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Having seen CasualPokePlayer´s superior version of my first ever TAS, I decided to create this topic to discuss potential improvements. There is some big potential in this area to skip the long way around. I did some experimentation, but I dont know if it is actually faster, due to the death anim taking so long - but it is still worth exploring:
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ScHlAuChi wrote:
There is some big potential in this area to skip the long way around. I did some experimentation, but I dont know if it is actually faster, due to the death anim taking so long - but it is still worth exploring:
I do not believe a death would be needed. Some luck manipulation would be needed, but I think it might be possible to get the enemies to fly around there? Although regardless, that would be much faster than the long way around.
ScHlAuChi wrote:
At 2:50 you jump to the right, is that so you can avoid damage? You can just walk off that plattform and land on the lower one without taking damage, as can be seen here: https://youtu.be/GER6szPPp6A?t=655 Maybe thats faster?
That's probably faster, I probably wasn't doing it because enemies were in the way (in hindsight I should of killed some of them when I had the shield).
ScHlAuChi wrote:
I want to explore the Laser Rifle in the box and see if it warrants the time it takes to pick it up). Also, the menuing in this submission is sloppy as hell (menuing being the keypads and cutscenes mostly). Those parts at the very least should of really been done in TAStudio.
I am pretty sure the laser rifle will be worth it in the long run due to the higher damage output especially against bossts.
I also believe this would improve 3:22 of my run, assuming the turret is taken out with 1 shot with the laser rifle, this should mean the player doesn't need to take a hit from it. I also want to see if possibly the weapon upgrade could be skipped in favor of just managing weapons smarter.
Post subject: Re: Ultracore
adelikat
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ScHlAuChi wrote:
Having seen CasualPokePlayer´s superior version
links?
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Post subject: Re: Ultracore
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (732)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 791
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adelikat wrote:
ScHlAuChi wrote:
Having seen CasualPokePlayer´s superior version
links?
Link to video
Editor
Joined: 6/21/2014
Posts: 17
Location: Bavaria
CasualPokePlayer wrote:
I do not believe a death would be needed. Some luck manipulation would be needed, but I think it might be possible to get the enemies to fly around there? Although regardless, that would be much faster than the long way around.
I`m not sure it works without death, becasue you need at least one enemy to be low enough so you can jump on it. Enemies tend to fly around the same height as the player, so in order to get them to go lower, the player needs go lower too. But maybe crouching works? I did experiment abit with the speeder to follow me into the pit and see if it can be used as a jump pad, but it didnt really work, as getting it into the pit was taking too long and jumping off it was less reliable than the death method.
I also believe this would improve 3:22 of my run, assuming the turret is taken out with 1 shot with the laser rifle, this should mean the player doesn't need to take a hit from it.
I`m pretty sure that is the case!
I also want to see if possibly the weapon upgrade could be skipped in favor of just managing weapons smarter.
I`m pretty sure that the few frames saved there wont be worth it, becasue later in the game the bosses (as can be seen in my original run) take way way longer to kill without such upgrades. So you probably make that time back multiple times. Each weapon has a total of 2 UpgradeLevels, so for an ideal run you want to have the Standard weapon at UL2 and the Rocket Launcher at UL1, or Standard at UL1 and RL at UL2. The question is - is it worth it, to do the rather big detour to pick up the Rocket Launcher and the upgrade in Level 2. But there might be a way to pick up both without losing too much time.
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ScHlAuChi wrote:
I`m not sure it works without death, becasue you need at least one enemy to be low enough so you can jump on it. Enemies tend to fly around the same height as the player, so in order to get them to go lower, the player needs go lower too. But maybe crouching works? I did experiment abit with the speeder to follow me into the pit and see if it can be used as a jump pad, but it didnt really work, as getting it into the pit was taking too long and jumping off it was less reliable than the death method.
You're probably right. I did some experimentation and yeah the enemies actually do appear to have some path finding. I was able to get the enemy to appear further in the pit, but it just flies too high. Death is probably the best method
I also want to see if possibly the weapon upgrade could be skipped in favor of just managing weapons smarter.
ScHlAuChi wrote:
I`m pretty sure that the few frames saved there wont be worth it, becasue later in the game the bosses (as can be seen in my original run) take way way longer to kill without such upgrades. So you probably make that time back multiple times. Each weapon has a total of 2 UpgradeLevels, so for an ideal run you want to have the Standard weapon at UL2
Why upgrade the standard weapon? Why not upgrade the laser rifle and just manage ammo smartly. The standard weapon can just be used to mow down most enemies with the laser rifle just used for bosses/enemies the standard weapon doesn't destroy fast enough.
Editor
Joined: 6/21/2014
Posts: 17
Location: Bavaria
CasualPokePlayer wrote:
Why upgrade the standard weapon? Why not upgrade the laser rifle and just manage ammo smartly. The standard weapon can just be used to mow down most enemies with the laser rifle just used for bosses/enemies the standard weapon doesn't destroy fast enough.
Good point, but the RocketLauncher eats Ammo like crazy, so maybe its better to keep the ammo for that, but who knows - just another thing worth trying! Here´s a rough suggestion for how to get the upgrade and Rocket Launcher in one go in Level 2 - its far from ideal, but shows how to get to the secret area from the right side, which is normally not possible!