User:Twentypence

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Revision as of 09:40, 30 June 2009 by Twentypence (talk | contribs) (→‎Encountering a Mouse)

Introduction

Since I started playing MouseHunt I’ve been interested in how it all works, trying to figure out what would be the best setup to use in a certain area. It’s not an easy game to figure out, and it’s obvious that the developers have put a lot of thought into it to provide a great variety to the game.

Below I have included my theories on the mechanics behind MouseHunt, I’ve been assisted in my efforts by many people, including the NVMRC, who started me off with a research grant and Pooflinger's MouseHunt Tools, who set up the survey from the Log Summariser which has provided me information on over 250,000 hunts so far.

In an effort to give something back to the community in general, and to help other players I’ve done various analytical work and made it available via the MH Analytics section of Pooflinger's MouseHunt Tools, the culmination of all this work so far has been the Catch Rates Estimator, which is built upon the theories given below.

If you're interested in my work and want to get in touch, or if you just fancy having a look to see who I am, here is my Hunter's Profile.

Mechanics of MouseHunt

This section is still under construction, by the time I'm done the below information will be sorted according to the order in which they appear in the Hunting Sequence, but in the mean time, it might be a bit jumbled.

Much of this is theory which I have tested against the results of the survey, in some places the developers have confirmed or hinted at certain aspects of this, but in most they haven't, so none of this should be taken as complete fact.

Encountering a Mouse

Once a hunt is started a mouse is encountered.

The breed of mouse depends on two factors, firstly the location the hunter is in, and secondly the type of cheese being used.

Each Location has a "pool" of mice that can be encountered in that location and make up the population of that location.

I believe that during special events there is a second pool of prize and special event mice that is added to most areas (although some areas do not have them, such as the Pinnacle Chamber), this second pool means that one area will not run out of prize mice faster than others, there is no "best" place to hunt for the prize mice, and that all hunters have an equal chance of encountering one, as long as they are not in one of the areas that does not have them.

In some locations, certain types of cheese can affect the distribution of the mouse population.

For example, in the Acolyte Realm, a hunter will encounter a Golem Mouse with similar regularity with Radioactive Blue and Runic, but when using Ancient they are encountered less often. This is because Ancient changes the distribution of the mice in the area, each mouse has a 50% chance of being replaced with a Gate Guardian Mouse, except for the Wight Mouse, Lich Mouse and Acolyte Mouse, which are all automatically replaced with a Gate Guardian Mouse.

Here is a breakdown of the various populations of mice encountered in areas, with some examples of how the populations are changed due to different cheeses: User:Twentypence/Mouse Populations

Attracting a Mouse

Once a mouse has been encountered, there is a chance to attract the mouse to the trap, or fail to attract the mouse.

First the type of cheese being used is compared to the mouse encountered, if the mouse is not attracted to that type of cheese, then the cheese automatically fails to attract. This is most obvious in the case of the Mousoleum, where cheese such as Brie automatically fails to attract any Shadow Mice.

If the mouse is attracted to that type of cheese, then the attraction rate of the cheese and the attraction bonus of trap are taken into account.

Each cheese has a hidden attraction rate in the game (expressed below as a percentage). This can vary by area, so certain types of cheese will perform better in one area than another.

A random number is generated (for example, between 0 and 1), if the attraction rate of the cheese is greater than the number, then the mouse is attracted to the trap, if it is less, then the hunter gets a second chance to attract the mouse based upon the attraction bonus of their trap.

This works in the same way as for the cheese, another random number is generated and compared to the attraction bonus of the trap, if it is greater then then mouse is attracted to the trap, if it is less, the hunter fails to attract a mouse.

The total attraction of a trap and cheese setup can be calculated like this:

cheese attraction rate + ((1 - cheese attraction rate) * trap attraction bonus)

So for some cheeses, having a large attraction bonus from your trap is unnecessary, whereas cheeses with low attraction rates, such as Cheddar, benefit greatly from it.

Stale Cheese

If the hunter fails to attract a mouse, there is a chance the cheese will go stale, this is dependent solely on the Cheese Effect of the trap, from observation these are the percentage chances of cheese going stale after a fail to attract.

Cheese Effect Estimated Stale Rate Observed Rate Sample Size
Ultimately Stale (1) 100.00% 97.35% 1,359
Insanely Stale (1) 100.00% 97.00% 934
Extremely Stale (1) 100.00% 94.03% 201
Very Stale 50.00% 49.33% 1,490
Stale 33.33% 31.94% 9,560
No Effect 25.00% 25.30% 10,220
Fresh 20.00% 20.24% 2,461
Very Fresh 16.67% 16.95% 2,555
Extremely Fresh 14.29% 15.25% 7,851
Insanely Fresh 12.50% 13.45% 2,870
Ultimately Fresh 11.11% 11.03% 6,401
Über Fresh (2) 10.00% 7.97% 615
Über Fresh+ (2) 9.09% 9.30% 6,088

(Last Updated 29 June 2009)

(1) Originally these Cheese Effect ratings went stale less often, however, since the introduction of Stale Cheese the stale rates seem to have been amended, some of the results to the survey are before this change.

(2) It would appear that the maximum Cheese Effect rating that can be achieved is Über Fresh, however there are a few combinations that should be fresher than Über Fresh, which have been referred to here as Über Fresh+.

Mouse Difficulties Theory

The Mice page contains a value for the difficulty of catching each mouse, this changes as the hunter changes their trap setup.

Going through and recording these values I noticed that there is a relationship between the different difficulty ratings.

Using the following formula: Trap Power / (Trap Power + number at which mouse difficulty becomes challenging); I've come up with the following boundaries.

Difficulty Rating Min Max
Near Impossible 0.32% 0.36%
Overpowering 7.89% 8.19%
Very Difficult 34.88% 35.30%
Challenging 50.00% 50.00%
Moderate 64.84% 65.31%
Easy 89.78% 90.25%
Effortless 94.80% 95.20%

Following on from this, and after testing the numbers I believe that the difficulties represent the probability of catching the mouse (excluding the effect of hunter's title and the luck of the trap, so this is purely based on power).

Difficulty Rating Probability
Overawing 0% to 1/3%
Near Impossible 1/3% to 8%
Overpowering 8% to 35%
Very Difficult 35% to 50%
Challenging 50% to 65%
Moderate 65% to 90%
Easy 90% to 95%
Effortless 95% to 100%

The results of my work can be found easily here: http://mousehunt.thetoxiczone.com/mousehunt_difficulty_generator.html

Trap Effectiveness

Based purely on the mouse difficulties there may be a linear relationship between the power types of traps compared to the power types of mice.

By comparing the upper and lower boundaries for the start of the "Challenging" difficulty rating for mice that have different effectiveness for different power types some upper and lower boundaries can be calculated.

Against Forgotten mice:

Arcane traps are between 162% and 214% more effective than Shadow Traps (predicted 200%). Physical and Tactical traps rely only on luck.

Against Shadow mice:

Shadow traps are between 755% and 872% more effective than Physical traps (predicted 800%). Shadow traps are between 708% and 901% more effective than Tactical traps (physical and tactical could be the same against shadow mice) (predicted 800%). Shadow traps are between 194% and 208% more effective than Arcane traps (predicted 200%). Exceptions: Physical traps rely only on luck against Ghost mice.

Against Tactical mice:

Tactical traps are between 169% and 179% more effective than Physical traps. However, this completely falls over when you take into account students and masters, where tactical traps are much more effective (predicted 175%). Arcane and Shadow traps rely only on luck. Exceptions: Physical traps are either useless, or as good as against Assassin and Master of the Dojo mice.

Because of the problems with the Tactical traps, these figures may be completely wrong, or it might just be that students and masters are a special case, but I hope it's of some use as a rough guide.

MH Analytics Survey Numbers

Table showing distribution of results received to the MH Analytics survey. Updated as at 01-Jun-09.

# of Hunts received Cheddar Marble Swiss Brie White Cheddar Radioactive Blue Moon Gnarled Maki Combat / Glutter / Susheese Rumble Ancient Runic SUPER Brie+
Town of Gnawnia 246 1,753 1,140 108 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36
Meadow 368 464 24 135 231 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Harbour 150 1,509 8,954 613 2,231 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 94
Mountain 0 287 8,776 1,278 216 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 43
Calm Clearing 3 288 7,312 2,713 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 292
Great Gnarled Tree 0 15 3,422 5,055 30 0 0 63 75 0 0 0 0 1,258
Lagoon 0 0 0 55 0 32 0 1,929 0 0 0 0 0 39
Laboratory 69 4,335 14,684 5,206 78 998 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Town of Digby 0 2,961 5,593 919 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 334
Mousoleum 0 0 14 0 0 23,712 75 0 79 0 0 27 0 0
Bazaar 0 0 64 3,084 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 450
Training Grounds 0 0 1,607 2,291 0 220 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 115
Dojo 16 61 10,565 22,419 0 88 0 0 2,460 0 0 0 0 375
Meditation Room 0 0 0 116 0 0 0 0 0 838 0 0 0 0
Pinnacle Chamber 0 0 71 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 154 0 0 0
Catacombs 149 0 0 0 72 44,421 0 0 0 0 0 1,018 0 284
Forbidden Grove 0 0 0 0 1 111 27 0 0 0 0 2,988 7 6
Acolyte Realm 322 22 0 0 13 287 0 0 0 0 0 389 4,777 29
Ronza's Traveling Shoppe 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Which mice are attracted to which cheese

Table showing whether mice have been attracted to various cheeses from the result of the MH Analytics survey.

Ancient Brie Cheddar Gnarled Maki Marble Combat / Glutter / Susheese Moon Radioactive Blue Rumble Brie+ Swiss White Cheddar
Abominable Snow ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
Acolyte ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Archer ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Assassin ? Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Bat ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Bear ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Bionic ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Birthday ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Black Widow ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Brown ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Burglar ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Centaur ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Chameleon ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Cupid ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Cyclops ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Diamond ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Dwarf ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Eagle Owl ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Elf ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ?
Elven Princess ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Fairy ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Foxy ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Frog ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Gargoyle Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Gate Guardian Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Ghost Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Glitchpaw ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Goblin ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Gold ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Golem Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Gorgon Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Granite ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Grey ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Hapless ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Harpy ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Hollowhead ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
iTunes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Keeper Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Keeper's Assistant Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Kung Fu ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Leprechaun ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ?
Lich ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Lycan Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Master Burglar ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Master of the Cheese Belt ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Master of the Cheese Claw ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Master of the Cheese Fang ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Master of the Dojo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Mobster ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Mole ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Monk ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Monster ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Moosker ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Mummy Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Mutated Grey ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Mutated White ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Nibbler ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Ninja ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Nomad ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Ooze Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Pirate ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Ravenous Zombie Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Reaper Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Samurai ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Scavenger Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Shaman ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Skeleton Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Spectre Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Spider Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Steel ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Student of the Cheese Belt ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Student of the Cheese Claw ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Student of the Cheese Fang ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Sylvan ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Tiger ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Treant ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Troll ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Vampire Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Water Nymph ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
White ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Wicked Witch of the Whisker Woods ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Wiggler ? Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes
Wight ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Worker ? Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Zombie ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes

Mouse Populations

Using the results from the survey and pulling out the populations to display how commonly certain mice are encountered in certain areas with certain cheeses.

Sorry about the size.

Acolyte Realm / Runic Bazaar / Brie Bazaar / SUPER Brie+ Calm Clearing / Brie Catacombs / Ancient Catacombs / Radioactive Blue Dojo / Brie Dojo / Maki Dojo / SUPER Brie+ Forbidden Grove / Ancient Great Gnarled Tree / Brie Great Gnarled Tree / SUPER Brie+ Harbour / Brie Harbour / SUPER Brie+ Laboratory / Brie Laboratory / Radioactive Blue Lagoon / Gnarled Meadow / Brie Meditation Room / Brie Meditation Room / Combat / Glutter / Susheese Mountain / Brie Mousoleum / Radioactive Blue Pinnacle Chamber / Brie Pinnacle Chamber / Rumble Town of Digby / Brie Town of Digby / SUPER Brie+ Town of Gnawnia / Brie Town of Gnawnia / SUPER Brie+ Training Grounds / Brie Training Grounds / SUPER Brie+
Abominable Snow 0.50%
Acolyte 1.65%
Archer 10.55% 8.68% 8.20% 23.82% 22.94%
Assassin 1.47% 0.78% 1.37% 0.71% 3.67%
Bat 0.86% 0.60% 1.23% 12.23% 0.58% 0.31%
Bear 13.54% 8.38% 8.75%
Bionic 22.15% 22.09% 6.19% 5.38% 24.10% 22.22% 2.48% 11.76% 22.98% 22.46% 5.95% 6.06%
Black Widow 0.40% 0.73% 0.17% 0.10% 0.23% 0.15% 0.27% 0.22% 0.82% 0.29% 1.08% 0.31% 0.28% 0.83% 0.17% 0.09% 0.43% 0.62% 0.36%
Brown 11.80% 16.13% 21.49% 4.71% 16.67% 12.12%
Burglar 4.36% 6.07% 1.18% 2.15% 1.28% 0.11%
Centaur 3.87% 2.29% 9.44%
Chameleon 12.30% 8.84% 10.30%
Cyclops 1.59% 4.46%
Diamond 5.58% 4.81% 4.92% 4.42% 3.23% 7.90% 4.48% 2.77% 2.38% 9.09% 4.53% 0.92%
Dwarf 3.67% 3.88% 6.43% 2.26% 2.04% 16.81% 20.43% 2.21% 0.22% 1.41% 14.05% 21.51% 25.00% 23.38% 19.05% 12.12% 12.67% 11.93%
Eagle Owl 0.60% 16.49% 16.60% 6.38%
Elven Princess 3.73% 7.78% 7.03% 4.75%
Fairy 0.98% 0.90% 2.20%
Foxy 0.69% 1.01% 1.39%
Frog 16.20% 8.26% 8.91%
Gargoyle 21.65%
Gate Guardian 3.35%
Ghost 11.41% 12.75% 14.89% 17.16%
Goblin 6.72%
Gold 9.15% 7.65% 8.74% 3.83% 1.08% 2.48% 6.55% 6.07% 4.62% 4.78% 6.42%
Golem 33.44% 3.88% 4.19% 5.01%
Gorgon 26.66% 2.34%
Granite 25.19% 23.30% 11.50% 11.83% 23.64% 18.88% 1.65% 12.10% 16.76% 21.85% 14.29% 21.21%
Grey 11.21% 10.75% 18.18% 6.22% 17.86% 12.12%
Hapless 3.03% 3.14% 2.19% 100.00% 1.04% 100.00%
Harpy 5.14%
Keeper 1.88% 2.64%
Keeper's Assistant 4.71% 3.99%
Kung Fu 12.10% 11.97% 11.75% 10.53% 4.59%
Lich 2.35%
Lycan 2.82% 4.30% 1.88% 7.48%
Master of the Cheese Belt 30.52%
Master of the Cheese Claw 32.59%
Master of the Cheese Fang 35.85%
Master of the Dojo 100.00%
Mole 1.88% 1.54%
Monk 7.44% 7.26% 5.19% 6.77% 11.01%
Monster 1.76% 9.82% 1.43%
Moosker 8.48% 6.36% 6.87% 4.35%
Mummy 9.88% 12.00% 13.32%
Mutated Grey 7.80% 6.80% 7.57% 9.06% 12.05%
Mutated White 9.12% 9.71% 10.47% 11.00% 9.09%
Nibbler 2.21% 2.46% 2.75%
Ninja 12.45% 9.27% 11.75% 0.29% 0.83% 3.03% 10.23% 7.34%
Nomad 1.13% 0.65% 2.94%
Ooze 18.35% 14.67%
Pirate 7.67% 6.45% 2.48% 1.19% 2.24% 1.83%
Ravenous Zombie 4.00% 4.65% 2.90% 10.69%
Reaper 2.71%
Samurai 12.03% 9.56% 12.30% 11.15% 11.93%
Scavenger 9.29% 9.22% 12.22%
Shaman 8.23% 5.88% 6.21% 4.69%
Skeleton 8.24% 6.21%
Spectre 31.04% 5.38%
Spider 17.41% 16.19% 17.83%
Steel 24.04% 23.54% 10.91% 7.53% 24.39% 22.22% 9.09% 16.30% 20.81% 19.38% 4.76% 15.15%
Student of the Cheese Belt 8.28% 11.53% 7.38%
Student of the Cheese Claw 8.67% 13.24% 11.75%
Student of the Cheese Fang 8.55% 11.72% 9.02%
Sylvan 12.43% 11.45% 10.87% 7.91%
Tiger 2.18% 1.47% 4.24%
Treant 6.94% 5.40% 4.58% 4.29%
Troll 1.98%
Vampire 8.12% 0.01% 9.83% 3.90%
Water Nymph 21.98%
White 13.86% 13.98% 26.45% 7.90% 17.86% 12.12% 11.30% 7.34%
Wicked Witch of the Whisker Woods 2.50% 1.14% 1.58%
Wiggler 8.70% 6.41% 5.72% 5.25%
Wight 4.86%
Worker 0.46% 0.25% 5.19% 0.92% 7.34%
Zombie 3.27% 3.88% 6.41% 6.02% 6.47% 1.34% 12.56% 1.01% 0.62%
Sample Size 4,426 1,743 412 2,334 850 31,903 18,214 2,039 366 2,176 4,165 1,223 339 93 4,533 927 1,770 121 35 675 595 20,740 8 142 692 325 84 33 1,968 109
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