River Rat

[Display Name]

A few notes on River Rat.

 

1) Swimming is involved.  My impression was that the first badge you encounter upon entering the water is granted, but after that you have to stay in the water to pick up the other badges.  Exiting the water and reentering the water at the next badge won't work.

2) I used my Flight power to speed up my movement rate in the water.

3) The badges are uniquely numbered.  This makes it easier to keep track of which badges you have if you're careful.

4) it's best to get all 19 in a single sitting so that you don't lose track of which ones you have.

5) The badges located near a border will be harder to obtain because you have to hit it on the correct side of the border.  If you're all over it but not getting it, try crossing the border.

6) There is no notification for obtaining the badges.  There is a counter in your Exploration that increments when you obtain one, but the only notification you'll receive is when you finally get the River Rat badge.

[Chris943]

The way I got this badge was to have vidiot maps (forget spelling) and keeping my badge window open on this badge.  starting from nova and going left making sure to look at my badge counter to ensure I got the location.  and yes flying on the surface of the water.

[Ulysses Dare]

I find that usually the "badge" that doesn't tick for me is one of the ones on those water-level bridges that you can't actually swim under (on the zone between IC and Nuetropolis, if I recall correctly). Usually, like point 5 said, I have to switch zones to get it to count.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Ulysses Dare

[Brizzle]

Working on this today and for some bizarre reason, # 11 (the middle bridge) in Imperial City does not want to ding for my toon.  Any link to the actual /loc of these badges?

[Jactari]

It’s more areas than precise locations.
And there is no particular difficulty with the 11th marker. (As opposed to water-level bridges, in Neutropolis if I remember correctly.)

 

But, for having done this several times, I know that even if you’re meticulous, even if you have the badge gauge open to check upon it at all times, even like this you can miss something and be mistaken. (Because of the differences with the usual badges, because of the delay between hovering the active location and the gauge being updated, and other reasons…)

 

So I would say : swim a moment around the 11th point as indicated on the Vidiot maps, and if you’re still short, that’s another one that you missed, take a little tour and check them all again !

[Ukase]

Since it's on topic - figured no sense in making a new post. 

I logged in and saw someone in the help channel having difficulty. This badge is still annoying, but someone has done a lot of work to make it as easy as it can be. 

River rat locations are found here, using the /loc coordinates, with convenient "Copy" links already provided.

On the surface, this may seem too easy - and you'd be right. Some of the locations seem to be obtainable in neighboring zones. The link provided is quite good at laying out the best odds of getting this one with minimal fuss. 

The servers shut down on us this morning before I could finish helping this player, but maybe he/she visits the forums and can find this link. 

[AboveTheChemist]

I'll add that the markers on the respective vidiotmaps are not always the most accurate, and I plan to correct that in my next vidiotmap update. There was some discussion (mostly on Discord) a couple of months ago that prompted me to do a deep dive into the River Rat locations. You can read more about that here if you like. One big takeaway from that post is that the trigger volume for River Rat #6 on the Nova Praetoria map is set a little too high, and swimming to that marker will likely not be sufficient to get credit. You'll need to jump, fly, or otherwise elevate yourself a few feet off the water at that location in order to get the badge to trigger.