Please review at https://pastebin.com/XqRrrn2b

Please comment below on changes that may be needed or opinions on the categories / rulesets.

we already know about this things are being worked on

and seed runs are no go for the time being

Does no unlocks imply a new save state?

Should there be a soul chip cap because if not i could see runners setting up with as many soul chips as possible and removing all the unwanted augs so you get a perfect rng run and i think that kinds sucks because then anyone else who would want to run would have to farm soul chips to get the same run as the other player

I will trust that things are going on behind the scenes and leave things at that for now, but as for the refusal for seeded runs, I do not believe that is an acceptable response. That is part of the reason for the re-alignment proposal - establishing a clear link between specific game categories and leaderboards. Seeded run submissions would be restricted to the Seed Racer category, because that is the only game mode that allows users to choose a seed for their run; seeded runs would not be applicable to any other category. For any optimal seed discovered in a Daily or Weekly Challenge, players would then use the Seed Racer mode to continue to run that particular seed in order to set their best time, and potentially the absolute fastest completion time of all stages, even after the Daily/Weekly challenge has changed to a different seed.

While the game is fresh out of Early Access, and while a lot of people will be focused on non-seeded runs with unlocks and purchased starting items to achieve the fastest possible completion time, there will likely be a point where someone stumbles on an ideal seed that gives a combination of augs and cores that lead to a time faster than what can be achieved with the RNG of what random seed you are given. At that point, there will be runners who will continue to run that specific seed attempting to fully optimize movement tech and routing to establish the fastest possible time completing the game. I will likely be one of those people attempting to do that. It's happened before - those sub-10 minute in-game leaderboard times aren't from Rush Job, they're from a weekly challenge with ideal items, good boss order and shorter stage generation; runners used Vera and the nut-powering and nut-dividends Augs to fly over levels and bosses just got wrecked - the rest was a matter of optimizing item routing and good movement to claim the top times. To simply say "That run doesn't count, because you used a set seed" is equivalent to saying "Luck is superior to skill" which kinda goes against the premise of running games as a demonstration of skill level. That's why I'm saying that seeded runs should have their own category, and by obvious distinction, other categories would not include seeded runs.

@Simpstron My intention for No Unlocks was that no augs would be purchased before a given run and Permanent Upgrades would be switched off. A better description should have been "No Starting Items." The already-unlocked item pool would then be valid. I suppose the same question should be raised for the current "Beat the Game" category, as we should assume that the already unlocked item pool would be valid for those runs.

For the other question, and because of the nature of the procedural generation, I do not anticipate soul chip farming and the removal of detrimental augs would have greater benefit than purchasing starting items and having an extended item pool. Going into non-seeded categories the runner has no idea if they'll encounter the remaining items in the pool that they want, and it's simply not possible to get enough soul chips to exclude all unwanted items from the item pool at this time. For runners that are looking for a consistent, level playing field, the seeded category should exist, as Seed Racer does not gain any purchased benefits (They just don't work.)

that means you need to find a seed that everyone agrees on, not because it benefits you.

No it would be a seed that the community finds that has some good rng in it items wise and then play it over and over to find the fastest route. Or if there was just a seeded run category people could post there runs and leave the seed in the title so other people could attempt to beat there time on the found seed

if u can find that community then ill reconsider

"Seed racer" would be dominated by fastest seed discovered. Everyone would then choose to race that seed (because it's the most optimal seed known at the time), until a more optimal seed is discovered - then everyone starts running that seed. There's no need to 'agree to' a specific seed. It's not rocket science.

I mentioned this in the other thread but maybe here would be better. I was suggesting that a runner has to have 100% item pool before being eligible to submit a run -- unless they're doing a no upgrade and aug run since you wouldn't use those anyways. Also wouldn't apply for rush job since you're given items whether they're in your item pool or not. I suggest this because at the current moment there is no way to reduce the item pool; all item pool purchases are permanent. This would be an issue for those who unlocked a full item pool for whatever reason since they'll be at a clear disadvantage to those who have a small optimized item pool. The game doesn't get easier with an increased pool, it actually gets harder since it'll add more useless pick ups (magneto helmet, energy upgrades for attack builds, attack upgrades for energy builds, etc.)

For the record I have an optimized item pool, so this isn't just a full pool player QQing about a past mistake. I just wanna run the game on an even playing field with everyone.

Here's my thoughts on the current categories:

Nina/Ace/Hawk should be separated categories. NG+ and Reverent categories are defunct and should be removed. NG+ is too inconsistent to try to run, and Reverent is literally an easier mode that is slower. In addition any "Beat the Game" run is a viable NG+ run. Low % is probably next to impossible right now as is. A better ruleset for the category would be Final Destination must be active. The big difference here you still have the option to pick up a few pieces of health, but what you have available to you isn't insanely limited. Most importantly.... we NEED a seeded category. Seeds are shown on the complete screen and as long as they're visible anyone should be able to run that seed.

Regarding item pools, it's easy to optimize an item pool and share it as a save file resource here. I personally find optimizing item pools extremely enjoyable and I'd love to see that be a thing.

Re: Reverent

I like Reverent as a category strictly BECAUSE it's an easier mode. It feels somewhat more inviting, like an "entry category" to get used to running the game if you aren't ready, or otherwise don't WANT to "graduate" to running on Normal mode. Yeah, it'll likely never be as popular as running Normal, but, to me, it's still a viable option unto itself since it allows more room for error for a newer runner to complete runs. "One death won't completely wreck my run, even if it slows me down" is an enticing prospect for some people.

Wouldn't it be best to use Seed Racer for runs since all upgrades behave as unlocked regardless of your main game progress? You aren't required to input a seed to use the mode, and you could just require people to show the menu screen for "seedless" runs to prove they did not input a seed.