Breeders Guide by Urat

Category:GuidesCategory:Chocobo Raising
==Statement by the Author==
Some of the points stated in my guide will go against common belief of many people, but I will ask you to understand that my points and beliefs/theories are based on months of study, large amounts of breeding, and copious amounts of work. Please do not Raise a single bird and then under that single instance claim my entire works a falsity. Instead, I'd much prefer it if you posted in the Discussion part of the page, that stats of your bird upon entering adulthood, the warmth of the egg, the gender, any abilities, both parents' colors if bred, where obtained if quested/BCNMd, and I will add it to my study.
You as a reader must understand that there is a remarkably large amount of variables that may influence a bird's color, from affection to gender to egg warmth, to parents color. Please do not think that by raising a single bird that at first glance seems to slightly prove one of my points false, that my entire works is wrong, then proceed to claim my data false. I beseech you.
Urat 02:51, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
==Forewarning==
Chocobo Raising can be compared to many things. Trying to get a level 75 job. Attempting to get level 100 Goldsmithing. Going after Lu Shang's fishing rod.
All of these things requires heaping amounts of Gil, large amounts of time, and dedication. Do not expect to simply drop an egg at the stables, come back a month later and magically have a prize winning bird. You will be expected to visit the stables almost every day, spend tons of cash to speed things up, and dedicate nearly a year of time to cap your bird completely.
If you are not up to this challenge, you will end up wasting time and money, that could be better spent on leveling your job, or getting those last merits you need.
==Introduction: The Three Birds==
When it comes to Chocobo Raising. There are three distinct categories your bird can fit into. The Racer, The Digger, and the Average Joe.
===The Racer===
Racer birds tend to be blue, black, or red. These fast and dexterous Chocobos are raised in the attempt to strike it big at the Chocobo circuit, where prize money can extend all the way up to 100K pot races. It is every Jockey's dream to one day obtain the title of ChocoChampion and have that big trophy sitting in their Mog House.
One can mark the tell tale signs of a racer through certain bodily features.
Racer birds tend to have larger, stronger legs, built for faster running and quick sprinting. 
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They also occasionally have a much more extended and grown out plume of tail feathers, granting them an edge on the track via enhanced steering and balance.
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===The Digger===
Digger birds, on the other hand, are often green to help blend in with their surroundings. These birds are often slower and more careful of their footing, due to the treacherous places they often must travel with their rider to dig up the truly rare treasures. There are no true trophies or prizes for the digger to obtain, but as a great digger once said, "Opening up that treasure chest and seeing the glow of gil was the greatest prize for me and my bird."
Often Chocobo bred for digging will inherit a much larger beak with a hooked end, an adaption by Chocobos to aid them in the penetration of deep undergrowth in the search of goodies. They also have a much more acute Olfactory sense, granting them the ability to literally smell treasure and buried objects. 
An example of this sense at play is the enhancement of it to find a VCS crate in the game of Chocobo Hot and Cold Game through the use of a Tandjana Wildgrass
===The Average Joe===
These Chocobo are often yellow, and the result of a breeder who could not decide on a racer or digger, and opted instead to raise a simple bird meant for menial tasks, from hauling a cart, to a quick way out of an unsavory place when a rental bird is nowhere near. 
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Unlike Diggers or Racers, The Average Joe bird has no real true way to make money, though on the other hand, is practically free to raise.
==The Plans==
To begin, there are two distinct raising stratagies to raise a great bird, the racer, and the digger, of course.
===Racer Plan===
Raising a racing Chocobo involves feeding heaping supplies of Vomp Carrots, taking it for many many walks, and pretty much requires you to breed it from 2 parents with canter and gallop, as having level 1 discernment makes it impossible to learn these abilities.
There is an expensive and hard way to learn an ability with your bird, but we'll cover that at day 50.
===Digger Plan===
Raising a digger is much easier than a racer. The harder part comes after maturity in the Hot and Cold Game, which is one of the few things in the game that actually requires a degree of skill from the player them self to progress in.
==Day 0: The Egg==
There are several ways to obtain an egg, whether it's a BCNM, quested, or bred, it really doesn't matter when it comes to raising stats though, so how you get it doesn't matter.
Trade the egg in to a stable leader, and your delving into the world of Chocobos Begins.
==Days 1-4: The Wait==
All you can do is wait and watch over the egg. It is highly suggested you watch over it a total of 100 times by day 4 so the chick hatches with capped affection.
==Days 5-18: The Cuteness!==
These first 13 days are relatively easy for you. Simply, walk your chick every day, keep it on its set care plan, and hope for color. If you're raising a racer and it doesn't have any abilities, and you aren't willing to vest a few hundred K in increasing discernment, try again.
===Racer Plan===
Keep your chick on Walk Through Town care plan for the entire two weeks straight. Feed it 3 Vomp Carrots every day, and if you do it right, you will have a high chance of obtaining a red or blue bird, possibly black.
Please refer to the advanced information located at the end to find out color theories and such.
===The Digger Plan===
Same method as the racer, keep your bird on Listening to Music for all 13 days, feed it 3 Zegham Carrots a day, and you may get a green bird if you're lucky.
==Days 19-28: Color?==
Today is the day you get to find out what color your bird is. If you did everything right, had high stat parents, and were a wonderful parent, it is highly likely your bird has colored tips for feathers.
Now what?
===Racer Plan===
Step up your plan to Delivering Packages, and feed it 1 Azouph Greens and 2 Vomp Carrot Every day, 2 greens and 1 carrot if it's affection dips due to an ailment. On this, you'll find your bird's stats quickly begin to skyrocket.
If you manage to get its strength or endurance to average, you'll be blessed with a bird with either large tail feathers or massive legs.
===Digger Plan===
If you like the way a bird with the hooked beak looks, you'll want to entirely focus on Discernment. Leave Receptivity until after the adult stage to obtain this. Focus entirely on playing with Children and feeding it 2 Zegham Carrot and 1 Azouph Greens a day.
==Days 29-60: The Grind==
This is where the chicks are separated from the Chocobos. You'll need to keep your bird on a rigorous plan to cap its stats, work it to the bone every day, and spend tonnes of cash on food and Chocotrains.
===Racer Plan===
Once your bird is capable of placing 1st place in the easy races, and 2nd in the normal races, start racing. Lots. Try to rack up 1000 Chocobucks by the time your bird's strength and endurance is capped. Also stockpiling discernment Chocotrains is highly recommended. Once your bird hits First-Class strength and endurance, pump it up with discernment training, and try to get your discernment to average- above average ASAP. Then finish off by teaching your bird its abilities, and you'll be very close to having a powerful bird.
===Digger Plan===
As soon as your bird hits adulthood, get your Chocobo Whistle, sign up for Hot and Cold, and get to work! Try and get in your daily session of Hot and Cold every day. The sooner you get the Dunes and Jungle Chocographs the better. All the while save all the Chocobucks you get from your VCS crates.
You'll want to switch to digging for treasure care plan until your bird is capped in the Discernment department, then move on to Receptivity via Acting In A Play. Spend your Chocobucks to cap these two stats.
==Days 61-118: Retirement==
Congratulations on getting this far. Your bird is now above average, but far from being the best. It will take hard work and determination to get past this final hurdle. Good luck!
===Racer Plan===
By now you should have your bird on permanent Basic Care. Spend all your Chocobucks on either capping discernment, or getting average Receptivity. You'll also want to have at least the Gysahl Medal and C3-2 races unlocked by now. Try and unlock C1 races and prepare yourself for the ultimate race VS the notorious white Chocobo in the Pashow Circuit. 
Pulling this off will net you the title of ChocoChampion, and Beating the C1 will get you the title of Crystal Stakes Cupholder, and a wonderfully huge cup for your Mog House. Congratulations, chocojockey! You have achieved what many dream of!
===Digger Plan===
Not much to put here. Digging Chocobos make wonderful companions for capping your digging skill, but the Chocobo Hot and Cold game can net you some very surprisingly big money making items in Altepa Desert. As I stated at the beginning, there is very little glamor, but still good rewards, when it comes to digging.
==The Basic Stuff==
If one would compare raising to crafting, here would be where you are told the basic things, like the elements of crystals and such. Feel free to just skim over.
===Food===
Food can be used to alter many stats of your bird, including increasing stats, dramatically increasing affection, and healing ailments.
====The Tasty Stuff====
Gysahl Greens - These are the cheapest green available. At roughly 60-70 gil each, I recommend using these if you cannot afford the much more expensive alternative greens.
Azouph Greens - Unlike Gysahls, Azouphs are much more expensive, but dramatically more effective.
Sharug Greens - These, like Azouphs, dramatically increase affection.
San d'Orian Carrots - These are even cheaper than Gysahls. I'd recommend buying these over Gysahls if you happen to be raising a bird in Southern San d'Oria, since the Ronfaure Regional Merchant is right by the stables.
====The Important Stuff====
Vomp Carrots - These carrots are extremely vital in the diet of a racing bird. They dramaticly increase the rate at which a birds Strength and Endurance increases.
Zegham Carrots - These carrots, on the other hand, will increase the rate at which Discernment and Receptivity increase.
====The Medicinal Stuff====
Tokopekko Wildgrass - This wildgrass is extremely unpleasant, and your bird will not enjoy eating it one bit, so expect your affection to drop noticeably. On the other hand, Tokopekko helps in the fighting of colds and sickness, so use it when your bird is sick.
Gausebit Grass - This particular wildgrass, like Tokopekko, is unpleasant, but aids in the healing of broken bones and major, or minor, wounds. Use this whenever your bird has injured itself in the field.
Garidav Wildgrass - This grass, also unpleasant to the birds taste, aids in the removal of a stomachache.
Chocolixir - This little potion will help your bird recover a dramatic amount of stamina, allowing it to get more into its day.
Celerity Salad - The ultimate of all medicines, not only does this salad actually taste good and increases affection, it aids and heals all status ailments, and increases Discernment a little.
Chocotonic - this medicine is designed to wake up a sleeping bird.
====The Questionable Stuff====
Parasite Worm - No one really seems to know what this does. As of the update a new item has been added that removes a Chocobo's abilities, so it obviously is not that.
Cupid Worm - Dramatically increases affection, lowers a random stat.
Gregarious Worm - Recovers 1/4 of stamina.
==Color==
Now, before everyone freaks out and starts raving about who is wrong and who is right, after careful consideration, I'm going to go through and work through every possible theory concerning Chocobo color. You find a discussion on Chocobo color here
===To Start===
Where to begin? First off, lets take a look at what we have...
There are 5 colors your bird can have. Yellow, red, blue, green, and black. Yellow appears to be the normal color. For the most part, Red, blue, and Green, all seem to be influenced by stats, affection, and such, while black is completely random at first glance.
There are several theories as to how color is determined, but they can all be summed up in 3 categories, preconception, Conception, and Adolescent.
Preconception theories believe the color of a bird is determined with the egg, like a set of stats listed with the item itself, so no two eggs are the same.
Conception, on the other hand, believes that color and stats are set the moment you trade the egg to the NPC, or the moment it hatches. Some believe it is random, some believe it is based on the preconception stats of the parents.
Finally, Adolescent. Because chicks are all yellow, and color only appears when the bird reaches the adolescent stage, some believe that the stats an adolescent has when it reaches this point determine color via a % chance. I am one of these people.
===Variables===
There are a ridiculously large amount of possible things that influence color. It could only be one, it could be all of them.
Parents Color - The color of a parent increases chance of color, or guarantees it. Likelihood? 85%
Egg Warmth - The warmth of the egg increases chances of a color occurring. Likelihood? 70%
Parent Stats - The stats of the parent on Preconception may alter or increase chances of a particular color. Likelihood? 80%
Affection - The affection a bird has upon hitting adolescent stage increases chances of color. Likelihood? 95%
Gender - The gender of a bird increases chances of color. Likelihood? 5%
Day - The time of day, or moon phase, could effect color. Likelihood? 5%
(more to come)
===The Random Theory===
This is the simplest of the main theories. This Conception theory believes that color is quite simply randomly selected and is unalterable by anything.
===The Inheritance Theory===
The most widely accepted theory, though proven to be slightly untrue, This Preconception theory believes that the color of a bird is increased by roughly 30% by a parent with color
IE 2 red parents have a 60% chance of having a red child. 1 red and 1 blue have a 30% chance of red, 30% chance of blue, and 40% chance of yellow.
===The Genetics Theory===
Slightly more refined then the Inheritance Theory, this theory believes that Square Enix has implemented a genetics system into bird, including dominant and recessive genes. the current order of the dominance is unknown. Though from numbers, I personally feel it follows a Yellow>Black>Red>Blue>Green Line. 
Following this, a yellow bird with a red mother and yellow father may have a recessive red trait. If the Chocobo were to mate with another Chocobo with the same recessive trait, there'd be a 25% chance of a red child, 50% chance of a yellow child with red recessive gene and 25% chance of a red dominant child.
Further study is needed.
===The Adolescent Theory===
This theory follows that the stats an chick has before entering the adolescent stage, will preset its color the day before. Certain levels of affection are required to have color, and each color is set to a stat reaching a certain level, or a combination of stats.
IE having level 3 strength or level 2 strength and endurance, plus at least level 5~6 affection, will result in a red bird.
More study required.
===The Egg Warmth Theory===
This theory believes that the warmth of an egg is directly connected to the color. Because There are the same amount of warmths as colors, each warmth is connected. Though there is still a high probability (about 75-80%) of yellow from each egg, you can get color from any egg.
==Urat's Theory: The Hybrid System==
Taking all of these into speculation, I have finally come up with my theory that encompasses all of the ideas and sorts them into possibilities and connections.
My final concept? All of these in some way, directly or indirectly, affect color. Lets start from the beginning.
===The Percent===
At the end of day 18, all of the various variables add together to form several percents. First, the percent of color. Blue, Red, Black, or Green. The highest of these percents becomes the main color, as opposed to yellow. After this, the game determines what the chance of color is, opposed to yellow.
Say your final percents are:
50% Blue
50% Red
75% of color.
Since red is dominant over blue, your ending color is red. Because you have a 75% chance of red coloring, you end up with a 75% chance of a red bird, 25% of yellow.
===The Factors===
From the beginning, lets start with Parent's Stats and colors, and end with adolescent stats and affection.
====Parent's Stats====
Having parents with a level 8 stat increases the chance of that color by roughly 10~15%
Red - Strength
Endurance - Blue
Discernment - Green
Receptivity - Black
Also, for every level 8 stat each parent has, the chances of color is increased by 5%
====Parent's Color====
The color of each parent increases the chances of that color by 25~30%, and having a colored parent increases chance of color by 25-30% also. This is a very dominant part of color, so it is important, though not required.
====Egg Warmth====
The warmth of an egg does not directly affect color or chance of color. Instead, the higher the warmth of an egg, the faster the bird's stats increase.
Warmth of an egg is determined by the receptivity of the parents, and how closely matched their stats are.
IE two parents with nearly identical stats, including level 8 receptivity each, have pretty much a guaranteed chance at having a somewhat warm egg.
====Care Plan====
Each care plan increases the chance at its respective color by 10%
Gourmet Plan - Red
Sports Plan - Blue
Hiking Plan - Green
Jeuno Tour Plan - Black
====Affection====
Having level 6-8 affection increases chance of color by 10-20%, depending on the level.
====Adolescent Stats====
Very similar to the stats of parents, the stats a bird has upon entering adolescent play the second important part in color.
Having level 3 strength, or level 2 endurance and strength Grants a 25% chance increase to red, and a 10% increase to color.
Having level 3 Endurance or level 2 Endurance and Discernment grants a 25% increase to blue, and a 10% increase to color.
Having level 3 Discernment, or level 2 discernment and receptivity, grants a 25% increase to green, and a 10% increase to color.