Past Generation Influence

[TwilitProphet]

Whenever I thought about how this sort of thing would work, the best I ever got was that whatever decides what species the egg would become would check the dragon mom and dragon dad's lineages as well as their own species and just randomly pick a dragon from that.

 

@.@ but even that sounds really complicated.

[Tehpikachu]

So are you saying we should use BSAs to discourage genetics?

 

Wait, I just got a dystopian vision of the future. Whenever we want to have offspring, we just go over to the shaman hut and tell them to cast magic so that the offspring looks nothing like the parents, because... having your children look like you is a bad thing and no one wants it.

 

So tl;dr version, genetic discouragement and magic are the way of the future, we should embrace it.

[Nectaris]

To me it seems like a bad idea. It sounds overly complicated, and can make multi-species lineages harder(imagine a form of rainbow lineage and you suddenly can get that red species when you need a blue).

[jesterboohoo]

As tempted as I am by the idea, I think I'd have to say no too.

Like I said, it is tempting, and perhaps a fun twist on an already fun game. But on the other hand, some of my pairings are made specifically so whichever egg is end up with during a breeding, I can use. If I get a random ancestor appearance, yeah, it might be cool at times, but it has the potential to be a nuisance too. I guess I'd rather leave it the way it is rather than throw the risk of "random ancestor egg" into the mix.

Just my thoughts though.

[dlt111]

Well, it was just an idea a friend and I were kicking around. Wanted to see if anyone liked it to see if it was worth really delving into the logistics since I can at least do that (just not the code necessary to implement it), but hey, even if we don't use a shaman dragon or an account setting to turn it on and off at will, it'll still be an interesting idea I wanted to pitch.

 

Sounds like most of the problem is how to stop it from occurring. Account settings to turn on and off at will?

[Natayah]

I think in most games that use "genetics" don't dragons have characteristics that can come from both parents, like different colors, anatomy, special markings, etc?

 

In DC we don't have half-breed dragons. They are one breed or the other. We might RP them or write descrips with them but they are Breed Mom, Breed Dad, or Breed Hybrid.

 

I'm not saying it might be fun to have a dragon cast a BSA or a dragon type whose eggs show up as other dragon types (but I would say only very common ones and never rare and/or BSA types).... like a mimic or magical version of vampires or where magpies lay their eggs in other birds nests and the birds raise them as if they were their own young, but I don't know that I'd use the genetic idea.

 

Some games let you do different color customizations and randomizations. That just isn't this game. So I'd look at making it like a BSA that maybe is a speical "magical" or "trait" a breed uses to reproduce vs random egg from any line in the lineage. Because honestly.... it doesn't matter if its a Gold Egg .... if the lineage is ugly, the egg is ugly. You might think its cool personally, some people might think its cool, but many people are going to value it less regardless of who the parents were.

[dlt111]

Natayah,

 

Good points indeed. I'd not really thought on the ugly lineage part of it. Most of the people I know wouldn't mate those with crazy/messy/ugly lineages anyways. Meh. I'm a casual player who just likes to collect the dragons and then stare at them, not really make lineages of awesomeness. I hadn't really thought it'd be that much of a hindrance to people making those lineages, but the more I hear on here, the more I see it is. Oh well.

[tjekan]

If this were going to happen, then instead of a complicated system of Discourage and Encourage BSA's, or the frustration of a random breeding messing up breeding projects, I'd rather see a Throwback BSA that enables a random chance of getting any normal (i.e. non-discontinued, non-holiday) breed from the dragon's lineage. And if you didn't use the BSA, throwbacks would continue never to occur.

 

I doubt I'd ever use it myself, but if it were going to happen, I think that's the way I'd want to see it go. :-)

Edited July 17, 2013 by tjekan

[dlt111]

That's a really cool and much less complicated idea. I wonder what the others on here think of it.

[tjekan]

It could theoretically open up new lineage possibilities, since you could have, for example, an even-gen with all reds in the 2nd gen, all whites in the 3rd gen, all reds again in the 4th gen, etc. Or you could theoretically breed together a lot of 2nd-gen prizefails to make a solid row of prizes. It doesn't really sound like my cup of tea lineage-wise, but I could see how it could be a fun addition, as long as it wasn't something that would interfere with the current way of breeding.

[KageSora]

If this were going to happen, then instead of a complicated system of Discourage and Encourage BSA's, or the frustration of a random breeding messing up breeding projects, I'd rather see a Throwback BSA that enables a random chance of getting any normal (i.e. non-discontinued, non-holiday) breed from the dragon's lineage. And if you didn't use the BSA, throwbacks would continue never to occur.

 

I doubt I'd ever use it myself, but if it were going to happen, I think that's the way I'd want to see it go. :-)

I'm not a fan of the idea in general, but if it were to happen I'd prefer something like this.

[DarkEternity]

I've got multiple 2nd gen prize fails. Teehee. Well if this suggestion was in place.

Edited July 17, 2013 by DarkEternity

[avalon11]

I honestly think it would be an interesting idea, and tjekan I agree with the BSA option only. But even if it wasn't that way, if it's only a 3-5% or 5-7% chance, it obviously is very low and wouldn't happen that often. So the lineage idea would be neat, but at the same time they would be really hard to build, and would be hard with long lineages.

 

I think this is an interesting idea, but in the long run I really like the simplicity of the current breeding ways. It might work, so I'm not saying I wouldn't use it if it happened to be implemented, but only as a BSA. Anything else would probably annoy me, unless it's on account settings. Which I think is slightly weird, but, just my opinion.

[Obscure_Trash]

~Merged~

 

I can add the BSA idea to the OP. :3

Edited July 17, 2013 by SockPuppet Strangler

[dlt111]

Please do sockpuppet I think it'd be awesome. Thank you!

[Xythus]

Also, if you think about it, when it comes to this idea being a "let the newbies have more chances to get rares" example, its quite two pronged. I call such an idea "you thought you wanted it, but not really".

 

For example, say someone picks up a super messy lineage with all sorts of dragons in it; you name it. There's at least one silver, one gold, each color tinsel and shimmer in it. So you have a chance to get any of those things. But in a lineage as huge as that, you'll probably have all sorts of other things too. So with rares being rare, and commons being commons, I suspect you'll be breeding two dragons together and getting every single common in all of DC at least twice before one even gets a glimpse of a rare.

 

 

But...I do admit, it was one of the questions I had as soon as I joined DC in 2009. I looked at my inbred skywing, and asked the chat if I could get anything else in that line, and the answer was no. I think it would be really interesting if it did happen, but with the way breeding and lineages has been working for over 5 years, I think such a drastic change would just blow the community over...since this can't possibly be a "optional according to user" thing!

[olympe]

Genetics for DC have been proposed a number of times so far, and I think that's how we got hybrids in the first place. However, I'm very much against allowing dragons to breed offspring of a totally different and unrelated breed just because the baby's great-great-great-great-grandmother was like this. If I breed two pebbles, I want to get a pebble - or a geode. Not something totally different. Imagine breeding gold x silver - and getting a guardian because one of your dragons' 128 ancestors happened to be a guardian, too...

 

Besides, we already have a number of game mechanics that do include some kind of genetic influence:

• Stripe colors
• Copper varieties
• Hybrids
• Throwbacks (spitfires) bred from ultraviolets

[Lady Artemis]

I don't really like this idea :c

I think the dragon breeding stuff we have going on now is enough to keep the game interesting without going too much overboard.

[Pokemonfan13]

I'm fine with this as long as you need to use a BSA in order to allow it to happen. Like someone said, it could allow some rather neat lineages.

[terradi]

A BSA would be interesting. Though there would need to be some way to prevent Frills and Old Pinks from accidentally being bred. My understanding is that those are gone and never coming back. Which is kind of a shame ... that would be one thing I'd be really interested in breeding for.

 

Lineage patterns could get interesting, and quite stunning. I'd actually like to see a throwback lineage where something disappears then re-appears three or four generations later.

[xeyla]

I'm fine with this as long as you need to use a BSA in order to allow it to happen. Like someone said, it could allow some rather neat lineages.

I second PF13's thoughts. I would really like to have a throwback BSA, and this would keep me interested in doing more lineages.

[olympe]

But what kind of dragon would be suited to have a throwback BSA? And how would they achieve a throwback? Remember that "It's magic!" doesn't (usually) fly.

[Dolphinsong]

I don't think such a bsa should be done. When people breed, they know what they will get based on the parents. I don't want to breed a gold that has common ansesters with a cb holiday and end up with a pink egg. I would be furious. Most would use such a bsa to try getting prize an/or metals from failed breedings. Leave ultraviolets as the only breed that can do throwbacks naturally and no BSA that does it.

[Primaltimediamond]

I think this is a very interesting concept, mean there are quite some adoptable groups/games that focus on genetics, like The order of the griffin for example, that game is all about genetics, members even make breeding projects to have certain markings or colors pass on from the parents to the offspring.

 

Of course in this case I'd suggest that this is a limited thing not that we end up with green bluna's or golden blacks ( though that'd be pretty funny ) and perhaps with a BSA then yes I'm all up for this, makes breeding a bit more fun and hey it happens irl too doesn't it? Mean certain species of domesticated animals wouldn't exist if we didn't take the time to breed with certain genetics

[Fuzzbucket]

I don't think such a bsa should be done. When people breed, they know what they will get based on the parents. I don't want to breed a gold that has common ansesters with a cb holiday and end up with a pink egg. I would be furious. Most would use such a bsa to try getting prize an/or metals from failed breedings. Leave ultraviolets as the only breed that can do throwbacks naturally and no BSA that does it.

Me too - though if it were a BSA, I guess we'd know we were taking a risk. Still - I am not in favour - though could live with it - as long as it WAS only possible by BSA and we wouldn't risk a common when breeding - say - a holiday to a gold...