I had an absolutely AWESOME run in the Cursed City. Cleared the three curses, nabbed four essence collectors in a row which netted me 3 dreamfluff herbs and 4 cynd essences. I moved over to the Sand Crypts, and I cannot catch a mouse to save my life! I've got my King-Grub meter in the mid yellow range so I'm hoping to nab one of those this time through, but you kind of have to catch mice to do that, and I've nabbed 1 in the past 2 hours. . . .

I wonder if the Shadow trap would be better for me to go after first. . .

Wow, the return of Journal Summaries. It's been so long I forgot all about them. I wonder how many of you all besides Kat and stwin remember them?

I don't remember them. . . I was a bit surprised when I first saw it this morning .

I caught a King Grub in the middle of the night (insomnia horn sound ), who dropped a Dol Essence, a Fel Essence and 2 Lunaria petals. So I'm back in the cursed city. If I can nab 2 more dreamfluff herbs, that will give me a total of 6 pieces of Lunaria to go after Twisted Carmine.

Either way, I've collected enough essences this run through to craft a Gur essence, so I count it a success. If I catch a carmine, I'll have enough to craft a Hix!!!

Notice: This is quite a long post. I also decided to bold my questions about the game to make them easier to find in this mammoth collection of text. A lot of my questions were in response to FK, but anyone's welcome to chime in.

From what I see, you're doing quite well! My advice at this point? Never use Cheddar Cheese. . . it's worthless.

D'aww, thank you! And also, thanks for the input. I hadn't actually known that there was cheddar cheese (only paid attention to the marble cheese and higher when I looked at the cheese shoppe) but now I know to stay away from it. Thank you!

Welcome to MH, Mountie! And I agree with FK, I'd much rather you were feeling better, but I hope you enjoy the game

Obviously I'd prefer you not playing because you feel fine, or even better, playing while feeling good, but we're excited you've joined us and I hope you like the game!

Aww! That means a lot to me. Thanks so much to you both.

Advice... play in the way that is most fun to you. A lot of people burn through the game in an attempt to catch up to us upper level people which includes skipping mice or even whole areas and then coming back to them later...

Burning through the game to catch up... who, me?

No seriously, thank you very much. As far as that goes, how do you know when you've collected all the mice in a certain area? I wasn't sure what to do, so I went onto the Windmill as soon as I became an Apprentice, since I wanted to get farther in the game.

(If you're in the same location as a friend, you take each other on hunts )

Ooh, that sounds fun! I look forward to that. Which brings up a slightly-related question, what are tournaments? How do you join a team? (I likely won't be able to participate much since I am currently a nocturnal being, but I'd like to know for future reference. )

And there are also treasure hunts which are loads of fun. So yeah, no shortage on stuff to do, find what's fun and go to town on it.

Ah, what are treasure hunts? Haven't really figured out what those are, either.

That's good to know. Aside from clicking the horn every fifteen minutes, I haven't found much else to do on the game. I'd love to find some other things to do, since I'm currently only hitting the horn every 15 minutes and that can get pretty dull. Despite that, I am loving the game so far. It is... strangely addicting.

My next piece of advice, read everything.

Ah, okay, good to know, thank you! I so appreciate your advice.

So finally one who is less experienced than I
I started in September

There are discussion fora on the site, and it's possible to get "adopted" by experienced "mentors" - but I feel I'm adopted by the whole NW MH-ers clan, and I don't need any other mentors. They have indeed been awesome

Indeed. That would be me.

And, aw, yes! I have definitely noticed that. Everyone's been so kind and mentor-ful to me thus far--thank you!!

I agree about reading up on the game. There are even "guides" written by players, in addition to the MouseHunt Wiki, that suggest what order to do things in. At the beginning there's not so much scope for alternatives, but fairly soon you get to have a choice of areas to play in - and all the time you can always go back to where you have been before, and have another go at the mice you didn't catch the first time.

Yes, I've found a few of those. All the information is overwhelming, but I'm looking forward to reading them whenever I feel up to it.

Yeah, I'm currently at the Windmill so I have at least a few more choices. At least I can decide between two locations now. It's a start.

*goes to check that Mountie is on her MH friends list*

As you've probably already figured out by now, we are indeed friends!

Wow, the return of Journal Summaries. It's been so long I forgot all about them. I wonder how many of you all besides Kat and stwin remember them?

Obviously I don't remember them. What are they, just so I can know what to look for from now on?

And now, a question for you all. I'm noticing that once in a while my cheese gets stale and I have a FTA. (That means Fail to Attract, right? You might have to help me a bit with the lingo here... ) I asked FK about it earlier and she asked if I'd looked into trap options. I have, but I didn't want to waste precious gold without talking to you all and seeing what thoughts you had on which trap to get. Currently I've got a high tension spring trap, a wooden base with target (which has already helped to significantly cut down on the FTAs), with a 500 pound spiked crusher. FK suggested the trebuchet trap, so I've got my eye on that one. Any other thoughts on what the most strategic trap would be at this point?

And as a P.S., a massive thank you to all of you who've sent me gifts and written on my corkboard and given me such an awesome welcome to this game. You've all been great and so kind and I feel very, very welcomed.

how do you know when you've collected all the mice in a certain area?

You can click on the "Mice" Tab, and it'll show you the breeds in your area, and how many you've yet to catch. Some of the earlier mice are grouped together as the "Indigenous Group" so not all of them will be available in your area.

what are tournaments? How do you join a team?

Tournaments are when your team gets points for catching specific mice. You can get tournament tokens if your team places in the top 50%, which can be spent at the Tournament Shop. You must be invited to a team, but NarniaWeb kind of has a "massive group team" See our facebook group for more details.

what are treasure hunts?

Treasure maps are something that are dropped by a specific mouse encountered later in the game. You can join a map if you are invited to it. A map has specific mice that need to be caught. Once all the mice are caught, you get a treasure chest filled with goodies. You can be invited to maps even at your level

Journal summaries are something that appear in your news feed. They show you how many mice you caught in a day, how many points and and how much gold you've accrued in the past 24 hours.

how do you know when you've collected all the mice in a certain area?

Click on the shield at the top left of the Camp page, that'll take you to your profile page. Once there, select the Mice Tab and then Location. Select which location tab you want to see on the left side, and that will tell you which mice are in that particular location and whether or not you've caught them.
Now some of the mice are SB only mice, and if you want, I can list out for you which ones they are, or you can look them up on the Wiki.

So here's where the game can get a little bit interesting. Some of the mice are much harder to attract and catch at your level, like the Gold and Diamond Mice. If you decided to invest in some higher level cheese, like Brie, you'll see an increase of attraction of the higher level mice. But without a higher level trap, you'll have a harder time catching them (FTC = Fail to Catch) and you won't make as much of a profit overall (200g for a piece of Brie, you catch a White Mouse worth 100g, that's a loss of 100g). But if you get a higher level trap and keep hunting with lower level cheese like Marble, you'll keep getting the same ol' collection of bitty mice that aren't worth as much, as well as a lot more FTAs, and again, you'll get a much slower accumulation of gold.
My personal advice is to always upgrade your trap as soon as you can afford to. And once you hit the Harbour, you might start playing around with Swiss instead of Marble.
To summarize that mass of ramblings if you're getting a lot of FTCs, you need a better trap setup. If you're getting a lot of FTAs, you need better cheese or more attraction on your trap.

Now my next question for you is, have you paid much attention to the statistics on your trap setups? (power, luck, etc)

Despite that, I am loving the game so far. It is... strangely addicting.

It is, isn't it?

Finished my Warpath Run. I now have the flameshards for my Oasis Water Node Trap, I just need... everything else... headed to the catacombs to farm Living Shards and gold... lots of gold... How easy is it to get the bead to drop?

How easy is it to get the bead to drop?

Well that depends on if your name is DiGs or if your name is Kat. If you're DiGs you'll see it within the next run or two. If you're Kat, you might see it show up before your 30th run through.
I am going to offer you some different advice though. The days of the Catacombs being the place to farm gold are long gone now that you've unlocked the Warpath. For me personally, when I hunt in the Cats, I top out at 100,000g per day. In the Warpath, depending on the wave I'm in, I can get up to 250,000g a day. Now granted, that's with the Monstrobot so you won't get that much, but I'm pretty darn sure you'll get a lot more gold in the Warpath than in the Cats even with the ER. Now that we have those snazzy Journal Summaries again, you can compare to be sure.
The other benefit of continuing to hunt in the Warpath is that you'll be working towards getting those other trap parts to drop. Remind me what you got again on your first run wolf, was it a SBM?
As for the living shards, goodness, just buy those in Digby. It'll take you far longer to farm those in the Cats than it will to farm the Bead in the Warpath.

Understood about the Warpath, but my main priority is getting the Water Node... so I can actually catch something in the garden. So I've sacrificed some gold farming to work on Living Shards, but I'm hoping the Cat's will give me a decent balance (Plus I'm still tired out from this last run... twas a pain ) *Looks to see if she even got a decent drop last time ... um looks like that would be a yes on the sandblasted metal

Plus I'm still tired out from this last run... twas a pain

I can understand that. I would guess then that it would be fastest to buy the Oasis Bead off of the Marketplace rather than farming for it. It's not as cheap as it was before the LG was released, but it's come back down to a reasonable price again. About 1.5mil.

Speaking of reasonable prices, SB is back below 10,000g per piece again on the Marketplace. yay!!!!!

So, personal progress... just moved to the Sand Dunes. Still working my way towards my next trap, but the LG areas hate me, I've decided this. My husband is here too and he's gotten so many more petals, herbs, and essences for the mice he's caught than I have, it's not even funny.
The good news is, I converted my essences this morning and got another G essence, so I need three more to get my Arcanum trap. I currently have 1G, 2H. Maybe I'll actually catch some TCs this run to speed up my progress.

Fantasia, are you planning on getting the next trap soon? I was considering holding off in case Ronza came.

I am a bit surprised that we've heard nothing about Ronza. . . it's been a long time.

My own personal progress. . . I just finished farming more dewthief petals. Got a total of 73. Farming Dreamfluff Herbs in the Lost City. I'll not mention my goal. . . because I never keep them . I'll just keep plugging along till I get bored

Fantasia, are you planning on getting the next trap soon? I was considering holding off in case Ronza came.

I'll be getting it as soon as I can afford it, yep. I'm not waiting for Ronza because she may not be back any time soon. I suspect that when they do they'll either give us our month's heads up, or make everything she brings very affordable.
Plus I have a rather large stash of money anyways so I doubt she'll bring anything that's going to make me hurt for gold.

Oh, I don't know. That's what everyone said, and then they released the Living Garden and all the subsequent updates.

On another note, I have almost as much gold as you. *happy dance* *realizes that she has like, none of the 'spensive traps and stuff that FK has* *cries*

Soooo. I had the worst Tower run that I've had by FAR and I still managed to get the King at 5% amp. That was painful; I hope I don't have to do that again but I'm sure I will. And to think the run started out beautifully..I was doing SO WELL until the stupid Rooks.

Speaking of which, I've got a really decent supply of Checkmate Cheese, some Rook Crumbles and I'm not afraid to use SB+...I think I'd like to try a Zugzwang tourney at some point. Is anyone game? We should try and find one that coordinates well with all of our schedules. I'm itching to catch a Chessmaster but I don't want to use my CMC unless it "counts".

On another note, I failed my second Iceburg run. I was doing really decently and then I hit the Mad Depths and literally spent an entire day waffling between 1750 and 1785 feet, lol! Bummer. But, I got my Remote Detonate base, and I'll have enough BCF by my next run to craft another base and hopefully catch Icewing so I can get my SMIII. Yay! I tallied up all my trap loot so far and I'm DONE collecting Heating Oil for alllll the bases, done with Frosty Metal except for the Deep Freeze base, and waaaaaaaaaayy behind on Wire Spools. Stupid Wire Spools. I need a ridiculous amount, like 37. Yikes.

Oh, I don't know. That's what everyone said, and then they released the Living Garden and all the subsequent updates. ]

But the thing is, it takes soooo long to farm the components for those traps that money isn't really an issue. I barely noticed when I bought the POWN trap. I guess the Rift Base will put a large dent in my current gold supply, but I'm a long ways away from getting that.

I think I'd like to try a Zugzwang tourney at some point. Is anyone game?

I probably would be It's one of my favorite tournies. Although I refuse to do it during the season of Fall. Sooo painful. I need to get back over there and max out my amplifier again so I'm ready to go whenever a good one pops up.

On the subject of the Living Garden area, I have some statistics for those of you who might be interested, garnered by my husband who is far more patient than I am in farming materials. These are the drops he got in each location with 100 or 50 pieces of cheese. I've also back converted everything to A essences.

Lost City - Using 100 Dewthief Cheese
171 Herbs, 270 A
Sand Dunes - Using 100 Dewthief Cheese
167 Petals, 230A
Cursed City - Using 50 Graveblossom Cheese
10 Herbs, 173A
Sand Crypts - Using 50 Graveblossom Cheese [NOTE: Charms had already been purchased for this area, and it includes catching King Grub]
8 Petals, 223A

I've gathered enough for 208 pieces of duskshade. This actually suits me quite well for the moment. Work and offline life has me hopping, so I will happily stay put in the Twisted Garden. Unless the valentine's event kicks off. But I don't expect that for a week or so.