Mossy eggs

[Zeditha]

Previous thread can be found here: https://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=122339

 

So, this is a suggestion to help move the biomes along more. It was suggested before the addition of the 5-min shuffle, and hence I have a few suggestions: some to replace the shuffle and some in addition to it.

 

 

To replace shuffles:

 

The original idea was for eggs that sit in the biomes to become mossy once they sit for 5 minutes. This could easily help move eggs, as mossy eggs will be more desirable than normal eggs, and hence could replace the shuffles entirely.

 

 

As well as shuffles:

 

Since the shuffles are now implemented, it seems like a good idea to incorporate the new feature into the suggestion. So the main idea would be that eggs become mossy after, say, two minutes. I think that two or three minutes would be reasonable, giving enough time for an egg to sit and be seen while also allowing for desirable eggs to be grabbed without any chance of mossiness.

 

A second idea, however, is to reduce the frequency of shuffles: if shuffles were every ten minutes, then a two-to-five minute sit for mossiness would achieve the same effect.

 

 

Mossiness:

 

Now comes the fun part. Mossiness would be a simple addition to an egg, sort of like a sickness. In the cave, a green '!' would appear instead of a red '?' on the unknown egg sprite, and an overlay could be added to the egg's sprite itself. Several overlay sprites have been made, which exist in the previous thread.

There would be a chance - either a simple chance per egg or a ratio - that a mossy egg would hatch into a mossy hatchling. A mossy dragon should have an indicator by its name or code, like the snowflake symbol for a frozen hatchling.

 

Once a mossy dragon has been grown to adulthood, it gains a MSA - moss-specific action. This would replace any existing BSA (or be an additional action?), and could reasonably be several of the proposed BSAs.

 

MSA options - scrounged from BSA section. Feel free to suggest new MSAs!

Naptime: <dragon> lets out a massive yawn that is immediately contagious. The hatchlings all seem affected and drop off to sleep. (auto-fogs all hatchlings, cooldown: 2 weeks)

Disenchanting: <dragon> gazes adoringly at <other dragon>. Their previous mate seems much more appealing now... (reduce breed time by 1 day for last successful mate. Only affects one mate of pair. cooldown: 1 month)

 

 

Alternative ways to create appeal for mossy eggs are:

 

- Lower their time (grab at 6d?)

- increase chances for ND/Zombification

- Other ideas?

 

Sub-Descriptions: These would appear below the breed description on all Mossy dragons.

 

Egg:

The shell of this egg is covered with a thin layer of moss. It doesn't seem to hurt the egg, but hopefully the dragon inside is unharmed.

 

Hatchling:

This hatchling is not quite as active as the others of its species. It seems more patient, but you can't tell what it might be waiting for.

 

Adult:

Moss blocked sunlight and warmth from this dragon when it was still in its egg, and it seems to have developed differently as a result. It tends to be more subdued and thoughtful than others of its species and more prone to laziness.

 

 

 

Since the egg/hatchling sub description would take the space that the sickness notice usually would, perhaps mossy creatures don't get sick? The moss could protect against the sickness somehow.

 

 

Anyway, there are some thoughts. What do you think?

Edited February 8, 2017 by Zeditha

[Zeditha]

Reserved for art.

[LadyShadowHeart]

This is an interesting idea

[Pokemonfan13]

I think the MSA should be as well as any BSA the dragon has. It would be strange to have a red that happened to sit too long and it has this funny moss action instead of incubate.

 

I hope that the moss status wouldn't change the adult sprites in any way, just a mark elsewhere to show that it's a former mossy egg.

[StormWizard212]

I have loved this idea for years and years and would love to see it implemented. It would be so cool.

 

I wouldn't mind the moss status to change the appearance of the adult, if it was something similar to the illness overlay we got during Halloween last year. (I think that was when it was?) Just something like that to make it a bit different.

 

That being said, I wouldn't mind no alteration to the adult appearance either if it meant we got a cool, useful moss effect. I'd like something a little more interesting and unique than the BSAs suggested above, personally, but since I am neither interesting nor unique myself I'm struggling to come up with an alternative to suggest.

[Pokemonfan13]

The problem with moss changing the adult is it will make the eggs lose value they might otherwise have had. Instead of "Oh, I need this balloon for my lineage, and look it's also mossy! Free MSA!" it would be "I need this balloon for my lineage. But oh, it's mossy, that means I can't use it."

 

There would be people specifically rejecting the mossy eggs because the changed adult makes the egg worthless for their purposes. The only people collecting them would be the people who specifically want the action.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Pokemonfan13

[Fuzzbucket]

Yeah - let it not affect adults. I know I wouldn't collect them if it did.

[Shokomon]

I still support this!

 

Though I agree with the moss not affecting adults though.

 

Will you port over the art and basic information over from the older thread? Like the moss art and the green ! symbol for mossy eggs?

[aussieJJDude]

I like the idea of a shorter cooldown of a breeding pair however, but I'm not sure it works with the species. An increase in ND/zombification would be nice, even if the mossy egg just produce a collectable egg sprite - so we can collect eggs, "frozen" eggs, that would be nice.

[Obscure_Trash]

So I was thinking about this last night, and here were my thoughts as I was trying to get to sleep:

 

- I don't want to get rid of the shuffles. If we have to get rid of the shuffles to get this, I'd rather just not. I'd just prefer more dragons with BSAs for the actions we want instead, which means suggesting new dragons with these BSAs.

- I don't want to pick up a BSA dragon only to find out it has a different action than I wanted it for, so I think that any rare dragons (golds/silvers), any holidays, and any dragons already with a BSA should not be applicable to get an 'MSA'. As well, I don't think newly released dragons should be able to get an MSA until, say, a month after their release, but as I don't have good reasoning for this, it's just a side thought.

- No change to the sprites at any stage. Just add a line of text about being mossy on all stages or just the adult.

- Now that we have mana, maybe we should incorporate mana into this explanation. Like, the egg was placed in moss that grew in mana-infested soil and the magic was enough to alter and change the dragon growing inside, giving it a unique ability that others of its kind do not usually have.

- I would suggest a change in the mechanics a bit so there is a percent chance for getting an MSA that raises with the amount of time an egg sits exposed in cave. So, for example (just using these numbers as examples), where e_t = the time an egg sits in the cave in minutes:

0% chance of MSA = e_t < 1

2% chance = 1 </= e_t < 2

5% chance = 2 </= e_t < 3

8% chance = 3 </= e_t < 4

10% chance = 4 </= e_t < 5

This way we work with the shuffle in a more integrated manner.

 

Although I am overall interested in if this is even workable. Can the cave tell how long an egg as been at the front of the queue so that users can actually see it? Or is its time totally based just on when it was created, regardless of when it was visible to us?