Request Training Table or Training mode

[mpad]

It would be great if there was a training table or training mode to improve the skills.
I know you should do this by playing a lot with normal tables, but sometimes you don't need all the gameplay mechanics and stuff if you just want to play around with the flippers and a a lot of draining is going on. You just loose a lot of time with that.
What I could imagine is a simple table with two ramps and the lower part of the flipper wit in- and outlanes, maybe featuring a huge center pin to avoid draining through the center hole. Or instant teleport of the drained ball back to the playfield or sth. Like that.
Instead of a dedicated table this could also be implemented as a mode for regular tables.

 

[Slam23]

+1 I like this suggestion. It would be fun to add some tutorial video's based on that training table, explaining basic and advanced techniques that are possible within TPA. These would be short fragments, dealing with things like cradling, post-passing, deadpassing, nudging, and cradle separations in multiball situations. If it's a mode for regular tables, you could go into table-specific strategies that we normally post in text-form on this forum and just show it how it's done.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Just play Scared Stiff...

 

[kinggo]

I dont't think that something like this would help. Each table has its own tips 'n tricks and the only way to get along with them is to play that table. Just try post pass in a few tables and see how different it is from table to table.

 

[netizen]

You could play AFM with Novice Mode enabled if you have the pro version

 

[Squid]

I dont't think that something like this would help. Each table has its own tips 'n tricks and the only way to get along with them is to play that table. Just try post pass in a few tables and see how different it is from table to table.

I agree. Just put some time into the table you want to get better at. I know it's tough when you got so many tables to choose from.

 

[mpad]

I dont't think that something like this would help. Each table has its own tips 'n tricks and the only way to get along with them is to play that table. Just try post pass in a few tables and see how different it is from table to table.

Yeah I didn't mean to get better at any specific table. More like how to propperly stop a ball, mak a pass, try whats happening when you nudge etc.
I'm really a beginner at those advanced tricks. When I play a table I atomatically get distracted by all the nice table elements and goals and find it a waste to just mess around. And if you know you will drain the ball a houndred times while trying something new it can get very anoying to click trough all the menues and wait untill the table is ready every three balls. Also you beginn to the hate the welcome speach if you hear it every few seconds
So a save testing envionment with unlimited lives would be great.

 

[netizen]

So a save testing envionment with unlimited lives would be great.

You could play AFM with Novice Mode enabled if you have the pro version

Set it for three minutes and you have unlimited play for that much guaranteed time; doesn't matter how many balls you sink or what. It's a great practice tool if you can not get sucked into the "plot" of the game. However, ever the modes can be good practice for making shots under pressure or in a set time.

Of course if you have pro Mode you could also just set it for a 10 ball game with max extra balls, 4 replay levels and everything set to give you an EB. That should be pretty close to unlimited play too.

 

[DrainoBraino]

Big Shot is your huckleberry.

 

[mikehg]

Set it to a four player game, you've got at least twelve balls before the restart...

I find the early SS tables (e.g. Gorgar, Genie and Firepower) the least distracting, but really it's personal preference.

 

[kinggo]

More like how to propperly stop a ball, mak a pass, try whats happening when you nudge etc.

and all that is different from table to table. On some tables you can simply catch the ball from loop by holding the flipper up but on some other that same technique will bounce your ball high enough to go inline or even outline. Or like on MM, high enough to go to catapult.
As soon as you would switch from "training" table to something else, you would start learning from the begining things that does work on that table. And that's the fun in pinball. Otherwise, all tables would feel the same and where's the fun in that and what's the point? Good pinball is a ballance between fun and frustration. If there is no frustration than there's no fun because that means that table is too easy and becomes boring to quickly.

 

[mpad]

Thanks for all the advice! I really haven't thought of stretching the the game with multi-player etc. I definitely have to dig more into the pro settings. Is there a manual how to set these things up?

 

[netizen]

Thanks for all the advice! I really haven't thought of stretching the the game with multi-player etc. I definitely have to dig more into the pro settings. Is there a manual how to set these things up?

I have a blog post that is a quick and dirty intro to the operator settings; mostly the Bally/Williams interface, but you can muddle through most once you get the hang of it

 

[DaPinballWizard]

I wish that the user could put 1) a post in the middle to stop drains there. 2) a post on each side for the side drains. Make is so the user can choose left only, right only, all 3 or any combination they want. Of course this would make it so the high scores are disabled if any posts are active. Something like that would be nice.

Or. How about a feature where you place the ball where ever you want on the table. Such as you place the ball on the right side just starting to come down the right inside drain. There is a button on the play field that starts the game. The ball immediately starts rolling down the path you set it to once you hit the start button. A second later the ball is on the right flipper so you can try to make a warp shot in STTNG or any other shot. There would be another button to stop the action, then just hit the start button to do it all over again and practice the shot over and over as much as you want. If you want a different ball location then just have a reset button or set button to set a new ball placement. This could be done for each table.

Now that would be a nice feature. Not sure how hard the coding would be to do it.

 

[Espy]

I wish that the user could put 1) a post in the middle to stop drains there. 2) a post on each side for the side drains. Make is so the user can choose left only, right only, all 3 or any combination they want. Of course this would make it so the high scores are disabled if any posts are active. Something like that would be nice.

Or. How about a feature where you place the ball where ever you want on the table. Such as you place the ball on the right side just starting to come down the right inside drain. There is a button on the play field that starts the game. The ball immediately starts rolling down the path you set it to once you hit the start button. A second later the ball is on the right flipper so you can try to make a warp shot in STTNG or any other shot. There would be another button to stop the action, then just hit the start button to do it all over again and practice the shot over and over as much as you want. If you want a different ball location then just have a reset button or set button to set a new ball placement. This could be done for each table.

Now that would be a nice feature. Not sure how hard the coding would be to do it.

For your first point, that would go back to the fact that Farsight aren't allowed to alter the machines from the way they came out of the factory when they were first produced, so no extra posts.

For your second point, with pro mode you can actually position the ball where you want. So you could use that.

 

[mikehg]

I think practising nudging would be a good reason to model a *very* early machine (like bagatelle - spring launcher, no flippers) - they don't have a tilt mechanism.

They're genericised so you don't have to worry about a perfect representation, and they'd be comparatively very easy to model anyway because of their simplicity. Plus they're an important part of 'pinball' history.

I doubt it's going to happen in the immediate future (and you *definitely* wouldn't get away with charging much for it), but I'd personally like to see it eventually.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Thanks. I wasn't aware you could do that with pro mode.