New optimisations

[kash]

Hello fellow speedrunners!

Here are some potential time saves

1. Use clovers at precise place; this will make it less stressfull when running and optimize menuing. I also noticed you guys tend to arm the sword way to often. As far as I know after getting it you only need to do it 2-3 times( on brundle, tippett and at the building site).


2. Before the mutant factory you can get 5 hits by the red grobo before drowning him (it only takes 5-6 seconds and it's actually quite easy). Then when inside hit the wall 7-8 times while waiting for the gate to open like that you can die in 1 hit after doing the eggs. It's a 10-15 secs time save.


3. Yolo strat: at Funfrock headquarters on principal island when getting the sword. After doing the mecca kill the first guy in aggressive mode then kill the white grobo with the ball but you need to be very close to him and hit him before he fires his first bullet. 10 secs time save


4. I finally found a way to get the "kash skip" to work 100% of the time on the GOG/steam version!!!! (for the CD version it was already consistent) When you are on the gate, jump then while still in the air press and hold Enter then press F2 or Ctrl and Twinsen will warp up!

[MevX]

Always great to see you post here!

I think using clovers at precise places should be common place in a speedrun. I will however say that it almost always varies depending on what kind of hp you have, and in what situation. Also, if you do end up deciding certain clover spots, you will lose the opportunity to heal yourself up later in the game. But yeah i should take a look at that. That and the sword thing ^^

Nice find on that red grobo. I'll say that there is another enemy that you can take damage from a bit faster although more inconsistent, and that is the red rabbit patrolling the stairs. But i think taking damage from the red grobo seems like the more logical decision.

Funnily enough, i've also experimented with the yolo strat in Principal Fortress, back when i discovered the red card skip. It felt more viable doing it when you're opening the gate with a blue card, and just running in with momentum. With that said i haven't actually done it after a meca jump, and it feels kinda risky overall to be honest. But that's probably why its called a yolo strat.

Now on the last point. You seem to talk about holding enter, and it only working on the steam/gog version. The unintended side effects of holding enter seems to be a fault of the dosbox version, and as such i wonder if it should be legitimate for speedrunning. So i'm not sure what to make of that.
Nonetheless it is a cool find!

Don't be afraid to say something on discord, especially in the lba1-speedrun section. I'd love to have a discussion on even more things there.