HOW TO FIND DRAGONS WITH A SPECIFIC HATCH DATE
disclaimer: this is TEDIOUS and TIME CONSUMING. my methods have made it more manageable for me, but it will still take a long time! i suggest approaching this as a journey for the Perfect dragon of your desired date. it will take longer (but you may have more good options!) if there are more dragons with that date. you can choose to go with a handful, or really lay into the method until you have found exactly what you want. it's up to you!
i am using a Macbook Pro 2015 with 8gb of memory, which is important to know when you’re deciding how many numbers you think your computer can handle generating. i’ve given suggestions for numbers throughout the guide i’ve used and am comfortable with. generate and copy/paste responsibly.
i started the process of finding a dragon born on a specific date a week ago and thought i would share how i've managed this process, since i've done some trial and error
i wanted to find an august 21 2013 dragon because it's super fun to collect birthday dragons!!
i wanted a dragon that wasn't a scatter project, as i am not made of money, and i wanted a good method of finding what i was looking for
edit 8/3/2018: i also started looking for an august 21 2016 dragon, as i would like to have one from every year! my method has worked for it so far, though i realized i SEVERELY overestimated the number of dragons for both low and high digits lol.
step 1: finding an ID range for your specific date
finding older dragons is going to be a little easier, as you can check on the spreadsheet to see when dragons were born. in both of my searches there is a range of ~30k dragons with the hatch date i'm looking for. it did take longer to find the start date for the 2016 dragon because my frame of reference from my own lair was like feb 2016-dec 2016, but this did get me there!
the first step of the first step: paint with broad strokes to hone in on a possible start and end date for your dragon
for old dragons (june 8 2013-december 2014 [last dragon on ODCA spreadsheet]):
go to the Old Dragon Collectors Association spreadsheet, and go to the Community Sales history here
there are a lot of IDs there, but TRUST me it is more manageable than throwing darts by inputting IDs into the url bar, which is how i started.
the other good thing about using the ODCA list is that you know almost all of those dragons will not be exalted. if a dragon is exalted, you can't check its hatch date. this makes me Big Sad because it makes everything 500x harder, as the vast majority of dragons are exalted.
the AH might also be a good place to start, if you have the patience for that.
my desired hatch date was august 21 2013, as i mentioned. i knew it'd be a six digit and not a five digit, as five digits basically end july 2nd (i checked the last one on the ODCA spreadsheet).
sidenotes: if you were born between june 8 and july 2 and want a 2013 dragon, it is not impossible but it is quite an investment. you can look at the auction prices on the ODCA spreadsheet and decide if that is worth it to you. if you were born before june 8 and want a 2013 birthday dragon, they do not exist as fr opened june 8 haha. check 2014 and later.
for younger dragons:
if you've been around a little while, i'd check your lair. i'd check other people's lairs, or the AH, and try to narrow down to at least the year, then if you can to the month, and so on. don't worry if you have a big range. that's easy to narrow down later, you just want an approximate range that includes the date you're looking for.
from there, input your approximate starting ID and approximate ending ID into this tool:
https://pinetools.com/generate-list-numbers
to follow the rest of this guide, keep pinetools open
i am sure there are others that do the same thing, but this one has several crucial features that i'll explain as we go
step 2: generating links
once you have your very broad and approximate range, you gotta narrow it down somehow, right?
deciding your first number: from checking ODCA, i knew the first number would be between #410591 and #443621, as dragon #410591 was born on june 30 and #443621 on august 21.
so, to decide a CLOSER starting number, i put in 410000 as the "First number" and 440000 as the "Last number".
one crucial feature of pinetools: step (explained as "difference between the consecutive numbers")
to my first point of "painting with broad strokes", i would not want to start with a step of 1 here. the numbers, for example, would go 410000, 410001, 410002, 410003, etc.
but if i start with a step of 10000, i get basically four numbers, right? 410000, 420000, 430000, and 440000.
knowing the first one isn't the right one and the last one has already started my desired date, i can check the middle two, 420000 and 430000, to see if my date starts one of those two places.
if not, i lower my step! so i could change my step to 5000, 3000, 1000, etc. you can get as specific or broad with this as you want. for dragons with higher ID numbers, you're gonna need a bigger step. the step might start with 100,000 or even 1,000,000 and narrow down from there.
DISCLAIMER #2: generally, unless you have a mega computer, you DO NOT want to generate millions of numbers using pinetools. you also don't want to check millions of numbers later in this process, unless you just have time to kill or want to find the absolute most perfect dragon.
ok, you've decided the step you want to use to establish the first part of your range. how do you generate the links?
another crucial feature of pinetools: “Add text before each number?”
alright, so by now it's looking like
First number
410000
Last number
440000
Step
5000
you can check the box for "Add text before each number?" and input the following:
http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=
this will create links automatically based on your inputted ID numbers! nifty, right?
you'll want the URLs on separate lines, so click the “Separate lines” button below.
then click "GENERATE!" at the bottom of the page, and you've got the links!
here's what it all looks like:
now, what to do with them?
DIFFERENT crucial tool other than pinetools: multi-link extension
everyone has a different web browser, so it'd probably be best to google "multi-links extension" for yours and play around, but i will link to a couple
Chrome: Multi-links
Firefox: Multiple URLs
i like the ones where you can input plain text urls easily, as that is what we are working with here.
copy the generated urls from the "Generated Numbers" box on pinetools. open your multi-links extension of choice. paste the urls there. open them!
DISCLAIMER #3: don't open like 1000 tabs, either. i go in batches of 30, delete, continue. i feel like i need a legal disclaimer for this whole guide that i am not responsible for computers freezing because you Did Too Much.
after that long bit of setup, the reward is blazing through urls! just close each tab until you find a dragon in an active lair with your desired date. you can narrow down from there by changing the First and Last number and the step using pinetools.
rinse, lather, repeat until you have an approximate start ID you're good with, or the exact start ID because you have the patience of a saint.
do the same thing for the end ID, but backwards.
alright, you've got your start ID and end ID! now what?
step 3: create a spreadsheet
before you comb through dragons, making a spreadsheet will make your life so much easier. use your spreadsheet application of choice to make a spreadsheet. mine is Google Sheets, but this works with any of them.
enter category names at the tops of the columns for dragon features that are important to you. ID is a critical category, as you will not be able to find the dragon later to contact its owner, and that's the most important thing!
so my categories were:
ID
Breed
Gender
Primary color
Secondary color
Tertiary color
Double?
Contacted?
Answer?
Notes
make this as specific or as general as you want! it's your dragon search. if you want an unbred gen 1, then make those distinctions. if genes are important, add those. totally up to you!
by the way, my notes section is, essentially: "will never afford this", "needs scatters", "in a collector's lair", "gen 2 imp".
this is not a pricing guide, but the AH and the ODCA have information about what prices you might be paying for your dragon of choice. dragon value is always up to the owner, though!
step 4: go through the dragons
let's head back to pinetools
alright, so put your start ID as "First number", your end ID as "Last number", your step as "1", and make sure you still have http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon= as the text before the number.
IF there is a wide gap (like millions) between your start and end ID, DO NOT PROCEED TO GENERATE. you only want to generate maybe 50k-100k numbers at a time? (i have not tested this extensively--let me know in the thread!)
proceed to generate if your range is manageable!
you've got the URLs!
step 5: contacting the owner
NUMBER ONE RULE: be respectful. before you even message, check their clan profile to see if messaging them is ok. read the dragon’s bio and make sure there's not anything that says "Not for sale." you might see if the dragon you're inquiring about is, for instance, the first dragon in their lair. you can choose to proceed if it is, but knowing that will give you a sense of the dragon's value to the person. see if the person is an older dragon collector by taking a glance at their other dragons or seeing their forum post history. i would strongly suggest you don't message without knowing some of these things. especially if you're looking for older dragons, these dragons are often very special to people! they may have paid a lot of money for the dragon themselves.
a general message template i have been using:
hi!
i have been looking through dragons looking for an august 21 2013 dragon in an active lair, and i stumbled upon _____ (link to dragon here)
she/he is amazing! would you consider selling him/her? if not, that is of course totally fine, and thanks for your time. if yes, what would you want for him/her?
if they say no, drop it and move on to the next dragon in your spreadsheet.
if they say yes, the rest of the process is messaging back and forth and deciding on price!
go forth and find some great dragons!
i would love to see the dragons you find, so please post them!
and if there's anything i can change or add to my guide, do let me know. if you have another method, i’d love to hear about that, too!
thanks!
disclaimer: this is TEDIOUS and TIME CONSUMING. my methods have made it more manageable for me, but it will still take a long time! i suggest approaching this as a journey for the Perfect dragon of your desired date. it will take longer (but you may have more good options!) if there are more dragons with that date. you can choose to go with a handful, or really lay into the method until you have found exactly what you want. it's up to you!
i am using a Macbook Pro 2015 with 8gb of memory, which is important to know when you’re deciding how many numbers you think your computer can handle generating. i’ve given suggestions for numbers throughout the guide i’ve used and am comfortable with. generate and copy/paste responsibly.
i started the process of finding a dragon born on a specific date a week ago and thought i would share how i've managed this process, since i've done some trial and error
i wanted to find an august 21 2013 dragon because it's super fun to collect birthday dragons!!
i wanted a dragon that wasn't a scatter project, as i am not made of money, and i wanted a good method of finding what i was looking for
edit 8/3/2018: i also started looking for an august 21 2016 dragon, as i would like to have one from every year! my method has worked for it so far, though i realized i SEVERELY overestimated the number of dragons for both low and high digits lol.
step 1: finding an ID range for your specific date
finding older dragons is going to be a little easier, as you can check on the spreadsheet to see when dragons were born. in both of my searches there is a range of ~30k dragons with the hatch date i'm looking for. it did take longer to find the start date for the 2016 dragon because my frame of reference from my own lair was like feb 2016-dec 2016, but this did get me there!
the first step of the first step: paint with broad strokes to hone in on a possible start and end date for your dragon
for old dragons (june 8 2013-december 2014 [last dragon on ODCA spreadsheet]):
go to the Old Dragon Collectors Association spreadsheet, and go to the Community Sales history here
there are a lot of IDs there, but TRUST me it is more manageable than throwing darts by inputting IDs into the url bar, which is how i started.
the other good thing about using the ODCA list is that you know almost all of those dragons will not be exalted. if a dragon is exalted, you can't check its hatch date. this makes me Big Sad because it makes everything 500x harder, as the vast majority of dragons are exalted.
the AH might also be a good place to start, if you have the patience for that.
my desired hatch date was august 21 2013, as i mentioned. i knew it'd be a six digit and not a five digit, as five digits basically end july 2nd (i checked the last one on the ODCA spreadsheet).
sidenotes: if you were born between june 8 and july 2 and want a 2013 dragon, it is not impossible but it is quite an investment. you can look at the auction prices on the ODCA spreadsheet and decide if that is worth it to you. if you were born before june 8 and want a 2013 birthday dragon, they do not exist as fr opened june 8 haha. check 2014 and later.
for younger dragons:
if you've been around a little while, i'd check your lair. i'd check other people's lairs, or the AH, and try to narrow down to at least the year, then if you can to the month, and so on. don't worry if you have a big range. that's easy to narrow down later, you just want an approximate range that includes the date you're looking for.
from there, input your approximate starting ID and approximate ending ID into this tool:
https://pinetools.com/generate-list-numbers
to follow the rest of this guide, keep pinetools open
i am sure there are others that do the same thing, but this one has several crucial features that i'll explain as we go
step 2: generating links
once you have your very broad and approximate range, you gotta narrow it down somehow, right?
deciding your first number: from checking ODCA, i knew the first number would be between #410591 and #443621, as dragon #410591 was born on june 30 and #443621 on august 21.
so, to decide a CLOSER starting number, i put in 410000 as the "First number" and 440000 as the "Last number".
one crucial feature of pinetools: step (explained as "difference between the consecutive numbers")
to my first point of "painting with broad strokes", i would not want to start with a step of 1 here. the numbers, for example, would go 410000, 410001, 410002, 410003, etc.
but if i start with a step of 10000, i get basically four numbers, right? 410000, 420000, 430000, and 440000.
knowing the first one isn't the right one and the last one has already started my desired date, i can check the middle two, 420000 and 430000, to see if my date starts one of those two places.
if not, i lower my step! so i could change my step to 5000, 3000, 1000, etc. you can get as specific or broad with this as you want. for dragons with higher ID numbers, you're gonna need a bigger step. the step might start with 100,000 or even 1,000,000 and narrow down from there.
DISCLAIMER #2: generally, unless you have a mega computer, you DO NOT want to generate millions of numbers using pinetools. you also don't want to check millions of numbers later in this process, unless you just have time to kill or want to find the absolute most perfect dragon.
ok, you've decided the step you want to use to establish the first part of your range. how do you generate the links?
another crucial feature of pinetools: “Add text before each number?”
alright, so by now it's looking like
First number
410000
Last number
440000
Step
5000
you can check the box for "Add text before each number?" and input the following:
http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=
this will create links automatically based on your inputted ID numbers! nifty, right?
you'll want the URLs on separate lines, so click the “Separate lines” button below.
then click "GENERATE!" at the bottom of the page, and you've got the links!
here's what it all looks like:
now, what to do with them?
DIFFERENT crucial tool other than pinetools: multi-link extension
everyone has a different web browser, so it'd probably be best to google "multi-links extension" for yours and play around, but i will link to a couple
Chrome: Multi-links
Firefox: Multiple URLs
i like the ones where you can input plain text urls easily, as that is what we are working with here.
copy the generated urls from the "Generated Numbers" box on pinetools. open your multi-links extension of choice. paste the urls there. open them!
DISCLAIMER #3: don't open like 1000 tabs, either. i go in batches of 30, delete, continue. i feel like i need a legal disclaimer for this whole guide that i am not responsible for computers freezing because you Did Too Much.
after that long bit of setup, the reward is blazing through urls! just close each tab until you find a dragon in an active lair with your desired date. you can narrow down from there by changing the First and Last number and the step using pinetools.
rinse, lather, repeat until you have an approximate start ID you're good with, or the exact start ID because you have the patience of a saint.
do the same thing for the end ID, but backwards.
alright, you've got your start ID and end ID! now what?
step 3: create a spreadsheet
before you comb through dragons, making a spreadsheet will make your life so much easier. use your spreadsheet application of choice to make a spreadsheet. mine is Google Sheets, but this works with any of them.
enter category names at the tops of the columns for dragon features that are important to you. ID is a critical category, as you will not be able to find the dragon later to contact its owner, and that's the most important thing!
so my categories were:
ID
Breed
Gender
Primary color
Secondary color
Tertiary color
Double?
Contacted?
Answer?
Notes
make this as specific or as general as you want! it's your dragon search. if you want an unbred gen 1, then make those distinctions. if genes are important, add those. totally up to you!
by the way, my notes section is, essentially: "will never afford this", "needs scatters", "in a collector's lair", "gen 2 imp".
this is not a pricing guide, but the AH and the ODCA have information about what prices you might be paying for your dragon of choice. dragon value is always up to the owner, though!
step 4: go through the dragons
let's head back to pinetools
alright, so put your start ID as "First number", your end ID as "Last number", your step as "1", and make sure you still have http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon= as the text before the number.
IF there is a wide gap (like millions) between your start and end ID, DO NOT PROCEED TO GENERATE. you only want to generate maybe 50k-100k numbers at a time? (i have not tested this extensively--let me know in the thread!)
proceed to generate if your range is manageable!
you've got the URLs!
- head back to your lovely multi-link opener extension
- input 30ish urls at a time and open them (however many is manageable for you)
- start filling out that spreadsheet you made with dragons that are in an active lair and not exalted. (you can input exalted dragons/dragons in inactive lairs if you like to cry about things you can't have.)
step 5: contacting the owner
NUMBER ONE RULE: be respectful. before you even message, check their clan profile to see if messaging them is ok. read the dragon’s bio and make sure there's not anything that says "Not for sale." you might see if the dragon you're inquiring about is, for instance, the first dragon in their lair. you can choose to proceed if it is, but knowing that will give you a sense of the dragon's value to the person. see if the person is an older dragon collector by taking a glance at their other dragons or seeing their forum post history. i would strongly suggest you don't message without knowing some of these things. especially if you're looking for older dragons, these dragons are often very special to people! they may have paid a lot of money for the dragon themselves.
a general message template i have been using:
hi!
i have been looking through dragons looking for an august 21 2013 dragon in an active lair, and i stumbled upon _____ (link to dragon here)
she/he is amazing! would you consider selling him/her? if not, that is of course totally fine, and thanks for your time. if yes, what would you want for him/her?
if they say no, drop it and move on to the next dragon in your spreadsheet.
if they say yes, the rest of the process is messaging back and forth and deciding on price!
go forth and find some great dragons!
i would love to see the dragons you find, so please post them!
and if there's anything i can change or add to my guide, do let me know. if you have another method, i’d love to hear about that, too!
thanks!
