Ace's Top 5 Most & Least Caked PRs*
*Not necessarily by the longest grind, but also by how awful the grind was.
Most Caked
1. Streets 00 Agent 1:55 (27 April 2008)
Time Taken: 2 minutes
This was achieved as an untied world record and it took me only 1 try. That's right. ONE try. I achieved 1:56 on PAL as a tied WR in the summer before this, and my very next attempt on the level 10 months later resulted in this run. I casually decided to go for a dupe on NTSC while rotating between a bunch of levels and the next thing I know is I get a lucky, lagless 6:0 run. Still worth 97 points 11.5 years later. Legend has it Clemens' dreamt I (or he?) got a 1:55 the night prior.
2. Frigate 00 Agent 1:08 (10 October 2007)
Time Taken: < 30 minutes
The circumstances around this time are incredible. The WR was previously 1:11, a three-way tie between Alex, Goose & Boss. Sometime before I got 1:08, a new strategy was discovered that seemingly improved hostage odds (though sub 1:10 pace was pretty hard). I played this level later and I got 1:09 VERY quickly. I kept going for fun and TWO tries later I got 1:08. The shocker? According to Henrik, this strat actually has WORSE odds than the current 1:04 strat, which is already suspected to have around 1 in 10,000 odds for a fast completion. The 1:09 & 1:08 in three tries has to be the luckiest set of runs in GE history. I'm not sure who else has even PB'd with this strat.
DD: I've spent hundreds of hours with the current strat with ZERO completions quicker than 1:12.
3. Control Secret Agent 4:02 (2 September 2019)
Time Taken: 1-2 hours
To be fair, I spent a few hours shortly after the new trick was discovered, but I was incorrectly shooting Nat's hand, making her not back up as much as she should have. That probably wasted a few hours of my time (duped a 4:03 that way). I immediately figured out what I was doing wrong when I started to play the level again after Facility 0:51, and caked this like an hour later.
4. Bunker 2 00 Agent 0:54 (18 June 2013)
Time Taken: 5 hours
For how good this time it and how many things can go wrong, it was a very healthy "grind". The title (https://i.imgur.com/IkJwKeu.png) tells you how casual the session was meant to be. I had an unlucky 0:56 with a missed warp a couple of weeks prior which obviously turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I skipped 0:55 to untie this.
Honorable Mentions
Frigate Agent 0:23 (4 July 2007)
Time Taken: 1-2 hours
Casually played a late night session of this not expecting anything, but I was very consistent in failing 0:23s and kept at it for an hour. Imagine the shock both me & my brother (who was sitting next to me) had when the cinema popped up one run. I 100% knew I had just slayed Wouter's incredible untied. Interestingly, Boss had gotten it a month before me but hoarded it (I believe he felt bad he got it so quickly too) until I posted mine.
Cradle Agent 0:34 (5 November 2007)
Time Taken: 1 hour
This one is worth mentioning because of how strong 0:34 was considered at the time (a Boss untied). Just look at Bryan's 0:34 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fx5U02b9OA) and then mine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5aHjeGLRbY). It only took me a session or two after school one day and I wasn't really expecting it on this run. Had zero nerves. When 0:34 showed up I was like "that's it?". Many accused me of faking the run if I recall correctly.
Least Caked
1. Facility Secret Agent 0:51 (1 September 2019)
Time Taken: > 250 hours
Realized this time was possible after I suspected my 0:52 was low, shortly after I got it in late 2012. I wouldn't dupe my first 0:52 until 6 months later. In early January 2014, I decided to grind for 0:51 and it only took around 15 hours for me to fail a 0:51 (https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=854.msg396695#msg396695) in a pretty stupid way. What followed after was a SIX year on & off grind with dozens of 0:33 quitouts, 25+ 52s and 2 0:51 fails. There are so many 0:52s spread across my YT from 2013-2019.
2. Bunker 1 Secret Agent 0:20 (22 May 2018)
Time Taken: > 200 hours
Started going for this record on stream in January 2013. I had a bunch of close calls (like this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRZE71LYXI)), but I underestimated how terrible the second half of the level (everything after the 3rd cam) truly is. Like 0:51, I decided to go for this one every now and then since I was so close and knew I'd eventually get it one session. About 1.5 years after my initial grind, I got THIS shocker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx2tQf-m8e8) (I think my warp was a bit too YOLO there though). Until around May 2018 I had about 10-15 21s and numerous 0:20 fails. Then one HEALTHY day after pwning Rutzou's 100% WR I nailed it on stream.
3. Bunker 1 00 Agent 1:02 (27 May 2013)
Time Taken: ~60 hours
This took way longer than it should have. Started grinding for it in early April and barring a couple of weeks in May because of exams I was pretty much exclusively playing this level. I had 9 103s (a few where I missed the last warp for NO reason), and a 1:02 fail where I completely forgot about the key analyzer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmFoGrjDGQ0). Funnily enough I duped it a few hours after I got it with no nade.
Goose was going for 1:02 around the same time and had a number of 1:03 fails as well, and he was upset when I "won the race". I felt bad but I swear my grind was DEFINITELY not influenced by his. :kappa:
4. Silo Secret Agent 1:08 (15 July 2014)
Time Taken: ~40 hours (across 5 days)
While this one didn't take THAT long (5 days isn't much), it was an insanely agonizing grind. I had 10 109s, a few of which were .0x decimals, 4 108 fails and a bunch of really dumb fails (including a 1:07 pace being lost to lag at Ouromov). Just felt like an insanely degenerate grind that I wanted to be done with ASAP to complete the 1:00/1:08/1:21 untied sweep. Sharpay wouldn't have been able to keep count of the number of times I would have said how shit this level was on Discord if I got it in the modern era. This would probably be #3 if it took any longer.
5. Facility 00 Agent 0:52 (19 March 2013)
Time Taken: ~40 hours
It means something when I got 0:43/0:52 SA a few days apart, and this one 3 months later. :nesquik: 21 53s (mostly bTs), 3 46 fastest exits and a 52 bT fail. This is harder than the SA time equivalent mostly because of ammo problems. Wasn't fun at all and just felt like a chore in the end to complete the untied sweep (just like with 1:08 above). Here's hoping 0:51 is different. :kappa:
Honorable Mentions
Train Secret Agent 1:23 (30 July 2014)
Time Taken: ~40 hours (across 6 days)
This was considered a very strong Marc untied at the time (similar to 0:58, 1:16, 1:55, etc) and it seemed pretty daunting. He himself had gotten pretty lucky since I don't think he was actually going for it and just happened to get it. Lockwood gave me some motivation to go for this one, so props to him. Had around 15 124s (a third were probably heartbreakers), a handful of 1:23 fails, and some insane mid 1:23 pace runs where I couldn't take out the locks in time. Enjoyed the challenge though. Epic level. It made 1:49 feel so much easier despite 00A trollery.
Facility Agent 0:42 (7 July 2019)
Time Taken: > 100 hours
In terms of time investment this was one of the longest grinds, but it took about as long as it should have. A lot of the grind figuring out / waiting for healthy technological advancements on the level. Dozens of 43s, 1 semi-legit 42 fail and a lot of runs lost in the labs (arguably the hardest part with the insane lag).
Dam Secret Agent 1:16 (11 October 2016)
Time Taken: ~60-80 hours spread across 3 weeks
This was during a time where I was lambasted (rightly so) for the crop on my videos, but I knew another capture card would take weeks to arrive and I was already on the cusp of this record so I found a setting that removed the crop at the cost of reduced FPS. This was before the look up in tunnel strat was discovered, so I got it exactly how Marc did nearly six years prior. I don't think I had many 117 dupes, but I had a crazy number of 1:16 fails. A record I'm proud of despite the subpar video quality.