Rogue Trader Minigame

This minigame has been rated as Low Risk. See the minigames page for a definition of high and low risk.

 

Intro

To start this minigame, members should speak to Ali Morrisane in Al Kharid. He is located north of all the tents, east of the Gem trader and Gnome glider. He explains that he would like to expand his business, and outlines several possible plans. He asks you to speak to:

• Aubury (Varrock magic shop) on his behalf about a rune selling franchise.
• The blackjack seller in Pollnivneach.
• The clothesmaker in Sophanem.

Certain quests are required for each and these will be explained below. Your reward (in addition to accessing the new stores) is that he grants you a discount on magic carpet rides - they will only cost you 100 gp from now on instead of the usual 200gp.

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Items

Parts of this minigame will require either 3 dyes (any colour) or 3 animal pelts (such as untanned cow hides, grey wolf fur, brown bear fur, or sheep wool; possibly snakeskin and dragonhide as well). You will also need around 1,000 gp for supplies, rides, bribes, etc. A Varrock teleport and Al Kharid teleport (glory amulet or duelling ring) are also helpful.

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Rune store

Teleport or walk up to Varrock and go see Aubury. His magic shop is south of Varrock's east bank, as you will recall from the Rune Mysteries Quest (if you haven't done that quest, you can't play the minigame). Pitch Ali's proposal to him and get him to agree. If you don't have any dyes on hand and don't have any onions, you might visit the area just south of Varrock's walls and harvest some Redberries (get 9). Once you've persuaded Aubury, teleport back to Al Kharid.

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Sudoku

This section is optional - you only have to do this if you wish to unlock the rune store for future purchases. So if you don't like puzzles and don't need runes, just skip it. If you plan to buy a few elemental runes bring around 2,000gp, or if you plan on buying a lot of the higher type runes bring 16,000 - 60,000gp with you before starting the puzzles. You can also just do the puzzles to unlock the stores without buying any runes at all - it's your choice.

Return to Ali Morrisane and (if desired) ask him about buying some runes. He finally admits that the locks on the crates are so complex he can't figure out how to open them. You can choose to open a small casket (easy, offers elemental runes only) or a large casket (harder, offers all non-elemental runes, from blood to soul).

Small caskets can be opened by forcing, picklocking, or examining the lock (mini-puzzle). (These puzzles are Sudoku, a game popularised in Japan that uses numbers in rows and columns, requiring them to be unique. There are solvers for these on the internet if you get desperate; just do a search. Jagex has "runified" this game by using runes instead of numbers, which actually makes it easier.) It is simply a four-by-four grid, with some runes already placed in it. The object is to place the missing runes so that no rune is repeated in any row, column, or group of four boxes (coloured yellow or orange). Click on the desired rune, then click the box where you want it to be placed; if you misplace one, just replace it with the one you wanted. Below is an example of a puzzle and its' solution; the puzzles change every time. When you have completed the puzzle, click on "open casket" at the bottom to open the casket.

If you have correctly solved the puzzle, in your text window you will see "You hear the locking mechanism click open!" (If you don't get this message, then you have incorrectly placed some runes and need to look again.) You will then have the option of buying all of the runes at once (sight unseen) or just seeing the store (where you can buy 1, 5 or 10 at a time, as usual). These will be elemental runes only (and that is all that the store will offer you at this point). The good thing is that prices do not vary as you buy out the stock - they stay rock steady at the value you saw when you began (usually 3 or 4gp for elemental runes).

The larger puzzle is more complex. It is a nine by nine grid, and each small 3x3 group of nine squares (coloured yellow or orange) must also be unique. If you get a puzzle that's too hard, or if you have gotten muddled, you may wish to close that puzzle ("close window") and start fresh. Need more help? Click here for more sudoku tips and instructions further down in this guide. Below is an example of a puzzle. Again, when you have completed the puzzle, click on "open casket" at the left to open the casket.

If you have correctly solved the puzzle, in your text window you will see "You hear the locking mechanism click open!" (If you don't get this message, then you have incorrectly placed some runes and need to look again.) You will then have the option of buying all of the runes at once (sight unseen) or just seeing the store (where you can buy 1, 5 or 10 at a time, as usual). The net price for the runes will be anywhere from 16K to 60K; if you can afford that it beats clicking the store to get piles of them. These will be every type of non-elemental rune, from bloods to souls. Henceforth you can see the rune store whenever you like (you don't have to do puzzles any more if you don't like them) and can just buy runes. The store stock seems based on whatever runes puzzlers don't buy (they get dumped into stock), so this may fluctuate widely depending on who's playing.

The rune prices have fixed variations, but they stay steady from the time you open the store window until you close it - no rising prices for decreasing stock, yay!

Rune Store Prices
Rune	Regular Price (gp)	Puzzle-solving Discounted Price (gp)
Blood	500	420 - 440
Body	3	3
Chaos	112	94 - 99
Cosmic	62	55
Death	225	189 - 198
Law	300	252 - 264
Mind	3	3
Nature	225	189 - 198
Soul	375	315-330

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Blackjacks

You must have completed The Feud Quest to do this part of the minigame. Get your desert gear and a Shantay pass and your hides or dyes (or dye materials such as onions, redberries or woad leaves), and bring money for the carpet rides plus an extra 100 gp. Fly on a magic carpet down to Pollnivneach and go see the Blackjack seller. He is located south of the kebab seller and north of the camel seller (you can't see him if you haven't completed The Feud Quest - he simply doesn't appear for you). See our Getting Around guide for more info on Magic Carpets.

Talk to him about Ali's proposal, but you'll learn that he is a cautious fellow and doesn't like to make changes. You will have to convince him. The methods vary depending on the desired result.

• Option 1 - Attack (offensive) blackjacks
  If you want him to make attack blackjacks (they have a crush attack stat bonus in addition to their strength bonus), dare him to knock you on the head twice. If you manage to remain standing both times, he will then agree to make attack blackjacks. On the other hand, if he manages to lay you out on either attempt (as could happen), then you must try again. Protect from melee prayer may help.
• Option 2 - Defence blackjacks
  If you want him to make defence blackjacks (they have a crush defence stat bonus in addition to their strength bonus), say that you'll have to think of a cunning plan ... then automatically a nearby street urchin summons you. When you can talk to him, offer to pay him 100 gp to steal from the blackjack seller, who will then agree to make defence blackjacks.

When you get back to Ali Morrisane (don't go now if you're doing the whole thing), he will have blackjacks to sell (normal stock quantity is 25). If you decide you want him to sell the other type (defence vs attack), go back to the Blackjack seller in Pollnivneach and choose the other option, which will cause him to make different blackjacks for Ali to sell. Note that both of these blackjack types can be used for lure-and-knockout thieving as explained in our Thieving guide.

Attack blackjacks
Stat Effects
Item	Crush attack	Strength bonus
Oak blackjack(o)	+4	+4
Willow blackjack(o)	+8	+8
Maple blackjack(o)	+24	+20
Maple blackjack	0	+20
Willow blackjack	0	+8

Defence blackjacks
Stat Effects
Item	Crush defence	Strength
Oak blackjack(d)	+4	+4
Willow blackjack(d)	+8	+8
Maple blackjack(d)	+24	+20
Maple blackjack	0	+20
Willow blackjack	0	+8

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Clothes

You must have finished Icthlarin's Little Helper Quest to do this part of the minigame; it's the only way to get access to the city of Sophanem. At any rate, if you don't have dyes and you want them, you can take your dye materials to Ali the dyer located in the north-east corner of Pollnivneach. She charges more than Aggie in Draynor (25 coins each) but it's convenient for our purposes here. Another option is the Purple Dye spawn to the south of Ardougne. South of Pollnivneach is the magic carpet hub for Sophanem, so hop a ride.

Enter the city gate of Sophanem and go east and then south. The tailor Siamun is in the building with the spinning wheel, near the Linen worker. Talk to him about Ali's proposal. He will tell you that he needs dyes or pelts. He clearly specifies no certs (bank notes for items) are allowed! This is where another choice enters the picture.

• Option 1 - Desert wear
  If you want Ali to sell desert clothes (like the Rug merchants who run the magic carpets wear, including a red Fez with a tassel), give him three dyes (of any single colour - the colour doesn't affect the robe colours).
• Option 2 - Menaphite robes
  If you want Ali to sell the cool Egyptian-looking Menaphite apparel (red/gold and purple/gold sets), and three hides (or 3 fur, or 3 unspun sheep wool).

He eventually notices that you have the materials, and takes them. When you get back to Ali Morrisane (either two carpet rides or a quick Al Kharid ammy glory teleport), he will have clothes in stock to show you. Note that these clothes have no stat effects whatsoever. If you decide you want him to sell the other type (Menaphite vs desert), go back to Siamun in Sophanem and give him the other items, which will cause him to make different clothes for Ali to sell. (When wearing the Desert legs, remove your boots for the full effect. They also look excellent with flying gear such as a gnome scarf.)

Desert Robes

Menaphite robes

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More Sudoku Tips

This section has been added to help clarify the basic concepts of Sudoku - thanks to Smavey! Look at the below sudoku. Notice that the column on the left only has two empty spots? We can deduce that because there are no fire or earth runes in that column, that's what the two empty spots are. Now, in one of the rows, we can see an earth rune. Because of that, the top empty space on the left column can't be an earth rune, and is therefore a fire rune. The one left over has to be the earth rune!

In the below example, "cross hatching" is used to eliminate some possibilities. By extending lines from the two water runes, it can be seen that most of the boxes in the lower right 3x3 cannot hold a water rune (since that row and that column already have one), so it HAS to go into the red square!

The below more complicated example mixes the first two techniques together. Look at the squared off row. That row is missing a death rune, fire rune, and water rune. Now let's try to figure out where the death rune goes. Look at the surrounding death runes.

Looking at the below pic, start with the death rune in the second column, 6th row from the top. Now, only one death rune can be in that 3x3 square, therefore the empty square in the squared off row (3rd column) can't be a death rune!

Now look at the other highlighted death rune in the 6th column. There can't be another death rune in that column. Using this information, we can conclude that the only possible spot for a death rune to go in that row is the empty squared off square (4th row, 4th column)!

Once you have added some runes, more possibilities are eliminated. Look for the obvious stuff. When you are stuck, it is extremely important in medium difficulty puzzles to notice "either/or" squares. For example, if there are two spaces left in a 3x3 square, you can do an either/or for both of the squares. You know what the missing runes are. You can also look for double either/ors, which are handy to take note of because they can count as squares where other runes can not go.

In the above example, look at the bottom right 3x3 square. There are two empty squares in the 3x3 square, and therefore we can conclude that both of these squares contain either a chaos rune or a fire rune.

Now, because one of those two squares HAS to be a fire rune, we can conclude that no other fire runes can be in the bottom row. We do know, however, that there still needs to be a fire rune in the bottom left 3x3 square. Now, if we look, there is another fire rune in the 3rd column, therefore no other fire rune can be in that same 3rd column. Using this information (eliminating all other squares in lower left 3x3 grid), we can conclude that there is a fire rune in the red squared box!

A good website that has a useful Sudoku Solver is http://www.sudoko.org.uk. You'll have to substitute rune types for numbers, i.e., air runes are equal to 1, chaos runes are equal to 8, and so on.

An important final tip for sudoku is Never Guess! (Unless you're absolutely sure it's necessary!)

You've reached the end of the Rogue Trader minigame guide. Remember, you can play sudoku or change the blackjack or clothing stores as many times as you wish!

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Credits

Original Guide by: pokemama and Smavey

Special Thanks to: Mindesto, Morbidbliss, state owned, Shiva, sycopath989, and tomcat11224

Thanks to: Eeeeediot, Chaosbringer, Dterror, Jaffy1, Juhniz, Narn of Rock, Sorator, Speedyshel

Last Updated by: Howlin0001

Last Updated on: 25-Oct-2012