I think it should not be separated, because in my brief time with 1.2.0, I saw that I still had a 4 city block, 1 hideout path for the HQ. The lower elevation for certain objectives and reduced damage of certain enemy types may actually even be in favor of 1.2.0, since except for the map algorithm sometimes wanting more lengthy pathways, there otherwise were not many nerfs for the player.

Did a run where I only do the boss HQs:

I Agree.

It is possible to not do any city blocks and skip straight to the HQ by having one save already at the HQ start a session, then have the new save join in, and have the host save leave, allowing the new save to do the HQ boss without doing any other city block. Would this be allowed in Any% or not?

Could Age of Empires Online be added to the series? While the official version does not run, there is a fan server which does not have any changes that significantly effects speedruns. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Empires_Online The fan server: https://www.projectceleste.com Speedrun Attempt: