Chocobo Racing

[Not Kuno]

Anyone have a good Chocobo Racing guide? Something that accuratly states what each stat does and general overview of whats good and not? I have a general idea from searching the forums in the past but I dont know much other then it's an enfeeble-fest.

Basically this question comes down to a few parts:

What does each stat exactly do?

What types of stats/abilities are good for birds?

Does anyone actually like different weather + what items are actually useful (does anyone use hoods and that stuff?)? Same deal with saddles, wiki says they exist but dont see much info on them.

Why the crap do I always come out of the gate slow with Average disc?

Are Offical Races worth it? o.O

I tried looking at the other wiki (ung) but its just full of so much shit. Slightly-off topic I wanted to read about breeding colors and it talked about having your stats/it's love determine what color it becomes and I've never heard anything like that before. Since then I've disregarded the other wiki as full of it. Anyway my bird is 8/8/4/1 w/Gallop + Canter. Going for 8/8/4/2 with free races as it just hit day 64.

[Frenzy]

Str is for speed. Should be as high as possible.
End is for keeping that speed up during the whole race. Should be at mid-level or higher.
Dis is for properly following orders and reacting to the race accordingly. Should be mid-level or higher
Rec is defense against negative items, being slow at the start and getting stuck in the mud. Should be mid-level or higher.

Birds perform much better when their weather preference corresponds to the weather during the race.

Saddles do exactly what the description says, use accordingly (the Dis and Rec saddles are mispend when your bird doesn't have a veritable amount of Dis and Rec).
In my experience all PCs use Speed Apples, especially when the many NPC birds are on the track it can give you an edge.

Your Chocobo is not balanced enough and will not do very well in the Adventurer Races. You meant the Adventurer Races on the Circuit, didn't you? Otherwise, the Official Races have to be completed (aka getting the Gysahl Medaille) to gain access to the Adventurer Races.
Racing Chocobos should have two of the racing abilities, capped Str and somewhat balanced other stats (depending upon saddle and item choice). My current bird is SS/A/C/C (notation used by the racing betting board).


(Other-Wiki should be taken with a lot of salt where Chocobo Raising/Racing is concerned, many information is severly outdated outright guessing by one guy (despite more accurate info available at the time)).
Breeding colors: Best bet is breeding two Chocobos of the same color. Not 100%, but best bet. (High Rec in parents may be beneficial to the color and ability transfer. Won't put my hand in the fire for that.)

[Not Kuno]

So Substandard Recp isn't going to cut it? Boo. :/ And I meant my questions in responce to the "Offical Races" and the ones in the Circuit, I didn't know you had to clear all of it to enter.

[Frenzy]

You should be able to clear the Official Races with your stats, a little help from a Speed Apple and the jockey set to final spurt.
On the circuit you might struggle with the C4 races, I think, I did rather well with similar stats. But for the higher races (C3-C1) and against balanced Chocobos, you'd need a real lot of luck.

Clear the Official Races and then take a look how your are doing on the Circuit, the C4 races are rather cheap.

[Not Kuno]

Ok cool. I'm in the process of getting points to stat train Recp (since my guy is past day 64) and it'll probably be a while before I can get that + official races, but when I get that far I'll reply here eventually (maybe) and let you know how it works out.

[BRP]

Doesn't being fast make you the target of most items? I think that's why I keep on losing and whenever I'm betting the fastest guy always ranks low.

[Frenzy]

Doesn't being fast make you the target of most items? I think that's why I keep on losing and whenever I'm betting the fastest guy always ranks low.

There are different factors and the Chocobo in first place is not always the one to be hit by items.
My Chocobo has capped Str, but only End A and is set to Final Spurt. Normally a number of NPC Chocobos (usually those with Str and End at SS) will be in front of me for quite some time. Sometimes I'm hit, sometimes they are.
Saddle probably also plays a role.

There are different grades of being fast, the trick is to find ones personal settings so the Chocobo doesn't lead from the beginning (or can withstand items), but manages to come out ahead after everybody else has spent their ressources.

[Not Kuno]

Bump because I don't want to make a new thread.

You can raise stats with the choco training past day 64 right? Mine is still in the stables at like day 80 or something and after 5 or 6 Rec trainings it still hasnt gone higher then poor. I don't know what the deal is. :/

[mym]

Bump because I don't want to make a new thread.

You can raise stats with the choco training past day 64 right? Mine is still in the stables at like day 80 or something and after 5 or 6 Rec trainings it still hasnt gone higher then poor. I don't know what the deal is. :/

You can continue raising stats even after your chocobo has retired. While its still in the stables, you can use the 75 or 80 chocobuck upgrades, after it retires, you need to use the 100 chocobuck upgrades.

As to why you have used 5 or 6 upgrades and haven't seen an upgrade yet, it can take 6-8 upgrades before you go up a full level. This chart taken from the .jp wiki explains it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/cuziam/crash1.jpg


*edit* to your OP on is it worth it to race a chocobo.. it certainly can be :D

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/cuziam/gold.jpg

[Frenzy]

A little correction, only the 100 CB item plan is usable on a retired Chocbo, all others are for Chocobos currently being raised.

I wish there was something else to do with the trophies and the victory points. I don't need more then one of each trophy and have over 400 victory points.

[mym]

oh yeah, my mistake it even says so right there in that chart.

And yeah, new rewards would be nice, I have my Gold/Mythril/Bronze trophies in my moghouse, 550+ victory points, and my Triumphant Owner title... I was really hoping that they would open up travel between the cities via the chocobo circuit to the top racers, but alas

I have nothing to complain about though.. my chocobo has made me at least 3 million gil in the races.. back when I would wait around for C1 races I was pulling in 300-500k a week in prize money :D I don't bother these days anymore (I'm a campain addict now) so I just do C2 or C3 races to keep my points up.

[Frenzy]

When did you get the Triumphant Owner title?

I still run in C1s and do a some Campaign afterwards. The time between registration and the actual race (I like to watch) is used for Hot and Cold and caring for Chocobos. My racing chocobo does 36 CB per free race cycle, so it doesn't take that long to get any CB back I might need (currently have 1k, waiting on a Chocobo to pump him full once he's where I want him).

But I'd wish for an automation of the free races like the adventurer races. The cutscene was cute the first five times, after several hundreds it's just tedious - and in contrast to the ciruit races the outcome is always the same.

[mym]

When did you get the Triumphant Owner title?

I got that title from my 50th win

[Guppy]

As to why you have used 5 or 6 upgrades and haven't seen an upgrade yet, it can take 6-8 upgrades before you go up a full level. This chart taken from the .jp wiki explains it.

Necrobumping -- I'm trying to figure out what this chart exactly means. I had always assumed that the random intensive training ("crash" course?) raised stats the same degree as the targeted training (just without the ability to select which trait), mostly due to the tiny difference in chocobucks pricing (otherwise, why would anyone use Random raising just to shave 5 bucks off 80)?

Seeing as how the random training has a "+2" vs. the "+4 to +6" makes me wonder what this difference means. I was able to bring my chocobo up +4 total skill levels using targeted training (+3 DISC, +1 REC), so I'm leaning towards the value meaning the total skill level increase cap (and not that the targeted training is doing 2x - 3x increase of the random, per session). Is this a correct interpretation on my part?

Now, if this is true, then I take it that each training has it's own separate Maximum Increase cap -- so to get the maximum increase in ability, you would need to grind one training version until you get the limit message, then grind the next (with my previous racer, I had hit the limit message on targeted training, and stopped without doing randoms). I hadn't ever thought of the Retired Chocobo training as being a separate training type with its own cap, but now that I look at your auto-translated chart, it very well could be -- thus giving a total possible +8 to +10 skill levels from all the various types.

Another thing I haven't figured out is if there is a benefit to raising a chocobo from the 64 day to 129 day range (except for giving you time to do storytelling and grind chocobucks for training). Care plans don't seem to have any effect on the chocobo during this period, and I'm not sure if food does or not. I think Kamp Kweh still occasionally gave upgrade messages, so that could be a small boost. Aside from that, I'm wondering though... if a person had a ton of chocotokens saved up, if they could simply spam crash courses and retire their chocobo on day 64 with maxed-out Random and Targeted training.

Anyway, as for my current racer, it's currently Female Red; 1st STR / 1st END / Poor DISC / Poor REC; Physical body-form with Gallop, around day 50-ish. Plan is to continue the package delivery care plan, as I believe there is some "headroom" after she turned 1st class around day 45. I don't know how many days are required to cap, but she recently just got a STR boost from Kamp Kweh, which suggests I haven't hit it yet. Originally, I was planning on messages till day 55, then alternating Message Delivery and Treasure Digging to raise DISC without dropping STR (for the few remaining days left). As an alternative, I could just stick with Package Delivery for the remaining time until Day 64 to ensure I'm as close to maximum as possible. Kamp Kweh any day I can find someone to go. Typical diet is 1 Vomp Carrot, 1 Sandorian Carrot, 1 Azouph Green. Celibacy Salad immediately for lovesickness.

In the meantime, I've stockpiled about a dozen Random Training chocotokens and close to 1k chocobucks (and am continuing to grind more for additional chocotokens -- the Targeted training ones, since I suspect 12-18 tokens could max Random Training cap?). After Day 64, she goes on Basic Care, and I will start using Intensive Training until Discernment is sufficiently high to learn Canter, then raise Receptivity. I'm not sure if there is a maximum to the number of crash-courses I can do at once -- if there is a penalty or possibility of injury for spamming multiples trainings in a day.

[Gergall]

On receptivity:

I have a bird with max Receptivity and decent str. It's nothing special but it wins any free race that doesn't have one of the three "superchoco" npcs in it, and it wins without needing an item.

This bird was often the target of negative items but even after dozens of races it resisted all negative items every single time.

So what I'm getting at is that Receptivity does work but it seems you need a lot of it to get the effect.

[Custom M]

Since an "Owner" title would be immediately overwritten by the "Crystal Stakes Cupholder" title if you win a C1 race, which bard would change the title back?

Also... and I know I made a whole damn thread about this and no one replied, but let's try again: Any idea what happens when you hit the hard cap on your chocobo?

Edit: Oh wow, the aforementioned wiki explains all.

[Frenzy]

I don't think the owner title actually comes from racing. My mule got it during raising with no racing involved, my main didn't get it with lots of racing involved.

[Nekio]

I can't get a good translation of that wiki...

1. What is the maximum total level of stats you can achieve for a choco with tokens/training?
2. To follow up on Kuno's question, how often can tokens be used?