Slingshot Speeders — what's new (v0.1.4)

Play: https://slingshotspeeders.com/

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Boards were wiped

This is still an experimental build. v0.1.4 needed a clean database.

The 0.1.3 scores, tapes, Watch links, Google accounts, profiles, and championship would not start on the new schema without a pile of compatibility shims. The server refused to boot. We wiped the live database instead of shipping that jank.

Empty now:

• SCORE / TIME / Δv
• RECENT RUNS
• Watch / /r/ links
• Public profiles / /u/ codes
• Championship, rating, Trefoil Elo
• Usage totals
• Alpha Supporter Community Maps shelf

Sign in again. Fly again. Pre-Alpha Archive is still the older snapshot.

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New maps

Gold New! maps sit at the top of Home. Prime is still the beginner map.

Championship is fifteen maps, 1125 max (it passed through fourteen maps / 1050).

Push Pull — Hard

• First official map built in MapMake. It was made with the in-game tools, then ported onto the official list — a test for how future community maps can become scored maps.
• Pushers and pullers, a moving well, and a wall.
• Capture a closed orbit in the green ring on the far well.
• Gold New!

Cargo Delivery — Extreme

• Planet and a closer, faster moon.
• Hold the yellow ring around the planet for 5 seconds; it turns green and cargo comes aboard (the ship gets heavier).
• Then hold the smaller yellow ring around the moon for 5 seconds.
• Sits at the top of Home with gold New!.
• Live hold ring fills and shows remaining seconds (same on Rendezvous). The top of the screen does not.
• Trajectory line stays wrapped around the moon as you fly the orbit. It no longer fades out along the lap.
• Watch fills that same moon wrap (it was leaving a short leftover from the burn).
• Watch shows the hold ring filling, the remaining seconds, and the ring turning green — same as the flight.
• Watch reverse stays instant, including 100x.
• Watch opens right away. The hold clocks catch up in the background.

Water Rapids

• Start above the first loop and slalom two outer wells.
• Loop under each well and fly up through the gold line — it turns green when you do.
• A weaker well sits across from each loop.
• The finish is the line after the last well, not a capture.
• Gold New!
• Sits with Trefoil:
  • List is RECENT / FASTEST — click a row to Watch
  • Championship still counts the map
  • Opens on the start pad with the same JOIN / SPECTATE card
• Spectate stays on Trefoil and Water Rapids. Other maps are your own run — a moving well is a clock. Home still shows who is flying.
• R starts you on the centerline, same pad as a first start.

Foot Work

• Nine wells in a sideways S.
• Gold sticks poke out top, then bottom, then top.
• Fly each from the left; they turn green in order.
• The last stick is the finish.
• Gold New!

Donut

• Two wells.
• Fit a closed orbit in the green ring: inside the outer edge, outside the hole.
• Gold New!

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Community maps and MapMake

• ALPHA SUPPORTER COMMUNITY MAPS is the public shelf.
  • Everyone sees the same published maps
  • MapMake is still your own drafts
• SHARE on a community map copies a link.
  • The link opens that map
  • Asks for a name unless you are already signed in
• MapMake stays gated while it is in experimental testing. Alpha supporter access is not open yet.
• Alpha supporters publish one new map a week, not a lifetime of three.
  • Same map again does not spend the week
  • One a week so a map stays meaningful — not a flood — and so it can be picked for a weekly challenge
  • The shelf also has a real storage limit
• N-PUSH places a moving pusher. N-BODY still pulls. Resize keeps the sign.
• DELETE removes the draft you are looking at, after Yes.
  • Locked submitted maps stay
  • YOUR MAPS splits drafts and locked
• PLAY exhaust does not stay on the Edit pad.
• The faint outer gravity-reach circle is MapMake Edit only. Play does not draw it.

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Profiles, names, and ranking

• Sign in with Google and you get a unique six-character share code (a–z and 0–9).
• Then pick any display name — it is never taken.
  • That name is what PLAY, the boards, and your profile show
  • Google sign-in does not pick it
  • Change it on Account (alpha supporters included)
  • Free accounts edit it from a circle next to the name
• Gold and the S are a look on that name, so any letters can wear them.
  • Alpha supporter names on SCORE / TIME / Δv and Standings show a gold S
  • The S sits after the name, with a little room inside the box
• A public profile is only /u/ plus the short code.
  • Overview is that page, not #overview
  • /u/james and other name URLs are gone
  • The code is not repeated under the name. It is on Share
• Overview charts:
  • Distance
  • Δv
  • Wins
  • Plays
  • How far the nose turned, in radians (Usage shows this too)
• Rating titles (old maneuver names are gone):
  • Rookie (0–199)
  • Pilot (200–399)
  • Racer (400–599)
  • Ace (600–799)
  • Captain (800–949)
  • Apex (950–1000)
• Signed-in MENU saves kill rotation, start view, and tap-or-hold afterburn to your account.
  • Guests keep those on this browser
  • Account has the same switches

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Boards and Recent Runs

• RECENT RUNS is its own page.
  • Last 20 flights
  • Click a row to Watch
  • Picks up new flights while you sit on the page
• SHARE and Watch links are /r/ plus eight characters.
  • Old ?r= and ?race= links stop working
  • Tapes from before this cut are gone
• SCORE / TIME / Δv keep one row per name. Caps do not count as a second pilot.
• Map cards have an i for plays, wins, and who is in the room.
• After R, the next finish still lands on SCORE / TIME / Δv. Restart starts a new attempt.
• R puts you on the same pad as a first start.

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Play

• Trajectory line:
  • Same line, same 5 toggle
  • No longer hitches the frame around moving masses
  • Stays on while you burn — a short preview
  • Let go and the full line still grows in
• LINE and ARROWS chips show whether 5 and 4 are on. Same lights on touch.
• MENU Afterburn: tap Shift or hold Shift. Default is still tap.
• Wells no longer draw a faint outer gravity-reach circle in play. That ring is MapMake Edit.

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Ship

• Stock hull is a longer rectangle with a triangular bell.
  • The gray thruster is a short trapezoid with a flat on the hull, not a triangle that pinches to a point
  • A heading arrow sits just off the nose and matches the HUD arrows
  • Heading mark sits farther off the nose and is thinner
  • 4 / ARROWS hides it with the other arrows
• Four small gray pads sit on the hull corners so you can see where RCS fires.
• Exhaust is a fine white spray from every thruster, including RCS.
  • Sparks hang where you burned and fade out slowly
  • Afterburn is denser
  • Sparks shoot farther, last a little longer, and fade out while they are still moving
  • They leave the nozzle slower — a stutter no longer throws a burst
  • They keep the ship's speed when they leave the bell — a brake burn no longer outruns its own trail
• Main exhaust comes from the bell. RCS sits on the hull corners.
• RCS sparks shoot out the thruster that fires.
  • S comes out the nose
  • They were coming out the opposite face

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Watch

• An alpha supporter name is gold outline and gold text, not a gold fill.
• Remaining Δv stays next to speed and g, including while you scrub.
• Cargo Delivery and Rendezvous:
  • Hold ring fills, remaining seconds, ring turns green — same as the flight
  • Reverse stays instant, including 100x
  • Cargo Delivery Watch opens right away; hold clocks catch up in the background
• Cargo Delivery moon wrap matches what you saw while flying (see that map above).

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Site

• FAQ answers how mixed score is calculated:
  • Clock and a full tank weigh the same
  • RCS costs half of main
  • A fast sip beats a fast dump
• The game download is gzipped, so Home should come up sooner on a slow connection.