Request Make it easier to get new tokens

[Gorgar]

I have a request that I am hoping everyone can get on board with. Generally, the pinball machines in Pinball Arcade is supposed to be easier than their real life counterparts to make them more accessible to casual players. However, earning new tokens in Safecracker is actually harder in TPA then in real life.

My understandbug of a real Safecracker machine is the operator would put two rolls of 200 tokens each. A total of 400 tokens each. In each roll, there is an even distribution of each gold token and one silver token. So, as long as you are the only person playing the machine, you should have every token multiple times (including two silver tokens) by the time you earn 400 tokens.

In TPA, it seems like Farsight has the odds of getting a new token correct, but those odds don't increase as you begin to earn the tokens in the machine. So, as it stands, it is highly likely to earn over 1,000 tokens and not see a full set, which is kind of ridiculous to ask of players to earn the wizard goal.

So, I am requesting if Farsight can implement something to make wizard goal a little easier and/or realistic. Maybe a system that can increase the odds of getting a new tokens based on the amount that you have already earned. Or maybe an option to trade x number of duplicate tokens for one that you don't have.

 

[Citizen]

Would be nice. I've ignored that Wizard Goal on every version of TPA thus far, because I'm not a masochist and Safecracker doesn't have enough replayability to put in 1,000+ games per version.

But if they made it on par with the real machine (400 tokens or less for a complete set), I'd go for it.

I can't see why anyone would possibly disagree with making it easier, except maybe people who already ground out a complete set and don't want anyone else to be able to do it easier out of spite.

 

[Kolchak357]

Yeah, they would have to make it a lot easier for me to care. Like never getting a double until you have them all. Other than that, I’ve given up on that one.

 

[Heretic]

Hile safecrackers goal maybe be more infurating than skill based i like the idea that certain goals are are rare or very hard, most of us come from an era when alot of epople couldnt get past the 3rd level of most games, instead of expecting to “complete” a game today. A nice mix of both, pandering to the casuals isnt my idea of fun! Obviously again balance is important but i do need a carrot sometimes

 

[Michael]

So, I am requesting if Farsight can implement something to make wizard goal a little easier and/or realistic. Maybe a system that can increase the odds of getting a new tokens based on the amount that you have already earned.

That's how it should be, if this table is to imitate playing the real one. I don't think Farsight has ever changed a Wizard goal before, but I would say the way it works now is a bug - and bugs should be fixed.

 

[Gorgar]

That's how it should be, if this table is to imitate playing the real one. I don't think Farsight has ever changed a Wizard goal before, but I would say the way it works now is a bug - and bugs should be fixed.

Since I started this thread, Tom the PlayStation dev has since revealed that the odds do in fact increase as long as you don't reset the game.

 

[Kolchak357]

Playing til you get them all without resetting is a huge turd in the punchbowl. This is supposed to be fun. They made this goal totally not fun. I agree with your original premise that it should be made easier.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

All well and good to have a long-running session on a console or on a PC, but on a tablet? Or a 'phone?! Forget it.

 

[Michael]

Since I started this thread, Tom the PlayStation dev has since revealed that the odds do in fact increase as long as you don't reset the game.

Oh really? Ok then... That is mildly encouraging, I suppose... But the 20 or so tokens I've won since the last reset (for the update) still haven't bumped me from 25/26 to 26/26...

When you collected 1000 (!), did you back out of the table or power off the console a lot?

 

[Gorgar]

During my initial run, I quit restart whenever I got a duplicate token for +800 tokens. When all of the tokens were reset due to a bug on PS4, I continued using this method and new tokens were far and few. When I played without resetting (I put the PS4 in standby mode one night with TPA running t avoid losing progress) I had collected the rest of the tokens shortly after earning 80 (since not restarting)

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

The way to envisage how TPA Safe Cracker works is like this:
- When you launch the table for the first time, it as if it has been just switched on with brand new factory settings and a full complement of tokens.
- As long as you don't "switch off" the table, or "refill" the tokens, the more tokens you win, the more likely you are to get ones you're missing. (There's going to be a very nice, symmetrical, probability curve for this; P(duplicate) will be low at first, peak after a certain number of tokens have been won, and start to tail off again as the number of tokens in the machine dwindles.)
- Quitting the table altogether counts as "switching off" the table.
- Quitting a game in progress via the Pause menu also has the same effect as quitting the table; like the operator came along, power-cycled the table, and "refilled" the tokens.

So, to summarize:
- Never "switch off" or "power cycle" or "refill" the table by quitting to the menu, shutting down TPA, or by ending a game in progress via the Pause menu.
- Stay calm and keep on playing....

 

[Zaphod77]

so if you reset even once or quit the table you are starting all over on your quest pretty much.

who has the patience to get 200 tokens in one sitting with no resets?

 

[kinggo]

on this game, I do not for sure. Have to say that even Goin' Nuts is a much better game than this. Pure luck is too much a factor here to make it enjoyable.

 

[Michael]

who has the patience to get 200 tokens in one sitting with no resets?

You don't have to do it in one sitting obviously. I don't know what system you play on, but on the PS4 you can put the console in rest mode over night and even put TPA in a suspended state to run other games or apps. As long as you don't exit the table or TPA or power off the console, you keep your progress. I played a session every day for 12 days, kept collecting VAULT letters and hitting the vault for 3 tokens a pop, over and over. Collected a few bonus tokens from the teller and the board game along the way. Even so, it really does test anyone's patience... But it can be done - most likely by getting less than 100 tokens, since the first half of your token map will fill up quickly, and you have roughly a 1 in 25 chance of getting a specific token (not counting the silver). When you get up over 20 tokens, you might well have to wait 10, 20 or even 30 tokens to get a new one, but because of the actual stock of coins in the machine, usually no longer than that (assuming it works as the real machine, which has been indicated). I think I had the full 26 in about 80 tokens collected, and that was with exiting the table twice - once for a bug, once for the last update. I had 60 tokens total when I got my 26th, but at that point I had also played Assault on the Vault about 20 times for extra VAULT letters.

on this game, I do not for sure. Have to say that even Goin' Nuts is a much better game than this. Pure luck is too much a factor here to make it enjoyable.

The luck factor just means it'll take longer time to reach the goal, not that you won't get there. Turn off the alarms while the clock is running, get the teller note, defeat the dog (let ball bounce to left flipper when you're kicked out, trap, and backhand the cellar - safe and easy shot. For extra wizard points, time the shot so the light will stop close to the vault entrance on the board game when you restart it), optionally collect the skeleton key from a code if given the opportunity, and you will break into the vault, even if you're thrown out a couple of times first because of something you picked from the "?" spot or by being captured by the guard. Assuming you don't drain in sudden death first, of course...

 

[Zaphod77]

i play on pc and you CANNOT suspend TPA there. and even if you alt tab out you may have to reboot for a critical update, and then bam starting all over again with the dispenser filled.

 

[Michael]

i play on pc and you CANNOT suspend TPA there. and even if you alt tab out you may have to reboot for a critical update, and then bam starting all over again with the dispenser filled.

Then I wouldn't even dream of attempting it. Just write that one off - as you probably have done with Genie's 3M high score anyway (I know I have...)

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Genie 3M isn't impossible, on any platform. Very hard, yes. Impossible, no. Unlike Safe Cracker, you can achieve it in a single game.
Theoretically you could do Safe Cracker the "easy" way on PC, it's just easier if you know that nobody else is going to use that PC in the meantime.
For instance I'd have to lock out my daughter and disable the auto-updates that run on Saturday nights and always reboot the PC.

 

[Michael]

I didn't say it was impossible, just that I've written off attempting it. The token goal isn't hard in and of itself, it's just that it takes a ridiculous amount of time.

 

[yespage]

There should be three levels of goals. Reasonable, Hard, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This particular one, being over a very long haul is definitely OCD level. It also should come with some sort of reward.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

There should be three levels of goals. Reasonable, Hard, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This particular one, being over a very long haul is definitely OCD level. It also should come with some sort of reward.

Kind of like when if you managed to become Elite in the original game you could send off a code and you'd get a certificate or something? I remember one other game where if you completed it, you sent the code in to the company and they sent back a pin.

Maybe if you can prove you've collected all the tokens, Farsight could send you a token from their actual Safe Cracker table!