Eliminator Boat Duel (NES)

Elipsis

Edit history:

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:31:12 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:29:28 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:24:32 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:24:08 am

Elipsis: 2014-11-06 01:42:44 pm

Elipsis: 2014-10-24 06:56:44 am

2014-10-22 09:55:32 am

Big edits to this thread 2015-01-20, removing incorrect information and updating strats now that I've played the game for many more hours.

So I'm looking at taking on a new game and this is one of the possibilities. I've always had a love of this game dating back to my childhood NES days, and I can't seem to find any information about strats for running it, so I guess it's up to me to kick things off.

~~This is my first attempt.~~
Video removed for being slow

So here's are my thoughts so far:

1. Assassination strats! Gotta take every ~~available~~ strategically optimal opportunity to put damage onto the AI. Sinking the green boat ends the race immediately so this seems like the way to go in a speedrun. Jumping on them over and over again using the stage and spare nitros. ~~The best example in this vid takes place at 33:38 -~~ which ends a race quite with a par time of 3:20 in 1:58. Problem is, the AI seems to always get enough money back for repairs so it's hard to keep the AI locked down between races. Also the last guy seems to be invincible. The overhead parts of the game seem to give much more opportunity for violence than the chase cam. At the very least, the latter is very difficult to control yourself vertically and intentionally drop in on them - but the logs will add up and do some collateral damage usually to both of you.

2. Building a better boat. This is all about the early game build. It's worth noting that the game on easy is longer, but affords more opportunity to quickly power up the boat and win money from easy opponents. I feel like handling early-on is the most important thing to get nitros which again equate to damage potential. After that you want to get acceleration and top speed (not sure what order) so that you can catch up and keep bashing away at the opponent's hull. By the mid game you should be maxed out (obviously I had problems with this in the last race from taking too much damage myself).

3. Minor timesaves. (This list will get longer probably.) Slo-mo replay is unskippable, so try not to have super close finishes if you can avoid it. In certain cases it might be faster to let the AI win the first portion of the race off the line than have a very close start. You can mash through the talking head screens, but the AI will always take about the same amount of (sweetass) time in order to upgrade itself. You can finish an overhead race way early, but I think the slower boat can hold back the chase cam races.

So is anybody out there even tangentially familiar with this game and interested in helping me figure out how to best run it?

Thread title:

[b]Big edits to this thread 2015-01-20, removing incorrect information and updating strats now that I've played the game for many more hours.[/b]

So I'm looking at taking on a new game and this is one of the possibilities.  I've always had a love of this game dating back to my childhood NES days, and I can't seem to find [i]any[/i] information about strats for running it, so I guess it's up to me to kick things off.

[s]This is my first attempt.[/s]
[i]Video removed for being slow[/i]

So here's are my thoughts so far:

1.  [b]Assassination strats![/b]  Gotta take every [s]available[/s] strategically optimal opportunity to put damage onto the AI.  Sinking the green boat ends the race [i]immediately[/i] so this seems like the way to go in a speedrun.  Jumping on them over and over again using the stage and spare nitros.  [s]The best example in this vid takes place at 33:38 - [/s]which ends a race quite with a par time of 3:20 in 1:58.  Problem is, the AI seems to always get enough money back for repairs so it's hard to keep the AI locked down between races.  Also the last guy seems to be invincible.  The overhead parts of the game seem to give much more opportunity for violence than the chase cam.  At the very least, the latter is very difficult to control yourself vertically and intentionally drop in on them - but the logs will add up and do some collateral damage usually to both of you.

2.  [b]Building a better boat[/b].  This is all about the early game build.  It's worth noting that the game on easy is longer, but affords more opportunity to quickly power up the boat and win money from easy opponents.  I feel like handling early-on is the most important thing to get nitros which again equate to damage potential.  After that you want to get acceleration and top speed  (not sure what order) so that you can catch up and keep bashing away at the opponent's hull.  By the mid game you should be maxed out (obviously I had problems with this in the last race from taking too much damage myself).

3.  [b]Minor timesaves[/b].  (This list will get longer probably.)  Slo-mo replay is unskippable, so try not to have super close finishes if you can avoid it.  In certain cases it might be faster to let the AI win the first portion of the race off the line than have a very close start.  You can mash through the talking head screens, but the AI will always take about the same amount of (sweetass) time in order to upgrade itself.  You can finish an overhead race way early, but I think the slower boat can hold back the chase cam races.

So is anybody out there even tangentially familiar with this game and interested in helping me figure out how to best run it?

Elipsis

Edit history:

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 11:21:12 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:33:12 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:32:22 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:32:14 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:28:16 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 10:27:43 am

2014-11-06 12:14:55 pm

This game is a weird one. Basically, easy mode is actually 100%, and expert mode is functionally any%. Normal mode is neither the fastest nor the completest, so I'm thinking all runs will be one or the other. What the game does for expert mode is just skip the first 3 opponents (9 races) and put you up against a harder opponent first thing. It's basically starting in the middle of the game compared to easy mode, which starts at the beginning and then catches up to the spot where expert drops you.

~~The video above is for 100%.~~ Last night I took a few runs and got something that seems like a descent start for an any% speedrun. We had some successful assassinations and that of course drastically reduced the completion time by full minutes. On expert you actually start with some points assigned, and I now think it's best to invest in hull strength earlier than I originally thought, in order to be aggressive against the AI without having to constantly repair and delay your own further upgrades.

Changing opponents does actually change boats, so it's best to get your deeps in early in every set of three so that you aren't wasting time putting damage on an opponent who you aren't going to sink and will be gone after the current race. There are strats that carry over between opponents. Part of the routing here is when to conserve nitros, when to finish the race quickly, and when to go all out trying to sink the opponent. I'm still working some of that out but I did end one of the races in the first stage, which was fantastic.

~~Here is the any% (expert) video~~
Video removed for being slow.

For all I have been able to find, I think I technically have the WR now... but... I don't feel good about making that claim if I'm the only one who has ever run it...

This game is a weird one.  Basically, easy mode is actually 100%, and expert mode is functionally any%.  Normal mode is neither the fastest nor the completest, so I'm thinking all runs will be one or the other.  What the game does for expert mode is just skip the first 3 opponents (9 races) and put you up against a harder opponent first thing.  It's basically starting in the middle of the game compared to easy mode, which starts at the beginning and then catches up to the spot where expert drops you.

[s]The video above is for 100%.[/s]  Last night I took a few runs and got something that seems like a descent start for an any% speedrun.  We had some successful assassinations and that of course drastically reduced the completion time by full minutes.  [s]On expert you actually start with some points assigned, and I now think it's best to invest in hull strength earlier than I originally thought, in order to be aggressive against the AI without having to constantly repair and delay your own further upgrades.[/s]

[s]Changing opponents does actually change boats, so it's best to get your deeps in early in every set of three so that you aren't wasting time putting damage on an opponent who you aren't going to sink and will be gone after the current race.[/s]  There are strats that carry over between opponents.  Part of the routing here is when to conserve nitros, when to finish the race quickly, and when to go all out trying to sink the opponent.  I'm still working some of that out but I did end one of the races in the first stage, which was fantastic.

[s]Here is the any% (expert) video[/s]
[i]Video removed for being slow[/i].

For all I have been able to find, I think I technically have the WR now... but... I don't feel good about making that claim if I'm the only one who has ever run it...

LackAttack24

2014-11-12 05:47:35 am

I've been looking for a copy of this game. One of my childhood favorites as well. Would be an fun game to speedrun. Maybe I'll get a time so you can claim a WR, heh.

Elipsis

Edit history:

Elipsis: 2015-01-21 10:02:33 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 12:52:24 pm

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 12:51:52 pm

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 12:34:10 pm

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 12:33:26 pm

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 12:08:53 pm

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 11:59:43 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 11:20:28 am

Elipsis: 2015-01-20 11:08:36 am

2014-11-25 03:41:03 pm

Okay, I've been attacking the Any% of this lately and I seem to have some pretty legitimate level-specific strats that lead to two PBs in a row.
edit 2015-01-20: The above is still true but I then moved on to 100%, I'm updating this post with the 100% routes, which includes the any% routes as annotated

Simultaneously, I started working on a TAS for this (my first!) and have learned a fair bit about the chase-came sections of the game. Memorizing nitros is out. The level's spawns (both logs and nitros) are entirely RNG and can be manipulated heavily in TAS via player inputs. Unfortunately this means there is nothing to do in these sections in RTA other than hope for good luck. Good luck can be nitros for you, and also lots of logs / gators(?) when you need to damage your opponent.

My route relies minimally on luck and goes for heavy damage in the overhead sections.

100% Route Starts Here

Seasick Sidney 1 - Just hold A. You can literally win this race by holding the button down. Collect any nitros that are thrown your way with your terrible bathtub of a boat. I generally spend $40,000 on an acceleration upgrade after this race.

Seasick Sidney 2 - Introduction to overheads. Collect the 1 set of nitros and be sure to grab the $ powerup in this level as well to get over $80,000 and put it ALL into handling after this race. I generally do NOT try to put damage on Seasick Sidney as you do not want him to spend excessive time in drydock repairing and he is unlikely to upgrade beyond that anyway.

Seasick Sidney 3 - This is your first kill mission. If Seasick Sidney is feeling compliant he will not purchase the 1 unit of handling that he can afford, occasionally he will. This is a little rough because your boat isn't anywhere near top shape itself yet. First off use that handling to deny Seasick Sidney any nitros and pray to RNGesus for extra logs, then finish the 2nd leg of the race (chase) only slightly ahead of him. When the screen transitions to the 3rd leg of the race (overhead swamp) immediately start putting damage on him over and over again. You should have enough nitros to just chain them together, and a couple alligator heads are available if he gets loose, but you want to get it before that if possible.

Best time on Seasick Sidney 1:42.

Aquarius Rex 1 - There are two ways to route this and I have about equal results with both so I will cover both. Route A is to actually go for the assassination in the swamp and thereby end this race early for a time save. However, it's a relatively small time save and it makes the next two races more difficult. Route B is to hit him exactly 13 times so that he ends the race as weak as possible, and beyond that finish the race quickly.

Aquarius Rex 2 - Route A will have him coming back with a rebuilt boat that requires 13 or more hits to weaken. You have a lot of work to do if you're doing this route to get him back to minimum stats and it makes the race take longer. Get those hits in as best you can and then finish the race quickly. Route B is much faster here, if he barely upgrades you just basically fly through this race as fast as possible. If he puts a few upgrades back on, you want to strip them off with 5+N hits (rather easy on the overhead ocean leg) and then quickly finish the race. Both routes are trying to set up a quick kill in Aquarius Rex 3, but the latter has a faster time of it at the expense of skipping the kill in Aquarius Rex 1.

Aquarius Rex 3The routes converge here, route B will likely have more nitros and accomplish the quick kill more easily, but route A will get here first. Both options are viable. Obviously since I've been talking about setting up for a quick kill here, that's what we're doing.

Best split for Aquarius Rex is 2:56

Vicious Vicky 1 - This is kind of uninteresting because there isn't enough time to sink her. She seems to start out pretty aggressively so I will take damage opportunities if they arise, but I won't slow down significantly for them because we aren't killing Vicious Vicky at all.

Vicious Vicky 2 - Drag race. Don't lose.

Vicious Vicky 3 - I usually go for speed here. I haven't found anything to do damage-wise that won't cost more time than it saves. There are a lot of nitros in the overhead river leg so you can use them to finish way early.

Vicious Vicky best segment is 2:39

Any% route starts here

Surfer Bob 1 - Starts with a nice ocean section. In any% if I don't win off the line I reset immediately because I want to come into the first turn in a position to scoop the nitro and start applying deeps. In 100% it's obviously much easier to damage him in this race. The over ocean section is great for pounding out damage. I do not go for a kill here, because I would not likely get it until the very end of the race anyway and that would screw me on the quick kill in Surfer Bob 2. The race only has 3 legs and my objective is to get him as close to MinBoat as possible. This is much easier coming from 100% obviously.

Surfer Bob 2 - Kill kill kill! You want to soften him up in the previous race and then attack his minboat ferociously in the first ocean section, coming from 100% this should be set up close to perfectly, any% you take what you can get. This race has 5 legs and I don't even want to know what the last 2 of them are. You can finish him on the 3rd leg for a serious time save.

Surfer Bob 3 - He comes back with RebuiltBoat, stronger than MinBoat, but this race is long enough that you can kill him again for another timesave. You want to kill him again as quickly as possible. In 100% I once was able to do it at the very end of the 2nd leg, in any% my earliest kill is the middle of the 3rd - these are the exception rather than the rule, and the beginning of the 4th leg is still a good time save.

Best time on Surfer Bob split is 2:53 from 100% and 3:19 from any% (due to having a much better boat in the former).

Weird Willy 1 - At this point any% and 100% are more or less completely converged. You only get 3 legs here, but the second one is a nice long swamp section that let's you really apply some damage. Similarly to Surfer Bob 1 you don't want to kill him here because the time save would be minimal, and hurt the next race's quick kill significantly. Like before you're trying to get him to MinBoat, which should be 13 hits + any upgrades he takes in drydock.

Weird Willy 2 - Weird Willy goes into drydock for days before this race, but we're going to obliterate him anyway in this race. Do not let this race get to the 3rd leg. You've got a big ocean section and a hell of an opportunity to finish him off for a great time save.

Weird Willy 3 - Totally rewriting this strat as of 2015-01-20. I originally played this race straight and just finished as quickly as possible but that's not optimal. If you got the quick kill in Weird Willy 2, you're not going to sink Weird Willy 3 here - and if you do it would be at the very end of the race anyway which is unhelpful. However, we do actually want to put some damage on in the overhead river section. We're actually going to be setting up a Mangler Mike 3 quick kill all the way back here, because the damage does carry over between opponents. You don't want to slow down dramatically to do so, nor do you want to burn all your nitros, but you do want to strip as many points off this boat as you can get away with without slowing down significantly.

Best time on Weird Willy split is 3:48.

Mangler Mike 1 - This is a scary race. You get one river section, and it's not enough time to get satisfactory damage. Play it similarly to Weird Willy 3. Also be aware that he will come with 9 nitros to his name, and you're going to want to make damn sure you don't get run down at the end of the chase section, which is the final leg here.

Mangler Mike 2 - There is insultingly little to do here, but my new strat is to go for it anyway. He also seems to get hugely upgraded before this race and we're going to try to get rid of as much of that as possible. Your performance in the previous two races will help make that easier, but there's so little to work with. You get one shockingly short overhead section (10 seconds?) between two long chase legs, and you want to use it to optimize damage as best you can. The goal is a quick kill in Mangler Mike 3, but it's a very difficult setup and you're not going to get his boat perfectly softened for it.

Mangler Mike 3 - It's do or die time. The last three races have been a constant struggle between the AI upgrading the boat and us trying to wear it back down again. There is a lot of variance here - if you've done badly he's going to be nearly maxed out and the quick kill is more or less impossible. But if you've done a great job keeping the damage up, he should finally be in a position to go down in the 3rd leg of this race. Make it so.

Best time on Manger Mike is 4:25.

Veronica Alabaster 1 This bitch is cray, and is proof that distinct AI personalities were coded into this game. Veronica Alabaster starts with 6 nitros and cannot stand when you are in front of her. She will burn through them almost on the same frame that you take the lead a lot of the time. Your primary function in this race is to get that number down to 0 as soon as possible. Because she needs to be ahead she will pick up Nitros and use them to get more Nitros, especially in the chase sections. Once you have her down to 0, it's time to start working on damage. All you're really accomplishing here is draining her money, because you're not going to kill her in the first race - and even if you pound on her she's very likely to rebuild a fucking Maxboat in the drydock.

Veronica Alabaster 2 - Damage damage damage damage damage damage. Guess what? Damage. Knock knock? Who's there? Fucking damage. We are trying to turn what is probably close to MaxBoat into MinBoat by the end of this 6 leg race and it's not easy. If she managed to max out her stats we're looking at attempting to get in 25 points of damage, which is a real challenge. If she gets a hold of any nitros and starts going wild it's bad news, and the chase is on to get back ahead of her so you can start doing damage again. It is possible to sink her here but you probably won't accomplish it until the end of the 6th and final leg, which makes it a huge waste because it ruins the quick kill in the next race. The biggest time save of the entire run is in fact the next race and it works much better if she starts with MinBoat. Leave her with a withered husk of a machine that barely floats, it's the only way to make her love you later.

Veronica Alabaster 3 - This is the quick kill. If you went too far in your bloodlust on the last run, you'll be facing a RebuiltBoat which can take a lot more time to kill. Leave it at minimum stats though and this can go fantastically well. This is where sinking her finances in the first race may pay off in the form of MinBoat truly having barely any stats at all. The race starts with a long chase section and you want to pray to RNGesus for alligators(?). You can put her down right here, but if you have bad RNG the 3rd leg is a great ocean section for finishing the job. This will save you minutes on the projected race time, and is easily the biggest single time save of the run.

Best time on Veronica Alabaster split is 5:27.

Disaster Don 1 - This fucker is unkillable, near as I can tell. You can put damage on the boat, but I don't think it will ever take the last hit and sink. A lot of the time he simply doesn't take the damage. I switch modes entirely on this race and try to minimize my own damage and just get through the race quickly. Nitros are sparse so save them for the end if you get in trouble.

Disaster Don 2 - Play safe. Don't die. I wish this was more exciting but again for as long as the race is he simply doesn't seem to take the damage that everyone else does. Nitros are very sparse, horde them till the end. The chase sections will make up any deficit if you get way behind in the overheads, but obviously try not to - this is still a speedrun.

Disaster Don 3 - Final race of the game, and it has one unique thing going on here - a double chase section as the last two legs of the race. This really means that you have no excuse to lose. Blast on the nitros as you end the second last leg and make sure you're out front. The final chase section is very short, and all you have to do is maintain that lead, and nitro again. Just know it's coming and be ready.

Best time on Disaster Don split is 12:11. (I don't think there's a ton more to gain on it since there are no assassination strats possible.)

WRs as of 2015-01-20:

Any% - 30:30 -
100% - 37:37 -

Okay, I've been attacking the Any% of this lately and I seem to have some pretty legitimate level-specific strats that lead to two PBs in a row.
[b]edit 2015-01-20: The above is still true but I then moved on to 100%, I'm updating this post with the 100% routes, which includes the any% routes as annotated[/b]

Simultaneously, I started working on a TAS for this (my first!) and have learned a fair bit about the chase-came sections of the game.  Memorizing nitros is [i]out[/i].  The level's spawns (both logs and nitros) are entirely RNG and can be manipulated heavily in TAS via player inputs.  Unfortunately this means there is nothing to do in these sections in RTA other than hope for good luck.  Good luck can be nitros for you, and also lots of logs / gators(?) when you need to damage your opponent.

My route relies minimally on luck and goes for heavy damage in the overhead sections.

[color=red][b]100% Route Starts Here[/b][/color]

[b]Seasick Sidney 1[/b] - Just hold A.  You can literally win this race by holding the button down.  Collect any nitros that are thrown your way with your terrible bathtub of a boat.  I generally spend $40,000 on an acceleration upgrade after this race.

[b]Seasick Sidney 2[/b] - Introduction to overheads.  Collect the 1 set of nitros and be sure to grab the $ powerup in this level as well to get over $80,000 and put it ALL into handling after this race.  I generally do NOT try to put damage on Seasick Sidney as you do not want him to spend excessive time in drydock repairing and he is unlikely to upgrade beyond that anyway.

[b]Seasick Sidney 3[/b] - This is your first kill mission.  If Seasick Sidney is feeling compliant he will not purchase the 1 unit of handling that he can afford, occasionally he will.  This is a little rough because your boat isn't anywhere near top shape itself yet.  First off use that handling to deny Seasick Sidney any nitros and pray to RNGesus for extra logs, then finish the 2nd leg of the race (chase) only slightly ahead of him.  When the screen transitions to the 3rd leg of the race (overhead swamp) [i]immediately[/i] start putting damage on him over and over again.  You should have enough nitros to just chain them together, and a couple alligator heads are available if he gets loose, but you want to get it before that if possible.

[i]Best time on Seasick Sidney 1:42[/i].

[b]Aquarius Rex 1[/b] - There are two ways to route this and I have about equal results with both so I will cover both.  Route A is to actually go for the assassination in the swamp and thereby end this race early for a time save.  However, it's a relatively small time save and it makes the next two races more difficult.  Route B is to hit him exactly 13 times so that he ends the race as weak as possible, and beyond that finish the race quickly.

[b]Aquarius Rex 2[/b] - Route A will have him coming back with a rebuilt boat that requires 13 or more hits to weaken.  You have a lot of work to do if you're doing this route to get him back to minimum stats and it makes the race take longer.  Get those hits in as best you can and then finish the race quickly.  Route B is much faster here, if he barely upgrades you just basically fly through this race as fast as possible.  If he puts a few upgrades back on, you want to strip them off with 5+N hits (rather easy on the overhead ocean leg) and then quickly finish the race.  Both routes are trying to set up a quick kill in Aquarius Rex 3, but the latter has a faster time of it at the expense of skipping the kill in Aquarius Rex 1.

[b]Aquarius Rex 3[/b]The routes converge here, route B will likely have more nitros and accomplish the quick kill more easily, but route A will get here first.  Both options are viable.  Obviously since I've been talking about setting up for a quick kill here, that's what we're doing.

[i]Best split for Aquarius Rex is 2:56[/i]

[b]Vicious Vicky 1[/b] - This is kind of uninteresting because there isn't enough time to sink her.  She seems to start out pretty aggressively so I will take damage opportunities if they arise, but I won't slow down significantly for them because we aren't killing Vicious Vicky at all.

[b]Vicious Vicky 2[/b] - Drag race.  Don't lose.

[b]Vicious Vicky 3[/b] - I usually go for speed here.  I haven't found anything to do damage-wise that won't cost more time than it saves.  There are a lot of nitros in the overhead river leg so you can use them to finish way early.

[i]Vicious Vicky best segment is 2:39[/i]

[color=red][b]Any% route starts here[/b][/color]

[b]Surfer Bob 1[/b] - Starts with a nice ocean section.  In any% if I don't win off the line I reset immediately because I want to come into the first turn in a position to scoop the nitro and start applying deeps.  In 100% it's obviously [i]much[/i] easier to damage him in this race.  The over ocean section is great for pounding out damage.  I do not go for a kill here, because I would not likely get it until the very end of the race anyway and that would screw me on the quick kill in Surfer Bob 2.  The race only has 3 legs and my objective is to get him as close to MinBoat as possible.  This is much easier coming from 100% obviously.

[b]Surfer Bob 2[/b] - Kill kill kill!  You want to soften him up in the previous race and then attack his minboat ferociously in the first ocean section, coming from 100% this should be set up close to perfectly, any% you take what you can get.  This race has 5 legs and I don't even want to know what the last 2 of them are.  You can finish him on the 3rd leg for a serious time save.

[b]Surfer Bob 3[/b] - He comes back with RebuiltBoat, stronger than MinBoat, but this race is long enough that you can kill him again for another timesave.  You want to kill him again as quickly as possible.  In 100% I once was able to do it at the very end of the 2nd leg, in any% my earliest kill is the middle of the 3rd - these are the exception rather than the rule, and the beginning of the 4th leg is still a good time save.

[i]Best time on Surfer Bob split is 2:53 from 100% and 3:19 from any% (due to having a much better boat in the former).[/i]

[b]Weird Willy 1[/b] - At this point any% and 100% are more or less completely converged.  You only get 3 legs here, but the second one is a nice long swamp section that let's you really apply some damage.  Similarly to Surfer Bob 1 you don't want to kill him here because the time save would be minimal, and hurt the next race's quick kill significantly.  Like before you're trying to get him to MinBoat, which should be 13 hits + any upgrades he takes in drydock.

[b]Weird Willy 2[/b] - Weird Willy goes into drydock for days before this race, but we're going to obliterate him anyway in this race.  Do not let this race get to the 3rd leg.  You've got a big ocean section and a hell of an opportunity to finish him off for a great time save.

[b]Weird Willy 3[/b] - Totally rewriting this strat as of 2015-01-20.  I originally played this race straight and just finished as quickly as possible but that's not optimal.  If you got the quick kill in Weird Willy 2, you're not going to sink Weird Willy 3 here - and if you do it would be at the very end of the race anyway which is unhelpful.  However, we [i]do[/i] actually want to put some damage on in the overhead river section.  We're actually going to be setting up a Mangler Mike 3 quick kill all the way back here, because the damage does carry over between opponents.  You don't want to slow down dramatically to do so, nor do you want to burn all your nitros, but you [i]do[/i] want to strip as many points off this boat as you can get away with without slowing down significantly.

[i]Best time on Weird Willy split is 3:48.[/i]

[b]Mangler Mike 1[/b] - This is a scary race.  You get one river section, and it's not enough time to get satisfactory damage.  Play it similarly to Weird Willy 3.  Also be aware that he will come with 9 nitros to his name, and you're going to want to make damn sure you don't get run down at the end of the chase section, which is the final leg here.

[b]Mangler Mike 2[/b] - There is insultingly little to do here, but my new strat is to go for it anyway.  He also seems to get hugely upgraded before this race and we're going to try to get rid of as much of that as possible.  Your performance in the previous two races will help make that easier, but there's so little to work with.  You get one shockingly short overhead section (10 seconds?) between two long chase legs, and you want to use it to optimize damage as best you can.  The goal is a quick kill in Mangler Mike 3, but it's a very difficult setup and you're not going to get his boat perfectly softened for it.

[b]Mangler Mike 3[/b] - It's do or die time.  The last three races have been a constant struggle between the AI upgrading the boat and us trying to wear it back down again.  There is a lot of variance here - if you've done [i]badly[/i] he's going to be nearly maxed out and the quick kill is more or less impossible.  But if you've done a great job keeping the damage up, he should finally be in a position to go down in the 3rd leg of this race.  Make it so.

[i]Best time on Manger Mike is 4:25.[/i]

[b]Veronica Alabaster 1[/b] This bitch is cray, and is proof that distinct AI personalities were coded into this game.  Veronica Alabaster starts with 6 nitros and [i]cannot stand[/i] when you are in front of her.  She will burn through them almost on the same frame that you take the lead a lot of the time.  Your primary function in this race is to get that number down to 0 as soon as possible.  Because she needs to be ahead she will pick up Nitros and use them to get more Nitros, especially in the chase sections.  Once you have her down to 0, it's time to start working on damage.  All you're really accomplishing here is draining her money, because you're not going to kill her in the first race - and even if you pound on her she's very likely to rebuild a fucking Maxboat in the drydock.

[b]Veronica Alabaster 2[/b] - Damage damage damage damage damage damage.  Guess what?  Damage.  Knock knock?  Who's there?  Fucking damage.  We are trying to turn what is probably close to MaxBoat into MinBoat by the end of this 6 leg race and it's not easy.  If she managed to max out her stats we're looking at attempting to get in 25 points of damage, which is a real challenge.  If she gets a hold of any nitros and starts going wild it's bad news, and the chase is on to get back ahead of her so you can start doing damage again.  It [i]is[/i] possible to sink her here but you probably won't accomplish it until the end of the 6th and final leg, which makes it a huge waste because it ruins the quick kill in the next race.  The biggest time save of the entire run is in fact the next race and it works [i]much[/i] better if she starts with MinBoat.  Leave her with a withered husk of a machine that barely floats, it's the only way to make her love you later.

[b]Veronica Alabaster 3[/b] - This is [i]the[/i] quick kill.  If you went too far in your bloodlust on the last run, you'll be facing a RebuiltBoat which can take a lot more time to kill.  Leave it at minimum stats though and this can go fantastically well.  This is where sinking her finances in the first race may pay off in the form of MinBoat truly having barely any stats at all.  The race starts with a long chase section and you want to pray to RNGesus for alligators(?).  You can put her down right here, but if you have bad RNG the 3rd leg is a great ocean section for finishing the job.  This will save you minutes on the projected race time, and is easily the biggest single time save of the run.

[i]Best time on Veronica Alabaster split is 5:27.[/i]

[b]Disaster Don 1[/b] - This fucker is unkillable, near as I can tell.  You can put damage on the boat, but I don't think it will ever take the last hit and sink.  A lot of the time he simply doesn't take the damage.  I switch modes entirely on this race and try to minimize my own damage and just get through the race quickly.  Nitros are sparse so save them for the end if you get in trouble.

[b]Disaster Don 2[/b] - Play safe.  Don't die.  I wish this was more exciting but again for as long as the race is he simply doesn't seem to take the damage that everyone else does.  Nitros are very sparse, horde them till the end.  The chase sections will make up any deficit if you get way behind in the overheads, but obviously try not to - this is still a speedrun.

[b]Disaster Don 3[/b] - Final race of the game, and it has one unique thing going on here - a double chase section as the last two legs of the race.  This really means that you have no excuse to lose.  Blast on the nitros as you end the second last leg and make sure you're out front.  The final chase section is very short, and all you have to do is maintain that lead, and nitro again.  Just know it's coming and be ready.

[i]Best time on Disaster Don split is 12:11.  (I don't think there's a ton more to gain on it since there are no assassination strats possible.)[/i]

WRs as of 2015-01-20:

Any% - 30:30 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FDnILvoYig
100% - 37:37 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zwtsIvFgE

Elipsis

2015-01-21 09:52:37 am

Big update to previous post for the 100% routing. I also updated the any% strats, specifically the Mangler Mike stuff that I started going for that seems to be a pretty big time save over my old route.