How Many Reds Do You Need? Answer: 150

[wobster109]

Usually I have enough red dragons for all my incubating purposes, but I run out during events. So I was wondering: What size army would guarantee that you always have enough to incubate? Here’s the calculations.

 

Each red has a cool down of 14 days, so I calculated the most uses you can get in that time. If you grabbed every egg at 4-days-odd, incubated them right away, and insta-hatched them, how many incubates is that?

 

1. Let’s say on Dec 1 you have no eggs or hatchies. Grab 8, hatch, do it again, then do it a third time. Now you have 24 hatchies and you’re egg locked.

2. In 3 days they all grow up, and you can hatch another 24. It is now Dec 4.

3. In 3 days, do it again. It is now Dec 7.

4. In 3 days, do it again. It is now Dec 10.

5. In 3 days, do it again. It is now Dec 13.

6. The fifth batch of hatchies grow up. It is now Dec 16, and cooldown is over for your first reds. They are free to incubate again.

 

That’s 24*5=120 so far. Add to that the 18 freeze slots to get to 138. That’s the most you can KEEP... but maybe you incubated them and gave or traded or abandoned them. So I rounded up to 150 as a buffer.

 

Note that there’s no amount that would be enough to cover every single case. If you grab, incubate, hatch, abandon all day long, then the only limit is how fast you can hatch them. (Though in that case my estimate is 5k: Hatch in half hour, that’s 48 cycles per day * 8 eggs per cycle * 14 days = a bit over 5000.)

 

In conclusion, 150 should be enough for most use cases. If you have 150 red dragons, you’ll most likely never run out of incubates.

 

[PrincessLucy]

I have a couple of hundred reds, 345 to be exact, but I most often pick up eggs from the AP, so they hatch sooner than your example, and I need more.

 

There should be a lot of red eggs in the AP today, as several of us bred reds and other BSAs a couple of days ago.

[pinkgothic]

You might also be interested in this thread, that goes into some other numbers: 

Lots of discussion about incubates, too, although the ones in the first couple of pages aren't so useful, as they predate both the platinum trophy and the habit of the AP of being incuhatchable.

[Astreya]

Sounds like I'm pretty good then with the about 170 of my Pure Red Lineage: https://dragcave.net/group/103193

 

[wobster109]

@PrincessLucy You won’t need more. If they are under 4 days you don’t need the incubate BSA at all, and if they are 4 days 1 hour vs 4 days 23 hours, either way it’s still one incubate. :)

 

By the way thanks for the idea! I hadn’t thought of breeding my reds for holiday incubates. I’ll go breed them for the AP tonight.

 

@pinkgothic Thanks for the link! I’m fascinated by maths. Can’t wait to read through the thread!

 

@Astreya Yep you should be good! I’d be surprised if you ever ran out. But, I know there are some people who will inch-hatch for others. If you do that you might run out, since you wouldn’t be held back by scroll limit in that case. 

Edited December 17, 2019 by wobster109

[olympe]

7 minutes ago, wobster109 said:

By the way thanks for the idea! I hadn’t thought of breeding my reds for holiday incubates. I’ll go breed them for the AP tonight.

 

Bad idea. All that will accomplish is that your red eggs will die behind a wall of holiday eggs.  

[wobster109]

4 minutes ago, olympe said:

Bad idea. All that will accomplish is that your red eggs will die behind a wall of holiday eggs.  

 

Do holidays automatically go to the front? I thought if I breed them before holiday breeding starts, they’ll show up in front.

[olympe]

@wobster109 Holidays always go before non-holidays. Always. Even if the non-holiday is running out of time while the holidays still have several days.

[Astreya]

@wobster109

Yeah, best breed yours next year - then people can snatch them up in time to be set up for next Valentine's. I guess I should breed my CBs then, too - People might like to get some fresh 2Gs.

[PrincessLucy]

6 hours ago, wobster109 said:

@PrincessLucy You won’t need more. If they are under 4 days you don’t need the incubate BSA at all, and if they are 4 days 1 hour vs 4 days 23 hours, either way it’s still one incubate. :)

 

 

I have needed more. I do sometimes hatch and dump. 

 

I don't think I have really needed more than 200 or so to get thru an event since TJ limited freezing.

[PrincessLucy]

Between Dec 19th and Dec 26th, I used 112 reds. I used only 17 the 6 days before that. I have been playing the "hatch and dump" game, sending a lot of (mostly Holly) hatchlings to the AP.  I am collecting 2nd gen Hollies, and managed 30 so far this season.

 

Depending on when the AP clears into incuhatchable non-Christmas eggs, I will start using them in earnest.

 

My bigger problem turned out to be pinks. I used 78 male pinks between Dec 19th and today, leaving me just 27 to last me until the AP eggs get down to 3 days. After that, I'll be using up my precogs to tell what I should keep.

 

I didn't track how many female pinks I used, as I still have a ton of those left.

[Fuzzbucket]

I have around 120. I have never run out. Touch wood. (And I even incubate 4 day eggs !)

 

@PrincessLucy almost all Christmas eggs are single sex only, so you should be OK. You'll only need them later !

Edited December 29, 2019 by Fuzzbucket

[PrincessLucy]

8 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

I have around 120. I have never run out. Touch wood. (And I even incubate 4 day eggs !)

 

@PrincessLucy almost all Christmas eggs are single sex only, so you should be OK. You'll only need them later !

It is the Hollies that I need them for.  I only influenced 1 or 2 Mistletoes.

[Fuzzbucket]

But other than that 30 2 gens, however many did you get ???

[PrincessLucy]

7 minutes ago, Fuzzbucket said:

But other than that 30 2 gens, however many did you get ???

I got another 10 or 12 Holly checkers that I kept, plus stuff I influenced and hatched to trade, give away, or dump.

 

I like to hatch and dump to help get to see what is next in the AP.

 

I also like to pick up hatchings in the AP, and hope that they will be the correct gender.

 

I have the "gotta catch'em all" mentality when it comes to my scroll.

[bonvoyage]

I only have about 70 reds, and I haven't run out in years. Kind of weird really, maybe I'm just not a big red user over holidays when so much stuff is incuhatchable or close to it.