It has been a tur­bu­lent month and so I’ll keep this short (and hope­fully cor­rect, though I was of­ten out of the ac­tion and might fix mis­takes later^^). On the cus­tom the­ory front we have neither a new one nor any on the ho­ri­zon but what we do have are some more mile­stones broken for them:

▶ CSR2 #

▶ EF #

After this re­fresh­ingly shorter re­cap, it is fi­nally time to come to the real thing! July 2022 Top 20 on the lead­er­board, their $F(t)$ at the time the list was com­piled and their Dis­cord con­nec­tion (Dis­cord names in brack­ets are not their nick­names!):

1. Gen­Er­a­tion­Na­tion (Gen) - ee65802:

While he cannot consistently keep up the 1000 messages per month, the Juggernaut is not stopping any time soon, neither ingame, nor in the server. Maybe not at the absolute top for CTs but still going strong enough to keep a large enough lead to be sure he won’t yield the top spot for a while.

2. GrimJu­ni­per­55831 (wind) - ee65556:

The legend from a while back, whose presence here is sadly pretty rare these days… No more challenge for #1, now it is more about not losing his spot. For a brief moment he was already overtaken by Playspout but for this month at least he still pulled ahead. So far he looks save but who knows what Playspout is really up to?

Come back to us! (actually don’t, I need another place)

3. (+2) Vin­tage­Sur­fer­56606 (kinger55) - ee65002:

He has discovered the main reason to be on the server: the tau bot^^ Else he’s not really participating but he’s a force on the leaderboard for sure. He had a rough time after CT were released he first time but after dropping out he shot back up and now stabilised with quite a lead, after finding out how to play CTs really well. Whatever he took, I want it too, especially now as he managed to be (at least officially) the third person to break 65k!

4. Black­Seal94 (Black­Seal) - ee64937:

Seldom seen here but always great to see him update his insane T6 stat (discounting Playspout who shouldn’t count anyways)^^ Custom theories have kind of awoken him to be more active here, which is nice. It also made him more active in the rankings, which is not so nice ;)

I was very intrigued while being a bit scared and I wasn’t wrong: he turned on CT overdrive and for now he has passed me. Where or when will that run end? So far it doesn’t end but the fight is still on!

5. (+1) Eld­rail (AfuroZamurai) - ee64817:

Always a bit difficult to write about oneself^^ Activity here is more in phases but at least pretty regularly (so hopefully daily), in the game I do like my idle theories (who could’ve guessed?). Favorite phrase: Time for active theories I guess^^ (while not doing that until I set myself a challenge).

Recently did T5 to e1000 and then T1 to 6.66e666 challenges. During the last month I finished CSR2 to e100 tau and seeing me being overtaken it will be finally time to brush the dust of T3 and go for e700! Well, actually need to get EF going but next month for sure xD

I’ll be back!

6. (-3) HeadedArt26 (Playspout) - ee64799:

If you ever looked at the record sheet you should know him because he’s literally everywhere there (still holding him off from T2/​T4 for now^^). Also pretty active here, doing everything imaginable! Added fun fact: did ee50000 without T9. I wonder if there is anything he isn’t active in^^

Playspout is the Ling Ling of Exponential IdleActive with 40 hours a day (and more saves than any person should have) and still searching for new theory strats and writing and and and. Often he hides his true max and I intend to exploit and punish this for the rankings^^ (though of course he could come back any time and contest for second place)

7. Adam­H99 (nemesis) - ee64777:

Found the server some while ago and no longer an unknown! So far it was fast and steady wins the race - and now he is here in the Top 10, it is more like a back and forth. Also worth a mention: he is in the Top 10 for all minigames!

So far he stayed and so I just hope he loses motivation he continues to go strong.

8. (+4) har­u­maki200 (har­u­maki) - ee64456:

So far with the lowest amount of Discord messages but at least still here^^ Custom theories required some posts but that was it somewhat sadly.

Activity on the server is no where equivalent to activity ingame and this holds true here very well. They had been rising for a while, then dropping for a while but now they came back with a bang. All to close to predict the future so far though, especially with such a high volatility.

9. (+1) Rem­m­oire (Keynez) - ee64401:

His name has been deduced from the usage of the !tau command though they have yet to talk to others than the tau bot since April 2021. Nevertheless they’re certainly a constant on the top of the leaderboard.

Last two month the trend wasn’t Keynez friend but this time the trend turned and he’s back! It will be hard against the next contender on steroids though… Not that it looks like he’s stopped^^

10. (-1) Reck­on­Crew (Reck­on­Crew) - ee64298:

They have all their messages on the server from a single day about 15 months ago, which is an achievement in itself I guess^^

Not much else to say except they are pretty stable, mainly gaining a place now and then. I do like stable players for this ranking^^

I guess I shouldn’t have said that… Not that he’s springing that much, so please don’t start doing that as well^^

11. (-3) An­thari­on1988 (An­tharion) - ee64286:

The original legend, longtime #1, creator of the original tau simulator and sadly not that active anymore (both in the game and on the server), though we can still see him (and he’s certainly not given up^^) quite regularly.

So far he fights valiantly but is still dropping, which is saddening. Gogogo! (Totally not biased)

12. (-1) spqcey (ran­dom­name) - ee64187:

No idea what the name means but not that random of a person^^ We have another minigame master with a very impressive 1.55e8 minigame stars. Not only that but he’s also pretty active in the realm of collecting data in sheets like the theory strats or (sadly inactive for now) the tau graphing sheet and the $F(t)$ sheet. He’s pretty active on the Discord server and a very impressive custom theory master. This helped him rise, so maybe the Top 10 is reasonable in the near future, despite the drop?

13. (+2) TRE­DEC42 (XLII) - ee64046:

If there is someone to associate with nailing the new custom theories and really taking the stage it has to be XLII (as the person besides the machines Gen and Playspout and actually right now a lot more, especially NGZ001…). Not only that, he’s one of the fastest rising players, who is pretty impressive across the board: lots of stars (and minigame stars, also third) and even appearing on tau leaderboards for the original theories. His activity in the server is a nice bonus on top!

And recently he entered the simulation game and has been of great help in that field, going so far as being the “balancer” in the new EF CT! His released sim is really an achievement, MVP!

Go ahead and rise some more! He did it and I’m really happy for him!

14. (+5) Fi­nalul­tima (Fi­nalul­tima) - ee64045:

Wow, another big jump for a newcomer!

Last time they showed up a day before the rankings in “real” Discord conversations (after some month of talking with the tau bot)! Activity is still almost negligible but happy to have them and looking forward to seeing more!

15. (new) some gib­ber­ish I won’t even try type­writ­ing[name may change any second] (nubest) - ee64040:

She has been a long time member of this server, with quite a lot of messages a name to know. Maybe not the founder but excessive user of a rather unusual kind of text emoji: ouo and variations of it. She also likes to call hax and people bad which seems to correlate with her orthographic skills.

Unfortunately life came in the way and besides a pause on the server her leaderboard placement was suffering for it. Priorities are right though! As the Idle Lord I approve of the current more idle playstyle but wish her all the best! Happy to see her back here!

16. (-2) SnaekySnacks (SnaekySnacks) - ee63989:

Had a hard time not to think of sneaky but okay^^ Maybe the most active person on the server [citation needed]. Also known for his contributions to the guide and answering questions seemingly everywhere and everytime^^ Due to his work he’s been less active lately (which seems still pretty active to me). You’re doing a great job though! Same goes for his own custom theory idea (EF) which got implemented with the help of peanut and XLII.

Despite all this distractions he’s still consistently in the rankings!

17. (+1) colinc719 (?) - ee63867:

They were maybe the biggest surprise of last month, shooting up from somewhere I cannot even remember directly into the Top 20. We cannot even know more about them because it looks like they are still not on the server.

Maybe the future will give us more.

18. (-2) Up­Artz (?) - ee63857:

Seems to be active on Reddit but not here, though this is unclear.

They were already out and are often on the edge but because of that I’m even more impressed by their fighting spirit, looking forward to the next month!

19. (-2) Juan­nTitor (JuanT­itor) - ee63778:

On the server it looks like a lot of bot commands lately but from time to time he pops up for some other comment.

For quite a while he’s fighting really hard for his place in the ranking and has been out and back again. For now he’s good but it won’t be easy, though he’s certainly experienced now^^

20. (new) Fire­burn­er80 (Gull Dew­cat) - ee63600:

His in-game activity seems to mirror his server activity: preferably idle. I feared for his future and was right. I wasn’t right when I thought the fire had burnt out though. He’s back! Yes, only by the decimals but maybe this is the start of a comeback.

I’d like to have him back!

Some enter the list and so some have to leave the list as well. Here are our fallen fel­lows from this month:

24. (-11) cajun­cooks (?) - ee63486:

While I still have no clue who is behind them, I did see them slowly creeping up onto the Top 20. I assumed at some point they’ll enter but I haven’t expected such an entry with a bang and then such a drop-out. Not much has happened since last month, so while I’m also glad about seeing unknown players, I’m not sure they’ll be back.

28. (-8) Ter­tiary­Jour­ney­man34 (Sol­arion) - ee63078:

Young he is but that hasn’t stopped him from making his own CT by himself. This seems to have also given the necessary boost to finally enter the rankings after some continuous rise before. Being the T2 Lord on main save he was close to dropping out last month but just got the necessary $F(t)$ right before the deadline.

Very active and interested in discussions about how to play. Hope we see more of him here (which we will if he actually pushes something else than T2)! Well, guess what, he overpushed again and it shows with his drop. He’s going for the long game though, so I assume at some point he’ll be back when actives are on the menu again^^

1. (on iOS) Phask (Phask) - ee64000:

Longtime leader on the iOS leaderboard and actually in the Top 20 overall if combined. For quite some time it looked like he actually might be pretty close to the Top 10 on Android but this month he fell pretty hard, now being at about #16. He’s also on the server, though his active times are some months ago. Also known as the creator of the first Tau data collection sheet.

He was consistently close to the overall Top 10 but new CTs have seen him drop. It will be interesting if he can come back at some point, would be sad to see iOS drifting further away (next contender would be “just” #25 on Android).

And in the end it is of course time for the “real” hon­or­able men­tion (please nom­in­ate someone with a reason for fu­ture in­clu­sion of play­ers if you have some­body in mind) as Phask is tech­nic­ally in the Top 20 rank­ings:

1276. rus9384 (rus9384) - ee47003:

Thanks to his own abomination creation of the theory automator maybe the person with the fastest rise ever and for his impressive activity (over 4500 messages in less than 2 month) combined with the feat of implementing such a custom theory certainly a deserved mention.

Always into discussion about theory details and strats he developed his own custom theory to run any original theory, use the currently most powerful strategy (even humanly impossible ones), publish and even switch theories. This has allowed him to gain hundreds of tau in a day and get to ee45000 in about a month (from starting the game!). I’m curious to see where his journey will go and what more we will get to see from him!

As it turned out to be quite the un­der­tak­ing to write this month edi­tion (as al­ways, might need to overthink the format?), we had once again a change in between (be­sides some ir­rel­ev­ant $F(t)$ up­dates): XLII squeezed out an­other push to barely over­take nubest and Fi­nalul­tima.