aim is precise, it's possible to catch the ball back on the right flipper after hitting the Ringmaster and you can finish this whole mode on 1 ball and only from the right flipper. But I must say that I lose the most (extra) balls on this part of the multistage wizard mode.
- The Volt rollovers lead to the irritating Boom Balloon popup bumper (which btw they should have had in lowered position during Party Multiball, or hits should count toward the extra ball which they obviously don't). I think I have never gotten the extra ball from the Balloon, so I should probably wait until it times out as suggested above. However, I'm not good at waiting things out.... So I try to shoot the Spin Marvel loop around the ringmaster (from left to right), which leads to a Ricochet from the Balloon up the Acrobat orbit. When it comes down again, I nudge leftwards to hit the Balloon and with the right timing, the ball goes up the orbit again. This way I can get in 5-6 hits on the Balloon before it lowers again. Because of the time the ball needs to go up and down the orbit, there is no risk for a tilt. A good combo with the Balloon is the Hat-Trick Sideshow award because the Ringmaster kickout will hit the Balloon and carom into the Ringmaster hole, this way the mode completes itself. But then again, waiting for it to time out is probably best....

All in all I must say this table has become fun after I avoided it at first. I thought the outlanes were too much of a drainfest and I was turned off because of the Neon Multiball bug in which the camera stays fixed on the plunger area and the flippers stay dead. This happens in about 1 in 3 times I think, but you feel robbed of an extra ball anyway (even when completing this mode is no easy thing!). I'll try the Ringmaster Battle trick and then move on to other tables!

 

[vikingerik]

Nice writeup. The Ringmaster jackpot value depends on which Ringmaster MB is running. Frenzie is 250k, Razz depends on a starting hurryup between 500k-250k, Special is 500k with an initial increase available to about 570k. But also note that every jackpot of any type scores more than the advertised value: they all launch a cannonball for an extra 250k, plus each cannonball counts for bonus too.

I found that same sequence of shots with Juggler and Ringmaster MBs stacked. But then I found an even easier track. Just cycle both balls through the ringmaster endlessly. Have one on the right flipper and the other ejecting from the kickout. Just after the second passes overhead, shoot the first from the right flipper into the ringmaster. Dead pass the kickout ball to the right flipper, and repeat. With this method, Juggler and Highwire stacks aren't meaningful, but Strike-an-Arc adds quite a bit more points.

Yes, that method of nudging from the orbit into the Boom Balloon works. Also works during Party Multiball for some easy points while holding the other ball.

Milking Ringmaster Battle doesn't feel worthwhile to me. I'd rather win it and take the EB. And restarting Battle after the intentional loss isn't trivial, you do have to make the 5 slightly risky Ringmaster hits.

 

[Beatnik-Filmstar]

Big thanks to the OP. Upped my high score yesterday from 165 to 250 or so playing more or less straight. Just did the Ringmaster Battle run to the tune of 596M good for 14th place.

 

[Storm Chaser]

I hadn't played this for a long while but played it again today. I really love the game play of this table. I would even say it is the best of all the tables! The floatiness in the physics (although they might be real) just makes this quite a test on my nerves. The ball just bounces and bounces and you always feel like you are on the verge of losing it.

The "shoot the ringmaster"-strategy seems to be quite viable. Cirqus pays off well but at a high risk, Unmasking the ringmaster always steals 1-2 balls from me.

 

[DanBradford]

What is going on with this table, anyone know?

I am used to it being buggy (mostly to do with the camera not behaving as intended, it ignores the shooter lane when needed there, it ignores the cannon ball run when needed there, it sometimes won't let you plunge when needed - all irritating but generally you can play round them) but wtf is it getting worse? Did they ever fix this or is it now 2 years since this one was fixed up?

I just almost had a good game. I say almost because I was mastering the universe and being epic and being Voltaire and battling and all that good stuff when suddenly I just lost control and had to watch as all my balls drained over 30 sec or so, powerless to operate flippers or pause to call attendant or anything. I felt cheated.

So who do I have to ask to get this table debugged?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

3 years later and still not fixed

 

[Kolchak357]

Compare CV to a current release table. Seems like a different app all together. CV could use a soccer-mom at the mall makeover.

 

[sneakynotsneaky]

I've always found CV pretty tough but I finally had a good game on it yesterday (724m) so I wanted to record some thoughts.

- Just keep the ball away from the slings and outlanes at all costs. Lots of proactive nudging high up the table to keep things under control. BUT also worth getting to know exactly what a "safe" roll into the outlane looks like. Many are predictably safe.
- I made very little use of Battle. I had one half decent Battle worth in total about 16m, the others I lost almost immediately. Nevetheless I was up to ~17m? I think per ringmaster defeat by the end.
- The biggest difference with previous "could have been" games was that I lost only one ball across 3 successful Join the Cirqus runs. I was able to hit that ramp shot unusually consistently on the 2nd stage. I almost deliberately drain the 2 extra balls during the 2nd stage after the ball saver is gone because I find them more trouble than they're worth.
- I shot for juggler more than I usually do and paid more attention to stacking multiballs.

I guess nothing revolutionary here. Just really that I've never been particularly successful by trying to focus on ringmaster battles. For me a more organic playstyle is safer for some reason. A big challenge with CV both here and in the real life version is jut having the patience to focus through the endless stop-start.

 

[vikingerik]

- I made very little use of Battle. I had one half decent Battle worth in total about 16m, the others I lost almost immediately. Nevetheless I was up to ~17m? I think per ringmaster defeat by the end.

You're right. Ringmaster Battle isn't where to get points. You do want the extra ball from it, but getting that is more important than trying to extend the battle for points. This thread way overstates the value of the 1M per Battle shot. You get that much from multiball jackpots anyway and that's without the time limit.