Table of the Week Club...week 6: NO GOOD GOFERS!

[Slam23]

Played the table a couple of times this week, best score was in the region of 360M, about half my best game. It's very hard to gauge scoring on this table because of the steady progressive scale on which you can score with MB (Super) Jackpots and Drive Range going up incrementally. 1B seems daunting therefore, and while I remember I did't want to touch the table anymore after my near 700M, it may have been easier to get to 1B from there, then from 0 to 700. I have yet to find a spot this week to take the time to grind, and I'm also still of a mind to get past my 4.6B score on TAF. Still some HOF points to get there!
I was also reading VikingErik's post about how you don't get into some of the tables. I think the problem with NGG maybe that the table itself doesn't take itself that seriously. A lot of things that may have felt like an accomplishment on another table, feel a bit silly here. Also, the table lacks a distinct wizard mode to gun for, only the Hole-in-One Challenge comes near but feels not very different from regular MB. I do like the Hole-in-One ramp and shot though, it is difficult enough to shoot for to feel like an accomplishment to hit it. I'm experimenting with nudging to see if I can influence missed shots, especially the one that trickles over to the right ramp. No luck with that though, it seems the physics are set in stone for those shots.

 

[karl]

What kind of scores is everyone averaging on this thing? I feel like I'm on the low end, often coming in around 50-60 million. It really does feel like the only strategy there is to this table is to get multiball and then keep it for as long as possible. I managed to get every single wizard goal completed without trying for a single one, they all just 'happened'. My gut tells me I enjoy this table, but my head is understanding why I don't play it more often. It's just kind of mindless.

That happened to me too. Got all the wizard goals before I had checked out what they really were. I tend to play a few rounds on every new table, just to get a feel for it before going for the goals but on this one it all happened by itself(pure luck???).

My first thought was that this looked like a great table. Hole in one is a very memorable shot and a lot of other things to shoot for also. It really is one action-packed playfield.

But soon the feeling changed. Like others have said it feels like you are just doing things randomly, flailing around. Trying to get holes and multiball. Also, I hate the bumpers in this game. I tend to hit the putting green a lot when I am not aiming for it and every time that happens, it is back to bumper hell. With a better set of rules, I believe this could have been a fantastic table.

 

[Slam23]

Does anybody experience a "camera stuck on plunger" when a ball gets pushed back in the plunger lane after being stuck behind the upper right flipper? This happened to me twice during MB and corrected itself only after plunging that ball and draining back to one ball, costing me my MB. I don't remember that behaviour from before the last update to this table. Also, a ball that slowly rolls up the left orbit and falls back again before rounding the corner can go SDTM while seemingly hitting an uneven patch in the playfield somewhere beside the two posts that "catch" the ball from the bumper area before feeding the left inlanes. Hasn't been there before. And lastly I had a couple of balls getting stuck in those said posts which needed a nudge to get them going again.

 

[invitro]

What kind of scores is everyone averaging on this thing? I feel like I'm on the low end, often coming in around 50-60 million. It really does feel like the only strategy there is to this table is to get multiball and then keep it for as long as possible.

This is very, very low. It would not come close to even the #1000 score, which is around 145M.

My strategy is (a) use the 9-holes multiball to rack up EBs, (b) try extremely hard to get jackpots in MB, and (c) well to try to get as many hole-in-ones as possible. Nothing too fancy, right. Looping the center ramp is fairly easy for me, and the 9 ramps that I think are the max needed to relight lock are not a big obstacle, unless Bud is stuck (see above). There are other awards that increase in value seemingly forever, but I don't quite understand those yet.

 

[invitro]

I must be doing something wrong but it took me hours to get to 4B.

You don't know how many hours, do you? I'm curious. I'd guess five hours?

 

[shutyertrap]

remind me not to have you guys in my grouping for the tourney!

 

[jaredmorgs]

remind me not to have you guys in my grouping for the tourney!

This is why two plays with a 20 minute cap on each table would be great for me.

 

[JPelter]

NGG is a truly great table in real life, but Farsight nearly destroyed it with the raft of killer bugs. I thought these were well known, but maybe not, according to the posts above. Here's my rundown:

1. Bud gets stuck in a raised position for several minutes, preventing shots to the center ramp.

2. Balls hit under Bud for a lock are treated as hitting the green, preventing locks.

3. Camera gets stuck on plunger when a multiball starts.

I think NGG may be the most bugged table now? Oh, this is on PC, as always, the bugs may not be on all platforms.

I played for two hours last night to a score of 724M and a few EBs on ball 2, when TPA locked up and then crashed. I think this was partly my fault, as I accidentally brushed my Windows key, which switched to the desktop. I switched back and TPA didn't crash right then, as it often does, but it did some 10 minutes later. I'm kind of sore because my high is 2.2B and I felt like I had the patience to last at least another two hours. I need to see if I can disable the Windows key.

I had bugs 1 and 2 happen several times... maybe bug 3 has been fixed. These two happen nearly every time for me now. I tried to get a handle on how to best deal with them. When Bud gets stuck up, it seems that he may be more likely to get unstuck if you can start a multiball somehow. Maybe. When Bud's lock doesn't work, I seem to have better luck shooting it from the right flipper. Maybe a third of the shots will count as locks.

I still mostly love NGG. It does get repetitive after 2 hours but so does every other table .

#1 is not a bug. You can't hit the ramp more than two or three times in a row or bud will block the ramp for the rest of the ball. It's totally intentional and present in the actual machine. You need to alternate some other shot between the ramps.

 

[kinggo]

Hmmm, so it's kind of like a dumb popcorn flick. You have a decent time while in it and then completely stop caring the moment it is over!

Not for me. This one is for sure in top 10 of TPA tables. I will ignore all this xB talks and enjoy my games of ~100M for a very long time.

 

[invitro]

#1 is not a bug. You can't hit the ramp more than two or three times in a row or bud will block the ramp for the rest of the ball. It's totally intentional and present in the actual machine. You need to alternate some other shot between the ramps.

Thank you for this info. I should've checked the NGG forum. Oops. This is not mentioned in the TPA NGG rules or Keefer's old rulesheet, but is here: http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/2179-Bud-gets-stuck-in-the-raised-position

And maybe my second is supposed to happen or a ROM bug: http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/2476-Balls-not-locking-(bug-I-think)

 

[Slam23]

Upped my best for the week to 460M, can't get a constant level of play. Building up a lot of extra balls, then burning 2-3 a time. I guess I'm not that motivated this week, maybe I'll give it another go this weekend.

 

[vikingerik]

near 700M, it may have been easier to get to 1B from there, then from 0 to 700.

Yes. It's quadratic. In fact, 0 -> 700M would be the same time and effort as 700M -> 2800M. Where linear scoring would go 0 -> X -> 2X, quadratic progression goes 0 -> X -> 4X. (Not exactly true since not all score elements are quadratic, but broadly so in the later game when the progressive stuff dominates.)

Other tables with progressive scoring work the same way, STTNG and Ripley's in particular. Doubling the length of a 100B or 100M game gets you 400B or 400M.

CFTBL is even more extreme, the doubling jackpot escalates not as N[SUP]2[/SUP] but as 2[SUP]N[/SUP], exponential rather than quadratic. Although you only get three or four doublings before it maxes.

I'm experimenting with nudging to see if I can influence missed shots, especially the one that trickles over to the right ramp. No luck with that though, it seems the physics are set in stone for those shots.

I know exactly the shot you mean, where the ball rolls off the right edge of the red barrier into the right ramp. It IS possible to stop that shot in time to fall in the hole-in-one, but you have to nudge incredibly early, at the first instant it touches the sloped segment of the barrier.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

my strategy: play "monster bash" instead. wheee!

 

[Slam23]

Yes. It's quadratic. In fact, 0 -> 700M would be the same time and effort as 700M -> 2800M. Where linear scoring would go 0 -> X -> 2X, quadratic progression goes 0 -> X -> 4X. (Not exactly true since not all score elements are quadratic, but broadly so in the later game when the progressive stuff dominates.)

Other tables with progressive scoring work the same way, STTNG and Ripley's in particular. Doubling the length of a 100B or 100M game gets you 400B or 400M.

CFTBL is even more extreme, the doubling jackpot escalates not as N[SUP]2[/SUP] but as 2[SUP]N[/SUP], exponential rather than quadratic. Although you only get three or four doublings before it maxes.



I know exactly the shot you mean, where the ball rolls off the right edge of the red barrier into the right ramp. It IS possible to stop that shot in time to fall in the hole-in-one, but you have to nudge incredibly early, at the first instant it touches the sloped segment of the barrier.

Good insights, I'll try that nudge to see if I can get it to work. Do you use a straight left nudge because I'm also thinking upwards to stop momentum of the ball?

 

[Gus]

You don't know how many hours, do you? I'm curious. I'd guess five hours?

I'm not really sure since I paused the game and played off and on over a couple of evenings, but I'd say something like 4-5 hours. That was with loads of extraballs of course, so with the tournament rule of plunging extraballs a game will be much quicker.