2.0.5 Plunger Changes

EGRyan · Nov 15, 2012

grashopper said:
Bug description:Weak plungers, most noticeable on the Taxi skillshot and No Good Gofers.
Taxi doesn't have enough power to even reach the 100 anymore.
Gofers doesn't have enough power to make it up the blue ramp to set up a hole in one shot off the plunger.

Steps to reproduce:Every plunger shot

Additional Comments: Seems all the tables have had their plungers weakened, the balls seem like they aren't quite hitting where they used to or should on a full plunge.
Tried 2 controllers and a PS3 reset and the issue remains.

I have noticed this plunger issue, too.

DarkAkatosh · Nov 15, 2012

You aren't doing a full plunge. It's more realistic now. Try doing a quick snap back and release of the analog stick on Taxi and that should shoot you way over the 100k skill shot.

ScotchYeti · Nov 15, 2012

@DarkAkatosh, the plunger is a spring that stores the energy. It doesn't matter if you pull the plunger slowly or fast, what counts is how far you have pulled it. It's similar to shooting with a bow. You can pull the string fast or slow, the distance only depends on how far far you have pulled it.

The clear expectation is: max. pull, max. power. I have no idea why this is so difficult...

DarkAkatosh · Nov 15, 2012

ScotchYeti said:
@DarkAkatosh, the plunger is a spring that stores the energy. It doesn't matter if you pull the plunger slowly or fast, what counts is how far you have pulled it. It's similar to shooting with a bow. You can pull the string fast or slow, the distance only depends on how far far you have pulled it.

The clear expectation is: max. pull, max. power. I have no idea why this is so difficult...

Be as it may, its still an accurate statement. Can't please everyone no matter how much tweaking they do. An analog stick isn't a good depiction of a real plunger.

brakel · Nov 15, 2012

There is a difference in power in a real plunger whether you pull back until it stops and you let go to release the plunger OR you pull back through the plunger stop so that the plunger is ripped out of your hand and releases. The latter giving the ball more power. I suspect that the reason why is that the release is quicker and more energy of the spring is transferred to the ball. When you simply release the plunger there is a moment when the plunger is starting to move with the force of the spring but is still in some contact with your hand. Through that friction, some energy spent reducing the amount of energy that will propel the ball.

Biff · Nov 15, 2012

grashopper said:
Bug description:Weak plungers, most noticeable on the Taxi skillshot and No Good Gofers.
Taxi doesn't have enough power to even reach the 100 anymore.
Gofers doesn't have enough power to make it up the blue ramp to set up a hole in one shot off the plunger.

Steps to reproduce:Every plunger shot

All wrong. This ain't a bug.
Plungers are more realistic now. You just need the right technique.
Don't pull the plunger slowly and don't wait when it's at max.
It must be done quickly. The faster, the stronger.
All of my shots have enough power for the ramp in NGG and go beyond 100k on Taxi.

hudson464 · Nov 15, 2012

Biff said:
All wrong. This ain't a bug.
Plungers are more realistic now. You just need the right technique.
Don't pull the plunger slowly and don't wait when it's at max.
It must be done quickly. The faster, the stronger.
All of my shots have enough power for the ramp in NGG and go beyond 100k on Taxi.

The quicksnap plunger technique didn't work for me. All I could get was 75,000.
Perhaps its my controller. I've found, however, an alternate method that works.
A slight nudge after releasing the plunger will get the 100,000 shot. You've got to be
careful though. Overnudging will send the ball past.

(Hmmmmm..."overnudging"...is that a word?)

Cheers,
Hudson

Biff · Nov 15, 2012

hudson464 said:
The quicksnap plunger technique didn't work for me.

Welcome to the forum.

Do you move the stick down and up?
I don't even move mine up. I just hammer it down and release it in one movement. The thumb is off the stick then.

---
Maybe for those who experience a lot of input lag on their ps3 system, this could also affect their plunger "skills".

brakel · Nov 15, 2012

You can also pull the stick down and then flick it all the way up for different power results. This is the technique that I have used on Bride to get the skill shot 200k.

Jeff Strong · Nov 15, 2012

Plunger discussion has been moved here.

hudson464 · Nov 16, 2012

Biff said:
Welcome to the forum.

Do you move the stick down and up?
I don't even move mine up. I just hammer it down and release it in one movement. The thumb is off the stick then.

---
Maybe for those who experience a lot of input lag on their ps3 system, this could also affect their plunger "skills".

After some more practice I got this method to work as well.

brakel
You can also pull the stick down and then flick it all the way up for different power results. This is the technique that I have used on Bride to get the skill shot 200k.

Thanks for the tips...

Cheers,
Hudson

grashopper · Nov 16, 2012

Right now in taxi after playing around with it a bit the plunger is back to pre-patch strength. I can pull it back all the way, wait a moment and release and nail the 100 every time again (Not saying that is a good thing, I think it needs more power on Taxi). If I leave the table and go back it's weaker for a bit. Not sure what it is that triggers it but it will go back to the more poppy plunger.
So the new plunger strength is a glitch or the old strength coming back is a glitch... there is a glitch somewhere in there!

Made a quick video. After about 5 minutes of playing it went back to the pre-patch strength. Started the video launched a few balls both were powerful enough to at least make it to 100. Went out of Taxi and back in and it was back to 75 strength on the same pull.

Dont Troll Me · Nov 16, 2012

grashopper said:
Right now in taxi after playing around with it a bit the plunger is back to pre-patch strength. I can pull it back all the way, wait a moment and release and nail the 100 every time again (Not saying that is a good thing, I think it needs more power on Taxi). If I leave the table and go back it's weaker for a bit. Not sure what it is that triggers it but it will go back to the more poppy plunger.
So the new plunger strength is a glitch or the old strength coming back is a glitch... there is a glitch somewhere in there!

Made a quick video. After about 5 minutes of playing it went back to the pre-patch strength. Started the video launched a few balls both were powerful enough to at least make it to 100. Went out of Taxi and back in and it was back to 75 strength on the same pull.

yes it goes to normal after first ball, first ball never makes it to 100 which is vary odd but i can hit it well past 100 after i lose 1 ball each game

grashopper · Nov 16, 2012

Dont Troll Me said:
yes it goes to normal after first ball, first ball never makes it to 100 which is vary odd but i can hit it well past 100 after i lose 1 ball each game

For me I had a few full games sometimes before it went back to the more powerful plunger, then every ball after that is fine.
If you look closely it is the first ball on my first shot that went to 100.

ScotchYeti · Nov 16, 2012

brakel said:
There is a difference in power in a real plunger whether you pull back until it stops and you let go to release the plunger OR you pull back through the plunger stop so that the plunger is ripped out of your hand and releases.

Yes, right, my example with a bow was wrong.

ANYWAY. Has anyone of you ever noticed on a real table that pulling the plunger as much as possible will not shoot the ball all the way?

And why would Farsight try to simulate the plunger in such a way? I call it a bug. Maybe it's a bit more tricky to implement the handling of the analog stick on the PS3 but they already got it right in the old "Hall of Fame". Use the same code and everyone is happy.

brakel · Nov 16, 2012

ScotchYeti said:
Yes, right, my example with a bow was wrong.

ANYWAY. Has anyone of you ever noticed on a real table that pulling the plunger as much as possible will not shoot the ball all the way?

And why would Farsight try to simulate the plunger in such a way? I call it a bug. Maybe it's a bit more tricky to implement the handling of the analog stick on the PS3 but they already got it right in the old "Hall of Fame". Use the same code and everyone is happy.

Having played a real Taxi when it was new I can tell you that a full pull and normal release should shoot the ball all the way to one hundred and then come back to at least 2 or 3 from the bottom. This should also be true of a refurb if they replaced the plunger spring properly.

However, having said that you do get the occasional weirdness that happens in real life with real moving parts. I wouldn't be surprised if FS was trying to program in some random variations but a bug makes the one variation only show up on ball one. That is, of course, just pure speculation.

Captain Rumwood · Nov 19, 2012

brakel said:
Having played a real Taxi when it was new I can tell you that a full pull and normal release should shoot the ball all the way to one hundred and then come back to at least 2 or 3 from the bottom. This should also be true of a refurb if they replaced the plunger spring properly.

However, having said that you do get the occasional weirdness that happens in real life with real moving parts. I wouldn't be surprised if FS was trying to program in some random variations but a bug makes the one variation only show up on ball one. That is, of course, just pure speculation.

I agree. I've also played Taxi live and had that same gameplay when the plunger was full pull. Before the 2.05 update it was just like the real thing. Now Im having problems to score the 100.

Jeff Strong · Nov 19, 2012

I'm finding RBION's skillshot to be much harder now.

Biff · Nov 23, 2012

Well they call it skill shot and before the 2.05 update it was definitely no skill to get the 100k on Taxi.
Yet you can also argue, that the 25k + passenger shot is the real skill shot on this table...

2.0.5 Plunger Changes

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