Advanced chocobo raising

[Rugazanami]

First, a question about the hard cap on a bird's stats. I was reading about it on the wiki page, and it said that, "Once the point hard cap has been reached, additional points will only cause other stats to decrease." Does this mean that your bird can strictly gain only 637 worth of stat points? So if my bird has Average receptivity and I start using a care plan that lowers it, the points that my bird had in receptivity still count towards that 637-point cap?

If that is true, then would it be best to retire my bird once it has its discernment at SS and it has Bore and Burrow? I'm thinking that if I do that, then receptivity should be around B or A, and I can use Chocotrains to pump strength and endurance up to B and C respectively. As far as raising and digging, receptivity won't seem to matter after my bird learns Bore and Burrow, so it won't be important to cap for a digger. I'm interested in raising strength and endurance so I can use this bird to also win some races to help earn Chocobucks for racing silks.

Would this plan work? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[urat]

Id suggest getting TF over burrow or bore, since the nice little kweh!? added really really makes altepa a LOT easier to do.

Second, you should be able to get burrow/bore and TF within a few days into adolescent if you worked discernment and recpetivity hard enough. AS SOON as you get both abilities swap back to strength plans and you should be able to pull off SS strength/endurance by day 80 or so without using a single chocotrain.

With basic SS-SS-F-F should have little problem getting second place in the chocobuck races, and you can get your racing silks.

Also you'll quickly realise being able to have a bird on the field that is both a good digger and actually fast is really nice. Atm my digger is good for digging but an overweight taru can outrun him, and I cant swap to my racer for calling on the field cause that'd defeat the whole purpose of my digger =/

Thus I am doign exactly what you are atm, raising a digger to dig but still be fast. Its hard and requires a bit more skill but so far your on the right track ^_^/

[Rugazanami]

Unfortunately, my bird's having real learning problems as it's at S discernment and hasn't been able to learn even Burrow yet, let alone Bore. Since I'm a bonecrafter, I definitely want Bore, so I might get Treasure Finder instead of Burrow.

Thanks for the tips.

Quick question: Does endurance play into how long you can stay on your chocobo during the hot and cold game? With an F in endurance, would I need chocobo gear to extend riding time? I just started being able to ride my bird, so I've been doing quick and easy Tahrongi runs. Something like Altepa sounds like I'd need a bit of riding time.

[Guppy]

Unfortunately, my bird's having real learning problems as it's at S discernment and hasn't been able to learn even Burrow yet, let alone Bore. Since I'm a bonecrafter, I definitely want Bore, so I might get Treasure Finder instead of Burrow.

I've heard some speculation that Receptivity may influence the probability of learning a story (once you meet the Discernment requirements), but this is difficult to prove. Either way, keep trying at it, your chocobo should learn it eventually.

Quick question: Does endurance play into how long you can stay on your chocobo during the hot and cold game? With an F in endurance, would I need chocobo gear to extend riding time? I just started being able to ride my bird, so I've been doing quick and easy Tahrongi runs. Something like Altepa sounds like I'd need a bit of riding time.

I don't know if endurance influences the amount of time in the game, but I have had no problem with my D-rank bird. The limiting factor in Hot-and-Cold is the number of digs you get, not the amount of time you can sit in the saddle, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Princess]

I was gonna go along with the idea of doing Burrow/TF and then swapping to STR and END. I see alot of times people are saying they are 8/8/4/4 what is the best way to get like that? I want to be able to dig, with a fast chocobo to get some chocobucks so i can get the vest items and such. Will lowering my recept/decer Cause a issue with digging? I'm sorry i'm not very familiar with chocobos and i'm only starting now (I am rasing a new born day 8 with Inherited Burrow) been feeding her 3 Zeg. Carrots a day. What would i change once i teach her TF?

[Rugazanami]

I believe that Discernment is important for dig accuracy. The higher it is, the more likely you are to dig up items. Although some have reported getting digging skill ups on missed digs, skill ups mainly occur on successful digs (getting an item). Receptivity has no impact on digging, but it makes it more likely to meet NPCs that teach you stories that are used to teach your chocobo abilities. Once you get the stories you want, then receptivity is no longer very important.

[urat]

My parses have not shown any form of inclination of my discernment bird getting better digging results even slightly vs a stable bird, sorry to burst your bubble =/

It does however help in Hot and Cold, Ive estimated so far that one level of discernment increases the radius of the overall ring by 1 running step with your bird, I think thats 1 lm or whatever?

Anywho, I still value the ability to get to a destination 15 mins faster over a little easier time in hot and cold.

[Cymmina]

I want to be able to dig, with a fast chocobo to get some chocobucks so i can get the vest items and such.

If all you care about is winning chocobucks, you can do that even with a crappy bird. My first choconag has gallop/canter and has only Average/C STR/END (or maybe Better than Average/B, I haven't checked in a while) with low DIS/REC. I can win the gil races, unless I'm up against the superbirds, then I place right behind them.

My 2nd bird, a digger, is E or D in STR/END and S in DIS. I'm only an A45 digger and have only used a rental a handful of times. I have 17 minute ride times. If I dig during full/new moon and take 12 stacks of greens each run, I come pretty close to fatigue after 2 runs. If I do a 3rd run, it will take roughly 6 stacks (or less) to get to fatigue. This is with Blue Riding Silks.

[Rugazanami]

Is it known for sure that Receptivity doesn't affect a bird's success at learning stories? I'm about to start the care plan that lowers Receptivity in a few days, and I'm afraid of what's going to happen if I can't learn Bore by then. So far, I'm 0/19 at S-rank Discernment, and countless times at previous levels.

[urat]

Oh it takes tonnes of tries, with SS discernment my bird took about 50 or so stories before he learned it, #1 thing in choco raising is patience my friend

[Rugazanami]

Oh. That's good to hear. One of the guides on the wiki said that Bore was learned within 7 tries at Impressive, so I was getting worried.

[tsaroth816]

It does however help in Hot and Cold, Ive estimated so far that one level of discernment increases the radius of the overall ring by 1 running step with your bird, I think thats 1 lm or whatever?

I'll have to dissagree. I have 2 diggers with opposite stats (Phys w/ STR/END, other Mental w/ DIS/REC) and act the same in Hot and Cold. If you try Jungles you'd see that it's the zone that matters for how far from chest you can be. I did 2 opposite birds on purpose (not like digger is hard to raise, at all) to see which is better for digging, and hot/cold. END obviously wins for digging (longer time, speed doesn't matter too much, unless you're picky). But in the end, I can't find that any of the 4 stats actually help digging nor hot/cold.

My chocobo with poor DIS/REC found a chest in Altepa that was the farthest I've ever seen from my model, like back in Bush zones.

Wish I was wrong, please post if you do find a correlation.

[urat]

The chest doesnt actually pop where the mid point of the ring is, it just has a bunch of preset positions and it pops in the closest one. I've seen a chest pop where I know I had dug not one dig ago and gotten a Kweh!?

Mostly just eyeballing and map marks I've seen that the entire set of concentric rings increase by 1 step per discernment. I had to give up on purpose a few chests I hit first/second dig to test it, but found that a bird with SSS-SSS-F-F had a ring only 8-9 Running steps in radius (altepa) wheres a F-F-SS-SS bird had one nearly twice as large.

Sadly though this test had a large margin of error so I've been meaning to do a much more legit test via friends help, getting em to stand at my digs so I can use distance plugin to calculate the exact size of the rings and see if there really is a difference.

Also, who runs out of time during a dig session? I always have like 15 mins left after getting my chest.

BTW has anyone noticed you can sit and dig infinitly after digging up the chest, Ive always been curious if you get skillups from the chest or individual digs during HaC, I like to sit and dig like 30-40 times after the chest in the off chance Im getting free skillups, I get bored like that >3

[Rugazanami]

I wonder if endurance affects the chances of your bird getting fatigued during Hot and Cold.

[Electro]

im a bad choco daddy my choco should be dead by now

[Guppy]

Sadly though this test had a large margin of error so I've been meaning to do a much more legit test via friends help, getting em to stand at my digs so I can use distance plugin to calculate the exact size of the rings and see if there really is a difference.

If you do, check out cases with height displacement if possible. I've never had a really good grasp of how much height shifts distort the rings, since the H-and-C update where they added it in. It's a problem, especially on those steep dune slopes in Altepa.

BTW has anyone noticed you can sit and dig infinitly after digging up the chest, Ive always been curious if you get skillups from the chest or individual digs during HaC, I like to sit and dig like 30-40 times after the chest in the off chance Im getting free skillups, I get bored like that >3

Lol, I've noticed before that you can keep digging, but never realized it was unlimited.

[bungiefan]

How big are these rings supposed to be with my chocobo having impressive for both mental stats and TH? I just did my first hot and cold in Tahrongi, and I couldn't get anything but a ... result for all of my digs all around the ??? on the map.

[Fencat]

Ok I cant find a straight answer to this anywhere but if I'm just blind pls point me to it.... can my bird still learn an ability past day 64 when careplans stop giving skillups?

As an example can I get my discernment up high enough with chocobucks and learn the ability later on or do I have to get it before day 64?

[Guppy]

Ok I cant find a straight answer to this anywhere but if I'm just blind pls point me to it.... can my bird still learn an ability past day 64 when careplans stop giving skillups?

You can still gain new abilities, I have had my Chocobos learn them well past day 64.

[tsaroth816]

The chest doesnt actually pop where the mid point of the ring is, it just has a bunch of preset positions and it pops in the closest one. I've seen a chest pop where I know I had dug not one dig ago and gotten a Kweh!?

I don't understand what you mean. If you are suggesting the chest doesn't pick a location until you start defining the rings? I've hit the chest on 1st dig before, on accident. If you aren't, then you should know that: Where you dig is at the chocobo's feet, not the animation of beak digging in the ground ahead of you. I do agree chests appear in preset locations, though it's really hard to mark/map them all out.

Mostly just eyeballing and map marks I've seen that the entire set of concentric rings increase by 1 step per discernment. I had to give up on purpose a few chests I hit first/second dig to test it, but found that a bird with SSS-SSS-F-F had a ring only 8-9 Running steps in radius (altepa) wheres a F-F-SS-SS bird had one nearly twice as large.

Very interesting, I'd like to hear more of these. Personally I've seen no difference from Poor to 1st class

Also, who runs out of time during a dig session? I always have like 15 mins left after getting my chest.

Well I meant that END helps time for digging (the craft you have to level), 15~17min poor END is only enough time for 11~13 stacks of greens at most. Hold/Cold stats make no difference as I said before. (err unless you want STR to run to map marker quicker)

BTW has anyone noticed you can sit and dig infinitly after digging up the chest, Ive always been curious if you get skillups from the chest or individual digs during HaC, I like to sit and dig like 30-40 times after the chest in the off chance Im getting free skillups, I get bored like that >3

Not sure if this helps, but my mule sure did skill up digging REALLY fast with Hot/Cold game. The 1st ranks (with dig /waits) ranked up on day 1, then next rank up was on day 3, then next rank up was on day 8. Seemed kinda fast, but I think the Hot/Cold wins helped.

Rugazanami: Hot/Cold END/digs is the same for everyone, depending on the zone. "Energetic" gives END+2 (3 wins in a row to get energetic) and white silks gives END+1 for total of 3 extra digs, in any zone.

As for the rings on Hills, the way I understand it is your chocobo's call is how many "yalms" (is that the game term?) you are from the chest, height included in distance. So you could be at Kweh? then take 2 steps up a hill and be at "..." because you didn't just go 2 steps, you also went up higher farther away. If i'm making sense <.<

imo, this actually makes hills easier, since you get a "smaller 2D map" (but still have to think in 3D) to narrow down the chest.