Is it safe to say, the more oil- the duller your ball should be on a fresh shot, like the first game?
Typically that would be the way to go about it but I actually attack the lanes in the opposite way.
Lets break it down:
A pearl reacts to conditions more than a solid, in that it skids more in oil and expels energy quicker in friction, this is what creates the skid/snap reaction that a pearl will typically posses.
A solid is more controlled, it begins to hook earlier and in turn expels energy over a longer time frame.
Because of this I use shiny aggressive equipment on the longer patterns (think Storm Nano Pearl, Marvel Pearl) and dull stuff on the shorter patterns (2Furious, Manic, Marvel). I want the ball rolling as it hits the pins, an aggressive pearl hits the end of the pattern and quickly "stands up" and expels its energy getting into the roll phase quickly. This allows me to get the ball to the break point and it just stands up and stops, rolling into pocket. I want something that snaps and creates entry angle on longer patterns, anything solid you run the risk of the ball not burning off energy fast enough and deflecting (or not creating enough entry angle) thus leaving corners.
Now on the short I use the dull stuff as stated because it expels energy over a longer period of time. So on a short pattern I want a ball that is going to hook and continue to hook as opposed to something that is going to quickly change directions and burn up. So by throwing solid equipment on the short I can extend the length of the pattern by a few feet by allowing the ball to use its continuous hook motion to blend the length of the pattern out some. This helps the ball to hook over a little longer time and hopefully keep the ball from checking and doing crazy stuff. I want controlled on short patterns, not snappy.