Spheniscine's MouseHunt Walkthrough

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Chapter 14: The Three Tribes

In this chapter we will be covering the first four locations.
You will want to visit Cape Clawed first.
You don't really want to hunt here; the mice here aren't worth much points or gold, and any new types can be found in the next locations. You are basically here to check out the shoppes.
The Cheese Shoppe sells a new kind of cheese, Gouda cheese. Should you upgrade? If you're after points and loot drops, you should; if you're short on gold, Brie (go back to the Town of Gnawnia to avoid the markup) would be the more economical choice.

Brie, however, will also attract low-reward Sylvan mice in these areas, that Gouda wouldn't attract.

You are now ready to hunt in the next locations. The mice in the Tribal Isles are highly specialized, and are only weak to one particular trap type.

The Elub Shore mice are only weak to Hydro weapons. Use the Harpoon Gun or Net Cannon here. The mice here drop Seashells and tend to be worth more points than gold.
The Nerg Plains mice are only weak to Tactical weapons. Use the Ambush here. The mice here drop Savoury Vegetables and are somewhat balanced between points and gold.
The Derr Dunes mice are only weak to Physical weapons...

If you've been following the guide thus far, your strongest Physical weapon will probably be the Swiss Army Mouse Trap. This is far too weak for this area.
Unless you are persistent enough to acquire the Onyx Mallet trap, or lucky enough to get a limited-edition physical trap, you'll need to return to the Town of Digby to acquire the Digby Drillbot (404,340 gold) before hunting here.
The mice here drop Delicious Stones and tend to be worth more gold than points.

The Aqua Base is recommended.
The loot is needed to craft three types of special cheese. (In fact you can also collect all three kinds of loot from Cape Clawed, but as I said, the mice there aren't worth much). They are as follows (all recipes make 15 pieces):

Coconut Milk, Curds and Whey, and Salt are all available at the Cape Clawed General Store.
If you have the SUPER|brie+ to spare, you may add 5 Magic Essence to any of the above recipes to create 5 more pieces of that cheese.
Once you have crafted these cheeses, hunt with them in Cape Clawed.

The Shell cheese attracts the Elder mouse which drops the Ancient Spear. Use the Harpoon Gun or Net Cannon.
The Gumbo cheese attracts the Grandfather mouse which drops the Thorned Vine. Use the Ambush.
The Crunchy cheese attracts the Aged mouse which drops the Rhino Horn. Use the Onyx Mallet or Digby Drillbot.

You only need one each of these loot items; once you have the item, stop hunting with that cheese.
You may have noticed some blueprints for sale at the Cape Clawed General Store. They are for three extremely powerful traps: the Ancient Spear Gun, the Thorned Venus Mouse Trap, and the RhinoBot. Note the different point requirements as stated in the blueprint descriptions.
If you have the points required (and can afford the blueprints), you can craft the traps using these recipes:

1 Thorned Mouse Trap Plans (550,000 gold)
1 Thorned Vine
1 Venus Mouse Trap Husk (obtainable by smashing the Venus Mouse Trap or the Mutated Venus Mouse Trap)

Ah, but why stop there? Note that the Thorned Venus Mouse Trap can be smashed to create the Thorned Venus Mouse Trap Husk. Hmm...

Those of you who have crafted the Mutated Venus Mouse Trap may have guessed what comes next.
That's right, Dr. Frankenstein. You need another 20 Radioactive Sludge. If you don't have enough, use Radioactive Blue in the Meadow with your stalest trap setup to acquire them.
Now craft the 20 Radioactive Sludge with your Thorned Venus Mouse Trap Husk to create the Horrific Venus Mouse Trap! Muahahaha!

The obvious answer is to obtain SUPER|brie+ and use it in a location where it is ineffective, like the Forbidden Grove, with your stalest trap setup.
It is usually cheaper to obtain Moon cheese instead from the Marketplace, which also decays into Stale SUPER|brie+.
The not-so-obvious answer is to craft Runic cheese, and use it in the Meadow with your stalest trap setup. Runic cheese also becomes Stale SUPER|brie+ when it turns stale. To collect Runic cheese, either:

Skip ahead to the Jungle of Dread chapter, and collect Runic Potions.
Skip ahead to the Forbidden Grove chapter, and collect Runes to craft Runic cheese with.

You may note that the Aged Mouse also drops Stale SUPER|brie+; you can catch more of them to get the needed amount.

The RhinoBot may also be upgraded, into the Enraged RhinoBot. You need 13 million points to craft it. The recipe is as follows:

These may be a little difficult to acquire, but is a strongly recommended upgrade. The Enraged RhinoBot has significantly more power and luck than the regular one.

With these traps, your hunting performance in these isles should significantly improve.
Should you pick up the Tribal Base from the Cape Clawed trapsmith? Although it does have the highest power bonus in the game, these weapons have enough luck that high-luck bases (like the Aqua Base) tend to be more effective. I'd probably just save my gold.
If you don't have enough points or gold to craft them yet, don't worry. The tribal camp mice are great for that; as mentioned earlier, go to the Elub Shore for points, the Derr Dunes for gold, or the Nerg Plains if you need some of both.
There is another thing you can do with the crafted cheeses: collecting Pepper Seeds. For that you must hunt in the appropriate tribal camp:

Use the Shell cheese in the Elub Shore to attract Champion, Protector, and Elub Chieftain mice, which drop the Blue Pepper Seed. The Chieftain may also drop the Ancient Frayed Blueprint Piece.
Use the Gumbo cheese in the Nerg Plains to attract Defender, Slayer, and Nerg Chieftain mice, which drop the Yellow Pepper Seed. The Chieftain may also drop the Ancient Ripped Blueprint Piece.
Use the Crunchy cheese in the Derr Dunes to attract Gladiator, Guardian, and Derr Chieftain mice, which drop the Red Pepper Seed. The Chieftain may also drop the Ancient Mangled Blueprint Piece.

These mice are extremely tough and are best caught with the new crafted traps, but if you do not have the points or gold required to craft them, you may find success with the regular traps.
Collect as many Pepper Seeds as you can. Once you have collected a decent amount, and are at least Hero rank, you may move on to the next chapter.
As for the blueprint pieces, you'll be needing one of each, and also a fourth piece, the Ancient Torn Blueprint Piece, that is available at the Cape Clawed General Store for 158,175 gold. You can then combine all four pieces to get the Ancient Box Blueprints.

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