User blog:Androgeos Exeunt/A Sunday Driver's Run of the Falcon F7's Enduro Double Down

First Things First
Before I begin, I should stress that this is not the only way to complete an Enduro Double Down event. The tunings of the cars are not optimised and more skilled drivers can do away with some upgrades.

Introduction
Five hours ago, I completed the Falcon F7's Enduro Double Down (EDD) event, which started its third run about 5 days ago (20-21 November 2017). It will go down in my history of playing Asphalt 8: Airborne as being the first EDD event I've ever completed.

However, I didn't need a lot of time to complete this EDD; in fact, if you have the resources (see below), it is still possible at this stage to complete the EDD and get your very own Falcon F7.

The purpose of this blog post is to explain how I managed to get the needed to win all the rewards offered during the F7's EDD in just under 5 hours of active play time. In writing this blog post, I hope that, should the Falcon F7's EDD be revived another time during Asphalt 8's lifetime, this blog post will give you, the reader, some idea of how you can go about completing this EDD if you haven't done so already.

Outset
For you to understand how much (or little) I had to work with, it is necessary for me to introduce myself and let you know what were my available resources.

Driver: User:Androgeos Exeunt
Most of these are correct only as of the time of the F7's EDD from 20-21 November 2017.

Real Life
I have a day job on weekdays. Combined with additional time needed for mundane things immediately before and after his day job, I can't play Asphalt 8 from 6 am to 8 pm on Mondays to Fridays. I also can't play Asphalt 8 from 12 midnight to 6 am on any weekday as I will be asleep. However, I make it a point to keep my weekends absolutely free.

Computer

 * ''See also: User:Androgeos Exeunt

I play Asphalt 8 on a stock Asus-manufactured desktop PC running Windows 10. The PC has an Intel Core i7-6700, 8GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT730 with 2 GB of memory, and two hard drives. It has a wireless connection that occasionally drops out due to gateway issues.

Asphalt 8: Airborne History
Although I started playing Asphalt 8 sometime in April 2017 (during the Sbarro Sparta's EDD), it wasn't until mid-June 2017 that I started to play Asphalt 8 actively. With that in mind, you can say that I have 5 months' experience of playing Asphalt 8 to work with here. I get disoriented quite fast when snaking, which hopefully gives you an idea of how skilled I am as a driver.

I have also participated in the previous run of the F7's EDD on 9 August 2017, although I only saved enough back then to win the Ferrari 458 Italia. During the previous EDD, I never went past Challenge 19. The highest Challenge where I was above to save was at Challenge 14 (i.e. Ace Race 4).

Due to my past expenditure on in-app purchases, my profile is currently at VIP Level 5.

Progression
I have 936 stars in Career Mode&mdash;enough to unlock Career Mode Season 9&mdash;and completed enough Car Mastery challenges to obtain.

and
I usually only keep around, so even though I can actually stockpile on anytime I want, I usually only do so if I don't have enough on hand to buy a Super Racer Kit Box.

Vehicles

 * See also: User:Androgeos Exeunt

You can check the link in the line above to see exactly what I have. For this EDD, however, I would like to draw your attention to a few select vehicles.

The first vehicle I would like to focus on is the Lamborghini Veneno, which I have upgraded to MAX+PRO. Having a MAX+PRO Veneno unlocks its Car Mastery Challenge 15, which is a Flawless race set in Alps. This particular race would be my main source of during the F7's EDD.

The next vehicle I would like to mention is the Ferrari F40, which I have also upgraded to MAX+PRO. With full upgrades, its Season 9 race, set in Dubai, is unlocked. This would be my secondary source of during the F7's EDD.

Enduro Double Down Vehicles
Due to my participation in a previous run of the F7's EDD, all of the EDD vehicles have been upgraded to some extent; I have also purchased or won some of these vehicles since then. The following is a list of the EDD vehicles with their respective tunings at the start of this F7 EDD:


 * Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X: 0000 2333
 * Audi S4: 0504 5455
 * Infiniti FX50: 2323 5544
 * Ferrari 612 Scaglietti: 1110 4445
 * Arrinera Hussarya: 1010 1111
 * Ferrari 458 Italia: 2121 3553
 * Falcon F7: 0101 4020
 * McLaren 12C Spider: 1111 2002
 * Savage Rivale GTR: 0000 0000

Boosters
From watching many, many ads and completing most daily Events, I have amassed the following supply of boosters without ever paying a single cent, :
 * 1) 7 Double Credits
 * 2) ~120 Nitro Starters
 * 3) ~76 Tuning Kits
 * 4) 8 Extra Tanks

Inventory
My storage space is 379 cards. Some were spent on increasing storage space. As of 09:21, November 26, 2017 (UTC), my next storage space upgrade will cost me.

The Plan
As I do not have the luxury of time to complete the F7's EDD once I started it, I am not really a skilled driver, and I don't stockpile, I cannot hope to complete all 50 challenges in one shot. However, I have attempted the F7's EDD before, so I can settle for the following strategy:


 * 1) Use the first EDD ticket as a "practice run" and Double until the point where I previously cleared an Ace Race (Challenge 14)
 * 2) Farm enough credits to upgrade the Top Speed and Nitro of as many EDD vehicles as possible
 * 3) Charge through the EDD, using all boosters, until I reach a point where I can save more than half of
 * 4) Restart the EDD and use the remaining tickets and time left to complete the EDD by saving  a few Ace Races lower

The following factors were also taken into consideration:


 * The EDD increases in difficulty by 1 Ace Race ("tier") after approximately is saved; banking at Ace Race 4 is below this shift
 * The EDD increases in difficulty by 1 more tier after approximately
 * Between the cars I own that I "Use for farming " as well as the McLaren P1™ and Lamborghini Veneno, the Veneno earns the most per second on its Car Mastery Challenge 15, followed by the Ferrari F40 on its Season 9 race. The estimated amount of credits I earn per second for the Veneno and F40 is:
 * ~112.69 /second for the Veneno
 * ~103.77 /second for the F40


 * The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and Savage Rivale GTR have exorbitant upgrade costs
 * Poor acceleration can be offset by nitro
 * Poor handling can be offset by superior driving skills
 * Lack of Enduro Invitations is a non-issue due to my day job

With all that in mind, I conceived the following plan on Thursday, 23 November 2017:


 * 1) Start the EDD and use Challenges 1-14 as practice, but save  only after completing Challenge 14
 * 2) Fail a Challenge and restart at Challenge 1
 * 3) Using the Veneno, farm  while a Double Credits booster is active from Friday, 24 November 2017 to Saturday, 25 November 2017
 * 4) Prioritise upgrading of the Top Speed and Nitro of all EDD cars via upgrades and Pro Kits
 * 5) Upon expiry of the Double Credits booster, and with all EDD cars upgraded as much as possible, re-attempt the EDD and keep doubling until I clear Challenge 36 (i.e. Ace Race 8) on Saturday or Sunday, 25-26 November 2017
 * 6) Save  at Challenge 36, which also causes the difficulty to shift by 2 tiers
 * 7) Repeat 2.
 * 8) Re-attempt the EDD and double until I clear Challenge 14 using the remaining time left during the EDD from Sunday until I save  or the end of the EDD, whichever comes first

There were two critical points in this plan that can break it entirely or make it better:
 * Being able to double until Challenge 36. It is extremely risky to have more than half of the required riding on just one ticket, yet this plan relies almost entirely on whether I am able to clear it by any means possible. Saving  one Ace Race down means that I still needed to get ~, something that I was not confident of doing over 3 working days
 * Going further than my projected target Challenges. Assuming I could save at Challenge 36, my subsequent runs of the EDD need me to at least reach Challenge 14 before I save . Being able to progress further will reduce the amount of time (and Enduro Invitations) I need to save.

Had everything gone as I had planned it, I expected myself to stand a chance of winning the F7 by the end of Tuesday, 28 November 2017, with 1 day left to spare.

Tuesday, 23 November 2017
I entered my participation into the revived Falcon F7 EDD. Due to my past attempt at the same EDD, I confidently doubled until I reached Challenge 14, where I saved.

Points: 

Friday, 24 November 2017
Slightly after 10 pm, I activated a Double Credits booster before starting my runs on the Lamborghini Veneno's Mastery Challenge 15. I repeatedly completed the Veneno's Mastery Challenge for about 3 hours (with breaks) until 1 am on Saturday, 25 November 2017.

Points: 

Saturday, 25 November 2017
I projected this day or the day after to the most crucial part of my plan.

10.00 am to 10.00 pm
After settling breakfast, I resumed grinding on the Veneno's Mastery Challenge 15, stopping for lunch, tea break and dinner at the appropriate times, as well as for the occasional toilet/upgrade break and idle banter on User:FMecha's Discord server.

During these 12 hours, I wrecked a grand total of 3 times. I also stopped here and there to upgrade the EDD cars.

By 10 pm, the tunings on the EDD cars were as follows:


 * Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X: 0302 3353
 * Audi S4: 0505 5455
 * Infiniti FX50: 2424 5544
 * Ferrari 612 Scaglietti: 4553 5445
 * Arrinera Hussarya: 1413 3131
 * Ferrari 458 Italia: 2525 3553
 * Falcon F7: 0505 5040
 * McLaren 12C Spider: 5555 3032
 * Savage Rivale GTR: 0101 2020

10.00 pm
Upon the expiry of my Double Credits, I started my charge to Challenge 36. At around Challenge 19, I started activating my boosts. 1 Extra Tank was used; Nitro Starters were activated as soon as the previous one ran out; Tuning Kits were used whenever the vehicle I am using is around 130 ranks lower than the recommended rank.

10.35 pm
was lost when a collision with traffic in San Diego Harbor made my Audi S4 do a 90-degree turn into a wall without wrecking it, causing me to lose the Infected race I was in. I decided to Auto-Pass.

I subsequently upgraded my Audi S4 to 5555 5455 and avoided all races at San Diego Harbor (as well as its reverse variant). I also upgraded some of the other EDD cars a little more.

10.40 pm
Challenge 30 was cleared. I had doubled until then, and I was once again given the choice to Safe or Double. I had already failed (and Auto-Passed) Challenge 29, and some of my cars were starting to fall below the recommended rank, even with all boosters enabled. If I were to save now, I'd save...well,, but with the  I saved earlier in the week, I would still need  to complete the EDD, which is a lot of ground to cover in just 3 days. But it is not impossible for me to get in 3 days.

So I was in a bit of a dilemma. Safe...or Double?

After staring at my options for 30 seconds, I decided to take a flying leap. I doubled.

The next 20 minutes that followed would determine the outcome of this EDD. I swallowed.

11.00 pm
Against the odds and my own inner demons, I cleared Challenge 36, beating the Ace Racer with a 1.2-second lead. The Falcon F7 had surpassed my expectations&mdash;at this stage, all the EDD vehicles needed to be triple-boosted in order to stay competitive, but the F7 seems to be faring the best out of all of them.

Challenge 36 was my save target. Should I save here, I would save, which instantly jets me past the halfway mark and gives me a serious chance of getting the F7. However...that Double option is there.

The F7, as I had mentioned earlier, was doing great, and the other EDD cars held their own between Challenges 31 to 35, passing each and every challenge I chose without incident. In many aspects, Challenges 31 to 35 didn't seem all that different from Challenges 25 to 29. Perhaps I can go one more, and take another flying leap? I also have enough to save myself in case I fail an event, right?

...right?

...Nnnnnnnnope. I stuck to my plan and saved.

However, just like in the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", where the contestant can still attempt a question and see if they get it right or wrong after they choose to take their winnings, I decided to continue with the EDD and see if I can reach Challenge 43 (i.e. Ace Race 9).

11.20 pm
I couldn't. At Challenge 42, I crashed out on a time attack goal despite having all boosters active on my 0402 3353 Mitsubishi Lancer.

At least, that answers one question.

I restarted the EDD from Challenge 1. Now, if I were to stick to my plan of banking points at Challenge 14, I would save each time; to reach, I will need to do this 7 times, so 7 Enduro Invitations were needed. As I had already used my spare Enduro Invitation in the charge to Challenge 36, I estimated that I would need another 2 days to get all the remaining.

Still, it felt good, knowing that the most important part of my plan was executed almost perfectly.

Points: 

Sunday, 26 November 2017
What was the name of that trope...ah yes, "You Are Better Than You Think You Are". It's a nice sentence to help people with low self-esteem.

12.20 am
20 minutes in, Asphalt 8 delivered the trope above into my face when I decided to double past Challenge 14 and cleared Challenge 19 by apparently 1 frame.

Saving at Challenge 19 instead of Challenge 14 gives me, and I completed Challenge 19 without using a Nitro Starter (I forgot that the Ace Racer, being an Ace Racer, will use the shortcut in Dubai), so this should theoretically mean that I can definitely get to Challenge 19 on all subsequent runs of the EDD even with the 2-tier difficulty shift already triggered.

So I restarted from Challenge 1 again. This time, when attempting Challenge 19, I had a Nitro Starter active.

... ...    ...

I couldn't believe just how well this was going. Could I actually win the Falcon F7 with my last Enduro Invitation for the night?

2.02 am
Unfortunately, it wouldn't go that well. 4 hours of doing the EDD non-stop has had real-life effects&mdash;my reflexes were slower, my right wrist was aching, and my sense of judgment was impaired.

It all came together when I crashed out on Challenge 4 driving the Infiniti FX50 in Barcelona Reverse. The last turn got me.

Rather than Auto-Pass it, I decided not to continue and retired for the night.

11.45 am
Having slept like a log, I continued where I left off, determined to finish what I started. The following is the tuning of the EDD vehicles at this time:


 * Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X: 0402 3353
 * Audi S4: 5555 5455
 * Infiniti FX50: 2424 5544
 * Ferrari 612 Scaglietti: 4553 5445
 * Arrinera Hussarya: 1413 3131
 * Ferrari 458 Italia: 2525 3553
 * Falcon F7: 0505 5040
 * McLaren 12C Spider: 5555 3032
 * Savage Rivale GTR: 0302 2020

12.21 pm
It is finished. With Challenge 14 completed 1 last time and a further saved to my existing, I had secured  and cleared the Falcon F7's EDD. At long last, the car was mine.

Points: 

Post-EDD Reflections
I had a plan, and it was carried out well. Despite my own doubts, I set out to obtain one of the cars that I've always wanted in Asphalt 8 from the first time I saw and looked at it, and I got it.

Still, there was quite a bit more I could have done to improve upon my strategy. Had I taken these steps, I would likely be better off right now:
 * 1) Drive the Audi S4 and Infiniti FX50 more often. Both cars have poor drift radii, which are major contributing factors to some of my challenge failures. Mini-drifting would have likely alleviated this quite a bit.
 * 2) Upgrade the handling stat a little. Part of the reason why I crashed into traffic in Challenge 29 was because my Audi S4 was upgraded 0505, so it handled like a potato.
 * 3) Disable traffic! This is the main reason why I failed Challenge 29! On the Windows app, setting the Effects (under "Sound & Display" in the Options menu) to "Low" turns off traffic completely.

As for why I would take the trouble to get the Falcon F7, which is not very competitive in multiplayer and has a lower MAX+PRO rank than the Lotus Evora Sport 410, which I also own...well, I just wanted it. It steers nicely, it can go really fast, and it looks good. Besides, I can colour it blue. It's essentially the Blue Falcon in Asphalt 8.

The Last Word
Y E S Z !

-- Androgeos Exeunt 09:21, November 26, 2017 (UTC)