Dr. Sloth Plot - 3 Modifier Decoding Puzzle Guide
The following is a guide to the method I used to solve the 3 modifier puzzles of the Dr. Sloth Plot currently goig on at Neopets.com.
I would like to detail what this post contains:
1) My method of checking both the first and last characters of the codes, reducing the number of possible combinations.
2) Many annotated screenshots of how to work through the puzzle.
3) Links to websites that have a list of all the combinations of characters and their results.
4) Additional resources (at the bottom of the post) including a complete list of links and scanned images of my notes for both the 2 modifier and 3 modifier puzzles.
Note: This guide is written for 3 modifier puzzels that DO NOT contain the
symbol. However, it will work for the ones with that symbol.
Misskitten713's Dr. Sloth Plot - 3 Modifier Decoding Puzzle Guid
Created for the pure enjoyement of math! And b/c I'm procrastinating doing my own decoding...
1) Pull up a puzzle that DOES NOT say "Incomplete Data." It should look like the image below w/ different symbols.
Solving one or more of the puzzles that don't have that message will unlock the ones that do.
click image to view larger
Notice in this example the
symbol does not occur. This will be significant in step 3.
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Aside: It is only necessary to do only one of the puzzles that say do not say "Incomplete Data" (ie the ones without the
symbol). This unlocks those ones and they no longer say "Incomplete Data". After you solve that first one (the one with out the O symbol) you can move onto the ones that you unlocked (now distinguishable by the O symbol). The message that solves this step of the plot is in one of those puzzles making it unnecessary to do the ones without the additional O symbol. Unless of course you enjoy the mind numbing task of solving the puzzles!
(Source: http://sunnyneo.com/plots/RoS/chap3.php, thanks to dotgasmic for clueing me in on this one!)
(To view the message that solves this step of the plot please visit Sunnyneo.com. They have a screenshot at the bottom of the page.)
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This is my key to the symbols:
I will refer to them using these letter.
Notice there are 6 of the symbols above. When myself or anothe person refers to the "6 symbol message" they are referring to messages that only contain these symbols.
The 7th symbol is
and I will denote with the letter O. Therefore messages with the O symbol are "7 symbol messages."
2) Identify the first digit of your key and your target as shown below:
(Use YOUR symbols when solving your puzzle. These won't give you the answers for YOUR puzzle unless you have the same symbols.)
As you can see the first digit of the key is v and the first digit of the target is t.
We need to find the three characters that when combined with v will result in t. These three characters will determine the first digits of the codes we place in the boxes for Modifier 1, Modifier 2, and Modifier 3. To determine these characters we will need some help.
3) Open in another browser window a page that has a table or list of the combinations of characters that result in the desired character.
(To open in a new tab ctrl + click on link or shift + click on link to open in a new window, may only work in IE)
The following are the websites that I have used:
For codes without the
symbol (6 symbols):
-http://www.neopets.com/~charmander2058 - a pet page at Neopets.com
-*http://www.sunnyneo.com/plots/RoS/3mod6.php* (for the rest of Sunnyneo.com's guide click here)
--Sunnyneo (above) has a nifty search tool!
For codes with the
symbol (7 symbols):
-http://www.neopets.com/~Vulpixxx20 - a pet page at Neopets.com
-*http://www.sunnyneo.com/plots/RoS/3mod7.php* (for the rest of Sunnyneo.com's guide click here)
--Sunnyneo (above) has a nifty search tool!
To determine how many symbols the puzzle you are working on has refer to the equavilent of the image in step 1, look at the list of 30 codes to the right. If the character
appears anywhere in those codes you have 7 symbols. If it does NOT you have 6 symbols. Use the links above accordingly, its VERY important you select the right one (otherwise you'll have a hard time finding the symbols you need and you won't get the right combinations making your efforts worthless).
I will be using Charmander2058's page for this example so as to better explain the whole concept. (and since this example does not contain the O and therefore only has 6 symbols) If you are using a different site watch out for duplicates of the same symbol combinations. Note: Sunnyneo.com (6symbol -or- 7symbol) has a nifty search tool! So if you understand the concept behind the following step I encourage you to use that site! It cuts down on time!
You should see something that looks like the following:
click image to view larger
To read the chart is fairly simple:
click to view full image
The first column (in red) denotes the first digit of the key. The last column (in blue) denotes the first digit of the target.
The symbols in the column in between are the symbols that when combined will change the first digit (red) into the last digit (blue). So in other words if the first digit of the key: c is combined with c, c, and c then the result will be t which ideally should be the fist digit of your target. (Or c+c+c+c=t.).
I cannot vouch for the creators of these websites but I believe they actually tried each combination to find these results. You can try them yourself if you would like to be certain.
4) To decode our key symbol into the target symbol we will do the following:
(do these steps with your own characters in place of the example characters v and t)
a) Our key symbol was v (see step 2) and our target symbol was t (also see step 2).
b) Search the website with the chart for the section where the key symbol is v. (Remember to use your own symbols!)
c) In the section where the key symbol is v search for rows where the last column has a t in it. Record each of the symbols between it on a sheet of paper or in a seperate document (notepad or word, etc).
In this case we would record:
c,c,8
c,v,p
We can leave out v and t since they are fixed and we don't need to do anything with them.
d) Search the entire list for all entries starting with v and ending in t and record them as well. There may be some duplicates of symbol combinations, they are unnecessary to record.
For example:
c,c,8 and c,8,c and 8,c,c are all the same. You only need to record them once since order does not matter.
You should have something like this:
1st Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,v,pc,x,tv,v,tv,x,xv,8,8x,p,8t,t,8t,p,p
You should get about 9 or 10 of these combinations for codes with 6 character and about 12 or 13 for the codes with 7 charaters.
To see an Example of My Own Handwritten Work Displaying my Organization click the link (warning: it is not for this example & a decent sized image; use your back button to return here). I encourage looking at my work to help understand the method and organize your own data.
e) Once you are sure you have all of the combinations repeat this process for the last digits of your key and your target.
NOTE: It is not necessary to do this step but it does help to narrow down the number of combinations you have to try in the boxes (steps 5 and on) plus the rest of my guide won't make.
As you can see the last digit of the key is p and the last digit of the target is v.
Repeat steps 4a - 4d with the last digit of the key and the last digit of the target.
In this case p and v.
Resulting Example Data:
1st Digit CombinationsLast Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,c,cc,v,pc,v,8c,x,tc,x,pv,v,tc,t,tv,x,xp,p,pv,8,8v,v,px,p,8v,x,tt,t,8x,x,xt,p,px,8,8 t,p,8
To see an Example of My Own Handwritten Work Displaying my Organization click the link (warning: it is not for this example & a decent sized image; use your back button to return here). I encourage looking at my work to help understand the method and organize your own data.
We are now ready to begin trying to plug in codes into our 3 modifier puzzle.
5) To begin select a combination of characters from 1st digit combinations in your list:
1st Digit CombinationsLast Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,c,cc,v,pc,v,8c,x,tc,x,pv,v,tc,t,tv,x,xp,p,pv,8,8v,v,px,p,8v,x,tt,t,8x,x,xt,p,px,8,8 t,p,8
I like to start with the sets that contain dublicates of a letter like c,c,8. Remember to use your own characters when trying to solve your puzzle.
6) Find the first code in your list of 30 that starts with c (since we're looking at the set c,c,8 and the first symbol is c) and put it in the first modifier box (it doesn't really matter which it goes in but this helps to keep things organized).
click to view full image
7) In the remaining codes in your list find the first code that starts with c (since we're looking at the set c,c,8 and the second symbol is c) and put it in the second modifier box (it doesn't really matter which it goes in but this helps to keep things organized).
click to view full image
8) Now we are going to be picky...
Instead of choosing any old code from the remaining list that starts with 8 (since we're looking at the set c,c,8 and the third symbol is 8) we are going to eliminate some of the possibilities by looking at the last symbols of the two codes we already chose.
In this case the last digits (denoted by pink) are p and x.
9) Look back at your chart of 1st digit combinations and last digit combinations.
We need to find the last digit combination that contains both p and x.
1st Digit CombinationsLast Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,c,cc,v,pc,v,8c,x,tc,x,pv,v,tc,t,tv,x,xp,p,pv,8,8v,v,px,p,8v,x,tt,t,8x,x,xt,p,px,8,8 t,p,8
c,x,p is the only combination that contains both p and x. This means that the last digit of the code must be c.
10) We now know that if there exists a third modifier that could work it will start with 8 and end with c.
a) We now need to search through the remaining codes from our list of 30.
As you can see there are four options that start with 8 but none that end with c. We DO NOT need to try putting them in the box since we know they will not work (saving us a great deal of clicking around and time).
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In my own notes I don't like to hunt through all of these codes for the ones I'm looking for. To see how I organized them follow this link: Example of My Work (warning: it is not for this example & a decent sized image; use your back button to return here). I encourage looking at my work to help understand the method and organize your own data.
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b) Since there are none that fit the above description lets try a new code in the second modifier box repeating steps 7, 8, 9 and 10a. (I am forgoing showing you possibilities that result similarly to 10a seeing as it is unnecessary to show you the same thing twice. An orange line through an option means it yeilded no possible third modifier as in step 10a. ) Since number 2 and number 6 didn't work I'm trying number 13.
click to view full image
c) Take a look at their last digits:
They are p and t.
d) Look at your table again and try to find the last digit combination that contains p and t: (as in step 9)
1st Digit CombinationsLast Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,c,cc,v,pc,v,8c,x,tc,x,pv,v,tc,t,tv,x,xp,p,pv,8,8v,v,px,p,8v,x,tt,t,8x,x,xt,p,px,8,8 t,p,8
This time there are two possible combinations t,p,8 . This means that the last digit of the code must be 8.
e) We now know that if there exists a third modifier that could work it will start with 8 and end in 8. Search through the remaining codes from our list of 30.
(like in step 10a)
As you can see there is only one option that starts with 8 and ends in 8 (that's good for us, less trial and error).
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In my own notes I don't like to hunt through all of these codes for the ones I'm looking for. To see how I organized them follow this link: Example of My Work (warning: it is not for this example & a decent sized image; use your back button to return here). I encourage looking at my work to help understand the method and organize your own data.
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f) Plug this into the third modifier box:
(If you had more than one possible option in the previous step you would need to try each one in the third modifier box.)
As you can see the first digits (in green) and last digits (in pink) of the result and the target match, this proves you are trying the right combinations. However, the rest of the code doesn't and therefore you haven't solved the puzzle yet. We need to keep checking.
11) If you haven't found the winning combination keep checking:
a) (using steps 6 - 10f) Continue running through each combination of second modifiers until you've run out of third modifiers that match or you've found the answer, mentally crossing out each one as you go (shown below as orange strikethroughs). This step is essentially the same as 10b (only 10b wasn't the official step, merely a display so I could show you what it looks like to match the last digits).
click to view full image
b) If you haven't found the solution by the time you've run out of second modifiers for your current first modifier choice (ie the solution to the puzzle doesn't occur while you are doing step 11a), mentally cross off the expended first modifier that you were using (denoted below in orange; you won't need to try it again for the next set of combination you are attempting) and move on to the second code that starts with c (from the first digit of c,c,8 in steps 5 and 6). Repeat the process described in 11a, above until you run out of third modifiers, and second modifiers or you have solved the puzzle.
click to view full image
c) If you run out of first modifiers for the combination you are currently trying (in this case c,c,8) move onto the next set of 1st digit combinations (which in our example is c,v,p) or which ever one you choose to attempt next. Repeat this process (step 5 and onward) until you solve the puzzle.
1st Digit CombinationsLast Digit Combinationsc,c,8c,c,cc,v,pc,v,8c,x,tc,x,pv,v,tc,t,tv,x,xp,p,pv,8,8v,v,px,p,8v,x,tt,t,8x,x,xt,p,px,8,8 t,p,8
Hint: Try combinations that have a combination of two letters first (ie t,t,8 or t,p,p or v,v,t from the list above). They go quicker b/c there are usually less possible combinations in your list of 30.
12) Just keep trying. It is a lot of work even with checking against the last digit (but if you ask me checking against the last digit is way better than dragging around a ton of codes). If you come across a snag try checking your lists and work. If you get too distressed take a break, maybe work on a different puzzle, and then go back to that one. Eventually you'll get a message! And remember only do ONE of the 6 symbol message! Once you have move onto the ones that have 7 symbols (the ones that used to have "Incomplete Data" and have the
symbol), one of those will have the required message to solve this step of the plot. (To view the message that solves this step of the plot please visit Sunnyneo.com. They have a screenshot at the bottom of the page.)
click to view full image
Good Luck!!!
Additional Resources and Information:
-The following is a link to a scanned copy of my notes while working on the three modifier puzzles. There are full descriptions of what each section means in the image. I encourage looking at my work to help understand the method and organize your own data.
Example of My Work (its a relatively large image, beware) Use your back button to return here.
-If you still need to decode the 2 modifier puzzles I've scanned my notes (beware, its a decent sized image; use your back button to return here). It is an incomplete list of what the combinations equal. This is a link to SunnyNeo.com's combination tables. The process for solving is much the same as the one I describe for the 3 modifier puzzle (minus one of the modifier boxes and your table of combinations should have combos of 2 instead of 3, etc). In my notes the * denotes non-repetative combinations. For more information see the instructions above (steps 1 - 7).
Charts for codes without the
symbol (6 symbols):
-http://www.neopets.com/~charmander2058 - a pet page at Neopets.com
-*http://www.sunnyneo.com/plots/RoS/3mod6.php* (for the rest of Sunnyneo.com's guide click here)
--Sunnyneo (above) has a nifty search tool!
Charts for codes with the
symbol (7 symbols):
-http://www.neopets.com/~Vulpixxx20 - a pet page at Neopets.com
-*http://www.sunnyneo.com/plots/RoS/3mod7.php* (for the rest of Sunnyneo.com's guide click here)
--Sunnyneo (above) has a nifty search tool!
-"Do not bother doing all the 6 symbol ones, you only need to solve ONE 6 symbols puzzle (Maintenance Reports) to be able to complete the 7 symbols puzzle. Now you need to solve the 7 symbols puzzles (Military messages)." Source: Sunnyneo.com
-To view the message that solves this step of the plot please visit Sunnyneo.com. They have a screenshot at the bottom of the page.
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If you notice any errors in my guide please comment and let me know! I hope this all makes sense. If you have a question don't hesitate to comment I'm on a lot during the day and sometimes in the evening and your comments will get emailed to me so I should see them relatively quickly.