Score Calculation 101

Before we even talk about complicated skill interactions, it is important to know how score per note comes about. This guide aims to teach basic information on building blocks like Score Bonus, Combo Bonus and Appeal.

There are 7 components determining the score of a note

1. Total Appeal
2. Difficulty Multiplier
3. Judge Multiplier
4. Combo Multiplier
5. Score Bonus
6. Combo Bonus
7. Note Count

The score is calculated as follows

(<Total Appeal> x <Difficulty Multiplier> x <Judge Multiplier> x <Combo Multiplier> x <Score Bonus> x <Combo Bonus>) ÷ <Total Note Count>

Important points

• The total calculation is rounded to the nearest number
• Combo Bonus and Score Bonus components are calculated as decimal values. For example 17% Score bonus means 1.17 multiplier
• The order of operations is not particularly important as everything is multiplicative.
  • This means that for calculating differences its possible to factorize out the values that do not change, simplifying the calculation greatly

1. Total Appeal

Appeal calculation is out of scope of this guide, but the total appeal you see after you select a guest is what's used in the live. For the case of GRAND LIVE, the appeal is the total appeal of all 3 units combined.

2. Difficulty Multiplier

This is a value that changes depending on the difficulty of the song you are playing. The list below shows the values for each difficulty.

Lv5: 1.0
Lv6: 1.025
Lv7: 1.05
Lv8: 1.075
Lv9: 1.1
Lv10: 1.2
Lv11: 1.225
Lv12: 1.25
Lv13: 1.275
Lv14: 1.3
Lv15: 1.4
Lv16: 1.425
Lv17: 1.45
Lv18: 1.475
Lv19: 1.5
Lv20: 1.6
Lv21: 1.65
Lv22: 1.7
Lv23: 1.75
Lv24: 1.8
Lv25: 1.85
Lv26: 1.9
Lv27: 1.95
Lv28: 2.0
Lv29: 2.1
Lv30: 2.2
Lv31: 2.3
Lv32: 2.4

3. Judge Multiplier

This is a value that depends on the accuracy of the note.

Perfect: 1.0
Great: 0.7
Nice: 0.4
Bad: 0.1
Miss: 0

4. Combo Multiplier

This is determined by your current combo as a percentage of the total note count. The percentages are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

0% - 5%: 1.0
5% - 10%: 1.1
10% - 25%: 1.2
25% - 50%: 1.3
50% - 70%: 1.4
70% - 80%: 1.5
80% - 90%: 1.7
>90%: 2.0

In the event of LIVE GROOVE, the percentage is based on the average note count of the 3 songs. This means that once you exceed 90% of the average note count in combo, ALL subsequent notes are 2x score until the combo breaks.

5. Score Bonus

This number is determined by the currently activated skills. The game displays it as a percentage but to use it in the formula you would need to convert it to a decimal by dividing by 100 and and adding 1.

In practice, Score Bonus typically has a condition for applying. For example, most score bonus effects only apply on Perfect judge notes. Overload and Score Bonus skills also apply to Great judge notes.

6. Combo Bonus

Identical to Score Bonus. This number is determined by currently activated skills. The game displays it as a percentage but to use it in the formula you would need to convert it to a decimal by dividing by 100 and and adding 1.

Important: Combo Bonus has NOTHING to do with the Combo Multiplier.

In practice, Combo Bonus is applied if it is a note that continues the combo of the song. This means that a Perfect and Great will both count combo bonus. However, the very first note, combo number 1 doesn't technically continue a combo so it will not take any combo bonus effects.

If there are combo continuing skills like combo support or overload, NICE and BAD can also continue a combo and hence receive the combo bonus multiplier.

7. Note Count

This is simply the total note count of the song. However in the case of GROOVE it is the average of the 3 song's total note count, then rounded down.

This calculation is expressed as

round down ((<Song 1 Notes> + <Song 2 Notes> + <Song 3 Notes>)÷ 3)

This really just means that the note count does not affect the maximum score of a song.

Summary

There's a few important points to take away

• Combo Multiplier and Combo Bonus are two separate concepts
• Combo Bonus and Score Bonus are very similar in calculation method
• Groove caps out the Combo Multiplier just before 1/3 of the average note count
• When comparing the maximum possible score potential of two full combos, the most important difference are the Combo Bonus and Score Bonus active skills

We hope this post has given you an idea of how the value of each note is determined in the game. This knowledge will make it easier to understand more complicated skill interactions in the future.