I just joined a few days ago and am attempting my very first breeding project.
I bought 3 mystical essences and am wonder if it is better to to 3x 2vis on each or a bunch of carries?
Any advice is appreciated :]
Thanks!

Carries are much more valuable than visibles as far as breeding project stock goes.

Xavion wrote a really, really awesome guide on pretty much everything breeding ever, located here! I suggest you read it over before generating anything. Some of the stuff in there was completely new to me after like a year of projects, and I could have easily saved half of the essences I used if I'd known :x

I took a look at it yesterday, but I only remember seeing a project example with the basic essences, with 2GP it's obviously better to do carries. I'm just not sure if 2 visibles on 3 pets or just carries on them is better, but I'll go look it over again in case I missed something, thanks for the link :]

You could have asked me on the forum guide :D I love questions. ^^

I would still suggest using carries if you aren't afraid of having a few failed results in the beginning.

Giving this as an example:


Mother:

G1 carry
G2 carry
G3 carry
M1 carry

Father:

G3 carry
M1 carry
M2 carry
M3 carry


Minimum Offspring would be nothing, but there's an equal chance to get a maximized result:

G1 carry
G2 carry
G3 VISIBLE
M1 VISIBLE
M2 carry
M3 carry


And if you set the third generated pet with with the following:

G1 carry
G2 carry


M2 carry
M3 carry


Then the offspring between the third generated pet and the maximized offspring of the first two would have a minimum 2-carry result


G3 carry
M1 carry


with a maximum of this:

G1 VISIBLE
G2 VISIBLE
G3 carry
M1 carry
M2 VISIBLE
M3 VISIBLE


And even without a maximized result, the offspring between the first two have the highest chance to have a trait in G3 and M1 since it has a chance to pass from BOTH parents. Even a 2-carry offspring with those traits would have the potential to breed a 6-trait offspring with the third generated pet. It wouldn't be a common result, but that's the maximum potential.



Or, for a more balanced suggestion where you won't get any 100% fails in the beginning...1-vis / 2-carry parents.

Mother:

G1 VISIBLE
G2 carry
G3 carry

Father:

M1 VISIBLE
M2 carry
M3 carry


Their offspring would have a minimum 2-carries


G1 carry


M1 carry


with a maximum of 6 carries:

G1 carry
G2 carry
G3 carry
M1 carry
M2 carry
M3 carry



For the third generated pet in this scenario, I would suggest this format:

G2
G3

M2
M3


That way when bred to even the minimum offspring result from the other two, there's still a chance to breed a 6-carry offspring. BUT, the minimum offspring between the third generated and the lowest offspring of the first two generated would be a result of no traits.


As for the maximum result of the first two generated, being bred to the third generated, it would be a 4-vis with 2 carries.

G1 carry
G2 VISIBLE
G3 VISIBLE
M1 carry
M2 VISIBLE
M3 VISIBLE




It all depends on how you want to progress. A chance total failure from your first two generated pets right at the beginning, or a chance of total failure in the second step where you breed the offspring to the third generated pet.


As for using only visibles, it would basically set you back a full generation, but it would enable you to breed multiple sets of the first or second example I gave. It can get really crowded, really quick with this method, so I don't really advise it. It's similar to my first attempt when I didn't really know the breeding restrictions so I used like... 8 regular essences. >_>;

Mother:

G1 VISIBLE
G2 VISIBLE

Father:

G3 VISIBLE
M1 VISIBLE


Offspring: same result every time

G1 carry
G2 carry
G3 carry
M1 carry

(Look familiar? It's the same as the mother in the first example.)

Third generated pet also with VISIBLES

M2 VISIBLE
M3 VISIBLE


Minimum result when bred to the offspring - 2 carry.

M2 carry
M3 carry


Maximum result - 6 carry.


G1 carry
G2 carry
G3 carry
M1 carry
M2 carry
M3 carry


Third generation pet with carries:

G1 carry
G2 carry


M2 carry
M3 carry

Minimum Offspring result: Nothing.

Maximum Offspring result: 2 visibles with 4 carries.

G1 VISIBLE
G2 VISIBLE
G3 carry
M1 carry
M2 carry
M3 carry




Hope that wasn't too complicated? ^^; If so I can break it down further. :)

I wish I had waited for this reply before creating the 3 2-vis pets xD
Thanks though! I will know how to start out with the next project :)

You're welcome. ^^

Since I went through and mapped it out I'll probably add that little segment to the Q&A area, just to have it on there for people in the future. :)


Excellent question by the way - I didn't even consider adding in anything beyond the minimum. ^^;

Glad I could contribute! :)
I'm so eager to see what the 2nd gen offspring will look like. I'm disappointed teenagers can't breed. xD It's going to take forever even with pies :o

o.o

I got curious and took a look at your project, and all I can say is WOW! O.O



That's gorgeous! Since you're pretty new I think you may not be aware of festivals and themed pets and all that fun stuff, so I'll give you a little tip!

Pretty soon Sylestia will be hosting a Fall Festival, were you can find themed pets in the Festival Zone. Themed Pets are special pets found in the wild that have a a set color scheme and a tag that goes along with the theme. Like Leaf Pile Nytekrie, Gobbling Aurleon, Spooky Ryori, or anything else that's related to the Fall Season.

Lately the admins have been letting players submit their designs for themed pets, and then the admins go through and pick out which ones will appear in the festival. You've got a real knack for designing pets! You may want to give it a try :D

http://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=17710


Keep in mind though that it has to be Festival-Related (Fall, in this case,) all color slots have to be filled, and that the pets can be found with any gene or mutation combination so the design has to be flexible enough to work well enough with all of the traits.



Also be happy you at least have pies! Cuts the 18 days from adolescent/adult to only 6!

I've got way to many projects myself to even bother with pies. Currently more than 20 themed pet types that I'm breeding up to 6-vis! So right now I have... 269 adolescents, 91 hatchlings, and 81 eggs. And I have more themes to breed tonight! XD

I'm sure I will give up on pies once I get to that many lol! :o

I'm flattered that you like my project :] I LOVE playing around with the generator.

I had heard about the festival theme pets. Is there an advantage to catching them?
Can they not be created through the generator with the appropriate colors / genes?
I've seen the term "wheel" pets around forums and read a definition of it... still not really understanding the concept xD

Ahh, where to begin.


Themed pets are an ideal source for people who enjoy breeding for set colors. It allows access to many, if not ALL traits available for the species when the theme is released. There are also many players who never find the traits they're looking for on a themed pet, so breeding themed pets is a pretty big market as well.

There are also people who collect tagged themed pets captured from the wild, and they will pay various amounts depending on the theme and the species. So again, it's a chance to rake in some coin. The Nephini themed in the wild are often the most valuable of these since Nephini are extremely rare, and themed Nephini are... well... about 100 times more rare than extremely rare.


As for Wheel Pets, those are special themed pets acquired from the Festival Prize Wheel.

The Wheel will have various prizes from festival currencies, festival avatar items, pet dyes, mutators, philters of all sorts, and very very rarely (as in so rare it can make some people very upset) it will give one of the Wheel Pets. The pet will be given as an egg, and can be either a 2-vis or a 3-vis.

In order to spin the wheel, you will need a wheel ticket. These can be acquired with diamonds which is the easiest, though priciest means, or through the various Festival's events, such as killing named bosses in the festival zone, completing certain tasks or events within the festival, or finding a very lucky chest hidden in the festival zone.


Wheel Pets have the highest value of the game since they can only be obtained through luck, or on rare occasion, as a prize given by the admins in one of the forum games/contests.



I'm always looking for themed pets to breed so if you manage to snag a win and I like the theme enough to turn it into a project, I'll breed you a 6-vis once I get to that point. ^^ It's a common thing I do for those who design a pet theme that I like.