Creatures Community Chat

Friday, July 15, 2011

Creatures 1: Selective Breeding

My Creatures 1 run with the selective breeding principle is continuing to prove successful. My Norns in general eat better, sleep better, breed better and seem to live happier lives in general.

Since they have a whole world to occupy between four of them (plus a Grendel) they often get separated which gives them time to recover, eat and sleep. Unfortunately this would be detramental to the species future, so I need to step in every now and then to bring them back together to breed.

Although my ultimate goal is a lack of interference, this process is serving the next generation well, with already 7 eggs laying in wait!



Most of the eggs I believe are from Lillai and Tabby, with the fathers being Heartly and Tony. As I've excluded Jeremy from the breeding population (he still had the incorrect aging gene) the male DDNA being passed on has become a little limited, but I don't see that being too much of a problem.

The latest egg edition is another of Tabby's. Both Heartly and Tony were present when she became pregnant, so I'm not sure who the father is yet. We will have to wait for the next generation to start hatching before I can be certain.



All in all the Norns are averaging 4 hours old and I'm more than half way to my minimum quota of eggs. Given enough time I think I will comfortably get to at least 12 eggs, giving me the ability to choose the best genetics for the next generation.

3 comments:

  1. Looks like the next generation is coming along very well! I, too, find that Norns sometimes stray off and get separated, which makes breeding impossible. I like stepping in and coaxing a few Norns to a meeting place: They usually get rewarded with some delicious food for the inconvenience!

    Are you planning on hatching the eggs only when the first generation is about done? I used to introduce second generation Norns into the population quite early, which led to crosses between the first and second generation. This time around, I'm saving up my eggs and only hatching them when the first generation is ready to retire.

    Your post also reminded me to download a few helpful COBs, like the Swamp Carrots! Albia certainly needs a few more food sources! One more quick thing: You can find out the parents of an unborn Norn with the D-DNA Analyzer or the Genetics Kit. However, being surprised is often just as much fun! Good luck!

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  2. I have been intending to keep the generations seperate, at least for breeding purposes. I'm not sure if allowing generations to mix would have any impact on my ultimate goal of breeding self-reliant Norns or not...

    Albia definitely needs additional food. C3 Norns have the ability to sniff out food sources from reasonably large distances, but I'm not sure how good C1 Norns are at it. I've tried to have a food source on every level so the Norns can at least find something to eat.

    You're right, I could start cataloguing the unborn Norns, but I plan on doing a batch analyse and then writing them all up in one big swoop.

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  3. That's a good idea about separating the generations! I think it also helps with genetic diversity, since siblings and half-siblings often have different genomes. It gets a little complicated when a parent breeds with the next generation, since any mutations are then almost guaranteed to be passed on.

    I'm fairly certain that C1 Norns can only find food based on their line of sight. If no food is nearby, I don't think they know how to seek it out. Unlike the C3 Norns who both have a sense of smell and better navigational skills, C1 Norns pretty much require food sources nearby.

    I look forward to a big post about genetics! I keep finding more and more to learn about, and your genetics posts have been awesome and very helpful!

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