AMG_SLK
I think the message for me is to to change my strategy to become even more actively involved in managing Bob. All the other things mentioned earlier I already applied more or less. (dont overtake in the 1st 10-15 secs, dont win with too much margin)
The one thing that surprised me most though (in the above posts) is that you're running at negative (-6 -4) difficulty levels.
As 'my Bob' already had a high level to start with (see previous post) it seems I could set the level to 0 difficulty in order to obtain 'close' races.
I'd expect to run Bob at low difficulty levels if he had just started out at 0/0/0/0 level.
Just checked my excel file again. FYI, My Lupo stock was running S2 tyres on all tracks at level 'increase speed' + overtake.
Only for Driving park did I switch to R3.
Active Participation
Just to be clear: Active B-specking is required to keep the race close, but there is no evidence the button mashing has any influence on the points earned. Keeping track of which settings were used during the race would not be a simple solution. I suspect that battle points are determined by a proximity detector used when choosing the passing line or to avoid collisions. In theory, maximum points are earned when the race is finished (or quit) and the proximity detector is active (other cars are close). Quitting is effective for floating points on the Ring, but not recommended as better. When collecting floating battle points on the Ring, I only finished 2 or 3 races, all others were quit after about 1 lap and just as I passed the leader. BTW, if a large lead is gained during the race, ditching the car or pitting to allow the competition to catch up, will not help gain maximum battle points.
I also raced with the superstition that the sector arrows may influence battle skill. On long tracks, and especially on the Ring, I tried to keep an orange arrow in front of my car as long as possible by slowly catching up to each car, and overtaking just before the next sector. I found no evidence that this influenced the points earned, but it gave me something to do while actively managing the B-driver.
Difficulty Settings
During my test game, I tried to use the difficulty levels of -3 and -6 for short tracks exclusively. I could easily have won with a higher difficulty setting, but I wanted to be able to make a simple recomendation if I was successful. It is possible that a higher level will earn more points, but this has never been tested. However, the current theory is that it makes no difference, set the difficulty wherever you want.
During my clean up game I frequently used level 0 and found it to be an excellent setting for a B-driver with very high skills. The race could be started with pace 3 or 4, overtake activated shortly after the beginning of the race, and the B-driver would usually overtake the lead about the same time the race finished. Very little input was required.
I used this observation to use Max (he's no longer named Bob) to test the A-spec potential of various cars. If Max can win a Family Cup race with a high difficulty setting, then I am more likely to earn high A-spec points with that car. For instance, using the Dodge Ram, Max will win by a minute if the level is set to +10 - so I rate the Ram at +11. Max can win at +5 using the Prius Touring Selection. I found a few cars in the +3 range before I got distracted by other things, and I've since forgotten which cars they were, but you get the idea.
Tuning and Tires
I used a slightly different set of tunings than those suggested by the JP author to collect the track points. Besides using Turbo 3 on the 350Z instead of Turbo 4, the JP author suggested 4 different tunings for the Miata, 3 on the Ring, and another for track points. But since there are only 3 tuning tabs (A, B, and C) and track points aren't very picky about specific tunings, I decided to do without the racing tires on the Lupo and Miata. For a while I thought these settings might be better, but many people have had equal success using the original JP suggestions. At this point I would argue that it makes no difference.
Record Keeping
Extremely detailed records of points earned is mostly useful for test games when all points are collected using a specific method. These records can be used to deduce where fractions of a points may have been dropped. It is a good idea to check the points after each race. If only +8 to +11 points are earned on a track, then that race definately needs to be re-run to collect the missing battle points. I always repeated races that earned +12 points just to be sure that something wasn't missed, but a regular pattern of occasional +12s is to be expected. The most important thing is to find some method to assure that no tracks are missed.
