repeated ad infinitum, with the light drills of your choice dropped in there. This isn't a bad way to boost SKI in childhood, for example, getting n extra LDs that would normally be used as rest. Expensive, but effective. But can an occasional Hard Drill be added in?
As long as your monster likes tablets, and you're starting at 0 Stress, 0 Fatigue, it would seem so:
should work fine. I can post the numbers on request, but I'll summarize here: the monster in the above equation should have no LIs above 55 (no lifespan hits), never rest, and have a pretty steady Form (it may gain weight very slowly). It's a little more expensive than the original method (two Mangoes were cheaper than a NO and ML), but is that worth getting a HD in each month instead of an LD?
When I ran the Energizer Bunny system on the original test Hare, it seemed to tend towards Slim when there was no visible reason for it to do so -- I have a hunch that something else is at work here, some slimming factor (say, a -1 per month, or certain drills carrying a -1 to Form or something like that). Either way, the second-week item can be adjusted as needed (MLs for thinning, Candy for Fattening) to keep your Form at Normal.
Failures, Cheats and Greats have not been figured in, as I still have no hard numbers on how they affect Stress and Fatigue (and they're fairly random as to when they occur, so you can't plug them into the system easily). Spoil will tend to lag behind Fear a little, but with the usual system of praise (praising on Greats, scolding about half the time on Failures, scolding on Cheats, praising when it finds an item) Spoil should keep steady and (likely) jump ahead at some point. If you have to sneak in a Smoked Snake to balance this, Week 2 is the time to do it.
Now, if you're VERY confident in your raising style, and your monster definitely likes Tablets, try this:
will work, IF you're starting out at 0,0 and all else remains static. At the beginning of Month 1/Week 4, you're RIGHT at the edge of a lifespan hit (LI 69, 70 being the cutoff). One point of stress or fatigue more than that, and... so if you get a Failure or a Cheat, and you're worried about losing life, manage your praise and/or scolding carefully. You can always bite the bullet, rest it for a week and pick it up where you left off.
Want to take it this to the extreme? Instead of the typical HD/HD/HD/Rest cycle (which should really be on Weeks 3,4,1,2 if you want to avoid lifespan hits), let's start at Week 4 and work through a tougher two-month cycle, allowing it to rest once:
"Month" 1 (Week 4, 1, 2, 3):
HD/Tablet/HD/LD/HD, Candy/NO/ML/NO
"Month" 2: (Week 4, 1, 2, 3):
LD/Tablet/HD/HD/Rest, ML/NO/ML/NO
(repeat two-month cycle)
This WILL hold up over time. Form remains steady (Candy +10, 2 Tablets (+6), 3 MLs (-15) = +1), LI dances right to the edge at times (twice in the 60s) but doesn't go over, and there's really no room for slipping in other items.
Want to start on Week 3? Hey, we can do that, too:
"Month" 1 (Week 3, 4, 1, 2):
HD/HD/Tablet/LD/HD, Candy/NO/ML/NO
"Month" 2 (Week 3, 4, 1, 2):
LD/HD/Tablet/HD/Rest, ML/NO/NO/ML
(repeat cycle)
The result? In eight weeks, you're getting five HDs, two LDs and a Rest instead of six HDs and two Rests. Can two LDs give you more than one HD would? Possibly, if you're in a Prime situation where LDs are returning 12s, 13s, 14s, 15s... compare two +14 LDs to a +20, +5, -3 HD and you might just come out slightly ahead. This can also work for using those LDs on SKI (no HD for that) for a while, or for keeping the subtracted stats in HDs from dropping a level by LDing those stats once a month. (i.e. if you want to pound on Pull for months on end but don't want to Leap to balance it, you can get five Pulls and two Dodges every two months like this.)
It really depends on the monster and the timing as to whether this will be beneficial, and as to whether the secondary stat for your HDs is one you want to raise or not. Take Pull/Leap again. Five Pulls and two Dodges raises POW and LIF a lot, and should just about cover the SPD loss from the HDs. Five Pulls and one Leap will do that, but it pulls a couple of points off of POW and puts them into INT in the process. Big whoop, right? Well, hey, I never promised MAJOR improvements. ;)
Again, your mileage may vary, particularly if you're squeezing in other activities or getting regular Failures or Cheats. Greats (assuming you're praising for them) should only help the process along. And if your monster doesn't like Tablets, forget the harder methods above...
And, as usual, these aren't for anyone who can't afford a one-item-per-week hit on the bankroll. I've found it ironic that, battling only when necessary, my last couple HoFers in a row have broken even PRECISELY at the Legend Cup battle.
The raw numbers for any of these can be posted on request. (I have an Excel Spreadsheet file into which I'm plugging in the items and drills, which I can also share if needed.)
AFAIK, Nuts Oil always removes 28 Fatigue, but it _also_ removes 1/5 Stress (round down) from monsters with Durahan, Arrowhead or Henger components. Why? Don't ask me, but it does.
So here's a steady no-rest program just for them, even if they're Neutral to Tablets:
Tablet/HD/LD/HD/LD, NO/(Item)/NO/ML
Repeat as needed. Use Candy or ML as needed in the (Item) slot to maintain Form. Hell, if your monster likes Tablets and you don't mind living at LI=69 once a month, use no item AT ALL in Week 2, and save a few bucks. Or use some item that doesn't increase Stress or Fatigue (say, Peaches, Star Prunes, Smoked Snakes, whatever) there. Enjoy your newfound Hall-of-Famer several years later. ;)
(Which is better for your monster's development -- four HDs and four LDs, or five HDs, two LDs and a Rest week? As always, you make the call.)
It's been brought to my attention that Mint Leaves do NOT round down when relieving stress -- they round down the amount of stress relieved, instead. (Merely a misinterpretation on my part of the phrase "Mint Leaf: -1/2 Stress (round down)".)
Digging through some of my methods, I've found the following:
The original Energizer Bunny system (Tablet/LD/LD/LD/LD, Mango/Mango/ML/NO) is unaffected.
Method 2 (Tablet/LD/LD/HD/LD, NO/Candy or ML/NO/ML) is unaffected.
works fine if the last two weeks are NO/ML instead.
Method 5: (week 3 variant): (HD/HD/Tablet/LD/HD, Candy/NO/ML/NO, LD/HD/Tablet/HD/Rest, ML/NO/NO/ML) will lose -1 life once every other month. Changing the first part of that to: (HD/HD/Tablet/LD/HD, Candy/ML/NO/NO)
will still lose -1 lifespan if Rest w/a Lump or Fire Stone returns a -9, and will continue to lose -1 lifespan once every other month until you get an -11 or -12 Stress on a subsequent Rest. A small risk, but the Week 4 cycle is still a safer choice.
Method 6 (the Durahan/Arrowhead/Henger variation) will not QUITE work as posted, as the second week item is more important. Make it:
as a two-month cycle and you should be safe. If you want to sneak in an "alternative" item (Peaches, Snakes, etc.), consider resting that week and continuing from there.
In addition, an individual going by the name of "c_goat" on another board came up with the following method that seems quite efficient: