Unfortunately the Scatter Object internally uses Render instances and, apparently, can't be used as a source for a cloner...
Let me ask around to see if someone knows of a workaround, and in the meantime please report this as a bug/idea from inside Cinema 4D.
Here are a few suggestions.
To create colorful traces you don't need splines. You can use this technique:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0LfxbzmYnk
Use a Fracture Object on the Sweep and colorize each swept spline like you do with any mograph object
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/u9n3apgbydfnhc3t3qko8/SwirlStrokes-Noseman-Fracture.c4d?rlkey=n4fyy0f2tc5daiqldvoytgyuc&dl=0
The Alembic export has a huge (known) limitation. If the first frame is empty, nothing exports. To trick it, you need to add at least a single point. In this scene I added a polygon primitive with 0 size under the Connect Object. It's a very ugly workaround, but it works.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0fmlgj4fbjdb6yvqsakav/SwirlStrokes-for-Alembic.c4d?rlkey=u7v4vpb560w77mv2ohcpt3v9m&dl=0
here's a project:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6l3zq9ntf0bx1eeaxhm9e/object-surface-cloning.c4d?rlkey=s5kqmmxbaozl6q3pyc5ug095x&dl=0
Cloner in Object Mode. Drag the surface you want to clone onto in the "Object" link and that's it.
Please share a scene as this should be very straightforward.
You shouldn't have any problems that don't have some sort of workaround. Whenever you have a scene that has issues, simplify it and post a link here and I can take a look...
.. It doesn’t seem like a complex task...
I learned never to say that to a developer 
It's better if you report it as an idea.
@wing-bend
in the "Help" menu at the bottom -> "Report Bug/idea"
- Baking as a Alembic = If it's gracious enough to work at all, it explodes as soon as you change its hierarchy.
Do you have a sample of this?
Alembic should work as long as you put the Cloner under a Connect Object
...What I want is an object position pass that treats all the objects as one.
May I ask why? If you have a simplified example scene please share and let me know what you're trying to do with the "position pass"
@wing-bend
no option as far as I know, but you could save each object type as a preset with XYZ selected.
Here's how to do it:
From now on you can select any of the presets instead of the default objects.
You could also make your custom layout with your new objects instead of the default ones.
Is there truly no way to simply press a button and have the cloner turn into individual keyframed objects?
unfortunately not...
The "Invert ACES 1.0 SDR-video" is only a last resort to embed brand colors in ACES Color managed renders and cannot guarantee 100% color consistency.
My question is "why are you using ACES Color management when you're doing an sRGB "brand" visual? This is a recipe for headaches.
To guarantee brand colors (99.9% of them are in sRGB Color space), just use a traditional linear sRGB workflow.
If your client requires you to work in ACES Color, then try to add the background and other brand colors in Post.
If you think the behavior is inconsistent, please contact customer support.
Go to this link and find two setups in the "confetti" folder. Hope they help you get started:
https://maxonvfx.com/c4d_quicktips_projects
Select all the objects you ant to reset the Axis and open the "Axis Center" Tool from the "Tools" Menu.
Deactivate "Center" and activate "Alignment".
Set Axis to "All" and "Alignment" to "World"
...but the bogies and the tracks will be fine.
Those are all I need, but if you send some better models it will make things look better
No rush
@hope-series
also, please let me know if you got it to work with the spline adjustment.
If I were to make a tutorial about rigging trains and roller coasters, could I use your models for that? I won't share anything, just show them on-screen.
There's absolutely no issue if you don't want to
I did a quick inspection of the scene and the simplest way to fix the flipping without touching anything else is to move the "Track_03_LEFT" a bit on the Y axis to the other side of the Center. BEWARE: This may NOT be the correct way to do this but it fixes the issue you have...
Here's the project file with that subtle change:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q820vro6ijtswfuxa8ez5/Ride_Vehicle_14_02-Noseman-01A.c4d?rlkey=s34nhcf0e5rdqpnjq7phqpodq&dl=0
EDIT: I realized this affects the orientation later in the sequence. I would advise you adjust that spline to retain your desired orientation...
Keep an eye on this thread because I'm going to see if there's an easier way to rig this without using Dynamics.
Keep doing what you want to do, because I can't promise a timeline or a perfect solution
Unfortunately we do not have a simple way of doing this. The only way is to make sure all the models are properly modelled and Use Boolean Generators.
@hope-series
thanks for the project but there's too much stuff in the scene.
Please remove everything other than the minimum elements that show the issue you're describing.
Also please explain at what frame you see a problem with the flip...
As far as the general rigging question, that's another story altogether and the setup needs to be redone. I'll see if this is something I could maybe make some sort of tutorial about.
This is a question better suited for Customer Support.
As far as I know, from the moment you launch C4D with an internet connection, then you get a 14 day "lease" with your license... but please confirm this with support.