Official Poll For New Difficulty Mode

Please Choose 8 Tables:

  • The Twilight Zone

    Votes: 60 82.2%
  • Creature From The Black Lagoon

    Votes: 28 38.4%
  • Scared Stiff

    Votes: 54 74.0%
  • The Addams Family

    Votes: 31 42.5%
  • Monster Bash

    Votes: 30 41.1%
  • Ripley's Believe It Or Not

    Votes: 20 27.4%
  • Theatre of Magic

    Votes: 18 24.7%
  • Black Hole

    Votes: 17 23.3%
  • Funhouse

    Votes: 40 54.8%
  • Earthshaker

    Votes: 7 9.6%
  • High Speed

    Votes: 15 20.5%
  • Junk Yard

    Votes: 12 16.4%
  • Terminator 2

    Votes: 21 28.8%
  • Cue Ball Wizard

    Votes: 4 5.5%
  • Centaur

    Votes: 9 12.3%
  • Whirlwind

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Bride of Pinbot

    Votes: 23 31.5%
  • Cactus Canyon

    Votes: 14 19.2%
  • Attack From Mars

    Votes: 52 71.2%
  • Taxi

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • No Good Gofers

    Votes: 25 34.2%
  • Victory

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Class of 1812

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Who Dunnit

    Votes: 9 12.3%
  • Fish Tales

    Votes: 4 5.5%
  • Party zone

    Votes: 3 4.1%
  • Black Knight 2000

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • Medieval Madness

    Votes: 41 56.2%
  • Dr. Dude

    Votes: 4 5.5%

  • Total voters
    73
Status
Not open for further replies.

Kolchak357

Senior Pigeon
May 31, 2012
8,102
2
i knew this **** would be a culsterfeck be thankful its not all 50 plus there will be a second round so vote wisely...none of this nexon bs

You know a lot of people will just vote for their favorite pins no matter what.
 

Gus

Member
Mar 5, 2014
432
0
The largest issue MM has, although it's not the only one, is that you can farm Extra Balls forever with relatively little risk. I think it deserves a spot on the poll list, although I didn't personally vote for it this time.
The supersafe deadpassing and trapping on both flippers from both orbits. The same can be said for many tables (e.g. TAF) with the guaranteed predictability on kickouts etc. Without that those tables would be much harder. I love (the real) MM but can't stand it on TPA due to this.
 

rehtroboi40

New member
Oct 20, 2012
1,668
0
You are not only limited to 3 in RBION. My bigger issue with the table though is how predictable the bounces are. Off the top of my head I can't remember the sequence anymore, but I showed a friend a 5 bounce combo off sling shots and such that had the same result 9/10 times. And there are a bunch of them on RBION. Makes sense, as it was part of the initial 4, which is why I'd rather it have a complete tuning overhaul but will take difficulty instead since I know that's not going to happen.

Even in games where I've earned more than three extra balls (combined with specials which also translate into extra balls), the game has never given me more than three on the PC version, just like in Harley Davidson, another Stern table.

Come to think of it, it's been awhile. I might play it again in the next few days to see if you are right.
 

Kratos3

New member
Sep 22, 2013
2,352
1
The supersafe deadpassing and trapping on both flippers from both orbits. The same can be said for many tables (e.g. TAF) with the guaranteed predictability on kickouts etc. Without that those tables would be much harder. I love (the real) MM but can't stand it on TPA due to this.

Yes! I love it on TPA though. I watched a PAPA tournament where they played it and the ball hit the slingshot coming down off of each orbit sending it firing across the playfield.
 

Gorgar

Active member
Mar 31, 2012
1,332
8
Voted for:

Twilight Zone
Scared Stiff
Black Hole
Funhouse
High Speed
Who Dunnit
Junkyard
Black Knight 2000

But I didn't see Bride of Pinbot. Is there any way I can swap Who Dunnit for Bride of Pinbot, or is it too late?
 

Pinballwiz45b

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2012
3,681
34
Here's PAPA's take on some of the games listed: http://papa.org/learning-center/director-resources/directors/game-notes/

Bride of Pin*Bot: "Bride of Pinbot will be a long playing game in a competitive environment. Whether Bride of Pinbot is a usable competition game is determined by the software settings. If set to factory, players will shoot the left ramp repeatedly in hopes of achieving the billion-point award. The billion point award in this game is random and extremely unbalanced, and therefore very unfair in a competitive setting." (Obvious bad tournament game is obvious.)

No Good Gofers: "No Good Gofers has several bugs that make the game a poor competitive choice. Examples include but are not limited to: Free lock award can cause problems during subsequent multiballs after a player has scored a super jackpot. Bud will sometimes block the ramp during ripoff. Quick Jackpot award from the wheel does not always score correctly. Cart Attack scoring can become unbalanced and score 50m." (Bud remained up after Ripoff for me. Not a viable choice.)

Cactus Canyon: "Expert players will exploit the infinite showdown multiball possibility."

Earthshaker: "Long playing game due to the center-ramp-all-day strategy. The center ramp feeds the left flipper for an easily repeatable shot. The main problem is the center ramp also awards “miles”. After a player reaches the End of the Road mode at 99 miles, the center ramp is then worth 250k points per shot, making it extremely lucrative and reasonably easy to attain for better players. Directors are encouraged to avoid using Earthshaker in any competition that requires extended qualifying. Why are you about to use Earthshaker? Do you really want to watch someone shoot a ramp 300 straight times?"

Terminator 2: "Terminator 2 software contains bugs that can potentially be devastating to a competitive game. Known bugs include: 255 drop target hits to multiball, and a multiball bug that may occur when a ball is locked with zero seconds left on the timer causing a string of odd behavior from the game." (Having played TPA's version, I haven't seen these issues. It may be viable. Plus, no 4-player format in these tournaments.)
 
Last edited:

workshed

New member
Feb 26, 2015
227
0
Bride of Pin*Bot: "Bride of Pinbot will be a long playing game in a competitive environment. Whether Bride of Pinbot is a usable competition game is determined by the software settings. If set to factory, players will shoot the left ramp repeatedly in hopes of achieving the billion-point award. The billion point award in this game is random and extremely unbalanced, and therefore very unfair in a competitive setting." (Obvious bad tournament game is obvious.)

Do you know anything recent about BoP 2.0 from Dutch Pinball, which is intended to rectify many of these problems? It looked cool but I haven't heard anything recently, and I hesitate to try and keep track on pinside. Everyone here seems far more laid back, which I love.

edit: erk, looking farther seems some BoP 2.0 kits have shipped. Still on pre-orders for the second batch. nvm
 
Last edited:

Reagan Dow

New member
Jul 23, 2014
1,277
0
i am unable to read all the posts right now but correct me if I'm wrong. Certainly all of season 3 and season 4 tables have pro modes so you can change the difficulty on your own. I bet FS could implement some way to have different level scoring boards if ALL that was to be changed was the level if play i.e.: easy, medium,hard or whatever For the time being just like SYT is doing< we could randomly pick a table each week and agree on a table and a setting (Those tables in season 1 and 2 that also have pro mode) and for now, work on the honor system? It seem to be working well for the weekly and monthly contests. Just a random thought.
 

JPelter

New member
Jun 11, 2012
652
0
Even in games where I've earned more than three extra balls (combined with specials which also translate into extra balls), the game has never given me more than three on the PC version, just like in Harley Davidson, another Stern table.

Come to think of it, it's been awhile. I might play it again in the next few days to see if you are right.

RBION does limit extra balls, but it's not to 3. Last time I played I had 7 or 8 of them stacked. I think the limit is 8 or 9 and then it stops giving them out for the rest of the game. I think the instructions even mention the number somewhere.

Noteworthy is that the extra balls barely even matter in ripley. If you play careful enough it is nearly impossible to drain on that table. I was somewhere north of 6 billion when I drained my first ball and the game bugged out on bonus countdown before I could tilt.
 
Last edited:

shutyertrap

Moderator
Staff member
Mar 14, 2012
7,334
0
Certainly all of season 3 and season 4 tables have pro modes so you can change the difficulty on your own.

While in theory this is true, in the virtual world of TPA it isn't. Each table is tuned to the way it currently plays. That means collision detection parameters, how easily a ball travels to certain areas, things like that. You cannot change outlane post distances, size of the rubbers on posts, the actual physical things on a table that can be changed like they do in reality. We have been asking, even in person, for difficulty settings since the end of season 1. We had hoped PRO mode would maybe answer that, and it completely did not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

No members online now.

Members online

No members online now.
Top