Reducing your Keys per piece (KPP / KPT)

[XaeL]

For finding your optimal finesse, see caffeines guide:
http://harddrop.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1654

In this explanation i will examine WORST CASE SCENARIO for each part, and assume that every piece placement is that placement (bad assumption, since in real life you will get mainly good scenarios and only bad cases < 1/10 pieces)

Why do i need to reduce my KPP and KPT?
You have two hands. Between them, you have 10 fingers.
Using only 4 keys (move left, move right, rotate left, rotate right),
it is difficult to press more than 12-13 keys per second comfortably.
Assuming you have no finesse (i.e. five step finesse, in the next section and/or in caffeines guide), the worst case scenario is placing an J piece, left rotated in the far right column.
Piece -> Rotate right x3, Tap right x 5 = 8 key presses.

Assuming 12 keys per second -> 1.5 tetrominos per second

Hence, due to the limited resource of Keys per second, to achieve faster speed, we have to Reduce keys per move.

What is Finesse? Why do I need it?
Finesse (2-step finesse in general) is the idea that you only need to press two directional buttons to reach any normal placement. The worst case scenario using two step finesse and single rotation is the following a piece rotated counterclockwise in the 3rd column from the right.

1st piece -> Das to right wall, rotate right x 3, move left.
Total -> 5 keys

Assuming 12 keys per second -> 2.4 tetrominos per second

What is double rotate? Why do I need it?
I guess i should have really explained double rotate before Finesse, since it is easier, but oh well.
Rotating in both directions allows the triple rotate to become one key. So the above example becomes
1st piece -> Das to right wall, rotate left, move left.
total -> 3 keys

Assuming you can press 12 keys per second -> 4 pieces per second.
In practice, using 2 step finesse and two direction rotating, you can go in excess of 5-6 pieces per second.


What is 180° rotate? Why do I need it?
the worst case scenario for double rotate and 180° rotate is the same, but obviously everytime you rotate twice you save one keypress.
you are still limited by
Assuming you can press 12 keys per second ->  4 pieces per second.

How does hold affect KPP and KPT?
Everytime you hold, you are wasting one of your 12 keypresses. However holding can lead to faster times because you can stack flatter, and a flatter stack results in easier thought patterns i.e. faster stacking.

Is it possible to get below <x> KPT?
Assuming that 100 pieces played, and no hold piece, a rough guideline for the kpt that you want to reach is 3.
It is not possible over 100 pieces to get less than 2.5 keys per tetromino using the methods above (assuming equal placements in the 10 columns, you will have an average of about 2 keys per tetromino, and you do have to rotate tetrominos, so this brings it up to 2.75 or 3~)

1 step finesse
Using just one key, you could get into whichever column you want. Using DAS skillstops, this will still waste time, and be EXTREMELY error prone. So the only logical way to overcome this is to bind every column to a key (see Typomino 10 key setup)
In this setup, your KPT should reduce to about 2~
(still have rotate left/rotate/right rotate 180, then 1 key for each of the 10 columns)

Your worst case is STILL 3 key presses, but the average KPT will decrease as you will have far more 2 key placements.

1 key finesse

Using 1 key finesse, you can place a piece, in its specified column and orientation, using just one key.
The only way to do this would be to bind each combination to a key.
Since there are 10 columns, and four rotation states (neutral, rotate left, rotate right, rotate 180),
you need 40 keys to do this setup.

The worst case is now 1 key press. Assuming no hold, at 12 keys per second, you can reach 12tps = 720tpm.

NB: using 1 step finesse and 1 key finesse, you will be using 8 or 9 fingers vs the regular 7. Hence you have more fingers and can probably press much more than 12 keys per second.


Conclusion/closing remarks:
The fastest current players use 2 step finesse and double rotate (and sometimes 180 rotate too). Since the fastest time is 22 seconds, this is 4.5 tetrominos per second. To break 20 second barrier, either more than 12 keys will have to be pressed per second, or 1 step/1key finesse must be used.

However, the 40 key setup has a huge learning curve (took me 7 weeks to get to 42 seconds), there is a barrier to entry in the form of learning. Also, non-touch typers will find it VERY difficult to learn the 10 key and 40 key setups.

[clincher]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]However, the 40 key setup has a huge learning curve (took me 7 weeks to get to 42 seconds), there is a barrier to entry in the form of learning. Also, non-touch typers will find it VERY difficult to learn the 10 key and 40 key setups.[/quote]Do you mean 10?

Another way to reduce KPT is with 20G, I don't know how practical that is though

Also, you didn't take into account the hard drop key presses and this would all be true if the shift gravity was really fast or instant

[Kitaru]

40. 10 columns times 4 orientations gives 40 keys. The 40 key layout takes up 4 rows of the keyboard.

[XaeL]

yeah, typomino = 10 key, typingtetrimino = 40key

Do you mean 10?

Another way to reduce KPT is with 20G, I don't know how practical that is though

Also, you didn't take into account the hard drop key presses and this would all be true if the shift gravity was really fast or instant

and yes, all my estimates are prudent - they are higher than actual. in real life u can't really tap right/left at a rate of 5x a second and get 2tps.

[bach_of_tetris]

wait, so you can only do 1 step finesse with typomino?

[XaeL]

typomino and typing tetromino ARE DIFFERENT
typomino = 10 columns + 6 keys for rotation.
Typing tetromino = 40 keys, one for each column/rotation state combination.

typomino is 1 step finesse
typing tetromino is 1 KEY finesse.

[caffeine]

Wow, you got down to 42 seconds on a 40 key setup? That's quite a feat.

Something to keep in mind is that processing speed is separate from finger speed. Say someone's finger speed is 12 keys per second, he manages 3 keys per tetromino, which means he's dropping 4 TPS (processing speed). That's a 25 second 40 lines record. If he learns a new setup that allows him 2.5 KPT, then you'd think that the left over 0.5 KPT would convert to a new 20.83 second record, right? (100/(12/2.5)). That's just not the case. His efficiency may have increased, but that by itself says nothing about his processing speed, which is still 4 TPS. Instead, his finger speed will decrease to compensate. Long story short, it's easier to tap four times real fast and inflate your keys per second. All that extra keys per second is really just repetitious muscle memory, not actual decision making. See what I'm driving at?

But that's not to say we shouldn't optimize this stuff. Commiting to, say, the 2-step finesse system will make your movements more confident and consistent because you will know exactly how to get a piece where it needs to go. And what happens when we finally reach that finger speed barrier (if it's in fact possible in one lifetime)? The man who has the lowest KPT will reign king.

Now the kicker: when is it better to make that time investment by starting over and learning a new system for that extra 0.5 KPT opposed to keeping what works and grinding away at it? I say, if you have no plans to quit any time soon, and you don't have a tournament coming up soon, and you don't think it'll be too boring, why not learn something better?

On the other hand, you don't want to invest all your time into optimizing every single possible thing (like stacking using more spawning orientations thereby lessening your rotations, or changing your Tetris column, or... learning a 40 key setup ). You have to keep in mind that your rate of skill aquisition increases when you're not investing into learning new stuff, despite that your maximum potential increases as you invest into learning more. To me, it's about practicality. By "rate of skill acquisition," I mean faster TPM, consistently beating your personal records, becoming more comfortable in sticky situations, and steady Elo increase. And by "learning investment," I mean new keyboard setup, optimize finesse scheme, mastering new tactics (T-Spin, Combos, downstacking), and overcoming tetlag.

To me it looks like this:
[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://harddrop.com/file/pic/gallery/1844_view.jpg\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://harddrop.com/file/pic/gallery/1844_view.jpg\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]

[solo2001]

[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://harddrop.com/file/pic/gallery/1844_view.jpg\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://harddrop.com/file/pic/gallery/1844_view.jpg\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]


green line = Koreans

[Magnanimous]

I've been thinking about how to incorporate t-spins into the 40-key layout, so it'd be useful for competitive play. I think the best way is to use the two Shift keys... Holding left Shift adds a CW rotate at the end, and holding right Shift adds a CCW rotate.

[fumen]105@tbkznbmz5dD3lbC3ibH3gbE3pbAwNFAzI8nEOBAAAt?bcDnbeD9dkzoblznbkzubAQpcAUoo2A3HhDEkoo2AEszQEF?b82D0oo2AoIyrDXecDnbkz5bAQpuAMI/dEFbssCoO/dEFbs?lAFbEwCFbcRATG88AwsDKEp188AQ+brDuoo2ADTBAAXekzy?bcDubAQpwASeh1D0oo2Az81uD0oo2Arno2AUoo2AlcJSASI?jNEueQTASY91DFG98Awk36C[/fumen]

[Paul676]

another thing is when dealing with speed in terms of kpt is whether you press a rotation and direction at the same time- so for example 2 key presses would equal one in terms of time if you do this- so if you tap once to the right and rotate once it would in this case take the same time to do as just tapping once or rotating once. That way it's an "in effect keys per tetromino system." So someone with superb finesse would have worked at not tapping at the same time as rotating because of the das-wall rotate once parts of finesse, and therefore maybe lose time because of losing the time gained by simultaneous inputs of keys. Because I suspect that although someone like Maserati's kpt isn't hugely low, his "in effect" kpt is low because of this, whereas maybe a better player at finesse maybe finds time in one place but loses time in another, and so keeps the same "in effect" kpt as before. That said, my big jump recently in time for 40L was due to learning das tapback.

[XaeL]

i'm hoping keyblox wil have its own multiplayer system, with deepdrop and blockbox style garbage.


unfortunately the player base is now 4. so good luck with it becoming popular.

In terms of time put into it, i and kirby would both say that we put very little time into it. I play on average 10-30 minutes a day of it, for about 6 weeks now. Thats far less than i put into my regular 40L before (3-4 hours a day, for 15 months before i hit a similar time)

[bach_of_tetris]

3-4 hours a day?!

[Ando]

are there any specific tips for TDS, that's pretty much all i play =P

[chowmain24]

i only use 7 keys!

[XaeL]

are there any specific tips for TDS, that's pretty much all i play =P

TDS uses 5 step finesse.

Also you should learn the finer left/right rotation finesses for I, Z and S pieces.