I decided not to incorporate a full run yet, but the individual levels that were done were optimized over the span of a year.
These were all done on Medium difficulty as per Speedrun.com's rules for the category.
*Techniques*
Shutdown Slide: Jetting in a specific direction until the player reaches a certain speed, then shuts down. This glitch allows the player to recharge their fuel while jetting in a specific direction while maintaining speed. The player is also immune to collision of any kind in this state, so the player can literally slide up a mountain or just phase right through it depending on how the map is designed. The drawback to using this is that when the player starts up, there is rng involved as to when the mech will finish powering up. Sometimes it’s quick, and sometimes it’s slow.
Jump Jet Tapping: Allows the player to jet even after the fuel depletes by rapidly tapping the jet key. This allows the player to fly forever so long as he or she maintains that rhythm. The downside is that the jets won’t recharge at all while this is done, so it’s best to use when you’re about to reach the area you’re heading towards. Generally this is done as a final glide to wherever it is that you want to go.
Overburning Before Shut Down: The player is able to shoot as long as he or she wants before shutting down without overheating. The only time your mech will shut down is if you've already overridden the shut down. This is very useful for Jade Falcon Trials 2 and 4.
*Jade Falcon Runs* (All mechs are shown before the mission starts)
Silent Thunder: Not the world record, but only 1 second slower. This mission is one of the more annoying missions to run. The HPG Uplink can be fickle sometimes, and the Communications Array can be stubborn sometimes too. Overall, this is my personal best as of now.
Arkham Bridge: Current world record. I have to head over to the nav point at the beginning rather than scale the entire mountain because the mission won't succeed unless I hit it. Trying to get the stormcrow and the final kitfox wave to work properly was a nightmare due to how much rng those mechs have. Thankfully everything ended up working out
Mirror Cage: Current world record. I absolutely abhor this mission. The dropship is easily the worst thing about this campaign. It has the worst hit detection ever, so trying to destroy it in time is a huge chore. In the full run, I tend to use a slower engine just for the sake of consistency, but for IL, I use the optimal engine with the UAC10.
Bone Machine: Current world record. This mission is weird. I had to jet straight forward instead of directly toward the hellbringer. The reason for this is because the nova and stormcrow wave power up immediately if I just move straight ahead out of the firebase, but they power up later if I leave at an angle toward the enemy mech. No one in the speedrunning community knows why this is a thing, but it is. I had to save jet fuel to jet up to the dropship, destroy the mechs, and jet back to the firebase to save as much time as I could for the fastest results
Trial 1: Current world record. Just empty out all your lasers, and take out the hellbringer. I was hoping for a quick headshot to take it out while grinding for the time, but no such luck unfortunately. F12 is needed to get the correct time on this mission.
Bouk Obelisk: Current world record. This mission is very rng heavy with your ally basically doing whatever it wants. After destroying the first couple of waves at Nav Upsilon, the ally starts to move back toward the base. The problem is that it never ends up at the same place once the skirmish ends. To midigate this as much as possible, I jet slide toward the ally and push it while shutting down. I can save a few seconds, but it's easy to slide off the mech while ramming it. The ally could explode during the process as well which will cause the mission to fail, so it's a risky maneuver in a full run. I take out the final wave before returning to the base to try and beat my ally to it. For some reason, this mission doesn't end right away once everything is completed. You have to wait a few seconds before the mission succeeds. F12 is needed to get the proper time displayed in this mission
Umber Wall: Current world record, but that isn't saying much considering that this mission is basically an autoscroller that lasts for a good 8 min, 7 seconds. DFAing the Dire Wolf is always fun though. The aircrafts are also harmless to the hovertrain; in fact, after a while they end up killing themselves anyway which is pretty funny to watch.
Rogue Chariot: Current world record. I jet toward the nav point, starting back up when I can to gain additional speed. I reach the Reactor, and jet backwards back to the starting point.
Trial 2: Not the world record, but only 1 second slower. Best I could do was get 0:50. The world record was really lucky on the headshot. F12 is needed to view the correct time.
Plum Wine: Current world record. This took some time to get. I had to put all my lasers on one torso side because I needed to make sure all the lasers hit the vehicles consistently. The hit detection isn't the greatest, so this was the best option. I also had to increase the engine and strip my firemoth of all armor which leaves me with a single leg. Fortunately, I only need one leg to do this.
Rust Heart: Current world record. I was originally tied with someone else until I came up with the strat of stripping my mech of all armor, and adding an extra machine gun to take the mechs out faster without sacrificing engine speed. It worked out well.
Trial 3: Current world record. I unloaded everything onto the Summoner's head. I got a really nice headshot and saved a considerable amount of time doing so. F12 is needed to view the correct time.
Armor Veil: Current world record. Starmates are needed in this mission for optimization. I made sure to equip both of them with a bunch of LRM 10s on them so they could take the mechs out as quickly as possible. I jet towards the first Hellbringer and Mad Dog, take them out, take out the second Hellbringer and target the Mad Dog, but jet away from it so my starmates can attack it once they're done with the first mech wave. I jet toward the Summoner and Rifleman. The Summoner goes down first and the Rifleman gets backstabbed. I then take out the final Stormcrow and Nova while my starmates destroy the Mad Dog. I jet slide back to the nav point.
Iron Piston: Current world record. This mission is a pain to run due to the amount of rng in it. Every mech needed to cooperate with their movement, and I needed to make sure that I had enough ammo for the final kitfox. I had to approach the first firemoth a bit slowly because the firemoth will back up out of my weapon range if I approach it too quickly. A Jenner is risky in a full run, so a Stormcrow is recommended, but for IL, use a Jenner.
Bronze Anvil: Current world record. Hoooo boy, this mission will really try anyone's patience in IL. The optimal mech requires more of an investment in back armor instead of front armor because you get shot in the back a lot while you inspect and destroy the vehicles. I let my starmates destroy Dwilt Radick's Dire Wolf and the Battlemaster (A hidden objective in the mission. If you don't destroy it, your mission won't succeed) after I inspect it (The Dire Wolf), I try and take out the gauss rifles on the tanks because they can snipe me while I head toward the dustoff site. They also can snipe me in midair due to my low front armor. I do have another build with more armor for full runs, but I needed to use a slower engine as a result. I ignore the last staff vehicle and jet towards the dustoff site while I order my starmates to destroy it once they're done with both mechs.
Trial 4: Current world record. I shoot the Marauder's legs as quick as I can before my mech shuts down to prevent overheating.
I don't recommend running the titanium version of the game because the heat mechanic doesn't work. These runs were done on DOSbox emulation with a fixed number of cycles for jump jet recharge. The optimal cycle settings will be different for everyone depending on their computer. |