Strategy Guide --- Beyond 100%; Maximizing Your Score

[malictus]

Thanks all for the feedback; it sounds like many people feel strongly about the tilt vs. select activation thing, so I'm going to go back and revise that section a bit. I also plan to take emptyset's advice and go through the path-making process step-by-step with a sample chart (probably Parasite expert).

Stay tuned!
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[malictus]

Thanks all for the feedback; it sounds like many people feel strongly about the tilt vs. select activation thing, so I'm going to go back and revise that section a bit. I also plan to take emptyset's advice and go through the path-making process step-by-step with a sample chart (probably Parasite expert).

Stay tuned!
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[Jaksiel]

Good stuff. Select is definitely the way to go on activating SP. I just have my pinky hovered over select for the whole song.

Arterial Black is a good stong to practice whammying short held notes.

[Jaksiel]

Good stuff. Select is definitely the way to go on activating SP. I just have my pinky hovered over select for the whole song.

Arterial Black is a good stong to practice whammying short held notes.

[Slowhand]

Beginner's guide to SP charts

I'll relate how I go about making charts and Mali can add to it or tell me where I'm wrong.

Don't go by my ranks or scores, I am mediocre. Charting is a different skill.
Be prepared to count sections to find out that one path has 381 note and the inferior path has 372.
For me, charting alot of songs in expert is irrelevant as I can barely play them.
Squeezing matters particularly for starting and stop notes.
Sp phrases may stay the same but the paths can vary quite abit between levels.

I start with the end. Don't ya hate when you end a song with leftover SP? But in some cases the best path won't use the final SP. You have to determine if there are enough points after the last SP. If there are mega points before the last sp and few after, then the last sp is useless. This happens more often in easy and medium as they have fewer notes in the train wreck endings. If you will act. after the last sp, then you need to determine how many more sp phrases will go with it. If you can get 7.5 beats of whammy it can act alone, if not look backwards to see what phrase to combine it with.

For example if a song had 10 SP's, and you need 2 for the final act., at least 9 and 10 will be combined. Then look farther back. Is there a good amount of points after SP 8? Enough space after 8? if there isn't enough room for an activation, or too few points, then 8 will combine with 9 and 10. This can also lead to leftover sp.

The next part can sometimes be easily done visually. Is there a section that obviously has a huge note density? I'll try and arrange the path to act sp for the most measures that are meaningful. This is easier as more notes are added to the hard and expert diff. levels.

From that point you need to figure out how many sp phrases you need to get the most out of the high density areas, and work from there.

The amount of measures between sp phrases can also be a determining factor between 3-3-2-2 or 2-3-2-1-2. Generally only play over sp if the note counts warrant it. This happens more often on the easy and medium levels too as alot of the sp phrases are "where the notes are". Choosing to play over and wipe out an sp phrase can be THE difference in an optimal path. This happens on soy bomb I believe. In some cases such as CFH, you cant avoid playing over SP.

Remember that you can control the length of activation with the amount of whammy on hold phrases. Sometimes it's best not to whammy to fit an activation in. This is where having a good estimate of the activation length is critical. Remember too that you can begin the activation during the Sp hold like in ILRR and Infected.

Try not to put 4 sp together. By doing so you lose all extra sp length you can gain from whammies. BTW if you can whammy dive bomb every possible short hold, your path might be different than someone else's. I tend to break streaks on short whammy in fast tempo so I don't count those for myself.

There are some activations in repetitive parts that the start point isn't critical (YAY). For squeezers, starting on chords that will end on chords is better than starting or ending on single notes. Once the diff. level increases, verses with chords start to be worth more than the many note solos.

Overall, you try to get the most measures (beats, notes) under sp by taking advantage of whammy, and then use those in the highest note/measure areas. I found charting medium and hard were sometimes easier than easy. In the easy level, you WILL be counting notes as ther are so few, each one is huge.

I use paint, number the SP phrases (this helps me when playing the songs) and then draw boxes around the activations on the exact start and stop points. And then I tilt when playing making the exactness useless but oh well......

So many of the pathes posted here should be tweaked slightly, and not all the follow up tweaks are posted. But make your own first and then check to see what's posted. It is pretty cool when you make a chart, check what's posted and it's exactly the same down to the length and starting notes.

MIAB is a good start. Trogdor also only has 5 sp phrases so the possible combinations are few. Trogdor is also a good example of 6/4 measures leading to more beats under sp.
_________________

goals = mediocrity + 1 on all levels
*goal achieved!*
Guitarist for Heaven's Wrath
Vocal Stylings for Throat Punch
PSN - jaypen123
GH3 and RB community - Slowhand123

[Slowhand]

Beginner's guide to SP charts

I'll relate how I go about making charts and Mali can add to it or tell me where I'm wrong.

Don't go by my ranks or scores, I am mediocre. Charting is a different skill.
Be prepared to count sections to find out that one path has 381 note and the inferior path has 372.
For me, charting alot of songs in expert is irrelevant as I can barely play them.
Squeezing matters particularly for starting and stop notes.
Sp phrases may stay the same but the paths can vary quite abit between levels.

I start with the end. Don't ya hate when you end a song with leftover SP? But in some cases the best path won't use the final SP. You have to determine if there are enough points after the last SP. If there are mega points before the last sp and few after, then the last sp is useless. This happens more often in easy and medium as they have fewer notes in the train wreck endings. If you will act. after the last sp, then you need to determine how many more sp phrases will go with it. If you can get 7.5 beats of whammy it can act alone, if not look backwards to see what phrase to combine it with.

For example if a song had 10 SP's, and you need 2 for the final act., at least 9 and 10 will be combined. Then look farther back. Is there a good amount of points after SP 8? Enough space after 8? if there isn't enough room for an activation, or too few points, then 8 will combine with 9 and 10. This can also lead to leftover sp.

The next part can sometimes be easily done visually. Is there a section that obviously has a huge note density? I'll try and arrange the path to act sp for the most measures that are meaningful. This is easier as more notes are added to the hard and expert diff. levels.

From that point you need to figure out how many sp phrases you need to get the most out of the high density areas, and work from there.

The amount of measures between sp phrases can also be a determining factor between 3-3-2-2 or 2-3-2-1-2. Generally only play over sp if the note counts warrant it. This happens more often on the easy and medium levels too as alot of the sp phrases are "where the notes are". Choosing to play over and wipe out an sp phrase can be THE difference in an optimal path. This happens on soy bomb I believe. In some cases such as CFH, you cant avoid playing over SP.

Remember that you can control the length of activation with the amount of whammy on hold phrases. Sometimes it's best not to whammy to fit an activation in. This is where having a good estimate of the activation length is critical. Remember too that you can begin the activation during the Sp hold like in ILRR and Infected.

Try not to put 4 sp together. By doing so you lose all extra sp length you can gain from whammies. BTW if you can whammy dive bomb every possible short hold, your path might be different than someone else's. I tend to break streaks on short whammy in fast tempo so I don't count those for myself.

There are some activations in repetitive parts that the start point isn't critical (YAY). For squeezers, starting on chords that will end on chords is better than starting or ending on single notes. Once the diff. level increases, verses with chords start to be worth more than the many note solos.

Overall, you try to get the most measures (beats, notes) under sp by taking advantage of whammy, and then use those in the highest note/measure areas. I found charting medium and hard were sometimes easier than easy. In the easy level, you WILL be counting notes as ther are so few, each one is huge.

I use paint, number the SP phrases (this helps me when playing the songs) and then draw boxes around the activations on the exact start and stop points. And then I tilt when playing making the exactness useless but oh well......

So many of the pathes posted here should be tweaked slightly, and not all the follow up tweaks are posted. But make your own first and then check to see what's posted. It is pretty cool when you make a chart, check what's posted and it's exactly the same down to the length and starting notes.

MIAB is a good start. Trogdor also only has 5 sp phrases so the possible combinations are few. Trogdor is also a good example of 6/4 measures leading to more beats under sp.
_________________

goals = mediocrity + 1 on all levels
*goal achieved!*
Guitarist for Heaven's Wrath
Vocal Stylings for Throat Punch
PSN - jaypen123
GH3 and RB community - Slowhand123

[Sakst82]

[Sakst82]

[youhas]

I go about chart-making the other way around: start at the beginning and mindlessly consider every possibility. Obviously, there are no decisions to make when you have less than half-a-bar of SP. Once you get a half-bar, on every note, you're faced with a choice: activate now, or wait it out for a bit? If you activated, you'd end up with X points at measure Y when you ran out of SP; if you didn't, you'd have Z points and yea-much star power. Record all this data for future consultation. Advance down the chart a bit; reconsider the consequences of activation on all viable paths; repeat. You'll eventually be able to cull blatantly obvious strategies - if I have a full bar of SP at this point, and another path got me here with a full bar of SP but fewer points, don't even consider the latter one anymore - and if you keep at it, you eventually winnow it down to a single superior choice.

This has the benefit of deriving the true optimal path when all is said and done. On the downside, this approach requires a metric ton of effort. (I wrote a script for GHI that did the hard work for me. Really ought to think about applying it to GHII one of these days.) Still, in some cases - especially when there are SP phrases all over the place and there is no "obvious" strategy - it is a thorough (if pedantic) approach.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

I go about chart-making the other way around: start at the beginning and mindlessly consider every possibility. Obviously, there are no decisions to make when you have less than half-a-bar of SP. Once you get a half-bar, on every note, you're faced with a choice: activate now, or wait it out for a bit? If you activated, you'd end up with X points at measure Y when you ran out of SP; if you didn't, you'd have Z points and yea-much star power. Record all this data for future consultation. Advance down the chart a bit; reconsider the consequences of activation on all viable paths; repeat. You'll eventually be able to cull blatantly obvious strategies - if I have a full bar of SP at this point, and another path got me here with a full bar of SP but fewer points, don't even consider the latter one anymore - and if you keep at it, you eventually winnow it down to a single superior choice.

This has the benefit of deriving the true optimal path when all is said and done. On the downside, this approach requires a metric ton of effort. (I wrote a script for GHI that did the hard work for me. Really ought to think about applying it to GHII one of these days.) Still, in some cases - especially when there are SP phrases all over the place and there is no "obvious" strategy - it is a thorough (if pedantic) approach.
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[mrseb]

[mrseb]

[malictus]

Hey, I got stickied

I just made an update to the guide --- I changed the section about tilt vs. select activation, added a couple of new bits here and there, and most importantly, I added a step-by-step guide to creating an SP chart, using Parasite Expert as an example. Those of you who have been fighting for the number 1 spot on that song (Sakst, Pope, Javman), please correct my final path if it's off --- I think it's very close, but I might be off by a note here or there.
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[malictus]

Hey, I got stickied

I just made an update to the guide --- I changed the section about tilt vs. select activation, added a couple of new bits here and there, and most importantly, I added a step-by-step guide to creating an SP chart, using Parasite Expert as an example. Those of you who have been fighting for the number 1 spot on that song (Sakst, Pope, Javman), please correct my final path if it's off --- I think it's very close, but I might be off by a note here or there.
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[wupun]

Thanks Malictus, great guide.

Keep up the good work!

[wupun]

Thanks Malictus, great guide.

Keep up the good work!

[MisirlouDeDale]

Nice guide. I tried using my pinky.... it felt a little awkward. I usually keep my hand in place and press down with my wrist. :/ It's a little weird, but very useful for fast passages.
_________________

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v339/pappy905/DSC04263.jpg
^Jordan finally beat! (Every song beat in game now:D)^
---------------
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v339/pappy905/DSC04259.jpg
^The log is now unlocked!^
---------------
Wow, tonight (March 19th, 2007) has been great!

[MisirlouDeDale]

Nice guide. I tried using my pinky.... it felt a little awkward. I usually keep my hand in place and press down with my wrist. :/ It's a little weird, but very useful for fast passages.
_________________

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v339/pappy905/DSC04263.jpg
^Jordan finally beat! (Every song beat in game now:D)^
---------------
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v339/pappy905/DSC04259.jpg
^The log is now unlocked!^
---------------
Wow, tonight (March 19th, 2007) has been great!

[Drewbug17]

Great guide! The squeezing and note chart info are great tools. I'm having some trouble getting the note charts to print from Mozilla. It keeps saying that the whole chart is only one page and then only printing one page of the chart. Is there a way to get it to print the whole chart, or is there someplace else that has note charts in a different format that can be printed?
Thanks!

[Drewbug17]

Great guide! The squeezing and note chart info are great tools. I'm having some trouble getting the note charts to print from Mozilla. It keeps saying that the whole chart is only one page and then only printing one page of the chart. Is there a way to get it to print the whole chart, or is there someplace else that has note charts in a different format that can be printed?
Thanks!

[saxev2005]

this information is really useful.....i really could use some of this.....

EDIT: i could use some in-person help on how to squeeze.....i just can't get it.....
_________________

GH GOALS (EXPERT):
20 mil (GH2)
Top 100 (GH 80s)
20.5 mil (GH3)

[saxev2005]

this information is really useful.....i really could use some of this.....

EDIT: i could use some in-person help on how to squeeze.....i just can't get it.....
_________________

GH GOALS (EXPERT):
20 mil (GH2)
Top 100 (GH 80s)
20.5 mil (GH3)

[malictus]

[malictus]

[Drewbug17]

MS Paint works fine also. I just copied the image into paint, resized it down 87%, switched to landscape printing, and un-centered the image. Good to Go!

I still couldn't find a good list of charts for all the songs. Does some website have that?
_________________

[Drewbug17]

MS Paint works fine also. I just copied the image into paint, resized it down 87%, switched to landscape printing, and un-centered the image. Good to Go!

I still couldn't find a good list of charts for all the songs. Does some website have that?
_________________

[sycocoaster]

[sycocoaster]

[Hello12]

awesome info...

The only thing I have to comment on is that I'm a Lefty... so while whammying I can't keep my thumb on the strum bar... I can't picture how I do it right now for some reason, but I know I lose some valuable points by taking my hand away from the strum bar...

anyways...
great thread!
_________________

[Hello12]

awesome info...

The only thing I have to comment on is that I'm a Lefty... so while whammying I can't keep my thumb on the strum bar... I can't picture how I do it right now for some reason, but I know I lose some valuable points by taking my hand away from the strum bar...

anyways...
great thread!
_________________