rare veldt
Specifically, the goal is the predict the High Score Meta for the Feb Demo, to come up with a strategy which will produce reliably higher scores in reliably less time.
Full disclosure, this project is entirely motivated by the upcoming Invitational event. Can we win the competition before it starts?
.
For the September Demo, I submitted the following video about the High Score Meta:
#🎥・videos-and-streams message
In the beginning of the video, we discuss "stuff you think matters" and "stuff that actually matters." For example, Scholar and Fibonacci didn't matter. Even the xMult Jokers such as Constellation didn't matter in comparison to a much shorter and much more impactful list of criteria:
Did you get Poly Aura?
Do you have Dusk?
Do you have Blueprint?
Further, it was generally advised to be playing Flush House. This was always going to produce the highest scores. However, any hand of five cards could produce a high enough score.
Let's start with Poly Aura. It's exceptionally rare. Only 1 in 6 Aura gives you Polychrome. Not every Spectral Pack contains Aura; not every shop contains a Spectral Pack.
First, Poly Aura is here to stay. We're not "trading out" Spectral cards for the new demo, we're just adding new ones and rebalancing some of the old ones. With the addition of new Spectral cards, Poly Aura will come up less frequently. On the other hand, it's been teased that there are other ways to get Spectral cards and new ways to interact with consumables. Either way, we should expect Poly Aura to continue to be rare.
Before, the meta was to keep restarting the game for the 1 in 250 chance you get Poly Aura in Ante 1. This strategy should still work, in theory. However, you could be rerolling for an hour or two for one run which itself might fail to get off the ground.
Also note, the Invitational is both only available for a limited time and a live-streamed event. It's not good for viewership to spend 90% of your time on restarting the game. We should look for a strategy which involves restarting a more limited number of times. The goal is not to set a world record in 24 hours. The goal is to set a score our competitors can't reasonably beat.
.
Next, Jokers.
We have confirmation that there will be the same or about the same number of Jokers with exactly 37 of them being new to the Feb demo. We should expect that Dusk is out, straight up. It dominated the previous demo; it's out. In its place we should expect some other "retrigger" Joker because it is a core mechanic of the game which we want players to be exposed to.
Poly Aura on its own was never what made High Scores possible. It's Dusk's "retrigger" effect combined with Poly Aura (among other things). The reason why we would reroll for Poly Aura is because it was the more rare piece of the puzzle, not necessarily the more impactful piece of the puzzle. "Retrigger" effects are still "good enough" with just Glass cards.
I believe it will be sufficient to restart until you get some "retrigger" effect and then proceed from there, trying to accumulate as many Glass cards as you can.
We have confirmation that the updated Seals will be in the Feb demo. The most notable is the Red Seal, which causes the marked card to "retrigger" an additional time, as with other "retrigger" effects. You start with one Red Seal on one card, make it into Glass, and then make as many copies as you can.
We don't know the way in which the new seals are obtained, but it may be sufficient to restart looking for a Red Seal rather than only accepting a "retrigger" Joker specifically. Obviously, you will score highest when you have both, but for the sake of competition, it will be sufficient to have either one.
.
Hands. Feb demo will feature a new Hand, the Flush Five (of a Kind). It will start out with a Base Score even higher than Flush House.
However, we have confirmation that Straight Flush with "scale faster" with Planet cards than any other Hand. Therefore, the Hand which will produce the highest score in the long run is the Straight Flush. Moreover, there is a Joker which gives you a Spectral card for every Straight Flush you play. Also, "The Shortcut" Joker is confirmed (for the demo). It allows you to make Straights with small "gaps" such as 2 3 5 6 8.
Making a fully Glass Straight Flush takes work. For the purposes of the Invitational, it is probably better to go for something a little safer. I propose going for Five of a Kind, the regular Five of a Kind, not the new Flush Five.
It doesn't really matter what Hand you play. Only Glass + "retrigger" matters. Therefore, the regular Five of a Kind is "good enough" while being the easiest to assemble.
Reserved
real fox
Reserved
rare veldt
Ha! I was going for 5 anyway
tribal tide
reserved
rare veldt
good good good
real fox
reversed
rare veldt
Now, let me cook
Going to put this here so I can find it later:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XpJGZsyrhAj_7b59CV3pAd7RbjOVGNaO7N4gMI74Aio/edit
ty CC
velvet sky
I predict Reserved.
my actual prediction is that it'll again be the xMult cards (glass, poly aura) and the multi-trigger jokers (dusk, hack, blueprint, etc) and whichever seal causes multiple triggers, particularly with flu5h. If there's a deck that allows multi-triggering as well that'll be the meta. Otherwise, maybe the deck that balances chips/mult will turn out strongest (possibly balancing in the other direction!)
rare veldt
Plasma Deck ("balance" Deck) is certainly exceptional at producing High Scores. However, I do not believe the Plasma Deck will be in the demo.
hollow cloud
Wait til they hear I took out glass cards
rare veldt
it's possible
hollow cloud
Jk
rare veldt
it'd be weird, but it's possible
rare veldt
I don't think the amount matters that much, only that it's multiplicative and repeatable
I don't think any of the Hand Rebalancing matters that much either, only which "retrigger" effects are obtainable
hollow cloud
You are 100% correct, for the full version too
rare veldt
x1.1 just to troll 'em
hollow cloud
But with 24 hours setting up a run like that might be a risk compared to focusing on more reliable large score strats
might
rare veldt
Yeah, my strategy as I've typed it up so far is
Don't worry about Poly Aura
Restart until "retrigger"
rare veldt
certainly, yeah
rare veldt
But some might?
unclear
rare veldt
I think spending 5 minutes to reroll for Immolate as a start to a 50 minute run is reasonable
but I'm not a streamer, or even a viewer
Reroll for "retrigger" might not be viable
I'm just brainstorming
hollow cloud
Are you going to be in the chats giving hot tips?
rare veldt
probably not
there's enough backseating already
I don't want to be the one playing the game
hollow cloud
Skoottie already found the multi retrigger Xmult strat in the last demo - I'm not sure anyone else did
rare veldt
yeah
I think it would be a very close competition if Skoottie wasn't included.
But I'm glad he is because I like his vibe, and he could benefit the most from a boost in viewership
Not to say the other competitors couldn't "get there" with this game eventually.
It's just that Skoottie has already broken out of the "struggling to suvive phase" and into the "credible high score competitor" phase
hollow cloud
I really hope it's close - but since we are talking magnitudes of scale it may not be
What I really hope for is multiple lead changes
With the live leaderboard
rare veldt
I hope so, too. I don't plan on watching most of it, but I want it to be as exciting to watch for everyone else as possible
keeping up the hype for the game
nova anchor
would there be a requirement that the run with the high score be a winning run?
hollow cloud
There is no requirement for that
Its submitted as soon as the hand is played
Those goals do kind of line up with eachother - the longer the run the higher the score
So I don't think it matters much
nova anchor
yeah
rare veldt
I could imagine a scenario, but it would be very rare
hollow cloud
Anyway I'll be popping in and out of chats and I'm sure this discord will be a wild place on the 19th
And leading up to the Feb demo
rare veldt
should be, yeah
hollow cloud
Let's enjoy it while it lasts 🙂
rare veldt
🫡
nova anchor
24 hour event would last until the 20th as well
tribal tide
.
Next, Jokers.
We have confirmation that there will be the same or about the...
very cool analysis! i definitely agree that dusk will likely be replaced by a different retriggerer (i'm hoping for sock&buskin personally, hopefully along with pareidolia)
rare veldt
Pareidolia seems weird for a demo. Partly because it's one of those "causes weird shit to happen" Jokers and partly because it's only an enabler and a niche one at that. There's a limited number of Joker slots for us to preview whatever the desired amount of mechanics is. I could see Jokers which create mini-games included instead (with other Joker slots already taken up by a straightforward set of "core" Jokers).
tribal tide
its a pipe dream sure, just something id like for myself :) i know ill be very very happy with seance anyway, thats the one i wanted more than anything
rare veldt
Would be weird to have Hack without Sock&Buskin or vice versa, so I expect to see both.
Another alternative is for there to be an entirely new "retriggers" Joker we haven't seen yet, but I doubt that will happen
tribal tide
realistically there'd have to be a decent amount of face synergy for pareidolia, and with so few jokers compared to the full game i dont really see it happening either
tribal tide
just adding red seal and joker dupes into the mix will make the score cap a lot higher than in the sept demo (unglitched) which is exciting in of itself
hmmm.. a two-face joker.... some interesting ideas in there thematically
kind bluff
Another consideration is that the new demo’s strategy could be include another synergy that repeatedly applies Xmult besides card retriggering. Considering the design of the invitational I would not be surprised if LocalThunk intentionally included one or two of these combos in the February demo to spice things up a bit
nova anchor
something along the lines of the baseball card might be a start
rare veldt
There is a resistance to adding new mechanics, and it is doubtful he would introduce anything more powerful than Dusk, given how dominating it was and will be (in the Full Game)
kind bluff
Spare Trousers would allow going infinite immediately, the effect is just too strong
kind bluff
There is a resistance to adding new mechanics, *and* it is doubtful he would int...
I would argue Dusk only really becomes powerful when a run is fine-tuned around it, which is why people didn’t even consider it an A tier joker overall
Two or three jokers like that, but slightly weaker than Dusk, would diversify things
rare veldt
Well, for the purposes of High Score runs, in which restarts are the norm, we consider only the top end synergies, necessarily not an "average" run. Dusk is quite bad. Except it's also unbeatable.
kind bluff
Another consideration is that the new demo’s strategy *could* be include another...
Steel Joker
Hasn’t even been half an hour and we already have a combo like this all but confirmed
rare veldt
Well, you got me
tribal tide
lol
nova anchor
SHIP THIS MAN
rare veldt
this man is meeeeeeeeeeeeeee
We've got confirmation that this is an experiment and has yet to be committed to the demo and/or Full Game.
Would this have existed if I hadn't poked the bear? 🤔
hollow cloud
Yes I was working on it earlier 🙂
nova anchor
well, i had the xmult steel suggestion post