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Multi or Mystery?


Kid__A

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Hey all,

 

There's a cool little greenway ripe for some caches. I have a few questions though.

Here's the plan: I want to place 3 magnetic key holders and an ammo can. The ammo can will have a lock on it that you get the combination to by visiting each of the caches and getting a single number to the combo from each. I was also thinking about putting the latitude in one cache and the longitude in another (along with combo numbers) for the final container.

1- Can I make each cache findable on its own so people can log each one if they don't have time or don't want to find all 4?

2- Does this sound more like a mystery cache or a multi-cache?

3- Any suggestions are welcome :)

 

Thanks a bunch.

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If you need to solve any puzzle at home (web or so)= Puzzle.

If you need to solve anything on the terrain (without external sources)= Multi.

This isn't necessarily true everywhere. A cache that is considered a Multi in one region may typically be listed as a Puzzle in another region, and vice versa. This is especially true with a combination cache that contains elements of both Multis and Puzzles.

 

But, there is no one better than your reviewer to decide. :)

^This. You should look up your local reviewer (or one of them if you have several) and describe your proposed cache(s) to see what they say.

 

Personally, if faced with the containers you have, I'd use the keyhides as stages of a multi (either sequential or in parallel). Keyhides aren't any good at keeping moisture out (keys don't need to stay dry), so it would be better to use them to just hold numbers or partial coordinates for the final rather than try to keep a log dry. If they're the sliding-cover ones, you could just write the numbers/coordinates on the bottom of the inside of the keyhide in whiteout or a light-coloured paint pen so there's no problem if the inside gets wet.

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Personally, if faced with the containers you have, I'd use the keyhides as stages of a multi (either sequential or in parallel). Keyhides aren't any good at keeping moisture out (keys don't need to stay dry), so it would be better to use them to just hold numbers or partial coordinates for the final rather than try to keep a log dry. If they're the sliding-cover ones, you could just write the numbers/coordinates on the bottom of the inside of the keyhide in whiteout or a light-coloured paint pen so there's no problem if the inside gets wet.

+1

We never seem to have much luck using, or when finding hideakeys. Usually a wad of wet carp inside.

- I'd double-up (and maybe save a heck of a lotta maintenance) and place labelmaker or similar for coordinates w/ lock #s and use a paint stick for the same #s on the bottom inside.

Edited by cerberus1
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I was faced with this at one time. I ended up with a series of 3 traditionals that led to a bonus mystery. They are far apart so I went this route. I wanted them as standalone cache so anyone could get them and only those going after the mystery had to do them all. If they were close then a multi would've been my choice.

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Between a mystery and a multi, that would be published as a mystery by my reviewer. Generally each stage must lead one to subsequent stages. Providing waypoints to each container with a piece of the combination to the final would be considered a 'field puzzle'.

 

I do like think it's wiser to go with three traditionals and a mystery. It makes maintenance issues easier to deal with.

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Personally, I'd just place it as a multi. Going with three trads and a mystery just takes up space. With all due respect, does the world REALLY need another three micros? If you post it as one multi, it doesn't make four footprints on the map, and allows for other cachers to get their stuff out there as well.

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Personally, I'd just place it as a multi. Going with three trads and a mystery just takes up space. With all due respect, does the world REALLY need another three micros? If you post it as one multi, it doesn't make four footprints on the map, and allows for other cachers to get their stuff out there as well.

 

Not if the OP puts anything at the individual waypoints. Saturation rules still prevent one from placing a cache within 528 feet of any cache or physical stage of a multi or mystery, even if it's just a tag with a number.

Edited by J Grouchy
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Always tragic to see a potentially awesome multi-cache fall victim to the smiley mentality.

 

Not so much "smiley mentality" as risk/reward ratio. Go for five traditionals, if one has a problem the reward of four successes overrides the risk of putting in effort of five caches. Even if all five caches are a bust, at least one gets to potentially experience five interesting locations.

 

Go for one five-stage multi, the risk of one stage being missing or faulty means potentially little to no reward...maybe getting hung up at the very beginning and not being able to experience the other four locations.

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Always tragic to see a potentially awesome multi-cache fall victim to the smiley mentality.

 

Not so much "smiley mentality" as risk/reward ratio. Go for five traditionals, if one has a problem the reward of four successes overrides the risk of putting in effort of five caches. Even if all five caches are a bust, at least one gets to potentially experience five interesting locations.

 

Go for one five-stage multi, the risk of one stage being missing or faulty means potentially little to no reward...maybe getting hung up at the very beginning and not being able to experience the other four locations.

 

i.e. not enough smileys

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My idea had nothing to do with people getting smileys and everything to do with distance. 10 miles if done in the order stated. Too far apart to justify a multi. I wanted people to expierience them as individual caches instead of skipping a long multi and missing out on all of them.

 

I'd do this one in partucular as a multi if they are going to be about 528 feet apart.

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Always tragic to see a potentially awesome multi-cache fall victim to the smiley mentality.

 

Not so much "smiley mentality" as risk/reward ratio. Go for five traditionals, if one has a problem the reward of four successes overrides the risk of putting in effort of five caches. Even if all five caches are a bust, at least one gets to potentially experience five interesting locations.

 

 

Yeah! That's exactly why I wanted to make each one able to stand on its own- they are all going to be worthwhile caches, thanks for pointing out the risk/reward factor, and for your previous comment about making it 3 trads and a mystery, that's what I suspected it would be.

 

And who doesn't love a smiley? Smileys are rad and if someone puts in the effort to find a cache then, gosh darnit, they should get a smiley. And if you hate micros, you get a baller ammo can at the end for putting up with them! Everyone's happy!

 

Anyways, I'm gonna think about this really hard and make sure I do the best job in in the true spirit of the game- getting outside and having fun and finding interesting things and places. I have a sweet vintage ammo can that I can't wait to place, it's my dad's from when we used to live in Canada and he's got some chronic health problems and can't really move around very well. He likes hearing my stories about caching and I wanted to make a really special cache with it so that I can tell him how people enjoyed finding it, he'll really get a kick out of it.

 

I'll post the cache on this thread when it gets published so y'all can check it out. Thanks to those of you that left positive, constructive feedback (like the paint pens, what a great idea!) I think I got it from here :)

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My idea had nothing to do with people getting smileys and everything to do with distance. 10 miles if done in the order stated. Too far apart to justify a multi. I wanted people to expierience them as individual caches instead of skipping a long multi and missing out on all of them.

 

I'd do this one in partucular as a multi if they are going to be about 528 feet apart.

 

A ten mile multi would be an awesome, memorable cache.

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My idea had nothing to do with people getting smileys and everything to do with distance. 10 miles if done in the order stated. Too far apart to justify a multi. I wanted people to expierience them as individual caches instead of skipping a long multi and missing out on all of them.

 

I'd do this one in partucular as a multi if they are going to be about 528 feet apart.

 

A ten mile multi would be an awesome, memorable cache.

 

For the few that have done it it's an awesome memorable series. Seriously I went back and forth on this and thought a series would work better. Based on 3 movies with final mystery the item featured in all 3 movies. Everything pointed to making it a series over a multi especially the distance and theme.

 

Bad thing that happened was during my time away from caching someone took the coordinates from one. Probably would've had more finds on the final.

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Always tragic to see a potentially awesome multi-cache fall victim to the smiley mentality.

 

Not so much "smiley mentality" as risk/reward ratio. Go for five traditionals, if one has a problem the reward of four successes overrides the risk of putting in effort of five caches. Even if all five caches are a bust, at least one gets to potentially experience five interesting locations.

 

Go for one five-stage multi, the risk of one stage being missing or faulty means potentially little to no reward...maybe getting hung up at the very beginning and not being able to experience the other four locations.

 

i.e. not enough smileys

 

i.e. narcissa doesn't get the point. "reward" is not meant to indicate a +1...and you ought to know that from my post.

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My idea had nothing to do with people getting smileys and everything to do with distance. 10 miles if done in the order stated. Too far apart to justify a multi. I wanted people to expierience them as individual caches instead of skipping a long multi and missing out on all of them.

 

I'd do this one in partucular as a multi if they are going to be about 528 feet apart.

 

A ten mile multi would be an awesome, memorable cache.

 

A ten mile trip does not in and of itself make it "awesome". Probably memorable, but not necessarily in a good way.

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