Hobopolis Strategy

There are many possible goals for Hobopolis: Helping Richard make items in order to build stats for leveling, collecting nickels and gaining Dungeon Loot are the most common. Those are fairly simple so this guide shall focus on the three items that require efficient strategies: Hodgman's whackin' stick, Hodgman's disgusting technicolor overcoat and Hodgman's imaginary hamster.

Each of these special loot drops require Hobopolis to be completed in a single day. That means that after you open the sewers, you must defeat Hodgman before rollover, or your clan will not receive any of the special items. To gain Hodgman's whackin' stick you will need to complete Hobopolis in less than 3700 turns, to gain Hodgman's disgusting technicolor overcoat you'll need to complete Hobopolis in less than 2300 turns and to gain Hodgman's imaginary hamster it will need to be completed in less than 1100 turns.

Maximizing Non-combat Frequency

You need to know how to maximize your non-combat frequency to kill multiple hobos at once and clear Hobopolis quickly. Disco Bandits or players that have permed the skill Smooth Movements can aquire -29% Combat Frequency, but players without this skill can still have -24% Combat Frequency. When you are in a zone that requires you to maximize non-combat, make sure to do the following:

• Before entering Hobopolis, go to the Ballroom and tell the Strung-Up Quartet to play Sono Un Amanten Non Un Combattente.
• Wear the Yendorian Finery outfit.
• Equip a ring of conflict.
• Acquire the effect Fresh Scent.
• Use the The Sonata of Sneakiness. If you don't have the skill, then ask someone else to cast this on you. If no one in your clan has the skill, you can request it from a buffbot.
• If you have the skill, then use Smooth Movements.
• Remove all Monster Level increasers, except the ring of aggravate monster, as it is part of the Yendorian Finery.

A Maze of Sewer Tunnels

Hobopolis runs trying to make Hodgman's imaginary hamster drop require special strategy in the sewers, which is discussed in this section.

To clear the sewers each person must "explore" 100 times. Each enemy you defeat counts as 1 exploration. Choice adventures that involve a Sewer Tunnel allow you to gain a variable number of explorations, speeding up your run.

An equipped hobo code binder will count for up to 9 explorations when you explore each Sewer Tunnel, depending on how many glyphs are in the binder. "Item encounters" will count as 1 exploration, depending on which randomly selected checks are used. The items involved will be used up if the appropriate random check is triggered.

Encounter	Value
Monster (C. H. U. M. chieftain, C. H. U. M. , goldfish, or gator)	1
Sewer Tunnel: 3 Tunnels (Glyph test, ~3-7+)	1
Sewer Tunnel: Ladder (Glyph test, ~10-14+)	3
Sewer Tunnel: 3 Ladders (Glyph test, ~17-20)	5
Sewer Tunnel: Goldfish (unfortunate dumplings)	1
Sewer Tunnel: C.H.U.M. (sewer wad)	1
Sewer Tunnel: Drunken C.H.U.M. (bottle of Ooze-O)	1
Sewer Tunnel: Iron Bars (3x oil of oiliness for each bars encounter)	1
Sewer Tunnel: Sewage Pipe (gatorskin umbrella equipped)	1
Sewer Tunnel: Grate	5

First of all, maximize your non-combats as discussed above. Then equip your hobo binder in your off-hand. If you don't have many glyphs in your hobo binder, then you'll need to make sure that your inventory contains a supply of sewer wad, bottle of Ooze-O, oil of oiliness and unfortunate dumplings.

Secondly, it is helpful to have someone who will trap themselves in the cage, called "cage bait". This means that the first person into the sewer is expected to adventure until he reaches The C.H.U.M. Cage. Once he is caged, he is expected to stay in the cage until every other member of the clan has gotten through the sewer. This will prevent any other member of the clan from being caged, as only one person can be in the cage at a time. One of the other members of the clan passing through the sewer is expected to free him on their journey by choosing to "Head down the ladder" when they reach The Former or the Ladder. Even after this is done, the cage bait will still appear to be locked in the cage until he chooses to "Wait for rescue", which should not be done until after everyone has cleared the sewers. The cage bait can log out if he wishes and log back in later when he's ready to play once more.

The first people through the sewer are responsible for turning valves, which decreases combat frequency, and opening grates, which allows another clan member to pass through the last grate. There are a total of 20 valves and 20 grates, all of which should be turned and opened. It is recommended that players use DrEvi1's Raid Log Manager to keep count of how many have been done. Once all grates and valves are complete sewer passage will be much faster.

Hobopolis Town Square

For Coat and Stick run, people will want as many turns as possible. This means eating and possibly drinking in the marketplace. To do this, keep running non-combat and make sure your hobo binder is still equipped. When the marketplace noncombat appears, enter and head to the food court.

Each person can eat and drink in the hobo marketplace (for 20 nickels each). You will gain insane number of adventures from this. Note that you can eat only once and drink only once, but you can do both. Going to market will add to the runs turncount, but there should be plenty of leeway unless you're trying to get a hamster

• Marketplace Food: 5 Fullness for 60-80 aventures (ave of 14 adventures/fullness)
• Marketplace Booze: 5 Drunkeness for 40-60 adventures (ave of 10 adventures/drunk)

Every single kill should create a scarehobo part. It costs notable amounts of turns if people farm nickels in the Town Square, so do not do this. You need to create a total of 214 of each part, so divide the work up amongst the group. Cordinate in chat and check Richard to see what parts need creating and make sure that each element doesn't go over 214. It will possibly require some more hobo killing at the end due to the randomness of scarebos, but don't worry about that yet.

Do not tell Richard to make scarebos! There are two reasons for this. First of all, it is easy to lose count of how many scarebos were made. Second and more important, when Hobopolis Town Square is complete, nobody will be able to enter the marketplace.

Once the tent shows up people can mosh if there are a bunch of willing clannies with class instruments equipped, but it isn't necessary unless you are trying to get a hamster. More will be said about this in the hamster section.

Side Zones

To minimize turn count in the sidezones you will need to pay some attention to the order that you complete them. You must not complete Burnbarrel Blvd. before Exposure Esplanade. You must not enter the PLD until after you've prepared it in Exposure Esplanade and finally you must not enter The Ancient Hobo Burial Ground until it has been prepared in the PLD. More detail will follow in their own sections. Also, the sidezones that you choose to do are determined by the special loot drop that you are aiming for. More will be said about that in their own section at the end.

Exposure Esplanade

The key thing here is to note that each player only gets to yodel their heart out out only once, so it is optimal to maximize the number of people in the zone. Make sure you maximize non-combat here.

Once Burnbarrel Blvd. is complete, going CLUE will no longer produce icicles, so this must be completed first.

• Piping Cold: Go all CLUE on the pipe at the beginning of the run to maximize icicle production. Towards the end of the Esplande once there are plenty of icicles you need to turn the second valve 13 times to open the club in the PLD.

• The Frigid Air: Always open the freezer. This is necessary because the adventure won't go away until you do this five times and this choice won't harm you.

• There Goes Fritz!: At the beginning of the Esplande when people have gone all CLUE less than 10 times, choose "Yodel a little" because there just aren't enough icicles to make it worthwhile. Once there are a number of icicles alway choose "Yodel your heart out" and then you're done with this zone.

• • If you've only just started making icicles and you get this adventure, but someone else is in the dungeon you can request that he makes icicles for a while while you sit still without making a choice. Once he's made enough icicles, then "Yodel your heart out."

If someone is alone here, do the freezer, divert the water then break about 30 pipes. Yodel your heart out whenever it comes up. After 30 pipes, leave. Everyone else should do some turns here up until they can yodel their heart out. Then leave.

Burnbarrel Blvd.

Key thing here is to keep count of the number of tires. Use DrEvi1's Raid Log Manager to note the total number of tires on the pile and if you know how many are on the tire before the previous person made a tirevalanch, then it should be trivial to keep score. However, I would recommend that only a few people do Burnbarrel do help reduce confusion of tire count. Only one person should be in the zone at a time. Make sure you maximize non-combat here.

This zone must not be completed until after Exposure Esplanade is done. Otherwise you're screwed because it will stop icicle production.

• Hot Dog! I Mean... Door!: Leave the damn door alone. Never open it.

• Piping Hot: Leave the valve alone.

• Getting Tired: Pile up a stack of exactly 34 tires. Then knock it down. Do this twice. Next pile up about 29 tires and knock it down. You should be reasonably close now so kill hobos and don't pile up more tires. The final leg of this depends a lot on how many hobos you killed Running massive +noncombat means needing a larger 3rd tirevalanche since less hobos get killed directly.

• • 34 tires is optimal because the combat frequency is decreased in proportion to the number of tires on the pile. After this point the noncombat aventures occur rarely enough that it isn't worth doing even with -29% noncombats.

The Heap

Simple zone, any number can play. Little organization required. Do at any time. Maximize non-combat as usual.

• The Compostal Service: Begone

• You vs. The Volcano: Kick the stuff into the hole

• I Refuse!: Explore the junkpile. Feel free to organize mass junkpile exploration if you desire, but I'm not going to detail this here. Mass junkpile exploration does not affect optimization, so feel free.

The Purple Light District

The key to this zone is getting into the club. Contrary to common sense and the rest of the game, this requires boosting combat frequency. You then need to flimflam and divert cold water from the Esplanade a total of 21 times. If you've previously diverted water 13 times, you now need to flimflam 8 times. These flimflams also serve the purpose of opening up a very important encounter in the Burial Ground. Remember to increase Combat Frequency!

Do this before the Burial Ground. Even if cold water was diverted more than 13 times you need to make sure that you flimflam 8 times or else the Burial Ground will be screwed. Any number of people can do this zone as long as they keep track of total flimflams. After that its easy.

• Getting Clubbed: "Try to flimflam the crowd" 8 times. Then the club should be open, so after that choose "Try to get inside" and then "Pick several fights" to kill large numbers of sleazy hobos.

The Ancient Hobo Burial Ground

To kill this zone efficiently requires dancing. This adventure has a certain amount of over head. It requires three turns of watching the dance which kill no hobos at all. Then the effectiveness of the dance will slowly increase the more it is done. Optimally you will want only two people in this zone, no more. A single person could do it, but that would require more adventures than you want a single person to have to expend. The Flimflams earlier allow you to encounter a chiller night (8x5) 40 times. This is enough for 2 people to study dance moves 3 times and dance 17 times each. It's not enough for more than 2 people.

Two people only! Do this after 8 flimflams in the PLD. Maximize non-combat as usual.

• Returning to the Tomb: Disturb not ye these bones

• Ah, So That's Where They've All Gone: Tiptoe through the tulips and leave.

• A Chiller Night: "Study the hobos' dance moves" three times! Then "Dance with them"

Hodgman's whackin' stick

While it is not necessary to defeat every single boss to gain a Whackin' Stick, it is considered preferable since that way you can gain an lot of additional loot in a single day. Optimally this will be done by a group of 10 people. Following the method outlined above, the entire dungeon can easily be cleared in 2900 to 3400 turns. That means every player will need to spend 290-340 turns each. If you eat and drink in the marketplace along with Hi Meins and Super Cocktails, it is easy to have that many adventures. To build up a safety buffer it is a good idea to bank turns from the previous day so you can start off with 200 turns before eating, drinking and spleening.

After you open the dungeon you will have to kill Hodgman before rollover so it is a good idea to unflood the sewer just after rollover and have someone ready to become cage bait before anyone else goes in. That way every member of the clan can feel free to spend their turns whenever they are free in their time time. It makes recruiting players for the run much easier.

Next everyone goes through the sewer with the first players opening grates and turning valves until 20 of each have been completed.

Then scarehobo parts are made. As soon as the side zones are opened, players should complete them according to the above plan. Finally make the last scarehobos and have Richard go on a scarehobo spree to kill off every hobo in Town Square. There may well be a few hobos left, so kill them off and make final scarehobos as you see fit.

Finally, the zone bosses and Hodgman are all that are left alive. A single player of level 20+ can buff up and kill them all. It is recommended for a single player to do this since it saves buffing costs. If the boss killer increases his item drops by 500%, the expendables that they drop should easily bring in enough money to finance the dungeon along with a bit of a profit. There are no special instructions for killing Hodgman as he'll be at his weakest since all his assistants are already dead.

This method will usually produce 10-13 pieces of loot to be split by the 10 players involved and recoup the million meat you spent to open the instance. Quite a nice haul indeed.

Hodgman's disgusting technicolor overcoat

The optimally sized party for an overcoat run is 7 people. Fewer than that and you'll have to eat an expensive diet to get enough turns or else skip zones. More than that and you'll have to split the loot too many ways.

The run proceeds mostly like a Whackin' Stick run, except that you are only completing two to three zones. You need to complete Exposure Esplanade and Burnbarrel Blvd. to weaken Hodgman enough for an ordinary high level character to kill him. It is also recommended that you also complete The Heap to weaken him further and get a bit more loot, but if you are running short on turns or don't have enough players then you can skip The Heap and try to kill a slightly stronger Hodgman.

It should be noted that since you are only defeating three zones in addition to Hodgman there will be less loot to split and the dungeon will not be able to recoup the million meat opening fee so you will need the clan members to pay the price.

To kill Hodgman, the boss killer will need to be higher level and buff up a bit more than normal since Zombo will remove all of your equipment including accessories on Hodgman's first turn. You will only be able to use weapons and off-hand items to defeat him. Chester will grant Hodgman the ability to ignore your elemental resistance and physical resistance so make sure you have a lot of hit points. If you don't kill Oscus, then he will deal huge amounts of stench damage to Hodgman's attacker every round so you are under a serious time limit. Now just do as much damage to Hodgman as you can, as quickly as you can and try to kill him before he kills you.

There is actually an advanced strategy for allowing a group to complete all five zones in under 2300 turns, but it costs a lot more meat and effort. If you are really interested in the method, read it on the AFH Forum.

Hodgman's imaginary hamster

Whereas the Stick and Overcoat merely require discipline and method, this last item requires preparation, rigorous cordination and a bit of luck. To kill Hodgman in less than 1100 turns requires exactly 7 players plus one volunteer to play cage bait for a total of 8 people. It is possible to manage without the cage bait, but that does require a tiny bit more luck so I won't discuss it here.

Each player needs to agree to be online and available for coordination simultaneously. One member of each of the six classes must be represented whom we shall call the band members. Additionally there needs to be a seventh player who can be of any class who I shall call the slayer. Each of the band members needs to have previously purchased their class instrument. Additionally each of the band members needs to have at least 19 glyphs in their hobo binder although 20 is preferable.

The slayer is special since he will be a level 85+ character specially brought into the dungeon just to kill Hodgman and mosh for the band. He will probably only have 12 glyphs in his hobo binder since it has been a long time since he last ascended. He will not need a class instrument.

Because 1100 turns is barely enough time to finish off Hobopolis Town Square, you must never kill a hobo or sewer monster if it does not advance your cause. There are three ways to avoid killing creatures you don't want to kill. First of all you can use tattered scraps to avoid the conflict and save your turn for later. Secondly, poppers will serve the same purpose. Finally if you turn a monster into a small amphibian then it doesn't count on the raid log so you can use CLEESH. Tattered scraps only work 50% of the time so they are only preferrable to poppers if they are less than half the price of a popper and you aren't rich. CLEESH is the cheapest alternative, but it won't allow you to save the turn for later. I'll be referring to this technique as cleeshing, but keep in mind that the other two items will serve even better if you have the meat to spend.

• A Maze of Sewer Tunnels

You must pass the sewer without killing a single monster. Each monster that you encounter must be cleeshed. You must always make sure that your inventory contains a supply of sewer wad, bottle of Ooze-O, oil of oiliness and unfortunate dumplings. Also do not use the Yendorian Finery since you will need to weild a goatskin umbrella and a hobo binder at all times. It is essential to pass the sewer in the fewest turns possible.

All monsters in the sewer will be cleeshed to avoid wasting a hobopolis turn with a pointless combat.

No valves will be turned. Their only purpose is to reduce combat frequency. Any monster you cleesh will cost the player a turn, but those turns will not appear on the raid log even though the player suffers from the encounter. Remember that raid log turns are all that matter for the hamster.

Only 14 grates will be opened. Since all players aside from the Slayer are expected to have at least 19 glyphs, opening additional grates would be a waste of turns.

The first person into the sewer must be the dedicated cage bait. His job is to cleesh any monster that attacks him, open any grate he encounters and chose to play in the water if he gets any other noncombat which results in him cleeshing a sewer monster. Once he finally gets caged, he is to stay in that cage until the dungeon is flooded.

The Slayer is not to enter the sewer until all 14 grates have been opened so that he doesn't waste any turns. He only has 12 glyphs so he needs those grates the most.

• Hobopolis Town Square part one.

Do not eat or drink in the marketplace. Those turns in the marketplace will count against the 1100 limit. You'll be lucky if you have enough turns to spare that you can afford to spend turns in the marketplace.

The task now is for each of the band members to make 105 of their assigned hobo part. It is helpful for them to each have chosen an element in advance and stick with this single element for the entirety of the run. This will prevent confusion.

Now you make 105 scarehobos and check to see if Town Square is on image 125. If it is then you go to the next section. If it is not on image 125, then each person will make a single hobo part in a predetermined sequence and check to see if the image has advanced. Continue making parts until you see image 125, but do not make any more scarehobos.

Now that you have reached image 125 a new adventure Attention -- A Tent! can appear. This adventure is key to completing the run in 1100 turns or less.

• Hobopolis Town Square part two: Taking the Stage!

Until you reach Attention -- A Tent!, band members and the Slayer should cleesh every hobo they encounter. You do not want to waste turns killing hobos now.

All band members and the Slayer should maximize noncombat and cleesh hobos until they reach the tent. When they get to the tent they will announce this fact in chat and wait for every single person to reach the encounter. Nobody should click on any choice yet since the encounter rate of the tent will decrease if anyone enters the tent.

Once all seven players are at the tent, all the band members should choose to "Slip in the back, Jack". Only after all six band members are onstage does the Slayer chose to "Head in the front, uh... Joe" and "Try to start a mosh pit". This will kill a lot of hobos.

• Hobopolis Town Square part three: Cooldown.

After a mosh pit the tent will not reappear until 99-101 hobos have been killed.

This still needs to be finished. Strategy for minimizing cooldown time and tent calculation to follow tomorrow.