Cocoa Temple Expert level

Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby DirkM » 29 Apr 2019, 00:45

Is it just me, or is getting the Expert trophy on this track extremely hard? I'm a semi-decent player, and I've never found it hard to get the Expert trophies on the other tracks, but I just can't seem to even make pace with the ghost racer past the first few seconds, let alone pass it. Is there a trick that I'm missing?
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby eltomito » 29 Apr 2019, 12:58

HI! I just tried it and it took me about an hour of racing before I could beat that expert monkey by 0.2 seconds! So it's pretty hard for me too.
But on the other hand, I feel I got a lot better at the Cocoa Temple track now.

It takes a lot of skidding, a lot of nitro and no bumping into things and bananas!

The drive path also matters a lot! Stay on the inside of the turns, turn as little as possible.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Alayan » 29 Apr 2019, 17:07

This challenge is harder than the others, but not extremely hard.

Besides what eltomito wrote, choosing a good path to drive on is also very important. There are paths which are easier to drive on, but are slower. It is very important to use the faster ones for the challenge.

In the first lap, the ghost is hard to follow, but it is showing you an example of a good (though not ideal) path (you can also watch the replay directly by going in single player mode then opening the replays list and searching for Suzanne on Cocoa Temple). In the second and third lap it uses a worse path, so if you use a good one you can gain several seconds on it without driving better.

With good driving it is even possible to beat the time of the expert challenge by more than 15 seconds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjjWWtihdac
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Ludsky » 29 Apr 2019, 18:08

For me : hard and expert level is very diificult. I have day this when the Beta release.
Sorry but I hate this challenge.
I prefer follow the leader.....
Last edited by Ludsky on 30 Apr 2019, 13:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby DirkM » 30 Apr 2019, 01:59

Thanks for the replies, folks. I'll keep trying!
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Kerkerkruip » 01 May 2019, 11:18

I'm a total newbie to this game, but liking it so far. However, the ghost race on Cocoa Temple has gotten me completely stumped. I'm able to get silver cups on all the challenges without too many tries, but when I try to do the silver race here, I don't even come close. The ghost car finishes like 15 seconds earlier than I do, and I have no idea how to go any faster! I'm not bumping into things, not picking up any bananas, using all the nitro I can get my hands on, and not forgetting the speed boosts you start out with either. Any tips? I saw eltomito write this:

It takes a lot of skidding, a lot of nitro and no bumping into things and bananas!


but I have no idea what 'skidding' is.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby nadebula1984 » 01 May 2019, 17:13

It's pretty easy to win using a heavy but faster kart. Can anyone win using a light but slower kart? The speed disadvantage seems too big to overcome.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Alayan » 01 May 2019, 20:46

The light kart gets a 5% speed penalty, but the speed boost from skidding is the same and it gets more out of nitro. So the effective slowdown, when no kart crashes or has to brake, is about 2-3%. So it's definitely doable with a light kart, but indeed harder, as the advantage of restarting faster after crashes or explosions is less relevant.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Wuzzy » 01 May 2019, 22:02

In 1.0.0, Cocoa Temple @ Expert is notably easier than in previous test versions. Even the SuperTux challenge has been nerfed.

But try beating the SuperTux time while driving an Expert (=slower) kart if you want to go crazy. :D

EDIT: “Nerfed” as in “made easier”. Probably the wrong word.
Last edited by Wuzzy on 02 May 2019, 22:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby eltomito » 02 May 2019, 17:26

Kerkerkruip {l Wrote}:
It takes a lot of skidding, a lot of nitro and no bumping into things and bananas!


but I have no idea what 'skidding' is.


Skidding means drifting, sort of. There's a button for it, I forgot which one the default is.
It's next to the button for looking back and using nitro. It's called the skid button.
When you are turning and press skid, the kart starts "drifting" sideways a bit. You can use a short skid to make a turn sharper
or you can stay in the skid for a longer time and after about 2 seconds, you'll see orange sparks flying from your wheels.
When you release the skid button at this point, your kart will start going faster! It's called skid boost.
If you skid even longer, the sparks turn red and the skid boost lasts longer and maybe it's even bigger but I'm not sure about that.

So in SuperTuxKart, skidding is an important way to go faster and it's an game element that makes the races more fun, because it takes skill to do it properly.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby sinisa3games » 02 May 2019, 19:00

i thought it was buffed in 1.0.0 because i had no problem completing it
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby tempAnon093 » 03 May 2019, 12:32

Kerkerkruip {l Wrote}:but I have no idea what 'skidding' is.

eltomito explained it well in their reply.

On desktop, the default key is 'v' (assuming en-us keyboard, I don't know for others). If you press it down while turning, it will make your kart jump and then skid for as long as you hold 'v' down.
I believe it is a part of the tutorial in story mode?
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby DirkM » 04 May 2019, 03:56

After several more attempts at this track on expert mode, I *finally* beat it by a third of a second. Again, I'm not exactly a great player (at this, or at any other racing game), but I do think that this particular challenge is extremely overpowered when compared to other expert challenges. In a way, I like that it's humbled me as far as my (imagined) skills at this game go, but it's also frustrating that I can easily clear the expert trophies on every other challenge yet still struggle to beat this one.

I don't mean to be negative; I truly do love this game (I've been playing it off and on for the past three years, and I've enjoyed every minute!). Just a few thoughts on a particular challenge that seems out of place, imo.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby tempAnon093 » 17 May 2019, 15:44

Just earned my Expert stripes. It took many, many attempts but once you start learning the tricks and turns, it becomes easier.
Yes, it is certainly very hard. Not impossible. You don't even need a flawless race, you only need practice and an open mind.

A few tips [SPOILERS?]:
1) If you can stay close enough to Suzanne for a whole lap, you can see her use that booster just before the final jump. I kept crashing into it when trying, but you can use the skid key to jump over that small ledge. It's still a gamble for me though.
2) You don't have to follow Suzanne everywhere! In Expert, she takes different roads. Which one is fastest for you?
3) If you try all the good moves Suzanne does and don't copy the bad ones, you should be ready to win!

video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HaLQ-_7AebI
As you can see, I'm not hitting every turn perfectly (the ones that are perfect were probably by accident ;) ). Just ol' Tux and my regular keyboard.

The SuperTux challenge is currently out of my league though...
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby eltomito » 17 May 2019, 21:22

Well done! Your driving style looks impressive in the video. Now show what you got in onine races! :twisted:
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby QwertyChouskie » 17 May 2019, 22:17

Hmm, you're not using the side path: https://youtu.be/TasK0jPKrLc?t=31

That will save you some seconds.
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby tempAnon093 » 18 May 2019, 07:30

eltomito {l Wrote}:Well done! Your driving style looks impressive in the video. Now show what you got in onine races! :twisted:

I have to be that good to make up for the online lag ;) The game handles lag very well, but on some days 300ms is just 300ms no matter how well you handle it.
I am enjoying online racing! Last night I even found a lobby of people all around a similar skill level to me, but the server was a bit too far away and lag hit hard right at the start of the third lap. I would be more tempted to do ranked races if there were more local players online when I play, but for now I stick to casual fun.

QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Hmm, you're not using the side path: https://youtu.be/TasK0jPKrLc?t=31

That will save you some seconds.

I knew about that path but I found it too easy to crash into the rock tunnel. I will try and get better at driving through there next time!
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby sinisa3games » 18 May 2019, 14:06

i think i could do it if it wasnt for the low fps i have in the track
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Re: Cocoa Temple Expert level

Postby Mumbo » 22 Jun 2019, 17:59

I did the Cocoa on Expert today. It is far harder than anything else in the game on the same difficulty.
I agree that one learns a whole lot by doing it, however, it comes unexpected and breaks the "flow" of the story mode (since it is much harder than later challenges)-
you need completely different techniques, and since the player who produced the shadow is so good, it is more like an introduction to suffering/playing online against more experienced players/doing speedruns.

I think it would be good to change it into a normal race (cocoa temple is a great and nice looking track after all), and maybe to keep the shadow-race as a unlockable secret challenge (maybe with a key hidden somewhere within the level when you race against normal AI?).
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