The coolest part of Umamusume: Pretty Derby is the colorful cast of characters. I probably wouldn’t have played the game myself if I wasn’t constantly seeing posts about different characters like Oguri and Daiwa leading up to the English release. You start the game with only a few trainees available, and when the game launched, there weren’t that many to unlock. But now there’s many more. The only problem is, how do you get them?
The easiest and most common way to unlock new trainees is through the scouting system. You can scout trainees normally or do the limited time banners. You’ll have to spend lots of carats but you’ll have a chance at getting a trainee you really want, or a good trainee in general. What i really like about this system is that it’s pretty easy to get new characters. The odds of pulling a three star trainee is way higher in Umamusume than the odds of pulling a premium character in all the other gacha games that I’ve played. Plus pulling dupe trainees goes a long way also.
But you could also spend thousands of carats and not get anything. Thankfully, scouting isn’t the only way to expand your roster. One of the easiest methods is by collecting Character Pieces. Every trainee has their own pieces, and once you’ve gathered enough of them, you’ll be able to unlock that character even if you’ve never pulled them from a banner. It can take a while, but it’s a reliable way to slowly grow your collection.
You’ll earn Character Pieces from several different sources. The shop regularly offers pieces for purchase, while certain events and rewards can also hand them out. Events are another thing you should keep an eye on. Limited-time events occasionally provide Character Pieces or even trainees as rewards. You also get good Support Cards and dupes as rewards, so completing these events to the fullest is win-win.
If your goal is to unlock more trainees as quickly as possible, your best bet is to save Carats for banners you actually care about. Doing generic pulls will cast a large net for what trainees you can get, but you might not get one that you need or want. If you need more carats, check out this little guide.