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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!
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 :)
http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/CxYa to... http://dragcave.net/getdragon/CxYa Another way to do it, if you go to view your dragon's code and then send that link to your friend, that's the link they can use to quickly adopt your dragon! 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 "getdragon" link, it will say that "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. :/
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! 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/viewdragon/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!
From Egg to First-stage Hatchling Can hatch as early as 3.5 days 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 5.46 (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!
Unbreedables
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:
Say a hatchling has 4.76 days remaining and you know it will grow at 3.5 days. All you need to do is subtract 3.5 from the days remaining to give you the time left. That gives us 1.26 days left to wait. This is all well and good, but how on earth does "0.26" days tell us anything? Now you need to take the extra decimal number (in this case 0.26) and multiply that by 24. This will give you 6.24! This means that, the 1.26 days you had remaining? It's 1 day and 6.24 hours! And, of course, if you want to go another step, take your extra decimal point for your hours (0.24) and multiply that by 60. That will give you the minutes! Our minutes? 14.4! So, if our hatchling hat 4.76 days left before they would die, but we knew they were going to grow at 3.5, then we would know that they would be growing in 1 day, 6 hours, and approximately 14 minutes! Here are your formulas:
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 and I see the message that one has been abandoned, 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 :)
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 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 using the "View" option 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:
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, Dinos 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! I've heard a rumor that you can predict a 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. This is a faulty way to predict, though, and I'm sure it won't be available for very long. In addition, ungendered Split hatchlings can be predicted by using the Rainbow Sort. Unfortunately, this rearranges your whole scroll, so it's not one that I ever use.
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.XX days." then it is an active hatchling and has not been frozen. If that message is not there, then that hatchling has been frozen :) Notes:
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!
![]() 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 is a vine. All of the new vines I've seen have been the only new 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. Parents I have Seen: (let me know if you've seen others!) Regular Vine Mothers: Black, Gold, Green, Guardian, Mint, Pink, Purple, Red, Silver, Skywing, Stone, Water, White Regular Vine Fathers: Black, Green, Guardian, Mint, Red, Skywing, Stone, Water, White Both Vine Parents: Here Alt. Vine Mother: Here Alt. Vine Father: Here Both Alt. Vine Parents: Here Egg: ![]() The new vine egg is the second one. Notice how it is just slightly darker than the first? I can tell them apart because the new one simply looks like the shadow on it fades more to black than the other. Also, I will sometimes pull them up side by side in a graphics program just to eyedropper them to see if they are the same. The main color of the alternate egg is #007031. If you can eyedropper it and it becomes that rather than #00803A, you have the new egg! Here are the two colors:
They are just barely different from each other - but at this point, that's the only way that you can tell them apart before they age! The hatchlings are very different colors, making it obvious which one is which.
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.
![]() For the record, Held Eggs WILL show up on an Incubator :)
![]() 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 new black egg is the second one. Notice how it is slightly darker than the first? Also, the older one looks more "grey" while the new one looks more "purple". As with the vines, I suggest putting them up side-by-side in a graphics program to eyedropper them to see for sure. The main color of the alternate egg is #3E3B47. If you can eyedropper it and it becomes that rather than #525252, you have the new egg! Here are the two colors:
They are just barely different from each other - but at this point, that's the only way that you can tell them apart before they age! The hatchlings are very different colors, making it obvious which one is which.
Very little is known about these as of yet as they are still a work in progress. MY theory is that there are two different hatchling forms, but only one adult form... hence the three alt. blacks on TJ's scroll. We'll see, though! We do know it's not gender-based as both of TJ's hatchlings are male ;)
![]() There was a lot of speculation that these were supposed to be a new egg... and, after a short while, the eggs turned into a strange dull green color, never really seen before: ![]() While I wasn't around for this, I saw screenshots showing this egg's description to be "This egg is very sickly looking, like it has a disease.". I added it to the Dragon Guide where most people assumed it belonged: under the Neglected/Sick dragon. Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure if these were neglected eggs, because they then transformed into all black eggs. However, before they transformed, we got a good look at what a neglected egg probably looks like! So this is just one more piece to the puzzle of figuring out the Neglected Dragon!
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; 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! Copyright © 2006-2008 RoseSagae.com. All rights reserved. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||