What is tilt and how does it work?

[wufei88]

I am confused with the tilting mechanic on this game, I assume that tilt is basically what it sounds like you tilt the pinball table in a certain direction right? Or is it something completely different? I try to tilt and it doesn't seem to have any effects on which way a pinball would roll, like if I wanted to try and tilt the table to go into those lanes where "There's no turning back and you lose your ball" kind of lane's where your flippers can't help

Can anyone explain this better please? Thank you

[Shark]

Nudging consists of moving the pinball table in a certain direction to alter the ball's trajectory. For instance, if you see that the ball might fall right into the gap between the two flippers, you can nudge the table so that one of the flippers intercepts the ball.

This is mostly a pre-emptive manoeuver as you should use it before the ball goes too far in the wrong direction

If you abuse the nudge too much, you'll get a tilt warning, and after a couple of tilt warnings, the table will punish you by stopping the flippers.

There's this video that covers how nudging works on real pinball tables (but since the game aims to replicate how real pinball tables work, this should apply here too), hope this helps you :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeRcCbNNTeU

[PinStratsDan]

Pinball FX3 has a time-based tilt warning and tilt system that works different depending on if you play the Williams or the Zen original tables.

Soft nudges that will not trigger the table for a nudge warning are possible on FX3 with the right controller e.g. thumb stick on Xbox One. It is first possible, but not particularly practical as I don't have the control to do a dainty little nudge rather than a hard one e.g. on the outlanes. Second, a considerable proportion of players have controllers e.g. a keyboard, that only has one strength nudge, which is at full force. To compensate for this, Zen implements a time-based system and not purely a force-based system for nudging.

With the Zen Originals, you have two or three full nudges (depending on the table) with warnings before you tilt. After about 15 seconds, you get a nudge back, and after 30 seconds you get your second nudge back and so forth, even though you got nudge warnings. You can nudge as long as you want, and with two / three quick nudges in a row on the table, as long as you allow for that recovery period for each nudge used.

The Williams tables, the nudging works differently, and that is because built into the ROM are two tilt warnings per ball before you tilt. Because many players can only full nudge, which will register on a real machine for a warning, Zen had to formulate an alternate solution which allows you to nudge more than just twice per ball. Their solution is to give you one full nudge for “free”, that you can use about once every 5 seconds for the duration of the game without it ever giving you a warning. If you nudge again within 5 seconds of the first nudge, you will get a warning. You can then continue with your “free” nudge every 5 seconds, until you again nudge twice in quick succession. After that, be careful, because although you’ll have your “free” nudge, a too quick second nudge will have you tilt. If you lose a ball at any stage, you are back to no tilt warnings for the new ball.

To summarise;
- On Zen originals you can nudge indefinitely, even with warnings, as long as you allow for a 15 second rest period for each of the two or three nudges allowed that you use at a time.
- On Williams, you can nudge as many times as you want per ball, as long as you wait about 5 second between each “free” nudge, and don’t nudge twice in quick succession over two times per ball.

[wilbers]

An extremely detailed and thorough answer from PinStratsDan there, the only thing I can add to it is that there are a very small number of the earlier Williams tables (such as Dr. Dude) where you can earn an extra tilt warning through a mystery type award.

[Matt Beeching]

Some tables have a mini-playfield or game which involve tilting a surface, e.g. E.T. , Indiana Jones. But as advised, titling is typically a consequence of excessive nudging.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2785473276