Breeding & Evolution System Full Guide

1.1 The full breeding loop

• Full flow: Find a mate -> build a nest -> gather materials -> lay an egg -> move the egg into the nest -> sleep to brood -> hatch -> raise the offspring -> push evolution.
• Most important rule: The earlier the egg enters the nest and the earlier brooding starts, the more complete the bonuses will be, and the better the offspring starting point will be.
• Marine exception: Marine animals cannot build nests. Marine reptile embryos develop inside the mother, so no nest preparation is needed.

1.2 Checklist before breeding

2.1 Becoming mates with another player

• Steps: Approach the dinosaur controlled by the target player, open the scoreboard, select them, and send a mate invitation. Once they accept, both info panels will show each other.
• Pairing rules: You can only bond with someone of the same species, the opposite sex, and without a close blood relation.
• Cooldown after breaking up: Whether you cancel the bond yourself or lose the mate, you must wait 10 minutes before pairing again.

2.2 How to get an AI mate

• First check whether the server allows it: Not every server lets you turn wild AI into a mate. Ask veteran players or admins after joining if you are unsure.
• Build affection: Stay active near a wild AI of the same species and opposite sex until affection fills up. If you attack it during the process, affection resets immediately.
• Bond requirements: You must have no current mate. The target must be a wild AI of the same species and opposite sex, with full affection, and it cannot be a king-tier creature.
• What an AI mate can do: It can help you lay eggs, brood them, follow in combat, and warn you when it gets attacked.

2.3 Differences between player mates and AI mates

3.1 How to build a nest

3.2 How to deliver materials

• Pick up the material: Find a rock pile or logs in the wild, press E to carry them, and bring them all the way back to your nest.
• Approach the nest: Bring the material close to the nest. Once you get near it, delivery happens automatically and the build progress increases.
• Check progress: Stand next to the nest to see how many stones and logs are already complete, so you can tell at a glance what is still missing.

3.3 Ways to lay eggs

• Solo laying: Once a female is adult and already carrying an egg, she can lay 1 egg by herself. This is stable, but it does not benefit from two-parent stacking.
• Mate laying: Move close to your mate and send an egg-laying invitation. After the other side accepts, you finish the breeding together. Two-parent breeding is much better for high-quality offspring.
• AI mate laying: If your bond is with an AI mate, the system automatically identifies the sexes and completes the breeding. The egg is still counted under the player ownership.

3.4 Costs after laying an egg

4.1 Three incubation environments

4.2 How brooding is triggered

• Requirements: The nest must be fully built, it must contain an egg, and the egg owner or their mate must be sleeping within 5 meters.
• Who can brood: The egg owner, a player mate, or an AI mate can all provide brooding for that clutch.
• Best timing: The earlier the egg goes into the nest, the better. Starting brooding right after laying is the easiest way to secure all 3 layers of bonuses.

4.3 Internal brooding for marine reptiles

• Internal brooding: Marine reptile embryos remain inside the mother. When the mother rests or sleeps, internal brooding starts; it needs neither a nest nor a range check.
• Who can brood: Only the embryo's sleeping mother can brood it. Player mates and AI mates cannot brood in her place.
• Brooding effect: Internal brooding halves development time and accumulates brooding bonuses as usual. While the mother is awake, embryos still develop internally but receive no brooding speed bonus.

4.4 How to read the fixed bonus windows

4.5 Temperature effects on incubation and sex

• Cold zone: Too much cold slows incubation, and extreme low temperatures can even pause it.
• Comfort zone: 20° to 30° is the most stable range and is ideal for normal egg growth.
• Hot zone: 30° to 40° leans more toward hatching females, while colder conditions make males more likely.
• Low-temperature risk in the wild: If you leave the egg outside during severe cold, it not only grows slower but can also hatch with weaker stats.

4.6 What the egg panel shows and what happens after a restart

• The panel shows: The hatch percentage, whether the egg is currently in the wild or in a nest, and the current brooding bonus level.
• What is kept after a restart: Any brooding level you have already earned stays, but the small segment of progress currently being accumulated may be recalculated.

5.1 What happens after the egg matures

• Give it to another player: Some servers let you hand a mature egg to a friend for hatching, but the other player must already have that species unlocked.
• Turn into AI offspring: If the egg reaches 100% and nobody claims it for a long time, it may automatically hatch into AI offspring that move around with the parents.
• What AI offspring do: They can follow, search for food, drink, and learn combat. Once grown up, they can also take part in breeding.

5.2 Common AI offspring commands

5.3 How genes and stats are inherited

• Gene source: Only genes marked as inheritable on the mother or father have a chance to pass to the offspring.
• Stacking the same gene: If both parents carry genes that lean in the same direction, the offspring can roll a higher tier of that effect.
• Duplicate effects are cleaned up: Genes with similar functions do not endlessly fill every slot. The system keeps the more useful combination for you.
• Base stats: The offspring starting stats usually land near the parents average, with a bit of random variation added on top.
• Male advantage: Male offspring usually lean more toward combat and gain extra offensive and defensive value.

5.4 How sex bias works

• Normal case: Most of the time the split is about half male and half female.
• High temperature: The chance of females rises noticeably.
• Low temperature: The chance of males rises noticeably.
• Newly evolved species: The first egg from a newly evolved species prioritizes the sex that can continue the line, so you do not get stuck right after evolving.

6.1 What raises evolution chance

• High nutrition: The higher the mother nutrition, the better, and the effect is especially noticeable above 90.
• High breeding power: Saving enough breeding power before laying an egg is much better than forcing out one more egg.
• Repeated breeding along the same line: If you go a long time without evolving, the next generation slowly gains a better chance to break through on that same route.
• Low nutrition works against you: If the mother condition is too poor, evolution gets harder and can even drift toward a worse result.
• Rare branches: A few ultra-rare branches are naturally hard to get. Patience and more generations are usually the only answer.

6.2 Main carnivore line: start from Velociraptor

Spino side line: start from Irritator

Second carnivore line: start from Coelophysis

6.3 Herbivore and large-creature lines

Ceratopsian line

Stegosaur and ankylosaur line

Sauropod line

6.4 Marine lines

Ichthyosaur line

Mosasaur line

7.1 The safest 6-step route

• Step 1: Grow the character to adulthood first, then start thinking about mates and egg laying. Do not waste time too early.
• Step 2: Find your mate first, then choose safe flat ground for the nest. Do not start building right next to a busy route.
• Step 3: Finish all nest materials in one go. Do not let a half-built nest drag out and waste your time.
• Step 4: Move the egg into the nest as soon as it appears. The later it goes in, the fewer brooding bonuses you get.
• Step 5: Have yourself or your mate sleep beside the nest and try to secure all 3 brooding bonuses.
• Step 6: If you want to push evolution, raise the mother nutrition and breeding power first, then keep breeding steadily along the same route.

7.2 Common questions

• Pressing V does not lay an egg: Check whether you are female, whether you are adult, whether you are currently carrying an egg, and whether your current status blocks breeding.
• Incubation is too slow: Put the egg into the nest first, then arrange brooding, and try to keep the environment in a comfortable temperature range.
• It still never evolves: Usually the nutrition is not high enough, breeding power is too low, or you simply do not have enough generations yet. Rare routes naturally take many attempts.
• The nest keeps getting destroyed: A hidden spot with easy supplies matters more than chasing the prettiest location at the start.
• I want a specific sex: High temperature leans female and low temperature leans male, but neither is guaranteed. It only shifts the odds.