Position Keep - Race Mechanics

A subsection of Race Mechanics.

Position Keep is a mechanic that exists between Sections 1 through 10 and affects the behavior of all Umas.

The Pacemaker

The Pacemaker is the Uma that Position Keep mechanics revolve around.

The Pacemaker is the frontmost Uma of the frontmost Style. For most lobbies, this is the furthest ahead Front Runner. The initial Pacemaker is the Uma starting in the innermost Gate out of the frontmost Style, but this can change immediately due to Start Delay RNG.

Future Info

In the 1.5 Anniversary Balance Patch, the Pacemaker is no longer chosen based on the frontmost Style, but the frontmost Uma instead.

However, the specific workings of the new Pacemaker mechanic are still unknown.

Non-Front Runner Umas attempt to keep a range of distance away from the Pacemaker, depending on their Style.

$$\text{CourseFactor}=0.0008\times (\text{CourseLength}-1000)+1$$

Style	Min	Max
Pace Chaser	3.0	5.0 * CourseFactor
Late Surger	6.5 * CourseFactor	7.0 * CourseFactor
End Closer	7.5 * CourseFactor	8.0 * CourseFactor

^[1]

For example, Pace Chasers will attempt to stay anywhere from 3 to 6.8 meters away from the Pacemaker during Position Keep in a 2000m Track.

Front Runner Position Keep Modes

While Front Runners are bound to Position Keep as well, they have different mechanics compared to the other Styles.

Overtake Defense Mode

When a Front Runner is in first and is being contested by an Uma at most 4.5m (Front Runner)/17.5m (Runaway) away, they will gain a 1.04 modifier to their Target Speed. To enter this mode, they must pass a Wit Check according to this formula:

$$20\times \log \mathrm{\_}10(0.1\times \text{WitStat})$$

^[1:1]

The mode is exited once the contesting Uma is more than the entry distance away.

Overtake Mode

When a Front Runner or Runaway is not first place, they will gain a 1.05 modifier to their Target Speed. The Wit Check to enter this mode is the same as the formula above.

This mode is exited once the Uma is first and 10m (Front Runner)/27.5m (Runaway) away from the second Uma.

INFO

Overtake Mode only activates within the same Style: I.e., Front Runners will exit Overtake Mode if they are first out of all the Front Runners, even if there are Runaways in front of them.

Non-Front Runner Position Keep Modes

Pace Up Mode (Non-Front Runners)

When an Uma’s distance away from the Pacemaker is further than the range of distances they aim to maintain, they gain a 1.04 Target Speed modifier after passing the Wit Check. The formula is as follows:

$$15\times \log \mathrm{\_}10(0.1\times \text{WitStat})$$

^[1:2]

Once they are within the range again, they exit Pace Up Mode.

Pace Down Mode

Also known as PDM, Pace Down Mode occurs when an Uma gets too close to the Pacemaker. When in PDM, the Uma is affected by a  0.915x Target Speed modifier. If they were above the new Target Speed, they decelerate at -0.5. PDM lasts for at most one section, and can additionally be exited when the Uma is a randomly rolled distance within the Style-specific range away.

TIP

Velocity Skills allow Umas to exit PDM for the duration of the Skill.

"Lucky Pacemaker"

If a Race contains no Front Runners, the Position Keep logic must select a new reference point. The game will force the furthest forward Pace Chaser to act as the Pacemaker. If no Pace Chasers exist, the system will select the furthest forward Late Surger, followed by the furthest forward End Closer. This is called Pacemaker promotion, or “Lucky Pacemaker”.

Initial Assignment

The initial Pacemaker is the Uma with the innermost Gate out of the frontmost Style. If Gate 1 was a Pace Chaser in a non-Front lobby, that Pace Chaser would be the Pacemaker. If a lobby was 7 End Closers and 2 Pace Chasers that were in Gates 8 and 9, the Pace Chaser in Gate 8 would be the initial Pacemaker. In a no-Front lobby, the remainder of the lobby would exit the Gate in PDM, while the Pacemaker is in Normal Mode.

Despite this, the initial Pacemaker can still roll a worse Start Delay than the other Umas of the same Style. As the Pacemaker is simply the frontmost Uma of the frontmost Style, this can cause them to immediately lose the Pacemaker position. In this scenario, they will most likely go into PDM when the check is made at the 2 seconds mark. The new Pacemaker will also continue to be in PDM until the one Section duration is up, allowing for them to still be overtaken and lose the Pacemaker position.

Fighting for Pacemaker

Because of this, "Lucky Pacemaker" is somewhat of a misnomer: Umas with higher Power and early-race Skills such as Groundwork and Uma Stan can often become the Pacemaker. Groundwork and high Power allows them to secure a small lead by reaching PDM Target Speed faster, and early-activating Velocity Skills such as Uma Stan allow Umas to temporarily break out of PDM to overtake the Pacemaker before they can pull ahead.

With high Power and Groundwork, we can observe that the PDM Target Speed is reached faster, providing a brief period of time where the Pacemaker can be overtaken.

The Pacemaker receives a large advantage over the other Umas. First of all, the Pacemaker is no longer affected by the original Position Keeping mechanics of their Style. The other Umas enter Pace Down Mode until they are within a Style-specific distance away from the Pacemaker. Because the Pacemaker is also a Style with higher Speed Modifiers than Front Runners, they can have an advantage in the Late Race compared to a Front Runner.

Rushed

Rushed is a state an Uma can randomly enter during Sections 2 to 9.

The chances an Uma enters Rushed is lowered by Wit, according to the formula below:

$$\text{RushedChance}={\left(\frac{6.5}{\log \mathrm{\_}10(0.1\times \text{WitStat}+1)}\right)}^2$$

^[1:3]

While Rushed, an Uma consumes 1.6 times more HP and ignores her Style-specific Position Keeping mechanics in favor of the Style ahead.

Style	Behavior While Rushed
Front Runners	Enters Overtake Defense Mode.
Pace Chaser	Adapts Front Runner Position Keeping mechanics.
Late Surger	75% chance to adapt Front Runner mechanics, and 25% chance to adapt Pace Chaser ones.
End Closer	70% chance to adapt Front Runner mechanics, 20% chance to adapt Pace Chaser, and 10% chance Late Surger.

WARNING

The Rushed Style change only impacts Position Keep mechanics. It does not change other Style-based factors, such as the Phase Coefficient.

Every 3 seconds while Rushed, the Uma has a 55 percent chance to exit the condition. The maximum duration of Rushed is 12 seconds, unless extended by a relevant debuff. For more details, please see the Debuff Skills section.

In addition, Umas with Skills that have the temptation_count==0 Condition cannot activate it if they have been Rushed. An example is Mejiro Dober’s Moving Past, and Beyond, a critical Acceleration Skill that cannot activate if she gets Rushed.

Spot Struggle

Spot Struggle is a Front Runner and Runaway-exclusive mechanic that can trigger between 150m from the Gate to the end of Section 6.

Spot Struggle occurs when Umas are within 3.75m (Front Runner)/5.0m (Runaway) of each other. When Spot Struggling, Target Speed and the duration of the Spot Struggle is increased by the formula below:

TargetSpeed += (500 * GutsStat) * 0.6 * 0.0001
Duration = (700 * GutsStat) * 0.5 * 0.012[s]

^[1:4]

During Spot Struggle, HP Consumption is also greatly increased, scaling extremely in combination with Rushed:

Front Runner	1.4x, 3.6x when Rushed
Runaway	3.5x, 7.7x when Rushed

INFO

Front Runners and Runaways can only Spot Struggle within their Style; that is, Front Runners can only Spot Struggle Front Runners and vice versa.

INFO

Similar to Dueling, more than two Umas can Spot Struggle each other at the same time.

---

1. Uma Musume Race Mechanics ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎