I believe only the instrument lane starts the instrument timer, so I think there’s a state between collected and used which means you’ve hit the instrument lane standup target.
Right now the wiki at the top says hitting the instrument lane also collects the locked-in instrument (i.e. guitar locked-in, two lower drop targets down, shoot the lane) but I don’t think that’s correct . This gets confusing when you read the Stern Rules PDF because it says hitting the standup will actually cycle which instrument is locked in before you collect, which would mean guitar locked-in, two drops down, hit the standup, and now drums is locked-in but guitar perk timer has started? but additional shots to the standup will boost instrument bonus at this point, they will not start the drums perk. maybe the pdf is wrong?
edit: Unactivated instruments that have been collected do carry ball to ball.
Instrument lane does not collect any instruments but will indeed manually cycle a locked in instrument in case you accidentally locked in the wrong one.
Collecting an instrument you already collected will enable it to be activated again… sort of. Right now, collecting an instrument will only allow it to be activated if it’s not currently already running in the activated state… This confusion point is actually something I just was running into recently and will be changed a bit going forward to be simpler to just always enable it for re-activation.
Collecting the same instrument twice before activating will basically not do much for you, except give you that little scoring boost mentioned (bumps the pops value, spinner value, or combo values).
Drumsticks are also special because collecting them (not necessarily activating) will also qualify drum solo underneath the upper flipper.
@flynnibus Sorry I forgot to answer a couple things:
Any flashing or pulsing 1-2-3 always adds to the combo jackpot, but only completing unique ones will qualify a jackpot or increase the jackpot multiplier.
The three states an instrument can be in are:
-Not collected, indicated by light being OFF and UI being OFF
-Collected, able to activate, indicated by light being ON and UI being BLINKING
-Used, indicated by light being ON and UI being ON.
Collected or used count toward your instrument set which is what you need for freewill multiball. Note that after your first freewill you need 2 instrument sets, which involves collecting all 3, then shooting the instrument lane to “reset” the instrument set to let you do another set which will then qualify the multiball.
Could the spinner have still been spinning from a previous shot to it? I have had that happen before where it hasn’t stopped spinning yet and so doesn’t register the next shot.
aww man. Its annoying when that happens. A game needs to come along and incorporate rewarding you for multiple shots to an orbit without the spinner ever stopping.
PRO V1.01 - October 18, 2022
==========================
Fixed:
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to restart when a player scrolled
through instant info while they were on the year 2112.
- Fixed a UI issue that could show incorrect information during Working Man.
- Fixed issues that could show incorrect high score entries during multiplayer
games.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the drop targets to reset despite Freewill
multiball being ready to start.
Tweaked:
- The Spirit of Radio:
- Turned off the flashing arrow for the spinner when the award was maxed.
- Working Man:
- Changed the shot multiplier rule to also multiply the number of minutes
earned on a shot as well as the increase in score for subsequent Working Man
shots.
- One Little Victory:
- Changed Super Jackpot values to start at 5 million points and grow by 500k
each time a Victory Lap jackpot is scored.
- Instruments:
- Changed instrument lights to pulse if they can be activated, and remain
solidly lit if they cannot.
- Changed the drop target completion to always enable the instrument to be
activated.
- Drum Clock Rule:
- Changed the adjustment "DRUM CLOCK TIME IN MULTIBALL BEHAVIOR" to default
to "ALWAYS".
- Added a new adjustment "DRUM POPS WITH MB BALL SAVE" that defaults to NO.
This setting means the drum pops will not advance until a multiball ball
saver has expired.
- Loop rule:
- Changed the rules to allow loop scoring during multiballs.
- 2112:
- Improved handling of game rules when starting and playing 2112 wizard
mode.
- Display:
- Added flipper blowoff to more game animations.
New:
- Ramp Warrior High Score:
- Added a "Ramp Warrior" high score entry for most ramps hit during a game.
Moved to System 3.25
- Updated to nodeboard firmware/protocol v1.01.0
- Updated "Target Game Time" to guarantee the entire time for a single ball
game.
Main takeaways: Working Man should be easier now that multiplied shots (rainbow or orange records) will add more minutes, Headlong Flight should be easier to get to because pops will default to ON during multiball (once ball save is over). This does however, nerf any strategies that involved activating drumsticks and draining on purpose. You’ll still get 2x minutes though once ball saver is up, and I believe instrument timer pauses on pop bumper activity, so it really just removes the “drain on purpose” exploit, but adds in the ability to still get credit for pop bumper minutes later on in the multiball so you can make easier Headlong Flight progress.
2112 has also been cleaned up so stuff shouldn’t stack with it, and the rainbow shot multipliers should work now. Instruments are also now shown on the playfield with pulsing lights if you can activate them, and you can now re-activate the same instrument to keep the timer resetting (if you complete drops again)
@raydaypinball When you start The Big Money, the loop shot is not lit as a shot to be able to be hit, yet it is one of the record shots and I believe it used to be a lit shot in that mode in earlier code.
Nah, upper loop was never a shot in big money. Each of the other shots correspond to a different line in the song (leave a bruise, spin big wheels, etc). Upper loop didn’t make the cut, ha
Ah yeah looks like I was mistaken. Guess it just seems odd that the side ramp and side scoop are lit for shots but they are not record shots. Thought maybe all the record shots would first be used as song shots then the others added in if more are needed. Think the line for the side scoop is “Take a cruise”. Could take a cruise around the loop shot instead and put that shot multiplier to use
I discovered this: The rainbow record multipliers stay in place and keep working during Cygnus Book 2. I was getting 200 million or more per shot, as a base of 50m x4 from the rainbow. I blew up Book 2 for over 5 billion total thanks to this.
Also this: During 2112, it seems that shots continue to light records towards the next planet mode. I reached the 2112 mode, and when I came out of it (drained out), Working Man was lit with +250% shot value. [Edit: Ray is right, this isn’t true. The display continues to show the +% shot value during 2112, which is what fooled me, but it doesn’t increase.]
Well, the reason not to would go like this - if you happen to drain to lose the rainbow records before you start it, you lost out on 75% of your potential scoring from your wizard mode, and you can’t light or start more planet modes to get the rainbows back. I know, play better, don’t do that… but if you do then it’s a giant kick in the teeth for one drain to make your wizard mode worth garbage compared to what it could have been.
Question: After you’ve played 2112, and eventually drained that ball, is there any way to reactivate the time machine upgrades (super ramps/records, etc) on the following balls? Seems like no, since there aren’t any more time machine upgrades to get to do it.
WILDCARD RECORD BEHAVIOR defaults to MODE COMPLETE + HOLD:
- Wildcard records are only earned when a mode is completed, they
will be placed on a shot and held for the rest of the game or until
2112 Wizard Mode is completed.
Changed Bonus scoring to award a fixed score per modes won instead of
a portion of the points earned during that mode.
That’s the only changes I saw? Seems simpler to me? Unless I’m missing something? @raydaypinball
