APEX

the line is at 110 km free · no signup
SKY HEAT 1 2:30 8 up METER ON
Free daily board · prototype

Nobody can buy first place.

MERIDIAN burns more fuel than every other craft on this board and has never once held the Line. Your score is every second you spend above it, not how much you spend getting there. Free, no signup, 3 tries a day.

How it works ↓
Watching costs nothing. This is running right now.
1 / 11

Hold W or drag upward.

Your engine only runs while you are paying.

The Program

You do not upgrade the craft. You train the stand-in who flies it while you are not here, and a fully trained stand-in is exactly as capable as a good pair of hands. It can never be more.

0hours banked
0 / 9fitted
idleon the bench

    Hours come from flying heats, and heats cost fuel, so spending gets you more attempts. Nothing on this page is for sale. The bench runs on a real clock and cannot be shortened at any price. Progress is stored in this browser only.

    What it bought Next heat in 0:32

    Sign this heat
    
      
    
        
        3 shots left today
      
    
    
    

    
    
      
      0 h banked
    
    

    
    Heat board
    
    
      
    
      
      Nothing is charged between heats. A record here stands until somebody holds the
      Line longer. It cannot be outspent, it never expires, and you are never asked
      to defend it.
    
      
  
      

  
      

  
      
    
      W/Sthrottle
      
    
      A/Dlane
      
    
      shift2x thrust
      
    
      Ppact
      
    
      Hrules
      
  
      

  
      
    
    
    
  
      

  
  
      
    
      
      
      APEX
      
      
      How to actually play this, not just watch it.
      

      
      
        The one-line version. Your score is total seconds spent above the Line across one
        heat. Not the highest point you touch. Not your longest single stretch. Every second above
        it, added up, even if you drop and climb again.
      
      

      
      Controls
      
      
        
        
      • WClimb. Throttle rises while held. It does not fall on its own: letting go leaves it exactly where it was.
        • 
        
      • SBack off. The only thing that brings the throttle back down. This is not a pause button, it is half the game.
        • 
        
      • SHIFT2x thrust. Doubles your climb. It also builds heat: watch the gauge, six seconds at full heat blows your engine. Nothing gets near the Line without it.
        • 
        
      • A / DSteer lanes. Slide under another craft to sit in its wake. A tow multiplies your thrust and shelters you from the wind below, for as long as you hold the lane.
        • 
      
      

      
      The one thing that is not obvious
      
      
      
        Climbing costs you: the longer you stay near the front, unsheltered, the more the wind
        drags at your engine. Push straight through to the Line on one long climb and you will
        stall out early. Ease off with S before you saturate, let the wind drop, then climb
        again. Measured on this build: holding the throttle open scores about 17 seconds in a
        typical heat. Backing off and re-climbing twice scores over 35. Two or three climbs beats
        one, every time.
      
      

      
      Today's sky
      
      
        
        
      • ›The conditions change daily. The altitude of the Line and how much fuel you start with are different every day, and the same for everyone on earth that day. Read the name and the note at the top of the screen before you fly: the correct strategy shifts with the day.
        • 
        
      • ›Par is measured for today's specific sky and shown on your results card. It tells you whether your flight was actually good, not just long.
        • 
        
      • ›Three attempts a day. Your best of the three is what counts and what you can share. Spend them on figuring out today's sky, not on grinding the same line for luck: run-to-run variance is small, so a fourth identical attempt will not save you.
        • 
      
      

      
      Three ladders
      
      
        
        
      • 01Live hold. Whose clock is running right now. Usually nobody's, which is the point.
        • 
        
      • 02Longest holds. Total seconds above the Line for the heat, ranked. This is the board that matters.
        • 
        
      • 03Uptime. Total time above the deck at 60 km. Reachable by anyone patient, whale or not.
        • 
      
      

      
    
      
  
      

      


      

  
  
      
    
      
      
      01 · Try to buy it
      
      
      Turn the money all the way up.
      
      
      
        This is the same equation the board above is running, not an illustration. Thrust decays
        as the air thins, so every extra dollar per second buys less height than the last one.
        Drag it to the top and watch where it stops.
      
      
      
      
        
      
        
      
          
      
            
      Burn rate$0.00/s
      
            
          
      
          
          
      
            At $0.00/s you are on the deck. Money is fuel here, not a price, so nothing
            holds you up but the burn.
          
      
        
      
      
      
    
      
  
      

  
  
      
    
      
      
      02 · The number that matters
      
      
      The biggest spender has never held the Line.
      
      
      
        
      
          
      0.0s
      
          
      MERIDIAN · longest hold, every heat it has flown
      
        
      
        
      
          
      StrategyMaximum burn, no allies
      
          
      Fuel usedHighest in the field, every day tested
      
          
      Highest point reached~98 km
      
          
      Seconds above the Line0.0 s
      
          
      Held back bythe wind, not the wallet
      
          
      Uptime rank1st of 8
      
        
      
      
      
      
      
        MERIDIAN is the whale on the board above, and it plays the old game perfectly: spend the
        most, hold the most, never cooperate. It wins uptime outright, which is the ladder fuel
        is supposed to win. On the Line it stalls around 98 km, about 12 km short, and it has
        never crossed it once across every sky tested. Every craft that actually holds the Line
        gets there by using another player's wake, not by spending more.
      
      
    
      
  
      

  
  
      
    
      
      
      03 · Why it runs in heats
      
      
      On an empty board the Line is unreachable.
      
      
      
        Not harder. Unreachable. Alone you are the leader by definition, so the wind builds to
        full and drags your ceiling down to 81.5 km, and there is nobody above you to tow off
        because there is nobody. Measured on the board above, three runs, same build:
      
      
      
      
        
      
          
      ConditionBest holdPeak
      
          
            
      Alone, unlimited money, perfect play0.0 s99.2 km
      
            
      Full board, no steering or timing15.7 s112.0 km
      
            
      Full board, flown well27.5 s113.2 km
      
                
        
      
      
      
      
      
        
      
          
      Same 600 seconds, ranked by spendTime on screenTime on the Line
      
          
            
      CALODAY · $1,139521 s0.0 s
      
            
      ORBIT · $1,136524 s0.0 s
      
            
      MERIDIAN · $1,119545 s2.9 s
      
            
      UPRANKED · $843513 s16.8 s
      
            
      CAREERFLOW · $782522 s18.4 s
      
            
      OFFLOOP · $780539 s29.6 s
      
            
      LONGHAUL · $449323 s0.0 s
      
                
        
      
      
      
      
      
        That table is the answer to "so what does my money buy". Read the middle column
        and money works exactly as you would expect: spend correlates with time on screen at
        0.77, and the craft that spends least is last. Presence is the part you are
        buying and it is guaranteed. Read the right column and money stops dead: the three
        biggest spenders took 0.0, 0.0 and 2.9 seconds on the Line, while three cheaper craft
        took 16.8, 18.4 and 29.6.
      
      
      
      
        Money buys the floor. Nobody buys the ceiling. That is not a cap on what you get for
        your money, it is the reason the record is worth holding: a rival cannot take it off
        you by writing a larger cheque, which is the one thing they can always do on every
        other paid leaderboard.
      
      
      
      
        Two things follow, and both are in the build above rather than on a roadmap.
        The board runs in heats, so the field flies together instead of being spread
        thin across a day. And the meter does not run below four craft in the air:
        charging for a board that cannot be won is selling something that does not exist.
      
      
      
      
      
        Takes your craft up and empties the sky around it. Watch the burn readout stop charging
        you, and watch how far you get.
      
      
    
      
  
      

  
  
      
    
      
      
      04 · The whole game
      
      
      Three rules, and the rest falls out.
      
      
      
        
      
          
      Gravity
      
          
      Stop paying and you sink
      
          
      There is no holding still. Every craft above is climbing or falling, always, and position is your spending integrated over time.
      
        
      
        
      
          
      The ceiling
      
          
      Money runs out of air
      
          
      Sustained maximum burn peaks at 105.2 km and never passes 106. The Line is at 110, placed deliberately above the reach of any budget.
      
        
      
        
      
          
      The tow
      
          
      The only way over is a rival
      
          
      Sit in someone's wake and your efficiency multiplies by 1.55, which lifts your ceiling to 122.8 km. Pass them and it is gone.
      
          
      
            And no, you cannot sit right on top of them. Inside 1.7 km their exhaust is
            still a jet and it pushes you down, costing you a quarter of your thrust. The lift
            only starts further back, where that gas has slowed and turned into a rising column.
            There is a sweet spot, and finding it is the skill.