How do you plan out lineages?

[Keileon]

Couldn't find anything in Search so figured I'd start it up.

 

How do you plan out your breeding projects and lineages? By which I mean your personal projects, not the huge multi-player ones that are coordinated on the forum. Do you throw names and codes in a .txt? Do you use a spreadsheet? Do you throw everything you need to start in a group? Do you just start breeding and hope you remember?

 

I personally use the website draw.io, which is a flowchart maker.It's a wonderful planning tool that I can use to make charts like this:

 

 

(this is an old snapshot of a project; since then I've heavily expanded the chart and it's actually super easy to do so when you need more room. The canvas just expands for you!)

[Gryphonic]

Hmm.  I've always used a regular word document, with the base pairs in a vertical list on the left and subsequent generations indented to varying degrees as I read to the right.  I always have it open to reference when breeding anything, so I know which generation is breeding to which.  It's rather cumbersome to expand, though, and I'm debating looking for a replacement.

 

Male 1                       2nd gen male

Female 1                  |

                                  |                                     3rd gen

Male 2                      |

Female 2                 2nd gen female

 

(I have a separate document that's just a list of my dragons by breed and individual name, with an abbreviated note on CB, 2nd gen with X breed, whatever.  I struggle to remember to update both docs at once, especially during holiday madness.)

 

Edited for example, and to say that the charts are color-coded by breed, so it's easy to find a project when scrolling down the master file.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Gryphonic

[sbld]

http://heart-of.blue/dragcave/lineage 

This was created by @StarSea and while you can't select individual dragons, it's a great way to figure out what dragons you like together!

[Ruffledfeathers]

I usually am too lazy to flesh out things, unless I already have pretty lineages I can’t pass up. 

But what I did was just made a group, and got the idea from the lineage ideas which come after new releases.

https://dragcave.net/group/66079

Proud of my truffle x carina line

 

Edit: Thanks @olympe I made this when I was learning how to use groups! 

Edited November 11, 2018 by Ruffledfeathers

[olympe]

@Ruffledfeathers: You might want to set your group to "public" if you want to show it off...

Edit after edit above: Gorgeous!  

Edited November 11, 2018 by olympe

[Fuzzbucket]

41 minutes ago, Gryphonic said:

Hmm.  I've always used a regular word document, with the base pairs in a vertical list on the left and subsequent generations indented to varying degrees as I read to the right.  I always have it open to reference when breeding anything, so I know which generation is breeding to which.  It's rather cumbersome to expand, though, and I'm debating looking for a replacement.

 

 

I use a Word document but I like to have the base line at the top and go down vertically:

 

 

 

[Gryphonic]

1 minute ago, Fuzzbucket said:

 

I use a Word document but I like to have the base line at the top and go down vertically:

 

 

 

Wouldn't that make it harder to expand horizontally later?  And do you paste images like in your example, or just the text/names?

[Fuzzbucket]

Images. I like PRETTY.  Yes it is a bit of a PIA as they get larger - I don't print them but you can use "larger paper"... Like A3, and more. I have a few up to 7th gen done like that. But a screen shot would be tricky. 

 

One I have carries on like this:

 

 

 

Note the "5th gen" at the start of the top line

[relaks]

I personally use an Excel. I keep an inventory of all my dragons (as in how many of each breed and hoy many of them are male/female and CB) in the same Excel. I make different sheats for every lineage project (I have, like, a thousand lol). 

This is how I plan them: I make a mockup of the lineage (with the images, the Heart of Blue tool is really useful now!) to have a visual of what I'm planning. Then I build the "tree" with the names of all the dragons I already have and spaces where the ones to come should go.

This is how it looks like:

It works pretty well for me! I have to admit it's easy to lose sight of the whole thing if I plan longer lineages... But because I'm focusing on 4G lineages for now, it's enough. And it's pretty easy to add generations: I just copy and past! ^^

 

I might try that draw.io to see if it's easier 🤔

 

[Lantean_Pegasus]

To figure out the look of a lineage, I used to use some Corel Draw program. Take a standard lineage mock-up background (the ones used in the various "Breeding Plans" threads), and put in the little pictures of the different dragons of interest. (Which I usually got by using some windows snipping tool.) My old computer died on me, though, and the new one didn't come with a free Corel program, so I'm a bit at a loss on that front.

 

For the actual bookkeeping of the lineage breeding I use an Excel sheet, similar to relaks.

It looks like this:

Spoiler

I plan out the whole lineage, writing up the breeds I want to make in each generation. Once I got the egg I need, I add its code to the appropriate place. That way, I can easily find the pairs I want to breed by copying the code, and can see how far I've gotten at any given point. If the breeding is time sensitive or irregular due to breeding mechanisms, I add the next breeding date for that pair (like I did in this older example for the Bronze Lunar Herald).

Since you can always insert new, empty lines and columns in any position it wouldn't be a problem to expand the lineage afterwards by writing more stuff above, for example.

This example is the plan for the lower half of my "Everchanging dragons" lineage. I copy-pasted it out of the whole to keep the picture size manageable. 😉

Oh, and usually I tend to work from right to left, like the progress in the lineage view, just adding new columns on the left when I need them. This one I did the other way around, though.

And if you have a moment - wish me luck for getting that 6th gen Chrono I need instead of the White Stripe there ! 😉

Edited November 12, 2018 by Lantean_Pegasus

[Gluria]

I write stuff down by hand. 😝

[Ruby Eyes]

45 minutes ago, Lantean_Pegasus said:

This example is the plan for the lower half of my "Everchanging dragons" lineage.

Mine looks like this, copypasted out of my google spreadsheet (haven't even started breeding yet though ) :

Spoiler

1	2	3	4	5	6
Striped (white)
	Striped (black)
Turpentine
		Striped (blue)
Skywing
	Bluna
Deep Sea
			Striped (red)
Magi
	Goldfish
Water
		Fire Gem (red)
Pyrope
	Fire Gem (green)
Fire Gem (blue)
				Striped (green)
Siyat (purple)
	Siyat (blue)
Nhiostrife
		Siyat (green)
Daydream
	Soulpeace
White
			Seasonal (Summer)
Spitfire
	Ultraviolet
Purple
		Seasonal (Spring)
Guardian
	Seasonal (Winter)
Seasonal (Autumn)
					Xeno
Lunar (silver)
	Lunar (gold)
Sunstone
		Lunar (bronze)
Stone
	Geode
Pebble
			Lunar (indigo)
Ridgewing purple
	Nebula
Nebula blue
		Carina
Ridgewing red
	Ridgewing
Nebula red
				Xeno
Gemshard
	Gemshard
Spessartine
		Gemshard
Horse
	Hellhorse
Hellfire
			Xeno
Aria
	Pink
Almandine
		Xeno
Cassare
	Xeno
Xeno

 

Good to know it's going to look pretty

 

Anyway, usually, my lineages are just checkers or combinations of checkers, so I create a group, throw the CBs I want to use in there, sort them to pairs, and start breeding. Eventually, such a group looks like this: https://dragcave.net/group/47050

Edited November 12, 2018 by Ruby Eyes

[Nagapie]

I use Heart of Blue to preview/plan lineages and save the ones I like with print screen. I may then add my own notes and markings to the preview in Paint like this.

 

 

Example of what used to be my plan for a now finished lineage. The versions I post on the forums usually just contain the markings for which dragons I already have.

[Ruby Eyes]

1 hour ago, Nagapie said:

Example of what used to be my plan for a now finished lineage.

Beautiful!

[Nagapie]

8 hours ago, Ruby Eyes said:

Beautiful!

 

Thanks! It was the first checker I ever completed.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Nagapie

[Keileon]

Coming back to amend what I said in the OP-- I actually did used to use .txt files, and did some digging to find them.

 

Spoiler

 

became this: https://dragcave.net/lineage/Rq5B8

 

But I can't find the ones that I used for my Golden Wyvern/Shadow Walker or Crimson Flare/Dark Myst checkers...

 

[Aqub]

I use the DC groups for lineage projects. If I have a big project planned, I put everything from that project in one group together. Otherwise, if it's just smaller things like 3G checkers I want to breed, I have my group of dragons that need mates bred, and then I have a group for dragons whose mates are growing up at the time. 

 

I also use my notepad on the forums to write down things I mean to start in the future so I don't forget anything. 

[dustpuppy]

Before we had groups I used .txt files and my post in the "personal lineage project home" thread.

 

Now I have two permanent lineage groups, one for unfinished Lovely Commons lineages and one for various smaller lineages. For bigger projects I create separate temporary groups, first adding all the participating dragons and then removing them as I breed them, until I end up with the one resulting dragon (who'll go in the "finished lineages" group) and then I delete the group. The advantage is that I can easily keep track of my progress, the only pitfall is forgetting what I was planning to do with the dragons in my "various smaller lineages" group.

 

I still use .txt files as additional reminders for time-sensitive projects like Holidays and for IUOs/gifts.

[Dirtytabs]

On 11/12/2018 at 6:39 AM, Gluria said:

I write stuff down by hand. 😝

Me too! I have a notebook:

 

[Ruby Eyes]

4 hours ago, Dirtytabs said:

Me too! I have a notebook:

Me, too, but mine is much smaller - 19x14 squares, fits into my pocket.

Just enough to jot down new ideas when I'm not at home.

Not enough to even get the names of all my breeding projects on one page

[Toyo]

Oh wow, you guys, you're all so organized! I usually wing it, and then mess up along the way.

[Ruby Eyes]

21 minutes ago, Toyo said:

Oh wow, you guys, you're all so organized!

I wish I was! I have my various plans all over the place and when I finally need them, they are nowhere to be found! I'm so glad the groups were introduced!

[Jazeki]

1 hour ago, Toyo said:

Oh wow, you guys, you're all so organized! I usually wing it, and then mess up along the way.

Me too!

[Shadowdrake]

I usually name things after I finish a lineage, so I give each project a group and a nickname and name my CBs a to z, and name subsequent gens depending on what the CBs are to make sure I don't inbreed. I don't name CBs until I get a success in breeding, and I don't collect the common side of the lineage until I get enough of the rarer side. Example

Sometimes I'll add extra notes in the names, such as "unbred" or "don't breed" or "breed to (name)" if I haven't hit the quota or keep messing up breedings.

 

For the harder to pattern ones I usually just use google sheets.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Shadowdrake

[Ruby Eyes]

Looks similar with my latest project: https://dragcave.net/lineage/n/a 4th red

I also have b of course: https://dragcave.net/lineage/n/b 4th red

This is my first project in which I haven't used any of the CBs anywhere else, so names don't matter until I'm finished.