**tldr:** I shipped a public methodology page showing EXACTLY how every number on StarGuide is calculated, with interactive calculators that run the real code. [starguide.gg/methodology](https://starguide.gg/methodology)

So a couple days ago I [posted StarGuide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HonkaiStarRail/comments/1sc9762/i_built_a_team_builder_that_actually_knows_your/) and got absolutely torn to shreds, so I read every single comment and heres what I heard:

# What do you have to say for yourself, huh?!

**"AI Slop."** The site looks like it was vibe coded in a weekend, and having "AI" in a feature name in 2026 is just straight up asking for it, so I get it. The internet is DROWNING in low-effort projects and I walked in looking EXACTLY like one of them.

But I've made 967 commits across 79 days since December 5th, 2025. This doesn't mean this website is good (I have to admit I am really fucking bad at UI), and it might just mean I'm a shit developer, but it's not a weekend project.

**"Just repackaged Prydwen with a paywall."** Multiple people opened a character page, saw familiar-looking tier info, and concluded that's all there is. That's fair. The front page is a character grid. If you don't import your roster, the first thing you see is the layer most similar to existing tools. All the things that are ACTUALLY personalized like the team generation from your roster, pull advisor, investment simulation comes later, which most people never got to.

So on the methodology page I laid out exactly where every piece of data comes from. Two columns, side by side: what's researched from community sources (Prydwen, Game8, KQM, official patch notes, all named) and what's authored and built in-house (teammate synergy grades, every eidolon/LC point value, all the scoring formulas, every personalization algorithm). No hiding it, no pretending everything is original. The base character knowledge is shared community work. The scoring system, the team generator, and the personalization layer on top of it are mine. 

**"Paywall is disgusting."** I actually agree with part of this. Character pages, tier lists, team compositions, build guides, teammate ratings: all of that draws from the same community knowledge everyone shares, and none of it should cost money. It doesn't, and it never will. That's a commitment I put on the methodology page in writing. What's behind the paywall are computational tools I built that crunch your specific roster: investment simulation, endgame team pair optimization, relic farming priority. Those don't exist on the free sites because nobody's built them. It works out to about $2-3/mo depending on the pass length, which mostly just covers hosting and the time I put into keeping everything updated.

I also added a free 3-day trial that auto-activates on first sign-in. No credit card, no payment method. It unlocks the premium tools for 72 hours so you can try them on your real roster before deciding if they're worth anything. 

**"The scores feel arbitrary."** This is the one that stung most, because it's the one I'm most aware of. You'd see a character scored at 87 with some eidolon adding 3.3 points and there was zero explanation for why. No formula, no methodology, nothing to verify. Just "trust me." So instead of arguing in the comments, I built a page that shows the actual math.

# So what's on your methodology page then?

The real formulas, not summaries. Interactive calculators that run the same code the site uses. Pick any character, toggle eidolons and light cones, watch the score update live. Build any team, see the exact synergy penalty and DPS/support weighting. Drag a slider across every tier threshold.

Beyond the calculators: how relic grading works (three axes, every threshold from S to D), a full walkthrough of how the team generation pipeline actually picks teams (composition-guided, not brute force), seven expandable algorithm cards covering every personalization system on the site, a limitations section publishing everything the system can't do, and a live changelog.

[**starguide.gg/methodology**](https://starguide.gg/methodology)

# What's actually changed in these 2 days since the last post?

* Published the full scoring methodology with interactive calculators
* Added a free 3-day trial for premium features for logged-in users (no payment method required)
* Multiple data corrections from user feedback submissions already shipped

Feedback is coming in through the button on every page, and I fix things as they come. If you spot something wrong, whether it's a misclassified light cone or a teammate rating that feels off, tell me and I'll look at it. I genuinely want the criticism. Last time most of it was about perception, which was fair, but if you have anything actionable (this score is wrong, this team makes no sense, this feature is confusing), that's what helps me the most.

You called my roster-based HSR team builder AI slop, so here's the FULL methodology behind it.