Advanced chocobo raising

[Landael]

So my mule just turned in his 100th gold trophy.

No new title or anything. I was half surprised 99 didn't roll over to 0.

I had a nice screenshot with a taru jumping for joy with his trophies but don't meet the forum criteria for posting images.

Ninja Edit:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...8-37-08-95.jpg

[Talila]

Hmm, question:

Do you have to turn in the trophies to get the different titles? Or do you just obtain them as soon as you win the races?

Edit: Lan, what is your chocobo's setup? I'm getting kind of discouraged...I've lost the last 3 C2 races in a row ; ;

[Guppy]

Do you have to turn in the trophies to get the different titles? Or do you just obtain them as soon as you win the races?

You do not ever have to turn in a trophy if you don't want to, the trophy engraving system exists just to save inventory space. Some of the titles are earned by winning the Official (NPC) races, while others automatically are earned when you get enough victories in the racing circuit (of any race rank, spamming C4s works).

The bard in Lower Jeuno will let you re-get most, if not all, of the chocobo-racing related titles.

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/attac...1&d=1249184696

[Landael]

Hmm, question:
Edit: Lan, what is your chocobo's setup? I'm getting kind of discouraged...I've lost the last 3 C2 races in a row ; ;

I've raised 3 capped chocobos and raced them all. 2 are SS(capped)/A(high)/C(barely)/C(barely) and the 3rd SS(capped)/A/S/F(bottom). 3rd I used most for racing on my mule in Windurst. Something I regret doing and I wish I knew for certain that gallop/canter/speed apple could take SS(capped) past the cap but I'm done with racing and not about to raise another bird. Also I should point out that I almost always used a wooden saddle so when signed up for a race the A endurence would show up as S when viewing the list of chocobos.

Both combinations seemed to work equally well with about the same average number of wins. But there seems to be phases where one would win more often and the other would lose often. It's pure speculation but it seems like there are periods of time where certain stats are enhanced and certain stats are gimped. For example between Feb 16th-28th 2009 my Windurst chocobo won 10 races in a row and my Sandy went 4/9 (which is average anyway). But there's also a lot of luck involved. Back in November both my Sandy and Windurst chocobos had the same stats and the Sandy chocobo went 14/15 while Win went 7/16 during the same time period. Lastly, when I was almost to 100 on my trophy stand the Windurst chocobo went, 6/28. Was pretty brutal. At the same time Sandy went 15/28. I have detailed records of my races since October if anyone feels like looking for patterns.

Your biggest factor in determining winning is if you race against other players. The NPC chocobos are significantly weaker and typically don't use a good item. The NPC chocobo LunarHarvester which always appears in spot #2 always uses a stamina apple which helps greatly when because it removes one biscuit, bomb, or speed apple from the bunch. And Megaflare who is always in spot #1 is a pushover (iirc he always uses a Fire Biscuit). AFAIK those are the only two NPC chocobos which will show up in the list of chocobos with a nation icon. The nation icon is usually reserved and indicates a PC chocobo.

I was lucky that I could have the game running in the background at work so was able to race in the afternoon when other players were at work or school. More often than not it was just me and the NPCs.

Another thing you may not have read elsewhere is that it's common your capped chocobo isn't truly capped until you retire it and give it the retired chocotrains. They're expensive but it's worth getting your chocobo to 100% capped rather than 99%. All 3 of my capped chocobos before retiring received the message saying that raising a stat will lower another. However after retiring and using the weaker retired trains I was able to give them one without any warning message, then I'd get the warning message while trying to give them a 2nd retired train.

[Talila]

So, if I were to try to use the retired chocotrains, if I reach the cap, the NPC just wont accept the train right? Or will using it actually lower a stat?

I'm going to try my first C1 race tomorrow afternoon (I refuse to do it at night because then all the crazy JPs come out and race their super chocos >.> ).

[Landael]

yeah if you try to use a chocotrain and are already capped the npc will say something like "using this will have a detrimental effect on another attribute" and will give you the chance to use it anyway or decline. If it's not capped you will not get the message and the chocotrain will be used.

Another message you can get is if your chocobo is not capped but the stat is at the cap (full SS). That message is something like "cannot use this as it will cause serious injury" and he will refuse it. If your SS stat is at this level you will have to try another stat.

[Sarial]

I'm a newbie at chocobo racing really, only seriously reading up on this now, having raised two bokos in the past.

I was wondering what the CS races were like? I was looking at the gil-making potential of this, but Wiki doesn't have a lot of detailed information.

Things like, do you lose Personal Victory Points by participating in a race, or do you just have to prove yourself and gain so many, like a pass into higher CS races? What about strategies as far as how to have your bird run, such as using a sprint at the beginning versus sprint at the end strategy? I'm thinking about going for an 8/5/5/5 G&C build w/ the +1 END saddle and a speed apple.

[urat]

Endurance is your number oen stat in C races, strength being second most important, and discernment/receptivity both equally in value third.

I find the best method is capped strength and stamina and the rest of points into either receptivity or discernment. The stats increase in strength exponentially so if you spread them out you get less effects than focusing on a stat.

My bird is sitting at capped strength and endurance, with A discernment. This gives me nearly infinite stamina usage, which my bird uses to its fullest, and capped speed.

I will then generally use a zerg style via shadow apple and keep pace or sprint, or a slow and steady speed apple + final burst.

On another note, I have had a number of times looked back at the race and seen that my bird had used 2 apples in the race. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Sarial]

So is that 8/8/5/3 or 6/2? What about the PVP points?

[Amok]

I thought something was strange about my chocobo's capped total stat points.

When trying to upgrade through Chocobuck training the dialogue said something along the lines of "I'm obligated to inform you that raising the specified attribute will adversely affect others." Nothing weird at first glance, but the you're offered to A) Go ahead anyway, B) Pick another stat, and C) Do nothing.

That option B combined with the "the specified attribute" part of the dialogue is making me wonder. Does it mean picking another stat might NOT adversely affect others??? I didn't try another stat, and I'm out of bucks atm. Am I reading too much into a badly written dialogue text? or is there more to this?

EDIT:
Also, does time of day and weather affect chances of meeting NPC's on walks? I still don't have Brutus' story and I'm starting to panic slightly.

[CDF]

Another thing you may not have read elsewhere is that it's common your capped chocobo isn't truly capped until you retire it and give it the retired chocotrains. They're expensive but it's worth getting your chocobo to 100% capped rather than 99%. All 3 of my capped chocobos before retiring received the message saying that raising a stat will lower another. However after retiring and using the weaker retired trains I was able to give them one without any warning message, then I'd get the warning message while trying to give them a 2nd retired train.

This is easily explained by the observation that tokens for retired chocobos raise attributes by a smaller amount than those for active chocobos. Those for retired chocobos are (supposed to be) only +2 to an attribute, compared to +4-6 for the race chocobo tokens.

Therefore, it is easy to see where you would exceed the hard cap with the first but not with the second.

That option B combined with the "the specified attribute" part of the dialogue is making me wonder. Does it mean picking another stat might NOT adversely affect others??? I didn't try another stat, and I'm out of bucks atm. Am I reading too much into a badly written dialogue text? or is there more to this?

If you are near or at the "hard cap"," raising any of your attributes by an amount that would otherwise exceed the cap will lower one or more of the others accordingly.

Endurance is your number oen stat in C races, strength being second most important, and discernment/receptivity both equally in value third.

8/8/6/1 seems good only if you're parasitizing races with many PC participants (4+). Edit: and if high discernment is actually associated with using items multiple times, then that is even cheaper for the races you're parasitizing and goes against SE's fetish for severely punishing something for nothing.

[Landael]

What about the PVP points?

Your assumption here was accurate:

you just have to prove yourself and gain so many, like a pass into higher CS races? [and no you can't lose PVP]

gil-making potential of this

you don't make spectacular gil but the bulk of your time is spent doing free runs which since its less involved than other typical methods of income, you can do something else like read a book at the same time.

What about strategies as far as how to have your bird run, such as using a sprint at the beginning versus sprint at the end strategy? I'm thinking about going for an 8/5/5/5 G&C build w/ the +1 END saddle and a speed apple.

I never saw any serious racer use anything but a speed apple+final spurt consistently. When the race begins any chocobo can get hit with a biscuit (not sure how they decide which gets hit) but shortly after only the chocobo in first place will get hit with a biscuit. Because of this people try to avoid being in first place until toward the end. You have to hope your speed apple isn't used until later in the race. You can go to the racing circuit at the beginning of any hour and talk to the NPC taking bets, left most of the four, and view a list of the chocobos. If there are PC's racing you can visit the stables and see the item they're using and jockey's orders. (Megaflare and LunarHarvester look like PCs when viewing the list but they are NPCs.)

[Sarial]

Thanks for the info^^ There isn't a -whole- lot out there apart from this thread and some scattered info on wiki.

[Talila]

woot! I won my first C1 race, feels nice to get that 100k o.ob I even beat another PC, and MegaFlare

[urat]

woot! I won my first C1 race, feels nice to get that 100k o.ob I even beat another PC, and MegaFlare

Actually MegaFlare, ShilverChariot and a third bird, forgot his name, are npc raised birds.

Shilver is raised by the rich elvaan woman, often talking about her butler, and mega is raised by the old hume that looks like maat. Mega is pretty hard to beat, so good job on taking one of the strongest pvp birds down!

I'd put him as almost as tough as sakura.

[Landael]

woot! I won my first C1 race, feels nice to get that 100k o.ob I even beat another PC, and MegaFlare

Congrats! It's got to come as a relief to know you're on the right track

[Stubwub]

Well, I've discovered a lame way to guarantee you always place first and get 5 chocobucks in the free races.

After the end of the race, when he tells you what you placed in you can just force d/c your game. When you log back in and talk to the npc it will fade out and redo the race. So you can just do this over and over until you place first.

You can also force d/c when the race npc gives you that "good luck next time" or "congratulations!" before you confirm the message.

I suspect you can do the same for the official races too.

I was disconnecting a lot the other day due to torrents, and I noticed whenever I d/ced during a race or at the end of the race the game would redo the race and I would place differently.

[Grenfang]

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.

I have a 8/8/6/1 Chocobo, does pretty well in Crystal stakes keeping in mind I picked team Sandy, which is actually apparently team fail b/c we're always in last and never have the good saddles. I win C1 about 2/3 of the time. Always go final spurt / speed apple.

[baloo2400]

What is the difference between R Chocotrain: END /90 Chocobobucks and Chocotrain: END /100 Chocobobucks. I purchased the 90 buck one but it won't let me use it and i check my racing team is in first place. I think I made a mistake and should of gotten the 100 buck one but the npc did not offer it.

[Talila]

the 90 buck one is one that can be traded, and can only be used on a chocobo you are currently raising. The 100 buck chocotrain can also be traded, but you use it on a retired chocobo instead of one you're actively raising.

If you aren't raising a choco atm, that's probably why the NPC wont let you use it.