/vm/ SRB2Kart protips

Basics
- Beginner's guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q5oU5Lsy5PQHonDekMo2ThVvGgT1AkfYSFj-D1ac1iM/edit
- https://mb.srb2.org/addons/some-srb2kart-tips.2456/
Scroll down and read the part about sliptiding (the beginner's guide doesn't mention this).

Configuration
- Set "future sight" in the video options to "full" to remove 1 frame of input delay when fps is higher than 35.
- If playing on the keyboard or a d-pad, consider setting digital easing to "fast" or "off" in controls options.
- If playing on a controller, make sure to bind brake and accel in a way that makes it easy to press both at the same time.
- You can reposition the camera behind your character with "cam_height x" and "cam_dist y" in the console. Use them without a value and the game will tell the current and defaults. Try this if you have trouble seeing the ground or right in front of you. You can also use cam2/3/4 to change this for the other players in splitscreen (this affects replays as well).
- You can unflip the camera (in upside-down sections) with "flipcam 1" in the console. You only have to do this once. Use flipcam2/3/4 for the other players.
- It is recommended to set the game to always save replays (in data options). You can watch better players later and learn from how they play.
- You can turn chat reminders from Juicebox and Slipstream off with "jb_tips Off" and "slipstream_reminder Off" in the console, respectively. Add the commands to their respective files in the "luafiles" folder if this doesn't save between sessions.
- You can turn off extra info (ranking, character stats) in the nametags above players with "nametag_stats 0" in the console. Use "nametag_small 1" to make them smaller.
- If you're getting frequent stutters while online, try these: go to video options and lower future sight or turn it off; set frame interpolation to On, capped and max level framerate to your monitor's refresh rate (or, if it was already on and capped, try setting it to uncapped); go to Bird options, advanced music options and set "resynch special music only" to on.

Mechanics
- Good stats for beginners are near the center or left half of the chart. You should test many different combinations to find those you prefer.
- Use "restat x y" in the console to set your stats manually. First number is 1-9 speed and second is 1-9 weight. This way you can have any stat combination independent of character.
- You can charge and use drift sparks IN THE AIR after jumping off a red or yellow floor bumper (or equivalent). You should almost always hold drift before/after jumping off one. This can't be done from "teeth" bumpers or from just falling.
- If you have charged a drift boost and there are "teeth" bumpers ahead, don't release the drift before them: instead, hold it until after you land, then either use it to recover any lost speed or keep charging it further. This can also be done from just plain ramps and falling, and is called "drift storage".
- Hold the item button with Grow active to cancel it early. Use this if you want to get another item before it ends by itself. You also get a tiny boost from doing this in Juicebox.
- You can temporarily stop an SPB from chasing you by falling into a pit or hitting it with the thunder shield. SPBs change targets after a few seconds if someone overtakes first place (even if they fired it). Second place has a higher chance to get good items if there's an SPB chasing first place.
- You can change your facing while spinning out or in the air after a bomb, even if your speed is zero, by holding accel + brake and turning.
- It is possible to hit other players in battle mode by bumping into them while using a sneaker or a pogo spring. In addition to dealing damage, you'll steal balloons, rings or other stuff directly from them, depending on the rules.
- You can control your altitude with up and down during paraglider sections.
- Trail behind a player for 2.5 seconds to get a speed boost that lasts for as long as you stay behind them and a little while after. This is called slipstream/drafting. It gives you a chance to catch up to someone on straight sections even without items.
- Boost stacking: this refers to how your speed can increase further if more than one boost is active at the same time, either the same kind of boost (like two sneakers) or different ones (like a boost pad and a drift miniturbo). This is opposed to the vanilla game, where only one boost of any kind can be active at a time. There is a limit to how many times sneakers and pads can stack on top of each other.
- Boost chaining: different from boost stacking, which increases the speed bonus from having multiple boosts, chaining increases the duration: all your current boosts have their duration extended by the longest boost active. This means that getting a new boost when another one is about to expire makes the old one(s) last longer, until all of them end. For example, instead of using two sneakers at the same time (which would stack speed but have the same duration as normal), try using one and then the other right before the first ends: the 2x stacked boost will last until the second one ends, even though the first should have ended long ago. Likewise, if you have a charged drift spark and a sneaker or are about to go over a boost pad, try to only release the drift when the other boost is about to end: the drift will make the other boost last longer. Furthermore, if you keep chaining more sneakers/pads/drifts while the stack is going, you can maintain their duration while gaining more speed. This is an advanced technique and very important for high level play, and especially important for Nitro mode. Note that alternative sources of boosts, like Juicebox gates, slipstream and the blue balloons from certain maps also count as boosts when chaining.
tl;dr only release drifts right before other boosts end, only use new boosts at the end of old ones, keep getting new boosts/drifts to extend all durations

Gameplay
- By paying attention to sound cues and the "check" at the bottom of the screen, it is possible to know where other players are and what they're doing without ever having to look backwards. Use these to react accordingly, specially if it seems like they're launching items at you.
- Don't reveal your attack items as soon as you get them. Deploying and shooting them at the last second leaves other players with little time to react and makes you less predictable. However, you should activate orbitals sooner if you think they might block someone from bumping into or attacking you.
- Knowing the best time to use items for attack and defense is vital. Getting a free hit on a player might not be worth it if they recover quickly, or if there are other players nearby who can then hit you while you're defenseless. Try to attack opponents when they'll be launched into offroad or a pit, or when they're in a tricky position where they can't defend themselves easily. Conversely, sometimes it's better to keep your item and try to pass the person in front without using it. Saving items for defense instead of using them as traps, especially if you're first place, is also very important. If you're in range of a jawz, only use your item if you're sure players behind you didn't get one, for example.
- Good places to leave trap items, including backwards projectiles, are:
Before, on top or right after boost pads; spinning while boosting will make anyone hit lose a lot of time, specially if they end up offroad.
The base of ramps, or before floor bumpers; there's a good chance the player won't make the jump.
Funnels and other tight spaces you know players have to pass through (even better with mines).
Side-to-side with other already placed traps, creating a "wall".
The easiest/fastest/most efficient path (be careful not to hit yourself on the next lap).
Hidden among item sets (particularly egg boxes).
Right at the start of downward slopes or right after upwards ones (impossible to see).
Right after teleporters, in maps that have them (no way to avoid).
- "How do I evade a chasing Jaws?" It's not possible to outrun a jawz. Things you can do to avoid it: make it fall into a pit; hit another player; block it with an item (yours or on the ground); or make it hit a wall. If there are no pits, players or items nearby but there are walls, do this: get parallel to the wall, wait until the jawz is close, then drift in a way to get your back against the wall. The jawz will try to get behind you and hit the wall instead.
- "Is it better to get two blue drifts or one red?" You usually want to get the strongest drift possible, but these are some suggestions:
Get blues if: you aren't at top speed (was just hit/went offroad; get a blue out as soon as possible); there are too many people/traps nearby and you think you may get hit; playing with high Speed characters (give preference to blues).
Get a red if: there isn't anyone nearby and you know you can charge a red; playing with high Acceleration characters (give preference to reds).
Get one of each if: you know the turn isn't long enough for a rainbow.
Get the strongest one (rainbow, if possible) otherwise.
- "How do I get good?" Suggestions:
Basic:
Do at least one time trial in each of the vanilla maps or until you get used to the controls.
Try all of the official characters (including those in bonuschars.kart) and take note of those whose stats you seem to like.
Try to drift as much as possible to get used to it.
Beginner:
Play online races to get used to items and having other players around.
Try every character you're interested in that's in the server to find those you prefer, both in appearance and statwise.
Play solo at least once in every map in the server. This takes a long time but is important.
Intermediate:
Learn all the shortcuts from the most popular maps and your favorite ones.
Learn how to use all items properly. Do solo matches (or splitscreen) in battle mode and try all of them, particularly the forward throw arc for bananas, mines and the such.
Do SPB Attack runs in the most popular maps until you win.
Advanced:
Learn all shortcuts and details from every map.
Master every mechanic in the game, and especially boost chaining.
Learn or develop good "lines" (paths) to take in each section of as many maps as possible.

Voting
- Type "y" or "n" in the chat to cast your vote.
- Type "rtv" in the chat to vote to skip the map.
- In the console, use "vsm [mod]" (same as "vote setmod") to vote to change the mod. Use "vsg [gametype] [rounds]" (same as "vote setgametype") to change the gametype.
- Current mods are "juice", "tech", "nitro", "rings", and "vanilla".
- Current gametypes are "combi", "friendmod", "frontrun" and "battle".
- You can also use "vote extendgametype [rounds]" to extend the current gametype and "vote resetgametype" to return to normal races.
- Use "vote restartlevel" if you want to restart/replay the race for any reason (even if it has already finished).
- If something seems wrong, you can use "vote fixall" as a failsafe to reset everything to defaults.

Mods & gametypes
- Mods:
Juicebox: (Server's default mode) many quality of life and balance changes, the biggest one being "gates" that help with catching up to first place. Full description: https://hyuu.cc/j/
Tech: Juicebox, but without the gates.
DriftNitro: no items. Instead, drift and sliptide to get nitros that you can use anytime like items. The blue bar fills with time, and turns all nitros into longer lasting ones once full. The EX bar fills if you aren't first, and gives a passive increase to speed and nitro gain.
Rings: press or hold the item button when you don't have an item to spend your collected rings for a small speed boost. This also lets you ignore offroad.
Vanilla: base game without large gameplay mods (drafting, boost stacking, etc stay on).
- Gametypes:
Combi-Ring: work with your linked partner to finish the race as a team.
Friendmod: work with the rest of your team to get the overall best ranking at the end of the race.
Frontrun: no laps. Instead, the first player to stay in the front for a total of 60 seconds wins.
Battle Plus: battle mode, but with new game types and rules.
- In DriftNitro, use Custom 3 to swap between your first two stored nitros. You can use this to store blue nitros for later; they're good for straight sections where drifting isn't possible.
- Characters with low Speed stat can store more nitros than usual, up to 4.
- In Combi-Ring, use the Custom 1 (left), 2 (right) and 3 (forward) keys to warn your partner which way you want to go. This is especially important for taking shortcuts.

Etc
- While selecting your character's color, press backspace to revert to their preferred/default one.
- If you get stuck somewhere and can't get out, use "respawn" in the console. Tip: use this right after joining the server, then if you need it later you just have to press "up" in the console to use it again quickly.
- You can load all of a server's mods (for offline play) by opening a replay saved while playing (or spectating) on it.
- You can recast your map vote between races by spectating and rejoining before the countdown is over.
- Use "clan x" in the console to add a cosmetic clan/tag before your name.
- Type "banana" in the title screen to unlock all vanilla and hell maps in the time trial. Do it again after loading a server's mods to unlock its custom hell maps.
- If you want to play hell maps in multiplayer mode instead of time trial (such as after loading a server's mods), you can force them to appear in the list this way: select a hell map in time trial then go to multiplayer. It'll still be selected in the list and you can choose it.