So here are my win statistics in F-Zero 99. The vast majority is with the Blue Falcon (the other cars should contribute less than 10 wins together).

Knight League Tracks

Track Races Wins Win %
Mute City I 307 14 4.6 %
Big Blue 245 11 4.5 %
Sand Ocean 149 18 12.1 %
Death Wind I 137 15 10.9 %
Silence 43 7 16.3 %
-------------- --------- -------- ---------
Total 881 65 7.4 %

Queen League Tracks

Track Races Wins Win %
Mute City II 68 4 5.9 %
Port Town I 45 4 8.9 %
Red Canyon I 62 9 14.5 %
White Land I 211 27 12.8 %
White Land II 15 4 26.7 %
--------------- --------- -------- ---------
Total 401 48 12.0 %

King League Tracks

Track Races Wins Win %
Mute City III 0 0 0 %
Death Wind II 70 3 4.3 %
Port Town II 209 22 10.5 %
Red Canyon II 0 0 0 %
Fire Field 0 0 0 %
--------------- --------- -------- ---------
Total 279 25 9.0 %

All Tracks

… Races Wins Win % Crashes Crash % Win % Finished
Total 1561 138 8.8 % 261 16.7 10.6 %

Prix Results

Prix Entries Wins Win %
Mini Prix 102 10 9.8 %
Knight League 78 4 5.1 %
Queen League 27 7 25.9 %
King League 0 0 0 %
--------------- ----------- -------- ---------
Total 207 21 10.1 %

So, as it can be seen, the Blue Falcon is a late bloomer in the Knight and Queen League. That’s kinda an advantage, since you can simply give up after the first race if you get a bad result. For reasons of self-torture, I keep on playing even if I get a bad first race. I once won the Knight League after I finished 36th in Mute City I.

As time progresses, the competition becomes more brutal, now you have multiple 99+ win racers in every race, though I still see the random win by a level 17 player. Given how hard it is for me to get a win (I have roughly a 9% win chance every race) I cannot imagine how hard it is for a low level player to get at least one win. I am now seeing S2 and S3 players with just 2 race wins.

One question I’m asking myself is whether the track balancing is intended this way, that some tracks are extremely difficult to win for the Blue Falcon (namely the easy tracks) and the technical tracks are easier wins. The outlier in my case is Death Wind II, which is a technical track, but it kind of is the “Mute City of Pro Tracks”. I need to change my strategy in the case of DW2 because I can hit all boost pads without problem in practice. But a DW2 race is something different.

Which makes me worry about the upcoming King League, since Mute City III will be Mute City I after the first lap. Well, even worse, there is no jump pad in MC3, so I expect my win chances to be even lower than MC1.

So how is everyone enjoying the new tracks? Have people given up because of the competition?

  • Zarxrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    Insightful post into fzero as always! I’ve definitely noticed that it does feel more and more difficult to place well as time goes on and the game becomes more populated with seasoned players. I’m currently A+ rank and have yet to get a win. I only play a few races per day usually, though. I got 2nd place in a grand prix yesterday, so maybe I’m not too far off from a win.

    I started out playing as Blue Falcon, but I’ve switched to the wild goose, as it just feels easier to do well with it. I think the nature of the game having so many players, it’s beneficial to be able to freely attack them without much consequence. Especially in the Grand Prix, getting early KOs feels like a huge advantage.

    • PinkOwls@feddit.deOPEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      I’m currently A+ rank and have yet to get a win. I only play a few races per day usually, though. I got 2nd place in a grand prix yesterday, so maybe I’m not too far off from a win.

      Getting a 2nd place in a GP now is a major achievement!

      If you only race a few races per day, then you obviously want to crash out less, which is a sufficient strategy to get high placements in a GP. I’ve read that players have won GPs without having a single race win overall. In my opinion, a 2nd place in a GP is worth more than having won a race, but unfortunately you don’t get a badge for this. For many pilots who want wins, it’s “make or break” and they crash out while trying to go for first.

      I started out playing as Blue Falcon, but I’ve switched to the wild goose, as it just feels easier to do well with it. I think the nature of the game having so many players, it’s beneficial to be able to freely attack them without much consequence. Especially in the Grand Prix, getting early KOs feels like a huge advantage.

      Yep, the only bad thing is the randomness when depending on KOs (which is a similar problem for the Falcon when your strategy depends on perfectly timed skylanes). Also, I don’t know how it is for Goose-players, but when I get a few KOs with my Falcon I become a bit overconfident with my energy, meaning I crash out of GPs early because I risked too much.

      But it sounds like you’re on a good path to get your first win, so good luck!