Hey all,

Just a quick suggestion, but for players like me who prefer to play without powerups, could we at powerup + no powerup categories to the runs? 

An interesting observation about phases for run optimisation in Dune.
 
Upon analysing my 100 pts WR and PunchSh0t's 1000 pts WR, we notice that I employ the "Fast Moon" or 2-jumps-to-moon (2JTM) starting strat, whereas PunchSh0t employs 3-jumps-to-moon (3JTM). This puts us almost exactly out of phase throughout the entire 100 pts split, which may be an interesting concept to study further.

Assuming each technique is played optimally, which would reach 100pts first? Or 500, or 1000? Let's consider the 100pts case.

On PunchSh0t's 3JTM run, they are travelling upwards approaching the 100pts mark by accumulating Moon and Beyond bonuses, allowing them to reach 100 from a lower score, which seems like a timesave. However, on my 2JTM run, I am travelling downwards at 99pts to quickly ricochet off the ground and above the scoring line to 100. 

Even though intuition may suggest that 3JTM could be faster as you are cycling quickly through the upward bonuses, and 3JTM seems to be faster to 87 points, 2JTM appears to reclaim the pace at 100pts; perhaps there are more nuances to the phases which could be investigated with Fourier analysis.

I cannot say with certainty who played their split with more skill (as this is also a large factor), but I would give the benefit of the doubt to PunchSh0t, as they seem to be a more experienced player than I am. 

Just some food for thought, will be experimenting with 3JTM to see if a new WR is possible with this technique, or if 2JTM is the best approach.

Edit: Forgot to mention RNG in terrain generation, if PunchSh0t had a steeper hill to 100pts, they may well have had a faster split.

Perfect tower