Mar 19, 2010

Posted by Paul Humphreys in Locations, Tribal Isles | 0 Comments

Nerg Plains

The Nerg Tribe use the tall grass for camouflage and the sturdy trees as defensive positions making their village hard to infiltrate. Use of a Tactical trap is highly recommended when hunting for the Nerg.

This article is currently out of date with the release of Longtail, we are adding the latest information as we find it.

Index

Overview
Cheese and Mice
Setup Options
Goals
Related Articles

Overview

The Nerg Plains is the Tactical location of the Tribal Isles, it contains a number of mice that are unique to this location and only a Tactical trap will be truely effective here.
Many of the mice drop Savoury Vegetables in this location, which are crafted into Gumbo cheese that can either be used in Cape Clawed or in Nerg Plains to attract the three most powerful mice of this location, all of whom drop Yellow Pepper Seeds.

Requirements

To hunt in the Nerg Plains a Hunter must have:
    A Hunter’s Title of at least Legendary.
    Have crafted the Ocean Navigation Kit.
And it is recommended that a Hunter should have:
    A good Tactical Weapon.
    At least Gouda cheese.

Hunting Tips by Larry

Larry I can barely see you over the tall grass! The terrain here makes it quite easy to hide, something I think the mice of the Nerg Tribe take full advantage of! Watch your back, it’s not uncommon for the Nerg to spring an ambush and pillage your supplies of cheese!

Members of the Nerg Tribe mostly keep to themselves, but are very territorial. They do not hesitate to attack enemy tribes or hunters the moment they step foot on their corner of the island. To be successful hunting here you will need either Gouda or SUPER|brie+ as bait, along with a strong Tactical weapon. You’ll find the mice of Nerg Plains to be resistant to any power type other than Tactical.

It seems the Nerg have an outside interest in farming. It is not uncommon to find them carrying some unique Savory Vegetables. They combine these vegetables with Curds and Whey over heat to make a gooey mess that cools into what they called Gumbo Cheese. I do not recommend trying any yourself as most humans have a hard time considering it even remotely edible. Using Gumbo cheese as bait will no doubt attract the leaders of the Nerg. Be well prepared for their arrival as they are the most territorial of all!

Now MouseHunter, bait your trap, lay low in the tall grass and keep your nose keen to the distinct scent of Savory Vegetables!

New Mice

There are 8 new mice to be found in the Nerg Plains. All of which can only be caught with Tactical traps.
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Cheese and Mice

Here we give an overview of the mice that can be encountered in this location, and how often you can expect to see them using various cheese.

The Mice of the Nerg Plains

Here is a breakdown of the various mice that can be found in the location, and what loot they might drop:

Mouse	Power Type	Loot
Alnilam	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Beast Tamer	Tactical	Up to 2 Savoury Vegetables
Black Widow	Physical	Between 2 and 10 pieces of Super Brie cheese
Caretaker	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Chameleon	Forest Guild Unknown	Unknown
Conjurer	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Conqueror	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Defender	Tactical	Up to 1 Yellow Pepper Seed
Finder	Tactical	Up to 3 Savoury Vegetables
Narrator	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Nerg Chieftain	Tactical	Ancient Ripped Blueprint (max 1) Up to 3 Yellow Pepper Seeds
Pathfinder	Tactical	Up to 1 Savoury Vegetable
Slayer	Tactical	Up to 2 Yellow Pepper Seeds

Mice Populations

Here is a breakdown of the populations of mice in the location based upon cheese used (these results come from our survey); the values given are a percentage of all attractions, and how many of these mice you are likely to attract in 100 hunts using base attraction:


	Mouse	Gouda	Gumbo	Super Brie
	Alnilam	17.47% (13.87)		17.15% (16.95)
	Beast Tamer	17.48% (13.87)		17.51% (17.30)
	Black Widow	0.11% (0.09)	0.10% (0.10)	0.20% (0.19)
	Caretaker	8.66% (6.87)		8.44% (8.34)
	Conjurer	17.09% (13.56)		17.15% (16.95)
	Conqueror	4.29% (3.40)		4.60% (4.55)
	Defender		60.95% (60.25)
	Finder	17.57% (13.95)		17.79% (17.57)
	Narrator	8.68% (6.89)		8.84% (8.74)
	Nerg Chieftain		7.88% (7.79)
	Pathfinder	8.65% (6.87)		8.31% (8.21)
	Slayer		31.06% (30.70)

Hunts Submitted		95,371	39,562	8,846
Base Attraction Rate		79.38%	98.85%	98.81%

Gumbo is the only cheese to use if you are after the three “boss” mice of Nerg.
If you are collecting Savoury Vegetables you will need to balance attraction rate and cost when deciding which cheese to use.
The more expensive cheese will bring in more Savoury Vegetables while hunting, but the the cheaper cheese will enable you to earn more gold.

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Setup Options

Here we present you with a selection of results from our survey to give you an idea of how well the various setups work, and what sort of results you may expect to see when using them. Please remember, if you do not see the setup you are interested in here, it is because we do not currently have enough hunts submitted with that setup. Please submit your hunts to our survey, and encourage others to do so too.

Here’s a quick overview of how the different power types perform overall:

Power Type		Performance (with Gumbo)	Performance (other cheese)	Comments
	Arcane	No Stars	No Stars	Normal against Black Widow, useless against all other mice
	Draconic			Useless against all mice
	Forgotten			Useless against all mice
	Hydro	No stars		Normal against Black Widow, Caretaker, Narrator and Pathfinder mice useless against all other mice
	Parental	No stars	No stars	Normal against Black Widow mice useless against all other mice
	Physical	No stars		Normal against Black Widow, Caretaker, Narrator and Pathfinder mice useless against all other mice
	Shadow	No stars	No stars	Normal against Black Widow, useless against all other mice
	Tactical			Normal against Black Widow, Very Effective against all other mice

Normal Setup Options

We currently do not have enough results for normal setups.

Limited Edition Setup Options

Here is a selection of setups with weapons and bases that were only available in the game for a limited time.
Gouda

Weapon	Base	Shield?	Attraction Rate	Catch Rate	Points per Hunt	Gold per Hunt	Savoury Vegetables per Hunt	Cheese Used	Sample Size (Hunts)
2010 Blastoff Trap	Candy Cane Base	No	79.26%	82.57%	2,552.56	1,493.88	0.46	2,239	2,526
2010 Blastoff Trap	Candy Cane Base	Yes	78.73%	90.26%	2,868.99	1,677.79	0.52	11,220	12,936
2010 Blastoff Trap	Gingerbread Base	No	79.22%	82.55%	2,497.41	1,473.99	0.45	0,931	1,107
2010 Blastoff Trap	Gingerbread Base	Yes	79.23%	86.81%	2,727.28	1,600.77	0.49	3,793	4,477
2010 Blastoff Trap	Magma Base	No	81.31%	87.72%	2,848.91	1,667.45	0.51	5,384	5,309
2010 Blastoff Trap	Magma Base	Yes	80.23%	92.08%	3,054.99	1,786.76	0.57	23,184	22,959
Ambush	Candy Cane Base	Yes	79.48%	77.08%	2,415.89	1,386.64	0.42	1,503	1,740
Ambush	Gingerbread Base	No	77.19%	66.30%	1,932.34	1,106.73	0.30	0,865	1,061
Ambush	Gingerbread Base	Yes	77.92%	73.33%	2,108.44	1,232.41	0.36	0,894	1,078
Ambush	Magma Base	No	79.06%	70.37%	2,166.09	1,255.35	0.35	1,250	1,208
Ambush	Magma Base	Yes	79.38%	81.26%	2,400.14	1,404.99	0.47	1,086	1,062
Giant Speaker	Candy Cane Base	Yes	81.53%	88.69%	2,932.54	1,711.09	0.52	2,928	3,383
Giant Speaker	Gingerbread Base	No	79.75%	77.34%	2,366.35	1,382.68	0.42	1,452	1,699
Giant Speaker	Magma Base	No	81.91%	83.42%	2,744.41	1,600.38	0.50	2,320	2,283
Giant Speaker	Magma Base	Yes	81.74%	90.48%	2,969.46	1,743.79	0.55	4,629	4,561
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Candy Cane Base	Yes	79.18%	85.02%	2,609.92	1,538.43	0.45	1,044	1,239
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Gingerbread Base	No	80.80%	75.22%	2,425.20	1,404.37	0.43	1,595	1,833
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Gingerbread Base	Yes	82.38%	80.14%	2,527.40	1,469.29	0.45	1,050	1,186
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Magma Base	No	81.39%	78.39%	2,431.78	1,415.86	0.42	2,702	2,638
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Magma Base	Yes	81.15%	86.36%	2,784.18	1,629.02	0.50	8,273	8,142
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Polar Base	Yes	79.01%	70.98%	2,197.11	1,293.50	0.36	0,913	1,086
Snow Barrage	Magma Base	Yes	85.24%	94.73%	3,360.10	1,960.51	0.64	2,259	2,425

Gumbo

Weapon	Base	Shield?	Attraction Rate	Catch Rate	Points per Hunt	Gold per Hunt	Yellow Pepper Seeds per Hunt	Cheese Used	Sample Size (Hunts)
2010 Blastoff Trap	Candy Cane Base	Yes	98.12%	55.95%	5,330.71	2,342.32	0.62	3,251	3,290
2010 Blastoff Trap	Magma Base	No	98.13%	49.15%	4,543.28	2,037.60	0.54	1,611	1,611
2010 Blastoff Trap	Magma Base	Yes	99.04%	61.31%	5,853.94	2,632.87	0.70	17,798	17,798
Giant Speaker	Candy Cane Base	Yes	99.56%	57.73%	5,712.34	2,520.43	0.66	1,138	1,143
Giant Speaker	Magma Base	Yes	98.90%	55.63%	5,250.52	2,335.72	0.62	2,819	2,819
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Magma Base	No	99.27%	48.90%	4,659.07	2,020.76	0.52	1,370	1,370
Horrific Venus Mouse Trap	Magma Base	Yes	98.92%	54.58%	5,160.41	2,299.86	0.60	6,719	6,719

Super Brie

Weapon	Base	Shield?	Attraction Rate	Catch Rate	Points per Hunt	Gold per Hunt	Savoury Vegetables per Hunt	Cheese Used	Sample Size (Hunts)
2010 Blastoff Trap	Magma Base	Yes	98.87%	92.10%	3,817.14	2,229.34	0.69	3,634	3,634
Giant Speaker	Magma Base	Yes	98.93%	90.08%	3,572.83	2,103.40	0.65	1,966	1,966

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Goals

Here is a selection of Goals that a hunter may like to achieve:

Collect Savoury Vegetables

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.

Collect Yellow Pepper Seeds

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.

Catch a Nerg Chieftain Mouse with the Blueprints

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.

Earning Gold (Comparison with Derr Dunes)

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.

Earning Gold in the Gumbo Cycle (Comparison with Derr Dunes)

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.

Using Magic Essence for Gumbo

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.
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