There was a 'trick' to get a doll from the Rube. No game rules were broken to exploit this 'trick.' But a bunch of people knew it and have been doing it. It appears now to have been 'nerfed.'
I would point out that you might as well take the fifth trade if no doll has come up. At least then you'd have another still for your next try (in Serra's case above). And you can buy more tongs.
Just got my first completely confused Rube. /sigh I had a bunch of stuff, too, all the way down to 200c value. My ratio of dolls to essences is not too great, maybe 1:5 so far since I started editing my inventory. (It was of course 0:many before that.)
Yep...the only doll I got was with all my bags full of just regular stuff - didn't even know that you could trick him.
Can't remember if I called for him or if he just showed up, tho, but I do remember that I got the doll for my spice mill.
Haven't tried doing the trick stuff with him and probably won't - seems like too much work for me lol
Your reportClient Error Report: The rube is now always confused, I have used rubeweed 5 times and he won't trade with me. I wish I had been told it wouldn't work before I bought thousands of currants worth of essence of rube.Submitted: Dec 18, 2011 • 6:06am (Pacific)
RepliesStaff reply: 59 min ago
Hi Robert,
The Rube recently found out that Glitches were trying to trick him, and now if he suspects that there is something going on, he will not trade any more.
This morning I was the lucky beneficiary when some veteran player dumped a huge inventory onto the street in Stora Reda. From the content (many empty bags, large and small, but also many stills and other expensive tools), I assume the player was trying the Rube tactics described above. Curious as to why he/she just dumped all of the expensive stuff - the bags alone added up to a not inconsequential value. I'm grateful and the stuff will be put to good use (especially the bags), but would love to know the reason.
Leites, sometimes players do that either because they are leaving the game, or just want to clean house and start anew. I doubt it was for the Rube tactic, especially since a veteran player would know that dumping stuff in their house is much safer.
Maybe someone just decided to quit - I think it's likely that someone would dump all their stuff in their house instead of on the street if they were just trying out a potential exploit.
I think quietly, randomly leaving everything your glitch owned on some corner or in a tree would be a fun way to go out.
I can understand if someone was cleaning out house. I'm getting rid of my piggies at fire sale prices right now since I really don't want to feel pressured to play this game for often.
Was not using the inventory trick. I had my usual inventory with me; however, I did tote along two stills and most people probably won't be carrying 3 EHS's constantly. I also had in my usual inventory the other items which I've read other people have traded dolls for. But again - this wasn't a tricked out inventory as I had way more cheap items than I had expensive stuff.
Either I was very lucky just now or the odds of doll trades were increased. In any case, I can confirm that Rube still gives out dolls.
Edit: I also did not use the change street thing - just logged in and decided to summon Rube.
Huh, I wonder why the change wasn't reported in the change log. From what Robert Smith mentioned it seems like they've certainly changed something, and I thought the purpose of the change log was to let people know of such things? Rather than let some people waste their time, currants and essences to only get a confused Rube and nothing else out of it. I imagine that would be very discouraging.
Aw man, it sucks this got dealt with. I was kinda hoping the bug that enabled this trick would stay in place until the market was at least half-flooded with dolls, so everyone could have a fair chance at them. =/
Also since they did change something, it's not fair they haven't updated the change log to reflect this, as Sunburst points out. :: shakes head ::
Normal inventory, minus the low-end things Rube always asks for from my inventory (i.e. my allspice, my drinks, and my cooking gear). Then, I equipped an additional "Rube Bag" filled with fancy items. Basically, normal stuff, but a larger number of fancy things than I usually carry.
And I got a doll! It was the first thing he offered, and I got it for a super scraper.
It's not cheating, you don't get a confused Rube, but you increase your chances of Rube offering a doll based on the number of high-end items in your inventory. :)
I have to say that Mskel's tactic has "something" to it. I forgot to mention that I was carrying my Rube bag in addition to my normal inventory when I got my 4th doll.
Either the odds have been greatly increased (essentially making dolls worthless) or I'm never ever changing my inventory again.
During this trade, Rube was giving me all awesome deals.
1st, offered me Still for Firefly Jar.
2nd, offered Grand Grinder for Egg Seasoner
3rd, offered Still for Tinkertool
4th, offered Still for Smelter
5th, FN doll for Still.
Pming. You could try swapping your inventory with someone else bag for bag and seeing how well they do.
I wonder if perhaps the rube does't select items out of your inventory in a semi-random fashion, making ordering of items relevant. In what order did the jar, seasoner, tinkertool, smelter and still appear?
Offered Cauldron for Gassifier (toolbox in 15th bag slot)
Meat Collector for Blender (same)
Butterfly Egg for Hatchet (toolbox in 16th bag slot)
Still for Irrigator 9000 (same)
Super Scraper for Piggy Feeder (bag in 14th bag slot)
For me, i think whenever everytime i uses essence of rubeweed, Rube appears and he will walk near to you. He will likely say '' Mrkurasaki, talk to me if you want to trade'' (Kinda like this). And if he doesn't talk (the dialogue he used to say), he is surely nerfed.. Just my opinions.
I'm happy for you, but it is kind of irritating to hear that some select few people are getting 5 or 6 dolls over the span of a couple of days while others are getting nothing. I hope it's just because you're very lucky, and not because your inventory is set up in some optimal way. The Rube should, in my view, be random, and shouldn't operate under some code that has to be cracked if you want to get a rare item. I've tried all sorts of different things with my inventory and haven't gotten a doll since the bug was fixed (during that time I only got one). I call the rube several times a day, and hold off till offer number 5 every time to increase my chances. I'm starting to get rather frustrated, especially after hearing about so many other people getting a doll on a regular basis.
@Shepherdmoon Amen to all of that. I've never been offered a doll, and quite frankly I think the Rube's offers should be completely at random, regardless of inventory or use of potions.
I've also tried all of the things in this thread, changing my strategy as the days, and suggestions, progressed. I've used rubeweed once every game day that I've been awake, and walked around getting completist badges, so I've also seen the Rube without rubeweed tincture. Some times I've seen him twice in a game day. And.... NO Dolls, ever!
I've gotten several stills, cubimals, and other pricey stuff. But I don't even like cubimals, I want a depressing looking doll who says weird things to me. Whaaaaa!
Completely random is, imo, the best solution. After all, why would people be lugging around stills? The still isn't a portable tool. It's supposed to be set up in a house to work.
If I still continue to get dolls within the next five game days, I'm listing down the 50+ items in my inventory for others to try or as Walruz suggested - loan out my bag set-up.
I am wondering if he has stopped giving out the Ayn Rand dolls. It seems like they are becoming more scarce. Has anyone gotten an Ayn doll in the last day or two?
I got an Ayn Rand doll last night. Had mostly my normal inventory, maybe fewer cheap things since I had recently cleaned my bags, and I always keep my tools on me.
This Rube was a bit off since he immediately jumped to the 2/5 trade. 2/5 - he offered chamber for a seasoned bean. 3/5 was the doll trade. This Rube was perhaps the 2nd or 3rd Rube in the last half (real-time) day I summoned and/or encountered in the wild.
I've ever only got the confused rube with rubeweed essence. Not sure what the point of the essence is. Even if you aren't looking for dolls you get the confused rube with the essence.
Pming: I only had two stills, I had an engine block, some diamonds, 3 different party pack tasters, an unopened cubimal box couple of cauldrons, an orb, shovel, scraper, 2 garden gnomes, and some cheaper things like spinache. I changed streets, went as far as a new region.
I didn't have as much stuff as I usually have. Dropped a lot of the kitchen tools before I left.
If you only had a bag-full of items or even two bag-fulls, the Rube may be confused. I think the fix (mentioned) has to do with the overall number of items we are lugging around.
I also think the fix also takes into consideration if we're carrying way more expensive stuff than junk.
Anyway, these are just my personal theories about the fix. I'm really do not know what the devs did.