11th Hour Question about pneumatic catapult piston arrangement

[lgphoneeric]

We have a setup similar to the bottom one and it is working very well for us. We have the pistons just shy of parallel to the arm of the catapult. We found that the angle actually allows pressure to build up before firing, giving it a spring action. We can get the ball to go 10 or so feet vertically (haven't actually measured) and through the goal from about 15 feet based on the angle we have ours set at. The ball itself goes about 23ish feet. Feel free to message me and I can send you a picture of our setup. Hope this helps.

I have seen launchers with vertical pistons, but I don't have experience with them.