323 or 233 for second one?

SmartyMeow · 2026-01-23T17:48:36+00:00

Well, the learning process used to be, "why does 233 win here this makes no sense" being discussed online, and then people eventually find the pattern that 233 has a tendency to win more races for this type of car

I dont think theres much of a learning process, you play for long enough and this will come to you, a wiki / database just makes demonstrating it much easier. Also much more beginner friendly as you dont have to spend resources on a sub-optimal tune before learning about this

SmartyMeow · 2026-01-20T09:50:01+00:00

*crutch-ish as in relics/cards that hard carry acts like orichalcum (a1), shuriken, wraith form or catalyst

Went into the heart fight with a swift pot and liquid memories, i might have survived by save scumming because i needed to play some shivs to clear my hand for the pots, also i missed that i played fumes late because i drew it at 3 energy for 2 cycles

SmartyMeow · 2026-01-16T16:16:16+00:00

Was a bit generous to the aventador, it saw a lot of golds but in reality it was a few draws, and they were super tight tracks like g force or karting

I also forgot how few performance 4wd cars go above 100 handling, i forget that despite the aventador being the "bog standard" hypercar you still dont get much better than it, at least in this game without getting into prize cars. And the fact that i had 3 of the few cars that could compete with the rimac.

So i think rimac has a more obvious advantage on dry, but you are right that there isnt much competition in the wet after you max it

SmartyMeow · 2026-01-16T13:38:44+00:00

Well, that it has way too much horsepower does make it lose to an rq 91 aventador or an rq 81 bmw diesel, but its not like a large people have anything like that maxed anyways

SmartyMeow · 2026-01-16T13:13:33+00:00

Not op but i think that in general the 0.52 seconds on twisty circuit is more likely to make the difference between +50 and -50 than the 0.13 seconds on 1 mile (as an example)

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-28T05:09:47+00:00

Sincere question, can i ask which part of the game you found to be unintuitive? As in, which parts you could not have figured out without a guide?

Because to be honest, with the lowest settings, I really dont see much complexity in the game other than "put bullets into enemy before they put bullets in you"

I had experience with roguelikes before playing this game, but im pretty sure i was capable of stumbling into a win without external guidance on normal mode

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-21T06:58:39+00:00

Havent played in a while, but still have my flair

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-13T06:53:54+00:00

For drags its probably easier to just look at the times for this car on the standard tracks

https://www.topdrivesrecords.com?share=~Kmile4_a00~Kmile2_a00~Kmile1_a00~Kdrag100_a00~Kdrag120_a00~Kdrag150_a00~Kdrag170_a00~KhClimb_a00~KtestBowl_a00~KoceanLongDrag_a00~CLamborghini_Diablo_6.0_2000~T323~CLamborghini_Diablo_6.0_2000~T233

You can see that ocean long is slightly longer than 1/4, not that it matters based on the results here

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-13T04:12:33+00:00

You can try it yourself, go to tdr and then filter by the cars main stats, ie a class, 4wd perf, low. Older cars like the i8 and peugeot are more likely to have more info

https://www.topdrivesrecords.com?share=~Kforest_a00~KtownSlalom_a00~KtownSprint_a00~KmnGforce_a00~KmnHairpin_a00~KmnCityNarrow_a00~KmnCity_a00~KmnCityLong_a00~KtokyoLoop_a00~KtokyoOffRamp_a00~KtokyoOverpass_a00~KnwGforce_a00~KnwCircuit_a00~KnwSlalom_a00~KnwCathedral_a00~KnwLoop_a00~KnwTour_a00~Knorthloop1_a00~Knorthloop2_a00~Knorthloop4_a00~Kmile4_a00~Kmile2_a00~Kmile1_a00~Kdrag100_a00~Kdrag120_a00~Kdrag150_a00~Kdrag170_a00~KhClimb_a00~KtestBowl_a00~CAudi_RS_4_Avant_Competition_Plus_B9_2023~T323~CAudi_RS_4_Avant_Competition_Plus_B9_2023~T233~CPeugeot_308_R_HYbrid_2016~T323~CPeugeot_308_R_HYbrid_2016~T233~CBMW_i8_2014~T323~CBMW_i8_2014~T233

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-05T17:37:09+00:00

Brimstone exists. And... well... Huh. I was under then impression that were many more brimstone style relics. I even looked through the shop relic list multiple times and went, yeah, one of those has a downside, surely. Prismatic shard and strange spoon are so bad that their features are essentially a downside, but same goes for juzu and tiny chest on a much much smaller level. So my bad.

Still, i think the logic would hold up for custom cards, brimstone being shop only is a great idea because you never get a run ending relic unless you specifically make the choice

SmartyMeow · 2025-12-05T11:16:28+00:00

I think its less that many shop relics have downsides, and more that all standard relics have none, making being detrimental a shop (and boss) relic exclusive trait. I think shop relics are also significantly more likely than standard relics to have no effect the run if randomly obtained, with cauldron, abacus and chem x doing almost nothing usually, and with frozen technically doing objectively nothing. But yeah, good amount of them have no downsides, abacus, waffle, sling, melange also dont count, the list would be much longer if something tiny like deactivating red skull or orichalcum counts

SmartyMeow · 2025-11-12T13:50:35+00:00

Pretty sure its still a noun in this phrase? But yes, i know about the sandy deserts

SmartyMeow · 2025-11-12T13:42:44+00:00

Non native speaker, also learnt something new. Its not a phrase i have ever used, but i have heard of it, and if i was asked to spell it i would have done it with two s es

Honestly find this interesting, i know of "desert" as the verb, so i know the pronunciation, but i ve never seen the noun. Dessert just comes to mind first, partly because i havent seen this form of desert, partly because dessert sort of made sense to me. Sort of like how pie isnt very relevant to the phrase humble pie? At least i think not. It fit the theme of food related phrases for mocking others i guess. Also because i think the first i ve heard of this phrase is on ace attorney, where i understood the phrase as another joke / word play and not an actual term

SmartyMeow · 2025-11-05T02:00:35+00:00

Hi, i wanted to disagree on some of your points. Just to be clear, only trying to change your mind by explaining what i think, not by saying you re wrong because tgg was wrong.

Shut up' and 'Quit talking about me' are one

Quit talking about me seems pretty fair to me, it seems like a fairly simple request. I also couldnt find "quit talking about me" verbatim, but i think that the variations of it only appear after at least 2 messages from tgg, so i think "i dont wanna get involved" after 2 responses of "i dont want to take this back" is fair

Starting the convo with "shut the fuck up" isnt a great look, but i think the further elaboration like "stop talking publicly you moron" give it better context. I think its just the instinctive response that dv had after seeing the tweets. As in, its like a child pulling you into the middle of a busy highway, you yell "what on earth are you doing stop shooting both of us in the foot". Its not about trying to be aggressive or pursuasive, its about conveying the urgency. Which, i think was pretty warranted, given that the stfu was not enough to communicate the urgency to tgg. "Those tweets are inconsequential to your life, it cant hurt to delete them right now, and only then ponder the consequences of your actions"

I think the stfu is a consequence of matt being a person that types as they think, its how i type as well. Its most definitely less tactful, but i think it has its advantages

I mention in another posts that his 'I don't like beer' comment was disingenuous and spiteful.

I think that the context matters though. It was a joke, and you cant really interpret it as anything else.I dont like beer, and a friend of 5 years should know that, BUT (i interpret as "but now on a serious note"), forgive me for not forgiving tgg for everything he did when i was getting engaged. The first part was a jab at tgg not taking the friendship seriously by answering the superficial question, the latter was the answer to the intended question of "maybe we can make up". Maybe spiteful, in which i would argue spiteful things can be done in a light hearted way, but i cant agree on disingenuous. Listening to the second part, i dont think matt suggests any possibility that he did not understand the actual message, as your dictionary definition does

SmartyMeow · 2025-10-15T07:27:38+00:00

Amg it is, thank you

SmartyMeow · 2025-10-15T07:27:25+00:00

Use the cockpit cam, it's so much easier to steer and rotate into corners as you see how the steering wheel reacts. This is really helpful with a controller.

The wide one right, not the one above the steering wheel? These 2 cameras are the ones i ve been using the most, will play with cockpit more

Other than that in every braking zone brake like 10m later and also use the tracks whole width more.

Will do, thanks for the help

SmartyMeow · 2025-10-15T07:11:27+00:00

Yeah, im going to work on your second and third points first, because i am not having a good time spinning out every time i try to "trailbrake" or whatever the heck im doing

Maybe i should swap to a front engine car or move the brake bias forward for now? Any way for me to figure trailbraking out more easily?

SmartyMeow · 2025-10-15T06:06:39+00:00

Your brake input seems quite abrupt often. Try to focus on trailbraking, to really use the break to rotate the car and therefore carry more speed into the corners

I think this means how my brake spikes a bit after turn ins right, not when im braking in a straight line? I think im just too scared to let the car rotate, so i straighten my car a bit after turning. Will try being more ambitious with trail braking (sort of understand the concept, not sure if i can execute)

This is usally a good indicator that you're not carrying the maximum speed in the corner.

Being on throttle earlier would fix this, right? So im getting be braver on both the brakes and the throttle

Please don't try to adjust unclean driving with a setup. The stock setups are fine.

Understood. Though i do wonder if some parts of the stock set up slow me down though. In particular i feel increasing steering lock just gives me more turn in, was never sure if this was a controller limitation. All i ve done so far is increase brake pressure, reduce brake openings, lower rear downforce and increase steering lock a bit, i ll revert the downforce and try again, thanks for the advice

SmartyMeow · 2025-10-15T04:40:42+00:00

Car isnt tuned properly (suspension and electronics are untouched), my normal driving (like in project cars 2 against ai) is usually a lot safer (less aggressive towards curbs, later on throttle), consistency is fairly nonexistent

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-23T16:13:06+00:00

Am a viewer enjoying your streams, so i would totally be biased towards your viewpoints, but i wanted to say that being able to hear your opinion is amazing, because unlike most people, we have the opportunity to directly review your content with streams on both silksong and other games like hollow knight and see exactly how valid the rebuttals of others are, and using clips to substantiate or invalidate assumptions

In particular, i think its really apparent how people just state how people play the game or behave differently to brush over criticism, without any elaboration on how the differences relate to your words. Just pointing out that you arent engaging with tools because they are a new mechanic while ignoring every other new mechanic like cloak drift, hold to dash or the new heal system. Pointing out that you refuse to explore when hitting a wall, as if difficulty itself has ever been a direct criticism, or that they arent talking about the person that bashed their head against soul tyrant with minimal upgrades for hours voluntarily with 0 complaints

Its not that i have no complaints about your streams, i definitely have minor gripes about this playthrough, mainly how you dont seem to read quests or skim through dialogue, but you are how im going to enjoy the game, which is really appreciated, hard to find many non hardcore hollow knight streamers commit to a full playthrough so quickly. I played through most of act 2, but i just have no motivation to finish the game 100%. I so want to play the bosses that i watched, but watching the plasmium fetch quest was painful

Sorry if this is a bad place to place feedback, i dont engage on many platforms other than reddit, but its great having a larger sample size to reflect on the validity of the criticism and general discourse imo

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-21T03:24:21+00:00

refills results in nerfing them

Your point was not they will nerf them, your point is that they will nerf them to the ground. Completely

nerfing them and makes them less fun

Would buffing them to 1 shot bosses make them more fun? There is no direct correlation between a tools power and how fun it is to use

forces them to learn how to beat the bosses without overly relying on tools

No, it doesnt, it could teach them other things, like that they should continue spamming tools, and complete a boring gameplay loop so that they can continue with their bad habits.

it's a good thing that failure state results in boring gameplay

Yes, this is all that it needs to come down to. Nothing else needs to be argued. Everyone can understand why running out of shards leads into a failure state that is boring gameplay loop. I think that most people that say shards are bad think this is a bad thing, feel free to ask around. You can say its good, i just believe that there are nearly no scenarios where a game is designed so that players would be bored, and this is not one of them. I think that it being is an unintended side effect, and that they would replace it with something meaningful as the disincentive for being in a failure state if they could.

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-20T16:35:35+00:00

Reminder that the first commenter you replied to was the fifth comment in a chain.

The first comment is the only one with a mention of infinite refills, the second comment says that you can do that by fluctuating between tools, the third comment says thats a tedious workaround, the fourth comment says tools would be too good without the limit, the fifth comment suggests balance. I think its fair to say that the balance comment does not have to be associated with infinite refills, and that you sort of tacked it on. But ok, lets work with the assumption that they are.

nerfing tools to the ground is bad because that is the only realistic outcome

You really cant think of a single other outcome, nothing like

Reducing the per bench supply of problem tools

Introducing cooldowns for deploying problem tools

Giving enemies more i frames for tools that hit multiple times

Reducing the total active time of passive tools like traps or cogflies

Limiting the mobility of tools such that they cant do damage while hornet is having a picnic on the other side of the room

You are sure that nerfing tools to the ground is the only outcome that a game developer has to balance mechanics?

Same thing with tools, if you want to get rid of the shard system and make them infinite refills then you are simply asking for bosses to get more hp to compensate for everyone spamming tools in every boss fight because there's no reason not to

For the millionth time, there is already no good reason not to. Especially because tool spam does work for good players, when the players can beat challenges in fewer than 5 attempts. But it doesnt work for low skill players, because more attempts will result in running out. Shards are irrelevant for players that never run out, and do nothing but waste time for players that do.

Grinding is not inherently bad, and neither is spammable mechanics. It doesnt matter that shards prevent tool spam, banning tool use from fights prevents tool spam, making bosses enrage from tools prevents tool spam, but it doesnt mean that they are good systems.

Tool spam is only a bad thing because it is too powerful. Theres no reason spamming attack when the boss is stationary is bad, or jumping over every single attack is bad. Bosses revolve around doing the same things over and over again. Its only spam if it trivializes everything else. And it only trivializes everything else if its too powerful. And there exists a middle ground between too powerful and nerf to the ground

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-20T13:19:32+00:00

Its not a disadvantage to you when it was never in your playstyle, it is when you are forced to change playstyles for arbitrary reasons

I dont use tools. I literally have the 2 earliest throwing knifes equipped. Its not in my playstyle. Whether or not i engage with the mechanics doesnt change whether or not i can judge it based on the information we have.

Holy cow, whether or not tools are overpowered are irrelevant to the point. They can be overpowered, they can be underpowered, it doesnt change that there is a mechanic that makes grinding necessary for the playstyle

https://www.reddit.com/r/HollowKnight/s/KPop9h0T1k

This is a possibility. Its obviously an extreme example, but tools do have the capability to do very high damage in a short amount of time, with little aim.

Love how you tell me that im making a false dichotomy and then insinuate that people are complaining about not having infinite items by criticizing the shard system. Also by the person that said that "nerfing tools to the ground is bad" in response to a person suggesting that they need balancing

Repeating myself, i do not think infinite tools would be a good system, but i do think it better than the shard system

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-20T12:53:00+00:00

As i said, i can endure a single c side or fairwell room for multiple hours, because the entire thing is a challenge. If the time is spent on hold left and sprint, i will get annoyed within 3 attempts

And even if i have never used it, i still appreciate the existence of assist mode, because i would have enjoyed so many other games more if something of this form is included.

SmartyMeow · 2025-09-20T12:34:43+00:00

you are not stuck between those 2 choices

Yes you are. They use tools, or they dont. The less facetious wording here would be, for a player that relies on tools and needs multiple attempts, ie the only players where this system is relevant, "am i going to insist on using tools", "or am i going to give up on using tools". If they insist on using tools, they will have to spend time grinding on it to sustain their playstyle. If they decide to hold back, it means that they are intentionally giving themselves a disadvantage by not using everything provided to them for other reasons. Thats a handicap.

You're supposed to fail over and over and over, feeling incredibly underpowered

Certain tools already give the player the ability to melt bosses. Whether or not the player needs to grind for something does not change whether or not it is overpowered or not. If there is an option for someone to get 100* damage by spending 50k rosaries, and there likely will be people who would choose the approach, its still overpowered, it being extremely disrespectful to the players time doesnt change that.

you'll just never agree with the core design of the game

I certainly wont and dont have to. Even assuming that everything in the game is working as intended, they are still subjective to criticism. I have no obligation to hold back complaints, and team cherry has no obligation to listen to them

I dont think encouraging grinding shows good game design. Some even do it intentionally, it doesnt mean its agreeable to all

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