AKC12 wrote: |
Yoshifan theorized, and correct me if I am wrong, that if you are in the air as start the lap, hit the first checkpoint and then die, restore would respawn you right before the start line, and crossing the line would complete the lap. |
Pretty much, yeah. See midiman's second video above for the idea - apparently what you have to do at the start of the lap is more complicated (clip through the track floor), but if done right, you don't even need to cross the first checkpoint. You just cross the start line and then go off course. So it's a 3-4 second strat (albeit not an easy one) which works for pretty much any track. Looking at the current spaceflying WRs, this means the strat would improve around 16 to 20 (of 26) lap WRs, all using the same strat which disregards everything about the track except what's immediately before/after the lap line.
midiman's first video above demonstrates the exploit which Faizer found. Port Town Cylinder Wave is one of the few (maybe the only?) tracks which allows you to finish the lap below the lap line. In this case Restore doesn't seem to be a factor in tricking the checkpoint system, but it does allow you to carry your post-off-course inertia into a lap completion. This allows you to finish the lap at a slightly lower point than you could without Restore, which can give a slight advantage, since having to maintain height slows down your spaceflying.
Here's how I'd answer the questions in the OP:
AKC12 wrote: |
- Can restore truly be abused to easily beat the Open ladder WRs? WRs in the other main categories?
- What do we want the Open ladder to be? Should it be truly open or only to the extent of what's possible in Time Attack mode.
- If we ban restore abuse, should the Open ladder be renamed since one can argue it is no longer truly 'Open' anymore?
- Should we ban the Restore option itself even though some fast lap WRs has this option on, including the CTT max speed flap WR?
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1. Yes, about 16-20 Open ladder WRs (based on how many WRs are above 4 and 3.5 seconds, respectively) with the checkpoint exploit, and then the PTCW exploit makes it 17-21. Not easily in general, but for WR standards I guess it'd be relatively easy. Maybe more to the point, non-Restore strats wouldn't stand a chance for most of those courses. For the other main categories, not that I can think of, since they don't allow checkpoint skips in the first place, and I don't think going low at the PTCW lap line would be relevant.
2 + 3. I'd say what's possible in Time Attack mode. I guess banning Restore abuse is comparable to banning CPU boosts and handicap boosts in GP and Versus modes, respectively. So do we want a "finish the course/lap as fast as you can, in any mode" ladder? There is precedent for this (SNES forces you to play many tracks in GP, and MV saves times from GP), so that's not exactly unreasonable. It's a bit more out-of-the-box for GX though, since GP, Versus, and Practice times never get saved. All things considered, I can see the 'Open' naming going either way, but all else being equal I guess I'd vote to just keep it as is - Open being defined by what's possible in Time Attack.
4. No, I think having Restore On is fine as long as it doesn't activate during the fast lap itself. With video proof, we should be able to tell if it does or not.