The Polyarch antechamber puzzle involves enabling the access from the elevator of the Crankshaft cavern to the Hive of Kaptar. It can also be solved in such a way as to establish a quick passage from the Hive to the Temple interior. If one is after finishing the game without a complete exploration of each Cell, this second part is not absolutely necessary.
Prerequisites[]
The Platforms of Kaptar puzzle and all its prerequisites have to be solved, so that the elevator of the Crankshaft cavern can be reached.
For the exploration oriented solution, a prerequisite is also that the Sphere of Hunrath has not been previously rotated and is in its original position in the game. If it had been randomly rotated, unfortunately, we have to go back by means of the swap device that first brough us to Kaptar, make sure the Sphere's lower entrance is facing the folliage of the last tree of the Bosque (with partial view towards the Supply yard) and come back the same way.
The Polyarch antechamber[]
to the Polyarch antechamber cave
Using the elevator at the end of the catwalk, we come to the lower entrance of the Polyarch antechamber. Inside there is a wooden platform with a seed-swap device and a wooden staircase leading to an upper opening at the left. The passage of this opening is closed by a door that has to be opened from the opposite side. There is another upper opening on the opposite side, and on careful inspection, there is one more opening just below the one of the left side. There are two ways to proceed, the fast way through, with no interest for further exploration, and the exploration oriented one.
The fast way through solution[]
to reach the lower left opening
In the first case we only need to reach the lower exit of the left side. Activate the seed-swap device to Hunrath and use the rotator to turn the wooden platform 270° (it only moves 45° anticlockwise at a time, so the button must be pressed 6 times). Swap back to Kaptar and the way to the Hive is open. Provided you have disconnected the lower left shaft, go all the way down the hive, exit at the lowest end, pass under the stopped wheel of the machine and the way to the Tree of Kaptar and the Heart is completed. On the way back, the platform has to be swapped once more to Hunrath and turned 90° more, and swap back to take the elevator back to the top and move to the next stage of the game.
The exploration oriented solution[]
positioned in its place in Kaptar
In the exploration oriented solution we want to end up with the Sphere of Hunrath placed in the antechamber opening, after the upper left passage has been opened by use of the wooden platform. For this solution to work, as said above, the Sphere in Hunrath must be in its original position. So once again, swap to Hunrath, but this time rotate the platform 180° (4 clicks) and after swapping back, open the door of the upper right opening, swap back, rotate 90° more (2 more clicks), and back. Now however, instead of rushing down the Hive, upon exiting the opening, we have to look carefully for the first right turn, which is only a few steps ahead, marked by a wooden structure. We can also see Polyarch Del, the Remainer Arai, nested in his shell at this junction. Enter the cave, click on the bar to unlock the door and open it. Go back down to the platform, swap back to Hunrath, go across to the Supply yard, up the backhove shovel lift to the Scrapyard, up the ramp to the seed-swap machine that leads back to the swing bridge of Kaptar, go the Temple plateau and use the underpass to get to the Temple interior. Go up the steps to the right and into the opening in the wall. From there the Polyarch antichamber is reached via its upper right opening, with the lower opening leading to the waiting elevator, and the upper left opening leading to the Hive, the War room of Kaptar and further down the Hive to the Tree of Kaptar and the Heart.
After this solution of the puzzle, the Polyarch antichamber, in its original Kaptar position, offers a fast shortcut between the Temple interior, the Hive, and the elevator to the Crankshaft cavern, for further exploration.