Catching Angler Crabs...

Current crab population: 28546

After finished off his first oversized crustacean quarry, my alt with 146 dangerous skill decided to head north and capture a plated seal, without realize that an &quoteasier route&quot means zailing from Shepherd’s Wash and passing through another three regions before reaching Stormbones. Nevertheless, the humble rusty tramp steamer survived the attack of a gigantic eel, all sorts of strange winds, and an uncharted island. Eventually, together with his faithful crew, the captain got his seal and zail home with marks of teeth and claws of zee-monsters all over the steamer hull.

Captain: &quotLet’s do that again!!&quot

The crew: (stare)
edited by KenShi on 11/17/2021

I forgot to go home after a few crabs and drowned. It also was my first time seeing that, since I don’t go to zee very often.

Thanks to my False Star, drowning isn’t really a concern, and the fin bones are really valuable when turned into Amber-Crusted Fins, so I’m just parking my butt on Shepherd’s Wash and enjoying the actually really profitable opportunity. It’s important to remember that time at Zee isn’t of zero profit either. two actions getting to the next crab can easily be an echo or two of extra profit, plus some Stone zee-dreams, whichI feel have an echo value of their own.
edited by NotaWalrus on 11/17/2021

As the crab population decreases, the difficulty (number of actions needed, success rate) increases.

Are the ‘increased rewards’ really worth the additional investment of actions? So far I see the usual items as rewards: fins, pincers, knobs, glim, rostygold etc.

Is there some huge payoff once crab population hits zero?

The increased rewards come in mundane items (I think mainly the rostygold?), and last time they roughly kept pace with the increased actions, so total EPA stayed around 2.5-3. I didn’t do precise math though.

Last time, there was no payoff after crabs hit 0.

No and no, judging by previous event.

As a recall, there are several ways (3?) of doing that, with varying text.

As a recall, there are several ways (3?) of doing that, with varying text.[/quote]

I was ‘unfortunate’ and drowned in Glim.

Well i got eaten by my crew and I regret nothing.

To come back to the crab topic, they are slowly becoming really elusive. the event will take longer than I expected in the beginning.

[quote=Flynneldariel]Well i got eaten by my crew and I regret nothing.

To come back to the crab topic, they are slowly becoming really elusive. the event will take longer than I expected in the beginning.[/quote]

Thankfully, you’re still making progress even if you fail ‘Pursue the angler crab’.

It would have been insane if you were to lose progress, gain menaces and Troubled Waters when you fail.

Below about 20000 crab population, it’s become quite profitable, around 6/EPA and climbing. No longer ho-hum. The character I have doing it is a Monster-Hunter with a zubmarine, which reduces actions needed.

Current crab population: 15028

Just finished off a crab with 88 elusiveness. Salvaged 3078 rostygold. Very lucrative for sub-200 zee-farers. Perfect opportunity to grind dangerous skill and resources.
edited by KenShi on 11/18/2021

Ooh, it’s starting to get a bit tricky for my mid-level alts. That’ll learn 'em.

My main missed most of it, she was stuck in the Mirror Marches in the latest ES. Hopefully she’ll catch the tail end of it.

No, wait. Crabs don’t have tails, or do they?

As a recall, there are several ways (3?) of doing that, with varying text.[/quote]

I was ‘unfortunate’ and drowned in Glim.[/quote]
I haven’t seen that one! Interesting. Is it rare?

I have managed to avoid drowning this time. A zub helps if you draw the wax wind card. I’ve drowned twice in this game, once my crew looked embarrassed when I got back, and once I had to deal with insurance. Just flavour text, IIRC.

Fellow Monster-Hunter with a zubmarine fist-bump!

Estimated Angler Crab Population is now 9180.
You’ve gained 464 x Shard of Glim
You’ve gained 700 x Moon-Pearl
You’ve gained 3 x Fin Bones, Collected
You’ve gained 3336 x Piece of Rostygold

All the other awards haven’t changed as far as I can tell.

[quote=Bluestocking][quote=fishandchips]
I was ‘unfortunate’ and drowned in Glim.[/quote]
I haven’t seen that one! Interesting. Is it rare?
[/quote]

Kind of. If you get to 8 Troubled Waters without getting any of the specific Zee-menaces, a bunch of glim falls on your head. A lot of glim. Like 40-60 echoes worth of the stuff. And you die.

Remaining crabs at the time of this post: 7.k.

I’ll hunt a few more and call it a day.

4802 crabs left
edited by DTravel on 11/19/2021

Current population 3180