Guide to the Dragoncave eggs.

[Kumu Honua]

Getting Started.

1. Register and log into your account at http://dragcave.ath.cx/.
2. Steal an egg.

a. A large batch of eggs appear 3 at a time at the hour on the hour.
b. Smaller batches may or may not appear every 5 minutes after the hour.

3. Click the "Scroll" link on the cave to see all your eggs and hatchlings.

a. Post your scroll in The scroll thread. The url of your own scroll is located near the bottom of your scroll.
b. Use the "Get Code" action in your scroll and add your eggs/hatchlings to your signature. I suggest using the BBC version as many people cannot see the tinyurl's.

4. Post in threads. Especially active threads with lots of participants.

The anatomy of egg growth.

Unique views: Each person is counted only once when they load the image of the egg/hatchling.

Regular views: Each person is counted whether they have previously loaded the image before or not.

Clicks: Each person is counted only once when they activly click on the image of the egg/hatchling.

Time: Each egg has 7 days to get to it's next stage before it dies.

What does it take to hatch?

The below is only personal observation. There are no specific numbers released as far as I know.

An egg has 7 days to advance to hatchling before it dies.
A hatchling has 7 days after hatching to advance to adult before it dies.
An adult is immortal barring your own actions.

Advancing to the next stage is based on the ratio of Unique Views to Regular views as well as how much time is left and further adjusted by the amount of clicks received.

Eggs/Hatchlings will not advance till they are down to ~3.5 days left. It may be possible to advance before this time if you get a large amount of views in a short period of time. I cannot say.

My personal observations have been as follows:

150 unique and 800 regular views are enough to hatch an egg.
300 unique and 1800 regular views are enough to mature to adult.

These are the numbers that I shoot for. Some of my eggs/hatchlings have needed more. Some needed less. Some had lots of clicks while others had few.

How do I get views/clicks?

Exposure.

If you only post in a single thread and only 10 people look at that thread and 1 of them looks at the thread twice. You will only end up with 11 views, 10 unique, and at most 10 clicks depending on if they click the eggs.

If you post in two threads with the same people reading in the same manner you end up with 22 views, 10 unique, and up to 10 clicks.

If you don't ever post, you aren't going to get views...

If you don't post often then at least try to post in popular threads. Active discussions such as the build discussions or the active games such as the 3 word story are good examples.

In the end your eggs depend on your posting. You can't simply adopt and egg and hope that it grows. It depends on you for that help.

Helpful links:

Dragon Cave - http://dragcave.ath.cx/
Dragon Cave official faq - http://dragcaveforum.technoized.com/...p?showtopic=48

Our forums:

The Egg Thread - http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=18595
The Scroll Thread - http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=18673
The "My eggs/hatchlings are about to die! Please Help!" Thread - http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=18820

[Favoran]

This is a handy little guide for people getting started. Thanks for getting this up, Kumu!

[Sigi]

Yes a very nice and comprehensive guide.

I would like to promote the MyMinicity Istaria thread (http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...=18018&page=24) too, promote your eggs and help build the city at the same time!

[Tcei]

Very good guide Kumu!
Just a few things I want to add
Incubator forum's emergency hatchling thread - This thread is part of Drac cave, its an excellent place to post your eggs/hatchlings if you are woefully behind on views. I've only ever lost 1 egg that I posted there, and thats only because I didnt see it till it had less than half a day left.

One other thing, when visiting someone elses scroll you have to click on each individual hatchling or egg, as just visiting the scroll does not count towards unique/views/clicks

If you're having trouble geting an egg, the best times are normaly the wee hours of the morning US time, 2-7 am central time seem best, with fewer people there's normaly a bunch of eggs just sitting there for a good 45 mins or so. During peek hours, like Kumu said there's a larg batch right on the hour and smaller ones every 5 mins, from my observations they stop coming in the last 10-15 mins of an hour.

[Zexoin]

Well done Kumu.

[Sika]

Does anybody have any tips on when to hide eggs/hatchlings? Do you only do it when the egg is soft or the hatcling is sick, or do you hide them when the ratio of unique to normal views seems off? So far I haven't felt I needed to hide my eggs, but I'm not sure if I should be doing it from time to time.

[Kumu Honua]

Hiding does more harm than good for most people. I have never had to use it.

I suppose if you post on a bunch of sites you can run the risk of having your eggs refreshed to death and hiding them might be a good thing, but most of the time all people end up doing is causing their eggs to have .01 days left and no hope of surviving.

[awdz]

well i've finally grabbed some eggs but i'm not sure if my signature shows them? i'll see how it goes... thanks for the instructions, i get lost very easily without them!

[Carsia Wolfsong]

Sika I cracked your egg ^_^... Its hatching hehehe..

[Vlisson]

great guide!!! what have you experienced with male/females who dont like to breed? is breeding random or does this happen every time you try the same couple?

[Shian]

great guide!!! what have you experienced with male/females who dont like to breed? is breeding random or does this happen every time you try the same couple?

Breeding is totally random just like genders despite whatever the flavor text gives you. Refuses, try no egg, egg etc.

[Kumu Honua]

Breeding is totally random just like genders despite whatever the flavor text gives you. Refuses, try no egg, egg etc.

It seems that "Rarity" of your egg plays a part in how often negative breeding results occur. Like my silvers. They simply won't breed.

[awdz]

it has nothing to do with you already having a silver hatchling that is not yet mature?

[Vlisson]

Breeding is totally random just like genders despite whatever the flavor text gives you. Refuses, try no egg, egg etc.

so i can try it again and again and if i "roll" good than they will breed, even if they disliked them 1 week ago?

It seems that "Rarity" of your egg plays a part in how often negative breeding results occur. Like my silvers. They simply won't breed.

so you havent been successfull at all? how many times have you tried?

[Carsia Wolfsong]

This must be a new thread to the DC from egg forum hehehe.. All good I'll clicky clicky here to.. * Does her Daily Clicks *

[Shian]

so i can try it again and again and if i "roll" good than they will breed, even if they disliked them 1 week ago?

so you havent been successfull at all? how many times have you tried?

Yes and rarity does play a factor. (Gold, silver) They have a higher chance of not producing an egg.

[Tcei]

Since these questions keep poping up.

Breeding and you:

Q: How do I breed my dragons?
A: Once you have at least one adult male and one female adult you can select the option to breed from the female's action menue. The breeding page will then load with all available males.

Q: How often can I breed my dragons?
A: Once a week. Requardless of sucess or failure neither will be available for breeding again for one week.

Q: I can't seem to get my pair to mate/produce eggs...
A: There's a random chance a breeding attempt may fail, this seems to be higher in much rarer breeds of dragons such as golds/silvers. Also certain breeds who won't breed at all with certain other breeds. If you repeadedly get the message : The two dragons refuse to go anywhere near eachother, chances are this is why.

Q: I have a female split I want to breed with my male non-split, why wont he show up in her breeding menue?
A: Splits are the only type of dragon (that Im aware of right now) that will not breed with anyother dragon save for their own type.

[Carsia Wolfsong]

I just breeding my Females =).. They now have happy homes hopefully. I kept my red one though hehe.. Hopefully it will be a male .

[fazy]

i am new to dragoncave that helped me out

can anyone clink on my dragons to help out me eggs =) i clink on all your dragons

http://dragcave.net/image/2Uotu.gif

http://dragcave.net/image/XFRhu.gif

[awdz]

You really need to use the HTML/BBCode for your eggs; direct clicks without views is one way to make them sick and possibly die. The cave has been updated recently, so you have to go to the account page to get your list of codes for including in messages.