Angel Island:Dragon Breeding

DRAGON BREEDING OVERVIEW

This paper is intended to explain and walk through the differences between today’s dragons and the creatures of old, and the new opt-in breeding system.

Opt-in breeding systemUnless you opt-in to the breeding system, the dragons here on Angel Island will function very much like the dragons of old.To enter your dragon into the breeding system, you must feed your dragon 3 Kukui nuts. Kukui nuts are found at the tree of knowledge.Once you feed your dragon the 3 Kukui nuts, your dragon will become fertile and able to reproduce. But be advised that a tame dragon that is fertile will also grow old.

Dragon Genetics

First up are the dragon’s new genes. Temper: “Temper” – A new gene intended for behavior modifications in AI. Visibility: Tame Patience: “Patience” – A new gene intended for behavior modifications in AI. Visibility: Tame Wisdom: “Wisdom” – A new gene intended for behavior modifications in AI. What the above genes affects will be touched on later in this chapter

Specific to Dragon:

StatCapFactor: “Versatility” – This is a new method of calculating the stat cap for a dragon. Instead of a direct additive cap, dragons now use a proportional cap that makes balancing a dragon’s stats more like balancing a player’s.Visibility: Tame VirtualArmor: “Scales” – The AR rating for the dragon.Visibility: Wild DamageMin: “Claw Accuracy” – The dragon’s melee weapons (claws) Min Damage rating.Visibility: Tame DamageMax: “Claw Size” – The dragon’s melee weapons (claws) Max Damage rating.Visibility: Tame HitsMaxDiff: “Physique” – Previously, dragons had a statically-set HitsMax value that did not depend on the dragon’s STR. Now, HitsMax is calculated using the dragon’s STR and this offset. Meat: “Meat” – The amount of ribs the dragon’s corpse will provide when cut up, if a breeder should choose to raise dragon as livestock.Visibility: Wild Hides: “Hides” – The amount of hides the dragon’s corpse will provide when cut up, if a breeder should choose to raise dragons as livestock.Visibility: Wild Dragon ColorsRed dragons are male, brown dragons are female. Pretty simple. (Grandfathered dragons with mismatched color/sex will not be converted making some existing dragons a “true rare” for the players.)

Dragon Growth Stages

Wild dragons and freshly tamed dragons will start out in the Adult stage and will remain there unless fed the Kukui nuts.

The amount of time spent in each stage is dependent on the dragon’s progression in its stats. The lower the stats, the longer it’s in a particular stage (except adulthood).

Infant – Dragons hatch from the egg as Infants and start with a fraction of the stats of wild dragons. Their graphic is an alligator, but their sounds are those of a full-grown dragon (we don’t have any believable baby-drag sounds). Infancy lasts from one to three weeks, taking longer if it’s not being trained.
Child – Once out of infancy, dragons get the Swamp Dragon graphic, and they get a sizable bonus to their chances to raise stats and skills, effectively making them train 1.5 times faster than normal. Childhood lasts between two and five weeks, depending on its training level.
Youth – Puberty is a stage of great opportunity for the dragon. It begins to take on a dragon-like form (Drake graphic) and rapidly gains skills and stats quite a bit faster than normal. Dragons are in the Youth stage for another 2 to 5 weeks.
Adult – Once an adult, the dragon gains its full size (dragon graphic) and loses its stat/skill gain bonuses. This is the only stage that will allow dragons to breed. Dragons will remain in the adult stage for between 15 and 50 weeks, depending on their training level. (15 weeks is for a dragon that’s never raised a single stat since hatching, 50 weeks is for a dragon that’s been bumping against the stat cap since it became an Adult.)
Ancient – After adulthood, a dragon becomes “Ancient” and acquires the Ancient Wyrm graphic. Upon becoming Ancient, their stats fall to 60% of their previous level (not of the caps or average level), and they are unable to gain any more stats or skills. At this stage, the dragon will be quite ineffective – the sole reason to keep one around would be for sentimental value.

The Breeding Process

Ok, on to how they do it! The males initiate the process and actively look for mates. When they find a female they like, they will attempt to initiate the breeding process (to “get down”) with her.
For a male to look for a mate, the following conditions must be satisfied:
He must have consumed the 3 Kukui nuts to become fertile. He must be tame. He must not be under any command (“all stop” will do the trick). He must be an adult. He must have good health. He must have been idle (wandering) for a couple minutes. He must not have successfully mated in the last couple hours. He must not have searched for a mate in the few seconds. Once those are satisfied, he will actively search for a mate. If he finds one, he has a chance to like her. If he likes her, he will enter the breeding sequence (rrreow).

The sequence is as such:
Approaching – The male simply attempts to get within one tile of his prospective mate.
Fighting Competition – Once he is within one tile of the female of his fancy, the male will search in the area for any other males that might threaten his chances or compete with him for the female’s desire.
If the male finds any other males in this search range, his Temper, Wisdom and the other male’s damage ratings will determine whether or not he attacks. If the male decides not to attack his fellow, the other dragon is added to an ignore list for the duration of this mate attempt.
Fighting away other males is the only time that a dragon will attack another creature by its own volition, and will not flag the owner as a combatant. Males will continue in the Fighting Competition stage until there are no more males in the area, or they die. Assuming they’ve driven off all the other males, our dragon will continue in his attempts to procreate.
Moving In – Once past the Fighting Competition stage, the male will attempt to mount the female and get on the same tile that she’s on. (Stamina can affect his chances here, as he has to “push through” her to get to the same tile.) Once he shares the tile, he will attempt to mate. If she accepts him, they will get down to doing the nasty. If she refuses him, he will leave brokenhearted and resume searching for a mate in about a minute (assuming he’s still above 80% health).

In order for the female to accept the male, the following conditions must be met:

She must have consumed the 3 Kukui nuts to become fertile.
She must be an adult. o She must be tame.
She must not be under any command (“all stop” will do the trick).
She must have been idle (wandering) for at least couple minutes.
She must have good health.
She must not already be mating with someone else. (Would be kind of rude…)
She must not have successfully mated in the last several hours.
If those conditions are satisfied, the female will have a chance to accept the mate. In addition, the male’s Wisdom can up his chances, the female’s Patience can up his chances, and the male’s Temper can lower his chances.

Mating – Once the female accepts the male as her mate, they begin mating, during which time an attack on either dragon will interrupt the process and cause it to fail.If the mating was a success, an egg is laid. The egg has a chance to be stillborn (never hatch). The two dragons will move apart and exchange empty promises to call one another.

Dragon Eggs

Dragon eggs are the vessels in which the babies are carried. When an egg is laid, a birth date is set for it sometime around a week. If the egg is locked down or in a player’s backpack, it will gain health, otherwise it will lose some. The egg will not hatch if its health falls too low.

When an egg gets within a day or two of its hatch date, it will begin to *rustle*, with rustling frequency increasing dramatically the closer it gets to hatching. (Eggs will wait to hatch until there is a player nearby.) If no player shows up within 2 days beyond the hatch date, the baby will die and the egg will never hatch.

Once the hatch sequence begins, it will last a few minutes and then a wild baby dragon will enter the world.

But wait, there’s more!

There are a plethora of things not described in this playguide chapter for you to discover about dragon breeding. So find a lovely couple, throw on some Barry White, and see what you can find!

Helpful Hint: Feed your dragon Sulforous Ash just before they breed. If you are successful you will be prompted with a message.

Dragon Genetics

"Versatility" (Affects StatCap)

       "Limited"
       "Reserved"
       "Able"
       "Versatile"
       "Dynamic"

"Scales" (Affects Armor Level)

       "Flimsy"
       "Durable"
       "Rugged"
       "Hard"
       "Plated"

Claw Size" (Affects Max Damage)

       "Undeveloped"
       "Small"
       "Ample"
       "Large"
       "Frightening"

Claw Accuracy" (Affects Min Damage)

       "Unwieldy"
       "Able"
       "Deft"
       "Precise"

"Physique" (Affect Max Hit Points)

       "Frail"
       "Spindly"
       "Slight"
       "Lithe"
       "Sturdy"
       "Tough"

"Hides" (Affects Amount of Hides Dropped)

       "Delicate"
       "Supple"
       "Thick"
       "Heavy"
       "Mountainous"

"Meat" (Affects Amount of Meat Dropped)

       "Frail"
       "Lean"
       "Brawny"
       "Colossal"