Breeding
From Derbyfever.com Wiki
Horse breeding is the process of creating new horses in the Sim. Breeding happens on a weekly cycle, beginning at a random time each week (chosen after the Sunday update) and ending the following Sunday when the new horses are created. New horses are given a name, age (either 2 or 3 years old), pedigree, and possibly gender, although the sex is normally chosen at random. Only one new horse may be added to a stable per week, though this is not a limit on breeding as some methods allow you to breed over an existing horse.
Sim pedigrees are based solely on real world sires. Each Sim horse has a pedigree consisting of a sire, dam-sire (DS), and dam's dam-sire (DDS). New horse pedigrees can be based on former sim horses or created entirely from scratch. Sire availability is limited to a certain number of breedings per week of each type (sire of 2 or 3 year old, DS, and DDS) and is based upon the status of their real world namesake. For example, real life sires that have died or been pensioned will not be available to use as sire, and younger horses without suitable offspring may not yet be available for DS or DDS.
Breeding in the Sim can be done using either breeding points or credits, though each sire is limited to one credit breeding per week. Breeding costs depend upon sire prices and the breeding process chosen. Sires that are especially in demand can be used for a cost of 1000 points beginning as soon as breeding opens for the week. Each week the credit breeding for some top sires is used immediately after breeding begins. This is known as the clickfest because of the speed, random time, and repeated checking involved. For other sires, after a random starting time the prices for each sire begin falling throughout the week, usually reaching their lowest point on Saturday. This cost can be found on the horse ticker. Starting cost may be as high as 499 points, while lesser-used sires can get down to single digits.
Contents |
Active horses
A new horse may be bred from an active mare or he-mare to a selected sire. The old sire and damsire of your mare will become DS and DDS of your new horse, respectively. In addition to the pedigree, the running ability of the mare may effect the ability of the new horse, though the exact amount of influence is unknown (but considered by most to be less influential than the pedigree). Because of this, some consider breeding from scratch to be better than using a mare. However, the cost of this method of breeding may be significantly lower than other methods.
The mare selected must be at least two or three years older than the desired age of the new horse, though if the difference is less than three there will be a penalty cost for pushing the envelope. Since the mare is providing the DS and DDS, the availability of those sires for breeding or credits does not apply. After breeding, the mare selected becomes retired and can no longer race. A retired mare may be eligible to breed another horse as soon as the following week if the initial breeding is used for a three year old, since they are available for one 2yo per Sim year.
The cost of breeding an active mare is equal to the sire cost plus the mare cost. The mare's cost is ½ the price of the sire, with a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 150. Additionally, there is a 250 point penalty for pushing the envelope if the mare isn't at least three years older than the new horse. There is also a 100 point penalty for breeding a mare with less than 6 career races.
He-mares
A recent addition to Sim breeding is the ability to breed to a male horse as if it was a mare. This is commonly known as he-maring. The process is similar to that of breeding to an active mare, with two major differences:
- The cost of using a he-mare is 250 points plus the cost of the sire.
- A male horse may only be bred one time. Retired male horses are ineligible for breeding.
Retired mares
Breeding a retired mare is similar to breeding to an active mare but with different costs and restrictions associated. An empty stable spot is required, an existing horse cannot be bred over by this method. Only female horses age five or older can be bred once retired.
Retired mares are eligible to breed a single two year old horse per Sim year to any stable that was a previous owner of the mare in her racing career (whether they actually ran a race or not) on a first-come first-served basis. The exception to this rule is that an open retired mare may be bred by anyone for a small penalty. This includes horses with no previous owners, or horses with inactive owners after October of each year.
The cost of using a retired mare is equal to the price of the sire plus ½ the price of the new dam-sire plus ¼ the price of the new DDS. Additionally, there is a 100 point penalty for breeding to an open horse (one you never owned). The minimum cost for this method is 100 points.
Scratch
Scratch breeding allows you to pick the entire pedigree for a new horse without requiring ownership of a mare. The cost of a scratch breeding is the full price of the sire plus the full price of the DS plus half the price of the DDS. This is usually the most expensive form of breeding, but it allows for any possible combination of potential sires. Also, some consider scratch breeding superior because the resulting horse is not influenced by the ability of any existing horse.
When breeding from scratch you may breed over a horse by retiring it, sending it back to the horse pool for a small discount, or you may pay an additional 50 point penalty for creating a new horse if there is no suitable horse to breed over. If you retire a female horse this way it may be eligible for retired mare breeding as soon as the following week.
Scratch breeding is required for the Bargain Bred Racing Series contest.
Random
When breeding a horse from scratch you may choose the "random" option. This will let the computer suggest sires with above average pedigrees that are underused. The chosen pedigree will not change until someone goes through with the breeding, though due to restrictions the 2yo and 3yo pedigrees may be different. There is a half-price discount for breeding a random horse.
