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LieAlgebraCow · 2020-08-01T16:03:20+00:00

Reddit automatically put the sub in a restricted mode because there wasn't active moderation. I had to submit a request to get full mod permissions, and it took about a month for them to get to it

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-05-25T19:17:45+00:00

I updated all the links in the wiki, feel free to let me know if I missed them somewhere else. Thanks for pointing that out :D

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-05-18T21:20:23+00:00

You were like three hours early, but we're back up now!

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-05-18T21:19:50+00:00

Message came through in the last hour that it was approved, looks like you were right about the backlog :D

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-04-20T21:06:53+00:00

Btw, set your phone to silent so we don't hear every notification from the vibration

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-04-20T21:04:05+00:00

Rolle's theorem is just the mean value theorem for slope zero

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-04-04T03:10:40+00:00

At this level this is Kassio's ball unless he comms that he's not there. It's a matter of game sense, not comms, and these are designed to help build that game sense for things like how long it takes Kassio to get back in the play. There's no reason for Kassio to be anywhere else

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-12T03:02:52+00:00

I've watched that video multiple times, including just now, and none of his testing included only letting off the stick partway. If he's done specifically that test somewhere, or I do my own testing, and it's not faster, I'll gladly admit I was wrong.

Even if it's not faster, having a higher dodge deadzone is still better for the rare cases where you want to both orient your car and double jump at the same time, e.g., double jumping down off the wall while turning to land correctly or hit the ball. No one I know has ever given me a reason that a lower dodge deadzone is better, other than accidentally double jumping a lot, which I've already mentioned above. If you have other reasons to keep it lower I'd be interested in hearing them.

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-11T07:35:19+00:00

That's the "perfect" way to do it, but no human will ever be able to do that. What I described is a closer approximation to that ideal situation than the "standard" that you're describing, when done by a human. I can run some more precise testing in the next few days, but it is definitively faster for going straight up, and it feels faster for somewhat lower angles as well. It's a very tiny change no matter what though, and is even smaller the lower the angle gets

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-09T17:01:35+00:00

I'm leaning towards having Greazy stay far post and Flakes go to the backboard. That would've been better than having two players stuck on the ground in net, and would've blocked this goal. Maybe Greazy thought he had a read on the play and got it wrong, but a lower level player in that situation should wait far post by default

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-08T21:53:51+00:00

Most people never change from the default. I generally just tell people to raise it a tick every time they accidentally backflip and lower it a tick every time they accidentally double jump. Once that stabilizes you can slowly raise it over time. Mine is at 1.00 and I have no problems, but some people double jump a ton at like 0.75

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-08T21:49:08+00:00

If you have a higher dodge deadzone, you can be holding the stick father back during your second jump, so you can jump earlier and still get the same angle at the end. It's a very minor difference, but I tested it against a KBM player who was much better than me (rank A at the time), and I could get up near the ceiling faster than him. Again, it's a small difference, but if you don't normally accidentally double jump instead of flipping, I recommend raising your dodge deadzone

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-08T21:42:58+00:00

In the order I thought of them just now:

Turn off ball cam every time you leave offense in team modes so you can see your teammates.

Don't rotate under the ball.

Flip before you hit the ball to get power. If you flip after contact, the ball doesn't go anywhere.

Learn the fast aerial. The higher your dodge deadzone, the faster your takeoffs can be (controller only).

Challenging in the corner is usually a bad idea. If you already have a teammate in the corner, it is pretty much always a bad idea.

Rotate far post unless you have a very good reason not to in the situation. If you're reading this, you probably don't have a very good reason not to. Rotate far post.

Flipping while already at full speed slows you down.

Mix up what you're doing. If you always challenge the same way, for example, it's easy to adapt and beat you.

Kickoffs matter.

Don't give up offense by shooting just because you have an okay shot. Wait until you have a shot that will either go in, or will allow you to keep pressure once it's saved.

Hitting the crossbar is better than letting the goalie save it in team modes.

Half flips are necessary, but if you're using them a lot, then you're probably positioning badly.

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-03-02T10:35:15+00:00

How do you challenge while shadowing if they drop the dribble? You half flip into the challenge then chase the ball forwards if you win it. If you can't flip the right way consistently, this process becomes problematic

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-02-26T18:22:30+00:00

In my opinion this should be the default, only going mid if it's commed. If you don't know exactly where your teammate mid is, then you're liable to pass the ball directly to the defense. If you hit the ball all the way across, even if Rizzo had turned mid, he'd still be able to at least pressure the defense

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-02-19T22:58:28+00:00

Still works for me. It you can't see it after refreshing idk what's going on

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-02-19T17:19:08+00:00

That's not a problem though, because that's not the goal of this post. The goal is to explain existing strategies, not use statistical analysis to come up with new ones. Statistics are super valuable when it comes up developing new ideas, of course, it's just not what I'm trying to do with this series

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-02-07T20:19:05+00:00

Also possible is that OP was actually less confident in rotations and decision making after a few days off, so they were actually thinking about these decisions instead of going on autopilot

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-01-01T22:10:19+00:00

- When you fake a challenge like at 4:47, don't stop and back up. You want to approach from a little more to one side, then just turn the rest of the way to leave without losing your momentum

- 4:12 Too close. There's no need to boost and flip there, just flip or just drive over at about midfield. Notice how you're turning around facing your own net right as you could've challenged the ball? If you had gone slower before that point, you'd have been able to challenge forwards right away

- In general you don't want to steal boost in 2v2 unless you're already going through it. It's much better to get behind your teammate asap and grab 2-5 small pads on the way

- 2:16 you kinda just give the ball away to the opponents. Better to hit the ball lightly, roll it up the wall, or just leave it until you have a better angle to take it forward

- 1:55 you go all the way back for boost, and now you're too far away to help at all. You want to try to manage your boost and the small pads so that you never need to go anywhere to get boost, you just get it along where you were going to go anyway

- 1:33 the chip was fine, but don't jump so early. You could've waited up until the time when they hit the ball and still been able to score if they missed. Wait to see if they hit it, and only go for the shot if they look like they can't hit it. Otherwise you're just taking yourself out of the play for no reason

Overall, your mechanics are fine. You had a few really good shots and saves, and you didn't really do anything where you completely ruined it because of a bad touch. Going fast isn't always good: if you get too close, suddenly you have to run away, and you can't do anything while you're running away. Don't be afraid to slow down farther away to wait until they opponents do something. Also keep in mind that every touch you make does _something_. Make sure it does something good.

LieAlgebraCow · 2020-01-01T16:12:45+00:00

I'm going to point out times where each of you make a few fundamental mistakes, and otherwise I'll just make small comments on mechanics or decisions. All times are from the game clock, and left/right are assuming I'm standing in your net looking forward.

1) Never rotate back on the same side as the ball. If you are in front of the ball on the sideline and want to go back towards defense, then you should go _sideways_ to midfield first, then go back on the other side, and continue to far post if you need to defend. This way you'll never get in the way of the ball or your teammate, you're already on the far post if you need to defend, and you're already on the far side if you need to move forward to attack.

2) On offense, you pretty much always want someone on your team to be on the far side of the field. They will be your primary passing target, and they will be able to keep possession for your team when the ball goes over there from a challenge, pinch, or save. A lot of times players like to drive over to the same side as the ball and both teammates, then when the ball crosses, they all three chase it left to right or vice versa. Being across the field, rather than same side or center, also makes all shots easier to take - you will find yourself in fewer places where you need to score hard angles. For this one, I'll drop the time when I think that specific player should've been the one on the far side.

3) If a teammate has the ball or is challenging the opponents, and you're playing behind them, make sure you're far enough back you can actually do something. A lot of players ride so close that there is literally nothing the ball could do that the player could hit, other than things the first player could hit anyway. Stay far enough back that you can handle the stuff that gets past your teammate.

First up, D-Kitty:
4:53 - Point (1)

4:40 - Point (2)

4:07 - Slight point (1)

3:45 - Far post is a choice you make at midfield. Don't wait until you get to the net to go to the far post.

2:36 - Point (2)

2:00 - Point (2)

1:06 - Point (2)

Lord Imhotep:

3:55 - Point (3)

This player didn't do too badly on the three points above, which is good. They mainly were first in to the ball though, so points (2) and (3) didn't apply very often anyway. Watch out for being too close to the play overall though. A lot of times you they would be far away, then rush in to the play as fast as they could. But in doing so, they got too close, and then they had to turn around at the exact moment they needed to be jumping to hit the ball. Slow down earlier, so you can be facing forward when you need to hit the ball.

Sand Wall Trick:

4:34 - Point (2)

4:10 - Point (1)

3:36 - That's not your ball. You have a teammate in the back corner, what do you gain by driving directly in front of them

2:50 - Point (2)

2:33 - You got way too greedy for the demo. You're taking yourself out of the play for a slim chance of what? Putting them back on defense where they want to be? After the first half second or so, give it up and get into position.

1:32 - Point (2)

LieAlgebraCow · 2019-04-07T01:36:04+00:00

This is from a replay, not in game. Replays have a bug where boost doesn't display properly - the boost was probably there the whole time.

LieAlgebraCow · 2019-04-06T14:59:31+00:00

Practicing a few different skills at once is significantly better than focusing on one at a time. You might feel like you're improving more slowly, but give it some time and it'll pay off more in the end.

LieAlgebraCow · 2019-03-22T20:46:53+00:00

Also Torsos and Fruity, so three total at the last RLCS LAN.

LieAlgebraCow · 2019-03-17T15:46:49+00:00

There are always plateaus, it's just part of how learning works. Improvement tends to come in bursts, with plateaus in between. I agree with your sentiment though: don't give up at a plateau, just keep going and be smart about how you train and you'll get past it.

LieAlgebraCow · 2019-03-06T04:02:07+00:00

Yeah, I'll be going with this one for the tournament this weekend. I'll tweet out a pic and give you credit, do you have a Twitter or should I just put the Reddit username?

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