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Deep Strategy Guide (Pointman)

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Avarice:
Hello again, puzzle junkies.

Audiosurf has well established itself by now as a glorious amalgamation of music and ... snowboarding, I guess.  What few people realize, unfortunately, is that most every song is also a deep and engrossing puzzle-- albeit at breakneck speed every so often.  It can be difficult to execute any manner of strategy or critical thinking when you have so many contingencies bombarding you at once.  Without some understanding and practice, it feels like playing Tetris while cartwheeling through a mine field.

To combat the play speed and limit the mental processing, on-the-fly tactics and rulesets should be developed.  Once these rulesets have been understood and conditioned, a player can focus on a given song's properties and stop having to contemplate where every single block needs to go, if it does indeed need to go somewhere.  What is revealed, then, is a satisfying and cerebral experience that one would not initially associate with Audiosurf.  So if we need techniques, let's get some!  Bring on the fun part already.
All of the following information is presented with the assumption that kEn's tutorial vid(s) have already been watched, and the concepts explained at the Wiki are already known.  If these conditions aren't met, stop here and go fulfill them.  This guide won't make any sense, and will be a thousand times harder to put into proper routine.  These techniques are also most effective in (and intended for) Elite mode.  Casual and Pro have a more difficult match window, and offer far less strategic potential.



Pointman:  Lord of the Chain, Breaker of Mouse Buttons

Ah yes, who could forget!  Pointman is usually a player's introduction to the puzzle game, and is just as quickly abandoned for Eraser.  Which is good, because Pointman is arguably the hardest to learn.  However, he is also the most interesting character around.  The control offered by Pointman is both a potent strength and foreboding weakness.  Not only do you get an array of deeply manipulative and creative options, you have to use them.  With no hardwired goal like Pusher's 100% clear bonus, Pointman must craft his advantage with subtlety and foresight. 

Q:  When should I be playing Pointman for the top score?

A:  While there is no defining criterium here, there are several places that Pointman shines (or fades) in relation to other characters, most predictably Pusher.  The first thing to note is the presence of lapses in traffic-- If there are several points in the song that do not have any blocks to hit for more than 3 seconds, Pointman will build a small advantage at every one of them.  Less obvious are songs that, while lacking complete traffic voids, have sections of the song that are very low in traffic density.  Pusher really can struggle with these areas, but Pointman knows how to slow-dance. For songs that are generally constant, here is a rough list of traffic density advantage in regard to Pointman vs. Pusher.

0-125 traffic - Yeah, Pointman is gonna dominate here.  Gogo, as it were.
126-150 traffic - While there are going to be more exceptions popping up, Pointman will almost always have a better potential in this area.
151-175 traffic - Hard to say.  Block placement is important on these, but overall the playing field is generally comparable, if not tending toward Pointman.
176-225 traffic - Pusher is going turn the tide somewhere along these lines.  It is still dependant on the song structure and over how long the traffic is averaged.  Pusher has a very high skill ceiling, though, and good ones will win most of these songs.
226-325 traffic - Pointman is still very fun to play in these songs.  However, going for the top score against capable Pushers is like trying to win the Tour de France on a Penny-Farthing.  Lance Armstrong could do a lot with a Penny-Farthing, but probably not enough to win the big race.
326-8347892 traffic -  You're going to need a spare mouse and a heart transplant.

Again, there are exceptions all over the place.  Never write off Pointman in a song without trying it for yourself.  The length of the song is also relevant here.  The longer a run is, the more likely that Pointman will build up some advantage.


Basics - Oh, right!  I need to sort the blocks!

The 'basic' stuff here is quite similar to that of Pusher.  The first step in becoming a good puzzle player is to familiarize yourself with the chain bonus.  Aside from some very long pauses, Pointman is capable of maintaining the bonus throughout an entire song.  In fact, the loss in potential is enough at the highend to simply restart if you lose your chain.  Nowadays, you can visually see whether you're still on track by checking out the expanding white bar at the bottom of the screen.  Practice keeping your chain alive for a few songs.  Don't worry about match size, scoring, or the notion that a chain cannot really be alive at all, just make sure to juggle the bonus for an entire song or eight.

Don't ignore the Sync bonus.  30% more points for each individual color match is nothing to sneeze at.  Often it is worth more to get 3 blocks of any new color than 3 more of the old one.  The actual tipping point for this is 14 blocks, but that's not a terribly relevant line to be drawing.  With Pointman at least, there will usually be easy opportunities to add a second color in with big matches, without actually sacrificing any of the available main color. 

Remember that your blocks have four sides to match from.  Yes, that is a very obvious statement.  It tends to be forgotten in the heat of the moment, especially with gravity matching.  It is easy to fool yourself into thinking of matches as simple shapes like lines and boxes, when there are actually more elegant ways to manage the grid.  Often it can seem that a block or two are trapped and can only be released by peeling back layers one by one.  Sometimes the solution is much simpler.

Nasty grid  --  This looks like quite the mess, but is actually a very easy lead to a big match.  Having an underlying knowledge of gravity matching is a valuable tool in managing the grid. 
Fixed grid!(Filefront) -- (Youtube)

Zipper match(Filefront) -- (Youtube) --  This not-so-cleverly labeled 'zipper match' is an unnatural scenario, but shows fairly well the extent that matches can be shaped.  L shapes, C shapes, all manner of numbers and letters, except for perhaps the ampersand.  It is important to know this, especially when you clip into blocks you don't actually want.


Intermediate Technique - The Procedural Background

Lesson 1:  First in, last out?  What kind of warped supermarket checkout line is this?
The first hurdle to violently throw yourself upon is the holding queue.  It operates such that the last block you picked up will be the first one you have to drop.  This is a little counter-intuitive, and you will simply have to practice with it until you don't have to think about it anymore.  Here are a few tips to use to help manage your holding queue.

*  Drop your last pickup immediately whenever it can be added to a growing match.  This is simple but important.  You always want as many slots in your queue open as possible, for various reasons.  Anytime you pick up a block, dump it adjacent to a block of similar color if one is available.  The only things you want to really be holding on to are whites and high value bolts.
*  Speaking of whites and high value bolts-- Avoid picking up a white/bolt with 2+ blocks in your queue.  It can often take awhile to get a good opportunity to drop them, and until that point you are practically removing your control of incoming traffic.  This isn't universally true, though.
*  You can simplify your required activity by simply holding down the left mouse button.  You'll pick up every block you hit, and won't have to worry about left clicking at proper times.  I do not use this for long periods, nor do I recommend constant use, especially in fast songs.  This is because it increases the time you have to spend in a lane to process every block.  It is absolutely, though, a worthy technique to learn and employ in some areas.
*  Use any period in the absence of high value blocks (green, yellow, red) to clear out your queue.  Most of the time, low value blocks are simply chain filler for Pointman.  They can be easily dodged in order to buy time to check out the blocks you're holding and get rid of them.  Remember that dropping a block extends matches/chains, so you should be fine in that regard.

Lesson 2:  Building a chain.  Don't worry, you don't have to do any smelting.
Much of Pointman's score capacity lies in the fact that he can produce near-constant large matches with a high chain coefficient.  The limitation that not many people see at a glance is the fact that these quality matches take longer to produce.  Thus, without some intentional chain building at the beginning of the song, Pointman can really lag behind as far as what the multiplier actually is.

Fortunately, this is one of the easier things to fix.  When a song starts, advance the chain by making fast, single-color matches.  Generally, this should last until you start seeing opportunities for big green/yellow/red matches.  However, some faster songs will present such temptations right away, so you'll have to consult your Magic-8 Ball and figure out how to handle it.  The benefit of advancing the chain number runs out of steam at around 8-10 links.  At this point, you're probably better off with bigger matches from here out.

Rapid chain advancement(Filefront) -- (Youtube)  -- Orange is my 'green'

Note that you may be better off manipulating your pickups to allow more matches to take place.  If there's a burst of 6 purples and then a pause, fit 2 matches of 3 in rather than 1 match of 6.  The increased value of every match after that will easily make up for the points you forfeit in that particular match.

Lesson 3:  Traffic cars are not Pokemon.  Don't catch them all.
Having the ability to move blocks all over the place does not mean that you should.  It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to grab as many blocks as you can, when you're actually hurting your score potential.  Unfortunately, these effects are very subtle and hard to discuss without context.  Where one might assume that Pointman can use less discretion in choosing which blocks to involve in matches than Pusher, he actually requires more.  The reason for this stems from the 100% clear bonus that Pusher gets.  Without it, low value block matches can take up too much time to justify their investment.  You can stretch out a match easily, but you can't compress it.  This understanding is key to some of the more advanced tactics.

The exceptions here are white blocks and powerups.  Now, there are some situations that you'll be better off skipping a white.  For example, if you are bleeding internally.  Medical attention will probably result in higher future scoring potential than the white block at this time.   Otherwise, you should be getting as many as you can, even while learning other techniques.  The same goes for Lightning Bolts, especially yellow and red.  You want to know how to apply them to as many situations as possible.  If you manage to hold onto a red lightning bolt until a good opportunity, you can hugely boost your scores.  For example, take a match of 10red/3purp, as the 15th match of a chain.  The chain bonus for that is ~237%, and the sync addition of 30% makes the match worth 3.67x of its base score.  So, this match is worth 13,373 points.  But wait, you were carrying a red bolt from 30 seconds ago in the song, and plopped it on top at the end.  A 16red/3purp match with the same bonuses is worth 27,407.  Snazzy.  Be careful though, not all bolts are created equal, despite what Thomas Jefferson might tell you.  Don't get stuck with 1 free slot in your queue because the bolt is up front.  Over time you may actually lose more points than you gain by keeping it around.

Sha-ZAM(Filefront) -- (Youtube) --  Here a teal (red) bolt is kept for a little while and released at a more opportune time for a 31k match.  Take that, Pusher scum!

Lesson 4:  Learn How to Procrastinate.
Developing Pointman strategy is all about learning the match/chain timing window.  You need to know exactly how long your chosen blocks can keep a chain going, so you can use that potential when you actually need to.  It's harder than it sounds.  Run through a few familiar songs, carefully trying to drag out every match.  See if you can use 21 blocks in every match clear.  Don't forget that picking one up extends the window too.

Take 21!(Filefront) --  (Youtube) -- Running a familiar song (to me =( ) while attempting to use 21 blocks in every match, though not that they are all necessarily matching.  It's tricky, but I think I got a little better doing it even once, so it's recommended.

Note that while I feel this is an intermediate concept, the execution of something like this 21 block challenge is actually rather difficult.  Remember, it's a drill, not a test.  Just learn from your screwups.  Tone it down to ~15 blocks if it's too frustrating at first.  I'm sure you'll notice some of the queue management techniques in there too. 

Avarice:
Advanced Strategies - There is no block.

To preface, I just want to mention that these strategies are not based on some divine absolute.  I don't know, for sure, if these are the best ways to tackle every song.  They're just what I've managed to correlate with higher scores.  Your mileage may vary.

There is a misconception about Pointman that he is all about execution;  once a player is able to manipulate and extend their chain for the entire song, Pointman score potential is actualized.  This is (fortunately) quite wrong.  You're not done yet, bub.

Pacing : Your score is built by more than just one match at a time.  Quick, whip up a motivational poster!
Pointman is all about pace control.  It's important to know the distinction between pace control and block control.  To make a direct comparison to Pusher here is perhaps a faulty approach; while Pusher can technically move a block anywhere but from one far side to another, there are also deeper restrictions than that.  Since you are not forced to gun for board clearing matches and their setups, you can really dig into the almost artistic side of the puzzle game.  Not only can you choose when to start and end matches, but you can also modify their composition, through focused and deliberate non-matching deposits.  I debated putting this first, because it is honestly the most difficult and complicated part of the section.  However, it is also the most significant, and the rest of the strategies are built around it.  So suck it up, valued reader.

A given song might have, say, 105 red blocks.  These red blocks might be present in large bursts, strewn throughout in small pockets, or even seen in single exposure.  Their net value relies upon their distribution.  If the 108 red blocks are all used in matches of 3, 105 of them are worth a base of 10,080 points.  If they're all used in matches of 21 per, the same 105 blocks are worth 50,400.  This is exactly 5 times more for the same amount of blocks.  Most characters are enslaved by the original position of these little buggars.  The point capacity red blocks offer is mired in grid availability and matching conditions.  But you see, Pointman is quite the magician!  He can cast off these oppressive numerical shackles, or at least loosen them enough to have the upper hand.  With careful placement, a Pointman player can gather red/yellow blocks on the grid without actually matching them away.  Then, when the time is right, harness them with another pocket of high value blocks to produce strong matches otherwise impossible.  The process itself is beyond simple explanation, and subject to context. However, once understood, it will change the way you play Pointman and unveil a whole new dimension to the puzzle game.

[Tactic 1] Priming
Most of the time, you will be consolidating high value blocks with some variation of a process arbitrarily labeled 'priming.'  This is a very complex objective, and can be tricky to spin into an actual benefit.  Plus, accelerants can be hazardous.  Do not practice this technique near an open flame.  It is absolutely worth learning, though.  The goal here is to grab up high value blocks that are present in small numbers, and put them in a structure that can easily be matched away at the will of the player.  This technique is best harnessed at times that you are unable to produce a large value match with your current flashing blocks.  Since you have a limited supply of total matches to work with, you want highend blocks to be in as many of them as possible, in as high a number as possible.  It's not an end-all solution to higher scoring.  Priming requires that grid spaced be essentially locked away for some period of time.  If too much space is taken for too long, you're not really getting any benefit from the stall.  If you're in the middle of a big match, and are going to be able to fill the grid further with upcoming blocks, don't bother to waste space with unrealized primer blocks.

The term 'priming' encompasses anywhere from 1 to even 5-8 unmatched blocks.  1-4 more can be stored in the holding queue.  As you can see, at its extremes, priming can create gigantic high value matches that no other character can produce with the same conditions.  Generally, though, the effect per execution is more subtle.

The easiest and most common way to prime blocks is to place two in each bottom corner of the grid.  This saves 4 high value blocks that can be scored together in several directions. 

Common priming  -- This is the most common implementation of priming I personally use.  They can be connected at will through one of the bottom grid squares, or separately matched while leaving an open lane for whites/other blocks.

Pimp my match(Filefront) -- (Youtube)  -- A prime (nyuk) example of how this process can improve later matches and total score.

When running a song, it is often (but not always!) ideal for a match to be comprised of 3 parts.  A primary color, a sync/secondary color, and a primer/setup.  The proportions of these three parts are variable to the circumstances, and there should be no primer (proportion 0%) in many cases.  An example chain of matches might look like this:

Match 1 - blue primary, purple secondary, red setup
Match 2 - green primary, purple secondary, no setup
Match 3 - purple chain filler
Match 4 - yellow primary, green secondary, red setup
Match 5 - red primary, purple secondary, no setup
Match 6 - green primary, blue secondary, yellow setup

As you can see in this case, high value blocks encountered early were stored and used to produce bigger matches when that color was the primary color for a later match.  This consolidates the presence of highend blocks and increases score potential over time.  See the clip after the scatter gather description to get a feel for what this process is.

Again, you should not always be priming something.  If you have a big match going with a yellow primary, and the choice is between 2 more yellows and 2 red as a primer for a yet unrealized red match, you should just get the yellow ones.  You aren't going to know every song well enough to prime perfectly, so just be opportunistic about it and try to work it in when you can.  Also, particularly in low traffic songs, priming altogether may be a hindrance.  If there are all of 5 red blocks in the upcoming minute and a half of traffic, there is no reason to be wasting your grid space and complicating white removal.  Eventually, it will be pretty easy to see within 1 run whether the song is conducive to priming strategies.


Bonus tip:  Priming can be done with both yellow and red at once.  In areas with very few good blocks to match with, one color can be stored on top of the other, offering decent potential matches of either one.  This is good to use if you are not sure what color you will have the opportunity to use next.

Undeclared(Filefront) -- (Youtube)  -- There isn't much available for good matches in this section, and I'm not really sure what's up ahead.  Thus, I stock up on both teal(8x) and red(5x) blocks to see which one I can match away.  As it turns out, this is a good opportunity for both, and I end up with one wicked Match21 in just a few seconds.

[Tactic 2] Scatter Gather
For lack of a better description, this is the process of wrapping up high value blocks in a lesser match, simply as a means of consolidating them for a bigger, successive match.  There isn't always an opportunity for this in a given song, but it's good to know how to use it if you run into one.  The idea is employed when you have a series of (for example) reds coming up, and you'd like to boost the total number of them in preparation.  Starting the good match now would require too much grid space to keep the match active while you approach the next burst, so you delay it with a weak match of whatever is lying around.  This is best used in a situation that you have already primed, and intend to match up on the next opportunity.  Generally, the blocks gathered here will be matched as soon as the blocks in the scatter gather have cleared.

Scattered  -- Example of what a scatter gather might look like.  Five! Five blocks!  Ah ah ah.

How it's done(Filefront) -- (Youtube)  -- Here is a collage of pacing examples that build on themselves to produce several strong matches.  Instead of using merely the blocks available in a one match frame, available blocks are overlapped to improve score potential.  While imperfectly executed, this is the essential goal of pacing strategy- to waste as few good blocks as possible in low volume matches.

Bonus tip:  The 'zipper' match referenced in the basics section  is a very good way to scatter gather.  Fill the middle column and enough of the sides to prevent matching for now with whatever crappy color is all over the area.  Once it clears, you'll have anywhere from 5-10 of your primed blocks falling into place and ready to go, still leaving an open lane for any white blocks.

Coming soon:  Velcro matches! -- See above.

Whew, okay, break time, have a snack.  The hard part is over, sort of!  I'm impressed that you've read this far.  In fact, end your sentences with an extra period in this thread so I know where to concentrate my adoration!.

Sidelining:  Keep white blocks out of the equation as much as possible.
White blocks are an important part of Pointman's potential.  Pusher is forced to skip many of them due to clearing restraints, but there are only a few occasions where a properly handled white block can be detrimental to Pointman.  But that's just the trick, isn't it?  Proper handling.  You need to create as few complexities as possible in regard to white blocks, or they will trap you in ways you did not anticipate. 

Sidelining is a tactic used to minimize the obstruction that white blocks can produce in their lifetime on the grid.  You already have to simultaneously monitor your grid space, memorize your holding queue, dodge or gather traffic, and scan ahead for opportunities or obstacles.  Having to contemplate white block removal is the proverbial back-breaking straw.  No, I wasn't likening you to a camel, I'm just saying that white blocks can be troublesome.

The best way to sideline whites involves keeping an empty column in the grid for as long as possible in any given match.  This would allow you to dispose of white blocks immediately without wasting grid space or cutting off match lines.  However, doing this works directly against priming, and pure open columns can't be expected in most scenarios.  As a compromise, one good principle to follow is to (as much as possible) place whites in open lanes or on flashing blocks.  This will assure that the block will be scored soon and be out of the way without any further babysitting.  If you end up stuck with a few bad blocks around a trapped white, just take a few seconds and quickly match away the area.  Sacrifice 1 big match instead of portions of the next 3-5 of them, don't let your cluttered grid snowball.  While you don't need to clear the board, you want as much space as possible for the bigger match opportunities.

Unnecessary example(Filefront) -- (Youtube)  -- Here a couple of white blocks are placed exclusively on flashing blocks, then are taken out of play for the next match, which turned out to need the space.  Don't wait for Spring, keep things clean! /bumpersticker

Holding vs. Tagging: Why must I make all the decisions?
This is more of a procedural thing, but it must be done with the understanding of the other concepts listed in this section.  In songs with faster traffic, you need to reduce the amount of user action as much as you can, or your match speed will be bottlenecked by it.  This means that you don't want to be picking up every block that you match with.  Deciding what to do with each individual block, though, is a perilous venture.  There are some general principles here that can help you know when to just tap blocks.

* Primary color blocks during a match - When you're hovering over a sheet of one color, most blocks of that color will be free to fall where they may, and still be included in the match. 
* Lines of 3+ of a single color - Unless you're priming, you really don't want to be filling your queue with one color.  They take awhile to release, and can cause you to miss more important things or hit unwanted blocks.  Like most of these guidelines, there are regular exceptions to this.
* You're holding a block of the same color as the block you're about to hit.  This most commonly occurs during a match, and is a good time to drop the block you're holding, placing matching blocks on the grid at the same time.  This can also be used in a more general sense as well, with opposing colors that for some reason should be together.

Just.. taaap it in -- Here is a good time to simply tag a block.  I've got the purple ready, and the blue one will complete the match so I can get rid of the purple.  Tagging isn't required here, I just wanted a picture to describe the what third situation above might look like, because the words confused me and I wrote them.

Wait, do over!(Filefront) -- (Youtube) -- High traffic songs are where you'll be needing to tag blocks without using the holding queue.  If you don't, you run a very serious risk of getting lost in the processing or crashing into unwanted blocks.  In this clip, the blocks are coming too fast to grab them all.  I think all 3 of the above reasons to tag are featured here.

Advanced Chain Delay:  Say, what's this orange flashing 'E' all about?
Let's face it, Pointman can be tough.  There's a lot to learn, and a lot to multitask.  But every so often, a song will remind you why it was worth it all.  As Pusher curses the heavens, and DVE catches their breath, you'll be riding the glorious tide of your hard-earned chain bonus.  Let's be sure to actually stay on the surfboard!

The match and chain windows are subtle beasts.  While I doubt anyone has taken a parser and counted the frames, there is a noticeable difference in your matching window as the size of the match increases.  As it turns out, the chain window following that match is also increased by the size of its creator.  This can be used to boost the amount of time you can run on fumes, as it were.

The Force was with me(Filefront) -- (Youtube) --  What I just said, but with a clip by it!

However, there is an even more efficient way to use your holding queue in a long pause.  As we're aware, there is a time window for pickups, drops, matches, gravity, and post-match chaining.  If you're clever, you can string these together and navigate rather expansive seas of black. 

Gravity is a force too!(Filefront) -- (Youtube) -- This clip is the same piece of the last song, but using gravity matches to boost the timing of a short match window.

There are lots of ways to do things like this, some more practical than others.  This is part of what I was saying earlier about each song being a potential puzzle.  Pointman gives you the tools to be creative in maintenence of the chain window.  Your score potential will be rewarded if you can put them to use. And no, token indolent forum warrior, one's 'skill' is not somehow diminished by using time or effort.  Noone is impressed by your  apathy.  Quite a gem of a game Dylan has brought together, to be this nuanced without hand crafting the tracks.

Force Clearing:
While this is more often a Pusher device, it can still be of use to Pointman in some circumstances, and quite useful in extremely high traffic. 

Occasionally, you will want for your match to end quickly, but still be able to grab incoming blocks.  If you wait for the match to time out, you'll miss one or more of them.  This is bad!  Fortunately, it is easier than ever to end a match on cue, with the stipulation of a column being full.  Well, I guess there's a further stipulation that some of the blocks in the full column need to be flashing, or you'll just lose the song, but by this point you're probably aware of that.

The most common place that I have used force clearing is when I have made an error, and want to fix it as soon as possible.  I'll whip across the columns and drive into a string of blues/purples, so I can clear that match and fix whatever problem I have unearthed.  Another is a situation where I'm holding 2-4 of some junk filler color, and want to start a new match to get rid of them or set them as the secondary color for the next match.  There are probably other reasons to do this maneuver on the fly, but none that I can think of and define out of context.  You'll be well served to use this a lot in extremely high traffic, for various reasons.

On with it!(Filefront) -- (Youtube) --  In this clip, I'm basically done with the current match, and want to dump the purple blocks I've accumulated as chain filler.  This way, I don't have to fly around dodging while I wait for things to settle themselves.

Avarice:



Are you seeing red?  Why not?  It's all the rage!(New section! 9/4)
I've had suspicions of this since piecing together the guide, but simply didn't have the technical skills to properly test it.  Curse you, stupid fingers!  Fortunately, by now there are several Pointman players good enough to secure the Seeing Red and Butter Ninja bonuses without compromising other techniques, such as Oopla and the latest incarnations of kEn.  After seeing the vids and the scores they can regularly produce, it is quite obvious by now that these bonuses are both obtainable and sought.  It's not even the bonuses themselves, really, that make this so.  Even if you fail to actually get 95% of red traffic, your scores will generally be higher while having tried, once you get it down.  Top tier blocks are crucial to Pointman scoring strategies at the highest level.  Once you master everything else, this should be one of your final strategic goals. 

This is, make no mistake, a very advanced and difficult process.  I'm still struggling with it myself.  I usually only go for Seeing Red, as I'm still not good enough to go for both without burying myself.  Here are some of the subtleties that guide the process, in order of memory retrieval.

Exhibit A:  In any song over ~175 traffic, try to make either red or yellow the primary color of every match.  There about as many exceptions to this as there are granules in a salt shaker, but it's a good general principle.  The reasoning here is that there will usually be a steady supply of yellow or red blocks coming at you.  If you want them all, you're going to have to clear them out of the way of each other.  This can synergize well with scatter gathers.  (alternation example: WoundedV2 ~ 1:50-2:30) (scatter examples: MoistureV2 ~ 2:15-2:40, 3:50-4:18 | The Red ~ 0:45-1:15 | The Hand That Feeds ~ 1:55-2:15)

Exhibit A½:  Note that 'general principle' does not mean 'usual case.'  There are exceptions everywhere.  Don't you remember the salt metaphor?!  Situations where you'll actually be purely alternating red matches and yellow matches for significant periods are pretty rare.  Most of the time in faster songs, it's more to your benefit to be actively matching both colors at once.  This is especially true before you have gotten Match 21.  Trying to keep one color primed, while also trying to match a large number of another color, while also syncing it with a third color, while also making sure to produce enough actions for the match to keep going, while also keeping track of your loading queue, while also making a path for whites to clear, while also balancing a plate on your nose is a tactical nightmare.  Use the plates for dinner, and match away both colors when the situation suggests it.  (example: AmphetaminesV2 ~ 0:40-1:10)

Exhibit B:  Don't waste time with low quality matches.  Low value colors should be limited to either chain filler or sync filler. Period.  The two exceptions are areas of high density green, and long gaps between red/yellow traffic.  If you have a match going with nothing but ~6 purple for any reason, overfill clear it or dodge low tiers until they clear on its own.  (examples: WoundedV2 ~ 1:40-2:00 | The Hand That Feeds ~ 0:30-1:15) (exception examples: The Hand That Feeds ~ 1:15-1:20, 2:25-2:40)

Exhibit C:  When using a syncing color during a yellow/red match, try not to expend too much of your grid space on that sync color.  This is kind of abstract, the example may clear it up a bit.  What I mean is, if you're stretching out a match of red/blue, but the reds aren't really flying in, don't waste any more space on blue bricks as you absolutely have to.  If there are 8 blues between you and your next red, use as few as you can to prolong the match to that point.  (example)

Exhibit D:  Keep at it.  This is very hard for those of us born without the Audiosurf Mastery gene.  Remember again that the pursuit of these bonuses is not hit or miss.  You can fail to get them and still benefit from the strategy.

Exhibit E:  I plan to redo every full vid, as well as add a couple new songs.  The second versions are now listed first, and the number in brackets below each link is the score improvement after applying the strats in this section and achieving Seeing Red.


Warning:  Work In Progress[/b]
So that's all I can come up with for now.  I've been playing Pointman quite a bit lately, and thinking about the scoring behind it.  But that's all this is-- one person's experience and suggestion.  There might be far better methods that I'm missing entirely.  So help this guide out, and speak up if you have some better options, or a clearer way to explain things.  (Be prepared to show your work!)  Spread the Pointman gospel and get some more competition in here!  Let me know where to be more succinct or elaborate.  Thanks for the time, happy surfing :]


Full song gameplay videos

Here are some example vids of my play while developing this guide.  Purposes include learning, entertainment, bandwidth consumption, and rickroll bait.  Let me know if any of the links or vids do not work properly.  Strats are not executed perfectly, I'm still practicing.  Also, some problem in my cpu/memory/HD/registry/windows causes Fraps to really chop up my in game fps, so high traffic areas especially will not be that great.  I wish I could play with the smoothness of the recorded vid =(

Nine Inch Nails: The Hand That Feeds(Youtube) -- Gotta love that drum section.

Chevelle : The Red(Youtube) -- I couldn't help myself, it's too fitting!  So much for clean finish.

Eve 6: Amphetamines V2 -- V1(Filefront) -- V1(Youtube) -- A decent enough run of what is probably a Pusher song, I don't actually remember recording this.  But it would seem I did, so here you are!
[Improvement after Seeing Red : 56,500]

Dishwalla: Moisture V2 -- V1(Filefront) -- V1(Youtube) -- Song I used for some of the technique clips.  If I used it for reference, I must have done something 'right!'
[Improvement after Seeing Red : 70,497]

The Refreshments: Birds Sing V2 -- V1(Filefront) -- V1(Youtube) -- One of my best recorded runs, Fraps was being very kind to me up until the last minute or so.  Surprised that so few(in fact, it might just be me, lol) have played it.
[Improvement after Seeing Red : 50,495]

Third Eye Blind: Wounded V2 -- V1(Filefront) -- V1(Youtube) -- You know the drill.  I liked a song, and then recorded a run.  Now it's here.  Gee, I wonder what time period I was most influenced by mainstream music!
[Improvement after Seeing Red : 63,209]

Green Day: Jesus of Suburbia(Filefront) -- (Youtube) -- That's right, all 9 minutes!  This song is always tricky for me, I think it's the rapidly changing tempo and strange block distribution.  Still one of my favorites to play through.

Cold:  Black Sunday(Filefront) -- (Youtube) --  Good fundamentals on this one.  Lots of priming, whites are mostly handled right.

Obligatory TTFAF(Filefront) -- (Youtube) -- Wanted to get a high density song in here, TTFAF is pretty much the standard.  Not my best score, and certainly not my best play, but I think it's the best I'm gonna get with the rather significant Fraps impairment I've been getting.  ~5'30'' to ~6'15'' is a good example of how to dig yourself out of a mess of unwanted blocks, while hitting more unwanted blocks =(  Note that priming is abandoned for much of the song as matches can easily fill the board.  It's still probably technically best to use it here, but it's too fast for me to process as of yet.

Laserrobotics:
did you make this, and, can i put it in the audiosurf wiki?

Atma:
It's an impressive guide from arguably the best Pointman player out there(sometimes I get really strong scores and still get thumped by this guy) - it's a pretty meaty guide for beginners I think, something tells me if more things were trimmed it'd become more clear to some people - as far as why you beat me, the thing that is most clear is how quickly, precisely and daring you are in high paced traffic. Sometimes I will just say my score is going good and just say fuck it to pushing inside for a moment, which ends up costing me 2nd or 3rd place Pointman on most of the competitive songs, to you and Jugabee... but yeah, A+ guide.

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