The research last night made me think a little, and have a proposal for anyone will to beat me to it (again, short on resources, so I can't spend the time/money on burning dozens of CDs just for research).

(Note the following *does not include rares*. I've seen them as the exception to the general rule of shrining).

There are 38 main breeds. My research has shown that there's approximately 4 frames lee-way. That gives 35 differences in a given second. And not a single breed actually uses all 38 types has a subbreed.

There is 391 total attainable monsters, 305 of those are not rares. That would also give 1220 frames in which to provide an assortment of creatures. That would be within 16seconds20frames. I also theorize that this algorithm loops (either using a modulus or whatnot)--thus, perhaps, for any none-rares, one could find a creature within that span of burn time.

Like the title said, just an Idle Thought...

Well, I don't know if this helps or hurts, but here it is.
Lisa posted a pure Gali for MR2. It had a Frame of 1. I took it for my base and burned 6 CDs adding 5 frames to each one (+5,+10,+15,+20,+25,+30) and one with +40. I also burned one -5 frames (7:44:71).
All eight produced pure Galis.
The seven + discs had the same stats: 132 147 167 129 104 105.
The - disc however had the following stats: 115 146 185 126 101 106.
This would seem to indicate that for Gali stats are 'set' within say an arc of about a second. It'll still be a Gali, but the stats change. When I get some more CD-Rs, I'll start burning more in the minus territory and with larger arcs, say 37 frames each way.

INTERESTING!!! Perhaps what I've found was not just for rares, but it just happens along those lines.

I *do* know, however, and I'll try and detail its location (it may not even be posted) where I burnt a CD, and it yielded a Hopper; 5+ frames later, it was a different Hopper, followed by another Hopper, and so forth and so on.

Anyhow...

--Cats

A little more data. This time I took wider swings of a Second apiece and burned four more CDs. (All I've had time for.) Again, they all yielded Gali/Gali.

At +2 Seconds stats were: 142 121 180 130 77 111
At +1 Second stats were: 125 125 163 119 103 130
At - 1 Sec. stats were: 115 146 185 126 101 106
At - 2 Sec. stats were: 141 120 177 120 83 123

This is looking a little like the effect of plotting for a Bell curve.

Maybe Hopper is squeezed in with several other low stats monsters? Who knows at this point.

News Flash!

At +2, comp.=761
At +1, comp.=765
Base, comp.=784
At -1, comp.=779
At -2, comp.=764

More gasoline on the fire...

Cats: In my extensive research post Burning custom audio CDs to create a specific monster: initial research, even though there were problems with the ToCs of the discs (extra track entries that appear to be artifacts from the program I used to burn the CDs), I noticed modifying the frames within a one-second range produced identical monsters with identical stats.

I still stand by my hypothesis that the frame count (PFrame) doesn't make a difference (except in rares), and that the smallest unit that determines the breed and stats is the second count (PSec).

John's first post in this thread seems to support this.

I still haven't done my impending ultra-big research endeavor on this (since I got my PS2 and Swing Away Golf, I've been too distracted). But as much as I admire your research, and as much as I bow to your seniority in this field, I still can't buy into your idea. Everything I've done on my own contradicts that possibility.

Just playing with your idea, though, with 305 non-rares, if it was a PSec, it could cycle through in 305 seconds, or just over 5 minutes, for almost 16 cycles over the span of possible CD lengths (0 to 80 minutes). I'm not sure that's the case, but it would be elegant, no?

On a positive note, this is making me want to put down the virtual sand wedge and start burning some CDs again.

Bell Curve: well, one theory I heard was that, in order to fully support the idea of "commons vs. rares", there has to be some kinda curve, so it's far easier to get, say, a Mocchi or a Gaboo over, say, a Joker or an Undine.

Quincunx: I'm glad you put down the virtual sandwedge--apparently, you made quite a discovery in the next thread!

--Cats

Rather than a true bell curve, could it simply be one of these three things?

• There are eight types of non-rare Mocchis and four non-rare Gaboos, but only six non-rare Jokers and two non-rare Undines. ...OK, scratch that one. «grin»

• Perhaps there's a table of, say, 60 entries (tied to a PMin or PSec value, perhaps) and Jokers and Undines each only have one entry, while Mocchi and Gaboo have two or three?

• Following the previous entry, perhaps a main and sub are determined, and if there is no matching monster, it "defaults" to one from a set of common monsters?

Just tossing out thoughts.

Man, post a little data and look at what happens. ^__^

Here's some more.

At +3 seconds, still a pure Gali: 134 129 162 118 88 132, comp.=763
At -3 seconds, pure Gali: 130 125 178 121 101 128, comp.=783

Not so much a bell curve as a sine wave, rolling up and down. From a low of 761 to a high of 784.

Here's your seven Galis.

-3 sec	130	125	178	121	101	128
-2 sec	141	120	177	120	83	123
-1 sec	115	146	185	126	101	106
±0 sec	132	147	167	129	104	105
+1 sec	125	125	163	119	103	130
+2 sec	142	121	180	130	77	111
+3 sec	134	129	162	118	88	132

Compare them to this portion of my PSec2 table.

PSec2=42	11	5	16	17	27	18
PSec2=43	22	0	15	16	9	13
PSec2=44	-4	26	23	22	27	-4
PSec2=45	13	27	5	25	30	-5
PSec2=46	6	5	1	15	29	20
PSec2=47	23	1	18	26	3	1
PSec2=48	15	9	0	14	14	22

Each Gali's stats are 119/120/162/104/74/110 plus the entries for the corresponding PSec2 entry. And I looked at the ToC data for the disc in question, and sure enough, PSec2=45.

If you're looking to max out this particular Gali in composite stats, try changing PSec2 to 6 (-39 from the original).

Ok, I'm off to burn a Gali. Report soon.

Sorry about that. Had a few technical difficulties.
Here is the pure Gali 'maximized' by changing PSec2 to the value of 6:

136

127

184

124

96

121

comp.=788

Hmm, so we actually came within 4 in maxing this particular Gali out before.