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Clock Abuse Tutorial


Meteor
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Slackers: Skip down to the "My Method" section.

Background Information

In order to understand how to clock abuse you must first know how random numbers (RNs) are used by the game. When the game is loaded, an array of these numbers is generated. Long story short, the time from the DS's internal clock (precise to the second) determines what these numbers are. By setting the clock to any arbitrary time, the corresponding array of RNs can be reproduced.

Whenever a unit attacks, two RNs are used to determine whether or not the hit lands. If it does, a third RN is used to check for a critical hit. An enemy counterattack also uses 2-3 RNs, as does a double hit from either unit. Healing uses zero, a death quote takes one, and a level up uses eight. The specific numbers don't matter so much as knowing that events leading to a level up must remain the same to reproduce the intended stat gains. I find it easiest to level up after a single hit; a miss means no exp/level up, and a killing first blow means even my super fast units won't accidentally use too many RNs.

You will need to devise a reproduceable method that takes a consistent number of seconds between the clock setting screen all the way through the DS's warning screen (the RNs are set after this point). Then you must find another method to be followed after hijacking the RNs, like the one I described above. When both are determined, begin playing through the game, When one of your units is about to level up, suspend the game. Reset the clock, start the game, and follow your steps all the way through leveling up.

Other Notes

Though I will list the times I used later, you may find it beneficial to use your own. To do this, instead of suspending before a level up, use a map save. This will allow you to level up using different times until you find one to fit your needs.

In regard to finding custom times, beware of dynamic growths! Unless your unit is at his starting level, your times may not be reproduceable. This also applies when leveling up. A unit with a 50% growth will gain a stat on an RN of 55 every other time.

My Method

  • Set DS to autoplay games.
  • Get as close to 99 exp as possible with a unit. Make sure he doesn't attack on the enemy phase!
  • Suspend, then power off once you get back to the title screen.
  • Power on the DS while holding the Start button.
  • Set clock to date/time. See below
  • As soon as possible, push B, B, A (waiting for the upward scrolling animations before each keypress).
  • Immediately turn the DS on.
  • As soon as the text appears at the bottom of the warning screen, press A.
  • Continue your Suspend data as soon as possible. This doesn't have to be quick, but I've had RNs messed up after watching the class description thing.
  • The unit which will be getting the level up should only attack once without being countered, crit doesn't matter.

My Date/Times

These are known good times when using my method. Growth rates above or equal to the numbers listed are guaranteed to increase, growths below or marked with a "?" I'm not sure about. If you have any revisions let me know.

mm-dd-yyyy hh:mm [HP, Str, Mag, Skl, Spd, Lck, Def, Res]

01-01-2000 00:05 [40, 10, ?, 55, 10, 25, 5, 10] 70 Hit; Cavalier Frey +6

01-01-2000 03:43 [30, 35, 20, 45, 60, 35, 20, 15] Mage Frey +6

01-01-2000 22:37 [20, 40, 10, 20, 25, ?, ?, 10]

Finding these dates and times was extremely time consuming; I have made these date/times freely available, and I ask that you do the same should you find better ones than me.

Contributed Date/Times

Alternative times discovered by other members using my method.

01-01-2000 09:24 [20, ?, ?, 20, 15, 40, 20, 10] by quanchino

08-27-2009 03:06 [15, 25, ?, 60, 15, 25, 5, 2] by Uiru

08-27-2009 04:31 [35, 10, ?, 30, 60, ?, 10, 5] by Uiru

08-27-2009 08:11 [35, 15, ?, 25, 25, 10, 5, ?] by Uiru

08-27-2009 11:10 [50, ?, 10, ?, ?, ?, 5, ?] Cleric Catria +3; by Uiru

08-27-2009 03:31 [35, 20, ?, 30, ?, ?, ?, ?] 1% crit; by Uiru

Edited by Meteor
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It really is not that complex =\.

Anyway, here are some of my level ups. For the time, I wait until the "Time Saved" thing goes away, then press b twice and then a. Then immediately turn the DS back on and spam a until I'm at the title screen.

For all of these level-ups, attack method was Me-Enemy-Me.

1) Date: 8/24/09

Time: 20:42

Notes: Enemy must HIT your character

Ogma!Mercenary: Hp, Str, Skill, Spd, Luck

2) Date: 8/24/09

Time: 02:20

Notes: Enemy must MISS your character

Ogma!Mercenary and Barst!Fighter: Hp, Str, Spd, Def

3) Date: 8/24/09

Time: 22:30

Notes: Enemy must HIT your character

Ogma!Mercenary: Hp, Str, Skill, Def

I have more but these are the best I have found so far, and the others I'm not sure if you have to hit or miss the enemy. Also, I haven't tested each of these with enough characters to find the actual RNs they produce, just that for Ogma!Mercenary they all work. The second was tested with Barst too.

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Archer Rena's growth rates: 35 10 5 30 30 60 10 10

That's a growth rate in every area with very low parameters. I should start a new NM file to see if I can score a +8 level up, which would benefit most characters except ones like Roshea (lower than 30% speed).

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I tried that... and gave up. Sage Minerva is pretty bad, too. If you don't care about Magic, Dracoknight Boah is probably the best option. However, the odds of a perfect level up are really low.

Archer Lena 105,820:1

Sage Minerva 416,667:1

Dracoknight Boah: 500,000:1

To put that in perspective: If you could test 2 level ups per minute, it would take about 174 days to get a +7 for Boah.

Edited by Meteor
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Just got a really good Merric!Sage level-up. I need to test it on a Merric!Mage's first levelup so I can say Dynamic Growths don't affect it.

-After changing time, wait until the "Time Saved" disappears and then press b twice and then a, turn the DS back on ASAP, and then spam a.

Time: 16:16

Date: 1/1/2020

Stats: Hp, Mag, Spd, Lck, Def

Notes: Needs to be a single hit kill

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The 01-01-2000 00:05 date scores Sniper!Rena Str, Spd, Luck, Def, and Res.

Sniper!Rena's Str growth is 10%, so you can change that to 10% as being guaranteed to work (Cleric builds no dynamic growth for Str).

Sniper's Res growth is 10%, but Dynamic growth probably altered the growth a bit. Rena's Res was 11 as Sniper before leveling up (averages show 10), so it looks like she stayed close to average on Res. I would say around 15% Res needed to be on the safe side.

I'm going to try this date on various Merric classes.

EDIT, Sniper Merric:

0825092058.jpg

The +Res is because of dynamic growths.

Edited by Brawl Sheeda
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Lucky me for starting at the beginning, eh? It only took me five minutes to find. The magical levels were the tricky ones.

I wonder if your Merric could get +Res every level since the dynamic reduction should be -0.

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No, his Res growth reset.

But I haven't tested level ups as Dragon Knight (which has 10% res growth for him).

But this level up will pretty much hand out five key stats to most of the cast in the game, which (in conjunction of finding a date that gives guaranteed crit) would be necessary to low turn H5 without warps.

Edited by Brawl Sheeda
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vI still don't know enough about dynamic growths to understand why that happened.
Because the extra Res growths from dynamic growths were ditched completely, or became low enough to not meet the RN and can never grow again.
I'm fairly sure it's insta-crit with a killer weapon. I haven't tried it with a 0 Skl character though.

On H5, there needs to be a date that crits without a killer. I had a forge where, yeah, it did crit, but a date without the need for crit boosts is highly wanted.

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It can't grow again, but I thought perhaps it would never decrease either.

Unfortunately I skipped all animations when I was testing for level ups. Finding such a time shouldn't be too hard; 1 in 100 odds (assuming you want to crit with 1%).

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Merry Christmas! 12/25/2010, 00:10.

BORD gains Hp, Str, Spd, and Def. This means the Speed and Defense rngs are below 15 (allowing for dynamic growths, but I hope that they're really below 10).

Bord has to kill the enemy in one hit. See an above post of mine for method I use to turn the DS off and such...

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  • 1 month later...

Wow it's pinned...

This thread helped me a lot. ^_^

EDIT: The first time 0:05 the res RN is somewhere under 10 because I've been leveling Paola as a peg/Draco and she gets everything... except mag and luck of course...

Edited by AstraLunaSol
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I finally got a hang for this stuff! =]

also for that 00:05 time. My Pala!Minerva gets spd at 20 spd. it might be due to dynamic growths but she's been getting spd for the past couple of levels. just thought i should say point that out.

and for the 22:37 time. uhh Maria gets luck every other level.. so i'd assume the luck would be somewhere over 75, if it helps.

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Clock abusing is so much easier than RNG abusing in this game...
Resetting the clock is RNG abusing.

Depending on the definition of RNG abusing.

I am talking about the use a save point and resetting until I get a level I want, that type of RNG abusing.

While using a specific time to get the same RNs constantly is considered Clock Abusing Which I find to be much easier and takes less effort.

Though you are correct as well by resetting the clock we are changing the RNs resulting in none other that RNG abusing.

It really depends on how you think...

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