Pregnancy possibilities

[criswaller1]

I don't know if the pregnancy mechanics of the game are up for review, but if they are, I have a couple of ideas.

As you know, once a female is pregnant, she has to be on a nest to give birth. I can see the sense in that- after all, many animals will not mate until they have acquired a territory. And, if she isn't on a nest, she stays pregnant. OK- some animals, like mustelids, do have delayed implantation leading to longer pregnancies than you'd expect, so I can see that too.

However, it's a bit unrealistic that the female can then stay pregnant the rest of her life, if she never sits on a nest. Could we instead think about a mechanic such as that the female, after mating, needs to find a nest within X days, or the pregnancy doesn't take? This would, admittedly, diminish the negative impacts of rogue males a bit, but it would be more realistic. Or, possibly, a female can't get pregnant unless she "owns" a nest, such as being within X squares of it, and then she needs to give birth within X days.

I'm not sure how to keep the rogue male mechanic- frankly, it never negatively affects me much now, as my breeding pairs are always pregnant, and I don't care if the non-breeders get hit up by a rogue as I never have them give birth- although that, in itself, also diminishes the impact of rogue males! Maybe we could have something like, if a female gets impregnated by a rogue male, she will give birth the next turn whether or not she's on a nest? That would be more of a drain on resources (and thus require some strategizing) than the current mechanic.

What do you think?

[Jojo]

I also thought about this, that females should be able to give birth without a nest or not be able to stay pregnant for the rest of their lives. My suggestion is that females will give birth to a baby after a set amount of days even without a nest but that is very risky (baby might die) as it will attract carnivores (blood being spilled at bith). This could be used without the carnivore mechanic and would make the rogue males a lot more annyoing. I also like your idea that a female has to be a certain distance from a nest to become pregnant but as you said that would make the rogue males a lot less of an issue (as they seem to be for some people)

[Baarko]

keep your females near the ocean and you can put them in the water so the baby can drown at the start of its (short?) life

[Draconiya]

Having to be near a nest to breed completely defeats the purpose of temporary nests, which can only be made by pregnant females anyways. How would you start on a new island with no pregnant females and no permanent nests anywhere? You couldn't breed, because you aren't near a nest, which means you can't make a temporary nest either.

[Jojo]

Originally posted by Zekrom4667:

keep your females near the ocean and you can put them in the water so the baby can drown at the start of its (short?) life

works but that is a current tactic and not something new that needs to be added ^^ Actually I never thought of this, kind of genius

Originally posted by post:

Having to be near a nest to breed completely defeats the purpose of temporary nests, which can only be made by pregnant females anyways. How would you start on a new island with no pregnant females and no permanent nests anywhere? You couldn't breed, because you aren't near a nest, which means you can't make a temporary nest either.

Yeah right, I completly forgot about that. I would like the idea of all animals being able to build nests anyways so that could countermeasure that problem

[El Chaffinch]

I like the idea of rogue male impregnation = baby regardless of nest... perhaps a "runt" or "outsider" trait could be applied. If such things were to be implemented it may even pave the way for social mechanics... unfortunatley the further down the social progression I go the more problems occur and what the game currently offers is reduced....

[Baarko]

id rather have the choice over wether or not i want to have a baby, not be forced to have a bad child who just saps the food stores away. if anything, it could be a gestation period, and a day, you could put the female on the nest to give birth. you have full control over if you want the baby or not, but you have to wait a day before you could give birth to it at all

[Jojo]

Originally posted by Zekrom4667:

id rather have the choice over wether or not i want to have a baby, not be forced to have a bad child who just saps the food stores away. if anything, it could be a gestation period, and a day, you could put the female on the nest to give birth. you have full control over if you want the baby or not, but you have to wait a day before you could give birth to it at all

But you do know that it isn't a choice in nature to have babies or not? I can understand that you like that but for realism it doesn't make much sense, maybe this could be implemented through the difficulty systems? Hard: females give birth after x amount of days including rogue male babies. Easy/ middle: you still have the old system where you can choose.
Also I like the idea of gestation periods but for that longer lifespans would be needed

[Ivlet]

Rouge males aren't much of a problem as they used to be. I don't know if anyone else has the same problem too, but rouge males are really hard to find.