So you've raised a superb monster using Wildcard's style, RNA's style, or a training style of your own devising. Your monster however is now old, getting crappy stat gains, is about to die in two weeks, and (if you're lucky) Colt just gave you a retirement message. How do you get it to carry on it's legacy to later monsters? I've spent practically all night experimenting in the Lab trying to find out what makes a good combo. How do you get a good combo? Well, I can't give you any hard answers but I can give you starting point.
FINDING A GOOD COMBO
First thing in finding a good combo. EXPERIMENT. Certain monsters go together really well and others will not combine well no matter how hard you try. In order to find which monsters combine well, consider their attributes. Monsters with similar attributes tend to mix well. Dragons and Galis tend to combine well as they both excel in POW, INT, and SKI. Same can be said of Golems and Arrowheads, as they tend to share high DEF and STR. However, Golems and Pixies tend not to match because they have opposing attributes. Pixies are good at INT, SKI, and SPD whereas Golems are lousy at it, they won't pair well.
KEEPING A GOOD COMBO
So you've found a good combination, however, many trainers go on to train up their second monster only to find that when they return to the lab, that their good combo has turned into an unsure or bad combo. What happened? Age? Nope. It was something else. After some experimenting, I've found that THE ORDER OF STATS FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST was the factor. I've noticed that when one stats overtakes another or drops below another, it affect the combination. Say your monster's highest stat is SKI, his 2nd highest is SPD, 3rd INT, 4th is LIF, 5th is DEF and the lowest is POW. If you train in a stat and affect the order, you may change the outcome of the combo. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. The monster's I'm combining are a Mocchi and a Bowwow (Mew/Tiger).
MOCCHI BOWWOW
Highest SPD SPD
2nd SKI SKI
3rd INT INT
4th LIF LIF
5th DEF DEF
Lowest POW POW
Dadge says: "Good combo"
Now I train the Mocchi in SKI, raising it above his SPD. Here's what happened.....
MOCCHI BOWWOW
Highest SKI (note this!) SPD
2nd SPD SKI
3rd INT INT
4th LIF LIF
5th DEF DEF
Lowest POW POW
Dadge says: " Unsure"
With me so far? Now I train the Mocchi in SPD again, making it higher than SKI once more. The result?
MOCCHI BOWWOW
Highest SPD SPD
2nd SKI SKI
3rd INT INT
4th LIF LIF
5th DEF DEF
Lowest POW POW
Dadge says: "Good combo"
I've got my combo back!! As you can see, keeping the order of stats from highest to lowest the same in both monsters was crucial in maintaining the integrity of the combo. Just keep the order of the stats the same as when you first got the good combo and you'll be able to keep it good until you are ready to combine. NOTE: The stat carryover won't be in every result but will show up in at least one of the results.
IMPROVING A COMBO
Sometimes you can make a mediocre combo into a good one by adjusting the order of the stats.This doesn't always work but a you will most likely see a charge in one way or another. Also a monsters type plays a factor. Adjusting the stat order in my Mocchi and Bowwow to restore my good combo worked, but an experiment with a Tiger and a Golem turned out very bad. I tried to make tiger's stat order the same as the Golem's. The result? The combo went from unsure to bleeaahhh! I'm still learning about the combining system and as of yet can't work miracles (such as giving a Wracky high power) but what I discovered above is a step in the direction of becoming a true master. The bottom line.... Fiddle with those stats and EXPERIMENT! Feel free to post any findings or comments here as it will help me learn more about this complex and detailed system.
Thanks for that info! I have a really hard time finding a good combination. Every time I think it will turn out good, it sucks. Maybe this will help me out some.
I had a Wracky at 8yrs 4m old with stats(ORDER: LIF-POW-INT-SKI-SPD- DEF): 200-001-999-650-999-050 approx. It had a "good" combo with my phoenix(542-123-999-890-993-937) at this time.
I continued training my Wracky until 10yrs 5m old with stats: 351-078- 999-896-999-109. It became an "unsure" combo with my phoenix(same as above).
I know this because I check their compatability every year or so. Since I didn't want to mess up their compatability, I needed to keep making sure.
With these manipulations, you can see that my Wracky did not change the orderings of stats(greatest - least) but ended up with a different combo in the end. The only thing that changed, was the increase of levels in LIF,POW,SKI,DEF.
Combining to result in a specified prospect(good, unsure, etc.) is quite a confusing algorithm to solve. Although ordering of stats may be an issue, other things(such as levels of stats) may influence the prospect as well, which is seen with my example. However, I do notice that good/great combos happen alot with my monsters if the pairings both have high POW/SKI/DEF or INT/SKI/SPD as those are the two types of stat based monsters I like to raise.
You're on to something, Dark Phoenix. It will be quite a challenging task to figure out how to yield good results from combining. I must commend you for your attempts at such a difficult subject to uncover.
I found out that when you combine a trianed phoenix and ninja kato.The lab guy will say it is a great combo.ANd that's where i got my incredible second generation kato
Here's a little thought about combining. Rank helps and I also believe that the order thing is good but could it also be nature?
Also, one thing I think works well, provided that the pure breeds of the two species you are going to combine tend towards good combo, is cross breeding (cross-combining). It is mentioned in MR1 but not in MR2 but I think it still works. I combined an Arrowhead with a Golem, and a Golem with an Arrowhead (after raising of course) so I had a Priarocks (Arrowhead/Golem) and a um ??? (Golem/Arrowhead). Then I "cross breeded" them to form a Golem/Arrowhead, but that was preference as I could've switched the sub and main easily. The results were good. I don't have the stats exactly since that was one of the first monsters I bred, but I know that the starting power was 300+ and the other stats were 150-200+, which is definitely worth the effort. Of course this was before I learned to raise monsters with longer life so he died quick cuz I guess I was kinda mean to it and I just mixed it to make a joker (which was kinda dumb :P)
why does it matter what dadge says?? if i want to mix a monster, i will mix it nomatter what anybody else says....... what does what he say have to do with how the monster will end up?
cool. glad to see that someone is experimenting with an important aspect of the game that up til now seems not to be getting the attention it deserves from the master breeders and experimenters (not completely neglected mind you, just not explored enough i think). one of the interesting aspects of the game is that we are looking at the end results of formulas while trying to determine what the formulas themselves are. hope you or some other inspired soul can illuminate this issue further.
I was just checking out combos in my freezer and when I tried to combine my Siren and Undine I got a Great combo, now im just trying to raise their skill, intelligence and speed so I can have a great monster. The point is when combining two of a same main breed the chances are higher of getting a better combination. I tried to combine my Tricker and Ducken with the Siren and Undine but it was either a poor or unsure combo, yet when I combined the Tricker and Ducken it was a fair combo. In Lamens terms: Same mainbreed makes better combining(Or so it seems to me)
A strange thing.... I noticed that the order of the 3 highest stats in the Mocchi and the Bowwow when combined is same as that of the 3 highest BASELINE stats of a tiger. In that combo, the tiger was the best result and all the carryover was in those 3 stats. SKI/SPD/INT in that order.
thanx dark ph. i will incorporate this into my 4 level combining experiment - besides similarity, i will also test for rank ordering. i also am assuming that crossbreeding does play a part - i've chosen my pairs by who has the most combos with each other. not an established result yet, but my best combos seemed to happen whenever i had so many possibilities that another screen [with the little right arrow on the first] was needed to hold them all.
finally, i also agree that the next wave of breakthroughs will come in the combining area. so much great attention has been paid to raising methods, that all we are doing now is refining refinements even finer. i want to come up with a method of greatly increasing, if not guaranteeing, that combos are declared good.
ARRRGHHH! I think I'll have an easier time finding a vaccine for the AIDS virus than I will of figuring out the combining system. RNA is right. The levels of the stats themselves affect the combining process as well. I took the good combo of a Mocchi and a Bowwow and jacked them up with a GS when keep the stat order and ended up with a not so good combo instead. Apparently finding the key to geeting good and great combos is not going to be so easy:( Let me know of anything you may discover about this system. This is a tough nut to crack but may lead to the Holy Grail of Monster Ranching!
Dark Phoenix also has another thread in which you can post stats of good/great combos. It is named "Good Combos. Let me know about them!" and it is located in the "Raising/training" category.
I am interested in the exact stats of your two monsters. We don't get many "great" combos, so it would be nice if you put up the stats so that other people can analyzed them.
I also believe that a good/great combo is determined by stat allocations. There are other factors that are known to contribute as well, such as: original nature, breed compatability,and stat ratios.