ZCT302 Through the Ages

[Argammon]

Coming soon! (Track submitted)

[Argammon]

The concept of this track is to add a brand new way (Way 2) to the spiral (Way 1) from https://zak.stunts.hu/tracks/ZCT067.

The simple rule is that it is not allowed to switch from Way 1 to Way 2 or vice versa. However, it is allowed to use dual-way switching within Way 2. The picture below shows some examples of what is allowed and what is not:



The dual-way switches indicated by the red and yellow arrows are not allowed. That's because one switches from Way 1 to Way 2 or the other way round. Note that the red arrow in particular cuts most of the track.

The purple arrows indicate allowed dual-way switches that occur strictly within Way 2.

[HerrNove]

I'm away from my Dosbox-equipped laptop these days, so I'll play with the track by doing some exegesis.

"79 vs 78": track ZCT079 was Default, while 078 was Brain Work. The right half of the track might be seen as Argammon's reinterpretation of Brain Work? but the left part is 067 as stated by Argammon himself.

Is the central tree formation supposed to be a hourglass? This would be consistent with the title. But what about the trees west of it?

For now, more questions than answers. Maybe veteran Zakstunters will be able to make more progress in the decryption.

[Alain il professore]

Hello my friends,

0110111 = 7
0111000 = 8
0100000 = space
1010111 = W
1001001 = I
1001110 = N
1010011 = S

Tree work, 7 columns binary code

Brain work wins.

Central tree formation meant to be a hourglass? It's a cup.

If you decode the cactus + palm tree formation on he lower left it reads :

 1010011 = 83
 0110111 = 55

binary code translates 83 to "S" and 55 to "7". Flip the S and it becomes a 2.

That's a 27. It relates to the 27 wins for Argammon thru the ages from 06 to 26.

But Argammon started at zakstunts in september 2001 and earned 6 wins from 2002 to 2004. GG for that career record, my friend.

But those are not the intended code for ice drawn characters "06" and "26": there's an easter challenge at Z302: we have to beat Ayrton's 1:21.05 with a slightly different track and a Porsche Carrera.

Good luck!

[alanrotoi]

Well, to beat somebody's lap after watching his replay isn't a hard task (and 20 years later! ).

[Argammon]

My original design goal was to fine tune the coefficients so that Way 2 is a few seconds faster than Way 1. In that sense Way 1 was meant to be a side quest - just like the car podiums.

To achieve that goal, I was planning to adjust the bonuses such that there is an 8% bonus point difference between the Carrera on the one hand and the Acura and the GTO on the other. That plan got spoiled by the ZCT301 results.