Square Divide Time Trial

[Herculees]

Cone - I believe you... I just wanted to make a funny. I'll consider 29 secs the new time to beat.

[Conehead]

Ah well here's another funny, i did it again today. i had one square left, and mega it was at the end of 29 seconds. i hit it and it didn't break so it broke into the last two small pieces!!!! and i reaking ran into them, i can't play this anymore!

[Herculees]

Conehead, I DEFINITELY BELIEVE YOU NOW. Why? Because it happened to me when I broke your high score! It goes to "submitting", but never posts... maybe it's a glitch for all scores under 30 seconds? That's all I can think of... How do we report this to Gaz? Check this out:

[Conehead]

OH my gosh this sucks!! It must be a glitch.... ah man!! i can't do good today on this game anyways

[Herculees]

Well, I just posted 29.200 secs... and it submitted! So our theories were wrong, and we must have just been the victims of circumstance. I think the only way to beat 28 secs will be to eliminate 3 big squares before the powerup. This one was with the INVINCIBLE powerup, two lucky shots in the middle of the big squares, and chasing down two single squares, shooting them and catching the stars almost simultaneously.

edit: Of course, I still wasted over an hour getting 700K on Vector Wars, which should have put me in the top ten... only to have it not register! I doubt I'll do it again... my hand is getting pretty sore from SDTT!

[Conehead]

Dang it submitted for you! I will eventually beat you... hopefully But i will try try again!

[Herculees]

Cone, I'm convinced that the ONLY way to get under 30 is to have the following lucky things happen for you:

1. When you divide into the first four squares, they split in different directions and go VERY slow.
2. When you go to destroy the first two, they are in a corner when you hit them AND they don't scatter much or go very fast once you start breaking them up.
3. If you aren't down to TWO big squares when your Mega-powerup comes up, forget it. I can't fire fast enough to use the SLOW one well, and I can't seem to get the timing right often enough to use the INVINCIBLE. When I get INVINCIBLE, I can get one square fast sometimes, but never both.
4. Once you get the MEGA powerup, you have to shoot against the wall, so you can get follow-up shots quickly. You have to shoot DEAD in the center, and if the result is anything more than a SINGLE small square, forget it... you won't get enough shots to get them all under 30 seconds.
5. You can't EVER leave stars to chase. If you're chasing stars at the end, you won't do it.

I have to play about 50 games (losing most of them) to get the MEGA powerup AND slow square speeds AND no scattering. Then, I screw up the MEGA shots 4 out of 5 times. Even when I get it all right, the time is usually around 30-32 seconds... so to get a score under 30 seconds, with all the skills I've been practicing for weeks, takes somewhere around 250 games. To save time, if I mess up or things don't work out JUST perfect, I just kill myself and start again.

**NEW POST**
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That's it. I quit. I retire from Square Divide Time Trial. I will NEVER get another game like the one I just had. Cone, if you beat this, then you can have it.

So, I JUST finished writing the previous post, about the lucky things that must happen to get under 30 seconds. I play about 10 games, and I start having a game where everything is going right. I split into two squares and a rectangle. The rectangle ISN'T EVEN MOVING. One square goes against the right wall... I nail it from the bottom, and the pieces are staying in the channel between the wall and the big rectangle. I pick them all off in about 8 seconds.

By now, the other square has gone to the OTHER corner. I chase it down, and finish it in about 10 seconds. So, at 18 seconds, I've just got the big rectangle, and it's sitting still. I take a shot at it, to split it, because I've never been able to hit the big rectangle with a MEGA shot and do anything but split it into a hundred little squares.

But, I don't get the MEGA powerup.. I get INVINCIBLE. So, I figure I made it this far, let's try it and see how we do. I jump into the middle of the first square, and blast it in 2 seconds! Picked up the stars at the same time! Perfect timing (quite accidental).

By now, the other square is in the opposite corner. I jump into the middle of THAT one, and get all but ONE STRAGGLER SQUARE in 4 seconds! So I've got one square drifting out of the corner slowly, and one star in the opposite direction. I'm at about 26 seconds now, so I go for the star first out of habit. I rush over to the last square to pick it up at around 27 seconds (because the green triangle is always faster than a bullet)... AND I RUN INTO IT! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE HIGH SCORE, and I BLEW IT!

There's a slight delay... then I push my chair back hard, jump up, and start jumping around cursing, pulling my hair and stomping. After about 30 secs, I calm down, sit down, and tell myself what every addict does... "just one more game, then I quit".

Hit the mute (that music is making me mental now). Start new game. three quick shots, to break into 4 squares. Two are slow, two are fast... one fast one into the corner. Chase it down, get it and the stragglers in 12 seconds. Running slow, probably won't do well. Shake my hand, because the tendons on the back of my hand are cramping. Chase the other fast square against the bottom wall, nail all but three stragglers in about 5 seconds. The three stragglers are bouncing off the bottom wall, still in a line... I just rush into them, firing... LUCKY - got all three, 19 seconds. MEGA powerup. Slow squares now heading into bottom right corner, from opposite directions. In a couple of seconds, they'll line up... can I hit both? I approach from the middle of the screen, to fire into the corner. They line up. I shoot my first MEGA. Lots of squares converging... into a big clump of stars... ONE STRAGGLER. I nailed TWO big squares with the SAME MEGA SHOT, and only left ONE small square. This will NEVER happen again.

What do I do? Go for the stars, and end up running into the last square? Or go for the square, which is flying around REALLY fast, and is already on the left side of the board? I decide to get the stars... maybe by the time I get them, the fast square will be back on the right side, closer so I can get it faster.

This ended up being a mistake, becuase the graphics of picking up all those stars makes the game drag... but the clock doesn't drag, so I lose a second here. I'm at about 24 seconds, and the fast single square is in the upper right corner now. I SCREW UP AND SHOOT AT IT. This is always a losing move - I'll probably miss, wasting seconds, losing the chance at the record. Plus, the bullets are too slow. So I chase the bullet. Either it will hit the square and I'll pick up the star immediately, or I'll miss the shot and run into the square, or I'll get ahead of the bullet and die just before my shot hits the square. F' it. I don't care. If it's meant to be, then it will just happen.

No sounds. Mute still on. looks like the bullet and I hit at the same time.

Nail it. Big gray number says 27 as the screen changes to show the final score... 26.867 seconds. Silence. heart pounding. hand still clutched around the mouse, aching.

Epiphany. I'm an addict. I can play all day, every day, chasing this record time, and it will take WEEKS to get another opportunity like what just happened. The high will NEVER feel like this again. I just beat the already impossible record by 1.5 seconds.

I'm done. That was it. The end of the road - we can't go any further. A pop-up shows that I've got mail. I open it. It's from a friend, who wants to know if I'm taking my kids swimming tonight. yeah... I guess we are going swimming tonight. Hell, we can go swimming every night... unless Cone beats my score. But it will take months for him to get a perfect set of circumstances like this, so I'm safe... for now.

[Conehead]

I have the same strategy as you exactly, except for i can't tell if you break it into 3or 4..... I usually brake it into three, brake the two smaller ones... and i have destroyed that Big rectangle with a Mega before...... I don't know if i will beat you, but i'm thinking your safe for now.... until i get lucky! I don't quite play it all day like you might though

[Shanepoo2]

Well done, that is a truly amazing score..

[Conehead]

how the heck is it 25.37 now!! it was 26 yesterday!