v. Ronza’s 2011 New Years Visit

A year passed, and no word from Ronza. She became a myth- a story that older hunters spoke of in the bygone days. Many speculated she’d never return- that she’d been lost at sea. However, when all hope had been lost, the devs gave us a bit of a Christmas Miracle. Squeaker Claws, the ultimate winter hunt baddie, dropped a piece of loot known as the Ronza Voucher. A Ronza Voucher? Surely you don’t mean…

And then it happened- On January 12th, Ronza finally arrived! Her ship filled with all kinds of mice, including the return of the Rockstar Mouse! Hunters could catch this mouse by collecting Rockforth, and the only way to do that was to catch mice on her ship. Interestingly, a disproportionate amount of the mice on her ship were from Bristle Woods- one has to wonder where her ship has been for the past year!

Her shop was FULL of fancy wares, leaving hunters frantically trying to decide: what do I want to buy? Let’s dig deep- there’s a LOT in this shop- all told, you could spend about 3.5 million gold if you wanted to buy everything! Let’s do our best to separate things out, OK?

Let’s start with the traps:

Pneumatic Tube Trap
Stats:Physical-type, 2,300 power, 20% power bonus, 5% attraction bonus, 18 luck, No Cheese Effect
Cost: 370,000, Points Required: 91,000

To start, we have a pretty nice physical trap. It looks and feels a lot like the NVMRC trap in stats, although more luck is a nice bonus. However, there’s a lot more to this trap than meets the eye! I admit, my first reaction was “Forget it!” However, after running the numbers, I was shocked at what I found. While it’s not quite as good, it is nearly as good as the Rhinobot. The catch rate is better against half of the mice in Derr (including the stone-rich Grunt and Spellbinder mice); it’s not until you get to the Seer that the Rhinobot starts to win out with the higher power. Given that the most important Derr mice are the big 3, the Rhinobot is ultimately the best trap. However, if you don’t want to fork over 1.4 million, it’s absolutely an option to use this trap instead. And of course it’s a heck of a lot better than the Onyx Mallet and the Digby Drillbot.
Verdict: Buy if if you’re on the fence about your rhinobot. Have a Rhinobot already? Eh… buy it if you have the leftover gold, I guess.

Rewers Riposte
Stats: Tactical-type, 2,900 power, 15% power bonus, 5% attraction bonus, 25 luck, Fresh Cheese Effect
Cost: 605,000, Points Required: 108,900

Well, here it is ladies and gentlemen. Ronza always brings at least one trap that is a must-buy, and this time it’s the Riposte. Boasting an impressive 2900 power and 25 luck, this sweeps the table. The 2010 blastoff was previously the best tactical trap, and this trap outclasses it in every conceivable way. Not much else to say about it!
Of course, 350 power isn’t a very big deal, so owners of the 2010 don’t need this trap. But it’s like the Double Diamond Adventure- it’s the best trap of its type; why wouldn’t you want to have it?
Verdict: Buy it- buy it before you get anything else, if you can.

Arcane Blast Trap
Stats: Arcane-type, 3,400 power, 8% power bonus, 0% attraction bonus, 20 luck, Insanely Fresh Cheese Effect
Cost: 1,470,000, Points Required: 900,000

As the most expensive item offered in Ronza’s shop, the Acrane Blast Trap (currently known as either the Arby or Acroblast) serves as a counterpoint to the ACRoNYM trap, with less power, more luck and a better cheese effect. It is, for all intents and purposes, just about identical to the ACRoNYM. However, you’ll actually get a better catch rate on almost all mice in Bristle Woods and in Balack’s Cove. The only mice you won’t are the three Lich mice in Balack’s Cove.
However, even if you don’t have the Obelisk of Slumber yet, the Arby is STILL 400,000 gold more than the ACRoNYM. That’s an awful lot considering that the Acro is already a phenomenal trap that doesn’t really need an upgrade.
Verdict: Better than the Acro, but awfully expensive. Whether or not it’s worth it is up to you.

Bacon Base
Stats: 200 power, 0% power bonus, 15% attraction bonus, 0 luck, Extremely Fresh Cheese Effect
Cost: 70,000 gold, Points Required: 60,000

This one cracks me up- a bacon base? Seriously? Well, giggles aside, this base is kind of hard to classify. The reason is that while it provides power and a 15% attraction bonus, it’s kind of a middle-of-the road base. Do you want attraction? The bacon base has that, but so does the Wooden Base with Target, which has more attraction than the bacon base. Ah, but the bacon base has more power! Well, yes… 125 power. I have to be honest, 125 power is totally unimportant on even the most basic traps. Like the Dehydration base, it’s got both without being good at either one.
Verdict: Not worth the money. At 70k, it’s mostly just a giggle-worthy novelty base. And that’s about it.

Seasonal Base
Stats: 300 Power, 0% power bonus (18% in the seasonal garden), 8% attraction bonus, 6 luck, No Cheese Effect
Cost: 412,000 gold, Points Required: 214,380

This is a pretty fascinating trap. Unlike any other trap that has come before, this trap’s stats change depending on which location you are in! In this case, it gets a MASSIVE power bonus in the Seasonal Garden. Enough that now we have to look at it and decide if it’s the right base for your garden hunting! The answer is… Sure, if you want!
You see, given when it was released, I assume you’ve got the Double Diamond Adventure and Rewers Riposte; if you’re buying this base, I certainly hope you got those traps! So realistically, your traps will be the Riposte, the DDA, the Rhinobot and the Clockapult of Time. According to the preliminary calculations, the catch rate with this base using all four of those traps is… lower than the Molten Shrapnel Base. Even with the fearsome Rhinobot, the 18% power bonus doesn’t overcome the Molten Shrapnel Base.
However, the Seasonal Base has something that the MSB does not: an 8% attraction bonus. Now, the MSB has a 5% attraction bonus, so it’s pretty close. However, in an area like the Seasonal Garden, attraction bonus is important, as every FTA drains valuable amplifier. So ultimately you have to make a choice- do you want a higher catch rate or a higher attraction bonus?
Verdict: Buy this if you don’t have the Molten Shrapnel Base. And if you don’t have the Molten Shrapnel Base, you can skip it and just use this base until you get the spellbook. Have the MSB? It’s really not necessary.

Runic Base
Stats: 200 Power, 12% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 5 luck, No Cheese Effect
Cost: 580,785 gold, Points Required: 264,400
Special effect: Increases Rune drops in the Forbidden Grove and Acolyte Realm

A solid base with all-around good stats, including an impressive 10% attraction bonus. However, it’s the special effect that’s most helpful. It not only increases the odds of the rune-dropping mice dropping them, but mice can also drop more runes at once! That means the sorcerer can drop 2 instead of 1, and the scavenger can drop as much as 9! Of course, the catch is that 580,000 gold is absolutely jaw-dropping; far more expensive than any of the other bases. However, the bonus is substantial, and worth the cost… so long as you plan to collect runes.
Verdict: Rune collecting? There’s no base better.  If you’re not rune collecting, well… what are you buying it for?

Tiki Base
Stats: 200 Power, 18% power bonus, 5% attraction bonus, 0 luck (6 when used in Derr/Nerg/Elub), Very Fresh Cheese Effect
Cost: 669,600 (170,000 for the blueprints, 499,600 for the base), Points Required: 14,000,000

To clarify: to make this base, buy the blueprints from Ronza for 170,000 and then purchase the Tribal Base in Cape Clawed. Smash the tribal base and combine the parts with the blueprints for your tiki base. This means that if you have 170,000 gold now but don’t have the Tribal base, you can wait until later to make it (not a bad idea!)
It’s also been (rightfully) pointed out that according to the description, these blueprints will return the next time Ronza visits, so if you don’t get it this time, no worries!

Like the Seasonal Base, this is a base that serves a specific purpose- it’s meant for use in Derr, Nerg and Elub. And as was true for that base, this base is not as good as the Molten Shrapnel Base… However, it *is* pretty good before you get the Molten Shrapnel Base, and it provides an interesting thought: that 200 scrap metal is a pain in the butt to collect… why not just use the Tiki Base and the Seasonal Base? You can use them up until you get the Spellbook Base, at which point the Molten Shrapnel Base is useless anyway. In the mean time, no sitting in the catacombs collecting scrap metal!
Verdict: Same as the Seasonal Base- you don’t need it with the Molten Shrapnel, but it’s awesome in the isles if you don’t have it.

This 2011 visit also saw the release of Charms to Mousehunt. For info on that, be sure to check the appendix on Charms!