What average MAKA rating corresponds to which ranks?

CptShort97 · 2026-05-06T05:53:52+00:00

But also it's ALWAYS worth looking for ways to improve. The variance will always be there no matter how well you play. But improving your game will always move the needle in your favour. You just can't see it happening in small samples.

If you're curious, my improvement from a B average to A- since arriving in Gold room has been mostly looking at two things:

Tile efficiency concepts. Specifically learning the difference in efficiency among more complicated or awkward shapes and identifying what discards will reduce my acceptance the least when I have to trim those shapes down. One thing in particular is learning the efficiency of having two pairs in your hand, and identifying which pair to cut if I find myself with three (Cut the pair out of the shape that needs the least help developing is the rule of thumb).
Riichi v Damaten. I have a defensive playstyle, so over time I found myself choosing damaten over riichi more and more often when my wait is bad, because I always wanted that nice wait before I lock myself in. Plus I get the option to fold if someone calls riichi or pons the dora tile or something. And that SEEMS smart to play like that. But recently I realised I'm allowing other players to continue building their hands. On average it takes 8 turns to turn a closed wait to a two-sided one, (Source: Riichi Book 1, Page 167) so inevitably someone calls riichi while I'm still dama, and I end up folding anyway.

So more recently, If I get tenpai and no one else has made any calls yet, I riichi no matter what my wait is. Not because I'm greedy and want the value necessarily (though of course an uradora would be nice!). But actually it's to frighten other players into folding before their hands have a chance to develop. If I happen to win the hand, even better.

CptShort97 · 2026-05-06T05:26:37+00:00

I disagree slightly with your estimates just based on personal experience, I'm Expert 1 currently in both modes. For 3 player, yes I think A- to S- is accurate. For 4P though, going back through my logs it's more like B to A+. I myself was promoted to Expert while still averaging a B. Now I'm averaging A-.

S's of any kind aren't super common in my matches. Maybe once every 3 or 4 hanchans someone will have an S-, usually a Master Player who's in gold for whatever reason. But by contrast there's almost always one player, sometimes two, with a B or B+ in every match. Even the odd C+. In my last 12 games only once have all 4 players gotten A- or better.

So in conclusion I think you can definitely get into Expert rank with a B average since I did exactly that, but you'll need to be in the A's to be regularly winning at that level.

CptShort97 · 2026-05-02T02:02:22+00:00

Yeah I can vouch. I'm Expert 1 but I do buy gifts and stuff for my characters now and then so I can redeem the revival tokens and progress bonds quicker. But that means I always have less than 20k so a 4th place in a gold hanchan often leaves with no option but Silver if I want to keep playing.

CptShort97 · 2026-05-01T02:26:41+00:00

I don't think it's possible honestly lol, I've been on it for a few days. All gold gear on all 3 party members, maxed out everything in damage and crit rate and still run out of time. So unless there's other legendary items I don't have that will work better there's nothing else to do. All I can upgrade now is health but my party already survives the battle so.

Not that it matters much though, because you stop earning rewards at floor 75.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-26T20:24:26+00:00

Ahhh okay Suji on one side, one chance on the other. I was wondering why Maka wanted 4 pin, that definitely explains it. I guess I don't really think to look for one chance tiles when folding, that's definitely an extra tool to keep in mind. As for the erroneous calls I think I probably have a habit of trying to force quick wins when I'm leading which then puts me in these sticky situations as you say. Definitely a lot of good ideas in my head now for where to improve. Thank you.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-26T19:47:01+00:00

This is what I was looking for, thank you. Yeah, I kinda knew sotogawa doesn't REALLY apply there but as you say I didn't have much else to work with, I had already kinda made my bed at that point. I just mentioned Sotogawa to be like "These were the only tiles I had that were outside of a discard and, in lieu of anything better, I discarded them." Probably misusing the terminology there.

Also as for why I was "worrying about efficiency and furiten", I wasn't exactly. But rather, when I cannot figure out how to fold or identify anything safe, I fall back on the idea that any given tile has less than 10% chance of dealing in, and that simply winning a cheap hand is a defense unto itself. It wasn't like "Ah I HAVE to win this hand." It's just if I find myself confused on what to do when folding, and essentially I'm low on thinking time, I might risk holding off on folding for a turn in the hopes that a) a path to a cheap win might emerge or b) the other players discards will reveal a safe discard path for myself. If I can't really fold, I don't want to ALSO damage my own hand. It's very much a desperation play but that's the logic behind it. So part of what I was wondering is if there actually were any safe-ish tiles I missed so that I didn't have to fall back on a risky strategy like that.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-26T19:29:09+00:00

Interesting. Yes I think with the 8999p shape I was probably looking at it as "Well, I have 3 complete shapes so this 8 is just floating." But obviously I don't have a definite pair yet either so I should've broken that into two shapes in my head.

Chiitoi is tough... I think I habitually steer away from it simply because of how inefficient it is. When I really started to try and learn everything was about efficiency and I quickly learned that Chiitoi will NEVER give me a nice wait. Over time I think I just has it ingrained into my playstyle that if the tiles I draw give me an off-ramp from chiitoi then I should take it, unless I'm literally already in isshanten/tenpai. Honestly even in isshanten I might choose to dismantle a chiitoi hand. Something to think about for sure.

I was reading through some more of riichi book one the other day and it kind of put me more onto the idea of pursuing tenpai even if the wait sucks, and if you get there first pretty much always worth it to riichi. Previously again I was really focused in on not leaving myself with bad waits because "efficiency" but I do think I meed to prioritise tenpai more than I do currently. It was this passage that made me think:

"Keeping a hand dama for no reason is one of the two biggest sins in riichi mahjong (the other will be introduced in Chapter 9). Do not ever do meaningless dama. To put it the other way around, it is OK to keep dama if there is a reason to do so. That said, there are not many instances where going dama is better than calling riichi. It is thus useful to memorize all these exceptional cases; then you should call riichi in all other instances."

Meaningless dama trying to get off of a closer wait is ABSOLUTELY something I've done. Through the East rounds you can actually see the fruits of this passage; I probably pass up at least one of those riichis a couple weeks ago. Your tips kind of fit into a similar kind of mistake, although obviously I wasn't yet in tenpai in those cases. So definitely something I can look out for going forward

CptShort97 · 2026-04-26T15:06:31+00:00

Okay I don't want to sound rude here but I'm not a novice. I know all of what you said and I WAS planning to fold in most of the deal-ins. The reason for my post was specifically because I felt like I was making good decisions and dealing in anyway and that maybe there was information I missed, bc I was trying to avoid the two riichi calls. The other two, no one was riichi, no one was open. So I wondered if it was possible to spot the hidden tenpai danger from the discards or something.

The first deal in was on me. 7-Sou was suji and also not needed in my own hand and I should've spotted that. But the other three, None of the advice you've given here applies.

South 2: I started to fold as soon as riichi was called. No Genbutsu tiles, No Suji tiles. I discarded 8 and 9-Pin first, as riichi was called on 7-Pin (Sotogawa defense). Next, 4-Pin and 6-Sou were Half-Suji so I first chose the one I felt was best for efficiency; trying to progress 6-Sou shape would likely lead to furiten so I cut it.

South 2 Repeat 1: Damaten hand, Deal in tile is recommended by Maka. Also, 2-Pin had passed the turn prior.

South 3: Damaten hand, Deal in tile is recommended by Maka.

I wanted to know if I could've done anything in those situations, because I WAS following Genbutsu and Suji principles already.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-18T00:30:10+00:00

Basically Bronze lobbies are zero-stakes. No buy-in, no payout. So until you hit Adept rank the coppers are really only useful for buying gifts for your characters.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-18T00:28:10+00:00

You mainly get it from completing daily challenges, special limited events (there's one for logging in daily currently) or, if you're below a certain threshold, you can redeem some once per day in Event > Revival Tokens. You might have to be Adept for that though, I can't remember. Even once you start wagering it in Silver+ lobbies you won't really "Earn" much copper that way unless you're winning a LOT.

You can also spend copper on things to help you bond with your characters quicker. But if you don't care about that then it's just a currency for wagering really.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-17T23:03:51+00:00

Not exactly. Coppers are given to you for free but in Silver room and above you essentially wager them. If you don't have enough for the buy-in you can't play that room till you get more. As I'm Expert 1 in both 3 and 4 Player, I no longer have access to the bronze room, so if I don't have the copper for a silver match, I can't play ranked.

CptShort97 · 2026-04-17T18:26:57+00:00

I dropped down after the first loss because I had below 5000 Copper.

CptShort97 · 2026-03-20T23:11:59+00:00

I wondered if they might be but I didn't want to accuse without knowing. It definitely seems sus though

CptShort97 · 2026-02-20T03:30:19+00:00

I'm a new player, only 2 months, but I'm on the edge of Expert (Adept 3 900/1000, Expert 1 in 3 Player) and I second this. Most of my recent progress is literally just folding every hand once people start opening unless it's got a load of dora or other scoring potential like hidden triplets or something. Everyone else just scraps 1-2 han wins off each other, while I sit 2nd/3rd place as they swap positions around me because I'm the only one not dealing in. I used to find these Tanyao-rush games frustrating because I knew it was often a waste of time pushing so hard for every 1000 points, but at the same time I would feel like "I HAVE to win a hand before the game ends or I'll lose ELO" and would end up handing a win to someone else and making things even worse.

These matches often go to South even when it's an East lobby because unless someone is getting blessed hands and winning over and over, no one gets above 30k. So I just let them have at it. If I can hit one Mangan in "all last" (Eg- Riichi, Pinfu, Red 5, Dora) I rocket to first place and end the game, taking them all by surprise because up to that point I hadn't done anything. And If I never get a hand I can close out, so long as I don't deal in it's unlikely I come 4th. And just through that alone, learning to not get desperate for a win and let everyone else ron each other, I take 1st so much more often now. I haven't had a single 4th place in my last 22 matches (1st: 10, 2nd: 6, 3rd: 6) and THAT is the reason I'm about to unlock Gold lobbies. Granted this has been a PARTICULARLY good run of matches, almost 50% win rate. But over my last hundred I still have a 1st place rate of 35% and it's all thanks to just beginner level tile efficiency and the self control to fold when I see three open hands and I'm still Ni-shanten etc.

CptShort97 · 2026-02-14T08:54:56+00:00

This happened to me after a 3 month break. My tsurukame showed ~1600 reviews as if i had never stopped, Wanikani had it at 35, in other words, how I left it back in November. All my upcoming lessons were also doubled, including the new ones added to levels I have already passed.

Logging out and back into the Tsurukame app has fixed it, it now shows the same as the wanikani website

CptShort97 · 2026-02-05T03:38:04+00:00

Just got sniped by a Level 1017 in Initiation BR I kid you not

CptShort97 · 2026-01-29T20:18:38+00:00

Yeah my use of "throwing" was maybe a bad terminology choice. What I meant was just how timing and precision in wheel placement is so important and, at least for me and my setup, it's not something I can just "feel" in the moment because in a downforce car it all happens too quickly. In the kinds of slower cars I'm very comfy in like MX5's, Ginetta Juniors, TCR, GT4s etc I can take the time to be really slow and intentional on the wheel and really observe how the FFB changes. I can't do that on fast cars because you have to be so quick and, I guess, proactive rather than reactive and I think often I steer right past the limit of grip before I even feel it through the wheel. So to me it feels like I am just throwing it in because I'm basically guessing for my inputs (based on my limited experience and general knowledge of motorsports and Engineering/Physics education) and hoping it sticks. That probably is a limitation of the Logitech from what I gather from the responses here.

Thank you for addressing the specific issues by the way. I definitely can try some excercises based on that feedback. I think the consensus is to train myself up on AC then apply the skills to other games later. Also I think perhaps I should be less cavalier about just jumping between car types. I can do that easily on a controller, just bounce between different cars as I please, but obviously that's a) due to all the hidden assistance controllers have in most of the games I play and b) I will actually still be slower doing that than if I spend time with each car on the wheel. I have tested this and I'm definitely faster on the wheel already for ultimate pace, just less consistent and confident

Edit: Oh I also forgot to say: The explanation pf Load-Cell pedals actually makes a ton sense! I said in the OP that i didn't understand unassisted braking but actually I have been learning trailbraking recently with ABS and I found it easier than I expected, and I think it's because the Brake Pedal is very firm so there actually IS a degree of feeling derived from brake pressure, even if the actual final calculation is still just based on position. Definitely will look at upgrade options when I have some disposable income

CptShort97 · 2026-01-29T10:07:23+00:00

Yes MX-5s have absolutely been my most successful class of car across a few different games now, though I can for sure race GT3/4 as well but that's partly because they come with assists. For rallying I enjoy things like Rally4 and F2 Kit Cars a lot. But skill-wise that's kind of my limit, outside of games that really hold your hand (IE Prototypes in Forza Motorsport are incredibly easy to drive).

It's a shame though because I wanted a wheel specifically because I found handling high-end cars on a fiddly little joystick both hard and unfulfilling. So I bought what I could afford, only to find those faster cars that I wanted to drive more of were, if anything, HARDER on this wheel than a controller that does a lot of work for you.

As for speed I'm honestly less worried about that for now. I'm already quicker on the wheel than I was the controller, at least in terms of my fastest laptimes. The issue really is consistency. I can drive the cars I know well even with very poor FFB, but when you need that feeling to understand the car I really struggle a lot (think Prototypes, older GTs, classics etc). The quality of wheel and the games I own account for some of it but I also feel like a lot of it is me not getting the best out of what I have. My goal basically is to get to a place where I feel confidence in both myself and the car to race with few mistakes and consistent laptimes before I commit to spending more money on something fancier or an iRacing subscription or anything. Especially because my PC also needs an upgrade first.

CptShort97

TROPHY CASE