The MouseHunt Thread: Episode V

[shastastwin]

Well, the Bombing Run of all places ruined my Iceberg run. I was falling behind, so on advice from Iceberg veterans, I started over. I'm doing about as well as I should be, but I'd be glad of a little catching up. I did get my Living Salt Egg just now, though.

If this run doesn't work out, I think I may just camp out somewhere and try to farm Charge Eggs. My SB+ stores have been severely depleted by my Iceberg runs.

Remaining Eggs to Collect:
Aether
Big Bad Burroughs
Chrono
Cook
Deep
Dhreller
Gargantua *
Magmatic Golem *
Mystic King *

Edit: Well, that run just bombed itself out. I'm going to stick to LG and Rift areas and farm Charge Eggs.

[Gymfan15]

I'm surprised you weren't able to make one of two runs work...what was your setup? I always did mine with SLMIII, base of location choice, SB+ and Wax, Sticky, Wax, Sticky (alternating sections), but I've heard people having a lot of luck with using Chrome or Ancient charms for the power bonus. I never got why people used the POT in the Iceburg; it may be a better trap overall, but the SLMIII gets a bonus in the Iceburg and your overall stats are better there.

[fantasia]

*takes a peek at Iceburg stats*

Brutal Bulwark Setups (pretty sure this is showing the MK III bonus)

POWN/Spiked/Sticky/GS
Power - 8001 Luck - 36 Attraction 20%

SLMIII/Spiked/Sticky/GS
Power - 8370 Luck - 30 Attraction 10%

Gymmie, I must politely disagree. I totally prefer 6 luck and 10% attraction to 369 power (since I don't use SB+ 100% of the time). And from my own personal experience of my Deep Mouse catches, I've always done better with the POWN. Now having said that, my husband who never gets the GS does much better with the SLMIII. And the charms I use are Wax/Sticky/Wax (if I'm doing good) or Ancient (if I'm just doing ok)/Sticky.

Personal update: My next M400 mouse is the Mystic Knight. I need the Mystic Bishop and Technic King for my map, so it's onto Z's Tower with another shot at the Sock collectible.

FBF: Jacob is drawing a HUD for the new underwater area. Apparently at some point a spoiler was dropped about it being a scuba diving area? I missed it, but what I did see was Jacob scroll through like, 6 or 7 other HUDs in addition to the one he's drawing today, so something tells me this area will be a lot more in-depth (no pun intended) than the other mini-areas that have been released so far this year.

[shastastwin]

I used SLMIII/SB+/Ancient in the first and third areas and the same with Sticky in the second area. No LGS, though I did try it with the POWN when my second run was looking rough. I just quit it before finishing the first area because it didn't look like it was going to start well, and I don't fancy wasting all that SB+.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

So, on the ticker (as many of you have noticed,) it's noted that "Clear skies ahead." I can only assume that means Ronza. Does anybody know if this announcement has been made in the past, and if so, how much it proceeded her visit?

[fantasia]

They have definitely referenced the weather (clear skies) before, but I have no recollection of how much time there was.

[Varnafinde]

Personal update: My next M400 mouse is the Mystic Knight. I need the Mystic Bishop and Technic King for my map, so it's onto Z's Tower with another shot at the Sock collectible.

I've been at the Iceberg hunting for the Stickybomber for that map. I thought I might even go for a Deep run, but I don't think the run is good enough - the Deep egg will have to wait for next year.
But I hope to get the Icewing egg and a Living Salt egg, and of course this new Generals egg. But not Drheller.

I'm currently charging my Eggscavator in the Factory. I've been hunting for a Chrono there, too, but no luck so far. It requires Dark Chocolate charms, which are messing up the charging cycle, so perhaps even the Chrono egg will have to wait for next year.

Didn't somebody say some time that we usually get a couple of weeks' warning about Ronza's arrival? She might turn up around the end of the Egg Hunt, in that case ...
I'm likely to reach 40 mil gold before that. Let's hope it will be enough

[starkat]

Somehow, I actually managed a double tower run. I think that's the first time ever. So I have both king eggs off my list now. I think I may head after the essence guardian egg next.

[fantasia]

@Kat, congrats on your successful double Tower run!

@Varna, Last year we had next to no warning. I think just a day or two before she showed up at MH's fifth birthday party. Prior to that we were given tons of notice. This year has been interesting because they've definitely given MHers ways to earn gold besides Furoma farming. I know my gold skyrocketed.... though it hasn't at all since they started adding new areas where I just break even.

I'm just about back to 40mil gold again. Here's hoping it's enough.

I did make a catastrophic mistake over the weekend though... should be a lesson to never do active hunting when I'm not active. I was hunting my M400 with the wrong trap armed. Burned through about 13 pieces of Fondue without catching him. Ouch. I did a quick cheese research assignment yesterday and am working on a second. Then I can get back to hunting him again. We'll see what happens. I'm expecting Ronza pretty much any time so I'll stop working on library assignments as soon as she shows up.

[Gymfan15]

Oooh FK. That stinks! I've never had a mistake as costly as that, just really annoying ones (like being a few mice away from the end of a wave in the Warpath and arming the wrong trap and wondering why I have a page full of misses...).

Still in the Living Garden farming Charge eggs. I'm raking in TONS of Dewthief as well as the odd Luniara and Plumpearl petals...I was actually able to get enough out of LG eggs to finsh off a batch of Lunaria Camenbert. I think I've looted 3 Lunaria petals and 1 Plumpearl petal from LG eggs; not bad at all. And while I'm only looting Aleth and Ber essences, I was able to get enough to convert up to a Gur, so there's that. It's not the best LG area for loot drops, BUT it's the only one with a really high catch rate for the traps that I have, AND at least I'm getting petals and essences...I'd rather farm here then somewhere fairly useless to my goals.

I've gotten at least 200, maybe 300 SB+ looted from Charge eggs so far? So there's that, haha. And the gold is not bad either.

Speaking of Charge eggs, obviously I've been getting a LOT of extra Charge charms from Dev gifts as well as Daily Gifts (chest and friends), so I can't comment if the cycle is now sustainable or not. I can say that by the time I'm finished with these Charge Charms (I have about 60 left?), I'll have enough MM to just about replace all the Charge charms I had when I started cycling (around 150ish). So I don't think I'm really going to run out during the rest of this event; the question is if I will keep charging or ditch it after awhile because I'm so bored, lol.

At some point, you get tired of just farming SB+...I use it a lot while hunting now (mostly for extra cheese in potions and recipes), and I still seem to hold steady at around 700-800 pieces. I always meant to sell most of that off, but the price hasn't been high enough to justify it for over a year now. So I may figure out something else to do with it, lol. To be honest, I probably wouldn't be doing so much Charge cycling right now if it weren't for the fact that the gold output is still higher than it would be in Furoma, I think, plus I'm looting essences which I desperately need.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I've headed over to Furoma, and plan on raking in as much gold as I possibly can before Ronza comes. I'd love to get up to 36 million.

Who knows when she'll arrive. . . I'm guessing sometime this week (maybe Friday)

[fantasia]

I think this week is pretty likely, though I doubt Friday as the only releases they do on Fridays are weekend events. I'm gonna put my money on Monday of next week. And I'm not going to complain one bit if she arrives sooner. Like today, for example. But today's hint they have already taken down with the engines being heard in the distance makes me think she's still a ways off.

Well I know everybody is stoked about Ronza's imminent arrival, but I saw some news on the MH forums just a bit ago that made me very happy. Dan Hulton has returned to HitGrab! That may not mean a lot to most people, especially if you don't watch FBF, but he was one of my favorite area designers. The Living Gardens were his baby.

ETA: Ronza arriving five minutes after I make this post works just fine.

I have purchased the....
~The Law Draw. I hemmed and hawed over this one for a bit but decided since it was cheap I'd go ahead and get it. ETA: It's not very good. I think it's for people who don't have the SLAC II yet.
~The Dragon Lance. A lucky Draconic trap. Yay!
~The Chrome POWN Upgrade Kit.
~Physical Brace Base. Dunno how this one will work with my Chromster, but I figured it might be worth buying, so I got it.
~Airship Theme Scrap I

That's it so far. I'm probably going to skip the skins cause I don't care. I'll think about the charm stuff. I may hoard the rest of my gold for the new area, we'll see.

ETA 2: In case anybody was wondering, I got scrap III off of the Moussile Mouse and scrap II off of the Rockstar Mouse, both in Ronza's area.

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I have purchased
~The Dragon Lance
~The Chrome POWN Upgrade kit
~The Physical Brace Base

That's probably all that I plan on purchasing for now. Depending on how much gold I have left at the end of this, I might get another Chrome POWN upgrade kit, sit on it, and sell it when the price goes up (which it likely will as the Chrome Monstrobot upgrade kit had nearly doubled in price when I bought mine).

If not. . . no big deal. . . I am more than willing to lend gold to my friends if they see something they really want, but cannot afford.

And I must say that the Chrome POWN is probably the most gorgeous trap I have ever seen. Arming that thing with the Gold Tournament Base is just stunning...

And FK, If you arm the Chronster with Physical Brace Base, you have the same luck as the gold tournie base, and about 1100 more power

[fantasia]

Indeed. I armed it and was quite pleased with the numbers.

But boy am I excited about the Chrome PWN. Between that and the Washboard Base I should rock some Toxic Spill Mice. I'm also going to take another serious stab at the Shattered Carmine in the hopes for that elusive Ultimate Charm. *pushing for ArchDuchess*

[starkat]

Down to:

Living Salt
Magmatic Golem
Gargantua

I highly doubt I'll pick up any more eggs, but I may keep trying for the garga and Living Salt eggs. We'll see about the Magmatic Golem this next week.

[Varnafinde]

A couple of High Charge Eggs took me just over 38 mil - and then there was a message in my inbox. Not a raffle ticket, but info that Ronza's Shoppe was open!
Now I'm under 10 mil, and I haven't finished shopping yet ...

I've bought all the traps and the base, and the upgrade kit - which I won't use on the OWN, because then I cannot use the OWN for anything else. And since I've finally started hunting in Living Garden, I'm going to do some upgrading there.

Finally there's a pretty skin for Reaper's Perch. I've bought it - and the skin for Sandtail Sentinel - because I'm going to use them. Pure decoration and entertainment value - but this year I can afford extravances like that.

Then I try to read the Forum about why people buy the charms and other consumables that they do, and try to work out which reasons are relevant for me. Some powders seem to more useful than others in LG - and there are charms to consider as well. I've bought Mining charms because I like the Digby Dirt Dwellers, and I've bought Cactus charms hoping that they will make it easier to get the last train traps.

They say that if you're not broke when Ronza leaves, you're playing it wrong - but is it very important to be completely broke just as I'm starting in LG?