Sailing the Seas - Rodentia

Crafting the SS Huntington

I’ve already talked a lot about the blueprints to the ship. By now, if you don’t have them, you know how to get them: catch a hydra mouse in the lagoon. I’m going to assume at this point, you’re ready to craft the ship and have the blueprints. You need:

• 900 Splintered Wood (Purchased in Training Grounds)
• 100 Rope (Purchased in Great Gnarled Tree)
• 70 Bolt of Cloth (Purchased in Great Gnarled Tree)
• 1 King’s Reserve Bubbleh (Purchased in Great Gnarled Tree)
• 18 Scrap Metal (Loot drops from Scavenger mice in Catacombs)
• 1 Ship Blueprints (Loot drop from Hydra mouse in Lagoon; purchased in Catacombs)

You must be at the rank of Legendary to craft the ship. Go ahead and do it, and let's get hunting!

Before you move on, we need to take inventory though of where you're at. Once you craft the ship, check your gold reserves. You now need approximately 800,000 to move on, or even 1.4 million gold if you plan on buying a hydro trap right away (which I do not advise up front). Do you have the necessary gold? Yes? good, keep reading. If not, then go farm gold (you know how to do that) and come back.

One last thing: Make sure you have 20 Radioactive Sludge in your inventory before moving to the ship.

SS Huntington

This is the great debate, and other Mouse Hunt guides will say you MUST buy a hydro weapon here. Well my friends, you probably are down on your gold, and if you’re like me at this point, you are so sick of every location on the mainland, you just HAVE to hunt on the boat.

My advice? Don’t worry about a hydro weapon yet (Mouse Hunt Veterans gasping for air, the rest loading their guns to shoot me). Seriously, don’t worry about it. Let’s look at the traps you have, minus any limited edition traps that may have been released during your time playing this game (which of course are never mentioned in the FAQ anyway).

1. Ambush
2. ACRONYM
3. MVMT
4. Forcefield/Deathbot/SAMT (your #1 physical weapon, to say the least)
5. Sinister (if you bought it)
6. All other garbage weak traps for novices

If you have the gold to spare, you CAN buy a hydro weapon. Again, IF YOU HAVE THE GOLD TO SPARE. You don’t need it yet.

Now, what base to use? You’ve been using a steady diet of Dehy and Explosive base up to this point. There is a base on the ship, the Aqua base, which is a very nice base that increases your luck by 8, which makes it the luckiest base available for purchase in the game and the base you're going to be using an awful lot from here on out.

Go ahead and buy the Aqua base and use it here. “Luck” becomes a key figure in the isles, and it starts now. If you don’t want to spend the money on the Aqua base, simply use your Dehydration or Explosive base. And of course by now, you’re always using Brie for “regular” places. You should have stopped using Swiss after the Grandmaster level.

So what are we doing here? What’s the goal? You need to catch three mice here that drop the three components of the Ocean Navigation Kit: Bottled Mouse, Shipwreck Mouse, and Captain Mouse. They drop the Compass, Sextant, and Telescope. When you catch these mice and get the loot drops, essentially, your time on the ship is done. Craft those three items together and now you have access to the Tribal Isles!

Note: The sections below are in Rodentia, but you won't be hunting here for awhile. Make a mental note of these places; we'll visit them soon enough.

Seasonal Garden

Ah! It’s a fantasy play-land of changing weather! In other words, it’s the Midwestern United States!

You have to catch a dragon mouse to get to the Seasonal Garden, and you have to have the rank of Lord/Lady to go here. Inside the dragon’s chest is Zugswang’s scarf, which is essentially the map piece to the garden. You’ll also have a Magic Feather in the chest, which is used to craft…drum roll……….

Formula: Zugzwang's First Move
Description	Qty	Cost (Each)
Chess Pieces	1	415,000/Crafting
Magic Feather	1	Loot
Zugzwang's First Move Blueprints	1	615,000
Total		1,030,000

You have to buy Zugzwang’s last move and smash it with your hunter’s hammer. You then need to buy the blue prints in the general store in the garden, craft all three items together and viola! ZFM!

This trap is a great tactical trap that can be used in most places with great success. It isn’t that much better than the HVMT, but it IS better regardless, and will pay for itself after a few weeks of hunting in Nerg. The only in-game tactical traps (non-LE) that outclass it are the Dimensional Chest and the Sphinx Wrath (more on those later).

So, what is our goal here, you ask? Notice that the camp page is slightly different now; there is a HUD (Heads Up Display) that shows your Tower Amplifier. Essentially, when you obtain access to Zugzwang’s Tower, your Amplifier will decrease for every mouse you catch. Your amp affects the power and luck of your trap setup.

We’ll get to all this later; for now, let’s focus on the Seasonal Garden. Take note of what season is on the HUD. Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.

Spring: Hunt with your best PHYSICAL trap.

Summer: Hunt with your best TACTICAL trap.

Fall: Hunt with your best SHADOW trap.

Winter: Hunt with your best HYDRO trap.

The base you use is entirely up to you; most people want to maximize their attraction here, but that might leave you missing more mice because the mice here are powerful. Honestly, you want a good mix of power, attraction and luck. Yuck, what base has all of that?!?

The Molten Shrapnel does, you silly monkey!

Formula: Molten Shrapnel Base
Description	Qty	Cost (Each)
Dragon Ember	1	Loot
Tiny Platinum Bar	12	60,000
Scrap Metal	200	Loot
Total		720,000

200 scrap metal?!? Holy cow! That's right, 200. Have it? Yes? SUH-WEEEEET. No? Well, head to the Catacombs, and I'll see you later. Or, just hunt with something else. 

The MSB has a point requirement of 18,000,000, so you should more than have enough points to craft it. It has a base power of 300, power bonus of 12%, attraction bonus of 5%, and 8 luck. Great base!

In each season there are “boss mice” that drop key shards to Zugzwang’s Tower. You need to catch these mice. There is nothing special you can do to attract them more than other mice, so just keep hunting.

As you hunt, you’ll notice your amplifier increase for every catch, but it will decrease for every FTA (Failed to Attract). At this point, you’re just starting out and you don’t need to worry at all about the amplifier. Just keep catching mice, pay attention to the changing seasons and use the trap types I have outlined above.