Red Dragon Optimazation

[Coheart]

Hello guys,

 

I am still pretty new to the sight. I have seen my first set of holidays. I've gone through the categorizing and counting, making sure I get the same number of each, scouring the AP for good lineages for breeding, and the thrill of picking up the cave born on the day of.

 

So this brings us to the topic of conversation, what is the optimal number of red dragons to have on a scroll to get you through any holiday conundrum. I have around 35 ish red dragons, but I am wondering how many I really need before I stop collecting them and focus my attention elsewhere.

 

Is 50 enough? 75? 100? How many do you guys keep on your scrolls?

 

You can also let me know if this is a stupid question. Haha

[Guillotine]

35 should be fine for a holiday if they're all off cooldown when the holiday starts, but theoretically you'd need about 100 to never deal with the cooldown ever if I remember my math right.

[Imzadi]

Hello guys,

 

I am still pretty new to the sight. I have seen my first set of holidays. I've gone through the categorizing and counting, making sure I get the same number of each, scouring the AP for good lineages for breeding, and the thrill of picking up the cave born on the day of.

 

So this brings us to the topic of conversation, what is the optimal number of red dragons to have on a scroll to get you through any holiday conundrum. I have around 35 ish red dragons, but I am wondering how many I really need before I stop collecting them and focus my attention elsewhere.

 

Is 50 enough? 75? 100? How many do you guys keep on your scrolls?

 

You can also let me know if this is a stupid question. Haha

If all you ever did was take eggs from the cave and breed your own, you would need 49 for a gold trophy. If you take stuff from the AP, which can hatch faster, you need more. The lower time the eggs on the AP, the faster they hatch and the more reds you need. So, as Guillotine says, 100 is a good safe place to be. You would likely not ever run short

[Painter]

I have 82*. I use incubate on everything.

 

This includes the insane amount of eggs I collected on Valentines, during and shortly after. Including a few incubate-and-throw-back eggs that I decided I wouldn't keep after all.

 

I had 5 incubates left before they started coming back 14 days after the Valentine-breeding start.

 

Shoot for at least 50 or 60, and then maybe just collect reds slowly, occasionally, after that, until you have ~80 - 100?

 

My final red count, personally, will probably be 90. I'm in no hurry, though, since I never run out anyway.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Painter

[Natayah]

I always tell newer players to get to 30 ASAP and really work to hit 50 on both reds & Pinks. Then I also encourage them to go above that, but, if you at least strive for 50, once you get there, you usually have enough grasp on the game that getting more is much easier. Generally at that time you know how to trade, use gifting threads and know how to hunt the AP & forums to seek more reds (and pinks) that give you the greatest advantage with balancing the rest of your goals.

 

I know I have somewhere between 50-100 Red Dragons. I don't know exactly how many. But I know it is at least 75. But I also am not constantly breeding and growing eggs & scrolls & lines like when I was more active. So I don't have to strive to keep my numbers at 100 or more. People who are super active and have a gold trophy probably want to focus on between 75-100. maybe even more if they really like the breed and seem to run low ever. Sometimes you just build your numbers simply to help you with the Holidays and never run close to the end except around that time.

 

But Holidays are important and that is really why we gather so many to prep for that. Normal to active game play doesn't require quite that many unless you are crazy big on raising, swapping, trading, collecting, etc and perhaps also gift & help to gift hatchlings to others.

[Gryphonic]

I have about 50 right now. But most of my eggs come from breeding or the cave anymore, so I don't burn through incubates as fast. Also my work keps my busy so I'm not maximizing the number of dragons raised per week - I don't breed more the instant the last ones hatch. During the last part of a holiday I get pretty close to running out, but didn't quite (again there was always some downtime due to work or being asleep. Or being hatchie-locked at the very end).

Edited February 23, 2017 by Gryphonic

[Confused Cat]

I have about 130, and I haven't run out of Reds in... a long time, I guess.

Right now about half of them are on cooldown.*

 

I incubate everything and I consider myself a rather active player (almost constantly egg-locked - except for when I'm hatchie-locked ), so I think 130 is definitely enough, and maybe 70 - 80 would be closer to the ideal number.

 

Although if the AP was incuhatchable all the time AND you freeze lots of things, you might need more. But at some point freeze limits will stop you, so maybe that wouldn't even make that much of a difference. - Oh, but then again you might be hatching things for trading purposes. If you want to hatch 1000 Olives to trade them to various recipients, or you just hatch everything on the AP and then toss it back, freezing limits won't stop you. So in that case you need an infinite number of Reds.

 

 

(* I should count again in a few weeks to eliminate holiday effects. Since everything was close to 7 days during the Valentine's breeding window, I might have used fewer incubates than during non-holiday times.)

[Obscure_Trash]

I've been cave hunting this year, but I typically do all my hunting via AP aside from new releases. I incubate everything, unless the AP has actually dipped down to hatchable time. I have 115 reds, and I haven't run out yet. I don't think I've even been that close to running out either. Since I've been mostly cave hunting + some uncommon eggs for hatchie trading this year, I have 73 reds still available (42 currently on cooldown). If doing AP grabs like usual, I'd probably be closer to about half and half.

 

I grabbed all the reds I could for a while, until I stopped running out of incubates + a few extras. I didn't have a goal, I kinda just eyeballed it by what I was using. Once I stopped running out of incubates and thought I had plenty of extras, I stopped grabbing every single red I saw. owo

[Bigbite]

Just counted my Reds and I have 99. I incubate all my dragons and of course, never run out. I have to get 1 more!

[blockEdragon]

all of them.

 

I think I have about 50, they got me through Halloween with no issues so I guess i have enough.

 

[Lantean_Pegasus]

Like so many things on DC that depends on what you'd like to do. So all the answers above should answer the question for any possible convenience.

 

When I was building up my scroll, I calculated the absolute minimum of Reds I needed with the holiday events in mind. Because for the rest of the year waiting one day longer doesn't matter that much, but during holidays time is of the essence.

 

Halloween: 7 days, with the holiday dragon only dropping on the 7th day

Christmas and Valentine's: 7 days, with the holiday dragon dropping for two days longer (day 8 and 9)

7 eggslots maximum

Day 1: 7 Incubates

Day 3: day 1 hatches, new eggs, 7 Incubates

Day 5: day 3 hatches, new eggs, 7 Incubates

Day 7: day 5 hatches; on Halloween: fill up with 7 Halloweens and be done with it; on the other holidays: new eggs, 2 Incubates so that 2 of them hatch on day 9 and you can get the two holiday dragons allowed per scroll

Total Minimum: 7+7+7(+2)=23 Reds for a Gold Trophy scroll

 

Of course that minimum means you have to stop incubating two weeks before the holiday period starts. (Well, technically not stop entirely, since you have the Reds you only need to come off cooldown on day 3,5,7, respectively, but it is the safest way to just stop.)

 

And you'll need more Reds if you want to go and pick up low-time holidays that you can hatch in-between. The earliest you could theoretically do that is day 3. (I never spotted incu-hatchable eggs as early as day 3, but they could be there.)

Day 1: 7 egg = 7 Incubates

Day 3: day 1 hatches = 7 hatchies; get 7 low-times, incubate, hatch = 7 hatchlings; get 7 low-times, incubate, hatch = 7 hatchlings -> scroll-locked with 21 growing hatchlings

Day 6: 21 hatchlings grow up; get 7 low-times, incubate, hatch = 7 hatchlings, get 7 low-times, incubate, hatch = 7 hatchlings; and then, depending on holiday: keep 7 spaces open for Halloween dragons on day 7 or get 7 low-times, incubate, hatch = 7 hatchlings -> either 14 hatchlings on scroll and 7 spaces for Halloweens on day 7, or scroll-locked with 21 hatchlings

Day 7 (only if Halloween): have 14 hatchlings still growing from day 6, get 7 Halloween eggs, 7 incubates (because there may still be eggs in the AP or elsewhere on day 9)

Day 9 (if Christmas/Valentine's): 21 hatchlings from day 6 grow up, get 2 of the new holiday eggs and (if still there somewhere) 5 others (usually no further incubates needed, because 2 days later all holiday eggs are probably gone)

Day 9 (if Halloween): 14 hatchlings from day 6 grow up, 7 eggs hatch, grab 7 old holiday eggs if still there (usually no further incubates needed, see Day 9 above)

That's 6 x 7 = 42 Reds needed for a Gold Trophy scroll.

(And one hell of a planning masterpiece to catch and hatch all those low-time eggs without loosing too much time.)

I think you can't squeeze any more things to incubate on your scroll during a holiday period - if you want to keep them.

Of course, if you incu-hatch, then trade for a low-time egg (and incu-hatch that) or toss back or whatnot, then you'll need more.

 

And if you want to keep incubating in the week(s) before the holiday you should get an adequate buffer, too. But I think 50 Reds is quite comfortable - except if you play really intense, incubate everything and manage to pull off that insane holiday schedule I calculated above.

So I collected about 35, then kept adding here and there when I saw a Red in the AP or decided to breed one for some lineage (have 46 now).

 

Oh, and next chapter: Don't forget to stock up on Pinks as well, or Halloween won't be any fun !

Edited February 23, 2017 by Lantean_Pegasus

[walkinslow]

Currently, I have 72 Reds, and I've never really run out. When I was new, collecting Reds was a top priority until I had 30 or 40; after that, I collected them more slowly. I often go AP hunting, and when there are lots of low-time eggs, it's good to have at least a couple of dozen incubates left. I think 50 Reds should be enough for most purposes, but depending on your playing style, you might need more.

[andromedae]

I have around 70-something reds, with a lazy "end-goal" of about 100. I'm also working on a PB red lineage so the amount I want to end up with is indefinite. I have run out of reds during the holiday season since I grab/trade for so many eggs, otherwise I do just fine.

Edited February 23, 2017 by andromedae

[Confused Cat]

Oh, and next chapter: Don't forget to stock up on Pinks as well, or Halloween won't be any fun !

And Aeons!

I wish I'd had more of them last Halloween when the AP time was so low the eggs were not even influenceable anymore.

[11th]

I have fifty-seven Reds and usually keep at least fifty open for holiday breeding times. Valentine's was easy to get through, but because of how much trading I usually do in December and how much I need to catch up on Halloween, I've been very close to running out of Reds for both.

 

If you're only grabbing eggs every two days during breeding periods, then sixty to seventy Reds should be enough to get through it without holding back on Incubates in the two weeks before breeding starts. However, if you're going to be active and trading, especially if the AP wall reaches 5d 0h, then one-hundred is probably a better number.

[pollyfirstfirst]

I've got about 28 right now, and during the Holiday Season...I ran out. I'm going to start a red dragon quest in about two weeks, I NEED MOAR. I'm aiming for at least 60, if not more.

[Tecca]

I think I have around 50 Reds? I rarely use their BSA except during the holiday breeding. I don't like to incubate everything automatically all the time, because then if I need to suddenly make space for an egg (a gift, an IOU fulfilled, breeding for a trade etc.) there will be nothing I can do if I am locked. This way I can usually incu-hatch something on short notice if I need to.

 

Besides, averaging 7 eggs every three days is enough for me and my projects. Breeding and raising 7 eggs every two days would feel like too much work.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Tecca