Routing paste: https://pastebin.com/1QdFBXQ0 Pokemon Emerald manipless All Gold Symbols is my biggest speedrunning project to date and will likely take more than a year to route. Unlike other speedrunning categories, this one is actually not possible to run until enough improvements and preparations are made, as the run is 20+ hours long and requires a lot of mental stamina. As such, I thought it would be useful to create a changelog for people to see the major improvements as they're made. 2013-2018 - Manip run routed and completed twice in <20 hours; spreadsheets created to assist with Frontier decisions 2018-2021 - Manipless concept discussed during streams (but assumed to be impossible in <24 hours) May 2022 - Manipless concept revisited and concluded to be possible with extensive prep work; primary reason for this conclusion was the effectiveness of Slaking in individual facilities runs - Ruleset created: No S&Q except the required one after E4; no actions performed immediately after E4 that could be considered a manip - Frontier team created (DD Gyarados, mixed Swampert, CB Slaking) June 2022 - Created initial battle strategy notes for each facility - Created initial route through main game - Changed Slaking's 4th move from Fire Blast to Aerial Ace - Changed Slaking's main attacking move from Return to Double-Edge for Dome and Palace - Refined EV spreads (102 Speed Gyarados, 125 SpA Swampert, 81/91 Speed Swampert) July 2022 - Tested Substitute + Leftovers strats with Gyarados (with RestChesto Swampert), strongly considered using them over RestChesto strats - Changed Gyarados' 4th move at Arena to Dive - Changed Gyarados' 3rd and 4th moves at Palace to Body Slam and Leer (with most natures) - Tested Hyper Beam strats with Gyarados at Arena, strongly considered teaching Hyper Beam over Return October 2022 - Improved initial route through main game (includes early SpA EV training to get L46 for T&L) - Tested and created some usable (but still suboptimal) EV routes - Created and tested Battle Factory spreadsheet to aid decisions in real time - Created Battle Factory lead strats: https://pastebin.com/XpU87rhg November 2022 - Created Battle Tower spreadsheet to aid decisions in real time - Confirmed Substitute strats with Gyarados at Tower and Dome (and likely Pike) - Changed Gyarados' Speed to 112 (and possibly 117 for Arena + Palace) - Changed Gyarados' Tower item from Leftovers to Sitrus Berry, then from Sitrus Berry to Silk Scarf (Swampert now gets Leftovers) December 2022 - Changed Slaking's 4th move from Aerial Ace to Double-Edge (so it has Return + Double-Edge) - Began to add premade strats to Battle Tower for each individual Pokemon, which can be used situationally in other facilities as well - Considered 86 Speed for Swampert - Found PP stalling strat to beat Snorlax2, one of the team's biggest threats January 2023 - Created EV calculator spreadsheet for variable stats (Swampert only) April 2023 - Discovered Daycare strats for Slakoth May 2023 - Confirmed that NPC berries can be obtained a second time after midnight July 2023 - Completed all 6 Battle Factory tier lists - Created Battle Factory team strength calculator for current team and possible swaps February 2024 - Updated all 6 Battle Factory tier lists, primarily to emphasize speed in early rounds and safety in later rounds