Ronza Christmas and the Great Winter hunt 2009!! Part III (The Wrap Up Edition)

Not sure what your strategy should be this Christmass????



Well this guide is to help you! (kinda)


Originally I wanted to do a rank to trap analysis. But its too tedious to do it by eyeball and I don't maintain
a spreadsheet of the values.

So I'll just list a prioritisation kinda list of the traps.

And YOU can decide which trap is for you based on what traps you ready have.


Lets do the easy ones first the candy cane base and firecracker.

Candy cane : if you have money to spare.

This is a MUST buy. BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE MONEY TO SPARE. i.e. not high priority.

Justification:

Aqua is almost equal and is in game, so you do not lose alot. However it is a definite upgrade that may not come again
so definitely a good to have.

If you are saving cash for the 2010 or Chrome Drillbot, you can skip this without fear or regret!

Firecracker:


Nice to have i.e. low priority.

If you have magma, you CAN skip this with no loss to your hunting abilities

Justification:

its just explosive with 4 luck. It is tuned to newer players. really new players, you know.... Magma just passed for God's sake.


If you are saving cash for the 2010 or Chrome Drillbot, drop this


Now on to the TRAPS!

There is a slight tension now for those yet to receive their CCT.


Should you stay in the Festive Comet or Should you FARM gold?


There is no clear cut answer to that.


Alot depends on your current situation and what is important to you.



Staying in the FC, i.e. throwing your lot with the CCT


Justification:

it will be more powerful than the Partybot when it triggers (due to the higher power) BUT it will trgger less often than the Partybot
due to its reduced luck 24 versus 25

Against the Partybot, it also loses 15% attraction, i.e. it WILL NOT have the "Almost Super Brie" effect when farming in Derr with Gouda

However. if you are not able to get the Chrome Drill bot. Definitely get the CCT.

If you can get the Chrome DRillbot, GO FOR THE CHROME DRILLBOT!!

In short:

The CCT is only important if you cannot get the Chrome Drillbot.


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Now the 2010 or the CCT ???

It depends alot on whether you have the GS.


IF you have the GS, the 2010 gives you more flexibility and the ABILITY to farm better in Nerg.

Not crippling but nice to have. In a sense 2010 is the TRUE tactical Partybot and GS is the tactical CCT.


Which is better? They are very close and I do not think they outright out perform each other. So since they are so similar.

IF you have the GS, you then have to ask (if you cannot afford both CCT and 2010 ... in terms of farming or staying in FC) if you need the CCT.

See the above section on the CCT for something to chew on.

Now IF you do not have the GS, then you MUST get the 2010.

Of course if you cannot get the 2010 (no gold.. impossible to farm in time etc etc i.e. you give up)

Then its the CCT.



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Now if your dilemma is between the 2010 and the Chrome Drillbot


Then it really boils down to what you need.

Do you have the GS? If you have the GS, go for the Chrome Drillbot.

If you do not have the GS? now thats tough. But consider this. Chrome Drillbot is likely the closest you will EVER
get to the other CDB (the Chrome Deathbot).

It is the Chrome Death bot with 4 less luck and 1K more power and no attraction.

The only place it loses out? Attraction. But face it, the original Chrome Death Bot was a tad broken (or more nicely put, really really good) because the devs really wanted to reward the higher level players at the time and gave them a bit of EVERYTHING and i mean EVERYTHING!

Power, Luck and Attraction. The original CDB has it all. The closest the devs EVER came to rewarding this richly was during Magma release.

it will be hard to beat Magma without going into a tailspin with power creep (this will likely be another article =D)

So far every trap has been built to AVOID power creep. The Chrome Drill Bot is a perfect example of this. It stays within the boundaries
set by Chrome Deathbot.

BUT!


It is vey very close to the Chrome Deathbot. Remember my theory about how luck works? Well you gotta agree with me to understand this. With a higher power, when your luck effect triggers, your power is greater!. Think of the the luck as a linear factor for simplicity.
Say multiple of 2. A trap 'A' with power 1000 and a trap 'B' with power 2000 both with some value of luck. So when the luck triggers
Trap A gets 2000, but Trap B gets 4000. A higher luck value just means the "lucky effect" triggers more often! But notice between trap A and Trap B , Trap B is more likely to catch then Trap A.

To surmise.

Althought the Chrome Drillbot has a luck of 26 and the Chrome Deathbot has a luck of 30. This means Chrome Deathbot will trigger more often. But Chrome Drillbot is more likely to catch when it triggers.

THIS will matter when we catch higher powered mice.

(Incidentally this was how the Snob was contained : by having a really low power)

So the Chrome Drillbot is not strictly worse than the Chrome Deathbot, it is actually very very close, with the potential to get better.


Its really hard to get a trap at Chrome Death bot's level.

The Rhino was all power. The Partybot was an attempt to leverage on power and lower the luck. But we learnt from Derr that power must be quite a bit higher. Which is what they did now. Give it much more power and 1 more luck. And in case it is too strong, drop the attraction.

Chrome Drillbot is the true gift from the devs this Christmas. The 2010 is an alternate to the GS (like Partybot is to CCT). The CCT is to give those without a Partybot, something like a Partybot (but without the ability to farm, at least not without SB).

Oh the Snow Globe. The Snow Globe is to make everyone happy. it is a Snow GLobe afterall and the Snow Globe has many rabid fans =)

Strictly it is a NVMRC +4 luck. Nice to have for the newer level player... if you are shot on cash, only get if you absolutely can't get the others. Seriously, even getting the candy cane might be better, since the NVMRC WILL be superseded by othe rin game traps, but as a base, the Candt Cane Base is rather evergreen at the moment.





So in a nutshell (IMHO):


A) If you have a choice of any one trap

Chrome Drillbot > 2010 > CCT > Candy Cane Base > Fire Cracker Base > Snow Globe


B) If you cannot get Chrome Drillbot

B1) If you do not have Partybot and have GS

CCT > 2010 > Candy Cane Base > Fire Cracker Base > Snow Globe


B2) If you do not have GS and have Partybot

2010 > CCT > Candy Cane Base > Fire Cracker Base > Snow Globe

B3) If you have neither, then its really do you value tactical or physical =P


C) If you cannot get the 2010 or CCT (you got no cash and you did'nt get or missed the loot)

Candy Cane Base > Fire Cracker Base > Snow Globe




In that order.


Oh yah Gingerbread Base and Ginger bread Surprise


Lets get the weapon out of the way first:

GBS is just a nice Swiss. If you miss it, no biggie =) unless you are a collector. i feel your pain.



Ginger bread base:


If you have polar: This is inferior to polar so if you do not have it no worries

If you do not have polar: This is very very close. Definitely nice to have.

Many have survived without the polar though so no worries. If you have to give this up for the Chrome Drillbot or 2010 its well worth the sacrifice.

If you are gunning for the CCT then... whats your problem =P you will have a chance at it while hunting for your CCT loot!!


Thats all for now folks!

In the pipe line:

perhaps a discourse on power creep!!

Ronza Christmas and the Great Winter hunt 2009!! Part II

Alrighty this is part 2 of my ramblings/article about the traps Ronza will be bringing!


(oh yeah and a Merry Christmas to you too =D)

In the last Article we talked about the CCT (Christmas Cracker Trap) and the Partybot, Rhinobot and the Chrome Drillbot.


Today, we shall discuss the 2010 Blastoff Trap (2010), the Giant Speaker (GS), and the HVMT (Horrific Venus Mouse Trap)!


However first lets get the bases out of the way.

The two bases on offer are the

Candy Cane Base and the Firecracker base.

Quite simple really both are upgrades.

CCB is Aqua + 70 power and FRESHNESS

and FCB is Explosive +4 luck

Which should you get?

Frankly overall... you should get the CCB (if you had to choose)

If you have the Magma... you have no need for the Firecracker. Magma blows it to bits.

If you missed out on Magma however. The FCB is a nice upgrade and will likely serve you well.

(understand that I never did use Explosive alot in the first place =P)


Why CCB though?

at the moment the only way to get high luck without staleness is with Aqua. CCB adds more power (always good)
and FRESHNESS (which is good when you want the luck but the Magma just burns your precious cheese too quickly
e.g. Harvarti)

Now that we have that out of the way (Oh I will definitely miss the Aqua, it is special to me in many ways =))


The Tactical Traps.



So lets list em:


2010 Blastoff Trap
Cost: 512,800 gold
Points Required: 99,000
Power: 2,600
Power Type: Tactical
Power Bonus: 15%
Attraction Bonus: 0%
Luck: 25
Cheese Effect: Very Stale


Giant Speaker
Cost: 612,800 gold
Points Required: 91,000
Power: 2,850
Power Type: Tactical
Power Bonus: 5%
Attraction Bonus: 5%
Luck: 22
Cheese Effect: No Effect



Horrific Venus Mouse Trap
Cost: 849,650+ gold
Points Required: 8,000,000
Power: 3,400
Power Type: Tactical
Power Bonus: 12%
Attraction Bonus: 1%
Luck: 16
Cheese Effect: No Effect





I think to cut it short, this is a power versus luck argument AGAIN!


2010 and GS do not compare to HVMT well in terms of power.

But in Derr we already know that the power difference MUST be substantial before the
power based trap visibly outperforms the luck based trap.

From the results I know (anecdoctal), together with a MAGMA base.

The GS outperforms the HVMT (I'm being vague here, i suspect against the big three HVMT might win out. Might.)

But looking at the luck I would think the 2010 will outperform the GS.
It might suffer against the big three (versus the GS) but in terms of farming. 2010 will likely outperform the GS.

Now again if you follow my ramblings/articles... you WILL know.. (by now) that I am a proponent of Attraction!


I suspect attraction is not really pushed by the MH devs because it undermines the usage of SB =P (I am somewhat serious)

The real kick in the groin to the GS by 2010 here is the VOILA! 15% attraction!


Remember I said that "the GS is the tactical power type's partybot! But not really." At that time I made that statement because of the lack of 15% Attraction that Partybot has.... which allows the Partybot to have an "Almost Super Brie" effect.

This was first achievable in Nerg with Snob/Aqua/Gouda because of the Snob's 20% attraction!

The devs have chosen to give us a tactical trap that can enable Gouda like SB =)

Kudos to them! It is really a nice reward.

(NOTE! it really is'nt quite like SB just really close.. you still get FTAs just really really REALLY rarer).

I really think the power reduction will put the 2010 out of contention for the big three in Nerg.. but we'll see.

MAGMA. makes all the difference. Afterall Magma was what pushed Partybot into contention in catching the big three in Derr.

The reason why I think the 2010 will not do too well? Its a gut feel. Being able to compete strongly against the big three in Nerg will
just totally outclass the GS.

Almost immediately after it is out. Why do that?


So its just a gut feel.


To really show if 2010 will or will not out class the GS against the big three. It is a integer programming problem (discrete optimisation)... which will yield answers only for the current state =P once a new trap or base comes out OR the environment is tweaked. the numbers could be skewed again =P hence I'll just go with gut feel...

In short, I will strongly advise to purchase the 2010 if only for farming wth gouda =)

I like to ranble.. and I forgot I was actually trying to compare against the HVMT...

welll everythihng that is true for GS versus HVMT is true as well. With the disparity between 2010 and HVMT being even greater.


And that is my take for now. Until the traps are released and more anecdoctal info comes in...



BTW just to STATE very CLEARLY that power is NOT entirely outclassed in this game.

I am currently hunting with Rhinobot/Tribal/SB and enjoying a good streak.... this is just after my new Christmas Cracker Trap got into a bad streak =)

So power still has a place people =D




I might do a 3rd article/ramble to discuss whether you should buy what ever trap based on your rank. So far my discussion have always assumed top flight and you can get any trap you want. (which is obviously not true)... so I thought this might be an interesting article =)


...

we'll see =)

Ronza Christmas and the Great Winter hunt 2009!!

Hooooo boy.


This is alot to analyse.


First off the 12 days are over (well almost) and the loot is revealed!

The stats:

Christmas Cracker Trap
Cost: 0 gold
Points Required: 0
Power: 3,000
Power Type: Physical
Power Bonus: 15%
Attraction Bonus: 5%
Luck: 24
Cheese Effect: Very Fresh



First off this will be placed in direct comparison with the Partybot and then with the Rhinobot in Derr


Partybot
Points Required: 91,000
Power: 2,850
Power Type: Physical
Power Bonus: 15%
Attraction Bonus: 15%
Luck: 25
Cheese Effect: Stale



If you compare the CCT and Pbot side by side, you will notice that the difference is the CCT is +150 power
-10% attraction -1 luck with a Very Fresh cheese effect.

What does this mean? It is means that if you use SB+ the CCT is strictly better (this is popular belief)
I am not too sure about that since I did not code the the code for attraction =)

Personally i think it might be possible that a boosted attraction will still attract better mice more of the time even with SB.

If I am WRONG though, that would mean yah given a cheese like SB or Rumble in Dojo. The CCT should out perform the Pbot most of the time.


STILL this is not taking into effect the power of luck. Luck is often speculated (or is that confirmed by devs?) that it is non linear
hence a lack of 1 luck at the 24th and 25th level/order might be a significant difference!

IF this is true, what we will see is that pbot will STILL outperform the CCT (though not by too much). This much has been taught by the Rhinobot. That for
the effect of power to come into play, the power boost MUST be significant/ At the moment it is 150 flat rate (ignoring a possible bonus from the base)

HOWEVER the coming of a BASE with a high base power BONUS might tilt the balances in favour of the CCT since the flat rate extra 150 will grow by percentile.
One could experiment with the Tribal or Magma I guess.


Now the other part of the argument lies in performance at Derr.


Now if you followed my articles. You will know that I propose that the Partbot/Magma/Gouda is now possible because of the power increase with magma

HOWEVER. a big part has also to do with the attraction rate. THIS is the reason Snob/Aqua/Gouda works in Nerg (This is what I term, the "almost Super Brie" effect)

Do you see the problem?


The CCT is sans 10% attraction. THAT is a big difference. You might lose the "Almost Super Brie" effect.. which will lead to suckier runs.

It is important at this point to keep VERY SEPARATE the catch rate per attraction as opposed to the catch rate per run:

The former is only how good the trap is at catching the mouse once the mouse is attracted (THIS is where the power increment and luck
decrement of the CCT PERTAINS). The latter will take into account the attraction (which affect FTAs) which may affect your overall
experience in Derr.

NOTE! I have not tried it and at teh moment people are gushing about the CCT. BUT my prediction is Pbot may still out perform the CCT.
At least in Derr =P



Now tied to this, once with get into Derr (note we are NOT discussing about catching the big 3, just farming).

Is, does it supersede the Rhinobot?

In a word: NO.


Even without magma, I was alternating between Rhinobot/Tribal/SB,Rhinobot/Polar/SB,Rhinobot/Aqua/SB,Partybot/Aqua/SB
(I don't use the Dehyd much normally... so the lack of it does not mean it sucks =P)


The argument was that SB solved the FTAs. Remember the problem with Derrs is threefold: FTA/FTC/Streaks


With Magma I got better catches and the stable setups were:

Rhinobot/Magma/Gouda,Partybot/Magma/Gouda

Notice the lack of SB =D (though.... if you lack time SB is still faster! as there will still be streaks and there will still ne FTAs when you use Gouda)


So with the CCT only being either as good or worse than the Partybot (due to attraction and only in this Derr scenario mind you). It does not challege the Rhinobot's position =D


Rhinobot
Points Required: 16,000,000
Power: 4,950
Power Type: Physical
Power Bonus: 0%
Attraction Bonus: 0%
Luck: 8
Cheese Effect: Very Stale



Possible a more pertaining and contentious discourse would be that between the Rhinobot and Chrome Drillbot


Chrome DrillBot ( 3,900 Physical Power )
Power Type: Physical
Power Bonus: 20%
Attraction Bonus: n/a
Luck: 26
Cheese Effect: Insanely Stale
897,400




While it does look bad... and it probably is =P Old Rhinobotty there may still be able to hold it own in Derr.

In terms of farming it is odd to think about it that way, but the Chrome Drillbot may replace the CCT's postion.

Why?

Without attraction, it will not replace Pbot's position in farming in Derr.

It is however having better luck and more power. Hence it should replace the CCT

Yes it is an odd situation for those that can afford both =P

In terms of hunting the big 3 however. (Assuming Magma as the base)

The Chrome Drillbot is > than the CCT > Pbot

Will the Chrome Drillbot outperform the Rhinobot? Sadly (I like my Rhinobot... unlike many hunters out there =P) there is
a very good chance.

The Rhinobot is not totally out however. I suspect it will be a good alternate when the streaks come and your trap is cursed
by the devs... even though the stats all claim otherwise =P

the only difference now is CCT and Pbot are available as alternates as well.

Ah well Rhino served its time.... still this is all preliminary and maybe by some razor sharp edge the Chrome Drillbot's extra
power just isn't enough and Rhinobot can still claim "more power" .... doubtful yes =P




On ward! well actually I am tired .. =p for more action i will later discuss about the new Tactical trap (yes another one!)


Below are the stats to be discussed!



Snowglobe Trap ( 2,350 Physical Power )
Power Type: Physical
Power Bonus: 12%
Attraction Bonus: 10%
Luck: 16
Cheese Effect: No Effect
341,000 gold



2010 Blastoff Trap ( 2,600 Tactical Power )
Power Type: Tactical
Power Bonus: 15%
Attraction Bonus: n/a
Luck: 25
Cheese Effect: Very Stale
512,800 gold


Candy Cane Base ( 300 Power )
Power Bonus: n/a
Attraction Bonus: n/a
Luck: 8
Cheese Effect: Fresh



Firecracker Base ( 300 Power )
Power Bonus: 5%
Attraction Bonus: 5%
Luck: 4
Cheese Effect: Stale

Ginger Bread Trap !!!

12:24am
Christopher Oaten sounded the Hunter's Horn.
I was successful in my hunt! I caught a 3 oz. Worker mouse from the Festive Comet worth 298 points and 2,203 gold.

The mouse also dropped the following loot:
1 Gingerbread House Plans.

My weapon was very effective against this mouse.



heh I got my ginger bread trap!!!