extrasuperfantastic

Sup.

It seems no one understands the real methodology behind solving the water plant puzzle.
Most known attempts and methods consist of either randomly clicking everything until you get it, or going through every combination of wheel / lever positions.
There's nothing really wrong with those methods except for the fact that it doesn't always work for everyone.

The water plant puzzle was one of the last few puzzles I've attempted before quitting Neopets some years back.
I couldn't solve it using any of the known methods at the time; those methods being random trial and error and going through all the possible combinations.
I've gone through every possible combination of wheel & lever positions at least twice to no avail. So I just stopped.

I've had a theory that going through every single combination didn't work for some people because the wheels & levers move the water from specific points and that you needed the water to be in specific areas for the puzzle to be solved.
Depending on where the water was and which combinations you've already gone through, It is possible that you won't be able to move the water where it needed to go because the combination to move that water there had already been used.
Even if you tried all the combinations again to get to that point, the water might not be where it was before and the whole puzzle changes.

Well years have passed and I'm back into Neopets again (for now) and I'm looking for a Round 2 with the Water Plant Puzzle.
This time I'm taking a more methodological approach to solving this thing once and for all.
I'll be documenting my findings in this thread in hopes that it will help others that have gotten stumped by this puzzle.

First of all, let's establish the obvious and known information:
-There are 8 'Pipes' and 4 'Basins' separated in 3 rooms
-They are separated into 3 rooms purely to make keeping track of things (and therefore, the puzzle) harder
-You can think of everything as being in one large room instead of 3 small ones
-There are 4 'Wheels' and 4 'Levers' also separated in the 3 rooms
-Each Wheel / Lever have 2 states
-It doesn't really matter what those 2 states are, but for the sake of keeping things simple, they will refer to [ On / Off ]
            Wheel On:  (+)     The wheel is 'On' when it is aligned vertically
            Wheel Off:  (x)     The wheel is 'Off' when it is tilted at an angle
            Lever On:    h       The lever is 'On' when it is flipped upwards
            Lever Off:    µ       The lever is 'Off' when it is flipped downwards
-There are always 3 instances of water in the plant
-They are either flowing through and pipe or in a basin
 
With that established, I can move onto my methodology.
At the very start of the puzzle, I switched all triggers (wheels and levers) into the off position.
After everything is set to 'Off', I then recorded the location of all instances of water. With that I had my starting point.
What happens after that is that I turn a trigger 'On', see if any of the water moved, then I turn that trigger back to 'Off' regardless of whether anything happened or not.
If any of the water has been moved, I record the following information into my notes:
           Which trigger (wheel or lever) did I switch on?
           From where did the water move?
           Where did the water move to?
           In the end I end up with something like this:
           R2.W1: R3.P3 > R3.B1         (Room 2, Wheel 1: The water moved from Room 3, Pipe 3  to  Room 3, Basin 1)
           (I count the Rooms, Pipes, and Basins from left to right, and top to bottom, but that's not important)
If nothing happened anywhere, I turn the same trigger back into the 'Off' position and move onto the next one.
I repeat this until I end up with a pretty good list of what moves the water from where to where.
At that point I can control where the water goes by referring to my notes.
It was a matter of figuring where the water needed to be, not how to get it there.

Time for some of my Observations:
In general, the Wheels move water from specific pipes to either other pipes or to a basin.
In general, the Levers move water from specific basins to either other basins or to a pipe.
I've had one case where a Lever can move water from 2 different sources to a single location:
           R3.L1: R3.B1 > R2.P2         (Room 3, Lever 1: The water moved from Room 3, Basin 1  to  Room 2, Pipe 2)
     and R3.L1: R1.P1 > R2.P2         (Room 3, Lever 1: The water moved from Room 1, Pipe 1  to  Room 2, Pipe 2)
           This could mean that I ____ed up recording the notes somewhere or that it is possible for a single trigger to move water to / from 2 different sources.
           It makes sense since there are a total of 8 triggers, but 12 locations for the water to go to.
           They would overlap some of the triggers otherwise 4 of the locations would never contain water otherwise (I'll have to think about that).
If you try to move water to a pipe of basin that already contains water, nothing will happen.
Sometimes flipping one trigger 'On' would flip another trigger 'On' somewhere else (I'm not sure if this is just me forgetting to flip the trigger back into 'Off', so be skeptical)
The basins seem to be the destination point of the water as they draw a lot of attention and there is enough for a few simple combinations leaving 1 single basin empty
The answer being a combination of water in different pipes seems to be overkill and completely false.
I've never been able to move water to certain pipes despite having water in nearly every single source point and trying nearly every single trigger.
So the chances that the answer involves filling certain basins and that some pipes just aren't used seems pretty likely

In the end I shuffled the water around until all but 1 basin was filled. If it didn't solve, I shuffled it around until another basin was left unfilled.
The puzzle solved for me when I filled all basins except for the basin in room 3.

Of course everything above could all be randomized for each account, so some things may be completely wrong.

In conclusion:
The Water Plant Puzzle is deliberate. There is definitely a method to the madness.
While you can absolutely solve it through randomness or lucky trial and error, there is a very 'real' method of solving the puzzle somewhere.
 
I'll post an update if I find anything new information or get something more concrete. (If I feel like it)
Maybe I'll try solving it again on someone else's account and see how much of the information actually matches up (if I feel like doing that)
Feel free to use this information as you please and add anything to it if you want to.
 

TNT just announced a new Desert Food today ... tabouleaf !
 

 
Taboule is considered a native food of my home country , Lebanon .. it's a salad made with tomatoes, finely chopped parsley , bulgur and onions, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. It's usually garnished with huge lettuce leaves than can be used in scooping up and eating the Tabouleh .. some people add pomegranate seeds as well.
 
While the Lost Desert is supposed to represent Egypt in real life .. Tabouleh is not an Egyptian food .. and Lebanon , while a Levantine country .. has no desert at all ... just mountains and beaches ... so maybe they should've made it an Altadorian (i.e Greek) food like they did with the hummus (also native to Lebanon) ... but it's ok .. it's still cool :D
 

I love coloring! It's so relaxing. I like to use watercolor pencils and a water brush instead of crayons. I usually look for mandalas on Google Image Search, but I've been contemplating buying this coloring book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486491269/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1AUJW8T0ELBM9&coliid=ISAY7LEF25TGE I've also seen tons of good coloring pages on Pinterest.
 
Also, when I use watercolor pencils, I use these brushes: http://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Aquash-Water-Assorted-FRHBFMBP3/dp/B00AX31TZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430780580&sr=8-1&keywords=water+brush It's easier to control how much water you use than it is with a regular paintbrush, so you don't have to worry so much about soaking or warping the paper.
 
Aww man, is it Papa Murphy's? I lived in Utah as a kid and have happy memories of that place. Like how they used to hand out little tubs of cookie dough at Halloween... :laughingsmiley:

I love coloring! It's so relaxing. I like to use watercolor pencils and a water brush instead of crayons. I usually look for mandalas on Google Image Search, but I've been contemplating buying this coloring book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486491269/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1AUJW8T0ELBM9&coliid=ISAY7LEF25TGE I've also seen tons of good coloring pages on Pinterest.
 
Also, when I use watercolor pencils, I use these brushes: http://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Aquash-Water-Assorted-FRHBFMBP3/dp/B00AX31TZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430780580&sr=8-1&keywords=water+brush It's easier to control how much water you use than it is with a regular paintbrush, so you don't have to worry so much about soaking or warping the paper.
 
Aww man, is it Papa Murphy's? I lived in Utah as a kid and have happy memories of that place. Like how they used to hand out little tubs of cookie dough at Halloween... :laughingsmiley:

This evening I posted on the avatar Neoboard that I was looking to borrow Zafara Double Agent Plushie and was willing to pay full collateral. A user I had never spoke to just GAVE it to me. Sent it to me via an event with no collateral or talk of collateral. Obviously I did what I needed for the avatar and sent it back. I was surprised by her kindness and trust.
 

I have an Orange Grundo UFA! You can get the Grundo - Forever Orange avvie from her. :)

I just got it! Bought some new cheese items (Soft White Cheese and Quadruple Fudge Cheese), shuffled around the order, and refreshed a couple times. Thanks guys. :)

On TDN Trading Post Reselling guide it recommends using an inexpensive junk item, like a Palm Fan, instead of a trash item, like a Pile of Dung.


This got me thinking on game etiquette despite my limited social interaction in-game. I do not belong to a guild, use the Trading Post or the Neopets Forums often. The majority of my interactions with other players takes part on this forum where I mostly lurk.
 
Like I mentioned before I do not have cause to use the Trading Post often but today I received a prize from one of the wheels that exceeded the 100k shop limit. I put it on the Trading Post for a pure NP price, 5k less than the lowest competitor, and was surprised when I received an offer within a few hours of the pure NP price plus two red codestones. Depending on that players finances those red codestones could have meant nothing to them, but still, they mean quite a bit to my humble bank account and easily surpass the 5k difference. In addition to helping them win the bid it was also a really nice gesture and put a smile on my face.
 
Now I think that it would be spammy to send a thank you message to people who spend over 1,000 NP in your shop and show up in your Sales History, but what about a large Trading Post sale? I was on my phone when I accepted the offer and I can't figure out how to pull up my event messages (lol, noob), so I am actually just asking for the future. Have you ever sent a thank you for a similar situation or would you be annoyed by a message from a stranger like that?
 
Is there any other Neopet etiquette you can think of aside from simple forum etiquette that might be beneficial to someone like me? I'm probably looking way too much into this but I play a lot of Xbox LIVE and MOBA PC games with very rude players. This is the only game I play with non-toxic players and I want to adjust accordingly. =]
 
Thanks!

Are the things that your pet says (in the sidebar) completely random? I always assumed they were, but lately they've been more and more pertinent. Shortly after I finished customizing my Grundo, he said "how can I show my face in the battledome like this?".
 

 
He may have a point (yes, that's a male ;) ), but I thought it was funny!
 
ETA: He is also my only battle pet. It always makes me smile seeing him go into battle like that, especially after he wins against an especially tough looking opponent. :)

Congrats! That's lucky. :) Since Cybunnies are limited edition and pretty popular, I wouldn't count on finding one in the pound. I don't think I've ever seen one there. Cybunny Carnival is coming up relatively soon (April 27), so if you're willing to wait you could create one on that day. Or you could use an MP like Oravay suggested, if you're willing to spend 250k on a Green Cybunny Morphing Potion.

Oh my gosh! I tried just to see, and it worked!
 
Now to try out the other freebie weapons that I've won! :D
 
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Good idea using MyFitnessPal - apps can be really helpful with weight loss and health management. If you happen to love MyFitnessPal, that's great and you should keep using it. But I recently found an app called TwoGrand that I LOVE and would suggest as an alternative! You log your food by taking pictures of it instead of spending forever inputting calories. It's got a really awesome, supportive community. I highly recommend it. :)
 
Also, I'm actually close to your current weight and have set similar weight loss goals. We could be buddies and motivate each other... :p :D