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Klassic Tower/(Very) Hard AI breakdown

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Does anyone else have any passion for breaking down the Hard/Very Hard AI learning ways to beat it consistently with every character? It might be because I'm a software developer, but this is a true passion of mine - beating the old-fashioned computer. To do this, I created a spreadsheet (that constantly requires updating with each patch), that I can use to calculate the best tools to use against each character. This is possible because the AI runs the same script each round.

The most important thing I've been able to calculate so far is that almost every character's 1,1 or 1,2 combos are better than blocking a running opponent. Having a 1,1 combo that leads to 25+% damage is incredibly important. These combos are almost always safe and if you can find a character that has a safe special move to juggle with, you are essentially unbeatable. A 1,1 combo will hit the CPU about 43% of time if its running towards you.

Secondly, you need to somewhat abandon your traditional understanding of the on-wake mixup game. The CPU will block your mix-up over 70% of the time, and its much harder to find a safe mixup so you will be punished often. Its better to add some mixups in place of the 1,1 for a running opponent to increase that original 43%. Still... your 1,1 mid/high will hit more often... speed beats unpredictability in this case.
What's better on AI wake up is to initiate a safe attack, then block their punish attempt when your hit is blocked, then do a mix-up. Collecting data on this is difficult but it amounts to something like a 60% success rate.

Third, take advantage of CPU jumps. It is very easy to get the AI to jump over any obstacle if you have one - Sonya's bombs, Erron Black's caltrops, Reptile's acid, etc. They do not attack until late after the jump and you can juggle in air, but I find its better to uppercut and gain advantage.

Fourth, AI meter - if AI has meter, it will use it at the perfect time. If AI has 2 bars, don't punish, it won't come out before they armor through you. What you can do instead is drop your block for a frame, then put it back, it will bait out the armored attack and then you can punish. This takes practice to get right but is worth the effor.

Fifth, wake up - When you're waking up, especially in the corner, and you don't have an armored attack ready, always block low. AI will mostly attack low first and when they don't, you can usually poke them before their overhead hits. Poking without blocking has about the same success rate but the punish is worse when you fail (this shouldn't be the case, but I will keep looking into it). This is a pretty important step, especially against both shinnoks.

Sixth, Neutral Jump Punches - If you have a character that has a njp that can hit on the way up, the AI is quite a sucker for it. It hits around 40% of the time as a punish, less so otherwise. This is OK though because njps lead to so many strong combos. Even if you just add an uppercut, that's 18% with a safe-block-mixup (#2) chance.

Seventh, Pokes - Pokes are the best way to create space for most characters. If you have a really fast poke like Kotal Kahn's d1, use it alot. You can usually get 6 in a row and then f1 when they backdash to punish. Use pokes more to create the space for your mixup. D4 usually creates space and lets you attack. I use the safe combo-block-mixup routine with this.

Eighth, use the fundamentals - Make sure you are going into the match with good knowledge of your safe attacks. I find about 2/3 of every character's arsenal is almost useless against the AI. The AI will always punish unsafe attacks... there is no reading them and taking advantage of something it doesn't know. Manage your uppercut use to only when you need it and it will hit more often.

This is what I have gathered from my playthrough. I am working hard to get myself into the top ten rank on klassic tower and these tools have helped me get close. To illustrate how different AI is than humans, Kitana is so far the best suited against the AI IMO. If anyone has interest, I can break down any character against AI as I would play using these tools.
 

podizzler3000

http://streamable.com/ti5z
never push a button when an opponent who can divekick (or kano) is in midair. they will instantly divekick you. wait until they land then hit them. also trying to throw the very hard ai is kinda pointless i think ive hit about 5 out of 100 attempts.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Yeah, they always tech it. I only throw when performing a brutality and only when the AI's life is completely depleted. The initial grab on hit is 2% so if they're in that window it will work too.
 

podizzler3000

http://streamable.com/ti5z
Yeah, they always tech it. I only throw when performing a brutality and only when the AI's life is completely depleted. The initial grab on hit is 2% so if they're in that window it will work too.
ah kung lao and erron black brutality throws come to mind
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Save all your meter for wakeup x-rays.
This works if you are playing Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Kung Jin or Ermac. Pretty much anyone else, you're gonna need that meter. Metering through block string gaps is incredibly effective against Hard/Very hard AI and will save your life. It doesn't seem they programmed for the possibility. If you're trying to get a top score (I'm 29th currently on PS4), then you probably have to do it your way though.
 

podizzler3000

http://streamable.com/ti5z
what is your score ? i think i got a 1.4M before but i wasnt really goign for a brutality everytime. also i quit doing towers because corrupted shinnok just pisses me off
 

BlackViper415

TYM's Head Herpetologist
This works if you are playing Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Kung Jin or Ermac. Pretty much anyone else, you're gonna need that meter. Metering through block string gaps is incredibly effective against Hard/Very hard AI and will save your life. It doesn't seem they programmed for the possibility. If you're trying to get a top score (I'm 29th currently on PS4), then you probably have to do it your way though.
Twas sarcasm, but good to know that is a viable strategy with someone.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Twas sarcasm, but good to know that is a viable strategy with someone.
Oh, LOL, I'm an idiot. X-Rays have such an enormous impact on your score, it seemed like that might've been what you meant. It upsets me somewhat that you can top that tower by just getting 20 x-rays in on the hard tower and ending each fight with a brutality. You can retry 5-6 times and still get in the top 50 that way.
 
Does anyone else have any passion for breaking down the Hard/Very Hard AI learning ways to beat it consistently with every character? It might be because I'm a software developer, but this is a true passion of mine - beating the old-fashioned computer. To do this, I created a spreadsheet (that constantly requires updating with each patch), that I can use to calculate the best tools to use against each character. This is possible because the AI runs the same script each round.

The most important thing I've been able to calculate so far is that almost every character's 1,1 or 1,2 combos are better than blocking a running opponent. Having a 1,1 combo that leads to 25+% damage is incredibly important. These combos are almost always safe and if you can find a character that has a safe special move to juggle with, you are essentially unbeatable. A 1,1 combo will hit the CPU about 43% of time if its running towards you.

Secondly, you need to somewhat abandon your traditional understanding of the on-wake mixup game. The CPU will block your mix-up over 70% of the time, and its much harder to find a safe mixup so you will be punished often. Its better to add some mixups in place of the 1,1 for a running opponent to increase that original 43%. Still... your 1,1 mid/high will hit more often... speed beats unpredictability in this case.
What's better on AI wake up is to initiate a safe attack, then block their punish attempt when your hit is blocked, then do a mix-up. Collecting data on this is difficult but it amounts to something like a 60% success rate.

Third, take advantage of CPU jumps. It is very easy to get the AI to jump over any obstacle if you have one - Sonya's bombs, Erron Black's caltrops, Reptile's acid, etc. They do not attack until late after the jump and you can juggle in air, but I find its better to uppercut and gain advantage.

Fourth, AI meter - if AI has meter, it will use it at the perfect time. If AI has 2 bars, don't punish, it won't come out before they armor through you. What you can do instead is drop your block for a frame, then put it back, it will bait out the armored attack and then you can punish. This takes practice to get right but is worth the effor.

Fifth, wake up - When you're waking up, especially in the corner, and you don't have an armored attack ready, always block low. AI will mostly attack low first and when they don't, you can usually poke them before their overhead hits. Poking without blocking has about the same success rate but the punish is worse when you fail (this shouldn't be the case, but I will keep looking into it). This is a pretty important step, especially against both shinnoks.

Sixth, Neutral Jump Punches - If you have a character that has a njp that can hit on the way up, the AI is quite a sucker for it. It hits around 40% of the time as a punish, less so otherwise. This is OK though because njps lead to so many strong combos. Even if you just add an uppercut, that's 18% with a safe-block-mixup (#2) chance.

Seventh, Pokes - Pokes are the best way to create space for most characters. If you have a really fast poke like Kotal Kahn's d1, use it alot. You can usually get 6 in a row and then f1 when they backdash to punish. Use pokes more to create the space for your mixup. D4 usually creates space and lets you attack. I use the safe combo-block-mixup routine with this.

Eighth, use the fundamentals - Make sure you are going into the match with good knowledge of your safe attacks. I find about 2/3 of every character's arsenal is almost useless against the AI. The AI will always punish unsafe attacks... there is no reading them and taking advantage of something it doesn't know. Manage your uppercut use to only when you need it and it will hit more often.

This is what I have gathered from my playthrough. I am working hard to get myself into the top ten rank on klassic tower and these tools have helped me get close. To illustrate how different AI is than humans, Kitana is so far the best suited against the AI IMO. If anyone has interest, I can break down any character against AI as I would play using these tools.
This is a great read, thank you. Because Online is, well, Online, and I don't get to play much local matches, "training" against the AI is my primary means of improving my game.

In Mortal Kombat (2011), the Very Hard Arcade Ladder was great for this. It didn't play perfectly like a human opponent, but it was less obvious about instant counters and didn't input read as much, meaning the way I played against it would do okay against a human opponent.

With Mortal Kombat X, at least on Hard (have yet to try Very Hard), it seems NetherRealm Studios has gone back to the AI input reading constantly. Reminds me more of the klassic '90's AI, and thus it's no were near as good for the training I'm looking for.

I've also noticed fast strings, 1,2, etc. tend to be the best. I play as Mileena, and doing a F3,4 usually gets punished quite hard. I've been toying with figuring out the Hard AI's patterns, and your above will help a good bit.

Question, are you only doing Klassic Ladder, or Single Fight as well? I find the Single Fight AI on Hard is not as on-point as the Klassic Tower AI and is a little more vulnerable to more conventional tactics. A little, not a lot.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
This is a great read, thank you. Because Online is, well, Online, and I don't get to play much local matches, "training" against the AI is my primary means of improving my game.

In Mortal Kombat (2011), the Very Hard Arcade Ladder was great for this. It didn't play perfectly like a human opponent, but it was less obvious about instant counters and didn't input read as much, meaning the way I played against it would do okay against a human opponent.

With Mortal Kombat X, at least on Hard (have yet to try Very Hard), it seems NetherRealm Studios has gone back to the AI input reading constantly. Reminds me more of the klassic '90's AI, and thus it's no were near as good for the training I'm looking for.

I've also noticed fast strings, 1,2, etc. tend to be the best. I play as Mileena, and doing a F3,4 usually gets punished quite hard. I've been toying with figuring out the Hard AI's patterns, and your above will help a good bit.

Question, are you only doing Klassic Ladder, or Single Fight as well? I find the Single Fight AI on Hard is not as on-point as the Klassic Tower AI and is a little more vulnerable to more conventional tactics. A little, not a lot.
I play hard more than Very Hard. This is because Very hard is the exact same as hard, except their guessing game goes from about 60% to about 90% correct. You can still beat Very hard with all skill and no luck in every round, but it requires repeated tactics and detailed knowledge of frame data and movesets. Hard includes a solid difficulty, still requires knowing all facets of the game (except zone defense but that's not needed on very hard either) and is a lot funner to play cause you don't have to stick to very specific moves/patterns. I find hard prepares you for human opponents more than very hard because of this.

To your question, I do klassic towers most to get experience against every character. The most difficult single-player opponents are Kano (just Commando), Reptile and Non-corrupted Shinnok. As a result, I will sometimes play them in training with the AI OPTIONS set to HARD and just play endlessly. Doing this for a bout 5 minutes will increase your ability against that character tremendously. It has helped me 1-shot Shinnok almost every time now which used to be a very difficult fight (hint: cross-ups on yours and his wake-up). If there is a character you're trying to use that is difficult, let me know and I'll tell you how I use them. I've beat Hard without a loss with every character except for sonya and jax so I might be able help.
 
I play hard more than Very Hard. This is because Very hard is the exact same as hard, except their guessing game goes from about 60% to about 90% correct. You can still beat Very hard with all skill and no luck in every round, but it requires repeated tactics and detailed knowledge of frame data and movesets. Hard includes a solid difficulty, still requires knowing all facets of the game (except zone defense but that's not needed on very hard either) and is a lot funner to play cause you don't have to stick to very specific moves/patterns. I find hard prepares you for human opponents more than very hard because of this.

To your question, I do klassic towers most to get experience against every character. The most difficult single-player opponents are Kano (just Commando), Reptile and Non-corrupted Shinnok. As a result, I will sometimes play them in training with the AI OPTIONS set to HARD and just play endlessly. Doing this for a bout 5 minutes will increase your ability against that character tremendously. It has helped me 1-shot Shinnok almost every time now which used to be a very difficult fight (hint: cross-ups on yours and his wake-up). If there is a character you're trying to use that is difficult, let me know and I'll tell you how I use them. I've beat Hard without a loss with every character except for sonya and jax so I might be able help.
Nice, thanks. This weekend I'll be practicing some combos I've been working on, and then taking it to Hard and see how I do. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mileena is who I'm playing with, Ravenous.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Nice, thanks. This weekend I'll be practicing some combos I've been working on, and then taking it to Hard and see how I do. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mileena is who I'm playing with, Ravenous.
I know you didn't ask for help, but I love Ravenous Mileena and I'd like to share my thoughts and get your feedback.

With Mileena, its all about what you don't do more than what you do. Her f1,2,b4 is great but won't connect often enough. I usually stick with 1,2,3 and I can hit-confirm in time for barrel roll. I only use F3,4,(4) on a knockdowned opponent. I use b2,1 when the opponent is at sweep distance and not rushing. I avoid dd3s unless during juggles or projectiles but its tough to punish the projectile. Avoid barrel roles unless on hit, its easy to hit-confirm 1,2,3 and f1,2,b4 so I usually press the whole button sequence including barrel roll and then press a directional button to cancel the barrel roll if the AI blocks. You have plenty of time to do this with both these strings. Her NJP is very useful ON THE WAY UP, you may have to practice it, but pressing up and then 2 almost immediately will get an NJP hit quite often and its pretty safe if blocked (this does hit as MID though, its only OH if NJP hits on the way down). She also has a very good cross-up game against AI. Also, if a dd3 gets blocked, I bf1 while in air to try avoiding being punished. Finally, I always end with the db3,dd2,ff4 command grab to finish combos.

My BNB:
f1,2,b4,bd4,NJP,4,db3,dd2,ff4
or 1,2,3,bd4,NJP,4,db3,dd2,ff4

Off NJP (on way up):
NJP, jk,dd3,bf1,RC,d2 (you can sometimes replace d2 with 4,db3,dd2,ff4 for more damage if timed right)

YOLO:
f3,4,4,bd4,njp,jk,dd3,bf1,RC,d2

Your opinions?
 
I know you didn't ask for help, but I love Ravenous Mileena and I'd like to share my thoughts and get your feedback.

With Mileena, its all about what you don't do more than what you do. Her f1,2,b4 is great but won't connect often enough. I usually stick with 1,2,3 and I can hit-confirm in time for barrel roll. I only use F3,4,(4) on a knockdowned opponent. I use b2,1 when the opponent is at sweep distance and not rushing. I avoid dd3s unless during juggles or projectiles but its tough to punish the projectile. Avoid barrel roles unless on hit, its easy to hit-confirm 1,2,3 and f1,2,b4 so I usually press the whole button sequence including barrel roll and then press a directional button to cancel the barrel roll if the AI blocks. You have plenty of time to do this with both these strings. Her NJP is very useful ON THE WAY UP, you may have to practice it, but pressing up and then 2 almost immediately will get an NJP hit quite often and its pretty safe if blocked (this does hit as MID though, its only OH if NJP hits on the way down). She also has a very good cross-up game against AI. Also, if a dd3 gets blocked, I bf1 while in air to try avoiding being punished. Finally, I always end with the db3,dd2,ff4 command grab to finish combos.

My BNB:
f1,2,b4,bd4,NJP,4,db3,dd2,ff4
or 1,2,3,bd4,NJP,4,db3,dd2,ff4

Off NJP (on way up):
NJP, jk,dd3,bf1,RC,d2 (you can sometimes replace d2 with 4,db3,dd2,ff4 for more damage if timed right)

YOLO:
f3,4,4,bd4,njp,jk,dd3,bf1,RC,d2

Your opinions?
No worries man, happy to discuss! I haven't done a Hard Klassic Tower run in a bit (two-ish weeks), and in that time I've developed far better combos that I need to test on said AI. My past experience and findings though are:

- 1,2,3 or F2,3 are her best starters in most situations. F3,4,3 or 4 is usually read and gets blown up hard.
- Never do naked Teleport Drops or Ball Rolls. Ever. Teleport Drops are only useful in strings (so F3,4,3, Teleport Drop assuming the F3,4,3 connects) and Ball Rolls are your primary launcher and work great after any 1,2,3 as you mentioned, and also F2,3 (F2's range is nice). I have not tested F1,2,B4 on Hard AI yet, as I just started toying with it recently.
- EX Ball Rolls, however, are great and can be done naked but the AI will properly block enough. Best used as a corner wake up when the AI is already committing to an attack.
- Metre is best saved for Breakers and EX Ball Rolls.
- A naked Teleport Drop, with or without Air Sai Blast, is almost always blown up for me, so I don't do it.
- For hard knockdowns, I still find 1,2,3 to be the safest string.

I also find both High and Low Pounce useful, and Low Pounce can let you control placement better. Tasty Treat, Extended, is also a great ender since it heals you.

My primary combos now, again still untested against the Hard AI are:

- F2, 3, Ball Roll, NJP, B1, 2, Throw or 1+3, Extend (30% and Heals)
- F3, 4, 4, Ball Roll, B3, 4, Air Sai Blast, Ball Roll (34%)
- F1, 2, B4, Ball Roll, B3, 4, Air Sai Blast, F2, 3, High Pounce, Extend (34%)
- 1, 2, 3, Ball Roll, B3, 4, Air Sai Blast, F2, 3, Low Pounce, Extend (35%)
- F3, 4, 3, Teleport Drop, Air Sai Blast, Ball Roll, (wait a beat), B1, 2, Throw or 1+3, Extend (38%, Heals)

Note I'm posting the above from memory, and some of the damages may be a percent or so off.

Question, how have you found the Single Fight Hard AI versus the Klassic Tower Hard AI? I found it easier overall, but still challenging.
 

TackyHaddock

Salty Mashers Krew
does input reading essentially mean that when you press a button for your character, you are also in effect pressing a button to make the AI do the corresponding defensive/reversal move at the same time? That just seems silly to me.
 
does input reading essentially mean that when you press a button for your character, you are also in effect pressing a button to make the AI do the corresponding defensive/reversal move at the same time? That just seems silly to me.
More or less. The AI knows what you're pressing. The AI did this religiously back in the arcades 20 odd years ago. It did not do it (much) in Mortal Kombat (2011). Sadly, it's back in force (or so it seems to me) in Mortal Kombat X.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
does input reading essentially mean that when you press a button for your character, you are also in effect pressing a button to make the AI do the corresponding defensive/reversal move at the same time? That just seems silly to me.
Yes, as Jux said it is kinda of like that, but AI is much more than "I press a button, then AI responds perfectly." Its still 100% skill based, you don't need luck win. You just have to put an emphasis on using more safe attacks. Mixups still work better than non-mixups and if the AI was just an input-reader this wouldn't be the case. The purest form of button reading can be seen in throw teching. If you're interested to see exactly how often it reads your commands, just try throwing the AI over and over again to see how often it techs you and that will illustrate how often its auto-reacting to your inputs.
 
Yes, as Jux said it is kinda of like that, but AI is much more than "I press a button, then AI responds perfectly." Its still 100% skill based, you don't need luck win. You just have to put an emphasis on using more safe attacks. Mixups still work better than non-mixups and if the AI was just an input-reader this wouldn't be the case. The purest form of button reading can be seen in throw teching. If you're interested to see exactly how often it reads your commands, just try throwing the AI over and over again to see how often it techs you and that will illustrate how often its auto-reacting to your inputs.
Frames of course also play a role. It can read you all it wants, but if your attack is fast enough that it can't counter/block in time, you'll hit.

It's specifically for this reason I find, in Mileena's case, that 1,2,3 works so great over F3,4, 3 or 4 as a starter.

However, since I've learned the better combos I listed above, I still want to test. If I have time tonight, I might do a few Single Fights and see.
 

TackyHaddock

Salty Mashers Krew
Do you guys agree that practicing against hard or very hard AI is not of that much value when it comes to preparing for human opponents? I would think that it would cause you to develop habits that are not necessarily the most effective against humans.
 
Do you guys agree that practicing against hard or very hard AI is not of that much value when it comes to preparing for human opponents? I would think that it would cause you to develop habits that are not necessarily the most effective against humans.
That's my concern, though @OzzFoxx is saying he's found Hard to be somewhat beneficial. I found the Very Hard AI in the last game to be pretty solid for proper practice.
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Do you guys agree that practicing against hard or very hard AI is not of that much value when it comes to preparing for human opponents? I would think that it would cause you to develop habits that are not necessarily the most effective against humans.
It does create some bad tendencies. I find that I stand waiting for the opponent to rush in too often. I also find myself trying to unnecessarily rush in on opponents that are zoning me (not to mention a complete lack of zone defense experience). There are benefits too though, I think its helped me punish humans better because timing has to be perfect against AI and I have a broader moveset b/c the AI will react better every time you use a specific move requiring you to be efficient with more tools.
 
Okay, so I just did a Hard Klassic Tower run. @OzzFoxx, blocking low in the corner worked very well and helped me survive some close calls; thanks.

Sadly, I still lost a bunch.

I lost to Scorpion, the first opponent simply because I needed to get used to Offline after having done far too many matches online. Went solid until my 6th opponent, Reptile (Deceptive) whom I lost to twice as I don't know the match up very well. I then lost once to Goro (Tigar Fury) because I got stupid. I then lost to Shinnok (Necromancer) two, maybe three, times as I couldn't get momentum going. You are right though as after you get hard knocked down, he'll likely attack with a low. Not always, but more often than not.

I was unable to defeat Corrupted Shinnok, he beat me three times in a row and then did a Fatality. A Klassic rule of mine from over 20 years ago is if the AI does a Fatality on me, I can't continue because I'm "dead," and it's game over and back to the start of the ladder. He mixed up his highs and lows well, and cross ups into 1, 2, 3, worked for a bit until he started grabbing me out of the air. I _almost_ beat him on my second match; another hit or two would have done it.

So things I've noticed:

- You're correct about Blocking low after a hard knockdown if you lack Metre.
- F4, 4 is a great match opener for Mileena. I'd say it got me first hit in about maybe six or seven of the matches, usually on the 4.
- F3, 4, x is pretty useless as the AI will almost always punish it unless you're starting after you perform a hard knockdown and the AI lacks Metre.
- Her most effective strings seemed to be:
  • F2, 3
  • 1, 2, 3
  • F1, 2, B4
Sadly though, this was one of my worst Hard Klassic Tower runs. I'm not 100% certain, but it might be my most losses period. If not, it's close.

Things that frustrate me:

  • I've been playing video games for 30 years. In any game, the second the developer has an AI that reads inputs, sees the map, or has infinite spawning enemies; basically any AI that "cheats," it tells me they're lazy and can't be bothered to design a good AI. This makes me sad and grumpy.
  • Mortal Kombat X, with or without Release Check, reads your Controller's inputs far worse than Mortal Kombat: Kompete Edition. I've tested it and it's true, not sure why. This also makes the game so much harder because that critical EX Ball Roll you need doesn't come out, or that Pounce you need simply kicks. Both back forward motions and half circle motions, even when input correctly in the middle of a combo, will not always come out correctly. Naked they're fine outside of input error. Still adjusting to this, though it's a shame it's something that needs to be adjusted to.
And that's my piece. I'm going to go play a few Single Fights now on Hard, and see how that goes.
 
Just did five Single Fights on Hard, and went 4-1, with the loss, my fourth match, coming down to a hit in the third round (had my Ex Ball Roll come out...). Most matches were close and most went the full three rounds.

The AI is still quite aggressive, but it does seem a bit less robotic than the Klassic Tower. I wonder if there are AI changes to it, where Klassic Tower is meant to more simulate the cheap Towers from the Arcades, and Single Fight is more meant to simulate Multiplayer.

@OzzFoxx Have you tested the Single Fight AI on Hard and compared it to Klassic Tower Hard?
 
Just tried another run. Lost once to Jax (Wrestler), the second opponent. Lost once to Ferra/Torr (Vicious) who I think was the sixth opponent. And then lost to Reptile (Deceptive) who was the seventh opponent, and he performed a Fatality on me, so end of Klassic Tower run.

Had some very close calls against Kano (Commando) and Sub-Zero (Unbreakable).
 

OzzFoxx

Hardcore gaming poser.
Sadly though, this was one of my worst Hard Klassic Tower runs. I'm not 100% certain, but it might be my most losses period. If not, it's close.
Okay, so I just did a Hard Klassic Tower run. @OzzFoxx, blocking low in the corner worked very well and helped me survive some close calls; thanks.

Sadly, I still lost a bunch.

I lost to Scorpion, the first opponent simply because I needed to get used to Offline after having done far too many matches online. Went solid until my 6th opponent, Reptile (Deceptive) whom I lost to twice as I don't know the match up very well. I then lost once to Goro (Tigar Fury) because I got stupid. I then lost to Shinnok (Necromancer) two, maybe three, times as I couldn't get momentum going. You are right though as after you get hard knocked down, he'll likely attack with a low. Not always, but more often than not.

I was unable to defeat Corrupted Shinnok, he beat me three times in a row and then did a Fatality. A Klassic rule of mine from over 20 years ago is if the AI does a Fatality on me, I can't continue because I'm "dead," and it's game over and back to the start of the ladder. He mixed up his highs and lows well, and cross ups into 1, 2, 3, worked for a bit until he started grabbing me out of the air. I _almost_ beat him on my second match; another hit or two would have done it.

So things I've noticed:

- You're correct about Blocking low after a hard knockdown if you lack Metre.
- F4, 4 is a great match opener for Mileena. I'd say it got me first hit in about maybe six or seven of the matches, usually on the 4.
- F3, 4, x is pretty useless as the AI will almost always punish it unless you're starting after you perform a hard knockdown and the AI lacks Metre.
- Her most effective strings seemed to be:
  • F2, 3
  • 1, 2, 3
  • F1, 2, B4
Sadly though, this was one of my worst Hard Klassic Tower runs. I'm not 100% certain, but it might be my most losses period. If not, it's close.

Things that frustrate me:

  • I've been playing video games for 30 years. In any game, the second the developer has an AI that reads inputs, sees the map, or has infinite spawning enemies; basically any AI that "cheats," it tells me they're lazy and can't be bothered to design a good AI. This makes me sad and grumpy.
  • Mortal Kombat X, with or without Release Check, reads your Controller's inputs far worse than Mortal Kombat: Kompete Edition. I've tested it and it's true, not sure why. This also makes the game so much harder because that critical EX Ball Roll you need doesn't come out, or that Pounce you need simply kicks. Both back forward motions and half circle motions, even when input correctly in the middle of a combo, will not always come out correctly. Naked they're fine outside of input error. Still adjusting to this, though it's a shame it's something that needs to be adjusted to.
And that's my piece. I'm going to go play a few Single Fights now on Hard, and see how that goes.
Wow, great detail. Your success is pretty good for not playing Hard often. The AI being a scripted program gives you an advantage as a player because you can somewhat learn its tendencies. The button-reading the AI gets kind of equals the equation. Your advantage comes in things like switching up the first hit of your attacks in the second round (maybe kombos that start with 1 or 4 for round 1, kombos that start with 2,3 for round 2). You'll get more hits in to even things out, but having this trade-off allows the AI to be unpredictable. In MK9, you could use certain patterns to always win on Very Hard. In MKX, you can't even do that on Hard. If you couple in the lack of lag, instant matches and unpredictabilty, its pretty much why I play single-player more than online.

Whether or not it will help you against online opponents, it won't hurt. When playing AI, you kind of go into a "mode" that you can feel and human opponents are so different that you'll feel it right away in an online match. You'll be able to switch out of that mode.

I don't really play single matches, I'm usually trying to perfect the klassic tower for every character (8 brutalities, no losses). Every character is a different game and I get so much actually playing that I love it. I hope you continue to play it sometimes, I would love to get a match online with you though, I'm sure you'd destroy me, but maybe not.