3rd Gen Daycare vs Training; Which is Faster

[WaffleSkunk]

In one of my Sapphire play throughs, I decided to catch a male Slakoth to toss into the daycare with a female Torkoal. The idea was to get an egg and hatch it and level it up to the rest of my party. Turns out that Slakoth and Torkoal can't breed, nor can Torkoal with any of my field Pokémon I already have. I went online to find what Pokémon Torkoal can breed with, but I found the answer to a different question instead.

Now I have a new plan. I want to run a Ruby and Emerald play through in parallel with Sapphire. I caught a Numel with intent on evolving it into Camerupt to teach it Erupt before breeding it with Torkoal because I like the idea of a low-level Torkoal knowing Erupt while plowing my way through Petalburg Forest.

And this brings me to here with a what-would-you-do question. If the only thing I care about is getting a level 40 Camerupt, what would be the fastest/easiest method? On one hand, I can pop it into the daycare and then run circles for a while. What was it, 1 XP per step? On the other hand, I can give Numel an XP Share and go into several battles. On yet a third hand, I can send only Numel into battle and pray it doesn't get slapped with a super-effective critical hit (Numel is really weak when first caught).

I'm going ahead and saying the last option is a no-go. The amount of time saved by letting Numel take the full XP is lost having to travel to a Pokémon Center and back after literally every battle or two.

Going back to the other two options, 1 XP per step sounds like a very small amount. We're talking thousands of steps to get Numel into the mid to upper 30s from his in-wild levels (12-15?), whereas using the XP Share can get—depending on RNG—anywhere from 50-300 XP in 50 steps. The XP share, however, still requires me to have to take time to actually battle (all of the OH-KO times add up). Add on the time to occasionally heal the actual battling Pokémon, plus the part where just going from level 20 to 21 takes nearly as many battles. It's the benefit of mass gains in XP at the cost of time to collect. The daycare method, I can just use the Mach Bike and ride from the western edge of Verdanturf to the eastern edge of New Mauville and back for a constant 10-15 XP/second (or whatever the travel speed is).

One last thing before you decide what method you would use: I do not have the fifth gym badge yet, so the highest levels of wild Pokémon I have access to are around level 15.

 

[Devalue]

Recorded some experience gains from Pokemon on Ruby. Technically differs a little from Sapphire's encounters. Should be close.

Route 114
Nuzleaf: 362/322
Swablu: 179
Seedot: 169
Zangoose: 377
(Did not bother with Surskit)

Desert
Sandshrew: 279/265
Trapinch: 208
Baltoy: 165
Cacnea: 291

Estimated the rough experience per Pokemon:
Route 114: (.1 * 342) + (.4 * 179) + (.3 * 169) + (.19 * 377) = 228.13 experience points per encounter

Desert: (279 * .35) + (208 * .35) + (165 * .10) + (291 * .2) = 245.15 experience points per encounter. (Deals with extra Sandstorm text, though.)

Tried to encounter a Pokemon. Turned off animations and such. One-shot a Zangoose. Estimates about 18.14 seconds from first entering the grass to regaining control. Calculates to about 12.58 experience points per second if Numel gets all the experience. Could be subject to some variance with time to encounter, of course.

Measured 101 steps on that Verdanturf Path. Took about 7.38 seconds. (Fell a little short of 101 steps, though, because of getting blocked by an NPC at the end.) Manages 13.14 experience points per second this way, roughly.

Makes the Daycare a better choice by a hair. Would probably do that because of the lower attention requirement, given no other options. Passes on both options, personally. Unlocks trainer rematches by beating Norman, at minimum. (Is that better? Shrugs.)

One note: Learns Eruption at level 45 as Camerupt. Demands 87750 experience to go from level 15 to 45. 87750 / 7.38 = 11890.24 seconds, or 198.16 minutes of just going left/right.

 

[WaffleSkunk]

Recorded some experience gains from Pokemon on Ruby. Technically differs a little from Sapphire's encounters. Should be close.

Route 114
Nuzleaf: 362/322
Swablu: 179
Seedot: 169
Zangoose: 377
(Did not bother with Surskit)

Desert
Sandshrew: 279/265
Trapinch: 208
Baltoy: 165
Cacnea: 291

Estimated the rough experience per Pokemon:
Route 114: (.1 * 342) + (.4 * 179) + (.3 * 169) + (.19 * 377) = 228.13 experience points per encounter

Desert: (279 * .35) + (208 * .35) + (165 * .10) + (291 * .2) = 245.15 experience points per encounter. (Deals with extra Sandstorm text, though.)

Tried to encounter a Pokemon. Turned off animations and such. One-shot a Zangoose. Estimates about 18.14 seconds from first entering the grass to regaining control. Calculates to about 12.58 experience points per second if Numel gets all the experience. Could be subject to some variance with time to encounter, of course.

Measured 101 steps on that Verdanturf Path. Took about 7.38 seconds. (Fell a little short of 101 steps, though, because of getting blocked by an NPC at the end.) Manages 13.14 experience points per second this way, roughly.

Makes the Daycare a better choice by a hair. Would probably do that because of the lower attention requirement, given no other options. Passes on both options, personally. Unlocks trainer rematches by beating Norman, at minimum. (Is that better? Shrugs.)

One note: Learns Eruption at level 45 as Camerupt. Demands 87750 experience to go from level 15 to 45. 87750 / 7.38 = 11890.24 seconds, or 198.16 minutes of just going left/right.

A few things:
First, thanks for the maths. Wasn't expecting any, but I like when the data are collected and posted.

Second, reading what you posted and thinking about the situation I found myself in, I wonder if there's a more efficient method. Taking this info and applying it directly to the current state of my game, I'd say daycare is the better option, at least at first for a while until it can finally start holding its own in battle.

Third, the work I've put in already may have been for naught. I initially said to heck with IVs, just give me a Torkoal egg. Then I came in to work today and it crossed my mind that maybe I actually should care about IVs at least a little bit; make sure my parent Pokémon don't have terrible IVs to pass to the children. Would hate to put in hours upon hours upon hours of work just to find out the project was doomed from the very beginning lol.

I guess I should stop leveling up Numel for the time being and go catch an okay-sized sample pool of both Pokémons to find the more attractive stat combinations to use for parents.

 

[Devalue]

A few things:
First, thanks for the maths. Wasn't expecting any, but I like when the data are collected and posted.

Second, reading what you posted and thinking about the situation I found myself in, I wonder if there's a more efficient method. Taking this info and applying it directly to the current state of my game, I'd say daycare is the better option, at least at first for a while until it can finally start holding its own in battle.

Third, the work I've put in already may have been for naught. I initially said to heck with IVs, just give me a Torkoal egg. Then I came in to work today and it crossed my mind that maybe I actually should care about IVs at least a little bit; make sure my parent Pokémon don't have terrible IVs to pass to the children. Would hate to put in hours upon hours upon hours of work just to find out the project was doomed from the very beginning lol.

I guess I should stop leveling up Numel for the time being and go catch an okay-sized sample pool of both Pokémons to find the more attractive stat combinations to use for parents.

Is it possible to get a Numel from one of your other games? Benefits from the x1.5 experience boost that way. Obeys until level 50 with the Heat Badge too (a shockingly high amount). Could still rampage through the forest with Torkoal on the other game.

 

[WaffleSkunk]

At the moment, no. For my physical copies, I need to find my other GBA and link cable (I do want to anyway). For the..less tangible copies..I only have Sapphire version but will be on the lookout for Ruby and Emerald this weekend. Ooh, I do have one option I can think of. This (the process) is for the latter kind of copy I mentioned. I can run multiple of it and trade between them. I already have two that I'm at Norman's gym in, so all the prep work I have to do is just copy/paste one file once. Tbh, I don't even need to do that, but my OCD won't let me not lol.

 

[WaffleSkunk]

At the moment, no. For my physical copies, I need to find my other GBA and link cable (I do want to anyway). For the..less tangible copies..I only have Sapphire version but will be on the lookout for Ruby and Emerald this weekend. Ooh, I do have one option I can think of. This (the process) is for the latter kind of copy I mentioned. I can run multiple of it and trade between them. I already have two that I'm at Norman's gym in, so all the prep work I have to do is just copy/paste one file once. Tbh, I don't even need to do that, but my OCD won't let me not lol.

Just a little update here. For the purpose of storytelling, we'll say game 1 is the one that had Numel and game 2 is where I was going to level it up at.

So I got the two less-tangible copies to trade with each other twice. One was successful and the second was semi-successful. The first time, I traded Numel for a Kadabra because I forgot to prepare game 2 by putting a idc Pokémon somewhere in the party. I immediately traded them back so that both games would have Alakazam in their Pokédexes while keeping the actual Pokémon in the correct trainer party. I later discovered that game 1 does not have a Pokédex entry for Alakazam. Oh well.

I proceeded to end the trade so I could do better to prepare. I ended up putting a freshly-hatched Torkoal into game 2's party. Tried to trade again, but game 1 started having issues that wouldn't let the two link up. After "turning it off and back on again," it still failed to link up and certain other things started getting in the way. After changing some batteries and "turning both games off and on again," I managed to get into a second trade.

I traded Numel for Torkoal in an attempt to train both more quickly. "Turned off" game 1 to train Numel in game 2, but something was off after I ended the trade. I didn't notice it at first, but I knew something was wrong. It finally dawned on me that I was training up Torkoal in game 2 instead of Numel. Where is Numel, I asked? Reopened game 1 to hunt it down.

The second (well, third) trade failed. Numel was lost and Torkoal got duplicated. I didn't backup either save, so now both characters are living in a Twilight Zone episode.

 

[CoolKid575]

The EXP share method is slightly faster, but an easier method of leveling up would be to put Numel in the Daycare, get the Mach Bike, then head into the desert. Go to the top edge on the tile below the slope that leads to the hidden base location; you can then get on the Mach Bike, tape the d-pad up and you'll continuously go up and slip down the slope. Proceed to plug in the Gameboy and leave it alone for several hours while Numel automatically levels up.

 

[WaffleSkunk]

The EXP share method is slightly faster, but an easier method of leveling up would be to put Numel in the Daycare, get the Mach Bike, then head into the desert. Go to the top edge on the tile below the slope that leads to the hidden base location; you can then get on the Mach Bike, tape the d-pad up and you'll continuously go up and slip down the slope. Proceed to plug in the Gameboy and leave it alone for several hours while Numel automatically levels up.

Ah, nostalgia. I remember doing this about 15 years ago. Plug the GBA into power and have something weighty lay on the up button and let it run overnight while I slept.

Since I have to start all over again partially due to my own recklessness, I think I'll catch and breed some Numel, find the best stats (from the hatched eggs) and trade it over to another game to level up and evolve. Then I move it back over when it's ready after having done the same breeding method to Torkoal and create a ton of eggs from them.

[EDIT]
I was also thinking the XP Share method. I already spend a lot of time trying to evenly train my team anyway. XP Share seems great because of how easy it makes it to over-level a single Pokémon, which happens to be my ultimate goal. But at the same time, I'm already spending a lot of time training my team and don't particularly feel like making it take even longer to do so.