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Alan
Albert
Almor
Cazal
Drev
Godric
Grover
Igan
Simon
Sirius
Tiri
Ainad
Aire
Brenda
Lani
Lian
Raj
Romani
Zy
Here's the helpful things I've collected throughout my Dragcave playing time... some tips have been donated by some friends too, hopefully I'll cover some of the things that weren't mentioned in the site F.A.Q.s! For "extras" that aren't necessarily needed to play the game, check out the Funbits!
Jump to Tidbits:
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Tidbits from Other Folks: Tidbits to Aid LJ Folks: Other Helpful Sites: | ** New! ** |
| Early Abandons | [back to top] |
Early Abandons:
Yellow Dino Egg - 6.63 days remaining - 7/5/08
Mint Egg - 6.71 days remaining - 7/18/08
Mint Egg - 6.71 days remaining - 7/18/08
Split Egg - 6.79 days remaining - 7/18/08
Skywing Egg - 6.69 days remaining - 7/20/08
Bred eggs, of course, can be abandoned as soon as they are laid :)
| Quick/Targeted Adopt - Updated 1/11/09 | [back to top] |
http://dragcave.net/view/ApDn to... http://dragcave.net/abandoned/ApDn
All you need to do now is refresh on that page while the other person abandons it - the egg/hatchling will end up directly in your possession! You'll know you got it when you refresh the page and it shows you that dragon's codes. Important Note: the first time you go to the "abandoned" link, it will say something along the lines of "This dragon has already been taken.". Keep refreshing and you will continue to see that message! Once the other person abandons it, the first person to make it to that link (which will hopefully be you, as you are refreshing it) will claim the dragon and see that dragon's codes. Everyone else will just continue to see the "already taken" message. If you don't see the codes, don't give up until the person sending you the dragon verifies that you missed it. :/
| Naming - Updated 1/11/09 | [back to top] |
Names need to be unique. No two dragons on the site can have the same name. This means, if you had your heart set on naming your dragon "Bob", sorry, but it's probably already taken :/
To name your dragon, click on its Actions and then hit "Name". You can only name your dragon once and their name can never be changed, so make sure you are naming it a name you really like! Also, double check it before submitting it to make sure you don't end up with any unfortunate mis-capitalizations or misspellings!
The site will also double check to see if that name is taken for you. Simply type in the name you want in the input box and then click somewhere outside of it (in blank space on the background or something). An "X" means that name is already being used and a checkmark means that name is available - congrats!
Not sure what to name your dragon? I find it a fun challenge to try and name them based off of their unique codes! For instance, I named lorS "Lorscythe" and FxrJ "Fracture". I also have nMc6 as "Numack" and JZNP as "Jazen" (almost named him Jaznap!) and, of course, my best one to date: UKaZ, which I named "Ukaz"! While they're an egg and hatchling and I don't have a name for them, I often refer to them as their unique codes, so sometimes the names I dream up for them just stick!
Some people like to name their dragons using names of objects, others like to name them after characters from their favorite TV show or book. If the name you want is taken, you can try a different spelling or variation.
Another trick, used by Ladiefare is to use an online naming site! She suggested BehindtheName.com. One site that I like to use is BabyNames.com. You can look up names from all different languages and nationalities to suit your dragon's personality. Give it a try!
Zavryl suggests using an online name generator such as the ones found here. They can be a lot of fun if you want to try different names out!
Before naming your dragon and receiving the dreaded "You try to write the name, but the ink disappears as you write, so you decide to try something else." (meaning that that name has already been taken), you can simply check them by going to the following link!
http://dragcave.net/view/n/Name
Input the name you want at the very end (where I have typed "Name") and see what comes up, if a dragon appears, that name has already been claimed. However, if it says "You can't seem to find the dragon you're looking for." then that name is free!
| Growing Times | [back to top] |
From Egg to First-stage Hatchling
Can hatch as early as 3.5 days (3 days and 12 hours) remaining and as late as just before 7 days. If it takes longer than 7 days to hatch, it will die.
From First-stage Hatchling to Second-stage Hatchling
Can grow as early as 5.61 (the earliest I've had) days remaining and as late as just before 7 days. If it takes longer than 7 days to to grow, it will die. Once the Hatchling hatches, you basically have a week to get it to be an adult or it will die. The second stage hatchling for most dragons is the one with wings. For other species, it just gets bigger or changes a little.
From Second-stage Hatchling to Adult/Final Form
A Second-stage Hatchling can mature as early as 3.5 days remaining, but never earlier than that. Usually, if your hatchling matures to its second stage early (between 5.19 and 4.0 days remaining), it's a good sign that your hatchling will mature to an adult earlier rather than later. As stated above, as long as your hatchling makes it to the Adult stage by 7 days, it's good. Sometimes, hatchlings that are making it close to their due date will practically skip the second stage, maturing to the second stage and then quickly making it to Adulthood. I'm not sure why this happens, but I think the site cuts a little slack for dragons in danger.
In Conclusion...
You can go from egg to fully-grown adult in a week: seven days to the minute! This will only happen if you do a really good job raising your egg, though, if you're a little slow with views, don't panic, you have two full weeks to get your dragon to mature! (as of 1/10/09, I'm not sure if any of this really holds true anymore as growing times seem to be extended... sorry!)
| Breeding Tips - Updated 2/11/09 | [back to top] |
Unbreedables
- Paper Dragons may not breed. Non-dragons (such as chickens and dinos) cannot breed either.
- Vampires cannot breed.
- Split/Two-headed dragons may only breed amongst themselves. They cannot breed with any other type of dragon.
- Rares (Gold and Silver) cannot breed with each other and must bred with a non-rare.
- Select a dragon from your scroll by clicking "Actions" and then "Breed".
- If it is able to breed, a list of eligible mates will appear - pick the one you want and hit its breed link on the far right column.
- The dragons may breed, and they may not. Since I started keeping track, I have about a 67.6% success rate with my dragons producing an egg. If the breeding doesn't work, it
will give you an unsuccessful message such as...
- The dragons refuse to even go near each other.
- The dragons don't really show much interest in each other.
- You attempt to breed the two dragons, but no egg is produced.
- If your dragons get the "refuse" message, they are incompatible and will never produce eggs together. At that point, you would be best off finding a different mate for each of them.
- Breeding is instantaneous and you will know right away whether it worked or not.
- Once a dragon (both mother and father) has bred or attempted to bred, they cannot try again for 7 days. I've timed it, and it looks like it may be 7 days to the minute!
- Dragons can breed anywhere from 1-4 eggs.
- Of my my average egg turnout (as of 1/3/09) is 1.7 per clutch (249 eggs / 146 breedings).
- For tips on how Breeding Multiples works and how to choose which egg you would like to keep, read here.
- As with all breedings, if you have 5 or more egg or hatchling slots full when you breed, all of your eggs will automatically be abandoned!
- Dragons do not need to breed with their same type (exception: Split)! You can mix it up as much as you like!
- Eggs will take after the color of either the mother or the father - usually whichever one is more common.
- Save your breeding times in a notepad or excel document if you want to remember who you can re-breed and when! Note the date and time, as it takes seven full days for them to be able to breed again.
- You can check the status of your bred hatchlings by viewing your dragon. It will provide a link to all of their children.
- Bred eggs can be abandoned immediately, should you choose. You do not need to wait with them like you do for regular eggs.
- Before breeding make sure that you have space to keep an egg! You must have 4 or fewer eggs. If you have 5 eggs, your bred eggs will be abandoned immediately as you will not have a place for them :(
| Egg and Hatchling Limits | [back to top] |
My advice, if you want to keep taking more and keep spots open would be to keep yourself at a maximum of three. That way, if you start with three eggs, but see another one you really want, you'll have space to take it. Or, if you wait it out and your three eggs evolve into three hatchlings, you can take three more eggs!
If you hit four at any point, though, you're stuck until you get an adult. Say you start with four eggs, filling you up. You will have to wait until one of those eggs becomes an adult before you can pick up any more eggs or hatchlings! And that can be a long wait!
The exception to the four-max rule is breeding. If you happen to have four eggs and you breed, you'll be able to keep [one of] your bred eggs, leaving you with five! Of course, five will prevent you from taking anymore... that's just there to give us a chance to keep an egg we breed, even if we're full.
That said, keeping the four-max rule in mind, you can have a combination of any number at any time! Some examples:
- X hatchlings and 5 eggs (the ultimate maximum, obtained by having any number of hatchlings, and breeding up to 5 eggs)
- 3 hatchlings and 3 eggs (a good number to aim for - keep three hatchling and three eggs and, by the time the hatchlings, grow up, the eggs will be hatchlings and you'll be ready to take three more eggs!)
- 4 hatchlings or 4 eggs (maxed out, you may not get any more eggs or hatchlings unless you breed them at this point)
| Egg Sniping | [back to top] |
Restocks happen once on the hour (a big restock, with thirty eggs or so) and once every 5 minutes (with three eggs). The Hour Restock is easiest because it offers a wider variety of eggs to steal, but that is also the one that most people refresh at. If you aren't desperately searching for a particular egg, I would suggest being patient and refreshing at the 5-min restocks. Even if you decide to try for 5-min restocks, though, never miss an hour one if you can help it! That's your best chance to walk away with eggs!
This is how a Restock works... random eggs file across and all of them are blacked out so you don't know what kind they are. However, if you pay attention to the descriptions (and stake out for one description in particular) then you can ignore all of the others and just keep your eye out for the one egg you are targeting. All of the descriptions are listed here. Eggs fill across, three at a time, with the newest ones showing in the very right slot. This means that your odds for a successful catch increase the farther right the egg is. If you try to take an egg in the left-most slot, it could have been there for several seconds, meaning you might not be the only person who has clicked on it.
When I "snipe" I set up like this: 2 tabs open to the cave entrance and one open to the abandoned eggs. That way, if I'm trying to steal one from the cave entrance, I can keep tabs on what has been abandoned so I can skip over to my other tab and see what's there. I offer this tip because, once, when everyone else on the site was stalking a restock, I jumped over to the abandoned page and managed to catch a gold egg there ;) Just sayin'.
While restocking, hold one finger over the F5 button on your computer. Pressing F5 will refresh the page, so I'll keep my left hand on the F5 and my right on the mouse, hovering around the eggs. I refresh each time the page loads (only takes a second) and then refresh again. Keep refreshing until you see the egg you want and then pounce on it! I keep the two tabs open so that, if I DO pounce on an egg, I can jump over to my other cave entrance tab while my first one is loading and keep refreshing there. (of course you could just stick to one if you want xD I'm just a refreshaholic!)
So basically, familiarize yourself with the Egg Descriptions and set out for that one in particular that you want. Don't give up, some times of the day are better to snipe at than others (i.e. nighttime in the U.S. is usually a slow time on the site!). Now that we have the helpful little counter on the first page, keep an eye on it and see what times there aren't as many members on - those would probably be your best bet when you're trying to catch an egg :)
| Multiple Egg Tips | [back to top] |
Eggs in Holding
After you breed multiple eggs, it will tell you that you have bred multiple eggs, but you decide to keep only one. If you do not click on one at that time, however, and simply return to your scroll without deciding, they will rest "In Holding" on your scroll. Instead of "Egg" under the "Type" column, it will say "Held Egg". They will remain this way because, after you breed multiples, it allows you to pick one that you want to keep. You have until the top of the hour of the next hour to decide which egg to keep before all but one is randomly abandoned (at this point in time, I believe it chooses a random egg for you. I had 4 eggs and it chose the third one for me). While the eggs are in holding, no one else can see them by viewing your scroll. You can view them by clicking them or visiting them through their parents to get their unique code if you would like. Other people may still view your eggs' parents and find your eggs that way, of course!
Eggs in Holding cannot be abandoned one by one anymore!
Originally, we had thought the eggs would be abandoned on the top of the hour, so if I were to breed them at :45, I would have only 15 minutes to choose which one I wanted to keep. However, Amikira ran a test and found that it will wait until the next hour. For instance, if you were to breed at 1:05, it would give you a full hour to decide, securing your eggs until 2:05. Then, it will wait until the top of the next hour (in this case, 3:00) before it actually drops them. Thanks for that awesome information, Kira!
Picking Your Egg
To pick the egg you want to keep, click the "Get Code" link for that egg. At that point, all of the other eggs will be abandoned. Do not click this until you are sure! Otherwise all of your other eggs will be dumped without your knowledge! :( (Sadly, I know this from personal experience) If you want to get your egg's unique code, you can view them or view either of their parents. You cannot get their pre-made code, though, as the site sees that as you claiming that one.
Reserving an Extra Egg
Because no one else can see your eggs in holding, you can save them for someone else, providing that person is able to get on within the hour+ time limit and is ready to adopt your egg when it is abandoned. (this is, of course, if you kept one for yourself. If you only wanted to save one for someone else and not keep one of your own, then that should be the one you pick to keep... and then you can arrange a transfer at any time with the other person because there will be no time limit!). Once the other person is ready to adopt, you can either have them wait at the abandoned page or you can have them get the Quick Adopt Link ready. At that time, you can pick the egg you would like to keep, then the others will be abandoned and your friend can pick up the other one!
If You do not Have Room
If you don't have room to take an extra egg (you have reached 5 maximum eggs already), your bred eggs will be abandoned automatically. If you only breed one egg, that will show up at the abandoned page right away. If you breed multiple eggs at that time, though, I believe those eggs remain "in limbo" until approximately the top of the hour - when they will show up at the abandoned page. If this happens with your eggs, you can either make room and adopt them yourself (this may or may not work) or send one of your friends the quick adopt link and they can adopt your egg out of limbo at that time. While eggs are in limbo, they can be adopted... but they haven't been officially released.
If You Want to Keep More than One
You would need to have a friend catch one for you and send it back. Unfortunately, the scroll who abandons an egg can no longer re-adopt it. It will simply tell you that that egg has already been taken... even if it hasn't.
Other Interesting Things:
- You may have two bred "sets" in holding at the same time for a maximum of four held eggs at a time. For instance, if I bred my Vine and Red dragons and had two eggs in holding, I could breed my Gray and Stone dragons and be able to keep their eggs in holding too if they had laid two! Of course, you may only keep one bred egg from both sets collectively. If you wanted to keep one from each set, you would need to make sure that you only started with 3 eggs, kept one from the first set, THEN bred the second set and picked one to fill your fifth spot. (this may or may not be true anymore. I think now the held eggs count towards your egg total so you would only be able to hold this many if you had started out with no eggs in the first place)
- I have a friend who ended up with six eggs after she took too long to decide which eggs she wanted to keep. Apparently, it didn't abandon either of her eggs and left her with both of them and a whopping total of 6 eggs!
- The glitch that allowed people to keep more than one egg seems to be fixed now. So make sure you know for sure which egg you want to keep and decide before time is up - otherwise, you may end up with one you did not want!
- If you have four hatchlings, your bred multiple eggs will be abandoned automatically, I think! I'm not positive, but keep that in mind if you are planning on breeding at least!
| Finding Out Your Gender | [back to top] |
Once your hatchling hits "Stage 2" (either when they grow wings or get larger - this is when the text says "It must be getting close to maturing!"), it will be assigned a gender. This will show up when you view that dragon! This is also why I usually wait until my hatchlings are Stage 2 or until they are full-grown to name them, because not waiting could result in a really embarrassing name for your hatchling ;)
In addition, Pink and Purple dragons are always female. So you don't need to wait until they hit Stage 2, it's guaranteed that they will be a little girl :) Also, '08 Christmases are always all male and Chickens are always female :)
We used to be able to predict the gender of split and silver eggs, but that is no longer in effect! All eggs, when sorted by breed, will appear male. Curiously, mine show right in the middle of my adults. We'll have to be patient until our hatchlings mature from now on!
You can also get a frozen hatchling's gender by giving it a description - even if it is unmatured, it will show up in the descriptions people review as its gender. Some people would then comment on your description saying "It's a girl" or something. I did this with one and simply made my description something like "This little dragon is curious to know what gender it is (help me out?)" xD
In addition, ungendered Split hatchlings could be predicted by using the Rainbow Sort. Unfortunately, this rearranged your whole scroll, so it's not one that I ever used.
| Frozen Hatchlings | [back to top] |
To freeze a hatchling, go to that hatchling's Actions and click "Freeze"!
If you aren't sure if a hatchling is frozen or not, look them up. If they have a note that says "Hatchling will die if it doesn't grow up in: X days and X hours." then it is an active hatchling and has not been frozen. If that message is not there, then that hatchling has been frozen :)
Notes:
- If you freeze a Stage 1 Hatchling, it will still mature to Stage 2. Stage one hatchlings will not stay frozen in that form.
- Frozen hatchlings cannot be abandoned!
- As with all other hatchlings, Frozen Hatchlings cannot breed.
- In the future, Eggs will be able to be frozen as well, for people interested in collecting them! I will edit this section with more info when that feature becomes available!
| How to Transfer, Step-by-Step | [back to top] |
- Get in contact with the person you are transferring with. If you both have a messenger, find them on there. Otherwise, check out my tip below for a free private chat! (this also works really well if the person you are transferring with does not have the same type of online messenger that you do!)
- Map it Out - make sure you both know exactly how you'll be transferring. Also, now is a good time to check to make sure that the person you are abandoning to even has space for a new egg/hatchling! I made the mistake of trying to transfer to someone who already had four eggs already because I forgot to check :( Needless to say, I lost that egg.
- I like to send them my Quick Adopt code and tell them to "get situated". For me, this means setting up the Quick Adopt page in two different tabs. That way, if the first one lags for any reason, I can quickly jump to the second one and continue refreshing there. Once they tell me they're ready to refresh, I tell them that I will count to 15 and then abandon.
- Not using the Quick Adopt? If you prefer to do it "the old way", you will need to have the abandoned page open and you will need to refresh there until you see the egg that is being abandoned for you. Once you see it, click it as fast as possible and hope you were the first one to it. I don't recommend this method as someone could very easily beat you to it. Also, if you are picking up a white egg, someone else could just happen to drop 3 other whites at that same time - then where would you be? You'd have to figure out which one you were supposed to get and you'd have to do it very quickly. This way still works, but it is very risky!
- If you are abandoning, start your count as promised and abandon that egg. I usually get the actions page open before I start my count so that I'll be ready to go. All you have to do is click "Abandon" and it will pop up a message asking you if you really want to do this. Click yes and then the egg is officially up for grabs.
- If you are adopting, refresh non-stop at the quick adopt screen until your page changes from "This dragon has already been taken." to the page with that egg/hatchling's code. As soon as you are sure you safely caught the egg, let your dropper know so that they can stop panicking (xD)
- Gabbly is a site that pretty much throws a chat room on top of any webpage. You could throw one on your Myspace, your LiveJournal, the DragonSpam User Info, or your scroll - which is what I recommend for transfers!
- Pretty much, putting "http://www.gabbly.com/" in front of any address will put your chat room up. (click the DragonSpam one above to see!) This chat room stays private unless anyone else in the world happens to type the same address in. Since I posted the link to the DragonSpam one, you may run into someone if you follow the link. However, if you add a gabbly window to your scroll, chances are very rare that anyone else would be viewing your scroll's gabbly, making your chat private and a good way for a safer, private transfer!
- That said, here is my scroll's Chat Room: RoseSagae - just replace "RoseSagae" with your scroll's name!
- Some Gabbly Hints:
- You can expand the window to be as big or little as you want, and you can move it over your page to sit wherever you want it to.
- Above the text entry box is a place for your Name. You can enter your name here (otherwise it would just leave you assigned as "gabber364" or whatever!)
- I recommend leaving the sound on - so you can hear when someone messages you!
- Closing the chat window with the X in the upper right corner also takes you back to the normal page's link. Here is a closer look at all of the commands in the chat window and what they mean.
- Play around with it - it's a pretty fun little tool and it will hopefully help out with some transfers. Good luck!
- WARNING! Gabbly automatically adds itself to links that are posted in it. So, if you send someone a quick adopt link, it will throw Gabbly on the front of it and the quick adopt link will NOT work! It may come up as "Invalid Referrer" or it may not - but DO NOT use a quick adopt link with Gabbly in front of it. Instead, when the link is sent to you in the Gabbly window, COPY that code and paste it in the address bar of your other window - DO NOT click it. (if you would prefer, you could just send them your dragon's unique code and ask them to add it to the end of this link !)
- DO NOT drop your egg around the top of the hour! This is when the site is busiest and the chances of your transfer being missed are very high. I would recommend waiting until :20 or until the main restock is over. I would also recommend doing it before :50 so you miss people who are hoping to catch the restock early.
- Check the number of users online. We have that helpful little counter now, keep an eye on it! If the number seems high, it's probably not a safe time of day to be trying a transfer. If you have time to wait, wait an hour or so to see if it goes down at all.
- Check for Lag before you drop! I lost an egg because we went ahead and transferred when the site was laggy :( We should have checked ahead of time to make sure things were moving at a normal pace. Make sure the site is normal before you abandon your precious egg!
| Fogging | [back to top] |
To Fog/Hide your egg or hatchling, go to their Actions and select "Hide". This will cover your egg or hatchling in fog, making it so that no one but you can see them or give them views. Once fogged, your egg will look like this:
A lot of people seem to think that fogging is necessary for your egg to grow, but that's not true. Basically, you only need to fog if your egg is soft-shelled or if your hatchling is looking sickly. Usually, fogging them for one day and then removing the fog (even if they're still sick) will cure them. Once you remove the fog, they may still be sick for a little bit, but they'll get better shortly. On my first few eggs when I was new to the site, they were sick a lot. Looking back, I don't remember why they were sick, but usually fogging them for a day and then taking it off caused them to get better. I haven't had trouble with my eggs and hatchlings since then, so I haven't fogged any since my first 8 eggs :)
When your egg is fogged, people won't be able to find it if they click on it. However, we can view our fogged eggs now to see if they are still sick or if they have gotten better! Simply click "View" on your scroll to see how your egg or hatchling is doing. To remove the fog, go to your actions and click "Unhide".
An interesting tip from Melika... while a hatchling can mature (grow its wings) while it is fogged, an egg cannot hatch. She was able to hide some eggs before they hatched and leave them hidden to prevent them from hatching so that she could adopt another egg and hatchling! If you do this, you'll need to remember that time still runs down while your egg or hatchling is fogged. You'll need to make sure that you unfog them in enough time to make sure that they don't die!
Unrelated to fogging an egg or hatchling, if you visit the site forums, you'll probably hear people talk about "The Fog". I wasn't around during this but, from what I can gather, the Fog was simply a time when the site was down because there were a lot of changes being made to it. New sprites were put up and whatnot. But that's about all I can tell you!
| Identifying the Alternate Vine | [back to top] |
What we have been able to confirm is that it seems to be the random result of a breeding between two dragons, only one of which needs to be a vine. All of the alt. vines I've seen have been the only alt. vines in their clutch with the exception of two new vine brothers - they were the only two born of their parents and both of them were the new, alternative vine sprite.
Egg:
The alt. vine egg used to be just slightly darker than the first. However, the eggs were changed so that they appear the same. You will not know you have an alt. until that egg has hatched and you can take a look at the hatchling. The hatchlings are very different colors, making it obvious which one is which.
| Old Vine | New Vine | Notice how the tummy, horn, and eyes on the new hatchling are a very bright gold while the same features on the old one are a pale yellow? Even easier, when the hatchling matures, the flowers on the new one stay gold while the old one has red berry-like growths! |
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Note: As of 12/14/08 ALL Alt. eggs will look the same as the original!! Here is a quote from TJ:
"This occurred because someone asked why alternate dragons exist. And when I stopped to ponder this, I recalled that the feature was created because the site was too "linear." You see an egg, and you know which adult dragon that you're getting. The first steps away from linear hatching sequences were the two breeds with gender-specific sprites. When you pick up an egg from one of those two breeds, you may generally know which dragon you'll get, but not which sprite you'll end up with.
And upon knowing why the alternates feature was implemented, it follows that separate egg sprites for alternates do not make sense."
| Generating an Incubator | [back to top] |
What is an Incubator?
It's basically an image that shows off your scroll. It doesn't get your eggs any views (unless someone were to click on it to get to your scroll), but it's a nice way to lure people into visiting your scroll. Or just showing off the dragons that you have raised or the dragons you are raising!
How to Use It
You may only generate one once an hour! If you try to generate a new one before your hour is up, it will just show you the old one instead.
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Sort:
This is how your incubator will be sorted. If you use "Account Setting", it will keep them sorted how you have sorted your scroll (whichever option that may be), or you can select a different mode of sorting if you prefer! -
Display:
Choose what types of dragons you want to be displayed! -
Hide Duplicates?
Check this if you don't want your 50 adult splits to show up all on one incubator :) This option would show only one Adult split from each gender, rather than each one you own! -
Incubator Size:
I'm sure Small and Large are pretty self-explanatory... but I'm not sure what Automatic means... I think it means that it will automatically pick the size of incubator that best fits with the size of your scroll, or the portion of your scroll that you've selected to be shown on the incubator. -
Other:
- Upload to ImageShack: Checking this box will upload the image to a free server and provide you with a code so that you can post it anywhere you choose! Not clicking this box will display the image so that you can download it. If you do not check the ox, you may not hotlink the image provided - you will have to upload it to your own server.
- Show Username on Incubator: Pretty self-explanatory. If you want your account name to show up on your incubator in the site's font, check this box!
For the record, Held Eggs WILL show up on an Incubator :)
| Identifying the Alternate Black | [back to top] |
So far, it looks like it's like the alt. vine in the fact that it's a random result when breeding a black dragon. We did manage to find one breeding in which the parents were both blacks and, of their three-egg clutch, they had two alt. blacks! Just thought I'd mention that one!
Egg:
The alt. black egg used to be slightly darker than the regular one. The eggs all look the same now, though, so you will not know you have an alt. until it hatches! The hatchlings are very different colors, making it obvious which one is which.
| Old Black | New Black | These hatchling sprites are completely re-drawn, so it will be easy to tell if you have an alternate as soon as it has hatched! At this point we still don't know the significance between one hatchling sprite versus the other, but I'll be sure to update as soon as we learn anything! |
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Note: As of 12/14/08 ALL Alt. eggs will look the same as the original!! Here is a quote from TJ:
"This occurred because someone asked why alternate dragons exist. And when I stopped to ponder this, I recalled that the feature was created because the site was too "linear." You see an egg, and you know which adult dragon that you're getting. The first steps away from linear hatching sequences were the two breeds with gender-specific sprites. When you pick up an egg from one of those two breeds, you may generally know which dragon you'll get, but not which sprite you'll end up with.
And upon knowing why the alternates feature was implemented, it follows that separate egg sprites for alternates do not make sense."
| Unveiling the Undead | [back to top] |
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The Undead Dragon is truly a dragon that has died and come back... and died again... and come back again (and, as of 11/1/08, died again). As far as I know, these dragons
used to be available by killing a dragon and reviving it. At one point, all of the Undead Dragons simply disappeared from
existence with no explanation. However, these rare dragons reappeared on Halloween, 2008! They all returned to gravestones the following day, however.
Anyways, here are some things we know about Undead Dragons: |
- It can work for Hatchlings or Adults
I have one in one of my family trees that is a frozen hatchling. Unfortunately, I have no idea how/why it was killed or when it was revived/transformed. - It can be Bred (Laid/Having Parents) or Stolen
I've seen many of them that have been bred (meaning their egg was laid). However, this one (one that disappeared and was brought back) appears to have been disowned by its parents! You can trace her parents from her, but her parents don't link back to her! - It cannot breed.
Older undead dragons often have "Unknown" genders but, for the ones that do have genders, they are unable to breed. Some of them had bred before being killed, and therefore are listed as having children. However, they cannot breed once they have turned into a zombie. Also, their children will show a "Deceased" where their zombie parent's name should be. - They cannot be abandoned.
Once a hatchling has been zombiefied, it cannot be abandoned, even if it is still unnamed. - Available only on Halloween?
Zombies were able to be obtained on Halloween with better luck than ever before. However, sometime on the morning of November first, they became unavailable. - Returning from the Grave
After loads of checking at all different times of the night, I know that they come out at exactly midnight EST and they return to the grave at exactly 6AM EST.
| Descriptions - Reviewing and Getting Approved | [back to top] |
Dragons that can be Described
Only frozen hatchlings or adults may be described. All unmatured/growing hatchlings or eggs will not have the description option.
Writing Your Description
First and foremost, make sure your description follows all of the rules listed here. You can write a description for your dragon by selecting that dragon's actions and then clicking "Describe". Your description can be as long or as short, as descriptive if you'd like. Once you write it, your description will be up for review by other members (usually only for a few minutes or maybe an hour after its initial submission - the actual time your description will show up to reviewers is unknown). Members will be able to approve or reject it and offer suggestions as to how to improve it. You can check their comments by going back as if to describe your dragon - the rating for your description and any comments from other members will then show up below your textbox. If you would like to have someone read over your description before you submit it, a bunch of people post their descriptions for review in this thread. That is also a good place to post if you are unsure as to why people rejected your description.
Some Examples Here are some of my approved descriptions - so you can get a good look at what kinds of descriptions make it through the approval process!
Knight - Monafel - Tempestius - Liara - Mithardor - Graceful - Storm - Quartzira - Jazen - Carella - Xallix - Flaren - Rhampage - Aurumel - Windus - Sageflower - Iavaq - Ukaz - Braydar - Duadera - Numack - Gewtate - Sekara - Fracture - Lorscythe - Tasev - Pythias - Virumel - Crusade - Amoure - Hydrius - Zahava - Cyclonite - Corinth - Oladestro - Prestorgi - Estarok
Rating??
Each approval or disapproval will give your dragon's description a "score" depending on the score that reviewer has. A reviewer's score will improve the more they "get right". For instance, if I thought a description was good and I approved it... then a staff member officially approved that description, my score would go up. This would mean that for every description I approve from then on, they would get more points - as my score was higher. The actual number that your score goes up for an approve description is unknown. I'm also not sure if your description will go up if you deny descriptions that get officially denied... or if your score will go down if you "get one wrong". Unfortunately, the score thing is all very vague :( It is also unsure whether there is a certain score that will help you get approved faster or not. I saw someone mention that they had a description with a rating over 10 and it got officially reviewed within days. No one really knows xD; (it appears as though we can no longer view the scores for our unapproved descriptions :( )
And... Waiting.
A lot of people get frustrated that getting a description approved takes so long... but it's worth it to be patient. I'm unsure if re-submitting puts you at the bottom of the queue or anything, but I've had a lot of luck by submitting it once and then just waiting. Here's how I do it: I write the description and submit it. Then I bookmark my dragon's lookup and write in the comments with the day I submitted it. That way I can check my bookmarks and open them up to see who's been approved and who's still waiting. Once one's been approved, I delete it from my bookmarks x) If I've been waiting for over a month to have one approved (and yes, this happens frequently), then I'll simply re-submit it and move it to the bottom of my bookmark list. I've had some take five weeks to be approved and some take only a few days! It is a waiting game, though, so you just need to be patient and re-submit when you think it's necessary. Also note that every time you resubmit your description, you will lose all comments on it and your score will be reset to zero!
Handling Comments
You can't respond to comments for a reason. If you get a comment that suggests a change, make that change. If you disagree with the suggestion they've made, simply don't make any changes and resubmit your description. You should try to take criticism with a grain of salt - most people are trying to be helpful and their suggestions are made because they think it will help you get approved. If you do get a comment that could be seen as harassment, I believe you can PM TJ about it - I know of one instance where someone received a very rude comment and went to TJ about it. He banned the user in question from commenting on further descriptions! A lot of us were very pleased to see that comments are taken seriously by the higher-ups. Also, keep in mind that our comments probably have little pull on the official outcome of your description. So don't get your panties in a bunch just because one person didn't like it x)
Being Rejected
You will know you've been rejected by heading into describe your dragon. Your "Description Status" will say so. I can't remember if I've had one disapproved or whether or not they gave me a reason as to why it was rejected... sorry I'm not much help here! I do know that you will not be contacted as to whether or not your description has been approved or rejected - it's up to you to check.
Being Approved!
You will know you've been approved by heading into describe your dragon. Your "Description Status" will say so. Also, if you view your dragon's lookup, the description will be at the very bottom as a fourth paragraph. Congrats!
and finally....
Reviewing Other Descriptions
If you have 10 or more adult dragons on your scroll, you are eligible to review other people's descriptions (Go here to do so!). Make sure you familiarize yourself with the Description Guidelines first so you aren't rejecting people for things they shouldn't be rejected for! Remember, you need to judge as objectively as a mod would if you want your score to increase! Don't be too picky, but don't be too lenient either.
That should be it! If you have any other questions about Descriptions, the Descriptions Guidelines Thread is usually a good place to ask :) Good luck!
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