Advanced chocobo raising

[CDF]

I was reading up on Hot and Cold, and the required number of digs to get the chest after pinpointing its location is supposed to be 5 for the jungles and 7 for Altepa (barring jackpots and sharpness, whatever). I'd like some confirmation of this.

Also, I've read that having either of Burrow and Bore (digging-related abilities) is supposed to lower the required number of digs by 2 for jungle/desert, and having both abilities lowers the number by 4 for jungle/desert. So, having both Burrow and Bore means only 1 dig is required for the jungles and only 3 for Altepa. I'd also like to know if this holds.

[Not Kuno]

Is there any reason why my bird wont use an item in a race? I gave it an apple, I'm 100% sure I picked it (its also not in my inventory or an option to pick again), and in the race it wasnt used at all. Never seen anything like that happen before. Any ideas?

[urat]

Did you get hit by a whatchyamacallit? Um some biscuit I think, confuses the birds and wont let them use items.

[Guppy]

Did you get hit by a whatchyamacallit? Um some biscuit I think, confuses the birds and wont let them use items.

Spore Bomb, not a biscuit.

[Teorem]

I was reading up on Hot and Cold, and the required number of digs to get the chest after pinpointing its location is supposed to be 5 for the jungles and 7 for Altepa (barring jackpots and sharpness, whatever). I'd like some confirmation of this.

This is correct; it's seven in the deserts and five in the jungles. I have plenty of screenshots if you need more proof.

Altepa's rings may be larger than the Jungles', but it's a real bitch to try to hit the target area in the few number of digs you need. You know you're likely screwed if you haven't found it by the time you get the fatigue message (and it's borderline unfair to know that you're still possibly screwed even if you do find it before you get the message). For the possible returns, Altepa's not worth it, in my opinion.

Also, I've read that having either of Burrow and Bore (digging-related abilities) is supposed to lower the required number of digs by 2 for jungle/desert, and having both abilities lowers the number by 4 for jungle/desert. So, having both Burrow and Bore means only 1 dig is required for the jungles and only 3 for Altepa. I'd also like to know if this holds.

This isn't true, for Bore at least. The chocobo I use for Hot&Cold is Poor/Poor/First-Class/Outstanding, has Treasure Finder and Bore, and still takes five digs to pull up chests in Yhoator Jungle. It might be true for Burrow, but I don't have a chocobo with that ability to link to a whistle to try.

Also, in case it wasn't mentioned already in this thread or anywhere else, the "Endurance +1" effect of the White Racing Silks means an extra dig BEFORE you reach fatigue. For example, in Yhoator Jungle you'll normally get "Your chocobo seems a little fatigued" after the 9th dig without the White Racing Silks equipped. With the Silks equipped, you'll get the fatigue message after the 10th dig instead.

Thus, after you get the message, you should switch to the Black Racing Silks for the extra Jackpot chance because it'll always be five digs after that when the chocobo will refuse to dig anymore, regardless of what you're wearing, unless you actually hit the Jackpot.

Sharp-ness (ie., "Your chocobo seems especially sharp today!") does not decrease the number of digs needed to pull up a crate after you find its location. I have screenshots demonstrating this also. It does decrease the size of the rings, but there's no easy way to prove this without a series of screenshots (which I simply don't have and don't really care to make).

Energetic-ness (ie., "Your chocobo seems especially energetic today!") is basically "Endurance +2"; you get two more dig attempts before you get the fatigue message. You'll always get this message if you use a Tandjana Wildgrass more than 24 hours after your previous one.

[Amok]

Is there any reason why my bird wont use an item in a race? I gave it an apple, I'm 100% sure I picked it (its also not in my inventory or an option to pick again), and in the race it wasnt used at all. Never seen anything like that happen before. Any ideas?

There is chance you traded it but didn't equip it. Trading the item puts it in their safe.

[CDF]

NM

[CDF]

The chocobo I use for Hot&Cold is Poor/Poor/First-Class/Outstanding, has Treasure Finder and Bore, and still takes five digs to pull up chests in Yhoator Jungle. It might be true for Burrow, but I don't have a chocobo with that ability to link to a whistle to try.

I (mis?)read all the above from this Hot and Cold guide (JP), so maybe you or someone else can clarify what the table and comments mean.

Also, this Bore article (JP) states: また、宝探しにて発見から掘り出す までの回数が1回少なくなる。, which from Google translate I interpreted to mean, "Also, it lowers by one the number of digs needed to find the treasure" (after locating it), so both articles seem to contradict each other.

Yeah, Altepa seems like a bitch, so I was wondering if Burrow and/or Bore actually reduced the number of "found" digs so that you can actually get it within 10 total attempts (w/o jackpot) on a regular basis.

[Guppy]

Also, in case it wasn't mentioned already in this thread or anywhere else, the "Endurance +1" effect of the White Racing Silks means an extra dig BEFORE you reach fatigue. For example, in Yhoator Jungle you'll normally get "Your chocobo seems a little fatigued" after the 9th dig without the White Racing Silks equipped. With the Silks equipped, you'll get the fatigue message after the 10th dig instead.

Thus, after you get the message, you should switch to the Black Racing Silks for the extra Jackpot chance because it'll always be five digs after that when the chocobo will refuse to dig anymore, regardless of what you're wearing, unless you actually hit the Jackpot.

This is very interesting, thanks for the testing Teorem. However, I'm still not entirely sure if it works as described. The gear-swap assumes that the effect of the Black Racing Silks is active the moment you switch to it, rather than needing to be equipped at the time you summon your chocobo with the Tandjana Wildgrass.

[CDF]

I tried Valkurm just now, equipping white racing silks after using Tandjana wildgrass. Fatigue message after sixth attempt (the usual), max eleven digs (the usual), so the bonus was not applied after calling the chocobo.

Hasn't anyone checked to see if the effects of the digging-related silks (blue and sky blue) apply when they are equipped after calling the chocobo?

[Not Kuno]

Nobody used a spore biscuit.

There is chance you traded it but didn't equip it. Trading the item puts it in their safe.

I remember equiping it, and also it wasn't selectable for the next race afterwards. It just completely vanished.

[Waku]

I've had this happen as well. Traded apple, equipped apple, chocobo didn't use apple during race. It's only happened like twice, so it's probably some sort of low random chance.

[Seyrr]

I was reading up on Hot and Cold, and the required number of digs to get the chest after pinpointing its location is supposed to be 5 for the jungles and 7 for Altepa (barring jackpots and sharpness, whatever). I'd like some confirmation of this.

Also, I've read that having either of Burrow and Bore (digging-related abilities) is supposed to lower the required number of digs by 2 for jungle/desert, and having both abilities lowers the number by 4 for jungle/desert. So, having both Burrow and Bore means only 1 dig is required for the jungles and only 3 for Altepa. I'd also like to know if this holds.

I can confirm for the jungles that it normally takes five digs, and a bird with both Burrow and Bore pulls up the chest in one dig.

[Teorem]

I (mis?)read all the above from this Hot and Cold guide (JP), so maybe you or someone else can clarify what the table and comments mean.

That's certainly what the table claims. Looking at the line for "jungle" it says:

Fatigue - 9
Failure - 14
Number of digs to discover treasure - 5
Dig abilities possessed (1) - 3
Dig abilities possessed (2) - 1

Here's my results from last night, put in spoiler tags due to size:

Spoiler: show

http://starflare.usc.edu/ffxi/linked...8_chocobo1.jpghttp://starflare.usc.edu/ffxi/linked...8_chocobo2.jpg

I always call with the White Racing Silks on, and you can see the effects of Treasure Finder (the presence of "Kweh!?" messages) and that the number of attempts to dig up the chest is unchanged.

I guess it's possible if Treasure Finder precludes the effect of Bore to reduce the number of digs. If Burrow alone is seen to demonstrate a reduced number of needed digs, has anyone noticed a difference for a chocobo with both Treasure Finder and Burrow? I'm sure I can find someone who has a chocobo with just Bore to see what their dig numbers are.

If Burrow and Bore in tandem reduce the number of needed digs to one...I'm not sure if I'd get a chocobo with both, myself. I've failed plenty of chest attempts after finding the right location, but that extra "Kweh!?" ring from Treasure Finder is usually pretty helpful... I have a lot of experience and a pretty good success rate in Yhoator though, so maybe it wouldn't be as missed as much as I imagine it would be.

This is very interesting, thanks for the testing Teorem. However, I'm still not entirely sure if it works as described. The gear-swap assumes that the effect of the Black Racing Silks is active the moment you switch to it, rather than needing to be equipped at the time you summon your chocobo with the Tandjana Wildgrass.

It would be a shame if the enhanced Jackpot didn't have an effect getting swapped after already riding a chocobo, but it still looks pretty cool.

I'm going to do a round of digging tonight, so I can find out about swapping on the Sky Blue and Blue Racing Silks later.

[tsaroth816]

Sharp-ness (ie., "Your chocobo seems especially sharp today!") does not decrease the number of digs needed to pull up a crate after you find its location. I have screenshots demonstrating this also. It does decrease the size of the rings, but there's no easy way to prove this without a series of screenshots (which I simply don't have and don't really care to make).

I pretty much agree with the rest of you post. But "Sharpness" I know for a fact "gives" you Treasure Finder ability for a Chocobo w/o that ability normally (the Kweh?! ring). I'm not sure if it helps a chocobo with TF ability already...this is hard to test. Like it would be hard to test Black silks jackpot *after* you already used White for END+1, which personally I think it won't work. Also, you get "Sharpness" if you dig up 2 (or 3) chests in a row w/o failure.

[Avé]

Has anyone else had an issue with the chocobo raising cutscene lately? It's worked fine for the past week since my chick hatched, but for the past two days I've been able to view the "Take a short walk" cutscene in San d'Oria. The screen turns black and I'm forced to restart FFXI every time. I've tried taking a short walk with and without windower, but I'm still having the problem. Any suggestions as to what I could do?

I could try installing FFXI on another computer. Do I need to have Aht Urghan installed to be able to get the Chocobo cutscene?

[Myriads]

I have both Burrow and Bore on my bird, and play H&C in the desert all the time. It takes me 3 digs to pull up a chest (the first hit +2 more).

How the heck do you folks get anything with having to use 7 digs to get the chest.... I'm boggled.

[Electro]

Same thing here, just got S blue silks this morning, burnt through about 20 stacks of greens. Im thinking its roughly a 33% proc rate, though it might be 50% and I had bad luck. Its pretty high though.

Still sitting at A40, does anyone know of a good, still working digging parser?

I'll find it when I get home. Have it on my pc somewhere I think... If not I can find it again with no problem.

[urat]

So I've decided to start raising a new digger, as my current digger is #1 so slow it hurts, and #2 yellow.

I bought green racing silks and am hoping that is has as noticeable effects as the other silks. Im hoping for something obvious like either greatly reduced stamina depletion or actual messages that tell me the effect of my silks are kicking in.

[Spagnutty]

I'm curious about these as well. Let us know if anything noticeable happens.