there are only two fixed ratios in a CVT - low and high - the variator does the "variable ratios between those two fixed ones"
please open up a CVT gearbox and study it.
high ratio = maximum pull at full power takeoff
low ratio = cruise with no engine load.
Now if you have never operated a CVT equipped car with more than 2.5 litre engine capacity or have never operated a yacht/boat you will never understand the way a CVT applies power.
nissan altima comes with a 3.5 or 2.5 litre engine with a CVT gearbox behind it. Both cars at 85 km/h operate at 1200 rpm, if you press the go pedal about half way , the 2.5 litre car has to kick up its rpm to pull the car, the only way it can kick up the rpm is if the pulleys shuttle to an acceptable reduction ratio.
the 3.5 litre car does not require the shuttle, the engine has enough torque in itself to pull it at that same ratio.
similarly when accelerating from 120-200 km/h in the 2.5 litre altima the rpm meter is nearly buried to the redline as the designers knew the engine does not have enough nuts to pull the 2 ton car, so the gearbox makes the car feel lighter to accelerate - however the owner loses considerable fuel economy when accelerating at that speed.
It gets really really worse and the gearbox badly overheats if the car is fully loaded and is climbing a hill.
the 3.5 litre car does not suffer that much power loss and the gearbox remains in lower gear as the engine has more than adequate power to climb the hill.
the same is applied to smaller CVT vehicles including scooties - heavier operator on scooty will result in more rpm on the engine as it requires more engine rpm to generate the pulling torque required.
please buy a junked gearbox and tear it down, then buy some repair data and go through the power transfer flow charts - you will understand how the cvt works in relation to engine torque. In simple words - the dynamic function of a CVT is completely dependant on the fixed parameters provided first.