Re: blackridge rivals

I've been waiting for this day to come. :eahigh_file:

It seems I'm generating some fame over at NFS No Limits reddit. 😃

People over there are questioning how me and the second ranked player in the Top 200 leaderboard have such a big gap of SP from the third ranked player and below.

My Ferrari LaFerrari isn't maxed out yet as you can see below and I have no problems winning Blackridge Rivals races. 

Oh, and I'm still gaining SP (but very slowly).

I did race >>jin1995<< (jin1995) and TudorSicaru (TudorSicaru) with their Koenigsegg CCXs ghosts before when I got match-maked with them. They were fairly easy to beat. 😉

Heck, I even raced against the fourth ranked player in the Top 200 leaderboard and the race was a breeze.

Here are the links for your enjoyment: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfsnolimits/comments/581dh8/my_blackridge_rivals_losing_record/d8x0961

                                                                     https://www.reddit.com/r/nfsnolimits/comments/581dh8/my_blackridge_rivals_losing_record/d8x3m5k

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@WildeKnight07 wrote:

I can't say I'm enjoying Rivals very much.

It's more of an obstacle course than a race. Ramps are a real pain as I'm slammed into a walls, or thrown off my racing line, or set up to be sparked by an EMP, or simply splatted into a bridge and wrecked. It's a Derby of destruction, not a race!

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@WildeKnight07 If you took a jump off a ramp that caused you to collide onto a wall, to get set up by an ESF, or to collide onto a bridge, then you would know the next time you race on the same track that you should avoid taking those ramps.

I always avoid taking ramps that could possibly cause me the race at all costs.

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@WildeKnight07 wrote:

My CCX is on PR 1020 and I can't upgrade any further until I get all 16 Scanners for each part, yet more often than not, I'm racing opponents who seem to have way more power and speed who whiz past me like I'm looking for parking, no matter how good my start is.

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That may be because your opponents are losing much less speed during cornering than you are.

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@WildeKnight07 wrote:

I can't tell the difference between an AI racer, or fellow NFS racer, or a cheater... all I know is this is getting quite frustrating....

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AI ghost opponents = opponents that are computer-controlled and go very easy on you

The AI ghost opponents I encountered in Blackridge Rivals are Nulhax, Beans, and Shwa.

Real player ghost opponents = opponents who are human and go very hard on you

Cheater = opponents who are human and use third-party programs to win

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@WildeKnight07 wrote:

and this is going to be the 'future' of NFS-NL when Tournies are trashed?

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Blackridge Rivals is going to be the new "Tournaments" once the original Tournaments is removed from the game.

After being stuck at 4200 +/- 100 SP for more than one week I must ask EA / FM if BRR is rigged. Seriously, I have been keeping an eye on the leader board and seems like no one has been able to cross the 4500 mark for more than one week. I am not good, but what about rest of the world?

@WildeKnight07 I am totally by your side on this one. Blackridge Rivals is annoying especially when you cant take out your opponent. I wish they didnt put an end to tournaments, I'd rather prefer to race in tournaments than blackridge rivals. Its one of the stupidest update launched by EA/FM.

@TheRealJony I apologize in advance already jony, but i dont think you're a real player, you might be using some outsourced hack to play EA and be on top. As you say your line 'I am not affiliated with EA....lalala', maybe you are from EA and having fun with all the benefits. I might be wrong but this is my opinion, totally.

@TheRealJony wow, only a week or two ago your LaFerrari was just over 900, and now it has half of black parts, good job!

@WildeKnight07, @vipucho - why tournaments? Its completely useless feature... of course you can get some cash and a couple of gold pieces if you do your three races a day, but apart from that, where's the point of racing there? I admit I do not race in BRR much either, as I try not to spend hours playing NFS NL, but at least can see the difference:

+ we get as close as possible to racing other real players (I believe it is not possible to achieve real time racing in this game due to too long responses)

+ we can see everyone makes mistakes (much fun seeing the ghost crashing :-P)

+ it is the only feature in NFS NL that can make you drive better (!)

+/- it takes much longer than any tournament - if one really wants to be at the top, he has to be really devoted

- it sucks often, as it is frustrating when making mistakes and having no possibility to recover (oh, of course, try another run)

- it sucks when game crashes and you are punished for it by deducting SP

? we will see how the season rewards will go

@HeretikJirka Not sure why your comment was directed at me.

As mentioned in previous posts, Tournies have long since reached their sell-by date and I'm happy to see them go... boring as hell, time guzzler and no race skip feature.

As for BRR, it's certainly got potential, but it's more frustrating than it is fun at the moment. Still trying to figure out how the system decides how many SP to award or take away. Losing 20-30 SP for losing against a ghost of similar SP is very annoying, particularly when winning against the same ghost, you get 9-15 SP. One step forward, two steps back.

BTW... I gave my McClaren a whirl as promised, and got my butt whiped! Managed to win one race, but I simply couldn't keep up with the ghost on other races. The McClaren handles like a dream in comparison to the CCX and I wish we could decide which car we wanted to upgrade to the highest PR. I would dump my CCX like a hot brick.

As for my Pagani and Lambo... neither of them are able to compete above the 4000 SP mark at current PR. Not sure if it's worth upgrading as a feasible replacement for CCX.

That said, I then decided to invest some gold in a longer series of races to see if I could lift my game with my CCX and sneak past the 4200 SP mark. What a waste of gold! I ended up losing 200 SP for my trouble.

Problem with the CCX is getting a perfect start every time is virtually impossible. Clearly my tapping technique needs work, but after hundreds of hours of NFS, I still can't perfect that start, which means I'm dead before I begin. When I do have a good start and I'm racing against a car that can actually handle on the road (e.g. LeF), I'm toast in a matter of seconds and there's no way to catch them.

Sadly my LeF is going to be 4 BP's short of 6 stars after the next LeF Fastlane event. Bummer. Anyhoo, we forge onward looking for ways to eek up our performance and technique. Anyone have a tip on how to get a perfect start with CCX?

@WildeKnight07, i posted the exact same question on perfect starts and @TheRealJony's technique  of holding down the throttle until the 1 of the countdown disappears works, it takes some preactice but is far more consistant than the tapping technique (btw it also works with the pagani)

@WildeKnight07 SP points awarding - I haven't yet made first hundred of BRR races, but I think it is quite balanced and you can see same or similar mechanism in many games. Facing an opponent with same SP as you have, about 30 points are at stake - same if you win and if you lose. The better rating you have, the more will a loss cost you, and the less you can gain if you win. It is capped - I've never lost more than 50 points, but guess I won a bit more (57, maybe) after beating an opponent with SP 200+ more than I've had. Similarly, 3-5 points is about as low as it can get, I suppose.

And that trick for a perfect start was something @TheRealJony let off in another thread: push the pedal to the full throttle and hold. Wait 3... 2... 1 and right when the number 1 completely disappears, release. Though it is not perfect, I suppose I am getting much more perfect starts with this way than just plain old "tap lightly and quickly and try to hold to the green field". On my phone it depends heavily on its state. Sometimes I need to release before the number disappears completely (slight gray shadow), otherwise I overrev, but on other occasions I release at the right time and get a good start only, meaning I should hold even longer. Changing to a new phone soon, so maybe a better hardware gets me to more predictable behaviour.

After few weeks of racing I change my mind about BRR - I can't like it, it has to many bugs, errors, wrong opponents assignments (Super with Hyper just can't compete), etc.

Until it will be fixed I stop caring of it and race only 3x/day for daily assignment. I suggest any of you do the same, unless you have maxed CCX/LaFerrari. 😉 I don't have. ;]

@HeretikJirka , @richieluv76 & @TheRealJony Thanks for the 'perfect start' tips guys... I'll give the 'tap n hold' technique a serious test drive. I'll practice in campaigns till I've got it, then mosey on over to BRR and hopefully kick some ghostie tail!

I'll let you know how it goes! Happy racing.

@HeretikJirka @richieluv76 @TheRealJony ... GENIUS... the 'Tap n Hold' technique works like a charm! Takes a bit of getting used to like you said, but when you get the hang of it, it's a winner.

Just this tip alone has eliminated a whole lot of frustration for me. Thanks for the heads-up. Hugely appreciated.

@richieluv76 @HeretikJirka @TheRealJony  Some quick feedback from my side regarding your 'Tap n Hold' start technique...

Thanks to you guys, I finally cracked through 4200 and into the top 200 (136 place to be precise)!

Having way more perfect starts than slow starts now, sure has a significant impact on race results and overall progress in BRR. However, now that I have starts sorted, I can see I need to really work on my racing technique. After reaching 4245 SP, I thought I was on a roll and invested 120 gold in another 10 races and was quickly humbled and brought back down to earth... Got knocked right back down to 4136 and had to work my way back up to 4199 where I am now. What a waste of gold, but a worthy lesson.

Even with my perfect starts and racing against other CCX ghosts (no chance against LeF unless they make a big mistake), I am still being smoked in the last half of the race. I can't imagine too many CCX's have a higher PR than mine (1020) because that would require at least 1 set of 16 scanners (and I've only managed to collect 8 of each so far). So, when I've had a good start and I'm ahead of my CCX ghost, a win should be a slam-dunk. But, they're winning in the last few seconds... either because my technique sucks, or the recorded race had a different nitro band layout / traffic / roadblock setup, or the game algo's for car behavior change as your SP increases???

I've stopped drifting as much as I used to on tight corners to tighten up my line and maintain speed, which has made a difference. I'm also getting a tiny bit better at avoiding EMP (or whatever they're called), but these are still virtually impossible to avoid when you're airborn most of the time. Most of the time, I have a fairly smooth race, but still lose more often than I should against CCX's that probably have the same PR or lower.

If my technique is to blame here (which is probably more likely than other scenarios), then it probably has something to do with WHEN you hit the NOS. I suspect that my ghost opponents are waiting longer to charge up their NOS than me, giving them an extended burst of speed, rather than lots of small bursts, which is what I'm doing.That said, when I do hold off on the NOS, if my ghostie is ahead of me, I never gain on them.

Any thoughts team?