More speed work - in which I earn some new records and perhaps some style points!

(4:35) Level 4 ('The Silent Cartographer') on Heroic. Continuing on from the last movie, I decided to try and improve my absolute speed record for descending the security shaft (which I'd got down to 18.9 seconds), and also work on my basic speed descent. New records achieved!

Released July 12th 2019, gameplay recorded July 8th-11th 2019.

00:02 (New set-up) To try and beat my previous record, I figured it would be a good idea to create a new set-up (music-free) in which I was already lined up nicely for the angled long bounce. It worked out well. I'm perfectly lined up, and all I need to do is go forward - though there's still an option about how strongly to go forward, which controls how far along the angled edge you hit. This set-up greatly reduces the variability in my initial trajectory, compared to the previous save I was using. I was hoping this would help me reach the third shelf with higher frequency.

43:18 (Much pain) Alas, it was still very hard to reach the third shelf. I tried all sorts of control patterns to try and hone a good way of bouncing off the edge of the third platform (to then reach the shelf), but never got anything remotely reliable. These four clips illustrate some typical failures, across hundreds of tries.

01:26 (New record) Finally though, I got the bounce I needed. I didn't quite nail the cushioning on the platform after that, but at least it didn't slow me. With the aid of a speedy glancing bounce off the final platform, I got a time of 17.3 seconds, a new record.

01:50 (Faster still) Later I got a extra bounce and ended up on the fourth platform. My attempted glancing bounce off the final platform wasn't so good this time - in fact there are brief footsteps heard - and that lost me about half a second. But I ended up with a time of 17 seconds, my current record.

Incidentally, just before getting the first bounce, I started turning right. This was something I was doing sometimes to hit the angled edge slightly differently (to the right a bit), hoping for some benefit. I was hoping I would hit the wall a bit lower down and thus have a better chance of hitting the edge of the third platform. A problem I had was that I was often too high, by the time I reached that platform.

A minor oddity: at 2:10 when I fire a rocket, the firing graphic in the first frame is a weird blocky affair. After experiment (just with this particular save), it looks to me like this is something that can happen with your first rocket after starting.

02:14 (Enough) I continued for a while, still trying to get a good control pattern, but I don't think I reached the third shelf again, and eventually I'd had enough.

02:23 (Basic descent, spiralling) I returned to my earlier set-up to see how fast I could go with the basic descent method, in which you fall to the top platform, then from platform to shelf and so on, except allowing the option of a bounce off the final platform. For a while I was doing my cushioning as normal, but then I got into the this new 'turning' style, in which you turn inwards as you hit. It has a nice feel and may've been helping me nail the cushioning. In this descent I kept turning right, spiralling down. After a nice glancing bounce off the final platform, my time was 30.4 seconds, easily beating the 32.5 from the last movie.

03:00 (Basic descent, alternating) I then put in some effort on alternating between sides, and with the target of getting below 30 seconds. Alternating is really quite a lot of fun to do, and feels a bit like a dance. But as with the spiralling, it takes some careful control. With the first three falls to a shelf, I was trying to land near the edge at the corner so I'd have a clear view of the cushioning slope I'd be aiming for next. Did well here. I nailed all the cushions, and by the time I was leaving the last shelf my shield wasn't even bleeping. Eventual time: 29.9 seconds, meriting a celebratory flare.

03:41 (Bouncing) You can save time my doing bouncing such as shown in the first three clips here (not that this would fall under the 'basic' category of descent), but I found it so painfully hard (see the subsequent clips) that it wasn't any fun, so I wasn't interested in pursuing it. The first two examples show single bounces but the third shows a double bounce, which would save you about five seconds. In fact it's an excellent double because the damage is fairly minimal.

Closing remarks My new set-up was pretty ideal not only in how I was lined up perfectly for hitting the sloped edge, but also in how near the edge of the balcony I was. If I sharply move the left joystick forwards and keep it there (so, going forward as hard as I can), I'll hit the edge near the far end. But if I initially just move off the edge, then bring the joystick back then push it forwards again, I can hit near the start. The latter is what I tended to do most, as I thought it was better.

In regard to using the new set-up, one other thing I was interested in was the possibility of getting down in a single fall, which would give a time of about ten seconds. This may be possible. During the making of my last movie, there was one time when some freaky bouncing caused me to end up down at the height of the holed surface with my overshield still intact. Had I hit the surface, I might've survived the impact and then come safely to rest (rather than skidding off to my doom). Unfortunately though, I narrowly missed it and flew through a hole. I'd been hoping I might get another such freaky fall with the new set-up, but alas it never happened.

Up until the end of the final descent, the clips are chronological, going from July 8th-10th.

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