FAQ: Spore any%

any%

What is this speedrun?

any% is starting a new file as a cell and playing through the game to the Space Stage, where I reach the center of the galaxy. Timer ends when I start the cutscene at the Galactic Core.
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Why are you a carnivore/predator/social/religious/zealot?

This path is chosen because it's the fastest route as I know it. Cell Stage is moderately fast for carnivore, Creature Stage is moderately slow for predator (kill a lot of creatures), but Tribal Stage is very fast with social and Civilization Stage is very fast with religious. This setup is chosen to make me a Zealot in the Space Stage, which is how I gain a lot of money in the Space Stage to make my voyage to the Galactic Core faster.
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Why are you starting and exiting new worlds?

The "ending cutscene" is in the center of the galaxy. In order to increase time save, I'm spawning my starting planet closer to the center of the galaxy by starting and exiting other save files.
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Miscellaneous Information

Cell Stage: Collect as much meat as possible, equip herbivore mouth to ensure a safe and successful creature/tribe stage. I start with a 2-eyed Herbivore to get an extra Flagella as soon as possible, which increases my movement speed.

Creature Stage: Start by befriending the first 2 creature packs, then kill everything in sight. Everything. Pretty straightforward. I am specifically looking for parts that give max speed to make my tribal stage faster, but that's about it. If I don't get a lot of parts to start with I might reset because it's difficult to play the Creature Stage without Strike and Charge.

Tribe Stage: Socialize with every tribe. I aim to collect nothing but food early game (ignoring the first tribe spawn) until I get about 110 food, then strategically place my tribe members across the land to give gifts to the tribes that hate me, while rotating my social tool count (Wooden Horns, Maracas, Didgeridoos) to the new babies that spawn. Arguably the fastest segment of the run (ignoring cell stage which is super short).

Civilization Stage: Religiously conquer everyone, I start with fast vehicles to quickly gain the spice mines, then change them into religious and bulky vehicles. After conquering my continent, I gain access to Airplanes which I will use primarily in the later stages of Civilization Stage. I plan to sell my buildings at some point to afford the Fanatical Frenzy superbomb which ends the stage.

Space Stage: During the first mission, I fly between solar systems with infinite energy to quickly gain Frequent Flyer 3 badge, which unlocks the Interstellar Drive 3 (which allows me to fly a considerable distance from solar system to solar system). With Zealot, I gain the ability to instantly control a planet, so my goal is to find home-planets that are T3 with 10 Cities. Once I capture the cities, I sell every building until I get about a million or so sporebucks. Then I purchase Interstellar Drive 3, several energy and health packs, and make my final voyage to the Galactic Core.