I've done a few combining experiments, and had some excellent results in terms of tech carryover!
It all started while I was trying to pass time in the game before Vitamin D showed up. I raised 2 jells from the same CD. I didn't do anything special. (My MR1 memory card had frozen, so I restarted the game at an early poverty-stricken stage.) They battled a bit for money, went on training and lived 5y 8mo, and 5y 10mo respectively. I decided to combine them. They had 6 techs,Stab,Whip,Slap,Cannon,Flyswatter,and Insecticide. Their stats:

Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
204	282	252	369	259	405
234	272	242	339	273	381

I was warned that it was a bad combo. The results were:

Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
100	90	189	130	90	130

-not too remarkable....until I looked at the techs. All 6 had carried over!

Next I decided to raise that monster as a money maker and see about some more combos! I'm in the middle of that right now, currently I'm raising 2 plants to see how they combine with each other. However, occasionally I save my game and check on potential combos. Here are some mid-project reports.
I raised the jell, had it aquire 1 more tech, and mostly used it as a money monster. I raised the first plant specifically to try and aquire techs. At three years I tried a combo for fun. The jell had 7 techs (added spit) and the plant had 5: Toxic Nectar, Jab, Steady Jab, Slap and Hook.

type	Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
Jell	177	335	224	363	217	220
Plant	224	280	195	327	178	279

I was told it was a nice combo, but there were only 3 techs for the resulting Naga/Jell.

Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
104	150	152	143	123	104

Overall, unremarkable results, so I didn't save this result, and kept raising the two monsters.
At 4y 6mo, I tried the combo again. The jell had the same 7 techs, the plant had added one, Seed Gun.

type	Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
Jell	180	400	242	428	239	225
Plant	230	335	209	402	232	284

Once again I was told it was a nice combo. The result was a Jell/Plant. Results:

Life	Pow.	Int.	Skill	Speed	Def.
174	142	143	204	123	190

And all 7 Jell Techs carried over!

I will continue, I need to raise a second plant to combine with the first, to see if I can get plant techs to carry over. Right now, it looks like if an offspring is the same main type as a parent it can get all the techs!This is important because I suspect that training in MR1 takes lifespan from your monster, like errantry does in MR2. In terms of trying to max out a monster, the less time spent at the training grounds, the better!

Clearly, I'm not doing very well in stat carryover, but I'll look into that too.

Great report, Lisa! I haven't done any combining, yet, but when I do, all of my monsters have at least 8 techs, so it shoulnd't be too difficult. As for "Training," I'm not so certain that it does reduce lifespan, though I have only done limited research on that, and lack the GS or any other form of device to certify, so I can't be sure. Interesting discovery, though...I can hardly wait for your findings on all of this, Lisa. ^_^

Just a quick update. I started raising plant #2, and tried a few combinations that I did not save.

I combined my retired plant with 9 techs with the other one at 1 year, told it was a bad combo, (these are both Plant/Naga off Tail of The Sun PSX) and I got a fairly unremarkable naga (the #2 option in the list)with 3 techs. I tried resetting 4 times and got the exact same result. I don't think combining is as random in MR1 as in MR2.

I raised the second plant for a few years and at 3y 1m tried combining again. The second monster had 6 techs. Once again I was told the combo was bad, but this time I got a plant. It had stats about 200 composite total higher than a monster from CD and 6 techs. The interesting thing was, the six techs were not identical to the younger monster (plant #2), there were 3 techs from way down the chart that only the first monster with 9 techs had aquired. (including the super-deadly face drill) It was as if I had gotten the best six possible! (I think the three basic techs are required in carry over.)

I'm still raising monster #2, and will give a final combo result with numbers in a day or two.

Ok, it's not as simple as I had hoped. My first Plant (plant/naga) was frozen at the first retirement warning. It has 9 techs and the following stats:

Makes me wonder if MR2 has the same sort of thing/. I mean, a combining month, so to speak. At least that one'd be easy to test. Freeze two critters, combine 'em one month, try the next, try the next, etc. etc. ad infantum.

Actually, in MR1, I managed to get very good at passing moves on, but I never mastered the stat-passing. A Ballon with 260 skill was my greatest achievement in that area. However, I found that if you took them out as soon as you got the first 'retire him' warning, the moves seemed to cross over a lot easier (at least for me).

Here's the results of 1 year of combining. I sarted with 2 Bad Seeds (plant/naga):

In an effort to debunk the April as best month for combining, I did one final experiment. I took 2 pure dinos from CD and raised them cocurrently and froze them. I tried combining them several times during their lives, and got the best stats when combined during their prime, before any retirement warning. (I've misplaced the paper I wrote it down on, but the offspring of these guys at prime had two stats over 240 and one at 200.)The final stats at retirement, and the offspring's:

i remember that that was a common thought on mr1 boards - that you should not wait until retirement to combine. it's intriguing to be reminded of it, and to see the proof of it, in one post. good work lisa!

Well, that would explain MY luck in combining. I never let a mosner retire until I'm forced to. I'm getting ready to make my first second generation monster in MR1, just for the sake of having it. I intend to combine Danielle (Pixie/Pixie, 7yrs, 3mo, got me Masters rank) with Wags (Market Tiger/Tiger, 5yrs, 6mo, my first monster) to get my first MR1 Mint. I don't know how this will result, but I know if Min tis as good in MR1 as she was in MR2 for me, then with the souped-up techs a Pixie has to choose form in MR1, Vix Fierce (my intended name for her), shouldblow away all competition with ease!

Well, enough bragging for me, it's time to see if I can make it come true...MUAHAHAHA Wish me luck ^_^

I don't remember whether it's been recorded on this board or not, but in my experience, each week in MR1 has its own formula for combinations that it follows at least 95% of the time. For instance, on March 3rd, if you combine (Main-type A)/(Sub-type B) with (Main-type C)/(Sub-type D), you will almost always get (Main-type C)/(Sub-type A). Or, as a more concrete example, if you combine a Worm/Naga with a Tiger/Jell (in that order), you are almost guaranteed to get a Tiger/Worm. If you switch the order around, you'll get a Worm/Tiger. This made it SO much easier to fill out my Monster Book in MR1 than it was to fill out my cards in MR2.

Oh yeah, and as far as getting a full tech carry-over if a parent's main-type matches the offspring's main-type, that must only work with a low number of techs. I tried repeatedly to get one Dragon/Henger to pass on its complete move list to its identical offspring, but I could only get around 7-9 moves to transfer on any of the many tries I made.