A problem with breeding

[Arrakai]

One of the things I like to do in the game is breeding animals with "perfect" stats, i.e. 100 in each. But one problem that I have had from the start is that very often, the babys have worse stats than their parents when it comes to size and longevity when the parents both have 100 in both these stats.

I understand that there is a "feature" that makes those two stats have a small chance to "mutate" giving the baby better or worse stats than the parents, but this happens way way to often. In just one generation with 40 females I can have up to 10 of these...

Here is a pic of what I mean; Both of the babys parents have 100 in both size and longevity and when using "compare mates" it shows that their offsprings should have a 100% chance of getting 100 in both those stats. I really hope this can be fixed or at least adjusted so that it doesn't happen so often.

This might seem like a small problem, but even when you have really good matching parents, the chance of getting a "perfect" baby is still only around 5%, so when the chance is already so low, getting babys like this is very very frustrating, especially when it happens so often

 

[XT]

Not sure if you're aware but there's a (simple) genome system in the game as well. I can't remember where it's located but basically, you don't want to breed animals who's genome letters match. Like if the mother has AA, BC, CC as her genome, and the father also has AA, BC, CC you'll likely have babies with worse stats. Ideally a genome should not have the same letters in each group (like above: AA, BB, CC is not a good genome while AC, BA, CB would be). When you breed your 100% parents, also look at the genome and make sure they won't end up breeding kids with highly matching genes. (I know I'm not explaining it very well, sorry).

 

[Arrakai]

As far as I know, the genome system is only for fertility and immunity, but I might be wrong. I don't really look at that system, as I always use the Compare mates - system as that is the easiest to use when making sure you have a good breeding pair.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

I've had this happen as well, and have wondered if it was indeed just a result of random genetic mutation, or if it is a sign that they may have a common ancestor somewhere further back in their gene pools (ie. further back than what the compare mates function warns us about).

I always use compare mates to check to avoid "official" inbreeding with a sibling or parent, of course, but I am often too lazy to check all the way back in the genealogy pages to see if they might have a common grandparent or great-grandparent, making them cousins or second cousins or whatever. The game warns that there are consequences of inbreeding, and we've got a good understanding of what that looks like in fertility and immunity, but I've often wondered whether there is also any impact on size and longevity -- possibly leading to the phenomenon we're experiencing here.

Not sure if this could be the issue or not for you (you may check yours more closely than I do, or one of the parents may have come from an entirely different zoo). I don't even know if that type of "distant inbreeding" is actually a thing in the game's code, or if it's all just me hypothesizing. But it's something I've wondered about on occasion when I get those less-than-perfect babies.

 

[GRAMPERS62]

I think it to be a measure to ensure the game does not get filled with super stat animals. There are indeed less chances of getting a full stat animal from a pair of full stat animals as compared to a pair of slightly lesser animals.