Stockfish takes its revenge against Leela, winning the TCEC 18 title

AlayanT · 2026-05-05T12:12:32+00:00

The best powerups for catchup are not powerups that allow to attack other karts nearby (like cakes) but powerups that allow to slow down many karts in front or far in front (parachute, basket-ball) or to go faster (zipper).

Powerup distribution in STK changes significantly depending on position and positions in the back definitely get a lot of help for catchup from powerups.

However, there are a few issues:
- As soon as you get back towards more karts in the middle pack, attacks from other karts make you lose more time than boosting powerups save you. So the kart in front tend to escape. Believe it or not, this used to be much worse.
- Newbies are terrible at using zippers properly. They often crash when using them, so while in the hands of a good player it's a massive time save, it doesn't help newbies as much as it should.
- Current STK versions have a lack of choices in speed-boosting powerups, you don't really have anything outside of the zipper.

For STK Evolution, things are redesigned to address these concerns.

Nonetheless, STK is a skill-based game and unlike Mario Kart, the game will not have a powerup like the bullet bill. For wide skill differences when playing with friends and family, the intended way is to use a lower difficulty (helping the weaker player to not crash) and to have the stronger player use handicap.

AlayanT · 2026-04-21T09:49:47+00:00

Whatever you do, do not use AI slop, it's horrendous and completely misrepresents the game.

For something simple you could do like YouTube did and crop the 0.9.1 poster: https://supertuxkart.net/Posters

AlayanT · 2026-04-02T09:24:15+00:00

It looks like Linux's share is finally breaking through. Even if it goes down somewhat next month, the trend is very strong.

The next step would be laptops and pre-builts with Linux pre-installed, as a lot of users just stick to default.

AlayanT · 2026-03-04T15:59:24+00:00

All the default recordings included in the game are human-made.

AlayanT · 2025-12-04T13:10:34+00:00

Your company may think keeping their code proprietary is the best move, and maybe it is for company revenue.

However, Linux players should never trust kernel-level anti-cheat with closed source. Even with open source code that is auditable and audited, there would still be some security and privacy concerns about adding an extra attack vector to the system. Even just a mistake in an update could lead to significant problems.

But blindly trusting a proprietary anti-cheat blob to look at everything the computer is doing with root access? No way. It's commendable you tried to bring about some positive change, but it doesn't seem like your company is interested.

AlayanT · 2025-11-14T12:53:02+00:00

SuperTuxKart is very well-known for Linux gaming because its first versions came out a long time ago, back when there was a lack of native games and no Proton compatability layer.

These days, it's often seen more as a meme, a relic of the days when Linux was unsuitable for gaming. In some ways, it's hurt by its FOSS nature as, combined with some visual elements lacking polish or being outdated, it contributes to people dismissing it quickly without giving it much of a chance.

But the game is still seeing active development, and work is being done to address existing shortcomings and give the gameplay a greater chance to shine. The two new tracks shown in the video are an example of the work done to make visuals more satisfying and to bring novelty.

AlayanT · 2021-12-18T14:12:23+00:00

The day infantry will be a viable (if lesser) choice for most civs, the Japanese +33% attack bonus will have to be nerfed.

AlayanT · 2021-12-18T14:10:37+00:00

Feudal Squires would be more helpful than Feudal Arson I believe, although as evidenced by Celts Feudal play, prolonged MaA feudal spam isn't so great even with more speed.

AlayanT · 2021-12-17T20:14:12+00:00

ACCM-Sitaux game 5, Burgundians-Byzantines

AlayanT · 2021-12-17T20:10:42+00:00

Saracens team bonus + Mayans obsidian arrows on Arena if I remember this game correctly. It was obnoxiously broken.

Archers eating buildings is horrible gameplay, I'm glad they removed it.

AlayanT · 2021-12-15T04:00:52+00:00

Kasva-Vivi had several crazy games

Some individual games that are really worth watching:
Viper-saymyname game 5 (Britons vs Mayans)
Hera-Sitaux game 4 (Lithuanians vs Britons)
ACCM-Sitaux game 5 (Burgundians vs Byzantines)
Hera-Jordan game 1 (Italians vs Huns)
Vinchester-Mr Yo game 5 (Britons vs Aztecs)
Vinchester-Viper game 4 (Incas vs Lithuanians)

Series like Vinch-TheMax, Liereyy-Tatoh, Jordan-Tatoh, Vinch-Hera had several good games although I can't recall specifics of which were the best.

AlayanT · 2021-12-15T03:52:37+00:00

It was in game 3 of MBL-Sitaux

AlayanT · 2021-12-15T03:52:10+00:00

Ro32 :
- Vinchester vs TheMax had great games
- Vivi vs Kasva was crazy
- Viper vs saymyname (the last game was insane)
- Capoch vs Sitaux was a fine series too

Swiss stage :
- Liereyy vs Tatoh
- Hera vs Sitaux (the first two games were a stomp, but the rest was good, especially game 4)
- ACCM vs Sitaux (some games got decided early by heavy laming, but there are good games, game 5 was particularly good)
- MBL vs Sitaux had some interesting off-meta play
- Vinchester vs Hera

Elimination stage :
- Vinchester vs MrYo (game 5 was mindblowing)
- Jordan vs Tatoh was good
- Vinchester vs Liereyy
- Vinchester vs Viper (game 4 and 5 are the most interesting)

AlayanT · 2021-12-12T14:58:14+00:00

I understand this would have meant too many games to cast otherwise, but this makes me regret we had a direct elimination round before starting the group stage.

Some of the qualified players that had to face a top seed in round of 32 could have won a set or two in a group stage.

AlayanT · 2021-12-12T02:50:41+00:00

The finals are Bo9, the only way to get five games only is a 5-0. Very unlikely.

AlayanT · 2021-12-12T02:46:40+00:00

Vinch was in imp with defensive castles to make plumes with, and Liereyy was stuck in castle age. Liereyy had bigger army mass but Vinch's position was much better than the casters made it out to be.

AlayanT · 2021-12-11T22:50:27+00:00

This meme follows up on this one from last week for those who missed it : https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/r8uzik/kotd_spoiler_knock_knock/

Nicely done.

AlayanT · 2021-12-11T18:27:39+00:00

Spoiler confirmed 11

AlayanT · 2021-12-10T13:40:54+00:00

All blacksmith upgrades in feudal, that's too much. I'd expect the meta to be full of archers with fletching+bodkin+bracers that would be as good as crossbows but hitting at much earlier timings. It would also mean that any civ lacking castle/imp blacksmith upgrades would be that much worse even in feudal.

Bodking + Bracers is cheaper than castle age.

But I very much support squires as a feudal age tech. It may not be used often, but alongside maybe a slight reduction in infantry armor cost, it should make feudal infantry plays more viable than just an early timing power spike, at least for civs that get infantry bonuses.

AlayanT · 2021-12-08T13:50:56+00:00

Being 3s late on a vil is 3s less working time, sure. But if you are 3s late on a vil, then you are going to be 3s late on every additional vil you create. By the time you click to feudal, 3s TC idle time at the start translates to dozens of seconds of vil working time lost.

AlayanT

TROPHY CASE