Chocobo Raising: Going for Speed

[Kohan]

Hello, folks. I've been using the handy ol' search feature on BG, and have read a few threads related to Chocobo raising. One of the most useful (in relation to my own case) is this one:

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showt...t=chocobo+vomp

Within it, one of my main questions was answered, and I now know that Gallop and Canter are only useful for Chocobo Racing. When it comes to running around regularly, I don't need them. Good thing, because my bird doesn't have any levels in Discernment, but I'm thinking about changing that.

However, I still have a few questions which the various guides on the internet haven't been able to answer for me. Though I've seen some people say it's better to raise Discernment first if you want your chicken to learn any abilities, I followed the advice of those who said that isn't true, that it's better to raise the stats most important to you first. So, my Chocobo's info is as follows:

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4...oco01smnq3.jpg

It's day 22, also.

I raised affection to maximum before it hatched and have only been feeding him Vomp Carrots. It's never been sick or otherwise uncooperative, which is a first for me (and makes me fear a whirlwind of status effects later on in its life).

He's currently on a plan of carrying packages for four days, resting once, and repeating that indefinitely. I am sure this is going to cause affection issues later, so I'm going to try gathering some Chocolixirs to spend crazy amounts of time with him to remedy that (when it happens). I'm thinking I should eliminate the rest days, though, as they're only really useful if he's injured, aren't they?

His parents were both high STR and END birds, colored, who had Gallop and Canter, but he did not learn either ability from them (as the shot shows). I'm not going to retire him and start raising another right now, as I wanted a bird for just riding around anyway, and I'm glad he'll be black.

Now, if I do decide to teach him Gallop (I already know the required story), should I change his plan right now to something that raises Discernment and begin feeding him Zegham Carrots? Has anyone done something similar and do you have advice on it?

I was thinking of just raising him straight to adulthood without bothering to try teaching him Gallop or Canter, and not worrying about Chocobo Races, but I've never done them before and would like to try sometime. I also don't have any Chocobucks and have heard they're really useful.

Also, does using Chocobucks to raise a state not degrade any other stats (e.g., if I used Chocobucks to raise DIS, would STR and END be unaffected)? Should I take this path instead if I want to raise Discernment, or would it take too long to accumulate enough Chocobucks to do so, rendering it unfeasible? I've read the BG Wiki's info on bucks and noticed it takes 560 of them to raise an attribute one level.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide. I think I have some other questions I forgot, I'll ask them later if I remember.

[Clave]

As Frenzy tends to say, it's usually best to do Carry Packages until STR and END are capped, then Dig for Treasure to raise discernment up to average to learn Gallop and Canter. Don't bother with making your chocobo rest, it really doesn't do anything. You'd probably want to do vomp x2 azouph x1 at this point(in that order) to keep affection up at max while looking for stories through walks. Can do vomp x 3 if you just spam watch it.

Chocobuck stat raising doesn't lower any stats unless your chocobo is capped in stats. And no I wouldn't use chocobucks on discernment. Again, just do the above plan and you'd get it to average before day 64 usually, which is all you need for Gallop and Canter. Strength is your most important stat and should stay first class. The other 3 you can balance as you will. I'd put some into receptivity(chocobuck training only) if you plan to do chocobo races.

[Kohan]

As Frenzy tends to say, it's usually best to do Carry Packages until STR and END are capped, then Dig for Treasure to raise discernment up to average to learn Gallop and Canter. Don't bother with making your chocobo rest, it really doesn't do anything. You'd probably want to do vomp x2 azouph x1 at this point(in that order) to keep affection up at max while looking for stories through walks. Can do vomp x 3 if you just spam watch it.

Okay, thank you. I believe that's what I'll keep doing then. As you can see, his happiness is still very high; I will keep feeding him x3 Vomp Carrots unless this starts to change, in which case I'll do the Vomp and Azouph combination. (I already have some Azouph just in case this happens.)

What do you think about always only giving him Vomp Carrots and just using a Chocolixir to spam the affection-raising watch command? Does that sound like a waste of a Chocolixir?

Chocobuck stat raising doesn't lower any stats unless your chocobo is capped in stats.

So in this case, using Chocobucks to raise a stat can lower a capped stat, or it never does so at all?

And no I wouldn't use chocobucks on discernment. Again, just do the above plan and you'd get it to average before day 64 usually, which is all you need for Gallop and Canter. Strength is your most important stat and should stay first class. The other 3 you can balance as you will. I'd put some into receptivity(chocobuck training only) if you plan to do chocobo races.

Okay, that sounds good. Do you have a recommended level for Receptivity? I think maybe I'll spend some on Endurance (if I ultimately have the freedom to do so) just to make up for what raising Discernment will do to that stat.

Also, when I have enough Chocobucks to raise a stat, how many times can I do this daily? I imagine it's limited, else people would spam the Free Races (since you can apparently do as many of them as you want) and cap out their birds instantly.

Thanks for the help.

[Auspice]

I ended up getting boned on the choco I was raising when I made the thread you linked in OP because I didn't raise discernment until the last minute and I never got it to learn Canter. I spent an assload of chocobucks raising stats and now it's useless. :/

[Clave]

Chocolixirs work so go ahead if you're able to but they're usually low in supply even if you got the gil for em(and it's expensive over time so most people wouldn't even consider it). Of course, you could always buy chocolixirs for 40(I think?) chocobucks if you had enough etc.

Chocobuck Raising: Meaning, they do not lower stats unless your chocobo already has the 640-ish max points it can have in all stats. You have a certain amount of points you can use on a chocobo until its stats just will not go up anymore. If you try to raise a stat with chocobucks when your chocobo is already capped, it will lower other stats to allow for it. Think of it like the crafting system. You only have 40 points after 60 to put into a craft, and leveling say, clothcraft to 61 when your leathercraft is already 100 will make your leathercraft delevel to 99.

The stats depend on your liking really. Most, like myself, like to believe a balanced chocobo is best for races. 8/5/5/5, 8/7/4/4, 8/8/4/3, whatever you want to do. Mine is currently 8/6/4/4 and capped due to uneven points.

There is no limit on the amount of times you can use chocobucks to train your bird in any manner(other than the stuff I mentioned above). It's not as easy as it sounds, though. Most people get 30-40 chocobucks an hour spamming free races, and it takes 560 to go up one level. Be prepared to spend weeks racing.

[Kohan]

Chocolixirs work so go ahead if you're able to but they're usually low in supply even if you got the gil for em(and it's expensive over time so most people wouldn't even consider it). Of course, you could always buy chocolixirs for 40(I think?) chocobucks if you had enough etc.

Yeah, I'm starting to think about that latter option. I'll wait until I get into racing to seriously consider that, especially considering what you said afterward.

Chocobuck Raising: Meaning, they do not lower stats unless your chocobo already has the 640-ish max points it can have in all stats. You have a certain amount of points you can use on a chocobo until its stats just will not go up anymore. If you try to raise a stat with chocobucks when your chocobo is already capped, it will lower other stats to allow for it. Think of it like the crafting system.

This I understand, and it's helpful.

The stats depend on your liking really. Most, like myself, like to believe a balanced chocobo is best for races. 8/5/5/5, 8/7/4/4, 8/8/4/3, whatever you want to do. Mine is currently 8/6/4/4 and capped due to uneven points.

I'll probably go for something akin to yours, with high STR and END and mediocre DIS and REC. Racing is something I'm looking forward to doing as an aside, so that should be best.

There is no limit on the amount of times you can use chocobucks to train your bird in any manner(other than the stuff I mentioned above). It's not as easy as it sounds, though. Most people get 30-40 chocobucks an hour spamming free races, and it takes 560 to go up one level. Be prepared to spend weeks racing.

That I can do. Thanks again for all the help.