Magikrab's Gauntlet

Magikrab's Gauntlet is a series of randomised combat encounters aboard one of the Mer-Line's interdimensional trains. It was added to the game on 20 November 2024 as part of Version 1.7.

The Gauntlet is unlocked after the player has defeated Aleph Null and completed Part 4 of Take Me On. To enter the Gauntlet, speak to Magikrab in Platform B of Night's Bridge Station. The side quest The Midnight Train starts after Magikrab introduces the Gauntlet to the player.

Overview

Magikrab's Gauntlet is an infinite battle mode where the aim is to go through as many carriages—or rooms—as possible, facing a series of battles that get progressively harder. It is divided into trains that consist of 50 carriages each. The last carriage of each train contains a boss fight.

Throughout the Gauntlet, items are limited in use, though the player can encounter café carriages where they can heal, access the tape storage, claim rewards, or buy items. The deeper the run, the further cafés are spaced apart, and the more expensive the items get. These café carriages also serve as checkpoints that the player can resume from in the future if they lose in battle, or choose to leave the Gauntlet.

In the Gauntlet, battles will feature modifiers in the form of infinite-duration status effects that are present throughout a given battle. The upcoming enemy's level, type (regular encounter, miniboss, or boss), and modifiers are shown to the player.

Taking part in the Gauntlet rewards a substantial amount of  Fused Material and  Metal which the player can claim at a café. Upon winning a battle, you increase the potential reward by a number that depends on the current streak, the carriage number, and the Gauntlet's difficulty. Losing in battle, exiting the Gauntlet, or quitting the game, however, removes all unclaimed rewards.

If the speedrun timer is enabled, the player can input a seed, which affects the carriages as well as the encounters in the Gauntlet.

Streaks

Streaks keep track of the number of battles the player has won since entering the Gauntlet. Streaks end from claiming rewards, losing a battle, or exiting the Gauntlet. This means that getting a high streak requires going through the game in one sitting, as leaving the Gauntlet by any means will reset the streak back to zero. The game keeps track of the longest streak for a given difficulty.

It is unrelated to the farthest carriage reached by the player, and it is not necessary to begin at at the first carriage to start a streak.

Difficulties

The Gauntlet offers seven difficulty levels:

• Normal
• Hard
• Harder
• Even Harder
• BRUTAL
• Hardest
• Impossible

The selected difficulty only sets the starting difficulty of the Gauntlet, however. As you clear trains, the total difficulty increases. This makes several things, such as the number of status effect modifiers, enemy tape count, overspill, or café carriage interval, more disadvantageous for the player. The enemy AI and levels are not affected by this.

The total difficulty level for any carriage can be calculated using the formula below. It starts at the selected difficulty (Normal = 0; Impossible = 6), and increases by 1 for every cleared train, i.e. for every 50 carriages. Boss carriages and, starting at Hard difficulty or carriage #51 on Normal, miniboss carriages have their difficulty level increased by 1. This increase only applies to that carriage.

${\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{total}}={\begin{cases}\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{Carriage Number}}-1}{50}}\right\rfloor +{\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}+1&{\text{if boss or applicable miniboss}}\\\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{Carriage Number}}-1}{50}}\right\rfloor +{\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}&{\text{otherwise}}\end{cases}}$

For example, carriage #148 on BRUTAL difficulty (level 4) has a total difficulty level of 6:

$\left\lfloor {\frac {148-1}{50}}\right\rfloor +4=\left\lfloor 2.94\right\rfloor +4=2+4=6$

This section is incomplete. Feel free to add the missing information by editing it.

Status Effect Modifiers

Battles can have status effects be inflicted at the start of battle, and have an infinite duration. These status effects are displayed just before entering the next carriage. Any displayed debuff is applied to the player team, while any displayed buff is applied to the enemy team.

Applying an opposing buff gets rid of the infinite debuff counterpart, and applying an opposing debuff gets rid of the infinite buff. For instance, acquiring Multitarget via Echolocation can get rid of the user's infinite Unitarget and replaces it with a finite amount of Multitarget. These infinite statuses can also be removed by using New Leaf or using a Cure-All.

The following lists all possible infinite status effects that can occur in a carriage. The number of statuses is equal to the total difficulty of a carriage.

Player Debuffs		Enemy Buffs
	Accuracy Down		Accuracy Up
	AP Drain		AP Boost
	Burned		Contact Dmg Beast
	Conductive		Contact Dmg Glitter
	Confused		Deflated
	Evasion Down		Double Speed
	Evasion Nullified		Evasion Up
	Flammable		Gambit
	Fog		Ghostly
	Glass Bonds		Healing Leaf
	Leeched		Healing Steam
	Melee Attack Down		Inflated
	Melee Defence Down		Locked On
	Poisoned		Melee Attack Up
	Ranged Attack Down		Melee Defence Up
	Ranged Defence Down		Mind-Meld
	Shrapnel		Multistrike
	Snowed In		Multitarget
	Speed Down		Ranged Attack Up
	Tape Jam		Ranged Defence Up
	Unitarget		Speed Up
	Window

Rewards

For each battle carriage you clear, you obtain potential rewards as described by the below formula.

${\text{Rewards}}=\left({\text{Streak}}+\left\lfloor {\frac {{\text{Carriage Number}}-1}{10}}\right\rfloor \right)*\left({\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}+1\right)$

For example, winning a fight in carriage #148 on difficulty BRUTAL with a previous streak of 40 yields 275 potential rewards.

$\left(41+\left\lfloor {\frac {148-1}{10}}\right\rfloor \right)*\left(4+1\right)=\left(41+\left\lfloor 14.7\right\rfloor \right)*5=\left(41+14\right)*5=275$

Café Carriages

The interval between café carriages is dependent on the difficulty of the first carriage of the current train, and calculated using the below formula. The maximum interval is 25 carriages, leading to a café carriage in carriages #1 and #26 of the train. Carriage #49 of each train is always a café carriage.

${\text{Interval}}=\operatorname {min} \left(5+2*\left({\text{Train Number}}+{\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}-1\right),25\right)$

For example, in train #3 on difficulty BRUTAL, the interval of café carriages is 17 carriages (#1, #18, #35).

$\operatorname {min} \left(5+2*\left(3+4-1\right),25\right)=\operatorname {min} \left(17,25\right)=17$

In addition to the interval, café carriages also change item prices based on the carriage number and selected difficulty, which is determined by the below formula. See the "Item base prices" table on the side for the base price referred to in the formula.

${\begin{alignedat}{1}{\text{Value}}=&\lfloor {\text{Base Price}}\\\ &+a*\left({\text{Carriage Number}}-1\right)+b*{\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}\\\ &+c*\left({\text{Carriage Number}}-1\right)*{\text{Difficulty}}_{\text{selected}}\rfloor \end{alignedat}}$

The values $a$, $b$, and $c$ stand for the price increase per carriage, the price increase per difficulty level, and the price increase per carriage and difficulty level. In general, $a={\frac {\text{Base Price}}{10}}$, $b=1.0$, and $c=0.1$.

For example, in carriage #148 on difficulty BRUTAL, a Rewind costs ×94.

$\left\lfloor 2+{\frac {2}{10}}*\left(148-1\right)+1*4+0.1*\left(148-1\right)*4\right\rfloor =\left\lfloor 2+29.4+4+58.8\right\rfloor =\left\lfloor 94.2\right\rfloor =94$

Other

• Starting with total difficulty 1, overspill is disabled, i.e. NPC characters do not take health damage.
• Starting with total difficulty 1, all enemy tapes receive the Machine Curse sticker.
• Starting with total difficulty 2, all NPC enemies can fuse.

Summary

Note: This summary only applies to the first 50 carriages in the respective difficulties.

Difficulty	Café	Rewards	Other effects
Normal	Every 5th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: ×Streak ×Carriage number, divided by 10, rounded down	Overspill enabled No modifiers +1 modifier against bosses (not minibosses)
Hard	Every 7th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 2	Overspill disabled All tapes have Machine Curse 1 modifier +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses
Harder	Every 9th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 3	Overspill disabled All tapes have Machine Curse NPC enemies can fuse 2 modifiers +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses
Even Harder	Every 11th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 4	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse 3 modifiers +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses
BRUTAL	Every 13th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 5	Overspill disabled All tapes have Machine Curse NPC enemies can fuse 4 modifiers +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses
Hardest	Every 15th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 6	Overspill disabled All tapes have Machine Curse NPC enemies can fuse 5 modifiers +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses
Impossible	Every 17th carriage (starting with #1)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 7	Overspill disabled All tapes have Machine Curse NPC enemies can fuse 6 modifiers +1 modifier against minibosses and bosses

Encounters

This section is incomplete. Feel free to add the missing information by editing it.

References

Locations

New Wirral Harbourtown • Harbourtown Beach • Harbourtown Outskirts • Upper Path • New Wirral Park The Deadlands • New London • Dino Quarry • Southern Isles • Autumn Hill • Mourningtown Eastham Woods • Mire Sea • Lakeside • Ham • Thirstaton Lake • Cherry Meadow • The Marshes • Marshland Caves Piper Farm • Lost Hearts Graveyard • Cast Iron Shore • The Titania Shipwreck • Mt. Wirral • Brokenhead Harbourtown Gramophone Café • Town Hall • Harbourtown Hospital • Sticker Merchants • Chemists' Store Heritage Centre Mer-Line Stations Harbourtown Station • Glowcester Road Station • Mournington Crescent Station • Falldown Mall Waterloop Station • Cherry Cross Station • Landkeeper HQ • Aldgrave Tomb Station Bard Street Station • Icelington Station • Night's Bridge Station • Power Station Others Dead World • Magikrab's Gauntlet Pier of the Unknown Brightside Pier • The Witch House • Cosmic Zone • Funworld