Advanced chocobo raising

[Talila]

Thanks Guppy, just converted those times into EST and they match up perfectly. Today seems to be an A day, do they rotate to switch every other day?

Edit: Choco learned canter today, now it's 8/7/4/2 G&C, going to try the second Pashhow race tonight, hopefully have my pullus by the weekend =)

[Talila]

Hmm, any advice on those races? I beat the one against the sheep but am on the second one now. I've lost three times so far and I'm 8/7/4/2 G&C. What items did you guys use?

edit: I don't get it D: 4 times today alone and I've lost all of them, and it's only the second race! People have won the dream race with lesser stats than my bird, so lame ><

[Drex]

Speed Apple + Final Spurt, the whole series of Swamptrots felt luck based to me

[Shinote]

Speed Apple + Final Spurt, the whole series of Swamptrots felt luck based to me

Seems the same way to me too lol;
Just won the second race last night, my bird is 8/6/4/2 G&C. Won it that time by a long ways also (my bird avoided the one attack against is, and the sheep got nailed 3x lol), but prior to that I lost it 4x.

[nitsuj]

Speed Apple + Final Spurt, the whole series of Swamptrots felt luck based to me

Agreed again. I still need to beat the final one

[Guppy]

Speed Apple + Final Spurt, the whole series of Swamptrots felt luck based to me

I beat the series way back just after they were added, using mixes of mostly:

Speed Apple + Final Spurt
Stamina Apple + Keep Pace
Pepper Biscuit + (Final Spurt or Keep Pace)

However, since then item effects have been adjusted a couple of times, so it's possible that they may not have quite quite the same effects on the race now.

Also, Pepper Biscuit effect is definitely very luck based. It allowed me to be Sakura in the final race, but I needed to spam the race repeatedly, until my chocobo used it at just the right time, on the right target, and without a resist. A friend of mine was able to pass the the final race using Gysahl bombs instead.

[Bockage]

Speed Apple + Final Spurt, the whole series of Swamptrots felt luck based to me

This is how I did it. I got crazy lucky and won them all on the first try.

[Talila]

Well my bird is 8/7/4/3 GC now, and it's beat the first three, trying the fourth one again today, so far 0/3 =( such a waste of chocobucks lol

Edit: won =) and won the pullus torque one too! Dream race tomorrow o.ob

[Landael]

Congratulations on your Pullus Torque

My main and one mule with fully capped racing birds were both able to easily win the Pullus Torque race on the first try using a speed apple. The Dream Race is another story entirely.

Assuming each free run cost 1k gil (since I am considering the previous free runs toward circuit entry fees) here's a breakdown on how the Dream Race went on my fully capped 8/6/4/4 San d'Orian chocobo:

Losses 25
Chocobuck Entry Fee 50
Item Cost (gil) 750

Chocobuck earned for 1k gil 3.375
Cost per chocobuck (gil) 296.30
Gil lost per race 15,564.81
Total Gil Lost 389,120.37

Minutes per free run 4.1
Time to earn 1 chocobuck 1.21
Minutes used per race 60.74
Total minutes wasted 1,518.52
Total hours wasted 25.31

This is back when they were first introduced. Actually I got my Pullus Torque the first day possible. So a lot of time has passed since then. Hopefully you fair better (>.<)

ed: missed a word lol.

[Talila]

Yeah...I'm still wary about doing the dream race. My choco capped out today at 8/7/4/4 GC. I think I'm going to just do the circuit races to recoup the gil I used in the process of building the bird. Once I have my gil stores back, I'll start attempting the last race. TBH though it's not -that- big a deal for me, I just wanted the torque :D

All in all, I actually managed to build this chocobo (ObsidianShadow) in about two months time. I did have the advantage of already having a 8/8/1/1 gallop bird to race while the newest one was growing up, but I probably only stockpiled about 600 bucks before hand. Everything else was done with Obsidian once he could win the free runs. There were a few days though where I did nothing but race for 10 hours straight >.> /shudder

[Stubwub]

No wonder you're always by that damn NPC. O.o

I have to give up once it hits 1k. There's no way I can sit through another stupid 2 min CS.

If only my bird wasn't yellow, I would be more willing to put extra time into it..

How long did it take to cap your current bird using chocobucks alone?

[Talila]

Well let's see...I managed to get it to 8/8/1/1 using care plans, then I put 14 tokens into DSC to raise it to 8/8/3/1 (two levels of DSC). Then I used the care plan that upped DSC and lowered END, and that lowered end to 7 and upped DSC to 4, so I was then 8/7/4/1. So at that point I had used 1120 bucks.

Leveling RCP sucked >< it took 7 tokens to get it to level 2, 6 tokens to get it to level 3, and 7 tokens to get it to level 4. And after all of that was said and done, the last token that capped RCP dropped STR to level 7. So I was then at 7/7/4/4. I had to use one more token for STR to raise it back to 8. It probably lowered END but not enough to drop it a level. So...that was another 1680 bucks.

Add that together...and it took 2800 chocobucks... >.< and I'd say probably about 500k gil? I'm not sure, I'd have to do the math. I also purchased 7 tokens from a friend who had chocobucks, so I didn't actually use 2800 bucks. But if you were to do it all by yourself that is how much it would take...roughly.

I don't think I'd do it again >.> although I think I'll be able to gain it all back now that I can win C1 circuit race, hopefully ^^

[Khamsin]

By the way, which has more of an effect? Buying tokens for a particular stat (90 chocobucks, first nation rank requirement), or doing the "Raising Attributes & Dying Feathers" option to train your chocobo in a particular stat (80 chocobucks, no rank requirement)?

[Talila]

I'm almost 100% sure they're the exact same upgrade. It took me 7 of them no matter if I had someone buy the token for me or I used the 80 one with my own chocobucks

[Amok]

How do you guys think a chocobo with 8/8/7/0 (I believe that's attainable, if not, then 8/8/6/0) with Shadow Apple would do in races?

Receptivity seems to only guard against attacks, and Shadow Appel covers you on that front given you're attacked during its active timeframe. Assuming there are no different levels of resist to item attacks I could see this being more useful than 8/7/4/4. Is there any evidence to the contrary?

I'm almost at capped str/end so I want to make a decision soon as to whether I not I will go with the generally accepted stats or something a bit more experimental.

[Talila]

Hmm, that's a good question, I'm really not sure..

Shadow Apple would guard against attacks, but I've noticed my chocobo is usually one of the last to use an item, so if the other jockeys started using their negative items against you before your jockey used the Shadow Apple then it would be kind of pointless I think.

Just a note, I got schooled by some JP player the other day in a C2 race. His bird's stats were 8/5/5/5 G&C and he used a speed apple, won by quite a bit. If I ever decide to do another choco I'll probably aim for those stats, and then use the 2nd or 3rd tier basic saddle because it ups END a level. Then my bird would be 8/6/5/5 and that seems like it's a pretty winning combo.

[Amok]

If it's consistently late, that in itself could be related to a stat. I never use items in free runs but I believe the few times I did a C1 the strategy you pick gives the general timing of item use, but within that time there is some variation that I can't explain.

[Guppy]

I'm almost at capped str/end so I want to make a decision soon as to whether I not I will go with the generally accepted stats or something a bit more experimental.

Well, I'm not going to discourage someone who's willing to experiment, as long as you don't consider this to be the very last chocobo you will ever raise. We could always more testimonies on how various stat combos work out.

I believe someone on BG has previously raised a capped chocobo with no receptivity somewhere on the forums, reporting good results. However, I don't remember clearly when this happened, and the effects of Chocobo racing item usage have been patched (twice) in the past, so I'm not sure if this was before or after any of the changes.

How do you guys think a chocobo with 8/8/7/0 (I believe that's attainable, if not, then 8/8/6/0) with Shadow Apple would do in races?

The problem with Shadow Apple is that the duration and timing of item use is variable. I think it will allow you to beat high level races, as long as you're willing to repeat them multiple times, relying on luck to line up your chocobo's Apple usage against NPC attack timings.

I am also of the belief that INT affects offensive item use, so your chocobo should be able to get a good effect out of Gysahl Bombs and Biscuits too.

[Khamsin]

I have another question: How do you get/equip saddles? I've been farming Free Runs for a while, and haven't seen any mention of saddles. Is it an official race thing only?

[Drex]

Only in the crystal sakes (c1-c4) races, they'll ask you what saddle to use when you register