Editing Breeding

'''Breeding''' is the endgame optimization loop of Primal Idle. By pairing two of the same [[Creatures|species]] from your [[Stable]], you produce offspring that inherit their parents' best stats and can gain '''mutations''' that push a stat above the wild caps. Repeated across generations, breeding is how you build creatures far stronger than anything you could ever tame in the wild.

== Unlocking breeding ==

Breeding unlocks at '''[[Taming]] level 50'''. Until then the breeding pen is unavailable.

== Pairing creatures ==

To breed, select a '''mother''' and a '''father''' from your [[Stable]]. Requirements:

* Both parents must be '''the same species'''. You cannot cross different species.
* They must be '''two different individuals''' (a creature cannot breed with itself).
* Only one breeding pair can be active at a time.

Once paired, breeding takes '''10 minutes''' of real time to produce a clutch. Both parents remain in your Stable throughout — they are not consumed — and can be paired again afterward.

If a parent is released from the Stable while breeding is in progress, the clutch fails.

== Stat inheritance ==

Each offspring inherits its stats '''independently, one stat at a time''', from a random parent. For every stat — Power, Guard, Swiftness, and (for species that have it) Health — the baby takes '''either the mother's or the father's value''', chosen at random.

This is the core of the optimization loop: because each stat is rolled from a parent separately, an offspring can end up combining the mother's best stat with the father's best stat in a single individual. Breed a strong-Power parent with a strong-Guard parent, keep the offspring that inherited both, and repeat.

== Mutations ==

Every clutch has a '''10% chance to mutate'''. When a mutation occurs:

* '''One random stat is boosted by 10%''' (rounded up), which can carry it '''above the normal wild roll range''' for that species.
* The offspring gains a '''mutation badge''', and its '''mutation count''' becomes one higher than its best-mutated parent's count. Mutation counts accumulate down a lineage, so each generation can stack more mutations on top of the last.

Because mutations compound over generations, patient breeders can create creatures with stats well beyond wild limits — the true endgame goal.

== The optimization loop ==

# Tame (or breed) two strong parents of the same species.
# Pair them and wait for the 10-minute clutch.
# Keep offspring that inherited the best stats and/or a mutation; use them as the next generation's parents.
# Repeat, each cycle raising the floor on your line's stats and stacking mutations.

Bred stats stack with [[Imprinting]] bonuses and [[Dino Gear]] on top, so a fully optimized creature is bred, imprinted, and geared.

== The Nursery and Imprinting ==

When the [[Homestead|Nursery]] is available, a finished clutch does not join the Stable directly — it '''hatches into the Nursery''' and matures there, giving you the chance to raise it for permanent bonus stats. See [[Imprinting]] for the full raising loop. (If you queue clutches faster than you raise hatchlings, a finished egg simply waits until the Nursery is free.)

== Passive egg-laying ==

Every creature in your [[Stable]] (except the mammals, who lay nothing) '''lays eggs on its own''' — one egg roughly every six hours, up to a small stockpile. The egg's class is set by the layer's tame level, in six tiers from Small up to Vale. Eggs are cooked into [[Taming#Kibble and premium tames|kibble]], the premium food that produces perfect-quality tames.

An '''Oviraptor''' in the stable speeds every egg timer by 25%. If your stable is too thin to lay a class you need, the [[Rifts|Rift Bazaar]] sells egg crates for Rift Shards — though Vale Eggs remain stable-only.

== See also ==

* [[Imprinting]] — raising bred hatchlings for bonus stats
* [[Creatures]] — species and their stat ranges
* [[Taming]] — how to obtain your first breeding stock
* [[Stable]] — where parents and offspring live
* [[Dino Gear]] — gear that stacks on top of bred stats

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