This is where discussions for Any% shall be had. New discoveries, new glitches, etc!
If you need to get in contact with me, you can do so through my discord server at https://discord.gg/clue or my email at kaykayclue at gmail.com
i'm interested in learning the game but ever since i started it the routes changed a lot twice :D can we have maybe a discord server for the game? i'd be interested in sharing strats and routes there :)
Going a bit into Cat-apult/Cataport/Ultra Sip, it seems to be influenced by location (both direction and distance from the cafe), how much of the dismount animation has passed, and angle the spirit cat is standing at against the ground (very often sharp angles will activate some failsafe and return to the cafe).
Setups that seem viable that I've found or seen: Near the tree just past the treehouse, early use. Goes to Witching Woods, requires summoning spirit cat for optimal speed. Near the flower shop, late use (found by Emphabet). Goes straight to Rosa, skipping the menuing for the giant cat's position, probably optimal if consistent. Early dismount results in being launched further from Rosa, requiring spirit cat or orb cat. Various positions and timings along the mountain path end up near the giant cat on the Golden Grove side. Behind the waterfall, late use (found by Emphabet). Also goes near the giant cat in Golden Grove.
As for furniture clip, it feels more consistent by immediately rotating the furniture although I don't have any actual hard data, just suspicions.
Cat-apult - I have noticed differences in the distance of my catapult when the forest spirit cat (FSC) is a member of my party vs when it is left at my cafe, for example in my submitted run, I was able to just clip into Witching woods on my first catapult, in a this run I had FSC set to my cafe, however when I have done the same thing with FSC in my party I have been thrown further sometimes off of the map. I also believe the warps are different on switch but I have no way of proving this.
My current locations include - Flower Shop to entrance of Witching Woods - Bridge in the Mountains to right next to the giant cat - Top of the hill in the middle of town to under the map in Witching Woods (mentioned later in Invisible Walls)
Furniture Clip - I have had the most success with clipping above the stairs, my best time so far from talking to kiva to clipping outside is 14/15 seconds I haven't tried rotating the rug but rather just putting it away and taking it out again. The reason for using this specific corner is even if you clip through the floor you land on top of a cabinet which allows you to still do the clip whilst if you land on the floor it seems significantly harder or impossible to perform the clip which is what occurs in the closest corner to the door.
Invisible Wall Clips - The invisible wall clip that has been part of my runs to this point is The one above the construction cats on the path to Cutie City. Done by lining up with the furthest tree on the left (when flying away from Freya's house) and then hugging the invisible wall until you clip through
I am also aware of one beneath Witching Woods that can be used to clip into Golden Grove, I achieve this by warping under the map and landing in a ravine, from here I use the broom stick to fly up and under the ravine and through a visible hole, I follow the wall and can get under the floor in Golden Grove, I believe this could potentially save time on my any% run if used to talk to Daisy slightly quicker but I haven't tested it yet.
By using the furniture clip, it is possible to completely pass through both sets of Construction Cats (Snowbell Mountain Pass and the poison flowers of Cutie City) as well as the rocks to Snowbell Mountain from Heart Village. I don't think this has any viability in runs as you can not mount animals whilst in this mode however if a way of dramatically speeding up the run speed or finding a way to mount animals/the broom stick whilst in this mode is found time could maybe be saved.
Misc - If you use the furniture mode whilst riding the ferris wheel the cart will fall off and on to the floor (no use in speedrunning just funny)
I have also found that after doing the mission for Kai that moves the giant cat butt from the log it is possible to climb the wall of Clover Coast to pass into Golden Grove whilst using the furniture clip.
That's a good point re:cabinet as a backup for the furniture clip, that would make the risk much lower at the cost of being on the opposite end of the cafe (although realistically it wouldn't lose more than a few seconds and if it is indeed more reliable then it's likely better).
I have not been able to replicate the cat-apult for the aforementioned flower shop location exactly but I have had similar useful results by doing an immediate launch from a spot just onto the slope behind the two small trees behind/next to the flower shop. It's probably slower, but only by 5 seconds or so and it's super consistent.
As for invisible wall clips, I think there's a lot of potential there especially if there is one that can get directly from Rosa to Golden Grove as it would cut out the second cat-apult. This possibility feels unlikely, however.
I was wondering if there might be a cat-apult setup to land at Daisy but looking at the map I can't think of any locations that could get that result that would still save time. If there is a spot that would work for that it would be an automatic 5-10 second time save if it's about as fast to set up as the waterfall or mountain path spots.
I have hugged the invisible wall in Witching Woods to Golden Grove but it seems the only gap is under the map which without a catapult is going to be difficult to reach. I will test any way to clip through the floor to get to the gap but I don't know of any consistent way to do so yet.
As for landing directly at Daisy they closest I have come is flying over Freya's house to a small ledge but even then I am still some distance away. I don't think it has any time save but I will keep investigating.
I will also add that based on what I have seen (from other attempts) the Switch version of the game has more consistent yet smaller catapults, this could also just be down to my timing though. The Switch version of the game does seem to have differences compared to the PC version however I am not sure which is going to be faster.
Okay hello here are my findings My partner Twelve and I found the catapult glitch. Normally, with precise timing, it shoots you directly to the opposite spot on the map. If we say the cafe teleport spot is 0, 0, 0, I believe it changes your position from X, Y, Z, to -X, -Y, 0 That means I can calculate jumps with just a ruler, and have done so, with a lot of accuracy. However, if you wind up below the ground, you usually get shunted off into the nearest ocean, so many spots are no-gos for catapulting. I have not personally seen any difference with direction or angles or party/cafe, but I may well be wrong.
That's when it's performed normally, with the timing in this image, as you're sliding off the side of the animal https://imgur.com/a/0Mk6Wx4 It IS possible with other animals, the timing is just more precise. I do not believe it is possible with the broom, because it has a different dismount animation, though obviously that would be huge.
I definitely have a number of cases of it not 'pulting as far, but I haven't gotten them consistently (and haven't explored it as I do not currently have a use case for a short catapult). It also looks like the switch version gets less distance than PC, which I'll explore soon.
As for catapult locations: My preferred for witching wood is halfway between Poppy and the nearest tree to the east. That deposits me in or around Rosa's house, very close. For Daisy, you can get directly to her with the trees near Freya's house. However, I don't use that. The broom is faster than the cat, so it's better to get into the woods and on the broom fast rather than taking the comparatively slow cat. I'm working on precision with the final clip, the giant cat, but my best so far is just up the road into the mountains, nestled right next to the first tree. If you go from the far end of the witching woods, you can get to the field outside the city. It's significantly slower than the clip, but it's worth keeping in mind.
As far as I can deduce from experience and a ruler, there aren't any more useful clips to the current route, just Rosa and big cat. I don't believe there's any way to get to Autumn, Lumi, or Xin directly, even if it were faster.
(As a side note, here's an easy time save I haven't seen much: there's a "toggle run speed" button bound to right stick on console and to nothing on PC that makes you always run at top speed, no windup)
Did preliminary investigations on Switch: using the same technique, catapults are MUCH shorter on switch. Freya's house takes you to the middle of the Grove, Poppy's house takes you to the middle of the Woods, and as far as I can tell it's impossible to jump into the city. Maybe there's another technique or timing, but it looks a lot worse for the route.
With the switch version of the game I found teleporting quicker leads to greater distance, also when I teleport from the flower shop with the forest spirit cat set to party and a quick teleport I am thrown off of the island much further than I normally go, I am going to test a new Switch route which may be quicker when I am at home later, however it seems PC may be the way to go.
Just had something very interesting happen.
Whilst testing new catapults to get to daisy quicker I was able to maintain the jump of the forest spirit cat whilst unmounted. I used a very quick dismount teleport from the small cliff next to Heart Village and immediately jumped. I have not been able to replicate it yet, I landed in the path between Witching Woods and Golden Grove before getting stuck inside the invisible wall. This could have just been me getting almost picked up by the invisible wall but if it is possible to maintain the jump and more importantly speed of the forest spirit cat it could be big.
Hopefully this isn't a one time glitch and is something that can be replicated.
Question. I've been practicing the furniture clip, and I've been able to pull it off twice now, but when I land on the mushroom where the forest spirit cat is, it's not showing up in my list of animals, so I can't send it to my cafe. Is there something I'm missing? I've been running around on top of the mushroom and bumping into the cat's legs trying to get it to show up, but it's not there.
You need to tap the pet button (E on keyboard, forgot what on controller) to add it to your list.
Re:angles for cat-apult, the slope of the terrain is definitely a factor...sometimes. I don't fully understand it but based on the testing I was getting wildly different distances depending on slope on some spots on the mountain path, whereas most other locations it wasn't as much of a factor. I kind of wonder if it's something to do with the angle of the player hence the apparent variations with timing.
Also toggle run speed is set to left shift on keyboard, at least in the version I'm on. It admittedly took me a while to figure out.
Okay, so here's the catapult holy grail: I've often, for reasons I'm not sure of, gotten shorter catapults. Maybe angle or timing or direction. Has anyone found a way to make them longer? That would be huge.
Re:Catapults
I will try to post a video at some point but I have noticed that if I have the Forest Spirit Cat (FSC) set to party and I then do a catapult making sure to teleport as fast as possible (from the flower shop) I get considerably further catapults and FSC stays with me to shorten any running I have to do.
I have two theories as to why this may occur:
1 - The game is trying to teleport FSC with me which slows the game down and sends me further this may be the reason for why I am the only one to have reported this as I am also the only Switch player. Because the Switch is not as powerful as a PC (I don't understand computers enough to go into detail) the effects are greatly increased.
2 - The catapult/teleport potion is also accounting for animals at the cafe when it is teleporting you. Since FSC is at the cafe and will be teleported there, the game includes it's location when deciding where to place you down which leads to shorter catapults (this is unlikely but I really have no idea how it works).
Obviously these are both just theories and it is fully possible that it is coincidence that my catapults are further when FSC is in my party.
I believe that the speed of the teleport is most important when determining distance but it also seems to act differently in different locations, potentially taking into account height. It very much seems the only certainty with the Catapult is that it is related to the dismount animation from regular mounts (it does not seem to work with the broom or Roly Poly)
(Side Note: Got a very clean furniture clip on a recent run that fell apart on a catapult )
Update on previous post.
Here is a video that seems to confirm that at least on Switch the distance of a Catapult is correlated with whether FSC is set to Party or Cafe. I attempted to replicate the warp exactly, please excuse the camera, I do not have a capture card and I bumped it which is clear when you watch the video.