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+FAQ/WALKTHROUGH FOR CHARM SNIPING ON MONSTER HUNTER 3 ULTIMATE FOR WII U+
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Version 1.1
4 September 2013
E-mail domain: gmail.com
E-mail address: ellerjc

Legal notice (from my brother's Shadownrun FAQ):
I suppose this document is inherently protected by copyright law, but come on
now, let's not take ourselves too seriously. It's just a FAQ for a video game.
If you want to put it up on your site, fine, if you want to steal it and give
yourself credit for it, fine. As long as the original is at GameFAQs under my
name... but that's the thing. Nobody's going to do any of this, and that's the
assumption under which I grant these rights. Heck, if you seriously think that
you can make money by selling a piddling FAQ for a forgettable game, then be my
guest. More power to you. I hereby waive my rights of protection as author of
this document. I urge fellow writers of less-than-memorable FAQs to do the
same. I mean, have you seen some of these legal sections out there? They're
half as long as the FAQ itself! It's a waste of space anyway. Come on, admit
it, you liked reading my legal section more than any of the pseudo-legal
ramblings of those other FAQs. The way I see it, if you're going to blow a big
fat paragraph at the top of your document, you should at least make it somewhat
appealing to the 2 or 3 people who may eventually read it. Anyway, on with the
FAQ...

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CONTENTS
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I. FAQ Intro
       1. Version History
       2. General Info
       3. Disclaimer
II. Beginning Info
       1. Fundamentals
       2. Recommendations
III. Step-By-Step Walkthrough
IV.  Post Run
V.   The End

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I. FAQ INTRO
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1. VERSION HISTORY
------------------
0.01    12 Aug 2013     Surprised there wasn't a proper guide to Charm Sniping
                       on GameFAQs. Began work on FAQ.

0.30    15 Aug 2013     Wrote a huge breakdown of RN, ended up chopping 70% of
                       it.

0.70    30 Aug 2013     Computer went down. Replaced it, nearly finished the
                       FAQ. Minor grammatical fixes.

0.97    04 Sep 2013     Finished FAQ, cleaned things up, posted it to GameFAQs.

1.10    6  Sep 2013     Rejected! Guess I should've paid more attention to the
                       formatting guidelines. Fixed my margins and resubmitted
                       the guide.




2. GENERAL INFO
---------------
This guide is designed to provide an in-depth look at the mechanics behind the
charm system implemented in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Wii U. Once you
have an understanding of how the game determines which "random" charm to give
you at the end of each quest, you will be able to manipulate the random drop
system into giving you the precise charm you want. However, the road to
successful "Charm Sniping" is convoluted and intricate, and the slightest
misstep can cause you to lose hours of progress. I'm going to try to be as
detailed as possible, but I don't want to lose you with technical jargon, so
I'll make sure to lay it out as simply as I can.



3. DISCLAIMER
-------------
I do not, and will probably never fully understand every factor that goes into
Charm Sniping. It's just not really possible to ascertain that sort of
information without debugging the game (or holding a software engineer hostage
and demanding he/she figure it out for you). Therefore, I will try to tell you
everything I've learned during my experiments with Charm Sniping, but I will
also tell you what I don't understand. Now, on with the FAQ.
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II. BEGINNING INFO
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1) FUNDAMENTALS - What's Necessary
-------------------------------
==Athena's Charm Table Search==
As you probably know, Monster Hunter implements a charm system that "randomly"
doles out talismans to hunters that gather charms during quests. The word
"randomly" is inaccurate because you will soon learn that *nothing* is random
when it comes to charms. There's a pattern to the system, and understanding
that pattern will allow you to accurately choose (or "snipe") the exact charm
you want. However, you can't begin the process until you have Athena's Charm
Table Search Tool. This tool (which you must download onto your computer. Do a
Google search or copy/paste this link:
http://forums.minegarde.com/topic/6766-athenas-charm-table-search-for-mh3g-and
-mh3u/) allows you access to a complete database of all the charms and charm
tables in the entire game. Do this first!

==Understanding Charm Tables==
When you download Athena's, you will see that there's are several "Charm
Tables" displayed. When a character is created, the file is assigned a charm
table that the in-game memory will pull from when a charm is gathered. You
cannot receive any charm that is on any table other than your own, period. You
cannot switch tables. Once your character is made, you get a table. That's all.
For example, my character, Klompy, was assigned Charm Table 8. This means that
the only charms I may receive are found within Table 8. No exceptions. There
may be a way to choose which table your character will be assigned, but I'm not
covering that here. There's no real advantage to getting one table over
another; "best" is not a word that applies to Monster Hunter. Your table,
whatever it may be, will have charms that are relevant to your individual
interests, and charms that you couldn't care less about. Identify your charm
table by simply going on a quest, gathering a charm (gathering multiple charms
makes it easier to establish what table you're on), finishing the quest by
either reaching the objective or fainting three times, appraising the charm(s)
you received, punching in the skills you see on the Appraisal screen into
Athena's, and identifying which table contains the charm you just appraised.

* Cursed Tables *
If you land on one of the "Cursed Tables" (Tables 11, 12, 15, 16, or 17), the
pool from which the game will pull your charms is significantly diminished. For
some reason these tables contain much fewer charms than the other tables. There
are still some good ones, so don't worry too much. Apparently there is a 1%
chance you will be assigned a Cursed Table.

==Random Numbers (RN)==
This is the most important part of Charm Sniping. Every charm in the game is as
signed a random number between 1 (possibly 0) and 5400. The charm is not
assigned a number until *after* it is Appraised after the quest. For example,
when you mine an Enduring Charm from a rock, the game hasn't determined exactly
what Talisman it will be until the quest is finished and the charm is
appraised. These random numbers (RN) move in one direction: forward. RN will
not go backward. Once it hits 5400 or so, it starts over from the beginning.
Think of RN as a clock, with "5400" being where 12 o'clock is. RN will constant
ly tick up until it hits 5400. So, if the charm you want has an RN of 1972, and
your current RN is at 2000, you must increase your RN all the way past 5400 so
that it starts over from 0. Unfortunately, RN (the hands of the clock) do not
move in a consistent pattern. Sometimes RN jumps ahead by 1,000 or 2,000, when
other times it crawls up by 200. Nearly everything in the game influences the
speed at which RN ticks up. For example, loading Moga Village will move the RN
about 100 units. The RN moves at different speeds in different areas, including
Moga Village, Moga Woods, Tazia Marina, and Tanzia Tavern.

Let me give you an example.

You use Athena's Charm Table Search to identify the charm you want. Say you're
on Table 8. You want a Hunger +5 charm with two slots (notated "Hunger +5 OO"),
so you select the skill from the dropdown box at the top of the window. You see
that Table 8 has a Hunger +5 OO available. You right-click on the charm, and
see that its RN is 1743. This means that you must manipulate your RN so that
it lands on EXACTLY RN1743 when you conclude a quest. If you did everything
correctly, the "clock" will land on 1743, and when you Appraise your charm,
the Focus +5 OO will be revealed for you.

I hope that makes sense. Ideally, you now understand that in order to get the
charm you desire, you need to move the RN forward until it lands precisely on
the desired RN. Unfortunately, since the RN is influenced by countless factors,
moving the RN to one specific point can be very difficult. More on this later.

==Eating ("Food Lock")==
The area that provides the highest probability for mining/gathering an Enduring
Charm (35%) is the secret are of Misty Peaks. As with any secret area, you're
going to want to mix Drink + Fish to get the Felyne Explorer food skill. This a
llows you to always start off in the secret area so that you can begin
gathering right away. However, in order to improve efficiency, you must get a
Food Lock before you begin your sniping run. In order to get this Lock, go to
the Canteen and order Drink and Fish. If the ingredients aren't Fresh, then use
a Voucher to guarantee the skills you want. If you get Felyne Explorer,
congrats! If you didn't, go on a quest, abandon the quest, save your game,
quit, load, and try again until you get Felyne Explorer.

This is where it gets complicated. Once you have Felyne Explorer, QUIT BUT DO
NOT SAVE. Go to your menu, select Quit, and do not save. This means that your
file currently contains the variable that guarantees Felyne Explorer every time
you cook Drink + Fish. If you happen to save, the variable gets randomized, and
Felyne Explorer is no longer guaranteed. So remember, when beginning a sniping
run, get Felyne Explorer, QUIT WITHOUT SAVING, load the game again, cook Felyne
Explorer, and go off on your sniping run.

==Establishing Your RN==
In order to deduce the RN that you'll be working with in your save file, you
have to go on a run and gather at least one charm AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. Load
your game, bolt to Tanzia Tavern, get Mountain Massacre, eat for Explorer, and
run out the door. It is recommended that you time yourself for the following
part. Gather everything at the secret spot and kill yourself with bombs as
quickly as you can. It would be wise to record your time immediately after your
final death/fail the quest. If you're convinced that you absolutely, positively
cannot go any faster, appraise your charms and check Athena's for the RN. The
RN that you see on Athena's is your current working RN. Remember, it needs to
be a several hundred RN (500-700RN would be best) under your target. That way,
you can delay your final death in order to eat up a small amount of RN in order
to get you precisely on your target.

==Boosting RN==
If your desired charm is at 4000RN, and your current RN is right around 790,
you need to boost your current RN to about 3000RN before you leave on the
sniping run. The sniping run itself eats up RN, so it's important not to cut it
too close. The most conventional way of doing this is by loading your game, and
immediately running to Moga Woods. Stand in Moga Woods for anywhere between
30 seconds to 7 minutes (depending on how much you want your RN to move
forward), and then return to the Village. Immediately SAVE AND QUIT. Before you
saved and quit, your current RN had been boosted by an amount proportional to
the length of time you spent in the woods. When you saved, your new, boosted RN
was saved as well. When you load, you'll get to work with your new RN. I do not
have an exact metric for RN per second in the Woods, but from my experience,
3 minutes in the Woods + 3-4 minute sniping run at Misty Peaks = about +1060
RN. Your mileage may vary, and is dependant on how you mine/gather during your
run and how quickly you kill yourself. Remember, visit Moga Woods to close a
big RN gap (more than 1500 off target), and experiment with delaying deaths
during your run to close a smaller RN gap (less than 700 off target).

==How Saving Affects RN==
Every time you save your game, your current RN is lost and you are assigned a
new, different RN depending on what you did between saves. This is bad. You
want to establish a solid RN and use that RN as a jumping-off point for your
sniping runs. You will be saving exactly TWICE during your sniping session;
once when you need to boost your RN permanently if your current RN is more than
1000 from your desired RN, and again when you finally get the charm you've been
sniping. Sniping sessions can last anywhere between 1-30 hours, depending on
your proficiency, so it's important to retain your RN. It took me awhile to
understand the concept that NOT SAVING actually PRESERVES your RN, but try to
resist the urge to save while you're doing your run.

2) RECOMMENDATIONS - What's Suggested, but Not Absolutely Required
------------------------------------------------------------------
==Stopwatch==
Get a stopwatch. Chances are you've got one on your phone. A stopwatch is very,
VERY helpful, since you must be absolutely consistent with your runs if you
want to achieve measurable results. Since RN ticks at different speeds in
different areas, if you are able to spend the EXACT same amount of time in each
area, you'll get a rhythm for how long you should spend there. Pre-run examples
include running to Neko, running to Tanzia Quest counter, picking up Mountain
Massacre (G Rank, 2nd page, bottom), running to Canteen, ordering Felyne
Explorer, and running out the gate to the quest. You must get this routine down
to a *science*, or else you'll lose track of how much RN you're spending. That
part is easy, since it basically requires to run in a straight line and mash A
Button to get through conversations. The stopwatch really becomes useful the
second the hunt begins. Once the screen fades up and you gain control of your
character, start the stopwatch. Your run will probably follow this convention:

Gather at bones 3x
Mine at rock 6x
Kill yourself with bombs
Spawn, run to Area 1
Kill yourself with bombs
Spawn, run to Area 1
Kill yourself with bombs
Quest over, Appraise Charms, Check RN on Athena's

This was my formula. Using the stopwatch, I deduced that my fastest run
possible was 2min 19sec. My first death occured at .55, second death at 1.37,
and final death at 2.19. I was still short of my target by about 300RN. In
order to close that gap of 300RN, I began experimenting with delaying my final
death. I started delaying my final death until 2.45. This was too much time,
and put my RN about 150 over my target. That was a good thing. It meant that
somewhere between 2.19 and 2.45 was my target. From that point on, you just
have to experiment with delays. I finally reached my target (after about 3
hours) after I failed the quest at exactly 2.38.3. This is why a stopwatch is
strongly recommended. You need to keep PRECISE track of how much time/RN you're
spending so you can adjust accordingly if you need to. You could try going by
the Quest Timer, but I'm not sure how menu navigation affects RN progression.
By the end of my run, I was splitting milliseconds, so every moment counts.

==Gem in Bombadier==
The Bombadier skill boosts the damage of bombs you set. It makes killing
yourself more efficient. Personally, I never did this because A) the Leather
Armor you'll be wearing only has a pathetic 2 gem slots, and B) SPEED isn't as
necessary as CONSISTENCY. I was able to CONSISTENTLY fail the quest at 2.19,
which gave me the freedom to delay for as long as I needed to. If I gemmed in
Bombadier, I could kill myself in less than 2 minutes, but that would mean I'd
still have to wait until 2.38.3 to get my charm, ASSUMING that spending less
time in the secret area doesn't affect my RN (which I'm certain it does).
Anyway, it's silly and not essential, so do what you want. As long as you can
repeatedly replicate your runs and can identify how much time you need to
spend in Misty Peaks for you to get your charm, you're golden.

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III. STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH
-------------------------------------------------------------------

So, you're ready to begin preparations for making your run. I'm going to make
it as simple as possible. From this point forward, I'm assuming you have a
grasp on RN, know what Charm Table you're on, and know the RN of your target
charm. Here we go.

==GET THE FOOD LOCK==
1) Load your game.
2) Eat at the kitchen for Felyne Explorer. Always use the same food.
3) If you got Explorer, QUIT WITHOUT SAVING. Your file contains the variable
  that guarantees Felyne Explorer.
4) If you didn't get Explorer, SAVE AND QUIT. This will randomize your food
  variable. Start over from Step 1).

Congrats on getting your Food Lock. As long as you cook the same ingredients
consistently, you will get Explorer.

Now, you must establish your current RN. Remember to be dressed in the Leather
armor for gathering purposes, and bring bombs for suicide purposes. You must do
these steps as quickly as possible. Seriously, go fast!

==ESTABLISHING RN (SPEED RUN)==
1) Load your game (it contains the Food Lock, remember?)
2) Run to Neko, go to Solo Tanzia Port.
3) Choose the Mountain Massacre quest.
4) Eat for Felyne Explorer.
5) Leave for the quest.
6) Gather at the bones, mine at the rock.
       a) Did you get any charms? Good. Continue.
       b) No charms? QUIT WITHOUT SAVING and start over.
7) Kill yourself as fast as possible. Use the watch/Quest Timer to note the
  times of your deaths.
8) Appraise the charms your gathered.
9) Check Athena's. Note the RNs of the charms you gathered.
10)QUIT WITHOUT SAVING

There you go. The RNs of the charms you gathered on your speed run illustrate
your current position on the RN clock. Now that you know where you stand, you
need to close the distance between your current RN and your target RN.

==IF YOU ARE MORE THAN 1000RN FROM YOUR TARGET==
1) Load your game.
2) Go to Moga Woods.
3) Stand still for 2-5 minutes. The farther you away from your target you are,
  the longer you need to stand there.
4) Exit the Woods.
5) SAVE AND QUIT. You've permanently boosted your RN by a significant amount.

*NOTE* - Remember, when you save, you lose your Food Lock. Your RN is boosted,
but you've randomized the variable that determines a guaranteed Felyne
Explorer. Make sure to get the Lock back!

If you are less than 1000RN from your target charm, you're ready to start
chipping away at the gap. This is where you'll begin your proper runs. With a
bit of practice and a lot of patience, you should be able to zero in on your
target. It's important that you don't go as fast as possible here. Give
yourself some time before your third death.

==IF YOU ARE LESS THAN 1000RN FROM YOUR TARGET==
1) Load your game
2) Run to Neko, go to Solo Tanzia Port.
3) Choose the Mountain Massacre quest.
4) Eat for Felyne Explorer.
5) Leave for the quest.
6) Gather at the bones, mine at the rock.
7) Kill yourself three times. Note the times of your deaths. No real rush here.
8) Appraise the charms your gathered.
9) Check Athena's. Note the RNs of the charms you gathered.

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IV. POST-RUN
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So, chances are you didn't get your target charm after the first run. But,
hopefully you're not too far off your goal. Here are the three outcomes from
your sniping runs:

==YOU GOT YOUR CHARM==
Hey, look at that. You're amazing. Send me an email and regale me with your
story.

==YOU WERE UNDER YOUR TARGET==
This is a good place to be. That means you only have to delay your third death
until your RN ticks up to your target. However long that is will need to be
determined by you. For me, I had to delay my third death by 2 minutes 8 seconds
before I landed on my target. That means after dying twice, I stood in the
first area and killed myself after 2min8sec ticked by. You'll have to
experiment with your own delays.

==YOU WERE OVER YOUR TARGET==
If you are over your target, you're going to have to speed things up a bit.
Remember, if you're drastically UNDER your ESTABLISHED RN, you've waited too
long and the RN has wrapped around. Hopefully you're not so far over that
you'll have to start over. The point of the speedrun was to establish your
current RN, so it should be impossible to go any faster than you did at that
point.

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V. THE END
-------------------------------------------------------------------

That's the conclusion of my Charm Sniping FAQ for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
for Wii U. I hope you found it useful in your quest for excellence. I wrote
this so that you wouldn't have to piece together information scattered across
message boards and blogs, and so that everything you wanted to know about how
to charm snipe was located in one central, reliable location.

==THANKS==
Fbueckert, for posting a helpful breakdown on a thread.
Syaopup, for cleaning up Fbueckert's post and refining the information.
YoukaiSlayer, for posting a great walkthrough on the GameFAQs message board.

All of these guys have posted things that were useful to my understanding of
Charm Sniping. If you need additional information, check out their guides and
posts.

==CONTACT==
Feel free to contact me with comments or questions. My email is listed at the
top of the FAQ, but not in the [email protected] format. This is to prevent
those sister spambots that look for that type of thing. This ensures that you
will get a real response from the real me, so no worries there. I created an
Excel Spreadsheet complete with times, notes, and other data I collected
during my runs, so I'll send that to you if you want me to. If you don't know
how to turn my contact information into a working email address, then you're
probably not the kind of person I want to hear from anyway. Thanks for reading!

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