I planed to present this topic long time ago, with some GIF but no time... I've thought it could be usefull for beginner and average players to better understand the subtilities of the "lock delay" (LD).. And I hope this subjct will be integrated in the wiki.. I divided the description in 4 critical points.. 1 : Generality : I will keep the DEATH 300 speed because I think this is the more problematic speed in TAP.. Represented with green color, the unreductible ARE which allow you to think for the next tetriminos, and prepare the DAS and/or IRS. Time saved is the value which will make the difference between fast and slow players..This value must be the more possible high by the manual locking. For example : m rank is given by reaching 500 @ 3:25:00 That represents a constant agressive manual locking (ML) from 0 to 350 at least.. If a player perform a DEATH 500 without ML at all, he will finich at ~ 4:45 A perfect time-attack with almost every LD reduced at 0 frame should be situed between 2:30 and 2:40. 2 : Different types of lock delay : I have identified 3 styles of LD : 1 : Time-attack : example : Jin, SQR, 309.. 2 : Agressive : example : DIGITAL, jagorochi, colour_thief.. 3 : Safety : exemple : LOst, cyberguile, mfm, taratang.. The number 1, 2, 3 don't represent a skill scale..One day, mfm will play like Kan on TAP master mode, and colour_thief often switch between "agressive" and "safety".. 3 : The danger to not manualy lock : It is sure, NOBODY on the earth is able to count the frames one by one.. It is everytime an approximative estimation in your mind..The ML is a way to check by ourself WHEN a tetriminos is locked.. Even at lv 100 in DEATH mode, I felt a strong difficulty to not do the mistake described by the last scheme.. I am sure the most of you have already be confronted to the problem.. "SHEEET !!! This fucking "S" !! It was not locked ! AARrrghh .." Anyway..So even at high speed like DEATH 300, to M L is a way to make your game more safety and mastered. 4 : The reduction of the LD : One of the main differences between ARS and SRS is the reset of the LD, which makes the children of Henks Roger (TDS, Tetris WORLD,..) totally pacefull and relaxing..Or boring... On SRS norm, you can tap a direction or rotate indefinitely while you press the stick or button below the LD. But in ARS as we know, that is different.. 5 : The phenomen of Avalanche : It took me a long time to understand the origin of the problem..I still do it sometimes at 300, I think some players here who are learning and practicing the ML at 300 often see that : -You are playing very well at 300 in locking, you think : "I master the situation, nothing can not happen to me..ha ha !! I lock at DEATH 300 I am a DEATH master !!!!..." AND THEN PATATRA !!! 3 tetriminos fall in a row in 0,2 sec and destroy your game !!.. This scheme is the good explanation for that.. ---I will finish later---
I still don't get why you wouldn't "manually lock" throughout the whole game. It just makes sense to me. Your goal is to make it to 999, so that means you're going through 500 levels of 6 ARE + 15 lock delay. That means no matter what, you're going to need to be able to place every tetromino in that frame of time, and if you can't, then you aren't playing good enough to beat the game. There's no almost winning. You either pass or fail. You may as well try and lock every tetromino, and that will certainly expose to you where you have problems. I don't think you can improve too much by passively letting the game progress by itself. That's my two cents.
The point you mention is very important...I hope c_t and DIG will join me to bring you an accurate answer for that..Because my english is a bit limited for that.. First, my objectif is to play with a permanent manual locking..That give you more pleasure to play the fastest you can.. Then I have 2 points to expose : 1 : the quantity of ..."spirit energy" ? chakra ?? is LIMITED ..There is no doubt for me..I often watch and analyse the game of jago, c_t, mine, mfm and lot of other..Play too fast in the begining dramatically reduces your endurance...Every time-attack of jago are failed a bit over 500..His best games fall most of time after a "slow" beginning..Then, mfm has accumulated the greatest number of S9 thank to a slow game.. but I agree with you it is one of the best way to improve.. 2 : Usually TGM players play at 2,5 tm/s at DEATH 500, Best SRS players like you, jono and caffeine play at 3 tm/s Be sure Death Master players can also play at 3, but if a surprising situation occurs during the game what is happen ? In ARS the game punishes you, but in SRS, you can take the time to think.. Your current best is 2,77 tm/s on Lockjaw 40 lines, it is an average, that means you have sometimes played at ~3,2 and other times at 2,4.. On DEATH mode, if you play under 2,3 or 2,4 just for 1 seconde you can fail the whole game..In SRS, you just need to rotate 1 or 2 more time to win few frame to think..
keep in mind that srs doesn't mean move-reset, and ars doesn't necessarily mean step-reset. i can play srs like death mode by opening lockjaw, 1 floor kick, step reset. it's the same, but with srs wall kicks. by the same token i can play ars with move-reset. but yeah, i see what you're saying with the minimum tpm argument. minimum tpm is important, but i still think a player will acquire more skill faster if he manual locks every time. sure if you play passively over and over you may get lucky one time, but i just think in the long run, you'll reach gm faster the other way.
caffeine... many people have that attitude and it is simply ignorant of the gameplay. Because of ARE and DAS charging, it is very possible for locking and not-locking to be around the same speed, with the only difference that locking is less forgiving. Consider that, with your current skill level, you are reacting X frames after a piece is placed. If you lock... -You waste no active time. -X frames into ARE you will push your intended input. -The next piece will spawn and sit in the middle while DAS charges. If you don't lock... -You waste a bit of time letting a piece automatically lock. -At the beginning of ARE you will push your input. -The next piece will spawn and DAS will be almost fully charged. See, it's a direct trade off between letting your piece sit there after it's spawned, and letting it sit there once it's in place. The former is more dangerous, requiring unflinching perfection to stay alive. Yet, the two strategies are very similar speed-wise. Note that I'm talking about learning Death 500 speeds here. Of course there are gains to be had in locking, but for an intermediate player there is huge risk and little speed gain to be had from locking. Tell that to mat who has been overtaken by 2 less agressive players, and possibly others before long at the current rate. You can't force a jump in learning... It's a smooth, natural progression. You have to keep pushing yourself just beyond what you're capable of, and no further.
meh. i agree with both perspectives, which is to say that ultimately every piece should be manually locked, but that whilst learning, there is great benefit to slowing the pace. i personally have a habit of manually locking throughout the entire game, often in situations where a more "reliable" or "productive" decision would have been to cool off for 5 or 6 pieces to fix a mistake or recenter. but there are hugely important skills being developed by forcing the aggression. for example, lately i've noticed that the "oh shit, i'm at the top" thing doesn't slow me down like it used to--i just play it out, and sometimes i recover and sometimes i don't. makes for a more gratifying finish too. ooo--and i passed 500 in heboris doom with the joystick for the first time the other day. nifty!
Okay, I'm liking this discussion. I'm especially interested in this area of Tetris theory. For me, the "how does one become a stronger/faster player" question is the most important for TC to answer. First off, we can agree that for Death, the goal is not speed. So when I say lock always, it isn't to save frames. Specifically, it isn't even for stability or survival. It's about learning how to play better. It's about facing your flaws and realizing what moves you must abandon. Locking every tetromino accelerates this realization of what must be sacrificed, since if you take too long, you'll double lock. Then you'll have to manual lock more on top of that, and that will lead you to probably screw up half your field. But that's okay, you learn... faster. "Note that I'm talking about learning Death 500 speeds here. Of course there are gains to be had in locking, but for an intermediate player there is huge risk and little speed gain to be had from locking." What I'm saying is that there is no intermediate player. There is only the goal. You win death or you lose. I would recommend to that player to tweak death 500 by raising the lock delay until he can comfortably manual lock, then slowly lower it until he can do 15 for 500 levels (boring as hell, right?). The sad truth for that player is that death is fucking hard. Face it dude, it's a great thing to say you're a death Gm, but it's just fucking hard, and it'll probably take a really long time. So long, that a lot of players probably forget that they're actually trying to reach 999. ("Yay, I made it to 347, i can finally die a happy man.") "Tell that to mat who has been overtaken by 2 less agressive players, and possibly others before long at the current rate. You can't force a jump in learning... It's a smooth, natural progression. You have to keep pushing yourself just beyond what you're capable of, and no further." Of course I'm not talking about personal experiences or prior real examples. I've played TAP death for maybe ten minutes in my lifetime. I'm only talking about my philosophy, and I don't think you can take a handful of player's progress and say "that's just how it is." I'm not saying push yourself far beyond your capabilities. That'll just frustrate you, and you may just quit for a while. But I am saying that I used to have the attitude that if you play well and consistently, speed will come naturally. I don't believe that anymore. Nowadays I think it's all about raw concentration, and forcing yourself through ugly, messy, and impossible speeds.
That's actually where I stand too. I think your stance on this used to be a lot more pro-locking-always, especially around the time you first got Death M. I can't make sense of what you're saying here. "Better" doesn't mean anything in a vaccuum. It only makes sense when applied in the context of a specific goal. Could you make the goal explicit for me? When I speak of someone being better or worse (like when I used the word intermediate above), I'm refering to a player's ability to play at high speeds. And to get super extra specific, I mean playing fast under TA Death conditions. If a player's limit is somewhere around 2 pieces per second, then I would not recommend locking at death 500. You'd have to have a very solid game above 2 pieces per second before even considering locking every piece. I generally agree with this. Playing well and consistently can sometimes mean you're not pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, so you'll barely improve with practice. To improve takes playing with energy and a willingness to try just a bit harder. I don't think you interpret things this way, but as a disclaimer to other people who may be misreading your quote there: Skill does not mean you are concentrating more. To a huge extent, improvement simply means you can accomplish more with the same basic amount of effort. The better you become, the more effortless it is to play well. It does, however, require extra effort to improve.
I don't understand..For me, the most agressive of you 3 is jagorochi... Matt and you plays at the same speed.. Jago is 300 around 1:52, matt and you (and me) are 300 around 2:00.. hmm..I don't understand a whole discussion like this one with my limited english..
Don't worry about your English... I think people here will always be nice enough to clarify details to someone who wants to listen. I was talking about 500+. It's true that Jago has gotten the most aggressive M times out of everyone here, but nobody has tried to lock at 500+ more than mat. I'm too lazy to dig up an old quote, but I remember him saying things to the effect of "locking 500+ is the ultimate goal so why ever play without locking?"
