Just realized Lyman is a junior...which means there are/were two dudes in this world named Lyman. Pretty impressive.

Yeah that’s the kicker right there.

I have no idea what his salary at Stern was, but just a hunch that he was most likely extremely underpaid for the work that he did. Sure he could get much more working for another (non pinball) company.. it just probably won't be as fun or fulfilling. In any case, I hope he's happy wherever he lands. Super nice guy from the few times I got to chat with him.

So Stern lost SR and LS, big problem IMO.

Certainly two big names. Makes me wonder wtf is going on inside Stern.

I played my AC/DC today…got a little emotional.

No question these two guys were heavy hitters of talent but Stern unlike any other company in the industry has a pretty deep bullpen. Sometimes change is good for everyone.

Steve Ritchie? Elwin, Eddy and Borg can handle game design with a Gomez mixed in.

If he went to JJP they can’t even get one game a year out

Lyman is a MAJOR loss to pinball overall if he’s gone.

I hope he went somewhere that pays him what he’s worth.

The Elwin/Neagle combo has been pretty freaking good

Maybe he’s done better but I’ve avoided all Dwight games since GB, well not true, stuck with Munsters, I like it but should have been so much more

I hope he isn't gone from pinball. He still has a lot of good games in him.

LTG : )

Every time I glance at the title of this thread my brain reads "Lyman shits out Stern". Nothing valuable to add just a random though

Sometimes people just need a break. I know I need a long one from where I work. Age and disability are catching up with me.... Who knows, maybe I will retire, but then do what? My only wealth is the friends I have....

Rob

I get emotional when I play my ACDC as well...but it's because after all these years, I still don't understand what the hell I'm doing or how to even complete a song.

This.

Why not just contract, i could see all the recognizable names doing that.
Isnt that what journeyman dennis nordman did and charged a few billable hrs to total nuclear annihilation?
Isn't this what lawlor was doing mid 2k with PLD inc.

I dont really see what the hoopla is all about here...unless manufacturing picks up at any company, even stern, these guys are definitely not on the development cycles to put out the hits like when they were pitted down the halls from each other like the bw days.

95% of the posts on pinside fall in this catagory lol

The reality is, we don’t even know the details of him leaving much less his motivations for doing so or the duration of his intended absence. But we love BSing and outraging against each other about said BS and ‘wrong’-ness, so…

It could be that he is just taking a break. It could be that he is merely no longer an FTE and is now on contract. It could be that he is retiring to Maui. We have no details. Heck, apparently we all just learned this a half year after it actually happened.

The songs can’t be completed. Just play them long enough until the right orbit lights to change the song. Then you’re done with that one.

Lyman is a talent but he hasn’t really been involved in much of what stern has been doing the last handful of years...

I don’t think how long you play matters. You qualify the next song by doing the things associated with the other songs, like clearing all the drops, hitting all the major shots once, completing the top rollovers, pop bumper hits, etc…

As you do it the songs light on the Jukebox and it lights to change songs after you light 8

This is my point...I love the game, but to me it's super-confusing. Sometimes less is more. There's an incredible rules sheet that somebody (Bowen Kerins, maybe?) wrote up, but the thing runs about 20 pages. When you need 20 pages to explain a pinball game, there's a problem, IMO. 20 pages usually requires a main character and a plot to sustain my interest.

It's all about the jackpots anyhow and getting the multiplier to score big. Not that complicated but that said I also suck at it, so Play Better!

Should be, unless Robin wants the entire forum to look like a Geocities page.

Thank you... pinside reality is a new type of real.

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I had to read the 20 pages before I bought ACDC. Though I sold mine, the gist is you have two strategies - song completion towards a wizard mode you'll never see, or risk/reward song jackpot.

In the songs, hit the corresponding shot for your song. When you do, all other shots will light up, including target banks. Completing anything else will credit that song on the jukebox. Fill up either 2/3 or 3/4 of the jukebox (I forget the number) and you can escape the song by hitting the right orbit. You can see songs completed lit on the jukebox when choosing songs. Complete all 12 songs (again, ain't happening for us mortals) and you get to Encore.

For quick monster scoring, you need to hit song jackpot. It builds with each shot you hit during the songs. In this strategy, you can't drain a ball as song jackpot resets with drain. But if you can maybe get through 1-2 songs to build it up, and bring it into MB, AND also get the Bell going at 2x or 3x, while getting the cannon ready for song jackpot (work to this by completing the FIRE inlanes), and then loading the cannon, you can get a 3x song jackpot which will instantly win any league you're playing. I think I once hit 78mil on a 3x jackpot. It's a great feeling. But then you may have 2 more balls after that which will get like 5 million and it's underwhelming.

Elvira is one of my favorite sterns because of Lyman's masterful code. The layout is good, but not great. Certainly nothing mind blowing, but with the amazing code the game just is a winner. Theres still so much unfinished in that game too. Hopefully it, and some of the others can be finished. It'll be interesting to see where he pops up next.

Light up 8 songs on the jukebox (by hitting a song’s “shot”…ex. Left ramp for R&R train), Jukebox saucer insert lights up. Shoot it via right orbit, pick a new song. Previous song complete!

How about Lyman to AP to keep working with Nordmann? Would not be opposed to that at all.

So we can have more dud themes from them like "scrambled eggs" and "who stole the toilet paper?" No thanks.

I was breaking it down into baby terms for Boobie.

And every song allows you to do the same things to light the next song. The actual song shots don’t matter to lighting the next song. Find your 8 tasks and stick to them.

Completing the top lanes
Completing a pop bumper level
Hitting any of the major shots (5)
Completing any of the target banks (4)
Completing the bottom lanes

I would be OK with that if AP would just get their act together and make some games I'd actually want to own. I really really want to like those guys but they have nothing I'd shell out the money for, probably even with Lyman on code

Lyman was one of Stern's best coders in terms of creating objective based rulesets that worked the playfield. Same goes for Dwight who is thankfully still at Stern.

I enjoy non Lyman and Dwight games but a majority of the rulesets for them are focused on points for tournament play versus creating layered modes with great mode chorography (animations, lights, sounds, etc all timed to shots). Many of Stern's younger programmers seem focused on rulesets for tournaments, which is great for location tournament play, but I personally find that style of ruleset design dull for home play where you may have a game for years.

I've played AC/DC hundreds of times over the years and never had a clue about any of this. Horribly non-intuitive ruleset.

Only thing I knew (and the only thing that matters in competition apparently) is ramp out for multiball, keep hitting ramps, get 2x or 3x going, and at some point fire the cannon.

Yep. That’s really all you need to know to score big.

But agree. Not intuitive at all. How do I know what song shots I have already completed towards lighting the next song?

I think instant info says how many you have completed, but not which ones.

It is a shame Oi Mania never got fixed as sounds like a real fun mode.

Was also hoping for something after 6 songs completed, which Lyman had 'apparently' already coded and tested.

Not sure why it was never released.

Oh, and better call outs for when you get a song jackpot during album or tour MB. I always seem to miss the existing one.

Can we please rename this thread “Between the Sheats: the Lyman Sheats Saga”

and some background music to enjoy while reading

I dunno what leagues you guys play in, but uh....yeah....not in any of the ones I've played in. I've had hour+ 4 player games in finals on both AC/DC Pro and Premium multiple times. ~_~ Rule of thumb, don't end up playing against Ken Kemp, Kevin Rodriguez, and me on AC/DC....we will be there all night.

I've LITERALLY been telling you people for ALMOST A DECADE that if you want to score big and win tournaments on AC/DC.....Thunderstruck should be the only thing you learn to play and maximize. Literally that, and lighting multiballs, along with a few cannon shots, is going to win it...every...single....time. I've had 3x Thunderstruck song jackpots over 100 million before, multiple times. Nobody wants to do it because the shots to the small targets on the side of the ramps suck, but backhanding and hitting it and getting a ramp. That's the stuff. But that's fine. Nobody will listen, yet again, and I'll be saying this in another year or so.

Well I’ve gotten 3x song jackpots in TNT over 250 million so what now?!? Haha

TNT or bust!!!!

If I understand the strategy correctly, purposely graze a standup while backhanding a ramp, it would never work for me anyway. That's like Steph Curry saying, "I've been telling you guys for years, all you have to do is put the ball in the basket!"

Also, I don't think a 100 mil 3x song jackpot is that crazy? Unless you mean 3x 100 for 300 total.

Look at the Jukebox. They light solid when you collect them, just like any pinball insert.

It’s not. And I’ve tried for years for a 300 million song jackpot. 250 is the best I could do. Even if you’re crushing TS HB or TNT it takes a lot of survival to get the base to 100 million. TNT is the quickest path though. You can get those song shots to over 1mm a piece.

They light up on the jukebox. The current song is flashing, then you light the songs by hitting their respective shot/objective.

the answer is staring you in the face as you play (but not obvious). The Juke box on the back panel lights up a title for every objective you need to make to complete a song . Some objectives are just shots others are knocking down the drops or getting so many pops, etc.. Once you complete 8 objectives you can move into the next song by hitting the right orbit into the eject.

TNT, while quicker, is far more dangerous than doing what I suggest, and not worth THAT much more. The vast majority of league and low/mid level tournament players are NOT going to score 100+ million period, much less on a single cannon shot. So for people of that tier to win, that's why I'm saying backhand Thunderstruck all day. Shooting TNT is suicide on a pro for most people, but backhanding the chiclet targets is not, and generally recoverable even if it only goes halfway up the ramp. It's more tolerable on Premium/LE because those drops sap a LOT of power out of the ricochets. It's all about risk/reward, and typically if you're NOT in the finals, you would pick something with less scoring but safer. Save TNT for when you need a massive comeback, or you just don't have a chance otherwise. You're just using TS for easy passes to the next round.

I'll take that as a compliment, I guess.

To clarify a bit more:

The song you are on, you must complete all of it's shots (which obviously varies in type and # by song)
You then must also make 1 shot for 7 other songs. I do not believe it matters specifically what shot it is, only that it is part of the song in question.

This has been my fastest path to getting jukebox lit.

As for points, TS or TnT has consistently been the bigger scorers for me, granted I rarely go for the jackpot and normally go for the multiplier instead.

(note I am not on the latest code - 1 behind I believe).

it was easier to get those massive jackpots before the last code revision. Lyman changed the VIP button rules for score balancing. Personally i loved the old VIP rules.

To be honest, I may have missed this code change. It's been a while. I'll go take a look when I get a chance. That could possibly affect the balance between those modes.

I pretty much only slap the VIP button in multiball to add-a-ball. I should prob learn what else it does lol.

in the old code when playing in Hells Bells the VIP button would ring the bell. this was a way of extending your playfield multipliers which led to some super high jackpots.

I think VIP passes award the next shot you need to make?

It might have changed in 1.06....but yes that is how it works on older code. I've always used it to extend multiball/add-a-ball

Ah yeah. I missed that change, but I never played Hells Bells to do that anyways as the jackpot building was kinda dookie without using up all your VIPs. Like other comments, I almost always use it to save a multiball so that I can keep building and get more cannon shots easily.