June 2025 Mini Archipelago (In progress)

[5qwerty]

I'm gonna be home in maybe an hour and a half so I can get testing then

Thanks for setting this up

 

[Explorer of Time]

Everything's still working fine for my games. I'm ready to start whenever everyone else is.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Devalue, when you get a chance to start the real server, can you tell me what class you ended up with in Slay the Spire, and what civilization you picked in Civ 6? It'll make it easier to write stuff for my game summaries.

 

[Devalue]

Devalue, when you get a chance to start the real server, can you tell me what class you ended up with in Slay the Spire, and what civilization you picked in Civ 6? It'll make it easier to write stuff for my game summaries.

Already knows both of those in advance.

Chose Ironclad for Slay the Spire. Usually picks them for the first game back from a break (which is frequent). Feels most comfortable with them.

Plans to pick Cleopatra (Ptolemaic) for Civilization 6. Usually leaves the leader on random. Decided to turn on all the game modes (and ban Voidsingers) on Deity difficulty for a spicier game. Ought to go with a decent leader. Wants Cleopatra for the flood immunity. May change that up later, depending how the seed goes. Relies on getting good faith and tourism stuff, most likely.

 

[5qwerty]

Ok I'm all set up and good to go

 

[Arcaneum]

Apologies for the wait, had a little passing out incident yesterday evening alas

Tweaked YAML attached - I did have to just use the old one because it seems the beta one is currently broken. I did test this in a server though and the game runs fine and checks seemed to be sending

 

[Devalue]

Apologies for the wait, had a little passing out incident yesterday evening alas

Tweaked YAML attached - I did have to just use the old one because it seems the beta one is currently broken. I did test this in a server though and the game runs fine and checks seemed to be sending

Ought to try it out on a test server quick, in case of weird APWorld issues.

Room: [Link]
Server: archipelago.gg:58108

Attached the spoiler log and the patch file. Distrusts the patch file in the room. Usually never gives one for beta games. (Realizes this to kind of being a supported game, but still.)

 

[Arcaneum]

Ought to try it out on a test server quick, in case of weird APWorld issues.

Room: [Link]
Server: archipelago.gg:58108

Attached the spoiler log and the patch file. Distrusts the patch file in the room. Usually never gives one for beta games. (Realizes this to kind of being a supported game, but still.)

and now it's broken again... I'm going to just drop Red as I think I've broken it using this beta apworld file - just setting up another game now

 

[Devalue]

The Actual Server

Room: [Room Link]
Server: archipelago.gg:58943
Cheesetracker: [Cheesetracker Link]

Disabled the need for Discord for the Cheesetracker, per usual.

Attached all the patch files. Say something if one of yours is missing.

Full Game List

• Slay the Spire (x4) (5qwerty)
• Metroid Prime (Alex_Among_Foxes)
• Zelda 1 (Alex_Among_Foxes)
• Civilization 6 (Devalue)
• Pokemon Crystal (Devalue)
• Slay the Spire (Devalue)
• Clique (Explorer of Time)
• A Link to the Past (Explorer of Time)
• Starcraft 2 (Explorer of Time)
• A Short Hike (Explorer of Time)
• Final Fantasy V Career Day (Setsuna)
• Castlevania - Circle of the Moon (Setsuna)
• Outer Wilds (Vendily)
• Rain World (Vendily)

Totals 2307 items. Recalls about 10000 in the last Archipelago.


@5qwerty @Alex_Among_Foxes @Explorer of Time @Setsuna @Vendily

Edit: Now with the patch files.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Clique

This game is already done. I just pushed a button to get one check, unlocking my Protoss Annihilators. Now, time to use them.

Starcraft 2:

Year: 2506 CE

The End War is nigh, and the Koprulu Sector is doomed. The Nerazim Protoss are fighting a valiant struggle against the forces of Calamity Ganon, who has not only slain the Queen of Blades and taken full control of the Zerg Swarm, but hijacked the Khala to mind-control all Protoss connected to their species' group mind. The Terran Dominion is on its last legs, reduced only to its homeworld of Korhal, and all of the rest of Terran space has either fallen to Ganon's corruption or lies in ruins. Still, the Nerazim fight on, as even if they perish in this fight, they will weaken Ganon's forces so that future civilizations may achieve what they could not, and they will leave behind caches of equipment, magic, and technology that their successors may use to win the fight once and for all.

(Note: This is basically the In Utter Darkness timeline, but with Ganon taking over Amon's role. Anything I write in SC2 chronologically takes place before anything else I write in this multiworld, since my Protoss are going to end up as precursors to every other civilization. I'm going to try and end this run on In Utter Darkness if I can.)

Mission 1/21: The Growing Shadow

Several Stalkers were deployed to Aiur, where they captured a Khalai Nexus containing Remora Esper Magic (FF5). The Nerazim then built a base, collected Blue Water of Life (Zelda 1) from a nearby Void Pylon, and warped in several Dark Templar and a pair of Annihilator mechs. The Protoss then razed the nearby Zerg bases on Aiur, and secured two more Void Pylons, which only had a regular Spear (Rain World) and Seashell. Then, the Dark Templar leader Zeratul personally took the field, captured a Mothership from the northern Khalai base, and took its Launch Codes (Outer Worlds) to bring everyone aboard, taking the ship back to Shakuras.

Mission 2/21: Amon's Reach

Upon returning to Shakuras, the Nerazim found their capital of Talematros nearly completely occupied by Zerg. They deployed a squad of eight Dark Templar to clear the way for evacuation ships, and along the way retrieved the MysticKnight Crystal (FF5) from a launch bay, and a Heart Container (Zelda 1) from a vault in the city. The evacuation ships brought some Food (Zelda 1) with them, but the Talematros Library was a near complete loss. Only a single book detailing how to create medieval-era Stirrups (Civ6) was salvageable.

Mission 3/21: The Spear of Adun

The Nerazim Protoss evacuation fleet returned to Aiur, landing at the site of the Spear of Adun, the last remaining Protoss Arkship. They destroyed the four Power Cells with a mixture of Dark Templar and Archons, and unshackled the ship to serve as the new Nerazim flagship. They also recovered the Thunder Badge (Crystal), the Agility Ability (FFV), the Levia Esper Magic (FF5), the Magic Powder (LttP), and the Earth Badge (Crystal), rescued from the Protoss and Zerg still on Aiur. The Nerazim will not return here for quite a while.

@5qwerty, if you can get Relic 7 from 5qwertyDefect1, that will single-handedly put my SC2 in Go Mode. No rush, though. There are other ways I can enter Go Mode and Carriers are just the most convenient way to do so.

 

[Vendily]

Did a quick little session before bed, to BK Rain World, and grab a handful of checks for Outer Wilds.
Outer Wilds will need longer sessions to start with because I got Sphere 1 Launch Codes and a Translator. Oh well, only so much I can do to delay those showing up.

To set expectations, Rain World does not need much to goal. This doesn't make it fast, just that outside of limiting access to the different regions of the game, there's very little actively blocking me at any given time. As for goaling, I need to collect 9 Karma upgrades (there should be 11 in the pool) and a route to a specific region in the game (there are a number of connections to said region, so I feel it'll likely open up before I get the required Karma). You don't need to ping me for finding a Gate, because it only helps if it opens access to a new region (or easier access to annoying corners of a given region). You also don't need to ping for Karma unless I got 4 of them and haven't gotten the Survivor check yet, or I got my 9th Karma.

Outer Wilds as usual requires a lot of stuff, so I'll make a list as we progress farther into the game.


Progression items collected this session:
Power Bomb (Main) - AlexPrime
Scan Visor - AlexPrime
Energy Tank - AlexPrime
Book of Mudora - ExplorerOfPast
Flute - ExplorerOfPast
Seashell - ExplorerOfTrails
Card Draw - 5qwertyHeart
Progressive Diplomatic Quarter - DevalueCiv
Breach Override Codes - VendilyOW
Translator (Hourglass Twins) - VendilyOW

Rain World is a survival platformer game with a really rich ecosystem brought to life with procedural animation and cool behaviour AI for the various creatures. It is also really, really deadly (arguably unfair at times), so it's a bit of a hard sell when it comes to recommending it, especially if you are the anxious sort. But I like the way the world is designed, it feels lived in, with fruits growing in inaccessible locations out of reach, and dangerous predators that can camouflage into the environment or swoop in from offscreen making learning all their tells vital. The various creatures even hunt and fight each other, not just you. Also has a cool modding scene (I need to update my own mods now that I got one ending for the DLC).
If the Steam page seems interesting, maybe consider picking it up when it goes on sale.
Thanks to my YAML settings, deaths only cause me to lose the time I spent in the cycle, roughly. Normally dying matters more (locking off access to areas temporarily).

On this session, I completed the tutorial, which was complicated by the fact that an apex predator, the Red Centipede, was spawned blocking the exit from the tutorial area thanks to a trap sent by 5qwerty. I tried to lure it into the neighbouring room, but I ended up pulling it through the pipe and it grabbed me completely and electrocuted me. So, I had to run the tutorial again.

Spoiler:

I also grabbed all the checks in Outskirts, the first region of the game. I ended up having to redo the cycle 3 times. The first time was because the game disconnected from the server and froze. The second was because I was going for a check and got snapped up by a wandering green lizard that blocked the only exit (I was screwed either way, because the pit I was in would kill me if I didn't get out of it).
Outskirts has exits to Farm Arrays, Industrial Complex, and Drainage System. And checking the tracker, I see I got the Farm Arrays and Drainage System gates. So now I can pick between Touching Grass and Drowning. Yippie...

 

[Explorer of Time]

A Short Hike
Update 1

Hawk Peak Provincial Park, Egypt
Ancient Era
~10,000 years after the End War

Claire, a scout for the Egyptian civilization, has uncovered a large cache of Protoss relics on Hawk Peak Island. Though most of the technology here is too advanced for such a low-tech society to understand, such as the blueprints for the Solar Bombardment cannon, there was still a large amount of understandable knowledge here. The teachings of the Protoss have not only taught the Egyptians Writing, but also a way to set up a complex Education system with universities.

The texts here also detail Sailing tech alongside Celestial Navigation techniques to ensure these ships go where they're intending to, and the detailed star charts here have also accidentally taught Egypt the secrets of Astrology. The Games and Recreation of the Protoss are also just as playable in ancient Egyptian society as they were in the space age. Finally, a detailed study of Protoss culture unveiled that, at the point in history where they left these ruins, they were an authoritarian culture that utilized a State Workforce, with heavy use of the Conscription and Corvée policies.

They also left a very large amount of magical knowledge and equipment behind for the non-Civ games, especially FF5, and also notably had Crystal's Strength HM left here. There's too many Progression items to count since this game is very front-loaded, so I'm not going to bother listing them. Crystal's the only game that's even marked as BKed so far, since it's so early.

 

[Explorer of Time]

A Short Hike
Update 2

Immediately after posting the last update, I received the Motorboat Key and Stick. Testing out the newly-invented ship allowed Claire to uncover the Military Traditions of the Protoss, teaching Egypt how to use flanking and support bonuses, and the Maneuver and Strategos policies. While practicing the popular Protoss sport of Beachstickball, Claire also figured out how to use Butresses to build Dams, though this is less useful to Egypt because its civilization bonus makes it immune to river floods.

 

[Devalue]

Will be a half-quick update. Wrote up some of this beforehand.

Pokemon Crystal (Update 1)
Goal: 16 badges and defeat Red.

Tossed in a few odd game changes, such as Route 32 access (going south of Violet) being random between the three options and Whirlpool for the shiny Gyarados. Went with blind trainers and double experience for reasonable levels of speed. More notably messed with the Pokemon. Randomized stat distribution (but kept BST the same), types, move power/accuracy, and move types.

Offered Sandslash, Jynx, and Chansey as the starters. Weighs in at similar BSTs. Picked Sandslash as favoritism. Turned out to be Psychic/Dragon with a good Special Attack and Speed stat. Felt pretty pleased with it.

Tore through the early game (well, after whiting out on the second wild Pokemon). Learned a 73 power Psychic-type Dig at level 6, fittingly. Added to that arsenal further with a 93(?) power Psychic-type Mach Punch.

Rolled easy passage into Azelea Town, apparently. Beat Bugsy, who was stronger than everything else around (14-16 versus the level 8s). Stopped shortly after with a Cut tree blocking the way to Goldenrod City.

Items:

• Stepladder, Charge Beam, Boost Ball, and Thermal Visor for Alex_Among_Foxes
• Gate: Sky Islands to Farm Arrays for Vendily
• Golden Feather (out of logic) and Arbiter for Explorer of Time
• 4th Tablet and Pyramid Page for Setsuna
• A Card Draw for 5qwerty
• Progressive Theatre Square and a Relic for Devalue (and some other nice things).

Slay the Spire (Update 1)
Selected the Ironclad on Ascension 7. Felt a little shaky on the game (and others). Played it safe instead of the usual 5-10 Ascension.

Reports nothing too exciting. Started with a single relic from Crystal. Relies primarily on the shop, thanks to half of card drops getting eaten by Archipelago. Grabbed Rampage, Headbutt, and Shrug it Off. Not ideal, but sufficient. Cleared the Act 1 boss. Died to the Act 2 stabbing book elite, however. (Left it at 5 hitpoints.)


Civilization 6 (Update 1)
Difficulty: Deity
Game modes: All (Apocalypse, Barbarian Clans, Monopolies and Corporations, Secret Societies, Tech & Civic Shuffle, Dramatic Ages, and Zombie Defense)
Game speed: Quick
Other: Banned Voidsingers. (Goes that route too often.)

Usually plays on Deity. Rarely turns on half of these modes, namely Dramatic Ages, Apocalypse, and Zombie Defense. Tends to be a lot less chill, thanks to improvements constantly breaking and regular attacks. Dislikes how the AI gets to cheat on Dramatic Ages. (Loses 40% of cities versus the AI's 10% during a Dark Age.) May be able to make that someone nicer through Archipelago. Spawns two of your strongest melee land units as rebels when cities turn. Turns off techs to just have to deal with Warriors, in theory.

Chose Cleopatra (Ptolemaic), rather than random. Ignores the worst of Apocalypse (well, minus the meteors) with Egypt's ability. Likely aims for a culture victory here.

Promises to be an unusual game.

• Likely avoids expanding too hard. Typically settles everywhere possible. Means more rebel cities, however. Shoots for some taller cities with a few small cities to take the bullet during the inevitable Dark Age.
• Wants Progressive Preserve. Leads to National Parks, for one. Also wants to build Preserves on some jacked-up floodplains. Provides tons of appeal and hopefully yields.
• Settles inland, rather than coastally (ideally).

But who knows? May just smash some faces with heroes and a strong unit.

Had a bad time getting a good spawn. Restarted for a better location. Crashed the game every time. (Not a new issue, but usually not this consistent.) Grew tired of waiting 15 minutes to reload and eventually just accepted what it gave. Began a river in the plains, sandwiched between the ocean, a desert, and tundra. Was further not helped by zombies and barbarians roaming around. Causes no major issues fortunately.

Snagged most of the early items. Tried restarting again. Crashed again. Saw a really good marshy area before it crashed, though. Autosaved that, fortunately. May stick with this one.

Constructed a Holy Site early on. Wanted Lady of the Reeds and Marshes (+2 production to the maybe 8 marshes around) now. Lacks a lot of production in these kind of areas otherwise. Doubled down on marshes by building the Etemenanki (+2 science and +1 production to all marshes, and +1 science and +1 production to all floodplains in the city). Set about to settling after that.

Feels a little iffy on the Preserve idea. Works against negative appeal marshes. Actually got one from Vendily, though, so sure. Has not really come online yet.

Mentions some really nice luck. Learned about Hercules in a tribal village. Absolutely grabbed him. Builds districts instantly. Serves as good muscle to keep Portugal at bay too.

Went with Vampires for the Secret Society. Plans on some good tile yields. Makes sense to lean further into it.

Received one Progressive Era from Setsuna. Went a little further into techs/civics. Remembers Ether for Link to the Past in there. Fell a few turns short of another Golden Feather for A Short Hike. Will be in a Golden Age for the next era. Leaves one less issue to worry about for now.

 

[Setsuna]

Keeping this one relatively short, I'm not entirely done my first pass but I'm stopping for now and will continue with what time I have tomorrow. Both games are unblocked.

Circle of the Moon got off to a really strong start, though I was remembering particularly why it's not really my favourite Castlevania. But between a YAML setting to enable the Double jump in my own world early, getting lucky enough to pick up my Kick Boots, and receiving the Roc Wing very early, it means most of the castle is immediately open to me. I could clean out about 70% of the game right now if I wanted to, but the big issue is just having to fight overleveled enemies in Circle of the Moon where movement isn't very good. It's a pain. Getting specific cards (Unicorn, Thunderbird, maybe a couple others, I was lucky enough to get Uranus on my own) and HP/MP upgrades would definitely help, but it'll mostly just be a war of attrition I'm fighting through on my own for this one. Cleansing was something I hinted for and could grab immediately in FFV, so the only things I really need are my Tackle, my Heavy Ring, and my Maiden Detonator. Since I'm doing all bosses, all of these three are mandatory eventually. 58/124
SetsunaOfTheMoon's Tackle is at VendilyOW's Ship Log: WHS 1 - Warp Towers
SetsunaOfTheMoon's Heavy Ring is at AlexZ1's Level 2 Key Drop (Ropes Entrance)
SetsunaOfTheMoon's Maiden Detonator is at VendilyRW's Sky Islands - Karma Flower - SI_A20)

Final Fantasy V was also off to a fantastic start once I picked up my Samurai Crystal from CotM. It's incredible how powerful of an attack Zeninage is, and I've cleared out a third of the game either just by exploring and picking up items, or by decimating bosses that I'm severely underleveled for with the timeless strategy of having more money than them. Cleaning out that much of FFV in something like 1 or 2 hours is really something, and I managed to get my Adamantite as well meaning a decent chunk of the next part of the game is open to me, I'm just gonna get to that later. I stopped playing once my wallet felt empty and the trail of blood I was leaving behind was getting thicker.
Getting things like high level Summon and Black magic will really help if I ever need it, and Mystic Knight is really nice to have as a starting option. Things like Equip Ribbon, Break Sword Magic, Haste2, the standard White Magic (Cure3/Cure4, Raise/Arise, Heal), and any kind of equipment is always going to be helpful as I'm very comfortably in the midgame. I haven't done any hints yet since I'll still need a lot and FFV is still pretty open, but I'll mention again that I need all 4 Tablets (though I already have the 4th) and the Bracelet for my goal, but the Bracelet is the thing that really opens up the game. From there, any page or key is much appreciated. If I need anything, I'll probably hint tomorrow. 117/360

 

[Explorer of Time]

A Link to the Past
Update 1

I started up LttP, picked Twilight Princess Zelda as my custom sprite, and collected all my Sphere 1 checks. Notably, there were two Progressive Eras for Civ 6, putting it up to the Renaissance Era. Link's Uncle also taught the Egyptians the Exploration tech, enabling the Merchant Republic government and the Press Gangs and Colonial Offices policies. I also bought my Camping Permit from the Bottle Merchant. It's very late and I don't have time to play more tonight.

 

[Vendily]

Reviewing hinted items.
ExplorerOfPast's Progressive Sword is at VendilyOW's GD: Enter the Ocean Depths
I need Tornado Aerodynamics Adjustments to reach this check.

SetsunaOfTheMoon's Tackle is at VendilyOW's Ship Log: WHS 1 - Warp Towers
I need Translator (Other) to actually activate this check, but I do have access to it.

SetsunaOfTheMoon's Maiden Detonator is at VendilyRW's Sky Islands - Karma Flower - SI_A20
Guess I'm touching grass. I can reach Sky Islands via Farm Arrays, but that region is on the slower side to cross, thanks to the Worm Grass that infests it.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Oof, that start time really messed me up... I didn't have a chance to play at all yesterday and now I'm sorta worried that my games are both going to be close to GO mode from the beginning... >.> But whatever. I hope we have more of these short bite APs in the future, though.

Edit: I got through a solid 6 Levels in Z1 in just my first sitting, but I'm going to hold off going further for now due to lacking a better sword for Level 6, and Level 8 is firelocked for now. Pretty much everything else in the game done now, though, with exception to Ganon's Level.

 

[Explorer of Time]

A Short Hike
Update 3

With the Camping Permit, some more Coins, and more Golden Feathers, Claire was able to find or buy a bunch of FFV abilities, including DethClaw Blue Magic, 2-Wield Ability, Break Sword Magic, Ifrit Esper Magic, and Smoke Ability. She also found a Boss Relic for Devalue's Ironclad and a Card Draw for 5qwertyHeart.

 

[Explorer of Time]

@Devalue @Vendily @5qwerty I've made hints for everything I need in A Short Hike that's not a Golden Feather, Seashell, or Coins.

• One of my two Fishing Rods is 5qwertyIronclad's Boss Relic 2. If I get my other Fishing Rod, this is more or less useless.
• My Running Shoes are Renaissance Civic 26 in Civ 6.
• My Shovel is found in Elm's Lab, as a gift for returning the Mystery Egg.
• I need a Headband, so Devalue will need to beat Morty in Crystal and go get me his headband.
• The Shell Necklace is the item on 5F of Radio Tower in Crystal.
• My Wristwatch is in GD Ship Log: Probe Tracking Module 1 - Millions, in Outer Worlds.
• My Fishing Journal is in DW Ship Log: Starlit Cove Archive 3 - Anomaly, in Outer Worlds.
• One of my Buckets is in Rain World's Farm Arrays - Echo. I only need one bucket, so if I find the unhinted one first, this one is useless.