Canyon Mine Easy Mode Speedrun

This is a guide on speedrunning the canyon mine on easy mode. 
This is the list of things you will need for the speedrun and what they are useful for, and how to use them.
ITEMS:
30 Valerian: This allows you to move faster and intern save time on the run.  (Amount of speed and time it lasts for depends on what level of foraging you have) Make sure to use another valerian every time the boost runs out so that you will always have a speed boost. Also use a valerian before entering the first floor.

At least 15 pieces of pray: You want to have fifteen pieces of prey (mainly a rabbit because they give you more hunger) because when you hit rocks it lowers a saturation point by one and your hunger will lower pretty fast. Make sure that your prey is at the top of your inventory so when you see that your hunger goes to 99% you hit r to put the prey in your mouth without opening the inventory screen then hit the space bar to consume it. Also be sure that before you enter the first floor that you have your hunger at 150% so you have a speed boost at the beginning and you won't have to eat for a while.

At least one healing herb: If you have found most of the power paws on the file you are using for the run you want to have at least one healing herb just in case you get dangerously close to dying from taking damage from bats. If you haven't found many of the power paws take 3 healing herbs or more.
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Sprint: You want to have sprint so you can gain a boost of speed every so often, the higher you've upgraded sprint the less cooldown time there will be.

Wild Slash: Wild slash will allow you to break more than one rocks at once in a small area around you, the higher you've upgraded wild slash the less cooldown time there will be.

Deep Cuts: Deep cuts allows you to do the same thing as wild slash but the cooldown time is longer.

STRATAGY: breaks rocks that are near you when you enter a floor so that you can work your way around the floor without having to walk all the way back somewhere and loose time. Don't worry about killing bats, it wastes time and they don't do much damage on easy mode. Use your wild slash and deep cuts skills where there is a big cluster of rocks. Last strat is if you see a rock sparkle don't bother breaking it because it means it has prey or a valuable gem inside of it and not the door to the next floor.

Thank you for reading this guide and I hope it helps. Have a good day :]

Main Quest Overall Routing

These are my ideas on how to best route the main quest- if you have ideas/suggestions leave them in the comments! This is by no means a "you must do xyz to succeed", but my personal routing for the game. 

Beginning the run
----------------------------
> Select the Mountain Domain. This is due to the item pool that can be received as gifts from the NPCs here.
> Remember to select your difficulty (suggested very easy).
> Remember to buy the sprint ability.

Important NPCs
----------------------------
These NPCs are extremely important for your runs, and befriending them is imperative. RNG is HUGE here, so you need to make sure you're maximizing your potential. If you manage to hunt/find the item you're befriending the cat to get, however, you no longer need to spend valuable resources on them and can ignore them for the rest of the run.

> Arthur
      - Arthur is one of two of the only cat in the game that can give the player Bluejays. Alternatively Robin can be used for this purpose, however the best gifts for them are more difficult to come by.
      * The best gifts for Arthur are Black Hare, Rabbit, Turtle Meat, and Catnip.

> Luna
      - Luna can give the player two important items; Cardinals and Banded Darters.
      * The best gifts for Luna are Goldenseal, Valerian, and Catnip.

Collecting Difficult Items
----------------------------
> Catfish - Completing tasks, costs 14 task tokens. Recommended to be the last task board item to get since, if you are lucky, you can find Catfish in the wild.
> Blue Ladybug - Completing tasks, costs 14 task tokens. Recommended to be the first task board item to get.
> Winter Blueberries - Completing tasks, costs 2 task tokens.
> Cardinal - Befriending Luna.
> Bluejay - Befriending Arthur.
> Conch - The beach or Savannah's shop, costs 80 mews.
> Tiger Butterflies - found around the world, but if RNG is bad, can be bought from Ember for 25 mews.

Power Paws
----------------------------
Power Paws can be essential to keeping your run going, but there are a few that should be left alone until the time is right. Power Paws to ignore until it's time (of which is explained in the next section) are:
   > Walking Trail
   > Weeping root
   > Central Bend
You may decide to skip some power paws if they're too out of the way to get, for example the one in Highland East.

Gem Progression
----------------------------
First - Purple (Hallowed Garden)
   > Due to how the game works this one must be done first. It's recommended to get all the required items before Coco invites you to the temple, or wait to enter until you get them.
   > You need 3 Mice, 2 Squirrels, 1 Black Hare, and 1 Rabbit.
   > The puzzle order goes, from left to right: Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Purple.

After this, it's recommended not to activate any of the pillars until all are ready to minimize time loss from the cutscenes. However, leading up to this, you need to remember to increase your reputation with the other colonies so they're ready for you. 

You can find a full list of how much each item will increase reputation here: https://cattails-game.fandom.com/wiki/Reputation?so=search, but I tend to just give doves. On average, it takes ~18 doves per colony to get to 50% rep, so you need to hunt at least 39 doves in your entire playthrough (including 3 needed for the quest). It will take 6 in game days to deliver 18 doves to each colony, so it's recommended to begin giving the doves at the very beginning of your run. The best place to get doves is the Hallowed Garden, as doves are obscenely common here and Cardinals also have a chance to spawn.

From here, it's time to activate all the pillars and begin the end game gem grind. Make sure you have all power paws you can possibly get besides the ones stated in the above section.

Second - Blue (Graveyard)
   > Do everything as you would in a normal playthrough.
   > Afterward, head to the Walking Trail and retrieve the power paw to restore your health.

Third - Pink (Canyon Ruins)
   > Do everything as you would in a normal playthrough.

Fourth - Green (Abandoned Cottage)
   > Do everything as you would in a normal playthrough.
   > Afterward, head to the Central Bend to retrieve the power paw to restore your health. 

Fifth - Orange (Prairie Copse)
   > Do everything as you would in a normal playthrough.

Sixth - Red (Weepingroot)
   > Before you head inside, circle the tree to get your final power paw and restore your health.
   > Do everything as you would in a normal playthrough.
   > Head back to the sacred temple to finish your run.

----------------------------

I hope this is found to be useful for someone, and good luck on any runs!

World Domination

Would not call this a guide wholeheartedly, it is very barebones. More so an information compilation.

The goal is to claim every single free tile of the map, so influence is what you want.
Sources of influence change:
Walk into tile (+3 inf per day) (+1 inf from allies)
Diplomacy (+20/22 or 23/25/27 or 28/30 inf)
Defeat rival cat (+2 inf)
Battle win (+25 inf)
Lavender (+10-20 inf based on foraging level)
Overnight changes (- or +, varying by modes. V.Hard goes up to 35 from observation) (changes can occur in claimed tiles <100% or next to (enemy) claimed tiles including those at 100%) 
Out of these options, lavender can be harvested and bought reliably and stockpiled for great influence increase in a short period of time, they will carry the run. 
Diplomacy is powerful and without a hard use limit but has a long-ish cooldown (240/225/210/195/180s, an in-game day is ~576s) 
Battles are unpredictable and may take place in already claimed tiles, which becomes a timesink as not joining may end up in loss. The random appearance of rivals is also unreliable and relatively weak.
Entering tiles as a method of influence gain should only be considered for completing a claim to save up on lavender or diplomacy. 

Mews are used to expand the inventory and buy lavender from Delta (or Peanut). A larger inventory allows you to make less lavender resupply runs while spamming them and carry more items for selling.
From experience, your sources will be battles(+1/3/5 per enemy cat), other plants, and prey. 
Recommended that doves (5 mews/48% hunger) and bass (8 mews/56% hunger) are kept for selling instead of eaten. Frogs (2 mews/43% hunger) should be eaten instead of kept for selling. Black hares (5 mews/54% hunger) sell better than rabbits (4 mews/53% hunger) with minimal hunger value difference.
Sell price of plants:
2 Mews: black berries, blueberries, goldenseal
3 Mews: raspberries, licorice root, valerian
4 Mews: marigold (lavender but there's no point)
5 Mews: snake lily
15 mews: catnip
Prioritise carrying high-paying plants when inventory is filled.

To improve effectiveness of lavender and diplomacy as well as efficiency of battles, EXP is also of consideration.
Sources of EXP:
Sleeping (+5EXP, 8 hrs after last wake)
Foraging (+2EXP per harvest)
Fighting (+2EXP per defeat)
Hunting (+1EXP for success, pounce not required)
Uncover staircase in mines (+1EXP) (not suggested)
Task Board (+25 EXP for 3 tokens) 
The major source will be from foraging, which is predictable, quick, and relatively high-paying. While lavender is the focus plant, other plants along the way should also be grabbed for this purpose. Task board should be considered as helpful bonus if a favourable task is assigned, but not included in planning.

Onto skills, what to upgrade/get would depend on difficulty. These are merely suggestions based on experience.
Core skills, deduced based on V. Easy difficulty:
Fighting Lvl4: a higher dps can end the fight faster, damage is same at lvl4 and lvl5
Foraging Lvl7+: make the most out of lavender, valerian, and berries. valerian gives 20% boost starting at 7, 25% at 10
Sprint Lvl3: Levels for cooldown
Diplomacy Lvl3+: Equal to/better than battle win. 3 uses can be done in a day at Lvl4/5 if used back-to-back
Warp Temple Lvl1: Should not need to have a shorter cooldown, though 100EXP to decrease 30s is not bad
Not quite required:
Hunting: if a blue jay/cardinal/catfish spawns, high hunting on harder difficulties would be favourable
Swimming Lvl4: may be unnecessary with certain routes. 
Deep Cuts: (1/1/2/2/3) damage based on levels, for battles in harder difficulties
Summon Allies: (2/2/2/2/3) allies based on levels, for battles in harder difficulties, or 1% inf per ally spawned. 
Heal Allies: (4/4/5/5/6) hps based on levels, for battles in harder diffiulties.
Lion's Roar: quickly end a battle if used properly by running the enemy troop offscreen. Best used in tile corners and open areas where they are twice as likely to run off and cannot get stuck. Note that enemies running off do not count for defeat influence bonus, give EXP, or drop mews, this only helps with daily battle tiles. 
Other battle skills: Personally do not find them useful.
Warp Home: unlike temple, this is likely deep in the region fully claimed by your side. The time stop effect should not be notable for speedruns either. 
Passive skill upgrades cost:
By level: 22, 28, 38, 52, 70, 102, 138, 178, 232, 260
Total to reach the level: 22, 50, 88, 140, 210, 312, 450, 628, 860, 1120
As the cost increases, it is not recommended to reach max level for passives.
Skills to unlock/upgrade early would be sprint, foraging, and swimming, as they help with speed. Battle skills and Diplomacy should be left for when they come into use later in the run.

On stockpiling lavender, they may be harvested around the map (32 total) and bought from Delta, Peanut, or Spring festival. This is a speedrun so ignore Peanut as an option and choose Mountain Domain.
Lavender regrow five days after harvest except in winter, run across the map in an efficient route to grab them. Just pick and drop to let a new plant grow, they will not disappear on the ground and it is better to carry items for selling. This can change for later cycles if you decide to disperse them for influence spamming. Aside from lavender, pick up and use valerian to increase speed, keep various prey and plants for selling.
Route which I have taken in my runs: https://imgur.com/a/4c522JY
Try to get as much festival tokens as possible before the first spring ends, lavender is only worth 1 token so there is no loose change. Also leave your purchases at the temple. The second summer festival is pointless to attend unless you know you are short on mews and would like to sell confetti bags (6X9=54).

For battling and health matters, try to kite (hit and dodge) and/or walk along tile edges to lead enemies into leaving the tile. Sleeping should heal any damage well enough, but should you really need healing, grab a couple of power paws near the lavender plants. Leave the healing herbs for mews. 

Keep your hunger at 150% for the speed boost at all times. Also note that your true max hunger is 350% so feel free to stuff down 4 extra rabbits after reaching 150%.

tl;dr, this is the schedule:
New save > choose Mountain Domain > Start (Day2) > unlock sprint > fill hunger to 150%+ > run around to pick and drop lavender, use valerian, and keep other things to sell, upgrade skills along the way (Day2-3) > sell things to Delta on return and expand inventory > check taskboard (> do task if it's convenient) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day7-8) > sleep > walk down and join summer festival (Day10) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day2-3) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day7-8) > sleep > autumn festival (Day10) > sleep > winter festival (Day10) > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day1-2, note this is spring) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day6-7, again note the date shift) > sleep > Spring festival, spend your tokens (Day10) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, sell, taskboard (Day1-2) > sleep > run around again, upgrade, do battles, sell, taskboard, buy lavender from Delta (Day6-7) > start spamming lavender and diplomacy > finish spamming lavender and diplomacy, complete
Route map if you don't want to scroll up https://imgur.com/a/4c522JY

Can also consider getting temple warp, den warp, sprint, diplomacy and use diplomacy, then just wait out the cooldowns while time is frozen in dens and temple ruins, running back to unclaimed tile, but that's very tedious and I'm not sure how fast that would be. You can skip the rose, trinket, molby cutscene if you never sleep.

Nome	Autore
Canyon Mine Easy Mode Speedrun	Scorchclaw 4 years ago
Main Quest Overall Routing	cricketcore 2 years ago
World Domination	Aaiknn 2 years ago