Quite some time ago, RNA made a post about how monsters go through various stages of life (Childhood, Adolescence, Prime..etc), however, he made the mistake of assuming that the life stages were all equal in length for all monsters...

They're not..

A few months ago, Nevistar and I managed to crack the codes that determined what stages the monster was in and how long the monster remained in those stages. The results were very enlightening, unforunately, in a lapse of judgement, I neglected to post those findings up here. I apologize for witholding this potentially VERY useful info. So...at long last, the real info on monster life stages.

First off, there are TEN stages in a monsters lifespan. Some are easy to spot (childhood to adolescence, adolescence to prime), most however, are distinguised only by a subtle increase or decrease in performance.

Stage 1 - Infancy (If a monster is not listed as hating Milk, it will like it this stage)

Stage 2 - Childhood (If a monster doesn't specifically like Milk, it'll stop liking Milk at this stage. Some monsters, however, naturally like Milk and will continue to like it their entire lives) Increase in stat gain.

Stage 3 - Adolescence. Monster grows at this point. significant stat gain increase.

Stage 4 - Adolescence. Slight increase in stat gain.

Stage 5 - Prime. Monster grows again. Stat gains reach their peak.

Stage 6 - Prime. Almost identical to Stage 5. Slight drop in stat gains.

Stage 7 - Elder. No change in size from here on. First significant stat gain drop occurs here. Still pretty good though.

Stage 8 - Elder. Slight stat gain drop, no other noticable changes.

Stage 9 - Old Age. Stat gains drop to near childhood levels. Colt might start to ask you to retire your monster at this point.

Stage 10 - Twilight. Stat gains drop to Infancy levels. If Colt asks you to retire the monster at this stage, her warnings will be more dire. Save often, 'cause it's almost shooting star time.

Those are the ten stages. However, the number of weeks in the monster's alloted lifespan are NOT distributed evenly between these ten life stages. The length of these stages depend on the type of monster in question, meaning some monsters may have long childhoods and others long old age stages.

The length of the various stages of a monster's life follow one of the four patterns. The pattern the monster follows is determined by the monster's SUB-breed. So if you're looking for the lifespan pattern of a Gooji (Zilla/Tiger), refer to the Tiger's lifespan pattern, NOT the Zilla's.
(NOTE: I currently have no data on the patterns of rares..sorry).

TYPE I:

Stage 1 - 10%
Stage 2 - 10%
Stage 3 - 15%
Stage 4 - 15%
Stage 5 - 10%
Stage 6 - 5%
Stage 7 - 10%
Stage 8 - 5%
Stage 9 - 5%
Stage 10 - 15%

Subs that follow this pattern: Arrowhead, Bajarl, Centaur, Gali, Hare, Henger, Jell, Metalner, Mocchi, Monol, Zuum

Comments: A fairly typical pattern with few surprises

Type II

Stage 1 - 5%
Stage 2 - 5%
Stage 3 - 10%
Stage 4 - 10%
Stage 5 - 5%
Stage 6 - 5%
Stage 7 - 15%
Stage 8 - 15%
Stage 9 - 10%
Stage 10 - 20%

Subs that follow this pattern: Beaclon, Dragon, Ghost, Hopper, Mock, Naga, Pixie, Plant, Suezo, Tiger

Comments: At first, this pattern is going to scare you into thinking that your monster will die young. However, as you can see, it's later stages are quite long, so don't panic.

Type III

Stage 1 - 15%
Stage 2 - 15%
Stage 3 - 15%
Stage 4 - 15%
Stage 5 - 10%
Stage 6 - 10%
Stage 7 - 5%
Stage 8 - 5%
Stage 9 - 5%
Stage 10 - 5%

Subs that follow this pattern: Ape, Baku, ColorPandora, Gaboo, Golem, Jill, Kato, Niton, Phoenix, Worm, Wracky, Zilla

Comments: This pattern is almost the opposite of Type II. This pattern is marked by a very long childhood and a long prime, but deteriorates quickly at old age. I find monsters of this lifestage pattern respond best to Troron/Paradoxine use.

Type IV

Stage 1 - 5%
Stage 2 - 5%
Stage 3 - 10%
Stage 4 - 10%
Stage 5 - 10%
Stage 6 - 5%
Stage 7 - 15%
Stage 8 - 15%
Stage 9 - 10%
Stage 10 - 15%

Subs that follow this pattern: Ducken, Durahan, Joker, Mew, Undine

Comments: This pattern may initially scare you with the brief childhood, but then quickly settles into a stable, predictable pattern. This pattern has a longer Prime than Type II. Advantage: More time to train during the Prime Disadvantage: Fewer battles later in life.


Most of this data was discovered by Nevistar and must be given credit here as well (especially since he did most of the dirty work. Thanks Nevistar, hope you don't mind me putting this up here ^_^)

Well, there you have it. I hope you'll find it useful.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. Later!

yay! yay! thanx, dp!

Very useful.

Thanx...now to find a monster I want to train with type 3 lifespan, like the long prime.

Wow.... to quote from B'way's "The Full Monty": "Now THAT's the *goods*!"

Thanks, DP!