Expert's Guide to Project O

[Milt]

This guide is currently under construction.


Table of Contents
Coming soon.




I. Introduction

Back in May 2010, the Advanced Pet Update revolutionized how we interacted with our pets forever. Before then, all pets were no different than gear; some had stats, while other did not.


With this update came one of its most iconic mechanics: talents.

All pets are born with 10 talents in their genome; and throughout their life, they can learn up to 5 talents. All 10 talents are hidden at birth, so they can only be uncovered through training. Unfortunately, there's no sure-fire to reveal all 10 talents in the game; it's as if every single pet in the Spiral is protected by an extremely powerful aura!

Let's get right to the point: the seal is unbreakable. There's no magic in the Spiral which can peer into our pets' genes--however, we have discovered a few "weak spots" in the genome, and you don't even need magic to see them!


If you have a few trained pets, take a good look at their genomes.

Notice any patterns?
Notice one talent always seems to be above another?
Ever wondered by Spell-Proof is above Spell-Defying?


Allow us to introduce overselves. We are Project O, and our mission is to learn which talents are above or below. We'll examine two talents, we'll let you know.

In this guide, we'll be covering everyone from genome mechanics to talentpool deciphering, from the very basics to the most advanced techniques. We look forward to seeing you!




II. Welcome to Project O

Project O is a massive peer-reviewed project dedicated to studying the pet genome. The O stands for Order. Our primary focus is on talent order, and it's up to us to discover which ones are above and which ones are below. We've been active since June 27th, 2011.

We deal with four (4) methods of proof:

1. Screenshots
2. Logic Puzzle
3. Wiki Data
4. Testimonies

Screenshots are the easiest and quickest way to contribute; just show us a screenshot of a pet's talentpool with two unranked pairs of talents, and you're good to go.

Logic Puzzles require a little more effort than screenshots, but they'll let you extract new information from otherwise barren sources. (Click here to see an example of one)

Wiki Data is simply just posting a link to a pet's wikipage. If the pet has an unranked pair of talents, you may submit it as evidence.

Testimonies are written, detailed accounts about your pets or their parents' talentpools. Because we rely heavily on screenshots for accuracy, we reserve the right to accept or reject testimonies at our discretion.




III. Logical Technique

A) 1st-Gen Pets

1st-gen pets refer to any pets not received through hatching. When contributing, Project O highly recommends using 1st-gen pets because then we can use their wikipage as a reference. Some 1st-gen pets are more difficult to obtain than others, but knowing that their genomes are static and verified is always an advantage.




B) The Equal-Sums Rule

The Equal-Sums Rule asserts that if an offspring shares an equal number of talents of a given rarity with its two parents, then the offspring's genome must contain every talent of said rarity from both parents.

Assume that a 1st-gen Sea Dragon and a 1st-gen Judgement were hatched together to produce an offspring with the following genome:

1st: [Rare]
2nd: [Ultra-Rare]
3rd: [Epic]
4th: [Epic]
5th: [Ultra-Rare]
6th: [Epic]
7th: [Ultra-Rare]
8th: [Rare]
9th: [Epic]
10th: [Uncommon]


First, compile every talent from both parents into one priority-ordered list:

Pierce Train (Epic)
Pip O'Plenty (Rare)
Sharp-Shot (Ultra-Rare)
Vengeance (Epic)
Tower Shield (Epic)
Gargantuan (Epic)
Mana Gift (Rare)
Pain-Giver (Ultra-Rare)
Add Balance (Uncommon)
Spell-Proof (Epic)
Unbalancer (Uncommon)
Spritely (Rare)
Weakness (Ultra-Rare)
Health Gift (Rare)
Piercemonger (Epic)
Disarmament (Epic)
Balance-It (Uncommon)


Next, tally up the total number of rarities in the ordered list and the offspring's genome.

Rarity	Ordered List	Offspring Genome
Common	0	0
Uncommon	3	1
Rare	4	2
Ultra-Rare	3	3
Epic	7	4

As shown in the table above, the offspring and its two parents share an equal number of Ultra-Rares (3); therefore, under the Equal-Sums Rule, the offspring's genome must contain: Sharp-Shot, Pain-Giver, and Weakness.

1st: [Rare]
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: [Epic]
4th: [Epic]
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: [Epic]
7th: Weakness
8th: [Rare]
9th: [Epic]
10th: [Uncommon]


*NOTE: If a parent pet attempts to pass down Pip Boost or Sunbird Call, the talents will be converted into Pip O'Plenty or Fire Assailant respectively before reaching the offspring. If a parent's genome contains Pip Boost and Pip O'Plenty, or Sunbird Call and Fire Assailant, always omit the former talent before applying the Equal-Sums Rule.




C) Process of Elimination

The Process of Elimination asserts that a talent cannot exist within a given slot if:

1. Its rarity doesn't match said slot's rarity.
2. It's already the sole candidate (or possible talent) of another slot.
3. It's above every candidate from at least one other slot above said slot.
4. It's below every candidate from at least one other slot below said slot.
5. Its existence causes another slot to have zero candidates.

To demonstrate, we'll use this method to decipher our offspring's 1st slot.

1st: [Rare]
2nd: Sharp-Shot


Because the 1st slot's rarity is Rare, all of its candidates can only be Rare talents (condition #1), of which there are four (4):

Pip O'Plenty (Rare)
Mana Gift (Rare)
Spritely (Rare)
Health Gift (Rare)


And since the offspring's 2nd slot is Sharp-Shot, all of 1st slot's candidates must be above Sharp-Shot. Because Mana Gift, Spritely, and Health Gift are all below Sharp-Shot (condition #4), the offspring's 1st slot can only have Pip O'Plenty.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: [Epic]
4th: [Epic]
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: [Epic]
7th: Weakness
8th: [Rare]
9th: [Epic]
10th: [Uncommon]


So far, so good? Let's work on another slot.

7th: Weakness
8th: [Rare]


The offspring's 8th slot also has a rarity value of Rare. Since we already confirmed that Pip O'Plenty is in the offspring's 1st slot (condition #2), we only have three (3) candidates to worry about:

Mana Gift (Rare)
Spritely (Rare)
Health Gift (Rare)


The offspring's 7th slot is Weakness; and since Mana Gift and Spritely are all above Weakness (condition #3), the offspring's 8th slot can only have Health Gift.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: [Epic]
4th: [Epic]
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: [Epic]
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: [Epic]
10th: [Uncommon]


As you work through each slot, the pool of candidates will gradually shrink, though deciphering the remaining ones won't necessarily get any easier; sometimes, you'll need to use more complex methods to finish the job.


Before you move on to the next section, please try using the Process of Elimination to decipher the offspring's 10th slot on your own.




D) The Cake-Up Method

The Cake-Up Method asserts that if any talent is the highest-ordered talent of a given slot, it must be eliminated from every slot below its own.

This method is rather tricky to set up since it'll only work properly if all candidates are ordered by priority. Once everything is set up, this method should be relatively simple to employ.

To demonstrate this method, we'll need to write out all the remaining slots' candidates first. Luckily for us, those remaining slots are all Epic, so we just have to compile every Epic talent from the parent list and list them out like so.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
4th: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


Now that we're set up, let's see this method in action.

The highest-ordered candidate across all four slots is Pierce Train, so we can use the Cake-Up Method to remove it. Because the 3rd slot happens to be the highest one, Pierce Train can be removed from all the others.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


In the next slot down, the 4th slot, the highest-ordered talent is Vengeance, so we can remove it from the two slots below.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


In the next slot down, the 6th slot, the highest-ordered talent is Tower Shield, so we can eliminate it from the 9th slot.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


And in the last slot down, the 9th slot, the highest-ordered talent is Gargantuan; but since there aren't any Epic slots below the 9th slot, we're pretty much done.




E) The Cake-Down Method

The Cake-Down Method asserts that if any talent is the lowest-ordered talent of a given slot, it must be eliminated from every slot above its own.

This method is basically the reverse of the Cake-Up Method; so if you've already mastered that method, you'll master this one in no time. Unlike the Cake-Up Method, where you start from the highest slot and work your way down, you start from the lowest slot and work your way up instead.

Take the offspring's 9th slot, for instance:

9th: Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament


Disarmament is the lowest-ordered talent in that slot; so with the Cake-Down Method, we can remove it from every other slot.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


In the next slot up, the 6th slot, the lowest-ordered talent is Piercemonger, so we must remove it from the 2 slots above.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


And lastly, in the next slot up, the 4th slot, the lowest-ordered talent is Spell-Proof, so we must remove it from the offspring's 3rd slot.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


As you can imagine, the Cake-Up and Cake-Down methods really test your ability to recognize which talents are above or below the rest. If you'd like to practice these methods, please make sure to have an Ordered List on hand; you'll definitely want to study from it as you go.




F) Switching Between Methods

At this point, there's still room for improvement in the offspring's genome, but we can't eliminate any more candidates with the Cake-Up or Cake-Down methods, so we'll have to return to the Process of Elimination.

Let's start by eliminating a few obvious outliers. In the offspring's 9th slot, there are 4 candidates: Gargantuan, Spell-Proof, Piercemonger, and Disarmament.

Gargantuan and Spell-Proof are above Health Gift in the 8th slot, while Piercemonger and Disarmament are below it. Therefore, the offspring's 9th slot must either be Piercemonger or Disarmament.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof / Piercemonger
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


Next, in the offspring's 6th slot, there are 4 candidates: Tower Shield, Gargantuan, Spell-Proof, and Piercemonger.

Since Spell-Proof is the only possible talent that can be between Pain-Giver (5th slot) and Weakness (7th slot), the offspring's 6th slot can only contain Spell-Proof.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan / Spell-Proof
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Spell-Proof
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


Because Spell-Proof is in the offspring's 6th slot, it cannot be a candidate in the offspring's 4th slot.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Pierce Train / Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Spell-Proof
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


Looking upward, the offspring's 3rd slot contains 4 candidates: Pierce Train, Vengeance, Tower Shield, and Gargantuan.

Because Pierce Train is above Sharp-Shot, it must be removed as a candidate.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
4th: Vengeance / Tower Shield / Gargantuan
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Spell-Proof
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


Once again, we've reached a dead end with the Process of Elimination, so we must switch back to the Cake methods.

Vengeance is the highest-ordered talent in the offspring's 3rd slot, while Gargantuan is the lowest-ordered talent in the offspring's 4th slot, so we can eliminate them from their opposite slots.

1st: Pip O'Plenty
2nd: Sharp-Shot
3rd: Vengeance / Tower Shield
4th: Tower Shield / Gargantuan
5th: Pain-Giver
6th: Spell-Proof
7th: Weakness
8th: Health Gift
9th: Piercemonger / Disarmament
10th: Balance-It


And at long last, we're done deciphering the offspring's genome!

So, if there's anything you can take away from this section, it's that there's a general routine with reading genomes.

1. First, check whether you can apply the Equal-Sums Rule.
2. Next, apply the Process of Elimination until you reach a dead end.
3. Then, apply the Cake-Up and Cake-Down Methods until you reach a dead end.
4. Finally, repeat the second and third steps until both method result in dead ends.

Certainly, this routine is better said than done; but once you've got a good grasp on it, you'll become a master at reading genomes in no time, and you'll be ready for the tougher challenges that lie ahead.




F) Analyzing Deciphered Genomes

If you're only interested in becoming a genome-reader, then your job is done after you've fully deciphered a genome. If you want to become a Project O Contributor however, then you'll definitely want to learn how to analyze your deciphered genomes for new findings.

This may seem obvious, but when analyzing a decipher genome, you'll want to focus primarily on the unranked talents. The whole point of posting a new finding is proving whether one unranked talent is above or below another, so that's what we're expecting from your analysis.

If your unranked talents are all by themselves in their own slots, then you can skip the analysis, but this won't always be the case.

The Fundamental Cake Rule asserts that the highest candidate of a given slot will always be above the lowest candidate of any slot below it, and vice versa.




IV. Additional Considerations

A) Handling Unmanifested Talents from a Parent's Genome.

An unmanifested talent is a talent whose true identity is unknown or unclear. Unless otherwise documented, pets with unmanifested talents generally make their offsprings' genomes significantly more difficult to decipher, which is why we generally advise against using such pets in new findings unless it's absolutely necessary.

In general, Project O treats all unmanifested talents as wild cards: they could be anything, including new talents. For this reason, we don't bother listing out every possible talent within one and instead state the two closest manifested talents between it.

More often than not, unmanifested slots from the offspring's genome will contain unmanifested talents from its parents as candidates. When deciphering an offspring's slot in this situation, find the slot's manifested boundaries and compare them against each unmanifested talent's boundaries -- they should overlap. If the boundaries of an unmanifested talent falls outside the boundaries of a given slot (e.g. Spell-Proof to Spell-Defying vs. Energizing Battery to Unicorn) or intersect at just one point (e.g. Energizing Battery to Unicorn vs. Unicorn to Fearless Fortifier), it should be removed as a candidate of that slot.




V. Conclusion

I believe I covered mostly everything about logic puzzles. Logic Puzzles are much like how Arthur Wetherfield describes the Sorcerer Class: they're difficult to master, but after some experience, its power is extraordinary.

Thank you for reading, and hopefully this guide has helped you understand more about our project and our mission.

[rockydodgers]

Very well written, understood most of it. This is very helpful.

[Prince of Esprit]

I got done of it, but wow. I can see that you put a LOT of word into this. Mega Kudos for that.

[mahmoud11223]

hum i'm not sure about the rare part where you said if the parent both have tree ultra-rare then the offspring will get three ultra-rare with the talent of parents in them. i have done that and both pet had pain giver and proof and the off spring as you said got three ultra-rare spot but the talents did not pass down instead i got sharp shot. But i think i misunderstood what you have said, not sure but great guy man

[Milt]

hum i'm not sure about the rare part where you said if the parent both have tree ultra-rare then the offspring will get three ultra-rare with the talent of parents in them. i have done that and both pet had pain giver and proof and the off spring as you said got three ultra-rare spot but the talents did not pass down instead i got sharp shot. But i think i misunderstood what you have said, not sure but great guy man

When I was talking about the 3 Ultra-Rares thing, I was referring to only the offspring's talentpool. The Sea Dragon's and Judgement's talents were combined into one major list of 17 talents back in Section 5 Part 2, which has 3 Ultra-Rares listed in it.

What I was basically trying to say there is that the total number of different Ultra-Rares between both parents is 3 (2 from Sea Dragon, 1 from Judgement). And because the offspring has 3 Ultra-Rares, this proves that the offspring has Sharp-Shot, Pain-Giver, and Weakness.

I think I understand where the misunderstanding may have came from, so I've made some changes so that Section 5 Part 3 puts less emphasis on the parents and more on the offspring.

[Milt]

I've added a new section to this guide: "The Division Method", which is Section G under "5) Logic Puzzle Techniques". I've used it before, but I don't think I've actually covered it in here.

Did I explain it well or is there something else about it that's either confusing or needs more explanation? Feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Infinite]

I've added a new section to this guide: "The Division Method", which is Section G under "5) Logic Puzzle Techniques". I've used it before, but I don't think I've actually covered it in here.

Did I explain it well or is there something else about it that's either confusing or needs more explanation? Feedback is greatly appreciated.

I'm pretty new to the project and am still wrapping my brain around how everything works. Honestly, the Division Method makes the most sense to me, and you did a great job of explaining it. If you asked me to be picky though, I believe you had a grammatical error in there (where you said something along the lines of: "Unlike you wish to use Cake-up or down methods") but honestly it isn't a big deal, just didn't know if you wanted that pointed out or not, so forgive me if I'm being too picky. The bottom line is that I understood exactly what you were saying and there wasn't really any confusion there whatsoever.

Well done.

[Milt]

I'm pretty new to the project and am still wrapping my brain around how everything works. Honestly, the Division Method makes the most sense to me, and you did a great job of explaining it. If you asked me to be picky though, I believe you had a grammatical error in there (where you said something along the lines of: "Unlike you wish to use Cake-up or down methods") but honestly it isn't a big deal, just didn't know if you wanted that pointed out or not, so forgive me if I'm being too picky. The bottom line is that I understood exactly what you were saying and there wasn't really any confusion there whatsoever.

Well done.

Thank you for the feedback! And thank you for pointing out my error; I don't know why but I have this tendency of using the wrong words which have many letters in common with the word I intended.

Anyway, I'm glad it made sense .

[Milt]

I've made quite a few changes to this guide.

1) The two data tables that have vanished when Wizard101Central upgraded have been revived.

2) I revised some of the content in sections 1 through 4, including section names.

3) I added information relating to first-hand testimonials in section 3. While I have accepted new findings based on detailed testimonials before, please understand that the accuracy of the Talent/Derby Abilities Order Project relies heavily on both screenshots and the accuracy of the pet wikipages. For this reason, the criteria for accepting testimonial-based findings will be entirely subjective and they shouldn't be used to completely replace screenshots.

4) I added another precaution in section 4 regarding "glitch pets", or pets with double talents. My apologies everyone, but there is so little information about double-talent pets that I'm just not equipped to handle contributions related to them.

I've been also thinking of changing the guide's name to "Guide to the Talent/Derby Ability Order Project", since it pretty much emphasizes the project in general rather than just logic puzzles.

Thanks!
-Milt

[Blaze Pixie]

I'm so confused with the Cake-Up and Cake-down methods.. ugh. I'll read it again tomorrow to see if I understand it.