User:Khnum/Otter Catching Guide

Otter Catching Guide

Introduction

In an attempt to help the fellow egyptians clarify a bit this task of the Test of the Safari, I will explain the method I use, and gave me best results. So far, it is 100% accurate.

Getting ready

All you will need to catch an Otter, is:

• 78 Sand (Or anything easy enough to get to drop in the ground, can be Grass, Mud, etc.)
• 3 Boards
• Patience, patience, patience

Relational Method

Now the fun starts. Each Otter has 12 holes it can escape to, so the first task is to identify each one. You will tag them from 1 to 12 by dropping that quantity of sand (or the resource you have picked up) near the hole. It is important you disable the option to "Auto-take piles of up of 50 portable items" under Self > Options > One-click and related.

After all the Otter holes are properly tagged, let's pick a piece of paper and draw a table like this one:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

Catching an Otter works like this: each hole is connected with N other holes, and we need to keep track of those connections. Let's clarify this with an example:

The Otter is in hole number 5, and after we try to catch it, moves to hole number 12 (You know the number of the holes by clicking the sand you dropped near each one).

We write down that 5-12 connection, and our table will look like this:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
				12							5

We put a board inside hole 5, and try to catch it again. The objective of this method is to block the holes you know are connected with the one the Otter is inside.

Eventually, the Otter will be inside a hole that only has 3 known connections, and by blocking them, chances are high that you'll catch it. Here is one of the final tables I obtained, after 30 minutes:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
2	7	8	7	1	11	2	4	7	5	3	10
5	1	11	8	10	1	10	3	6	7	10	5
4	9	10	11	2	9	9	12	3	3	6	8
7	5	9	1	12		4		2	12	4
6						1			11

Here I catched the Otter in the hole number 8.

Conclusion

This might not be the best or the fastest method around, but it sure works for me and my wife =)

Feel free to ask any questions you might have, I hope that the explanation is clear enough and hope as well this works for you as good as it does for me!