Dragon Cave - Helpful Tips & Occasional Ramblings

I want everyone to be able to get around the forum well, so I've compiled some links that should help.

FORUM STUFF

Forum Rules (will update this if needed) and FAQ - Post your Site Questions Here.

To add your own avatar (the picture that shows on the left side of all of your posts):
How do I change my profile picture?

To create a "signature" that will appear at the bottom of all of your posts:
How do I make a Signature?

To post an image using the free image-hosting here at GGG:
How to Post Images on the Forum

I have almost everything on the site indexed, which you can find in the Lists section.  There's a lot of useful information there, but also an index for the indexes!  
Links to Game Indexes & Other Lists

Just scrolling down the main page, you'll see all of the sections we have here, from Chat to Games to Anime, to Recipes, and more!

General chat is here
Chatty Gab

General Game Gab is for talking about games in general.  In the Links to Game Indexes & Other Lists you will find links to every game genre, and from there you can find specific game threads... or you could just use the search function at the top right of the page   Just type in part of the game name you're looking for, and go from there.

In Sales, Special Offers and Other Portal News you'll see news on Indie game bundles and other specials around the web.  We have areas for the most popular portals in this section (as you can see from the main page,) from Big Fish to Zylom (which I may move to the general area, since I never ever go there )

I highly recommend checking out the Links to FREE Downloadable Games -- I do love a good deal, and FREE's about as good as it gets!

Speaking of good deals, go here to Get Cash Back on your Big Fish Game Purchases!  LOVE it!

General information:

I update the Games, Games, Games! So Many Games! (News) daily, with news from Big Fish, GameHouse, iWin, and Alawar.  I also add the Daily Deals from Steam and GamersGate in there.  Be aware that Steam's DD does not change until 10AM, PST, so I will edit the info into the post once we pass that time, and they get it posted at their place

If y'all need any other information, just post and let me know.  I'm happy to help. genki

Welcome to the Dragon Cave thread! We are so happy to meet you, we've gone all out and tried to be helpful!   

Blame me if you end up in Siberia!  Justie   


I've decided it is not fair to make you wade through all my ramblings to get the help you need, so here are the shortcuts to the important tips.

How to put my eggs in my Signature

How to use click sites

Help! My dragon is sick!

Help! My egg won't hatch!

How long should it take for my egg/hatchling to mature?

In A Hurry To Get More Dragons?

Or, for a little light-hearted learning:

Newbie Breeder On Using "Worker" Dragons P1

Newbie Breeder On Using Pinks P2

Newbie Breeder On New Monthly Eggs P3

Newbie Breeder On Lineages P4

Newbie Breeder's First Lineage P5

Newbie Breeder's 2nd Lineage - A Work In Progress P6

How Do I Put My Eggs In My Sig?

genkicoll wrote:This is very easy, you're just a few clicks away.

1. Click on thebutton at the top of the forum (under the site's banner)
   
2. Now click on the Signature link.
   
3. Enter the signature you want to have shown at the end of all of your posts, then click the Preview button to see if you like the way it looks.
   
4. When you have your signature the way you want it, choose the Save button, and you're all done~!
   

For the codes needed for your eggs, which go in the 3rd step,

*Go to your scroll
*Click on the egg you want to add
*Click on the "get Codes" button (top right below menu bar)
*Copy the BBCode given there
*Paste that in at step 3

Note: You can put many eggs on your sig before it is filled!  

When you have snatched your eggs, you must feed them to keep them alive and growing into happy little hatchlings.

Read Dragon Cave Help for more info.

Now, to feed put these in favourites or bookmark them:

Dragon Dump

Egg Drop Soup

Eggs Around The World

Pet Hatchery

Neglected Dragon Daycare

Valley Sherwood

INSTRUCTIONS

You DO NOT have to register or sign in to any of these sites.

In each, you will see a box with a label like "add eggs" or "read scroll".

In there, put your username for Dragon Cave.

When list of your eggs/hatchlings shows, click all the ones you want to feed.

Below that will be some sort of button for "save" or "change".Hit that and your babies are being fed!

Do it for as many as you like of these sites. I just automatically put my eggs in all of them, but in reality, any one of them would probably generate enough views.

REMEMBER: Do not put any eggs in with more than 6 days to hatch.

AND there is an ER service at most of them if your egg drops below 4 days without hatching.

IF SICK, take the egg off all sites IMMEDIATELY for at least a day.

NO DRAGON WILL EVER DIE IN DRAGON CAVE UNLESS YOU ARE A VERY BAD MUMMY AND KILL IT!!

Is this the thread you wanted pinned, Justie?  If so, DONE!

Thanks genki! This is the one!   

DON'T PANIC! and DO NOT put them into ER!

Your baby will be safe and well if you follow these simple guidelines:

How do I know my dragon is sick?

1. The top of your scroll should say something like: "one or more of your dragons is sick"

2. The description for the individual egg/hatchling will say: "this egg's shell looks thin", again, or words to that effect.

So, check on your growing dragons regularly. Adult dragons do not "get sick".

Read Dragon Cave Help

Keeping them well...

1. A newly laid egg should NOT be entered into the click sites!

2. Once an egg or a hatchling has <6 days of life, it can be safely put onto any of the click sites.

3. Monitor their progress!

4. If an egg shows up sick, IMMEDIATELY

  1. HIDE the egg (click 'actions' for that animal, and then 'fog')!
  2. Check that it is not still listed on any of the click sites you use.
  3. It is usually safe to unhide the egg after 1 day, but I...
  4. Wait until the egg shows <4 days life, then remove the fog (unhide).
  5. Egg should hatch normally.


 EVERYBODY HAPPY!  

UPDATE: Tinsel Dragons

I discovered this in the Forum FAQs

Q: I have a low time egg/hatchling (Tinsel) that's sick. Is it a glitch?

A: Nope, Tinsels are notorious for getting sick after they get stuck into ERs and gather lots of views.

Incubating it beforehand is also often a cause of it getting sick.

In many cases the egg will be fine and then it will hatch sick.

Sock's personal suggestion is to stick the Tinsel in a couple of click sites at 5 days left, then ER it when it gets below 4 days left, rather than just fogging it until it's an ER.

If it is sick (as a hatchling or egg), it's best to hide it until it either has low enough time to hatch/grow up or until it has low enough time to hatch/grow up and is no longer sick.

Fantastic thread Justie!    


You can also HIDE your eggs\hatchlings, if they get sick.   

Frodo wrote:Fantastic thread Justie!    


You can also HIDE your eggs\hatchlings, if they get sick.   

lol That's what I meant to say... edit coming up!   

Justie, do you want to add a 'Help My Egg Won't Hatch' thing, for Sunsets\Sunrises?  Or should I?   

Yup! Is on the drawing board as we speak!  

You have a Cheese Dragon! Yummy Mummy!!    

  (Ooops! Sorry little fellow, only joking, I prefer chocolate!)  

As far as I know, only the Sunrise/Sunset egg gives rise to this problem. That is because there are only 12 hours in the day that it can hatch.

(What stage the Sunrise/Sunset Dragons are in at a given time can be found in Tools, in the Eggs Around The World click site)

Game Time
(Eastern Time) 6am-12pm = Sunrise
(Eastern Time) 6pm-12am = Sunset

There is a trick to doing it right. But it need not present any dramas if you keep track.

METHOD A
1. Immediately "hide" your egg when you get it.

2. When it reaches 4 days, you will be in one of the two possible hatching times. Lift the "fog" and allow the egg to go to ER.

Note: You cannot choose the time. It will automatically hatch in the time frame that is set for it, provided it has enough views, and nothing can be done to 'force' a hatching.

3. If the views numbers start getting too high, simply "hide" again, until the end of the particular 6-hour time period. Chances are, it has hatched behind the fog.

4. If not, put immediately into ER for instant hatching.

METHOD B

1. On getting the egg, put it into only a couple of the click sites, giving it a slow, quiet supply of clicks.

2. When it reaches hatching time, it will probably just hatch like any other egg. If not, see below


Still nothing? Try a few more minutes in all click sites (another few hundred votes, check for illness (Neglected Dragon Daycare again can help here), and hide for a further few hours.

Simple!   

Can't be there at 6 o'clock?(Eastern Time)

Don't worry, as long as you can be there some time in that 6 hour period, you'll be fine.

Remember, though, most eggs need no more than about 1000 views (in my admittedly limited experience - can you confirm that Frodo?) to hatch once past 4 days.

How long will it take for my dragons to hatch/mature?

Why aren't my eggs/hatchlings growing up?

THE SHORT ANSWER

Just as there is no definite amount of clicks/views/unique views needed, there is no definite time frame for hatching. Just try and get a good amount of views and unique views as you can. Every one counts. Time is a factor in the hatching process too; eggs and hatchlings cannot hatch/mature before 4 days 0 hours are left. Once they run out of time, if they do not have enough views/unique views/clicks, they will die.

THE LONG ANSWER

Okay. All eggs and hatchlings mature at the same rate - actual real time.

BUT they often start at different points:

1. Cave born and home bred eggs start at 7 days.
2. In the abandoned cave, all sorts of different starting points are possible. But most around 5 days.

THEN, hatchlings ALL start at 7 days. And this is unalterable as far as I know.

BUT each breed has a different number of views etc. it must reach, first to hatch, and then to mature. Normally, that will be reached about the time set for all dragon breeds - 4 days each time. But not enough views/unique views/clicks can stop the process.

So the sooner you get your eggs/hatchlings on the view sites, and as many as possible, the sooner they will be 'allowed' to hatch/mature.

BUT, remember not to put eggs with over 6 days on sites or you may accidentally overfeed it and it will get sick. And remember, if one doesn't hatch/mature at 4 days, go to the ER sites and put them in.

The reason you are finding some eggs/hatchlings maturing "at slower rates" is either because they have a higher view quota or aren't on enough sites for long enough.

How many clicks and views do my dragons need to grow?

There is no set amount. Hatching is based on a ratio of clicks, views, unique views, time left and time it has been alive, and type of dragon, so there is no magic number that you must reach. The higher the amount of views a dragon has, the less unique views and clicks it will need to hatch. The more unique views and clicks it has, the less views it will require. Clicks are like an extra little boost in growing up faster.

PAGE 1

I want to make the most of my special "worker" dragons, whose Breed Specific Actions affect breeding strategies. Each have a 'cooling off' period to consider as well.

Red = Incubate, 14 days
Pink = Influence (gender), 7 days
Purple = Fertility, 14 days

So, first item on the agenda: Acquire 14 Reds, 14 Pinks (7 each gender), 3+ Purples.

Now, how to combine these resources with my knowledge of hatching/maturing dynamics (  Justie's science training is showing)...

EXAMPLE 1:

Have an Ember egg at 2 days 1 hour. Should have hatched ages ago at 4 days. It can't though, because it has no views.

Now, remembering what I said before about views and hatching times... and using worker dragons. I could put this egg into the ER click sites and within 5 minutes, the egg would hatch and I'd have a 7 day hatchling. And normally, that is what I'd do.

Except I want a female Ember specifically. But the next available female Pink won't mature until 4 more hours. So I deliberately DO NOT allow the egg to get clicks. When the Pink arrives, I will influence the Ember egg to be female and THEN put her on the sites and she will then hatch in 5 minutes!

Well, that is the experiment protocol, anyway!  

RESULTS

Failure. Once the Pink matured, I tried to influence the egg, and discovered there was insufficient time.

Clearly, an egg already into "overtime" is just too far gone.

NEW EXPERIMENT

Repeat above procedure, with an egg with more time until death/hatching.

NB: INFLUENCE NEEDS 3 DAYS TO WORK!

Thank you Frodo for this info...

PAGE 2

EXAMPLE 2

I have a shortage of male Pinks. I have one male maturing in 6 hours. Also in my nursery, I have a Pink egg with 5 days 2 hours to hatching.

My normal strategy would be to give this egg priority and use one of my Reds to incubate it down to 4 days 2 hours. But this will have it hatching before my Pink influencer can do his thing.

So I wait, again, with no attempt to put it on the click sites (although the risk of illness is small), until the Pink hatchling matures, and then I will use my Pink hatchling on the Pink egg, and probably a Red to hatch it immediately.

JustTheFacts wrote:RESULTS

Failure. Once the Pink matured, I tried to influence the egg, and discovered there was insufficient time.

Clearly, an egg already into "overtime" is just too far gone.

Eggs can't be influenced if they have less that 3 days to go.   

NOW you tell me!   

Thanks for the info, will add it to my info stuff and get it right from now on!   

So glad to see you!   

Glad to be here    


Having fun with your Influencing?   

Frodo wrote:Glad to be here    


Having fun with your Influencing?   

Hi Frodo

So much careful planning needed with the influencing, because I keep getting females! So have to find Pink eggs at a time when I have one of my 2 (out of 8!) Pink adult males can actually influence!  

And yes, I do have a lot of dragons that need a female to make a matching pair, but too many to keep track of!  

Never know what I want, so I end up getting Pinks and Reds - know I want them!   

Newbie Breeder's Notes To Self  


PAGE 3

The conundrums for the breeder at her first Monthly Egg Drop... picking up where we left...

Never know what I want, so I end up getting Pinks and Reds - know I want them!    

Well, yes, I do still want them... but...

I want the new eggs too of course. That entails a trip to the caves proper.

Then there's that thing going on in the abandoned cave, is it really being filled with short term eggs and hatchlings...?

to be continued when I'm awake.

I'm never gonna be awake enough to finish this! Try Justie's article instead!

Newsflash!

HELP! My Egg Is Sick! AND it won't hatch!  

Ok, calm down Justie, let's think a bit.

Right, it's a new egg, so it could have all sorts of new ways for you to stuff up...

Or, it could be like the Sunrise/sunset eggs, and only hatch at certain times.

Or, it could be you overfed it, and now it's gonna die!   

In A Hurry?

In a hurry to make your Bronze/Silver/Gold Trophy?

Trophies are important in the early stages of Dragon Cave game play, because they control how many eggs/hatchlings you can hold simultaneously. So obviously, the sooner you reach these targets, the better.

I have found only one consistently successful approach to reducing the time it takes to reach these important goals.

In a word: INCUBATE.

I found collecting every Red dragon egg I could find, then using them to reduce the time an egg takes to crack (they take off one day till hatching time) is the best way to increase your number of dragons.

Whether you are breeding, stealing from the cave, or rescuing abandoned eggs, taking a day off the waiting time is a significant contribution.

I give Red eggs priority over all other eggs, tempting though they may be, whenever I find one, and still I find I could use more.

Just a little aside really...

The Cave Born and Bred eggs all seem to be having a tough time of it at the moment making it to hatching without getting sick, and yet, when it is time to hatch (or mature), many end in ER because they are too slow at getting views! Even if you've put them back into the usual places.

Weird!! But does anyone have any theories?

I thought maybe it had to do with the "new egg" drop, perhaps less people were paying attention to the click sites, and so fewer views were accumulated, but the egg drop is past, and this phenomenon continues... 

And less viewers does not explain the sickness rates of CB and bred dragons...

Newbie Breeder's Notes To Self

Page 4

I got a nice 'deal' on an Electric in the Abandoned Cave today, and was amazed to find an impeccable 'stair' lineage. But mine of course, is the wrong one for the next generation, which is why it was abandoned.

But it gave me an idea on how to keep a tidy if not ideal lineage going using the one I just found with the partner's lineage. I have, purely by chance, a similarly impeccable stair lineage, working up to down, whatever that is called. In the right breed!

So, I am going to try my first breeding for lineage imagery lol