Moonkarts just received a new update that will make it easier for casual players to earn significant amounts of Colony each season, while only driving a handful of races. The addition of bots in the game allows a single player to race to his heart's content against computer opponents, and earn rewards while doing so, even if no one else is online to play.
This is a massive development for the game, because it incentivizes people to log on and race, and take advantage of the current Ranked Leaderboard rewards. After just a few races I am estimated to win over 6000 COL at the end of the season, despite having a low ranking and not much Colony staked (around 20k). That is a great ROI for low investments, although those that stake more and race more will stand to earn a lot more from racing at higher rankings and placing well on the Orbitals leaderboard.
For the casual gamer who just wants to play a few races each season, this is a great situation and there is no reason to pass up on these extra Colony rewards. In comparison with SPS, 6000 Colony is equivalent to 116 SPS. Not that much money but why leave it on the table?
How is the experience of playing with bots? Well, if your kart is fast enough, you will simply leave them behind as they aren't great drivers, tend to bump into walls quite a bit and don't adopt optimal racing lines. If they happen to be in your speed range, they can give you a fun time, as I've had in a race where I was able to win first place in the last stretch of the race after chasing the bot the entire race. That was a fun racing moment almost as good as racing with an actual human.
The downside is that the bots themselves don't stick together in a grid as they often have wildly different karts and speeds, so it isn't like Mario Karts where your opponents are all around you and can take the lead at any moment. Here it is still very much about raw speed although some curves will force you to use the drift button to avoid hitting the walls, which is challenging and fun. The game still needs more interaction on the track itself though, like obstacles and powerups. Let's hope this can be delivered in the future, but the game is on the right track with updates like this.
I am leaving here a screenshot of my current kart setup, which allows me to win against the bots, at least so far. It is a gold foil basic kart with an epic vortex, epic engine and a celestial thrust, plus other basic pieces. It runs for 82 fuel which is important because you don't want to overspend on fuel against bots. The idea is to find the perfect setup that lets you win without wasting fuel. Unless you are just spamming orbitals of course!
Will this update lead me to want to race hundreds of times per season? I don't know, but at least if I feel like racing, I don't have to wait for an opponent to show up. There is a fuel penalty for racing more than ten times a day anyway, but maybe 5-10 races per day is manageable for me. I will need to stake more Colony though.
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