Front runners are playing a fundamentally different game versus other running styles. Building them isn't too hard, and their - careers tend to be easy, but the things you need (and don't need) to make a really good front runner are sometimes surprising. + careers tend to be easy, but some of the things you need (and don't need) to make a really good front runner are surprising.
- This document is advanced material. The target audience intends to win Champions Meet Group A Finals. This is meant for - players who are already strong at training: players who can take a target stat line and skill set and turn it into a horse. - This is about what those stat lines and skill sets should be, along with why. + This document is advanced material. The target audience intends to win Champions Meet Group A Finals and either wants to use + front runners to do it or wants to understand what front runners they need to beat. This is meant for players who are already + strong at training: players who can take a target stat line and skill set and turn it into a horse. This is about what those + stat lines and skill sets should be, along with why.
- Two or three weeks after Global launched, my friend told me to get a job, so I sent him a screenshot of me clicking the - install button on Umamusume. Since then, I have been a mostly-F2P player, with the single exception of the First Anniversary - SSR pick ticket. (I haven't even spent the accompanying paid carats.) + About three weeks after Global launched, my friend told me to get a job, so I sent him a screenshot of me clicking the install + button on Umamusume. Since then, I have been a mostly-F2P player, with the single exception of the First Anniversary SSR pick + ticket. (I haven't even spent the accompanying paid carats.)
I'm committed to running exclusively triple fronts for every Champions' Meet, starting since CM8 Sagittarius Cup (Arima - Kinen). I've messed up a lot doing it, and gotten second in more CMs than not. In other words, I've figured out what makes - good fronts by seeing a lot of things that make bad fronts. + Kinen). When I'm not training for CM, I'm usually making front runner parents, and was at one time the owner of the Seiun Sky + with the most white sparks on global. I have a lot of experience training, running, and watching front runners.
- Well, that, and I'm very familiar with KuromiAK's Race Mechanics doc, to the point that I make my own tools to calculate the benefit of obscure mechanics. And I've talked to a lot of - exceptionally knowledgeable folks on the - GameTora Discord server - to learn about ideas like lane combo and spark farming. + >. Many of those interpretations are also informed by the exceptionally knowledgeable folks on the + GameTora Discord server.
I want to share the knowledge I've accrued about front runners, because teaching is my favorite thing. Definitely not just to - rationalize running triple fronts for every CM even though most of my favorite horses are late surgers. + rationalize running triple fronts for every CM even though it's not actually very good and most of my favorite horses are late + surgers.
+ Very quick gloss of race fundamentals. Races are divided into four phases: early race, mid race, late race, and last spurt + phase. They are also divided into twenty-four equal length sections. Early race is sections 1 to 4, mid race is sections 5 to + 16, late race is sections 17 to 20, and last spurt phase is sections 21 to 24. Spot Struggle can start between 150m and the + end of section 5, and is forced to end at the start of section 9. Position Keep ends after section 10. +
++ The numeric value of acceleration depends on the Power stat, dueling, surface aptitude, uphills, race phase, running style. At + the start of early race, horses accelerate from 3 m/s to the early race base target speed, which varies by race + distance and running style. At the start of late race, if they have enough HP remaining for their last spurt, horses + accelerate from the mid race base target speed to their spurt speed, which varies by speed stat, distance aptitude, race + distance, running style, and guts stat, in decreasing order of effect. "Last spurt" and "last spurt phase" are different and + unrelated things; the latter is only used in the condition for Homestretch Haste. +
++ Speed skills add a flat amount of target speed, generally +0.15 m/s for white skills, +0.25 m/s for double circle skills and + some inherited uniques, +0.35 m/s for gold skills and most speed uniques, and +0.45 m/s for a handful of speed uniques. Accel + skills similarly add a flat amount of acceleration, either +0.1 or +0.2 m/s² for white skills and inherited uniques, or +0.3 + or +0.4 m/s² for gold skills and uniques. +
++ Generally speaking, competitive races are won by the horse who gets the most acceleration at the start of late race. The + consistency of front runner accel skills is what makes it a viable running style. +
+ The skill Runaway converts front runners into the Great Escape running style. However, no player has ever uttered + the words "Great Escape" when talking about Umamusume, presumably because Runaway is a much cooler name. +
++ Runaways are still front runners for most purposes, the main difference just being different base target speeds per phase. + Other mechanics that are specific to front runners also apply to runaways. +
++ For each of runaways and non-runaways, there is at most one spot struggle per race. Runaways will not spot struggle with + non-runaways, nor vice-versa. When a spot struggle triggers, all front runnners of that type within range participate; I've + had a horse join while in 6th. +
++ Spot struggle provides a target speed bonus that scales with the guts stat. If it isn't cut short, which will approximately + never happen, its duration scales with the guts stat. Unlike skills, its duration does not scale with race distance. +
+Position Keep is the process by which pace chasers don't pass front runners in the mid race.
++ During Position Keep, the frontmost front runner of each type uses speed up mode to try to stay at least 4.5m (a length + is 2.5m) ahead of second place, and other front runners use overtake mode to try to become the frontmost. Both of these modes + take wit checks to enter and apply a target speed bonus for their duration; overtake mode is slightly better than speed up mode. +
++ Lesser running styles instead have pace up mode and pace down mode. Whether horses enter these is based on their + distance from the frontmost horse. Pace up also requires a wit check, but PDM doesn't – if a non-front horse gets too close to + the frontmost runner in the first 41.67% of the race, they are guaranteed to switch into PDM, which converts distance into HP. +
++ Watch a MANT late surger with 1000+ power and wit in a solo practice match. When you see her advance forward early but then + moonwalk for two seconds to the back of the pack, that's PDM. +
++ Converting distance into HP is quite a lot worse than just having enough HP. The fact that front runners don't have to worry + about PDM is one of their major strengths. In particular, it means that early race speed skills always gain distance for front + runners, which is not the case for the inferior styles. +
+Thought experiment.
++ Picture two cars driving on a straight freeway, both at exactly 59 mph because I am American, adjacent lanes, keeping exactly + side by side. +
++ The one on the right then drives 1 mph faster for three seconds, creating a slight gap between them before returning to the + previous speed. They now maintain this new gap. +
++ There is a 65 mph speed limit sign. As each of the cars pass it, they accelerate at identical rates from 59 to 69 mph over a + duration of exactly 10.2 seconds. +
++ Since the car on the right is slightly ahead from the speed skill it used, it reaches the speed limit sign first, so it starts + accelerating first. +
++ Until the left car reaches the sign, the right car is building a speed advantage. Having a higher speed during the accel + period, it continually increases the gap it had, until both of them have reached the new target speed. +
++ Now the left car drives 1 mph faster for three seconds. It closes the gap between them by the same distance that the right + car's speed skill had done prior to the speed limit change. +
++ However, since the right car also added a distance advantage over the accel period, it remains slightly ahead of the left car. +
++ This thought experiment shows that speed skills are actually more valuable before late race than during it. Thus, front + runners not having to worry about PDM is even more of an advantage. +
++ On all medium races, almost every mile, many sprints, and some longs, Angling and Scheming is the second strongest single + skill currently in the game. Any time late race starts on (or, in the case of Nakayama 2500, very shortly before) a corner, Angling + is how front runners win. This means that Seiun Sky is the most important horse to front runner trainers. Everything about training + a front runner is for the sake of improving the odds of being the horse to trigger Angling – because only the horse in first gets + it. +
++ Long races get a different primary win condition: Victory Cheer! from Kitasan Black. VC is more forgiving than Angling, activating + for both first and second place, but it's also weaker. +
++ The sprints where Angling is dead can try to work with Victoria por plancha ☆ (Pasta) and Give Mummy a Hug ♡ + (Mummy Creek) instead. These skills are also on the weaker side, so front running becomes more of a matter of gambling with skills + like Turbo Sprint, Rushing Gale, and Unrestrained. The closest anyone has to not-gambling on such sprints is Nishino Flower's unique, + though, and front runners are especially strong in sprints for other reasons. +
++ If Angling is the second strongest skill, then the strongest is No Stopping Me! + Unfortunately, in most races, it is generally not a front runner skill. Because only one horse gets Angling, they will pull away + from whoever is in second, not giving a chance to activate NSM. For NSM to win on a front, the horse who got Angling has to not + be Seiun Sky (since Sei's own Angling is equal to NSM in strength), and there has to be no gap in the front pack so that it can + trigger. As I write this, I am 80 races into CM12 using a Silence Suzuka who has NSM, and it has been involved in exactly one win + where she leapfrogged off (my) Sei to pass (my) VBourbon (who placed second). It was cool, but she would have been better off in + the event if she hadn't had Yukino Wit in her deck. +
++ The above paragraph notwithstanding, NSM and even its white version, Nimble Navigator, are a decent choice for + multi-front builds on VC races. Since the top two horses both get VC, and the accel from it is weaker, having an extra push + for your second front is strong. VC maps also don't suffer from the final corner spread that makes NN/NSM hard to trigger on + sprints and miles. +