Preface: I was asked to give some tips for sub 1k speedruns. This guide is the result.
It's been many versions since I last tried a speedrun. Notable changes since then (if you find old videos): Heavies will probably be a huge problem; drag mechanic was introduced that makes scuffed flight builds much harder to work with; DSF could be of some help.
My #1 tip: Don't equip flight units until you have armor/prop shielding. I see too many people do this and regret it.
Some map sense:
Main exits in Mats always spawn at the ends of 3-tile wide corridors. If you spawn in a corner, almost always all 3 main exits occupy the other 3 corners. If you spawn near the middle of a map edge, almost always all 3 main exits occupy the middles of the other 3 map edges.
Storage and Recycling are viable routes, getting better the higher you find them (since they are small and easily navigable maps that allow you to skip harder Factory floor(s) ). Main exit in Storage is always in the opposite corner to your spawn. Recycling entrance is always in one of the other corners. Recycling exit is always in a random corner.
Factory and Research I never properly figured out.
An exit at the end of a 5-tiles wide corridor in F is a guaranteed main exit. An exit at the end of a 4-tiles wide corridor in R is a guaranteed main exit. In R there usually seems to be a long rectangle of empty space (seems to be more than half the map long and 30+ tiles wide), resulting in a map in shape of O (empty space doesn't reach the edge) or C (or rotated variants; when empty space touches the edge). This usually results in 1 or 2 bottlenecks where all the patrols go through and the digs to avoid those are going to be very long.
R branches: Exit is always top right or bottom right. You may be lucky and it might be in a straight line from your spawn. So R branches are good to go into, unless you know you are already close to the main exit.
Armory: The first exit is near the center of the map. The map usually looks a bit like a toppled S: You can spawn at top right or bottom right. Assume you start top right (the other case is symmetric). Main corridor will go down until the bottom, then left along the bottom until it reaches the middle of the bottom edge. Then up, passing by the exit, until it reaches top. Then left again, until it's near the end of the map. Finally it turns down until the bottom of the map. A toppled S.
Garrisons are generally not worth going through. I don't have experience with DSF, so I don't know about those.
Access: Your spawn and each of the exits must be far away from you. Without loss of generality assume one POI (Point Of Interest; in this case spawn/exit) is near top left corner of the map (doesn't have to hug the edges of the map, though; just near-ish); assume the map is longer horizontally. Then, another POI is near the middle of the map, slightly towards the opposite long edge (near bottom in our case) of the map. The last POI will usually be near the other corner along the same long edge as the 1st POI (top right in our example). Of course you can rotate and mirror the example. Finally, 3-tiles wide corridors are rare outside of C prefab, so if I noticed one during my speedrun, I'd often just turn around and go visit the other side of the map looking for Surface. Sometimes, if I judged I'm close enough to C, I'd still go through C, though.
Command: If you spawn top, the exit is bottom and vice versa.
Back when we played a lot of speedruns, there were 3 common "strategies":
1) Core hover with prop armor, relies on map sense and little time spent gathering components.
2) High hackware. If you're lucky to find enough of it, you may want to go towards the centre of the map while hacking Access(Main). Then, you are not far from the nearest main exit when you finally succeed the hack. Results in the least number of moves, though you may spend extra time picking up hackware and protection. And you won't be getting lucky by running into an exit early on the floor.
3) Flight build. Preserve a good build throughout your run. Armor necessary. Various sensors, hackware and auxiliaries are good, too. Spends the most time picking up parts, but is faster to make up for it.
Depending on what you find, you may switch between those strategies. In general, do not underestimate the time cost of picking up items. You may be tempted to go for a full build, but it's often better to just use core hover with prop armor with most of your slots empty. Don't force the build if items aren't close enough (at the edge of your vision is generally too far in a speedrun).
