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Curatrix

ANSWERED:Tips & Tricks for Newbs(?)

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Hello, I've been on this site for a long while but I haven't been active and am actually still fairly ignorant of the in's and out's of DC.

I was wondering if someone could give a newb like me a top 10 tips and tricks list for beginners? Doesn't have to be just that anything and everything helps :D

(Additionally, a list of what all the acronyms on the site are would be nice because I find myself utterly confused on to what the subjects are talking about half the time XD)

 

Thanks in advance for the help folks! :) 

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Get a lot of Red Dragons like this, they can take a day off on eggs. Though I personally still wait a day before I put the eggs even after I incubate them because they can still get sick.

 

Also you will want plenty of pink dragons of both genders, they influence a egg to their gender.

 

BSA is breed specific ability like influence/incubate.

 

AP means Abandoned Page where you can pick up eggs that other people have left.

 

(you probably know what those two dragons look like, but just in case you didn't. I linked you two adults of the dragons,)

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The terminology thread is very out of date, so I've updated it, you can ask what terms you want if it's not there.

#

1st stage hatchling

A hatchling that has just hatched and has no wings.

 

2nd stage hatchling/gendered hatchling

A hatchling with wings (or has grown bigger) and now has a gender.

 

A

Abandoned (page)/AP

Abandoned page where dragons abandoned by a user go https://dragcave.net/abandoned

 

AP Wall

Where almost every dragon or every dragon on the AP is the same species. 

 

Alt

Abbreviation for Alternate, referring to secondary sprites for specific dragon Hatchlings/Adults. Alt Blacks and Alt Vines are dragons that can be obtained only by breeding. Alt Nebulas can be obtained via the cave main drop or by breeding. When used in reference to a holiday dragon, it is usually a reference to Spriter alts or SAlt are alternate coloured dragons given only to the spriter that made them on holidays or prizes. If it is prefixed by a username it refers to the spriter who's alt version is being discussed. 

 

Alt Lottery

Catching a specific colored egg and raising it till it hatches to see if it is an alternate sprite, with no intention of keeping the hatchling if it is the normal variety.

 

Army/'hoarding'

A huge number of a specific breed that someone has amassed on his or her scroll. Their scrolls often contain small numbers of other breeds, and dozens of the breed of choice.

 

Auto

An offer which the owner of a trade will definitely accept.

 

Auto'd/Auto abandon/auto AP

Any time an egg leaves your scroll automatically due to exceeding the scroll limit (by breeding) and you are notified of it happening (total growing things which include eggs and hatchling OR by reaching the egg limit OR after selecting one egg from holiday pair bred during a holiday -- where you keep one and the rest auto abandon or if you do not select one egg to keep within the hour, all those eggs from that pair will vanish from your scroll and automatically be abandoned without any other notice or action on your par.)

 

ARK list

An honorary listing of site members who have shown kindness towards other members of the board enough to be recognized for it. ARK list members can be identified by a gold badge in their signature.

 

Auto refresher/AR

Generally refers to the NDER auto refresher on http://www.allureofnds.net/NDER/NDAR/ or a browser extension used for the same purpose.

 

Avatar

1. The profile image of a forum user

2. A dragon bred from a Guardian of Nature

 

B

Biome

Refers to the Alpine, Coast, Desert, Forest, Jungle, Volcano, Holiday biomes listed on the main page of dragcave where eggs can be obtained. 

 

Blacklist

A list of users that meet certain requirements, which can differ from site/topic to site/topic. They are "bad" users, those who are detrimental to the site/topic. Often times the Blacklist includes flamers, trolls, and spammers. Those that break the rules of the site/topic often may also be blacklisted.

 

-Blacklisted: to be added to the Blacklist

-Blacklistee/Blacklister: a user whose name is on the Blacklist. Often "banned" from a topic, as sites actually CAN ban people. When "banned" any posts they make are to be ignored. They are no longer eligible to participate in the activity of the topic, often seen with gifting/trading topics.

 

Bloodswap/swap

A dragon of the same lineage but from unrelated ancestors.

 

Bouncing

Refers to the use of the Teleport BSA to pass an egg from one user to another and back again in order to remove BSAs like Incubate and Influence from eggs.

 

Bred

Antonym : Caveborn/CB

Bred is a title given to an egg, hatchling, or dragon that is the offspring of two user owned dragons. Bred eggs can be obtained by breeding two dragons on your scroll or by adopting them at the abandoned page. 

 

Breed only

A dragon breed that can be obtained only by breeding: for example alt black/vine, geode, bluna, shallow water. Some of these were available as an honourable mention prize in past contests/raffles and thus a the cave born/CB version of a breed only can be refered to as an HM hybrid/HM alt black etc.

 

Breed

1.Action of breeding dragons, to make a new egg. Random results may occur.

2.A specific type of dragon

 

Breedable

Any dragon that can produce eggs when bred with another dragon is considered breedable. Some dragons can only breed within their species, while dragons considered holiday dragons can only breed with each other successfully during a holiday.

 

Unbreedable

Any dragon that cannot breed, regardless of whether or not the "breed" option shows up. These dragons can only be obtained through the main page during cave drops.

 

BSA/Breed Specific Action

Specific abilities granted to different breed of dragons. This ability could only be be used once every x period (which may vary depending on the breed). A list of BSAs can be found here: https://dragcave.net/help/actions#bsa

 

Burned scroll

When a user has done something against the rules that is bad enough for their scroll to be burned as punishment. All dragons on it disappear, and if someone tries to view it, they get the message, "You pick up the scroll labeled "(scroll name)" only to find that it is charred and impossible to read. Some people also request for their scrolls to be burned.

 

C

Catch

To catch/To help catch

1. used to describe the person accepting a teleport in some neglected experiments

2. The term used when another person (or group of people) try to get eggs from the Abandoned Page with the intent of returning them to the breeder.

 

Camping

When someone sits around on the abandoned page repeatedly refreshing, waiting for something they want to pop up.

 

Caveblocker

Used in reference to a very common dragon that no one wants to take and hence blocks the cave. 

 

Caveborn/CB

Antonym : Bred

Caveborn is a title given to an egg, hatchling, or dragon that has been generated by the site through the biomes or the market. User preference varies when it comes to choosing between a caveborn or bred egg/hatchling.

 

Click

There is one click added per ip address every 24 hours. A click is gained when someone click on the dragon, or on the 'view' link.

 

misclick/accidental click

Refers to accidentally obtaining the wrong dragon from the biomes 

 

Code

The 5 alphanumeric code (formerly 4) unique to each dragon and is widely used in trading and gifting

Word Code

Refers to a dragon's code which looks like a word or a phrase

All number

Refers to a dragon's code which consists of all numbers

Palindrome

Refers to a dragon's code which is palindromic.

All caps

Refers to a dragon's code which consists of all capital letters LIKE THIS

Namecode

A code that could have been the name of something -- alphabetic only typically.

 

Completed List

A list of all completed dragon requests that used to be visible. Some sprites have been removed for pending release.

 

CD/Cooldown

The time it takes for an egg freshly-caught from the Cave to be able to be traded or abandoned. Cooldown time is sometimes abbreviated as CD.

The cooldown time is 5 hours.

 

Custom code

Refers to prize dragon codes chosen formerly by winners in the contests and raffles.

 

D

DC

Dragon Cave - the site.

 

DC IRC

An abbreviation for Dragcave Internet Relay Chat. The DC Chat is a place where everyone can hang out and chat with other users, moderators and TJ. The chat has it's own set of rules and a topic on the IRC can be found in the Site Discussion.

 

Derg

Short for dragon. 

 

Descript/Description

A small user written text that appears under the regular description for each breed, that may be written under the Actions page for all adult dragons and frozen hatchlings. It must go under a small review by the members of the site and by a mod as well before it is allowed to appear on the individual page of a dragon. Descriptions have to follow certain rules

 

DR/Dragon Request

 Refers to the Dragon Requests forum https://forums.dragcave.net/forum/15-dragon-requests/

 

Dorkface

Offspring of Midas Dorkface

 

Drop

1.When eggs appear on the front page

 

Hour drop/top of the hour drop

The drop that occurs upon the hour and lasts for more then 3 eggs.

 

5 min drop/5 minutes drop

The drop of 3 eggs that occurs every 5 minutes

 

Dummy

An easily obtained dragon, usually from the Abandoned Page.

 

E

Egg Killer

1. A person who uses the kill function on their eggs frequently

2. (mostly outdated definition, the new term is VBer or Viewbomer) An egg killer is someone who found a way to give a massive amount of either clicks or views to a single egg, leading to its premature death by soft shell. 

 

(Egg) stage/Egg cracking etc

A term used to denote the different "stages" of hatching, or cracking, an egg can be in. The stages commonly referred to is the first one (the first crack on an egg, a small diagonal line on the upper left) and the one where the egg has a big hole (is close to hatching)

 

ER/Emergency Room

Commonly refers to eggs at 4 days and are ready to hatch. Typically used in fansites where emergency eggs are listed so that people entering it may give them views.

 

EQ

Abbreviation for the Earthquake BSA (Green/Pebble dragons). When used, it gives all eggs in scroll (including fogged eggs) a possible chance at hatching early or dying or no changes at all.

 

F

F

Female.

 

F5-ing

Constantly refreshing using the F5 key.

 

Fansite(s)

Website created by a DC fan for the purpose of raising dragons and giving them views and with other functions.

 

FFA 

(Largely fallen out of use in favour of raffles) Abbreviation for Free For All. Use when referring to an event where a person will provide teleport link for the eggs/hatchlings that is to be abandoned. The abandoned egg/hatchling is then freely available for anyone trying for it.

 

Fogging/fog

Hiding an egg

 

Freezing

Stopping a hatchling from growing up.

 

Fodder

Usually a term used for a useless dragon with a designated purpose

Freeze fodder

Typically a messy lineaged hatchling (as frozen hatchlings cannot be bred, a messily lineaged dragon is usually considered ideal.) 

Zombie fodder

A dragon designated for zombie creation

ND fodder

A dragon designated for ND creation.

G

(number)G

Refers to generation. a 2g dragon is second generation, etc. Please see lineage.

 

Gender

In a hatchling, to reach the second stage, causing the gender to be visible on the viewdragon page.

 

Misgendering/Gendering wrong

When a hatchling turns out a different gender than expected/wanted/needed.

 

Genderswap

A dragon of the same lineage but of a different gender. Usually wanted due to misgendering or to even out gender ratios.

 

Gifting

Transferring a dragon via one way teleport to a recipient.

 

Glitch

Can refer to a problem in dragcave. Synonym: bug.

 

GoN (*See BSA)

Guardian of Nature - A breed of dragon obtainable only through the Summon BSA - by combining the forces of the Legendary Trio (Magma, Ice, Thunder Dragons.) The chance of success is extremely low and the Summon action can only be performed once every 2 weeks.

 

H

H/H:

Short for Have on the trading hub.

 

Hatchling/Hatchie/Hatchy

A newborn baby dragon; just emerge from its shell.

 

Held eggs

Eggs that have been produced by a breeder, but are still on their scroll.

 

HM

Short for Honourable Mention, a former prize distributed in raffles/contests where the users could choose almost any dragon in the game. 

 

Hoard/Hoarder

It means to collect multiple dragons of the same breeds

 

Holiday Dragons

Holiday Dragons which are special dragons only released during certain holidays, such as Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day.

 

Hunting

The process of persuing a greatly-wanted dragon, either from the cave, the AP.

 

I

 

Inbred/Inbreeding

When a Dragon has children with a family member, such as a sibling or its parents. Inbreeding is often accidental, or done in order to maintain a purebred lineage.

 

Incuhatch/Incuhatchable

The act of applying Incubate at 5 days in order to make the egg hatchable/An egg that can be incuhatched.

 

Incu

Short for incubate  (as in the Incubate BSA)

 

infl'd

Short for influenced (as in the Influence BSA)

 

L

LF

Looking for

 

Lineage/lineaged

A dragon's family tree. Common lineage terms

 

2g/2nd gen/2nd generation/G2

Refers to a dragon bred from two cave born parents such that the length of the lineage reaches 2 as on the lineage page  https://dragcave.net/lineage/r1TbL

3rd gen refers to 3rd generation and so on.

CB/Cave born

Refers to a dragon caught from the biomes or the market or won from a prize -- which has no parents

PB/Purebred

Dragons where the lineage consists of only the same species. Alt dragons may or may not be counted. Prize dragons of both western and eastern type are counted as the same species often.

Checker

Stands for checkerboard, where the dragons are of an alternating repeating pattern based on gender, example: https://dragcave.net/lineage/UDBd6

eg/EG/Even gen/Even Generation

All CB dragons are in the same generation, resulting in a lineage where every single dragon possible is filled in for its generation. example: https://dragcave.net/lineage/F33Ys

A 3eg means an even gen of length 3, etc

Spiral

CBs alter genders https://dragcave.net/lineage/F57HA

Arrow/Arrowhead

Where two opposing stairstep lineages are bred to create a < pattern eg  https://dragcave.net/lineage/jQrqp

Staircase/stair/stairstep

All CB dragons are the same gender eg https://dragcave.net/lineage/HvJWT and https://dragcave.net/lineage/qXCam

Clean

A lineage with no inbreeding

Deadline

Lineage where dragons have been killed off to make the pattern, especially in the case of even gens https://dragcave.net/lineage/jZcn

Messy Lineage

Often a dragon whose lineage does not follow a described on geometric pattern. It may be clean and also be messy.

Special lineage

A dragon who's lineage is hard to create, especially refers to short prize lineages

Lowgen/short lineage

  Refers to a dragon whose lineage is quite short. Typically this is synonymous with 2nd generation/2g or 3rd gen but occasionally longer. Caution should be exercised when interpreting this term as user based value is typically based on generation and so lowgen can often ask a mask a user asking only for a 2g in a roundabout manner. 

 

 

Locked scroll/Scrollocked

Scroll filled with eggs and/or hatchlings, so one doesn't have room for anything from the cave or the AP.

Hatchielocked

Scroll locked by hatchlings and eggs

Egglocked

Scroll locked by eggs only.

 

Low time

A dragon that has less time to live. It's subjective, but this usually means 4 days and 0 hours or less. 

 

Lurking

Watching something without visibly participating for example when viewing a thread on the forums or hunting

 

M

M

Male.

 

Maintenance

Occurs daily at 3am EST. Maintenance time varies and can take up between half and hour to more than an hour and a half. During site maintenance, DC will be inaccessible/unavailable.

 

Mass Breed

An annoying condition when there is an overwhelming amount of eggs on the abandoned page are the same species, usually produced by one person. 

 

Mature

(no longer commonly used in reference to hatchlings) When the hatchling has reached second stage. 

 

Metal

A gold or silver dragon. 

Misgendered/Misgender

When a dragon turns out the opposite gender of what the user desired. This is particularly undesirable in checker lineages and staircase as the pattern is no longer matched.

 

N

ND

An abbreviation for Neglected Dragon.

 

exp/ND exp/ND Experiments

An abbreviation for Neglected Dragon Experiments. This is a topic/group of people who are carrying out controlled experiments to create neglected dragons.

 

Ninja'd 

1. A situation where someone posts the same information as you do just before you hit 'add reply'.

2. When an egg is nabbed during an attempted trade/gifting or finding out that an egg on the abandoned page or main page has already been picked up once you've clicked on it.

 

P

Progress List

The Progress List shows the current development of sprites for new dragon suggestions. 

 

PM

Private Message used in forum communication between members. DM means the same thing on other sites like discord.

 

Precogg'd/Precog

Short for the aeon's precognition BSA.

 

-kin/-fail (eg prizefail, prizekin, HMkin etc)

A descendant of the dragon that usually isn't of the same species (eg prizekin = usually not a prize)

R

RA

Short for Radiant Angel

 

Raffle

1. Refers to the onsite raffle for prize dragons: https://dragcave.net/raffle

2. A user held egg giveaway that follows the following format: user calls for people to enter into a draw, users enter, a random number is picked and that person gets the dragon

 

Ratios

A site mechanic which is commonly blamed for being unable to get a dragon. 

 

Reflex Click

When you see a dragon (egg or hatchling) on the abandoned page, that you may have been hunting before, and reflexively click on it. Even if you currently do not want it.

 

Released

The act of sending a dragon to the wilderness.

 

Retired

A dragon that is no longer available. Dragons like the Frills used to be retired but this is no longer the case. 

 

Room/Scroll room

Space on a scroll for new Dragons. If a user needs to "make room" for (a) new Dragon(s), their scroll is currently locked. If they "have room" for (a) new Dragon(s), their scroll is not currently locked.

 

S

SA/SAlt

1. Spriter alts or SAlt are alternate coloured dragons given only to the spriter that made them on holidays or prizes

2. Formerly, SA stood for Snow Angel but this has been dropped in preference of definiton 1.  

SA kin/SAlt kin

Descendants of Spriter Alt dragons. 

 

Scroll goal

Any goal a member has for his/her scroll, like collecting all kinds of dragons.

 

Scroll locked

Scroll filled with eggs and/or hatchlings, so one doesn't have room for anything new from the cave or the AP.

 

Shard

Currency for the market

 

Shimmer/shim

Eastern Prize dragon.

 

Stalk

1. When someone sits around on the abandoned page or biome repeatedly refreshing, waiting for something they want to pop up

2. Especially in the case of Spriter Alt dragons, to frequently visit the offspring list to track down the owner of the dragon or to decide when the bred dragons will end up in the AP in the case of holidays

 

T

Tin/Tinsel

Western prize dragon.

 

TOD

Time of Death. Refers to the time left under the dragon's page and usually the exact time of death to a minute. 

 

Tombstone

Stage of zombies where they are not visible during the day

 

Trio

The three "elemental" dragons, released together in November 2009. The three dragons are the Ice Dragon, the Magma Dragon and the Thunder Dragon.  A complete adult trio (one of each breed, gender irrelevant) is required to perform the "Summon" BSA option.

 

V

V/Views

The number of times an egg/hatchling is viewed. The max number of views in 15 times the unique views.

 

VB

Short for viewbomb, to repeatedly add a large number of views to a dragon. With or without someone's consent.   

 

VBer

A person who viewbombs maliciously.

 

View starving

To deny a hatchling views until it dies, usually in order to create a zombie

 

W

W:/W

Short for Want on the trading hub. 

 

Wall

On the abandoned page, since the egg sprites are stacked in neat, impossible rows, they resemble a "wall". When many eggs of the same breed - usually vine, black, mint, or pink - are on that page, it is considered a "wall of" that egg. Also frequently used as a vent to say that someone's preferred egg type is being blocked out by a wall of ----.

 

Win

Used in reference to success in the raffles.

 

Wilderness

Shows unowned adult dragons https://dragcave.net/wilderness.

 

Z

Zombie

Undead dragon. It can be obtained by killing an adult/hatchling and then reviving it.

 

Zyu 

Short for Zyumorph

 

 

Edited by DarkEternity

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You might want to try asking for a mentor from The Mentoring Project. It isn't just for newbs! It would be a perfect place for you to connect with someone who could answer your questions as they come up instead of just throwing out a bunch of tips that may be things you already know. :) 

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Okay, tipps.

 

Hunt often. Use the inofficial wiki in order to learn egg descriptions by heart, it makes it easier to grab the eggs you actually want. (Also look at the biomes the eggs drop in.) It's quite helpful, also the estimated rarity of dragons often is way off base. A much more accurate way to gauge rarity is visiting the in-game shop by clicking on the little crystal on top of your scroll and having a look at prices. The pricier, the rarer.

 

Right now, grab eggs from either the Halloween biome or the AP. These eggs only exist this one week a year.

 

Regularly check the news section for updates. This way, you'll get some warning when new eggs are about. (Most often, we get releases on the last Sunday of the month - unless we'll get a holiday release. In November, we might get a release or not. January is usually not a release month.)

 

There are four dragons you absolutely should collect as soon as possible:

  • Red dragons, which can take a day off an egg's timer, thus allowing you to hatch eggs faster
  • Pink dragons of both genders, which will allow you to choose which gender a dragon will develop. (You'll have to use it on eggs, though.)
  • Magi dragons, which allow you to set up teleports to trade your eggs and/or hatchlings with other users. (You can also use the trading hub and look at the offers there.)
  • Purple dragons, for enhancing fertility. Although it often doesn't help with getting an egg from stubborn pairs, at the very least you most likely won't be faced with a refusal. A refusal ("The dragons refuse to even go near each other.") means the dragons won't breed. Ever.

There are other dragons with a BSA (=breed-specific action), but the other ones aren't quite as integral to the game.

 

Network. It will help you to add the rarer breeds to your dragon collection, as well as help you create lineages you like.

 

Don't put your eggs into a hatchery before they're at least 24 hours old. (It's not the timer that counts, but the actual age of the egg. Remember, the timer can be changed with the Incubate BSA of the Red dragons.) Do not use Incubate on eggs of either prize breed. ("This egg is very reflective, almost metallic looking.") Keep rare eggs hidden for the first 24 hours or longer. There are vindictive people around who might "viewbomb" your eggs, causing them to get sick. Sickness can lead to death, just like in real life.

 

If you post on the first couple of pages of a news thread announcing a new release, hide your scroll and/or all eggs and hatchlings. You're almost guaranteed to get viewbombed. :(

 

Before you breed your dragons, click on your scroll trophy to check whether you have room for another egg.

 

Oh, and last but not least: Do not cheat.

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