breeding question

[GameFreak]

i kinda know how breeding works with passing on stats and the random chance for either a stat mutation (2 levels into a certain stat) or a color mutation (color change on a certain region and 1 level into a certain stat) but im just not sure about a few things.

- like is it better to just tame 150's for breeding? i know you obviously get more possible levels from it but im just not sure.

- i kibble tamed a level 130 anky a while ago and amost freaked when it poped up with 447 melee so im not sure if i should just use that 130 for its melee or just keep taming 150's until i get something the same or better?

- from what i can tell it seems to be a general rule of thumb for all creatures, except gigas i suppose, that 400+ melee on stand up is really good to get.  another question i have is from something i just noticed from watching streams, videos, and listening to conversations.  im just curious if this is kinda true?

[Rintrahhh]

150's aren't always better. I've had plenty of 140's and 145's with better stats. I personally wouldn't tame anything less than 135 for "breeding" purposes.

It's very rare to get that one dino with a single, very high stat and if you wait for only a 150 then you may be missing out on a lot better breeding tame with a high stat. It's so disappointing to finally find that rare 150 only to discover it has crappy stats.

[Cowgirl]

You could try both, I would at very least hold onto the 130 for passing on mele. I have tamed 2 150 anky's and I don't think either if them had near that good of mele.

[Weiss]

I had many good stats from 135, so I'd recommend giving them a shot if you got enough spare kibble for the next 150 that crosses your path (150 can be really bad sometimes too)

Also color mutations always come with +2 lvls in a stat and vice versa. It's just luck if the color and the stat will both be passed on or just one of those. If you're really unlucky you won't see a color or a new stat, but still get a counter for a mutation.

[PuffyPony]

I'd go 130+, kibble tame as much as possible. In my experience, my best stats come from 140 and 145 wild creatures. If you're strapped on kibble, then for carnivores just Prime or Mutton tame and don't sweat the extra couple of levels.

[GameFreak]

ive got a good flow of kibble so im pretty good on that part.  its good to find out i was right about the 400+ melee thing.  ive gotten a few good 150's for other creatures as well.  i got a direwolf 150 with 420 melee and a mammoth 150 with 440 melee.  im just not 100% sure what would be considered good stats for the other stats atm.  although the only stats i would really care about for most creatures is hp, stam, weight, and melee.  but there are certain creatures that im sure would need other stats, like the daeodon would need good food.

[Jacira]

Usually only tame 130 and up. Anything lower has a almost unheard of chance at rolling a high stat. Basically level doesn't matter as much as stats. Because stats are what will determine the level of your babies. The goal is to try and find dinos with only 1 high stat. And then mix them with other dinos with high stats in other categories. 

Good luck breeding anything though. Most servers are at tame cap already. 

[Sandreee]

I tend to only tame 135+s for breeding purposes but i always check their wild stats before i decide if im taming it or not down a 135 type its stats into a calculator then decide if its worth it or not. You should always kibble tame things you're planning to breed with as higher taming effectiveness=more stats. I also always try to get multiple dinos with different stats at higher numbers so one with high hp one with high melee etc as stats effect the base level of the babys then once i have babys im happy with just inbreed in order to get higher level babys  

[Murdaworth]

YouTube much?? Lol no yea same here 

[Racidon]

Ignore any post that says "decide when they are knocked out" because that's just plain stupid imo. Even if you're taming a lvl100 that's up to another 49 levels that can somewhere. Yes it's unlikely it will mostly go into a single stat. However computer based RNG makes it even possible that all 149 levels for that tame could go into melee.

If you're super serious about breeding mega dinos, knock out and kibble tame all level 100+ maybe even 80+ females of the breed. There's a great chance you'll just get trash, but there's still a chance you'll get something good, also it will allow you to start up your broods a lot faster if you have a crap tonne of females to breed with at the start. As you go weed out all the crap females as you start to get good females. Also honestly kill all he males you get that aren't already better than you're existing "stud". But also be sure to keep mutations at a 0 on your base setup.

[Ulta]

5 hours ago, GameFreak said:

- like is it better to just tame 150's for breeding? i know you obviously get more possible levels from it but im just not sure.

- i kibble tamed a level 130 anky a while ago and amost freaked when it poped up with 447 melee so im not sure if i should just use that 130 for its melee or just keep taming 150's until i get something the same or better?

- from what i can tell it seems to be a general rule of thumb for all creatures, except gigas i suppose, that 400+ melee on stand up is really good to get.  another question i have is from something i just noticed from watching streams, videos, and listening to conversations.  im just curious if this is kinda true?

-Typically it is better to aim for taming higher level dino's, since the higher level means they got more points into stats and have a better chance of a higher roll in something you want. But don't forget...dino level cap is at 450. If you start breeding down the line and realize your eggs are hatching lvl 379 babies, then taming lower level dino's for their low point count in stats you don't need (like Oxy) could be favorable.

-Keep that 130 Anky with the good melee. Breed that melee stat into a better annky and then you won't need it (unless it's a female. If it's female, keep it for popping out babies quicker)

-400% on an official server I would consider pretty dang good, but I don't play there so I'm just guessing. I wanna say it is though, I'm use to finding 300% range.

[theyoite]

1 hour ago, Ulta said:

-Typically it is better to aim for taming higher level dino's, since the higher level means they got more points into stats and have a better chance of a higher roll in something you want. But don't forget...dino level cap is at 450. If you start breeding down the line and realize your eggs are hatching lvl 379 babies, then taming lower level dino's for their low point count in stats you don't need (like Oxy) could be favorable.

-Keep that 130 Anky with the good melee. Breed that melee stat into a better annky and then you won't need it (unless it's a female. If it's female, keep it for popping out babies quicker)

-400% on an official server I would consider pretty dang good, but I don't play there so I'm just guessing. I wanna say it is though, I'm use to finding 300% range.

on an anky or in various gathering dinos anything above 400% melee wont gather anything more, it does hit a curve and any points spent on melee after that it wont be significant, after that amount just invest on weight 

 

[Cowgirl]

3 hours ago, theyoite said:

on an anky or in various gathering dinos anything above 400% melee wont gather anything more, it does hit a curve and any points spent on melee after that it wont be significant, after that amount just invest on weight 

 

my 500+ mele anky gets a decent amount more than my 400s

 

[HalfSlabBacon]

10 hours ago, GameFreak said:

i kinda know how breeding works with passing on stats and the random chance for either a stat mutation (2 levels into a certain stat) or a color mutation (color change on a certain region and 1 level into a certain stat) but im just not sure about a few things.

- like is it better to just tame 150's for breeding? i know you obviously get more possible levels from it but im just not sure.

- i kibble tamed a level 130 anky a while ago and amost freaked when it poped up with 447 melee so im not sure if i should just use that 130 for its melee or just keep taming 150's until i get something the same or better?

- from what i can tell it seems to be a general rule of thumb for all creatures, except gigas i suppose, that 400+ melee on stand up is really good to get.  another question i have is from something i just noticed from watching streams, videos, and listening to conversations.  im just curious if this is kinda true?

Watch this series, it is singlehandedly the best breakdown I've ever seen.

10 hours ago, arturrr said:

It is better just to tame 140 to 150

This is wrong.

7 hours ago, Jacira said:

Usually only tame 130 and up. Anything lower has a almost unheard of chance at rolling a high stat. Basically level doesn't matter as much as stats. Because stats are what will determine the level of your babies. The goal is to try and find dinos with only 1 high stat. And then mix them with other dinos with high stats in other categories. 

Good luck breeding anything though. Most servers are at tame cap already. 

This is much more accurate. Focus on stats.

4 hours ago, theyoite said:

on an anky or in various gathering dinos anything above 400% melee wont gather anything more, it does hit a curve and any points spent on melee after that it wont be significant, after that amount just invest on weight 

 

This is wrong. Max harvest has nothing to do with melee %, it is determined by the harvest health and harvest amount multiplier the server has set. The only effect melee has is determining IF the dino is capable of getting the maximum yeild, and in part how quickly.

[Pipinghot]

The video posted by HalfSlabBacon is good, and there is also this 6-video series by TimmyCarbine that teaches about breeding, a good tool to help track breeding, mutations and imprinting - basically everything you would want to know.

 

 

[GameFreak]

wow, i didnt expect this many people willing to help lol.  i havent checked out the videos yet but i will be sure to so thank you.  i already knew about the 450 leve cap which is something im a bit worried about, although for my combat dinos like my rexs i was think of trying something like getting a really good melee like 440+ (or 467 which is what i just got a 150 kibble raptor to stand up with last night) and get really good other stats like 12k hp and 2k stam and only go for nothing but melee stat mutations that way all my level ups can go into hp.  but thats probably a bad idea so im still not very sure if i should do that.  i do remember hearing someone say 130+ was a good way to go a while ago but im still not too sure about it as you do lose out on a decent amount of possible levels.

[Pipinghot]

13 hours ago, HalfSlabBacon said:

This is wrong. Max harvest has nothing to do with melee %, it is determined by the harvest health and harvest amount multiplier the server has set. The only effect melee has is determining IF the dino is capable of getting the maximum yeild, and in part how quickly.

That's also wrong. Melee affects how much of a given resource you can harvest per swing, so having a greater melee value lets you harvest more resources in less time and using less stamina. But of course this is not infinite because resource nodes have hit points like everything else, and if you can do more HP of damage to the node in a single swing than the total HP the node possesses then you an "one shot" the node. Once you have exceeded that Melee needed to one shot a node you will not get more resources from nodes because they are "clamped" to a maximum amount no matter how much melee you have. Once you can "one shot" nodes there is almost no reason to have more melee.

For people who would like a source to read: https://ark.gamepedia.com/Melee_Damage

The reason I say "almost" no reason, is that having higher melee increases your chances of getting rare items from a node.

Source: https://ark.gamepedia.com/Harvest#Harvesting_Mechanics

This means that if you have a harvesting animal that also serves double-duty as a fighting animal (like say a Dire Bear or a Therazino) then continuing to pump up the melee past the amount of melee needed to "one shot" nodes still helps you with both fighting and harvesting, because you are continuing to increase your chance of getting rare items.

[Pipinghot]

21 minutes ago, GameFreak said:

wow, i didnt expect this many people willing to help lol.  i havent checked out the videos yet but i will be sure to so thank you.  i already knew about the 450 leve cap which is something im a bit worried about, although for my combat dinos like my rexs i was think of trying something like getting a really good melee like 440+ (or 467 which is what i just got a 150 kibble raptor to stand up with last night) and get really good other stats like 12k hp and 2k stam and only go for nothing but melee stat mutations that way all my level ups can go into hp.  but thats probably a bad idea so im still not very sure if i should do that.  i do remember hearing someone say 130+ was a good way to go a while ago but im still not too sure about it as you do lose out on a decent amount of possible levels.

I could write a long essay covering all of these points, but he videos we linked above will be much more useful to you in the long run. Being able to see the stats screens, being able to see with your own eyes why you want to start with higher level animals, being able to see what it looks like when someone tames multiple animals and then breeds them together to create new "breeding lines" with enhanced stats, it all makes so much more sense if you watch the videos, because they have the benefit of combining words, video and images all into the tutorials, which is much better than even be best wall-of-text could do.

If you're willing to take the time to sit through those videos it will more than pay you back with all of the time you save later. So many people waste ungodly amounts of time breeding the wrong animals together because they don't fully understand the breeding system. Look at it this way, if those videos help you make even one good decision while breeding your rexes rather than making a mistake on which animals you breed, then the time you save by not raising bad offspring from a single mating will more than make up for any time you spend watching the videos. Breeding and raising a single rex to adulthood takes a lot of time and resources, don't let them be wasted.

[HalfSlabBacon]

20 hours ago, Pipinghot said:

That's also wrong. Melee affects how much of a given resource you can harvest per swing, so having a greater melee value lets you harvest more resources in less time and using less stamina. But of course this is not infinite because resource nodes have hit points like everything else, and if you can do more HP of damage to the node in a single swing than the total HP the node possesses then you an "one shot" the node. Once you have exceeded that Melee needed to one shot a node you will not get more resources from nodes because they are "clamped" to a maximum amount no matter how much melee you have. Once you can "one shot" nodes there is almost no reason to have more melee.

For people who would like a source to read: https://ark.gamepedia.com/Melee_Damage

The reason I say "almost" no reason, is that having higher melee increases your chances of getting rare items from a node.

Source: https://ark.gamepedia.com/Harvest#Harvesting_Mechanics

This means that if you have a harvesting animal that also serves double-duty as a fighting animal (like say a Dire Bear or a Therazino) then continuing to pump up the melee past the amount of melee needed to "one shot" nodes still helps you with both fighting and harvesting, because you are continuing to increase your chance of getting rare items.

Well it was a valiant effort, but all you did was give a long winded explanation of half of what I said correctly.

Max harvest amount is determined by the harvest health and harvest amount multipliers.

https://ark.gamepedia.com/Server_Configuration

Melee determines part of how fast you harvest, the other part is determined by harvest health.

 

 

[Pipinghot]

3 hours ago, HalfSlabBacon said:

Well it was a valiant effort, but all you did was give a long winded explanation of half of what I said correctly.

You clearly missed the part about increased chance for rare drops from nodes.

[Racidon]

On 10/23/2017 at 12:18 PM, Ulta said:

-Typically it is better to aim for taming higher level dino's, since the higher level means they got more points into stats and have a better chance of a higher roll in something you want. But don't forget...dino level cap is at 450. If you start breeding down the line and realize your eggs are hatching lvl 379 babies, then taming lower level dino's for their low point count in stats you don't need (like Oxy) could be favorable.

-Keep that 130 Anky with the good melee. Breed that melee stat into a better annky and then you won't need it (unless it's a female. If it's female, keep it for popping out babies quicker)

-400% on an official server I would consider pretty dang good, but I don't play there so I'm just guessing. I wanna say it is though, I'm use to finding 300% range.

I've not seen this as an official cap on PC yet. I know it was added to consoles due to spawned in dinos...

[Ulta]

1 hour ago, Racidon said:

I've not seen this as an official cap on PC yet. I know it was added to consoles due to spawned in dinos...

I don't play officials so couldn't tell you if it was really the case, but given the amount of whining I saw on the forums when this 'dino level cap' was introduced, I'd say it's also on PC. I might be wrong, but better safe than sorry (though good luck finding any dino on officials with those kinds of levels).

On my unofficial server, I had a spawned in griffon that was like level 500 and it didn't disappear though, even after several server restarts. Who knows...but it would be weird if it was only for consoles (but hey this is WC so who knows, it could be a thing)

[Archone]

On 10/22/2017 at 4:04 PM, GameFreak said:

i kinda know how breeding works with passing on stats and the random chance for either a stat mutation (2 levels into a certain stat) or a color mutation (color change on a certain region and 1 level into a certain stat) but im just not sure about a few things.

- like is it better to just tame 150's for breeding? i know you obviously get more possible levels from it but im just not sure.

- i kibble tamed a level 130 anky a while ago and amost freaked when it poped up with 447 melee so im not sure if i should just use that 130 for its melee or just keep taming 150's until i get something the same or better?

- from what i can tell it seems to be a general rule of thumb for all creatures, except gigas i suppose, that 400+ melee on stand up is really good to get.  another question i have is from something i just noticed from watching streams, videos, and listening to conversations.  im just curious if this is kinda true?

That 447 Anky is an amazing find. 

447 melee on an Anky is the equivalent of roughly 50-55 points into melee. (Assuming my math for calculating the raw points with out the taming bonus is correct, which it may not be)

[HalfSlabBacon]

6 hours ago, Racidon said:

I've not seen this as an official cap on PC yet. I know it was added to consoles due to spawned in dinos...

It has nothing to do with platform. The 450 cap is applied to all official servers to prevent super Dino's. This happened after some moderators mistakenly let out some incorrectly spawned in Dino's that led to some super breeding lines.

4 hours ago, Ulta said:

I don't play officials so couldn't tell you if it was really the case, but given the amount of whining I saw on the forums when this 'dino level cap' was introduced, I'd say it's also on PC. I might be wrong, but better safe than sorry (though good luck finding any dino on officials with those kinds of levels).

On my unofficial server, I had a spawned in griffon that was like level 500 and it didn't disappear though, even after several server restarts. Who knows...but it would be weird if it was only for consoles (but hey this is WC so who knows, it could be a thing)

As above.

[Sideswipe]

On 10/22/2017 at 4:04 PM, GameFreak said:

i kinda know how breeding works with passing on stats and the random chance for either a stat mutation (2 levels into a certain stat) or a color mutation (color change on a certain region and 1 level into a certain stat) but im just not sure about a few things.

- like is it better to just tame 150's for breeding? i know you obviously get more possible levels from it but im just not sure.

- i kibble tamed a level 130 anky a while ago and amost freaked when it poped up with 447 melee so im not sure if i should just use that 130 for its melee or just keep taming 150's until i get something the same or better?

- from what i can tell it seems to be a general rule of thumb for all creatures, except gigas i suppose, that 400+ melee on stand up is really good to get.  another question i have is from something i just noticed from watching streams, videos, and listening to conversations.  im just curious if this is kinda true?

For your first question: The answer is no. 135-145 can often have better stats than a 150. All of my current best yutyrannus stats have come from my 135 tames. If you see a 150 ko it. You never know. It’s all up to RNGesus in the end. If you tame enough of one creature you can often tell if it’s going to be worth it in the end. 

Second question? The more gene(stat) variation you have the better. I’d tame more. 

As for mutations. You can get mutations with both color and stat. No color. Speed mutation and color. Or it will do a lovely thing and if you have a weird point value it will just round up to the next value and not mark a mutation. 

There is very much a dino level cap. Your dino can keep leveling indefinitely but upon server restart you will lose that creature. It was added in response to a dev spawning a creature that was significantly over achievable level cap on a creature you could not breed. Of course difficulty on a server affects what level Dino’s cap at and what levels you will find in the wild