Done with Cactus Canyon

[ScotchYeti]

I love the funny Western theme of Cactus Canyon but the ramps kill the table for me. From the left ramp there is a 10% chance that the ball goes SDTM. It's cheap and I refuse to nudge because this is not a danger zone where the player can decide if he wants to take the risk or not. It's either a bug or poor design.

It's also surprising how many on-the-fly shots with the right flipper will hit something on the table and immediately drain in the right outlane. The Wild West can be cruel.

 

[Carl Spiby]

I think the collision detection on CC is a bit off. It has the AFM orbit issue too.

 

[pinballchris]

Yeah I gave up on it too. But they did fix AFM so would imagine this will get its day too. I was getting good at keeping the loops from draining but ball collision and all balls draining after hitting each other was too frustrating.

 

[crazyflipperfingers]

I have no complaints with this table. I think it's one of the best playing tables they've put out so far. There seems to be a little more randomness, which I think is good. For example, after hitting a Bart brother, the ball has 2 or 3 different ways it might feed out, which keeps you on your toes. I like it and I think it plays very fair. I have not had a problem with SDTM drains from the left ramp but that's a common "feature" with many real machines. It's not too difficult to get to High Noon and I completed the Wizard Goals after about a week of play (an hour a day maybe). I really hope they put out Champion Pub. It's from the same era and has some really cool features. If they can do as good a job with that table as they've done with Cactus Canyon, it will be awesome.

 

[gooche77]

I love the table. And hate the table.

 

[TomL]

I love the table. And hate the table.

Same here! I've noticed that tables for me fall into two groups:

- those I'm meh about.
- those I love *and* hate at the same time.

 

[crazyflipperfingers]

I love the table. And hate the table.

Here's how it is for me with basically every table:

1. Start to play and learn rules/shots - I love this table
2. Get down to the last 1 or 2 wizard goals - I HATE this table
3. Complete the wizard goals - I love this table!

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I finally got my wizard goals and am NOW done with this table. The orbits both left and right do that wierd kickout like AFM just with more frequency too bad its a fun table otherwise like AFM. Im still puzzled how this table is about SHOOTING and DRINKING yet rated E. PS3 will have to wait a long time before it gets fixed since its not first in line.

 

[gooche77]

I'm still trying to top my 201 million score. It's not going well.

 

[pinballchris]

I finally got my wizard goals and am NOW done with this table. The orbits both left and right do that wierd kickout like AFM just with more frequency too bad its a fun table otherwise like AFM. Im still puzzled how this table is about SHOOTING and DRINKING yet rated E. PS3 will have to wait a long time before it gets fixed since its not first in line.

I still think they will clean up those loops. AFM is such a great table now that you don't have to worry about the right loop.

 

[Kolchak357]

I still think they will clean up those loops. AFM is such a great table now that you don't have to worry about the right loop.

I hope you are correct. I would certainly play it more if this was fixed.

 

[JefferyD]

Yeah, those hops off the loops are devastating, but I can cope because I don't know any better. Since they cured the iPad Attack From Mars loop, I can't stand to play the (as yet still uncorrected) Mac version; haven't finished one game on it since then. Cactus Canyon? As far as I know that's just the way it plays.

Knowing how nice it is to have that fixed, I'd consider quitting Cactus Canyon, but I think the completion of High Noon is THE most satisfying pinball task. I've only gotten it three times, but there's a real sense of achievement. I like how everything stops, the balls bounce and tumble down the middle, and the machine gives you a quiet moment to reflect. Very cool. Worth the aggravation for me, so far.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I played a REAL CC last week it doesn't do that.

 

[Kolchak357]

I played a REAL CC last week it doesn't do that.

I played one at Pinfest and it played very smoothly too. No crazy jumps down the middle from either side.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I asked Bobby about the orbit issue and here's what he said: "I did that on purpose to make the table a little harder. Before I made a few tweaks, the average player would last forever. A perfect feed every time isn't realistic."

 

[grashopper]

I keep having a issue where I try to catch the ball on the right flipper and it goes all the way up the right inlane, turns right and then bolts down the outlane.
Driving me nuts

 

[Clawhammer]

I asked Bobby about the orbit issue and here's what he said: "I did that on purpose to make the table a little harder. Before I made a few tweaks, the average player would last forever. A perfect feed every time isn't realistic."

I agree that there should be some inconsistency with the kickouts- on TZ for example, letting the ball dead bounce to the left or holding up the right flipper is an easy trap no matter what. Having the ball STDM from a kickout is just going to frustrate players though, especially people new to TPA or those who have a hard time nudging on their device.

It does have to be frustrating for Bobby though- I remember before AFM/CC etc, people were talking about FH, begging for a lack of consistency with the kickout. Now that we have them, there's been a lot of complaints.

 

[Fungi]

I asked Bobby about the orbit issue and here's what he said: " A perfect feed every time isn't realistic."

And a programmed coded tweak that artificially creates a random spontaneous bump is?

 

[smbhax]

Yeah an orbit release is about the most reliable thing there is on a pinball table, normally. If it could be made to deviate just a *smidge* that would be one thing...

 

[ScotchYeti]

I installed the update today in the morning and all of a sudden the left orbit drains much less. I even reached High Noon but had no clue what to do, just made shots and of course didn't hit enough bandits (I use to miss them a lot anyway). Well, another day.

Regarding the randomness: I am completely fine with that. It's not okay to shoot the ball SDTM though, and if this is the case on the real table as well then it's bad design and not fun. How are you supposed to reach the wizard mode if the table will sooner or later show you the middle finger? That it otherwise becomes too easy is another story but there is nothing you can do about it.

I usually don't care too much for the highscore and rather try to get to the Wizard mode (or MultiBall). If it's too hard to reach it (I am looking at you, ZEN!) a table loses much from its appeal.