IndonesiaPosted this in the speedrun Discord more than a year ago, thought I'll just put it here in case someone in future wants to properly look at this game again.
Immediately from the first turn, Indrik should start healing on every turns. He has low speed so he usually moves after the boss. This gives us more consistent healing turn order, compared to any other healers who moves faster and we can't predict whether they will heal before or after the boss attack.
If last boss used his ultimate area attack, Sieg can also use Healing Tide hoping that Sieg heals before the boss.
Hi all, I just realised that there's already two runners of TiTP2 since couple of months ago, what a pleasant surprise.
I attempted a minimalist playthrough around December last year (when there's no runs yet), which also can be used for speedrun strats. This game can be comfortably beaten even if we literally do nothing during a lot of the days, ignoring as much calls and tactical missions as possible.
Here's a summary of my minimalist strats:
-
On the starting period (before Nov 30), and on late-game after beating Neckties, there's no beer tabs. You can just do nothing throughout these two periods, as the game doesn't have the losing condition of "3 consecutive days with negative beer tabs" for the early-game and late-game parts.
-
Once beer tabs come into play on the mid-game, I've only bothered to solve the calls on 1 out of 2 or 3 days. We can still ignore calls for two-thirds of the game.
-
I never bothered recruiting new cops. By using the same small amount of cops, it's easy to build 6x cops with Ninja perk for the Neckties Assault, and 10x cops with Shooting skills for the final shootout.
-
I've taken down Woodsmen gang to get enough money, which was done as early as December 4. This is enough for the rest of the game. There's only 3 tactical battles I need to do for this playthrough (Woodsmen, Neckties, Final battle). Everything else can be ignored.
-
Another money source are the various help requests, which are completely fixed in this game. It's easy to plan which requests to do to get enough money in this game.
I've also found couple other tricks when doing this minimalist playthrough:
-
Once you've got negative beer tabs 2 days in a row, the game will give you a new cop by the name of Pastrami. He immediately starts with 450+ professionalism and have 2 or 3 levels in most stats.
-
If we ignored the first Woodsman investigation, we got offered a chance to pay a $500 tip to unlock the second Woodsman investigation immediately. So we can take down Woodsman even faster by ignoring the first investigation. (This also applies for Spinach Berserkers, but with a $1000 tip)
-
For the VCR burning event at the start, we can assign only one bad cop (e.g. Penkins) on the shift, as we will need to let someone die to stop other cops from being fatigued. The bad cop will be guaranteed to be the one who burns the VCR and get killed later.
The main issue is the small chance for a cop on duty to get randomly kidnapped by the Spinach Berserkers, as I didn't take down this gang on my playthrough. If an important cop got kidnapped, we need to either build up another cop's stat, or reset the day.
List of any relevant gameplay differences that we know of. I've based this list on the Steam version, but other versions should have a similar list as well.
Official patch notes are available here, though they aren't always complete: https://support.505games.com/support/solutions/folders/150000539598
2 May 2024:
- FPS enemy encounter issue fixed
- Lam recruitment bug fixed
15 May 2024:
- Item duplication glitch fixed
- Cookoff bug is fixed, where all rounds used to be considered as appetiser rounds
- Can’t prematurely access Eldroad anymore after finishing Impershiarc storyline
4 June 2024:
- “Development Build” version with debugger was released, and got patched out in the same day
- Can't cutscene skip anymore during Carrie's teleport dialogue on world map
- Character’s magic affinity now affect their spell damages
- On the night before the HQ war battle, don't need to talk to Seign at the rooftop anymore to progress the storyline (still need to go to rooftop and see the Seign/Yaelu scene)
- Aleior’s first recruitment event (talk to Marisa in HQ 1F) is available just before the “point of no return”
- NG+ new bug where Leene recruitment scene can’t be triggered
- Can’t prematurely trigger Chandra’s first recruitment event (hearing the rumors in Drill Ground) anymore before starting Eldroad storyline
- Reyna recruitment bug (failing the fight if you beat her in Turn 3) is fixed
- Dappled Forest / Bounty Hill leveling exploit (walk behind the blocking soldier to get high-level encounters) is fixed
- On world map, entering Hishahn from left-side will spawn you on the right-side of town, instead of the left-side. This might also have fixed the bug where entering Hishahn's left-side will not put Hishahn on your teleport list.
- Yume / Chandra / Aleior are buffed
More detailed list by Julian here https://discord.com/channels/284828716444680202/1228825435014434837/1247720315245695066
22 July 2024:
- Always Auto option now available in the settings
- NG+ Leene recruitment bug is fixed
- Rune Shop & Sumire's Change Runes in HQ now lets you select all characters outside of the party
- Cutscenes in middle of dungeons now resets the encounter step. This cuts down the encounter count in Gardhaven's library section.
- When opening Gardhaven Castle Blue Lens door, the cutscene can't be skipped anymore
(Mar 2025 update: Versions for v1.0.4 or earlier are now disallowed on the rules, due to inconsistency in loadless timer)
Note that the current loadless timer works differently in the versions prior to the latest one (v1.0.5).
On previous versions, it seems the timer doesn't run during the phase where the screen is still black, but when you're already able to skip cutscene. Hence, the previous versions will have a lower loadless time compared to the latest version.
Here's the videos comparing both v1.0.4 & v1.0.5. I've also tried v1.0.3 (the version that still has item duplicate glitch) and it works the same way as v1.0.4.
v1.0.4:
v1.0.5:
Just recently played this game and I had fun watching the speedrun. So while the game is still fresh in my head, I played around the game and found some strats. Though I'm sure the strats below can be optimised. (doubt I'll actually do a run soon, if ever)
One note about the Default Team glitch. If there's no save/load done, then the game will force you to go back to tutorial after finishing the level. To fix this, simply make a save during a level, go to main menu, and press Continue. Don't need to replay the victory screen like what was done on the 1:09 run.
Because of this, I think the benefits of using the Default Team glitch multiple times in a single run outweighs the timelosses from the additional menuing required to set up the glitch. If I tried to route this run, I'll use the glitch multiple times.
Thread to highlight interesting glitches/exploits. Most of these are probably not useful for the speedrun.
List of differences between versions that we're aware of. Anyone feel free to make posts here cause I doubt I'm aware of everything or if I'll be tracking them all the time.
1.0.4:
- Cat skip is available (Deathwarp out of the pet shop to skip cat phase and ignore the cat errands. After 1.0.4, this will softlock the game since it's required to complete the cat errands)
- No pacifist route to skip three penultimate bosses.
- Suicide button is unavailable yet before 1.0.5
- 969 code for the prison errand doesn't work yet before 1.0.5
1.0.5:
- Shorter ragdoll jumps compared to 1.0.6 and beyond.
- Can't get ammo by QSQL on rampages.
- The rampage on the residential rooftop provides a sniper drop right next to it, while in 1.0.6+ the rampage will give you sniper directly. (I haven't actually checked if this sniper drop is available on Monday 1.0.5)
1.0.6:
- Longer ragdoll jumps compared to 1.0.5 or before
- Some rampages gives weapons, which you can QSQL to get it permanently.
- Bosses healths are nerfed in general.
- Police uniform is available inside the police station (useful for the clothes warp glitch)
- Some rampages were missing and can't be completed.
1.0.7:
- Additional VX spawns on various places.
- Jumping to the river will kill you. This is a bit useful during the cat phase, where you can deathwarp using the river after pissing on dog's bowl.
- The river barrier will also instakill you when doing Dam box flying skip. The barrier isn't present around the east part of the Dam map. The barrier can also be avoided by turning on ragdoll while falling (so it won't kill you), and QSQL once you got below the barrier.
- Red racer on Fix Race might be faster, but also more likely to collide into walls.
Anyone feel free to post locations of Vitamin X here.
Vitamin X will boosts your speed by 20%, and lasts for 1 minute. So that's about 12 seconds saved on a 1 minute of full walking.
It can also be bought on the Specialty Shop for $125, starting on Tuesday.
The effect will disappear when a cutscene starts.
Thought I'll document these AI behaviours here. Note that these AI behaviours are from the recent Galakrond patch, which might change when future PvE contents are made.
---2021 update: These behaviours doesn't apply anymore. Corrupting Mist + Taunt isn't a reliable combo anymore---
Doomsayer vs Depth Charge AI's reaction:
AI knows how to play around Doomsayer. They'll kill the Doomsayer if they have >=7 damage on board. And if they don't, they'll have their minions attack your face. They won't be putting any new minions on the board, knowing that it'll get killed by the Doomsayer.
They don't do this against Depth Charge though. If they have <5 damage on board, they'll still play new minions even if it have <=5 health, not knowing the Depth Charge will kill it immediately. The existing minions will also attempt to damage Depth Charge, probably because they still consider Depth Charge a high-priority target to damage (which saves your hero's health).
I've seen few bosses who acts differently with Doomsayer though, where they might still play minions even with a Doomsayer on board.
- Sun Raider Phaerix: Don't know why, but if you have Doomsayer on early game (such as turn 2), he'll still play his minions into the Doomsayer. At first I thought he wants to trigger the deathrattle of his 5/5 Tolvir Hoplite (deal 5 damage to both heroes), but I've seen him wasting his Wild Pyromancers too.
- Rafaam and Galakrond: The AI in Rafaam phase is probably coded to play Invoke cards whenever possible, so he'll still play his Invoke minions and summon his Imps even with Doomsayer alive.
- Avalanchan: Happened on my recent attempts, where the AI wasted his Water Elemental and Frost Elementals with Doomsayer on board. Maybe they made the AI prioritise in playing these minions, for story flavours?
Corrupting Mist your Taunt, and AI's minions won't hit your face:
Here's how AI usually behave when their minions got hit by Corrupting Mist:
- They're likely to trade against your non-corrupted minions, probably thinking that's the most valuable move since their minions will be gone next turn.
- They will not trade on your corrupted minions, knowing it'll die next turn anyway
Behaviour number 2 also applies if your taunt gets corrupted, they won't bother trade against your taunt. This ensures your face won't be hit, even if it's just a small taunt against lots of AI minions.
AI might still use spells to damage the corrupted taunts, but they will still not trade if the taunt doesn't die from the spell.
This behaviour also applies on your Doomsayer or Depth Charge. You can use Corrupting Mist on them and AI will ignore it, allowing their effect to trigger next turn.
Demo video of this behaviour: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXWOmxjUKMo
If you pause at the frame right before a cutscene start, you can actually walk during cutscenes.
Using this before the Alpha Wolf fight allows you to go to The Needle straightaway, progressing the story without beating the wolves.
Although, I can't perform this consistently.
Even if we can, I don't think it'll be faster for Any%. You'll have less exp for your future fights. Biggest problem of that is probably the fact that you'll be level 16 instead of 17 before the Leroux Soldiers fight, which means you don't have Aria's Early Protection that makes the Soldiers fight consistent. (Haven't really tested this though)
2021 Update: Recent poll on HS Discord voted to allow Deck Trackers, so this post is obsolete.
Original post:
About three weeks ago, the people at Discord Channel had some discussion about deck trackers, and majority of people decided to ban it for speedruns.
However, I forgot to actually edit the rules (lol). A recent submitted run used a deck tracker, and it won't be considered invalid since the rules aren't set yet.
So, from now on, third party apps such as deck trackers are banned.
Thank you for your understanding, and good luck on the runs :)
So, because they're so close with each other, I feel like I need to download the videos and properly check their timing by the milliseconds.
Driward's run: Frame where he hits Play button: 1.534 Frame where HP turns 0: 14:10.534 So the final time is exactly 14:09.00
Torlk's run: Frame where he hits Play button: 15.617 Frame where HP turns 0: 14:25.032 So final time is 14:09.415, which will be shown as a draw with Driward's run since milliseconds arent shown in the leaderboards.
Congrats to both runner for the crazy times though. Let's see how quick will this record be broken (if ever)!
-
Use High settings instead of Low or Medium. Low/Med settings locks the game into 30 FPS and have slower animation compared to High.
-
When the enemy plays a card or hero power, click on the card/hero power that is being played. This will make the enemy's move to start earlier, which saves up a lot of time during the whole run. This trick also applies whenever a secret is triggered or a Passive card shows up on the first turn.
-
If Gnosh the Greatworm uses his hero power to destroy a Poisonous minion, he will instantly die. It's possible for a Rogue to kill him on turn 1 by playing a Pit Snake.
-
Against Ixlid, a Priest can use Potion of Madness to steal Ixlid's spore and instakill Ixlid. Even better if you managed to add the spore in your deck for future bosses (using Amulet of Domination or Magic Mirror).
-
For Shaman, Unstable Evolution + Khadgar's Scrying Orb (1-mana Spell cost reduction) means unlimited Evolve
Feel free to add any other tricks here. Also thanks to Whammerist and Zypher for the tips above.
Post any ideas about the Lich King strats here. I'm separating it from the other discussion thread to make it more organized.
