A steadier route to the 2048 tile

Define “fastest” before optimizing. Wall-clock speed rewards queued swipes and animation settings, while fewest moves rewards board quality; random tile placement makes records incomparable unless the rules and seed match. For a reliable fast run, preserve several empty cells, combine small tiles away from the anchor, and enter the main chain only when a cascade is prepared. Pause after any move that changes the preferred edge. One deliberate recovery is faster than ten inputs that fill the board with incompatible values.