(*Note: I edited some of this to conform to what I know now about the game. Enjoy!)

For all those who've just started the game, or have been playing awhile and still haven't developed perfect strategies for new moves, here goes! 1. If you want to breed one of each of the 38 monster types, why do it on one save file and have to ditch your old favorites? If you create multiple save files, your big, powerful monsters can have several offspring. And if those happen to be the creatures with lots of moves like Arrowhead, Wracky, Kato, etc., then you can instantly start of monsters with 8 or more moves! 2. Unless you're using something with very little variety (like Joker, who only has 6 attacks), DON'T try to get all their techs in their first incarnation. It's better to raise one monster (hopefully with the sub-traits of a Mock or Plant for increased lifespan) who unlocks every move, and then is combined away to produce the subtype of the maintype creature you REALLY want. 3. Just in case you didn't see the earlier posts, most monsters have "Tech Chains," in which using the first move 50 times unlocks the second move. If there is a third move in the chain, use the second 50 times to unlock IT (The only monster with fourth moves in a chain is Bajarl, so don't worry about it much). It helps to look on a full list of moves for a monster, like in the Monster Haven, and then try to determine chains. Some are easy, like with Nitons (Soundwave, Soundwave-L, Soundwave-X...), but the Wrackies can often give ALOT of crap, and you'll just have to determine it based on what the Errantry guy says, as well as what a technique's "type" is (Basic, Heavy, Withering, Hit, Sharpness, or Special). Basic Techs can be learned on any course, but each of the others can ONLY be learned on its respective course. While some Tech chains may give you the first one or two on the original courses, and then have the final link on the Special course, it's kind of rare. 4. Okay, with that out of the way...you may wonder "how the hell do I use enough moves in this creature's lifespan to fill them out!?". While it may not be possible for the more extensive repertoire monsters, it's not too hard for most. Just put them in every tournament you possibly can (DON'T raise a monster who hates battles). E-rank and A-rank don't quite have enough fights for this purpose, and while D-rank is pretty good, C- and B-rank are best, offering up a chance to brawl each and every month even WITHOUT counting the IMA official cups. In these situations, try to work on your monster's defensive stats BEFORE the offensive stats. If a monster doesn't have as much power/intelligence, it can use a certain attack more times in a battle, and if the tech has low accuracy, it will miss more often, giving you more times to use it (Fortunately, you don't have to CONNECT with the attack, just use it, miss or hit, 50 times. The game designers did not hate Golems). However, if you're just using power techs, build up your intelligence and vice-versa for one of the other moves that you aren't working on. This insures that even if your "don't hit or don't damage too much" strategy works TOO well, you can still pull off a last-minute attack with your other damage-deciding stat and still win the match. Overall, I prefer speed demons for building moves, because even if you barely damage the enemy, if they NEVER hit YOU, you can play around with them all you like! 5. Remember that almost every monster has at least one Good tech and one Evil tech (Jokers and a few others excluded), meaning that if you really want every move, you'll either need a gameshark for a one-month morality switch, or you could just corrupt/redeme a good/bad monster. If you take the second, more honorable route, it's easier to turn a bad monster good than make a good monster bad. Trust me, it just is. In most cases, you have to be good or bad to recover HP. Good critters learn how to heal themselves, bad little monsters learn how to drain it out of their opponent. 6. In all my experiments, I have NEVER gotten a monster spawned in the laboratory to start with Special Techs. It just doesn't happen. However, if you manage to get a certain move with the parent, it will automatically be unlocked and ready for the young'n to pick up whenever they choose. If the first parent you chose in the combination process is of the same main-type as the creature it produces, then the offspring will also retain the experience of the monster before it, except with Special Techs. Example: Antares Senior used Javelin 13 times. After Antares Junior used it only 37 times, he could gain Jump Javelin. However, even though Antares Senior had used Cross Slash (A Special Tech) extensively, Antares Junior still had to use Cross Slash 50 times to get Z Smash. 7. When the Errantry man says that you can learn a new tech on a course "but it might not be so easy right now" that means that there's at least one move LEFT to learn on the course, but you haven't unlocked it yet. Don't even try. Also, I've had a few cases where a technique had no prerequisite, but I still couldn't get it until I got a "locked" technique "out of the way." Antares Junior refused to learn Mind Flare (a simple Withering move) until he had used Energy Shot (another simple Withering move) enough times to learn Energy Shots (a complex Withering move). My Wracky had similar problems on the Special course. 8. Please, please, PLEASE don't send a monster on Errantry until they're a year old or have reached maturity, whichever comes LAST. Otherwise, you'll do irrepairable damage to the poor critter's lifespan. Also, make sure they're "Very Well," and as soon as they get back, slip'em a Nuts Oil and send them to week of Rest before doing anything else. 9. Battling (or using a Mint Leaf is the monsters form is Normal) at least every two or three months keeps a monster from ever getting stressed out, improving lifespan. If you unlock several moves simultaneously, don't try to learn more than two in a row, or the stress will come and damage is done. Beat up something, then go back to training. Well, that's it! Hope you all enjoyed my little FAQ-in-a-post, and if there's anything more to add, feel free to tack it on! Big Thanks to all the people who've contributed to this information, which I couldn't possibly all name. You know who you are, and we love you for it.

-- Nate Railsback (ChimeraMan101@aol.com), April 16, 2000

Answers

*GROWL* Sorry to anyone who got confused by the horrible loss of format that a simple copy-and-paste job produced. It'll all look okay on the new message board, whenever it gets put up.

-- Nate Railsback (ChimeraMan101@aol.com), April 16, 2000.