I know a lot about inverted, but little about pips... something about how pip structure affects various playing properties would be awesome. maybe also something about sponges, e.g. why most pip sponges are so soft. would be much appreciated. thx!

yes, I mainly for chopping, but I'm generally interested in how the individual physical factors affect various aspects of play. There are many questions. for example, if I want to chop with lots of variation, should I get a topsheet with little grip, but a hard dynamic sponge, or the complete opposite? should I boost my pips? how thick do I want my sponge? what are the benefits of thinner vs thicker pips? how does hardness of the pips affect play?

Anyways, I'm interested in trying a pip that enables lots of spin Variation and also close table attacking. I have tried waran, spectol, super spinpips, and pluto. Waran seems too fast and soft, at least in 2.0mm, spectol seemed too unelastic, slow, non-grippy, spinpips were okay but seemed like a weak inverted, and Pluto seemed good, but Maybe a bit top soft and not enough spin, but I only played it once.

The pathfinder videos are nice to get a general overview, and I think I would do best with medium or short pips.

Recommendations are welcome.

Here's my take, but keep in mind, I'm a penhold short pips attacking-oriented player, don't know much about chopping:

Lots of variation in chopping: I would guess a grippier pip with thinner sponge.

Should you boost?: I've tried it, but IMO short pips speed (high impact) is more dependent on the blade than the sponge, boosting only make a little difference. The effect is more substantial for inverted which rely on tangential elasticity, short pips are more direct and a 2mm compression won';t get much help from boosting.

Thicker sponges allow a deep "dig" and more surface for contact thus more spin. I personally don't find the speed to be much different between 1.8-2.2mm on direct (smashing) shots, but the thicker ones are better to loop with.

Spin variation/ close to the table attacking: my current favourites are Victas 102, Blowfish, and Spinpips Red. But they are all faster than Waran. If you want something less spinny than Spinpips, but more than Pluto yet slower than Waran, give the classic 802 a try, see if you can find the 41 degree sponge Mysteryy III version.