The Terrible Twos Mouse has been released, and currently it’s on an unstoppable rampage, it doesn’t look as if previous trap types have much or any effect against it, but fortunately its currently confined to the Meadow  

To counter the Terrible Twos Mouse, the Devs have created the Nannybot, which is a parental trap type, the only type that is effective against the Terrible Twos Mouse, it requires three items of loot to create, all three can be collected from the Town of Gnawnia.  

So your strategy for this event should be to start in the Town of Gnawnia, collect the loot items to craft the NannyBot and then move to the Meadow to catch the Terrible Twos Mouse.  

Town of Gnawnia

Starting at the Town of Gnawnia we’re interested in collecting the three loot items, which are dropped by three Special Event mice, this is a good opportunity to pick those Special Event mice up if you weren’t playing last time they were released.  

Cheese & Mice

In the below table I’ve added something new, for the loot dropping mice there is a figure in brackets showing how many of these mice you can expect to see in 100 hunts to aid in comparison. The value uses the base attraction rate, so if your trap has an attraction bonus then these numbers should be higher.

Please note, we haven’t waited for the normal 1,000 hunts to be submitted for these results, instead we’re putting up anything with at least 100 hunts, this makes the results less accurate, but we thought it’s better to have some information rather than no information, so do not be surprised if these figures change significantly as time goes on, keep checking back for a better idea of what the different cheese have to offer. 

From these results we can see that the Special Event mice are not common, so don’t expect to catch all of them in the first few hours, this part of the event is expected to last for a week, so keep hunting as you have plenty of time.  

Currently we know that the Rockstar Mouse is attracted to Brie, Rockforth and Super Brie, it doesn’t appear that other cheese such as Swiss will be able to attract them.  

Present and Birthday mice should be attracted to any cheese.  

These early results indicate that once again, Super Brie is the best all round cheese to use. 

Rockforth looks good in terms of the special event mouse populations, but seems to have an awful attraction rate (worse than Swiss), however overall it’s performing better than Brie in terms of attracting the special event mice. 

Brie seems to be a reasonable choice, but appears to have low attraction for the Rockstar. 

White Cheddar is proving to be an intersting choice, with a very low base attraction rate but a high population of special event mice, its overall ability to attract the Brithday and Present mice is comparable to Brie, but it doesn’t appear to be able to attract the Rockstar. 

Trap Setups

A lot of people are wondering if there’s a certain trap to use for this event, the answer is no, pretty much any trap (with the exception of the Ancient Box Trap and the Ice Maiden) will do.  

As general advice, only consider the attraction stat of the trap if you’re using a cheese weaker than Brie, apart from that, select a trap that offers a good combination of Power and Luck, the special event mice are generally weak, so most traps will do well against them.  

On a side note, as I’ve seen this before, you do not need to change your trap setup to match that of someone who caught the mouse recently, there’s no real benefit to this tactic as there aren’t secret combinations to catch the mice, and you could actually be harming your chances of catching the mice you want. Make your decision on the best setup you have available, and stick with it.  

Nannybot

After collecting the three loot items from the special event mice in the Town of Gnawnia, you’re ready to create the Nannybot, and you can do so by going to this link: http://apps.facebook.com/mousehunt/nannybot.php  

Meadow

After you’ve created the Nannybot, you’re ready to travel to the Meadow to catch the Terrible Twos Mouse.  

If you’re hunting in the Meadow with any non-parental trap type, expect to fail to catch this mouse, but the NannyBot should have a good chance of catching it (after all, that’s what it was designed for).  

Cheese & Mice

Initial results showed that Terrible Twos mice were quite common, this no longer appears to be the case as the populations have decreased significantly. Whilst Super Brie does still show the highest overall rate, White Cheddar is definately the most cost effective way to hunt (NannyBot, Target Base and White Cheddar is currently showing 1.57 Terrible Twos attractions per 100 hunts). For those unable to craft White Cheddar, Swiss seems to be a more economical choice than Brie. 

From the results we’ve received so far, the Nannybot has caught 134 out of 138 Terrible Twos attracted, this is for a mix of bases, titles and shields, so it looks like it’s not that difficult to catch, and your choice of base should depend on which cheese you’ve decided to use (three out of the four failures were with Wooden Base with Target, but it still caught 48 out of 51 mice). 

Furoma

While most of this new addition to the game should go into a seperate article, I’m posting it here for the time being until I have time to write it up properly. 

Special thanks go to Josh Kuo for writing this quick guide, and freeing me up to deal with my own Terrible Twos problem at home. 

The Dojo Sensei Mouse

Rarely seen, these old and wise mice instruct the Dojo Masters from the shadows, not wanting their presence to be known to MouseHunters. Hunting these mice is not for the faint of heart — Their swift attacks can leave the courage of even the most steadfast hunter extremely crippled. Brave hunters who take on the challenge of catching a Dojo Sensei and succeed are held in the highest regard as a hunter that has conquered the forces of the Furoma region. 

On March 9th, 2010, as part of the MouseHunt Birthday II event, the Dojo Sensei Mouse was released in the Pinnacle Chamber in the region of Furoma. To attract this mouse, you will need Onyx Gorganzola Cheese, also known as OMG. There are two ways to obtain this cheese. First, you can use the safe recipe below. 

Formula: Onyx Gorganzola (3pc)
1 Onyx Stone
6 Ionized Salt
60 Curds and Whey 

Onyx Stones are obtained as loot from the Mojo in the Pinnacle Chamber.
You may also make Unstable Curd to obtain your Onyx Gorganzola. 

Formula: Unstable Curd
1 Onyx Stone
1 Ionized Salt
1 Curds and Whey 

However, this method is more risky, as Unstable Curd can become a variety of random cheeses. The known possibilities are as follows: 

10 Ancient
30 Brie
7 Combat
7 Glutter
20 Gouda
10 Moon
8, 10 or 12 OMG
20 RB
5 Rumble
5 Runic
7 Susheese
60 Swiss 

As you can see, this method of obtaining OMG has a much higher risk. The comparison of using the OMG 3pc recipe versus crafting Unstable Curd to make OMGs can be found in further detail here: http://bit.ly/mh-omg 

Now, on to catching the Dojo Sensei. 

Due to the scarcity of data, we will only be comparing three different setups for catching the Dojo Sensei. 

2010/Magma/Lucky Shield – 60/396 = 15.15%
HVMT/Magma/Lucky Shield – 72/616 = 11.69%
2010/Candy Cane/Lucky Shield – 18/243 = 7.41% 

As you can see, Luck is the way to go here, as the 2010/Magma combo has a 15% catch rate, while the HVMT/Magma combo only has a 11% catch rate. However, keep in mind that there isn’t too much data to work with right now, so these are only estimates, and less accurate. These catch rates will be updated as more data comes in. 

The above results are from collection of information on fhe forums, these are the first results from our survey, which includes any setup with at least 100 attractions:

(On a personal note, I have a two-year old daughter, so I’m finding all these descriptions very funny – Paul)

The Mousoleum is a location in the Burroughs region requiring a minimum rank of Master and the Tattered Mousoleum Map to enter. The Mousoleum is the first area that contains Shadow type mice, as well as some strong physical mice. These higher-level mice are much more difficult to catch, but offer much greater rewards than mice in previous areas. Mice in this location may steal points, gold, or multiple pieces of cheese if not captured.

Radioactive Blue Cheese is highly recommended (the other alternative is Moon Cheese). Shadow traps are recommended, though Arcane traps do great too, especially A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.

Cheese and Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Radioactive Blue Cheese has a very high attraction rate here, so just go down to mousoleum with your best trap and don’t worry about staling your rb. Go with Sinister, Magma, Explosive, Firecracker blah~ Moon cheese can be used here, attracting a lot of lycans into the trap. Catching it, however, would be a problem.

1 Meteorite Piece + 2 Magic Essence + 3 Curd&Whey = 1 Moon Cheese

It isn’t cheap. Meteorite pieces are rare too, or at least uncommon loot by the Granite mice in the Town of Digby. And Magic Essense?! Now that’s expensive for a mouse you can hardly catch.

General Strategies

Most of the mice in the Mousoleum are Shadow and Physical mice, and many of them are quite strong, so a high power Shadow trap will give the best results.

Physical Weapons are of less effectiveness against all Shadow mice except the Ghost mice, where it would be complete ineffective. They are of normal effectiveness up against the Physical mice.

Hydro and Tactical Weapon types are of normal effectiveness against Physical mice. Tactical Weapons are less effective against Shadow mice while Hydro Weapons are of completely ineffectiveness against Shadow mice

Arcane and Forgotten Weapons are of normal effectiveness against the Shadow mice. Arcane Weapons are of normal effectiveness against Physical mice while Forgotten Weapons are of completely ineffectiveness against Physical mice.

Draconic Weapons are completely ineffective against all mice.

Shadow Weapons are very effective against all Shadow mice and are of normal effectiveness against Physical mice.

Trap Setup Options

Cost of cheese has not been removed for easy comparison

The trap setups are arranged according to the catch rate per encounter, though the low sample size is quite low thus the weird results here. E.g the Explosive(No Shield) and Candy Cane + Shield (I don’t think 4 more luck would be create wonders. Seriously).

Goals

 Obtain the Shredded Furoma Map

Since you are a Master here (I assume you should be), the best trap setup would be sinister portal + candy cane. I still don’t believe that 4 more luck would create such wonders. Nevermind that, equid your best setup and PATIENCE. You might have stomped in here with 300 radioactive blue(that’s how much you should have) and cry your way out back to the Laboratory because you didn’t get your Lycan, I missed 7 lycans before I got my map piece. Patience is the key.

Catch the Monster

The monster mouse is one tough baddie. They can rob your money, decrease your points, cause red boxes and FTC for numerous times and you might just fail to catch it on every encounter. Yes it’s irritating but your trap, is just so puny. But patience might just lead to your success. Don’t fret even when you become a grandmaster without having a monster mouse. Once you got your A.C.R.O.N.Y.M you will own this kitty at Cats. Just wait. If you are that impatient, I can say you have around 10% chance of getting the monster with your sinister portal. Good luck xD

Ambrosial Portal?

5% power for 5% attraction? I’ll pass that. No seriously, 5% attraction does nothing here. It’s already 93% attraction rate! 5% less FTA = Nothing noticeable. But 5% power is different. Worried about the Cheese effect? Seriously you will need the radioactive sludge for MVMT. And it’s not that easy to stale a cheese using Portal. I tried. Failed terribly. Had to resort to going into Lagoon for that.

Money!

Theoratically you would need round 300k for Venus Mouse Trap and another 100k for the Furoma map. You can try to earn money in GGT, though I don’t think the gold reward would be high, so try to use radioactive blue here to earn your needed money. You will gain round 600 gold pp here, meaning you will need… 667 hunts. Or maybe 650 odd radioactive blue cheese. So good luck for that. Now don’t beg for money, join competitions or ask for help (NOT BEGGING) from AN/AM group; they have a trap assistance programme for VMT! Other than that, good luck

This post is rushed out on 20/Feb because I was really bored and cannot be bothered to start on my work. No seriously. F.Y.I I am still a student and I do study, so I will only update the posts when I have time. Other than that, good luck here. Do leave feedbacks/comments

The Dojo is the only place to collect tokens from the three students, which can be used to craft the cheese for the three masters, it offers good points, but not great gold.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Maki is obviously the cheese of preference for the three students, and would allow you to collect tokens much more quickly, but due to the high cost would end up losing gold, Swiss and Brie don’t appear to be that different, and with only a 5% difference in the attraction rates the cost concious hunter could happily hunt with Swiss.

General Strategies

All of the mice in the Dojo are Tactical or Physical mice, most Tactical traps will give good results, but high luck traps generally appear to have a better performance.

Physical Weapon types are of normal effectiveness against the all of the mice except for the three Students, so while an acceptable alternative due to their generally higher power, are not ideal for the location.

Hydro Weapon types are of normal effectiveness against the all of the mice, so while an acceptable alternative due to their generally higher power, are not ideal for the location.

Tactical Weapon types are very effective against most of the mice and of normal effectiveness against the Diamond and Gold mice, so are highly recommended.

Arcane and Shadow Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and are only of normal effectiveness against the Diamond and Gold mice, so are not recommended.

Draconic and Forgotten Weapon types are completely ineffective against all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

We do not currently have enough hunts received to include these setups, please continue to submit to the survey so we can add them at a later date.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

Tokens of the Cheese Belt, Claw and Fang are required to make Glutter, Susheese and Combat Cheese, which is used to attract the three masters in the Meditation Room.

Tokens are dropped by the three Students, which drop nearly all the time, so you don’t need to worry about having a high luck trap in order for them to drop, however high luck traps generall perform very well in the Dojo.

Maki is the best cheese to use for the Students, but the high cost of Super Brie in the markets can make it prohibitavely expensive.

With the available high luck traps a large number of points can be earned in the Dojo, while not as good as the points available from Elub, the higher catch rates may actually result in hunters being able to increase their rank at a similar rate in the Dojo as they can in Elub.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 14-Feb-10.

The Bristle Woods region consists of areas to the west of the Mousoleum. It is only available for hunters of legendary rank or above. Arcane traps are highly recommended in these areas to enjoy the high profits and points the mice here can bring you. You can buy one at the Catacombs, the Obelisk of Slumber.

1) Catacombs

2) Forbidden Grove

3) Acolyte Realm

General Strategies

The mice here are mostly Forgotten type mice and Shadow type mice.

Physical and Tactical traps are of less effectiveness when against Shadow mice and are completely ineffective when against the Forgotten mice, thus they do not work well in the Bristle Woods. They only work against the Physical Mice here(Bats, Black Widows, Zombies, Monsters).

Hydro and Draconic traps are completely ineffective when up against both the Shadow mice and the Forgotten mice. Hydro traps, however, are of normal effectiveness when up against the Physical mice.

Forgotten traps are of normal effectiveness when up against Shadow mice and Forgotten mice, but are completely ineffective against the Physical mice. Even though it might work well, they are not recommended because there are stronger traps to choose from.

Shadow Traps are very effective when up against the Shadow mice and are of normal effectiveness when up against the Forgotten mice and Physical mice. Even so, the strongest Shadow trap, or the Clockapult of Time, lacks the needed power to deal with the mice here.

Arcane traps are very effective when up against Forgotten mice and are of normal effectiveness when up against the Shadow mice and Physical mice. Thus only Arcane traps are recommended in the Bristle Woods area unless one is in search of the Acolyte.

All traps except Forgotten traps are of completely ineffectiveness when up against the Acolyte mouse, with the Forgotten traps of normal effectiveness against it.

Catacombs

Deep below the cursed soil of the Mousoleum are underground caverns that stretch to the west where long-forgotten mice roam. These powerful mice are highly resistant to most types of damage and apparently have a weakness for Radioactive Blue cheese. The creatures of the Catacombs seem strangely organized, as if they are preparing for something. Who knows what sinister secrets a hunter may uncover here…?

The Catacombs is a location in the Bristle Woods region requiring a minimum rank of Legendary and the Mousoleum Restoration Patch to enter. Since the area is connected to the Mousoleum it contains the higher-level Shadow type mice and the Forgotten type mice only found in the Bristle Woods region. Mice in this location may steal points, gold, or multiple pieces of cheese if not captured.

The Catacombs works best with radioactive blue cheese, imbued from radioactive blue cheese curd potion dropped by the mice at the Laboratory. They are also found rarely as loot from the spider mouse. Ancient cheese works well here too, but there is currently not enough data to analyse it (Submit your logs!)

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Radioactive Blue is a good choice that will attract many of the mice in the Catacombs, Ancient has been used by some, and appears to have a slightly higher attraction rate, and doesn’t attract the Physical mice in the location, which increases your chances of attracting the Shadow and Forgotten mice. It’s also worth noting that the Vampire Mouse does not seem particularly fond of Radioactive Blue in the Catacombs.

Trap Setup Options

All costs of the cheese is not included.

*PH=Per Hunt PC=Per Cheese

Radioactive Blue Cheese

These setups are arranged according to the catch rates, with the best catch rate per encounter ranked at the top.

Goals

Obtain Keeper’s Candle

The Keeper’s candle allows access to the Forbidden Grove when it is opened (For the time it is open, check the PF’s FG Timer). Lucky hunters will be able to use OoS to catch the Keeper mouse with the candle, but don’t worry. You will only need it when you have your A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Since you only have one choice of weapon to use, OoS + your strongest base should do the trick. Magma base, Firecracker, Candy Cane or even the Explosive should do.

Collecting materials for A.C.R.O.N.Y.M

The ACRONYM is a must have in Bristle Woods. However, it doesn’t come cheap; 600+k gold for the blueprints!  12 scrap metals from Scavengers and Terror Knights, or Hydra if you prefer. I won’t say entirely rare, but you would have gotten your 600k gold even before you got your 12 scrap metals. Never mind, you have only 2 choices anyway. 1) Go for the Hydra. They are known to drop up to 8 scrap metals! But that’s very rare. But if you go for it, you can kill 2 birds with one stone (get the ship’s blueprint too). But if you go with option 2) Stay at cats and start crossing your fingers. Either choice is fine. Good luck.

Obelisk of Incineration or not?

Let’s say you only have the gingerbread base(we don’t have enough, 500 or more, hunts to calculate any other OoI setups) + shield. You have ALL the materials for OoI. You will earn 90 gold more than OoS for each hunt. And since you paid 45079 gold for OoI on top of the 300+ thousands for OoS, you will need… 505 hunts to earn back the money. And with 501 hunts, you could have earned 584266 gold + the 45079 gold you spent, you would have had 629345gold. You only need 632700 gold.

So at the point of time where you got your coal, 2 scrap metals, 3 splintered wood, and have less than 48434 gold, craft OoI. If not, never mind. Just stick with OoS.

And I 99.99% recommend sticking to OoS. That 0.01% is at OoI because it looks just so cool.

Use SB+ or not?

There are many places you would spend your time trying to earn money, especially since when you-know-who is coming, and you don’t want to spend too much time going back to the lab just to get your radioactive cheese curd potion. You have heard many times that sb+ isn’t worth it to use, but is it true?

If you are a legendary and have access to the tribal isles: Don’t waste your money using sb+ for rb cheese. For estimate of 400 gold per hunt profit (taking sb+ as 1.7kpp now), you can earn up to twice or more in Derr using Gouda and around 600goldPH or more in Nerg(even with Ambush you should outperform cats with SB+) using Gouda too. Even if you use sb+ directly at the tribal isles, you should gain more profit as compared to Cats. So when do you use sb+ for rb cheese? You should only use it when it drops below 800pp (Highly impossible). Please refer to these analytics on Derr Dunes and Nerg Plains for more details on the trap setups over there

However, if you do not have access to the tribal isles, this is where the comparison comes in. I would say that the use of sb+ for rb cheese would yield roughly the same amount of profits, if it is 1.7kpp

Moving on…

Forbidden Grove

At the end of the Catacombs, beyond heavy stone gates, lies a hidden hunting ground. Etched into the gates is a warning: “Beware young soul, should the stone gates close while within this grove, you will find yourself caught between realms.

The Forbidden Grove is a location in the Bristle Woods region requiring a minimum rank of Legendary and the Keeper’s Candle to enter. Every so often, the gates to the Forbidden Grove will alternate from open to closed. Hunters in the Forbidden Grove when the gates are closed will be transported to the Acolyte Realm, and must wait some time to re-enter. Hunters are unable to enter Forbidden Grove unless the gates are open, but are able to travel to other locations at any time. The Forbidden Grove gates used to be on a 3-hour cycle, but as rumours of a trap capable of catching an Acolyte spread, the entrance to the Forbidden Grove has become unstable. It is not currently known whether it will remain unstable permanently. Mice in this location may steal points, gold, or multiple pieces of cheese if not captured.

The use of Ancient cheese is highly recommended here, though radioactive blue cheese would work too, though not as good. Little hunts are recorded in the Forbidden Grove, with the ACRONYM/Gingerbread setup barely hitting 500 (Submit your logs!!!). Only ACRONYM is recommended in this area. I recommend the Magma base. Don’t be afraid of staling your cheese, you can craft it again since it will become stale cheese.

Ancient 3-pieces method: 6 Ionised Salt + 3 Stale Cheese = 3 Ancient Cheese

Ancient 6-pieces method: 6 Ionised Salt + 3 Stale Cheese+ 3 Magic Essence = 6 Ancient Cheese

I would not recommend people with a tight budget to use magic essence. Just not worth it, with the current price at 1700pp. If you are able to get one at 1kpp, hey maybe you can consider! But then I would save it for crafting Runic.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Ancient Cheese is the best choice in the Forbidden Grove, it doesn’t attract the Physical mice there, and attracts more of the Forgotten mice that drop Runes.

Trap Setup Options

Ancient Cheese

Goal

Get Runes

Use only ACRONYM in Forbidden Grove, the strongest Arcane trap up to date.  If you have, use Magma base. If not, Candy Cane, Aqua, Polar, Gingerbread and Firecracker base work as well.

Different mice drop different amounts of runes, but they drop it randomly. Different mice drop different numbers of runes depending on its weight.

A Scavenger mouse can drop 4 runes at 2oz, 5 at 3oz, 7 at 4oz and 8 at 5 or more oz.

A Golem mouse can drop 1 rune at 7oz and below and 2runes at 8oz and above.

A Gate Guardian drops 1 rune at 1oz, 2 runes at 2 and 3 oz, 3 runes at 4 and 5oz and 4 runes from 6oz and above Gate Guardians.

A Gargoyle and Sorcerer mouse drops 1 rune at any weight.

If you didn’t know, you will need runes to craft runic. 100 will do, at least to craft 200 runic. Till then, good luck. Whenever you are at the Catacombs and see the Forbidden Grove open, just barge in.

Using SB+ for Ancient Cheese

Using the 6 pieces method for Ancient Cheese, you can actually make use of the high yielding profits in the Forbidden grove and also save your stale cheeses for runic. With base cost of 450pp (excluding the price of sb+), the maximum profits should be around 2.1kPH, or if you are using Gingerbread cheese, 1.7kPH. Derr yields an average of 1kpp depending on your trap setup, while nerg also yields around 1kpp. So to beat the costs of Derr and Nerg, you should only buy your sb+ at 1.1kpp or 700pp. You might have to buy at a lower price if you have very strong traps over at Derr or Nerg (CDB, Rhinobot, 2010, GS, HVMT)

However, if you don’t have access to the Tribal Isles, that’s a different story. Right now, data on gold returns has been lacking, so I won’t be able to conclude for you. Till then, I recommend you using Ancient 3-pieces method.

Acolyte Realm

Years ago in Bristle Woods, a MouseHunter by the name of Plankrun opened a passageway to another realm. The passage was intended to act as an elaborate one-way trap for Acolyte mice. However, recently, the Acolyte mice have had success in reversing the portal’s direction and are attempting to re-enter the Gnawnia Kingdom.

The Acolyte Realm is a location in the Bristle Woods region requiring a minimum rank of Legendary and the Keeper’s Candle to enter. Hunters cannot travel to the Acolyte Realm in the standard manner. The only way to enter the Realm is through the Forbidden Grove. Hunters trapped in the Forbidden Grove when its gates close will automatically be sent to the Acolyte Realm. They can then stay and hunt, or travel (using the map) to any other location in the Kingdom. However, if they choose to leave, they will not be able to return until the gate to the Forbidden Grove once again opens. As the heavy stone gates of the hidden grove closed, the trees were engulfed in a thick, black fog. The ground began to fade as I felt a cold shiver rush through by body. I awoke in a strange realm… Mice in this location may steal points, gold, or multiple pieces of cheese if not captured.

Only the Runic cheese would be able to attract the almighty Acolyte! Ancient cheese and Radioactive Blue cheese can be used here to earn money, though Gate Guardians would take up the majority attraction for mice. Take note that a stale runic would mean stale sb+, useless unless used to craft the Rhinbot. However the Runic have an exceptionally high attraction rate in the Acolyte Realm. The ACRONYM submissions in the Acolyte Realm are very little. So… You get my point.

Runic Cheese 1-piece: 1 rune + 1 stale cheese + 3 ionised salt = 1 runic

Runic Cheese 2-pieces: 1 rune + 1 stale cheese + 1 magic essence + 3 ionised salt= 2 runic

I recommend the 2 pieces-method. Runes are just so rare. No seriously they are. And if you are able to buy the sb+ at 1350pp or less, you are actually making runic at a cheaper rate as compared to the 1 piece method!

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Runic is the only cheese that attracts the Acolyte, Lich and Wight mice in the Acolyte Realm, Ancient Cheese will attract Gate Guardians more than half the time, and Radioactive Blue only attacts the Golem and Sorcerer mice.

Trap Setup Options

Runic

WHAT ABOUT ACOLYTE?! Don’t freak out. It’s right below

Goal

Own that Acolyte

No seriously, nothing more to say. There is only 1 trap that is capable of catching that acolyte. There is only 2 bases to choose from. There is only 1 cheese to use. Ancient Box Trap + Magma + Runic, if you have Magma base. If not, stick to Tribal ONLY and ONLY. I won’t count on Explosive Base, Candy Cane or Gingerbread base. Good luck. You’ll need it

The post is made in the format similar to Paul Humphreys’ posts. It is to make it standardised and easier for the users to see. <s>However, as you can see, I removed a few sections. The Mice Breakdown(can be found in MHWiki, so no point putting it here), the Attraction for each mouse (useless unless I am using it for tournaments) and merge of Normal Setups and Limited Edition Setups (not much difference anyway)<s>. This post is done on 14/2/2010. Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Valentines! <3 Don’t worry, I am still finding mine.

P.S: Pardon me for my sepling mistaek ant gamma during the post. xD

Last Updated: 18/2/2010

#edit: thanks for the comments and feedbacks. Do continue to give more of those please

In this article, we provide you with details on the Heart of the Tiger party, information on the new mice in the holiday area, and strategies for catching those mice at all levels of play.

Heart of the Tiger Party General Information

Thirteen exciting mice have come to the Heart of the Tiger (HoT) Party for 2010.  There are six special mice and seven specially costumed mice for the event (well, six costumed mice and one mouse who didn’t bother dressing up, claiming it was his party anway).  Of the six special mice, five are new for the HoT party with one return engagement for the Cupid mouse.

Another party addition is the return of the Gift Shoppe!  This edition is populated by items for both Valentine’s Day and the Lunar New Year.   The items are currently simply collectibles and have no other purpose in the game so send and receive them and have fun!  The developers have indicated they hope to have a way to allow hunters to display their gifts in MH 3.0 (Longtail).

HoT Party Mice

Premliminary results from the survey are showing that the Cupid mouse has a preference for Super Brie, while the Romeno mouse seems to be encountered less often with Super Brie.

DLU+ and DHU-

DLU stands for Devs Love You and DHU for Devs Hate You. DHU- is dropped by Romeno mice while DLU+ are dropped by both Romeo and Cupid mice. They’re both novelty items however and will probably not affect your catch rates… but they’re definitely enjoyable like the teddy.

Attraction Bonus Candy

Dropped by cupid mice, the name of this new item made many a hunter excited. Unfortunately, its description states that it just attracts ants and so it is highly unlikely that this will actually boost your trap’s attraction bonus. We knew it was too good to be true.

Masks

The Dumpling Chef drops the Ox mask, the Costumed Tiger mouse drops the tiger mask and the Master of the Cheese Claw drops the Rabbit mask. The tiger mask also seems to be very rare now and many people on the forums have asked if they have ceased being dropped. The tiger masks are rare and the devs said that they WILL become more rare as we get closer to the 14th. So hunt now and hunt often!

FBF Update 2/12/10

The devs have now stated that the Tiger Mask drops will be “ramped up” as the party continues.  This should improve hunter’s chances of catching a Costumed Tiger Mouse carrying one of the Tiger Masks.

Tiger Heart Chest

The Red Envelope Mouse drops the Tiger Heart Chest, which is not able to be opened yet, but the Devs have hinted that the Chest will contain Super Brie, and can only be opened once two different keys have been collected. The Red Envelope Mouse only appears to drop one Tiger Heart Chest, once you have one in your inventory you do not appear to be able to collect any additional chests, as it is not able to be opened until after the event finishes.

Keys to the Tiger Heart Chest

The Heart Key is dropped by the Cupid Mouse, and the Tiger Key is dropped by the Tiger Mouse (not the Costumed Tiger Mouse). Both Keys will be required to open the Tiger Heart Chest.

A Variety of Trap Strategies

Trap Advice by Level

Novice/Apprentice Hunter Advice

Use the strongest trap you have available, coupled with the Wooden Base with Target to improve attraction. You can continue using your cheddar, marble or Swiss cheese at the party.  The mice are attracted by all cheese types but obviously your attraction is better with better cheese.  Do your best!  It’s a novice area and is open to all hunters.

Journeyman/Master Advice

Use your Swiss Army Mouse Trap. If you are using a weaker attraction cheese like marble, or even Swiss then use the Wooden Base with Target. If you are using Brie then arm your strongest base.

Grandmaster Advice

At this point you should have, at the very least, the Venus Mouse trap. If you have not upgraded it to the Mutated Venus Mouse trap, do it now. An exception would be if you have the Gingerbread House Surprise, which should work just fine there. Use Brie or Swiss to maintain attraction.

Legendary and Above

If you have the Ambush trap us that as a solid tactical trap for the area.  Other than that traps like the Rhinobot, Horrific Venus Mouse Trap, and Digby Drillbot are all good choices as well if you have them.  You should have lots of trap options in the novice area.

LE hunters should max out their luck!

Anyone who has limited edition traps from Ronza can use them at the party as basically all of them will work there. Traps to take note of would be the Chrome Drillbot, Giant Speakers, 2010 Blastoff. The ChristmasCracker trap is also a good choice.  Pairing the lucky traps with bases such as the Magma, Candy Cane, Firecracker or Gingerbread is also helpful.

Higher level players that just can’t stand those gray boxes…

To deal with the Master of the Cheese Claw, the best trap to use would be the Horrific Venus Mouse Trap. It also has high enough general power to deal with the physical mice.  The only thing this trap lacks is the ever-elusive Luck.

Some Base Information

When choosing a base for this area, your first consideration should be the cheese you are using. If you are using Swiss or cheddar, you should maximize attraction by using the Wooden Base with Target. If you are using Brie, and want to minimize your stale cheese, choose a base that will allow you to avoid the dreaded uber-stale effect.  The Gingerbread, Candy Cane and Dehydration base all have Luck and will help you avoid stale cheese.  They are good choices.

Credits?

This article was written by Jake Stonewall and an anonymous MouseHunter.

Last minute advice

The event is almost coming to and end, we’ve been collecting stats since the start, but with mice being released in three different “waves” it’s been difficult to put something together, but for those looking for a bit of last minute advice here is some information on the use of different cheese.

Here we’re just showing results since the release of the Tiger mouse, so the results for Super Brie and Swiss are less accurate.

Current advice:

The Costumed Tiger Mouse is easy to attract with any cheese, and shouldn’t pose a challenge.

The Cupid Mouse is more attracted to the better cheese, arming Super Brie+ will significantly increase your chances of attracting one and getting the Heart Key and Attraction Bonus Candy. With the release of the Tiger Mouse the population of Cupid mice appears to have doubled for all cheese, the Devs obviously love us, or are just trying to allow us all to get the loot we’re after.

The Dumpling Chef Mouse is easy to attract with any cheese, and shouldn’t pose a challenge.

The Master of the Cheese Claw Mouse also seems to like Super Brie+, so this might be your best bet for collecting a Rabbit Mask, but we don’t have a high level of confidence that it’ll make a big difference.

The Red Envelope Mouse seems quite keen on rewarding those who use Super Brie+, it’s unknown if the Tiger Heart Chest will contain enough Super Brie+ to cover the cost of using it, but it might be worth a try if you don’t have one already.

The Romeno Mouse is obviously a cheap kind of guy, and knows to stay away from those hunting with Super Brie+, if you’re looking to attract this mouse, switch to cheap cheese.

The Romeo Mouse doesn’t seem to be too picky, and will go for just about any cheese.

The Tiger Mouse also seems to love Super Brie+, so arming that will significantly increase your chances of attracting one and getting the Tiger Key.

Dracano is the final area in the Tribal Isles, home of the Dragon Mouse, and the last place to use all the Fire Salt and Seeds collected in the rest of the Tribal Isles, surprisingly, if you have the right trap, it’s not a difficult area, but the road to making Inferno Havarti is a long and difficult one.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Inferno Havarti is the only cheese to use in this location, others have been tried, but they all failed to attract any mice..

General Strategies

Physical Weapons are of normal effectiveness against the Draconic Warden and Whelpling mice, but are completely ineffective against the Dragon Mouse, they can be used, but it’s worth using the Ice Maiden instead.

Draconic Weapon types are of normal effectiveness against the Draconic Warden and Whelpling mice, and are  very effective against the Dragon Mouse, as such, they are highly recommended.

Arcane, Forgotten, Hydro, Shadow and Tactical Weapon types are completely ineffective all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

To catch a Dragon Mouse you need to use the Ice Maiden with Inferno Havarti, your only choice comes down to which base to use. From the two setups above it looks like the Magma is the slightly better choice of the two, but that may not actually be the case.

In the results received the Magma Base caught 35 out of 189 Dragons (18.52%), but the Tribal Base caught 36 out of 170 Dragons (21.18%), so it looks as if the Tribal Base is the better performer out of the two against the Dragon, but here’s the warning, these are very small samples against this one mouse, so these results may be inaccurate.

So you’ve been through the Tribal Isles and you’ve caught your Dragon Mouse, so what’s next? Catching more of them of course!

Fortunately Dracano makes your subsequent trips through the Tribal Isles a little easier by dropping a lot of useful loot, so lets take a look at the results we have for this.

While the Tribal Base appears to be better for catching Dragons, the Magma Base appears to be better for catching Draconic Wardens and Whelplings, and also encourages both of them to drop loot more frequently.

In terms of time and cost savings, the Magma base definately offers the better returns here, and the interesting thing is that while the Fire Salt returns are no where near as good as the Jungle of Dread, they’re not insignificant, meaning that you could save yourself 1/4 of the time in the Jungle during your next trip.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 07-Feb-10.

The Jungle of Dread is the Shadow area of the Tribal Isles, it offers a great potential points return, but is one of the most difficult locations in the game to hunt in.

Please note, we currently have a lack of results for certain cheese in this region, they will be included once we receive a sufficient number of hunts with them.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Each of the six Havarti cheese is only used for attracting a specific mouse in the Jungle of Dread, so the decision of which cheese to use is based on which mouse you want to attract.

General Strategies

Shadow Weapons are very effective against the Chitinous, Fetid Swamp, Jurassic, Magma Carrier, Primal and Stonework Warrior mice, and of normal effectiveness against the Sylvan Mouse, as such Shadow traps are highly recommended.

Arcane, Hydro, Physical and Tactical Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and only of normal effectiveness against the Sylvan Mouse, so are not advised.

Draconic and Forgotten Weapon types are completely ineffective against all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

We do not currently have enough hunts received to include these setups, please continue to submit to the survey so we can add them at a later date.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

Each of the six Shadow mice in the Jungle drop one loot item required for crafting the Ancient Box Trap, therefore you will need to catch at least one of all the mice.

We have very limited information on the likelyhood of each mouse dropping, but it’s probably worth planning to catch four of them to give yourself a good chance of obtaining the loot.

Obviously the main reason to hunt in the Jungle of Dread is to collect Fire Salt for use in Inferno Havarti, but we don’t have a lot of information on whether hunting for one particular mouse is more efficient.

From the results above we can see that there’s not a lot of difference between the per hunt drop rates for the setups shown, so it’s quite likely that each mouse has been balanced to drop about the same amount of Fire Salt, but collecting Yellow Pepper Seeds is much quicker than any other type of seed, so hunting for the Primal may well be the best way to get Fire Salt quickly.

However, for an alternate source of Fire Salt, see below.

Runic Cheese Curd Potions are dropped by the following mice: Chitinous (up to 2), Fetid Swamp (up to 1), Jurassic (up to 2), Magma Carrier (up to 3), Primal (up to 1) and Stonework Warrior (up to 1).

If you’re trying to collect these potions, the obvious choice is the hunt for the Magma Carrier, as they have the greatest potential drop, even though they are the hardest of the mice to catch.

Collecting Runic Cheese Curd Potions offers further potential returns when used against the Acolyte, sometimes the Mysterious Box dropped by Acolytes contains additional Fire Salt, and as such, despite the fact that most mice seem to drop the same amount of Fire Salt, hunting for the Magma Carrier with it’s greater number of Runic Cheese Curd Potions, may well prove beneficial to collect some extra Fire Salt.

At first glance the points and gold rewards of the mice in the Jungle of Dread look quite nice, but lets take a look at the whole process of collecting the loot required to make the Havarti and what kind of points and gold returns can be expected.

For this we’ll use what appears to be the best setups available at the moment, these are the Chrome DrillBot in the Derr Dunes, the Kraken Chaos in the Elub Shore, the 2010 Blastoff Trap in the Nerg Plains and the Clockapult of Time in the Jungle of Dread. We’ll pair those with the Magma Base and a lucky golden shield.

We’ll compare the kind of points and gold per hunt you can expect to see when hunting in the Jungle, with what you’d be likely to see if you did the preparation work for the Jungle, but never actually crafted the cheese and went there.

Please note, some of these results include early figures for Crunchy Havarti and Pungent Havarti, so may not be accurate.

For collecting Gold, we’ll use the most profitable cheese, with Super Brie currently at 1,700 per piece these are Brie in Derr Dunes, and Gouda in Elub Shore and Nerg Plains, and the 15 piece recipes of Crunchy, Shell and Gumbo as that makes slightly more gold in all cases.

From these results it looks like if you’re after a profit, it’s much better to stay in whichever locations you were in and continue to hunt there.

For collecting Points, we’ll use the cheese with the best points regardless of cost, which is Super Brie in all three locations, and the 20 piece recipes of Crunchy, Shell and Gumbo.

From these results it looks as if you can get similar if not better points from using your Havarti.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 01-Mar-10.

The Elub Shore is the Hydro area of the Tribal Isles, it offers good points but little gold, a great place to increase your Hunter’s Title, but with limited choice of traps to use.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Shell is the only cheese to use when going after the “Big Three” in Elub, but we can see from the populations of the other mice that there doesn’t seem to be a preference for any of the other cheese, as such, your only choice for cheese will be balancing cost with attraction rates.

Gouda has a base attraction rate of about 80% in the Elub Shore, lower gold returns in comparison to other Tribal locations mean that while you will be making a profit, it won’t be a significant profit.

Super Brie boasts an impressive 99% attraction rate, allowing hunters to focus on the much needed power and luck of their trap without suffering any significant drawbacks.

General Strategies

All of the mice in the Elub Shore are Hydro mice, and only Hydro traps will give good results in this location.

Physical and Tactical Weapons types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and are only of normal effectiveness against the Alchemist, Black Widow, Scout and Taleweaver mice, so are not recommended.

Hydro Weapon types are very effective against all of the mice, and are highly recommended.

Arcane and Shadow Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and are only of normal effectiveness against the Black Widow, so are not recommended.

Draconic and Forgotten Weapon types are completely ineffective against all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

We do not currently have enough hunts received to include these setups, please continue to submit to the survey so we can add them at a later date.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

Seashells are required to make Shell Cheese, which is used to attract the Elder Mouse in Cape Clawed, and three mice in Elub Shore, the Elub Chieftain Mouse, Champion Mouse and Protector Mouse.

Seashells are dropped as loot by the Alchemist Mouse, Alnitak Mouse, Mystic Mouse (up to 2), Pack Mouse (up to 3), Scout Mouse, Soothsayer Mouse, Taleweaver Mouse and Vanquisher Mouse, each mouse only drops up to 1 Seashell with the two exceptions mentioned above.

The weaker the mouse is, the less likely they are to drop Seashells, with the Vanquisher Mouse dropping 1 Seashell in almost all cases.

Blue Pepper Seeds are required to make a number of the Havarti Cheese used in the Jungle of Dread and Dracano, they are only dropped by the three mice in Elub Shore that can only be attracted with Shell Cheese.

Blue Pepper Seeds are dropped as loot by the Elub Chieftain Mouse (up to 3), Champion Mouse (up to 2) and Protector Mouse (up to 1).

As with Seashells, the weakest mouse (the Protector) is the least likely to drop Blue Pepper Seeds, while the Elub Chieftain almost always drops at least 1 Blue Pepper Seed.

High power and high luck Hydro traps are highly recommended when hunting these three mice.

The Elub Chieftain Mouse drops the Ancient Frayed Blueprint Piece, which is used for crafting the Ancient Box Trap.

The Elub Chieftain Mouse is only attracted to Shell Cheese, is not commonly encountered and is the most powerful mouse in the location, fortunately it will drop the Blueprints in most cases (unless you already have them in your inventory), so it is an unlucky hunter who has to catch more than two before receiving this loot.

High power and high luck Hydro traps are highly recommended.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 07-Feb-10.

The Nerg Plains are the Tactical area of the Tribal Isles, it offers a good mix of points and gold, and is generally considered the easiest of the three locations to hunt in.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Gumbo is the only cheese to use when going after the “Big Three” in Nerg, but we can see from the populations of the other mice that there doesn’t seem to be a preference for any of the other cheese, as such, your only choice for cheese will be balancing cost with attraction rates.

Gouda has a base attraction rate of about 80% in the Nerg Plains, reasonable gold rewards make it quite profitable in the long run.

Super Brie boasts an impressive 99% attraction rate, allowing hunters to focus on the much needed power and luck of their trap without suffering any significant drawbacks.

General Strategies

All of the mice in the Nerg Plains are Tactical mice, most Tactical traps will give good results, but high luck traps generally appear to have a better performance.

Physical and Hydro Weapons types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and are only of normal effectiveness against the Black Widow, Narrator, Pathfinder and Caretaker mice, so are not recommended.

Tactical Weapon types are very effective against all of the mice, and are highly recommended.

Arcane and Shadow Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and are only of normal effectiveness against the Black Widow, so are not recommended.

Draconic and Forgotten Weapon types are completely ineffective against all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

We do not currently have enough hunts received to include these setups, please continue to submit to the survey so we can add them at a later date.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

Savoury Vegetables are required to make Gumbo Cheese, which is used to attract the Grandfather Mouse in Cape Clawed, and three mice in Nerg Plains, the Nerg Chieftain Mouse, Slayer Mouse and Defender Mouse.

Savoury Vegetables are dropped as loot by the Alnilam Mouse, Beast Tamer Mouse (upto 2), Caretaker Mouse, Conjurer Mouse, Conqueror Mouse, Finder Mouse (upto 3), Narrator Mouse and Pathfinder Mouse, each mouse only drops up to 1 Savoury Vegetable with the two exceptions mentioned above.

The weaker the mouse is, the less likely they are to drop Savoury Vegetables, with the Conqueror Mouse dropping 1 Savoury Vegetables in almost all cases.

Yellow Pepper Seeds are required to make a number of the Havarti Cheese used in the Jungle of Dread and Dracano, they are only dropped by the three mice in Nerg Plains that can only be attracted with Gumbo Cheese.

Yellow Pepper Seeds are dropped as loot by the Nerg Chieftain Mouse (upto 3), Slayer Mouse (upto 2) and Defender Mouse (upto 1).

As with Savoury Vegetables, the weakest mouse (the Defender) is the least likely to drop Yellow Pepper Seeds, while the Nerg Chieftain almost always drops at least 1 Yellow Pepper Seed.

High power and high luck Tactical traps are highly recommended when hunting these three mice.

The Nerg Chieftain Mouse drops the Ancient Ripped Blueprint Piece, which is used for crafting the Ancient Box Trap.

The Nerg Chieftain Mouse is only attracted to Gumbo Cheese, is not commonly encountered and is the most powerful mouse in the location, fortunately it will drop the Blueprints in most cases (unless you already have them in your inventory), so it is an unlucky hunter who has to catch more than two before receiving this loot.

High power and high luck Tactical traps are highly recommended.

We all know that Derr Dunes is a good place to earn gold, but Nerg not only offers good gold returns, but much better points as well, so lets take a quick look at the above results and see how it compares (special thanks to Matthew Limber for convincing me to look into this).

At the time of writing (these figures are based on those at 05-Feb-10), the cost of Super Brie is about 1,700 gold per piece, Gouda is priced at 600 gold per piece and Brie at 200 gold per piece. Numbers above in the Setup Options section have been given without these prices included, to establish gold returns from using certain cheese, these have been factored in.

For this, we’re going to look at good setups for each location, in the case of Derr Dunes, this is the Chrome DrillBot, for the Nerg Plains, this is the 2010 Blastoff Trap, both setups will be using the Magma Base, a Golden Shield and Gouda cheese.

The Chrome DrillBot is currently earning about 1,850 gold per hunt before cheese cost and about 1,100 gold per hunt after removing the cost of the Gouda.
The 2010 Blastoff Trap is currently earning about 1,775 gold per hunt before cheese cost and about 1,150 gold per hunt after removing the cost of the Gouda.

So that actually means that while you’re getting a better gold income from Derr, you’re actually making more profit from your Gouda in Nerg, so how does that happen?

It’s because the mice in Derr are stealing more additional pieces of the cheese than their counterparts in Nerg, which is increasing the number of Gouda you need to do the same number of hunts in Derr.

Because of this, the same doesn’t hold true for Super Brie, it’s still more efficient to use that in Derr because mice can’t steal additional pieces of Super Brie.

It’s worth remembering though, that as we get more results in these figures will change slightly, and at a difference of only about 50 gold per hunt currently you may find that the two locations may switch as to which offers the best profit in the future, but it’s well worth pointing out that while the gold profit is very similar, the points available in Nerg are much better.

The Gumbo Cycle is hunting for Savoury Vegetables, then using those vegetables to craft Gumbo Cheese and hunting with that cheese as Gumbo offers higher points and gold returns than any other cheese in the Nerg Plains, and as such, is the best way to earn gold.

For this we’re going to look at the same setups as we used above in the earning gold comparison.

Gumbo (20 pieces), the results above show that in 20 hunts we can expect to earn about 31,000 gold after taking off the cost of crafting Gumbo (with Super Brie prices at 1,700), we can also expect to collect about 14 Yellow Seeds

Gumbo (15 pieces), the results above show that in 15 hunts we can expect to earn about 27,000 gold after taking off the cost of crafting Gumbo, we can also expect to collect about 10.5 Yellow Seeds

Gouda, the results above show that it will take about 53 hunts to collect 30 Savoury Vegetables, and we can expect to earn about 62,000 gold after taking off the cost of Gouda at 600 gold per piece.

If we add in the Gumbo (20 pieces), we get a total profit of about 93,000 gold over 73 hunts, about 1,275 gold per hunt and 0.19 Yellow Seeds per hunt.

If we add in the Gumbo (15 pieces), we get a total profit of about 88,500 gold over 68 hunts, about 1,300 gold per hunt and 0.15 Yellow Seeds per hunt.

Comparing this to the results we have from the Crunchy Cycle in Derr we can see that using Gouda would earn about 1,375 gold per hunt and about 0.11 Red Seeds per hunt.

Either of these methods for crafting results in less gold per hunt than in Derr Dunes, but both of them result in more seeds, which may be useful for earning gold later in the Jungle of Dread.

There are two ways to craft Gumbo, one produces 15 pieces, and the other requires 5 Magic Essence to craft 20 pieces, so which is better for earning gold?

Again this is something that relies on the price of Super Brie, and there are several ways to consider this.

If we look at gold returns per cheese, you can see that it’s worth buying Super Brie at any price lower than the return you make from Gumbo, as you will still make a profit.

If we look at gold returns per hunt, then the 15 piece recipe earns more per hunt if the price of Super Brie is over about 850 gold per piece.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 07-Feb-10.

The Derr Dunes is the Physical area of the Tribal Isles, it’s a great place to earn gold, but can be unforgiving to those without the best cheese and traps.

In this article we present you with some of the results from our survey, as well as some theories and strategies to help you hunt in this location.

Cheese & Mice

Here is a breakdown of the base attraction rates and mouse populations seen with various cheese.

Crunchy is the only cheese to use when going after the “Big Three” in Derr, but we can see from the populations of the other mice that there doesn’t seem to be a preference for any of the three cheese, as such, your only choice for cheese will be balancing cost with attraction rates.

Brie does have a very low base attraction rate in the Derr Dunes, however due to the high gold rewards of the mice it can still turn a nice profit for the hunter on a budget. Setups with a high Attraction Bonus and / or Cheese Effect are recommended when using Brie, but they will reduce your catch rate.

Gouda has a base attraction rate of about 70% in the Derr Dunes, which can be frustrating for hunters, but high gold rewards make it quite profitable in the long run. Setups with a high Attraction Bonus and / or Cheese Effect can offset this when using Gouda, but they will reduce your catch rate.

Super Brie boasts an impressive 99% attraction rate, allowing hunters to focus on the much needed power and luck of their trap without suffering any significant drawbacks.

General Strategies

All of the mice in the Derr Dunes are Physical mice, and many of them are quite strong, so a high power and high luck Physical trap will give the best results.

Physical Weapons are of normal effectiveness against all mice.

Hydro and Tactical Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and only of normal effectiveness against the Black Widow, Healer, Trailblazer and Wordsmith mice, so are not advised.

Arcane and Shadow Weapon types are completely ineffective against most of the mice, and only of normal effectiveness against the Black Widow, so are not advised.

Draconic and Forgotten Weapon types are completely ineffective against all of the mice.

Normal Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Limited Edition Setup Options

All cheese costs have been removed from these figures, and only show earnings after the cheese has been purchased for ease of comparison.

Goals

Delicious Stones are required to make Crunchy Cheese, which is used to attract the Aged Mouse in Cape Clawed, and three mice in Derr Dunes, the Derr Chieftain Mouse, Gladiator Mouse and Guardian Mouse.

Delicious Stones are dropped as loot by the Grunt Mouse (upto 3), Healer Mouse, Mintaka Mouse, Renegade Mouse, Seer Mouse, Spellbinder Mouse (upto 2), Trailblazer Mouse and Healer Mouse, each mouse only drops up to 1 Delicious Stone with the two exceptions mentioned above.

The weaker the mouse is, the less likely they are to drop Delicious Stones, with the Renegade Mouse dropping 1 Delicious Stone in almost all cases.

Red Pepper Seeds are required to make a number of the Havarti Cheese used in the Jungle of Dread and Dracano, they are only dropped by the three mice in Derr Dunes that can only be attracted with Crunchy Cheese.

Red Pepper Seeds are dropped as loot by the Derr Chieftain Mouse (upto 3), Gladiator Mouse (upto 2) and Guardian Mouse (upto 1).

As with Delicious Stones, the weakest mouse (the Guardian) is the least likely to drop Red Pepper Seeds, while the Derr Chieftain almost always drops at least 1 Red Pepper Seed.

High power and high luck Physical traps are highly recommended when hunting these three mice.

The Derr Chieftain Mouse drops the Ancient Mangled Blueprint Piece, which is used for crafting the Ancient Box Trap.

The Derr Chieftain Mouse is only attracted to Crunchy Cheese, is not commonly encountered and is the most powerful mouse in the location, fortunately it will drop the Blueprints in most cases (unless you already have them in your inventory), so it is an unlucky hunter who has to catch more than two before receiving this loot.

High power and high luck Physical traps are highly recommended.

Derr Dunes is a good place to earn gold without first having to collect potions of any sort, but hunters are quite interested in knowing which cheese will earn them more gold, or gold more quickly.

At the time of writing (these figures are based on those at 19-Jan-10), the cost of Super Brie is about 1,500 gold per piece, Gouda is priced at 600 gold per piece and Brie at 200 gold per piece. Numbers above in the Setup Options section have been given without these prices included, to establish gold returns from using certain cheese, these have been factored in.

When using a trap with a low Cheese Effect, in this case, Chrome DrillBot and Magma Base with Golden Shield:

On a per hunt basis, cheaper cheese wins, Brie averages at about 1,300 GpH, Gouda at about 1,200 GpH and Super Brie at about 1,050 GpH. So cheaper cheese will provide gold returns sooner.

On a per cheese basis, Brie averages at about 1,050 GpC, Super Brie at about 1,050 GpC, and Gouda at about 1,100 GpC, making Gouda the more efficient long term choice.

When using a trap with a better Cheese Effect, these returns can be greatly increased, comparing the Chrome DrillBot and Magma Base with Gouda and Golden Shield to the same setup but using the Gingerbread Base instead we get the following results:

Magma Base gives about 1,200 GpH and 1,100 GpC, Gingerbread give about 1,150 GpH and 1,350 GpC, offering a slower gain in the short term, but much better results in the long term.

The Crunchy Cycle is hunting for Delicious Stones, then using those stones to craft Crunchy Cheese and hunting with that cheese as Crunchy offers higher points and gold returns than any other cheese in the Derr Dunes, and as such, is the best way to earn gold.

To work out the best way to earn gold in the Crunchy Cycle, we need to look at how quickly you can collect Delicious Stones using various Cheese to start with, then factor in the returns you could expect to see after using all the Crunchy. For the purposes of this, we’ll take a single cycle of collecting 30 Delicious Stones, and use those to make 20 Crunchy using Magic Essence, see below for more on this.

Setup: Chrome DrillBot / Magma Base / Shield

Crunchy, the results above show that it in 20 hunts we can expect to earn about 39,000 gold after taking off cost of crafting Crunchy (with Super Brie prices at 1,500), we can also expect to collect about 10.8 Red Seeds.

Brie, the results above show that it will take about 89 hunts to collect 30 Delicious Stones, and we can expect to earn about 115,000 gold after taking off cost of Brie at 200 gold per piece.
After we add in the Crunchy, we get a total profit of about 154,000 gold over 109 hunts, about 1,415 gold per hunt, and 0.10 Red Seeds per hunt.

Gouda, the results above show that it will take about 74 hunts to collect 30 Delicious Stones, and we can expect to earn about 90,000 gold after taking off cost of Gouda at 600 gold per piece.
After we add in the Crunchy, we get a total profit of about 129,000 gold over 94 hunts, about 1,375 gold per hunt, and 0.11 Red Seeds per hunt.

Super Brie, the results above show that it will take about 54 hunts to collect 30 Delicious Stones, and we can expect to earn about 55,000 gold after taking off cost of Super Brie at 1,500 gold per piece.
After we add in the Crunchy, we get a total profit of about 94,000 gold over 74 hunts, about 1,275 gold per hunt, and 0.15 Red Seeds per hunt.

We can see from this, the difference between the gold returns for Brie and Gouda isn’t that much, Brie still earns more, but Gouda brings in slightly more Red Seeds to be used for Havarti later.

Super Brie is still the lowest gold at the current price of 1,500, but does bring in significantly more Red Seeds, if the price of Super Brie is 1,350 or below, it begins to offer better returns than Gouda, and if it’s 1,300 or below, it offers better returns than Brie, so keep this in mind when shopping for Super Brie.

There are two ways to craft Crunchy, one produces 15 pieces, and the other requires 5 Magic Essence to craft 20 pieces, so which is better for earning gold?

Again this is something that relies on the price of Super Brie, and there are several ways to consider this.

If we look at gold returns per cheese, you can see that it’s worth buying Super Brie at any price lower than the return you make from Crunchy, as you will still make a profit.

If we look at gold returns per hunt, then the 15 piece recipe earns more per hunt if the price of Super Brie is over about 1,100 gold per piece.

If we look at the whole Crunchy Cycle, it’s obvious to see that the returns from Crunchy are significantly higher than those from other cheese, and so the 20 piece recipe earns more per hunt for any starting cheese used until the price reaches about 1,750 gold per piece.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far and will do so in the future.

This article includes survey results from 10-Jan-10 to 07-Feb-10.