The MouseHunt Thread: Episode V

[Ithilwen]

Still in Muridae Market, but I'm getting close to finishing it. I only have the Cartographer left, and I have collected 16 Papyrus so far.

I've had the worst luck with the soccer tournament so far. Haven't got a single goal yet.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Ithi, don't really worry about papyrus. At one time, the papyrus base was worth getting, but now there are much better options.

I seem to remember them saying a LONG time ago that the papyrus base would be upgradeable at one point, but that day has yet to come.

[fantasia]

She needs the Papyrus to build the Cartographer I think. *looks it up* Yeah, it requires 25 papyrus to build.

I seem to remember them saying a LONG time ago that the papyrus base would be upgradeable at one point, but that day has yet to come.

There was never an official statement made, only a rumor. And it was based on that rumor I farmed all 98 Papyrus in case I needed to craft the base.

59th Warmonger down... no trap part drop. It's been a long time since I've gotten one. I've been hoping to get a SBM for my friends who still don't have the Monstrobot or a Crystal for my sis-in-law who doesn't have the Sphynx yet.

Oh, and I got the football theme last night. Kind of weird.

[ceppault]

It's been a long time since I've gotten one. I've been hoping to get a SBM ...

Getting those parts to drop seems to be quite the long haul.

Entered into the Fire Station log over the last two days:
10 June 2014

Two Vermin Eliminator Reusable Systems (VERS) in place on Captains's desk in Emergency Operations Center (EOC) due to increased seasonal traffic. Please use caution around systems as injury (or death if one is a mouse) can result if fingers are caught.

11 June 2014

VERS contained two of the Rodentia Order overnight. Remains turned over to Nature for reclamation services.

The Captain lost a full half of her Butterfinger candy bar to the mice in one night. I set out traps. Overall, mice are cute, just not in the fire house - as we cannot have a mouse loose in the fire house. An sensible level of humor is permitted in the official log.

Arduous Map completed. Thank you for allowing my participation Excellent haul on the Treasure Chest. 247,500 Gold, 162,500 Points, 13 Shards of Glass, 3 Super Warpath Mage Charms, 33 Stale Cheese, 3 Spellbook Charms, 9 Wealth Charms, 3 Master Fang Shards, 7 Tokens of the Cheese Fang, 1 Rook Crumble Charm, 5 Runes, 20 SUPER|brie+ and 40 Ancient Charms from 1 Rare Arduous Treasure Chest (Season 2).

[fantasia]

Cep. I like your entry logs.

Had a two day Rift tourny that we were unable to place in, but the nice thing is that I, at least, managed to restock my potions. Plus I got tons of points and leveled another percent. (Man, Grand Duchess goes slow...)
Then today we jumped on a Furoma Masters tourny at the last minute and took third.

Jacob drew (what I assume was) the upgrade for the shark trap today. I didn't get a screenshot, though I'm sure it's on the forum somewhere. Hoping that area comes out soon.... kind of bored.

[Ithilwen]

I finally collected 25 Papyrus and was able to rebuild the Cartographer yesterday. Then I ordered my Living Garden key which I just now received.

I am now hunting in the Living Garden for the first time. I have 15 Sponge Charms armed.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Here are the answers for today's soccer challenge:

Falling Carpet: Wait then dodge before impact
Master (Belt): Pass to a teammate
Flutterby: Pass low to a teammate
Moussile: Defuse situation
Ghost: Hold hands with a teammate
Bruticle: Sidestep nimbly
Snooty: Half Time Tea
Aim for the lower left!

I netted (pun not intended) 5 gold lockers with this

[Varnafinde]

I like Living Garden - but it takes some time to understand it.
The basic mechanisms are ok - farm petals to get cheese for the next areas, and farm essences, do mini games (or not) along the way - but I don't really know how to see that I'm about to reach the intermediate goals (the traps). With mostly A and B essences, a few Cs and one D, I think I have a long way to go even for the first trap - so currently I guess the strategy of just getting as much basic essences as possible, is good enough.

Then I try to catch the various mice and craft the best cheese in the Rift, and then there are treasure maps, assignments and tourneys - I got two more tokens from that Furoma Masters' tourney with fk, so I need another 65 tokens to get the Golden base.

I'm not doing particularly well in the soccer challlenge. But there's gold and orbs even when I don't get footballs to play with, so I guess it's nice enough. I would have enjoyed it more with better luck against the superstars, though.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

Varna, when you catch Twisted Carmine, she'll drop you Gur essences. Mice in the Sand Crypts and the Cursed City drop your lower level essences, but also drop Dol, Est and Fel essences.

It does take a while to complete the garden. . . but it is a pretty fun area.

[fantasia]

I think I have a long way to go even for the first trap - so currently I guess the strategy of just getting as much basic essences as possible, is good enough.

Varna, when you catch Twisted Carmine, she'll drop you Gur essences.

Indeed. Catching Twisted Carmine mice should be your goal (And King Grub mice are often pretty rich as well). I apologize if I'm repeating myself, but my unofficial guess is that one third of my essences leading up to the Icuri were crafted, and the other two thirds were from Twisted Carmine mice.
The nice thing about the LG is once you get your first trap (go for the POWN first!) it gets faster, and continues to do so with every upgrade.
But even so, it's designed to take a few months to complete. I think the devs once said an average of six months? LG maps, particularly rare ones will help.

I have mixed feelings over the soccer/football event. On one hand it's a nice way to get free (and nice!) goodies. On the other hand, I feel like it's a bit of a throw-away event. I guess it's better than nothing.

Looking forward to the Toxic Spill tomorrow. Still my favorite new area this year. I'm definitely ready for the new content though!

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I've been killing time in the Gauntlet waiting for the spill to get down to Duke level. I'm on tier 6 right now. I'd be down for an upper level gauntlet tournie soon, as I should hopefully get 20 or more pieces of tier 7 cheese.

[fantasia]

I need to look and see how much Gauntlet cheese I have. I don't think I have very much, but I could be wrong. *looks* 16 pieces of Tier 5. But I have a nice supply of Tier 4 so if I could make myself hunt in there for a bit (harhar), I might be able to get enough cheese for a six hour tourny.

I have not gotten a lot of love from the game the past few days though. My catch rate hasn't been too bad (with one exception) but my attraction rate for the mice I need has been abysmal. I've been working on a LG treasure map and just could not attract a Twisted Carmine for the life of me. That was out of 13 pieces of cheese I think? King Grub obliterated me until Stwin got him so I quit trying to save him for a future map. It took me well over two days to nab a Blacksmith mouse for my M400 assignment. And then out of 13 footballs the evil football player blocked 10. ouch.
I'm hoping that means that when I get into the Toxic Spill tomorrow I will get lots of love and level up quickly.

*hunts in the ever boring Gnawnian Rift, which IS decent at leveling you up quickly* Hey cep, I bet you'd like the Rift! It's like a three tiered Gauntlet!

[Ithilwen]

Question: Why does it seem to take me longer to do things? Whether it's collecting gold, points, levelling up, getting through areas for the first time... it seems to take me longer than others.

I open MH as soon as I get up, and have it open until I go to bed, and am on all day. Yet, Varna and Gymmie are all pretty far ahead of me, even though I've been playing close to a year longer than them. And most of you have already got 4-12 million gold since Ronza came. I only have 3mill, and that's only because I sold some stuff on the Market.

I earn gold really slowly, and spend about 90% of gameplay farming gold for Ronza visits. So if there's a faster way to get gold, I would like to know what it is. Then I think I could enjoy gameplay more. I mean, last year, I started farming gold for Ronza in JULY, and kept farming gold non-stop until she came. I only had 50mil by that time. (I farmed in Furoma, catching Dojos and Sojos. I'm a Countess. I am on all day, so I blow the horn every 15 minutes.) And since prices go up every year, I probably won't have enough for her next visit even if I start farming gold NOW.

Why am I lagging behind so much? Is it a glitch, or is there some gameplay secret I'm missing?

[fantasia]

Question: Why does it seem to take me longer to do things?
....I open MH as soon as I get up, and have it open until I go to bed, and am on all day. Yet, Varna and Gymmie are all pretty far ahead of me, even though I've been playing close to a year longer than them.

I think there are lots of little things that add up. There is one big obvious answer that I can definitely give you. The fastest way to level in the game is to always hunt in the top level area available. Gold farming and leveling do NOT mesh. You spent a heck of a long time in Furoma farming gold, which is great for when Ronza comes, but it does next to nothing to further your progression in the game.
If leveling is your goal, you must always be willing to hold off on optional content and always hunt in the top level area available. The Toxic Spill is an excellent example... I haven't seen you hunt there yet, but it is hands down the fastest place you can level in the game right now. As soon as it hits your level, you should drop everything else you're doing and move there and at the very least fill up your toxic waste bucket, if not make a push for the Washboard Base.

And most of you have already got 4-12 million gold since Ronza came. I only have 3mill, and that's only because I sold some stuff on the Market. I earn gold really slowly, and spend about 90% of gameplay farming gold for Ronza visits. So if there's a faster way to get gold, I would like to know what it is.

This one is much easier to explain. You went from 50mil gold to almost nothing. I went from 40mil gold to 15mil (and then gave a nice chunk of it away to friends who needed traps which dropped me down to about 10mil). I have made about 2mil back, and that was thanks to the Easter event that ended after Ronza left. (Did you cycle your charge charms and eggstra charms? ) I think you're deceiving yourself on this one. You made gold a whole lot faster than anybody else did when you were in Furoma, and you've made back more gold than I have after Ronza left. It just doesn't look that way cause I didn't buy everything Ronza brought and had a nice chunk leftover.
The top three places in the game to farm gold (to my knowledge) are ...
~Furoma (which you know)
~Varmint Valley (once you have the SLAC II)
~Fiery Warpath (best to farm gold AND level, but you need the Monstrobot to be efficient)

As I mentioned before, you really can't level and farm gold at the same time. You get one or the other, it depends on which one you want more.
Honestly though, it's been a long, long time since I had to farm gold to be able to afford something, like a trap. I find that by the time I have all the supplies to build what I need, I've already made the gold to go with it.

Here is my advice for you. Find out which aspect of the game you enjoy more. If it's leveling, focus on the LG and get those traps (but take a break for the Toxic Spill)! If it's gold, head back to Furoma until you have a nice comfy cushion to work with. And there is no reason you can't mix and match. That's what I do. I'd probably focus on the LG and TS and then when I need a break be like "Who wants to do a train??!?!" to earn some extra gold. (And if you want to do trains and need an invite to the team, please let me know! )

Does that answer your questions? Do you have any others?

[ceppault]

Hey cep, I bet you'd like the Rift! It's like a three tiered Gauntlet!

Noted

Find out which aspect of the game you enjoy more. If it's leveling, focus on the LG and get those traps

Very helpful way to think about it. For me, Izzy, points and gold are mostly irrelevant other than serving my purposes. I picked something I like doing such as eventually getting Silvered on the Eclipse Mouse. You will likely pass me up in points

[Ithilwen]

Does that answer your questions? Do you have any others?

That's about it. Thanks, your explanations helped a lot!

I guess right now I'm going to focus on farming gold, and once I get a goodly amount, I'll move on to other things in the time I have left before Ronza's visit. I like to get my gold farming done before event season, since those take up so much time and usually take place in low-gold areas (though it often makes up for it in Easter Eggs and other prizes of that sort).

Right now I'm farming Ancient Charms in Claw Shot City. I find those really help me catch Sojos in Furoma. And what with all the King's Credits I'm getting from the Soccer Tournament, I should be able to buy a lot of Cheese Tokens.