Breeding System Changes V2

Alright guys, second try, pile in, go crazy.

My own suggestion:

- Allow non-breeder males to breed within a pack (breeding male remains the stud that can breed outside of the pack)

Previous Thread

I think linking pairs together "for life" might solve some of the issues. There could be a cap on how many paired up wolves you can have. 

Having a stud available to others can still stick around but the paired up wolves cannot be bred to others.

Probably needs some tweaking. This is not originally my idea so whoever came up with it in the other thread may have the details worked out better.

I like the idea of males being able to breed as well as females.
Maybe, instead of limiting the wolves to lifetime-pairs another way to solve the problem would simply be to limit the amount of breedings a male has if he isn't set as breeding male. Similarly to how female wolves can only be bred a certain number of times.

What Valana said sounds pretty decent imo. That's not as hard of a system as system of setting pairs, and I believe it would require less code and testing.

I'd love this feature. As @Valana said, other breeding males could have a limited amount of breedings, much less than the stud. Maybe something like 1-3 per week, or a cooldown similar to females, but shorter?

Please I would also adore this feature 

while it's not 100% realistic I have exactly 0 use for males otherwise because females can still do all the roles males can while also being able to breed

i'd definitely love to see the breeding restrictions be softened up a bit - male wolves are currently, to be blunt, not nearly as desirable as female wolves since they can't breed - while they can take part in all other aspects of pack life, the average pack male being unable to breed is a little frustrating and definitely discourages me (and, i'm sure, quite a few other people) from buying or taking in new males, since females can do everything they can do and breed, therefore contributing more to the pack in the end

not sure i like the idea of a "for life" link thing at all, but limiting the amount of times a male can breed within a certain amount of time sounds like it would work out fairly nicely without being nearly as restrictive as the current system or a pair-bond system

I think most agree that the current system seems restrictive, makes avoiding inbreeding and diversifying your pack expensive, lessens the value of males, and prevents a lot of people from being able to have the lore/rp they want. I also think most agree that a system where all males and all females can breed all the time would be chaotic and possibly cause just as many issues as it solves.

So here are some ideas, trying to patch together solving at least some of the perceived issues while keeping the game balanced and not causing any more problems. Not all are specifically mine, but I'll tie it together in the end. 

1. (Would require a female stud system, like in LD.) Only the breeding male can breed within the pack. He is also the only one who can be studded. Said male can also be used with stud females, but meanwhile, other males can be used with them too! The pups would be automatically sent to the pack of the male after weaning, regardless of the male's status. Ex-breeding males can't be bred ever again, including with stud females, bc they've been castrated. For balancing, perhaps males breeding with a stud female can't do their jobs that day, or maybe until the request is accepted and the lady is pregnant (maybe the former, though, so that if the owner of the heat accepts one breeding the other male isn't useless until they cancel or the lady is in heat again.) They would still regen energy at the same rate, though. [I think this is a good idea, but only if reverse/female/heat studding is a feature that was going to be included anyway.]

2. Only stud males can be bred out, but any male can breed within the pack, no restrictions (other than ex-studs can't, because they're castrated.) [Less realistic but better for the game than the current system, I think. Kinda lacks flair, though, and could use balancing.]

3. A mix system of one monogamous breeding pair, or perhaps more, and one stud that cannot be paired. Pairs can be broken up but there would be a cooldown before they can be separated after being paired, before being paired after being separated, or maybe even both. Separation doesn't geld males so once-paired wolves could stud, but retired stud males would still be gelded and could not be paired. [Tbh I find this option too complex and restrictive.]

4. Males who are not the main breeding male can breed within the pack, but either have a cooldown (probably not as long as females, but still a few ROs) or a limited amount of breedings a week/month. Maybe 15 a month, to mirror the 15 a week stud slots? [I think this is one of the more reasonable solutions.]

5. Males who are not the main breeding male can only breed within the pack, and also only during Spring. Wolves in the wild do most of their breeding during the Spring. [I think this one is also p reasonable. Timing heats up with Spring might be a little frustrating, though, and could require either skipping a heat or using an item that shortens breeding cooldown, but could still work.]

6. Males who are not the main breeding male can breed within the pack........ Once. After breeding without the lead wolf and/or breeding male's permission, these males get their butts kicked and cannot breed again unless they are made a breeding male, or move to another pack. They'd just get put in their place, not castrated, so they would never breed in that pack again (even if transferred away and back) unless it was their position to do so after being made the breeding male, but they would still be able to breed in other packs- as a main breeding male or not (some men just never truly learn their lesson...) [I think this is a good balance of realism, freedom, and not breaking the game. Might be a hassle for the devs to add some sort of feature that tracks what pack a wolf has been bred in, though..]

7. More breeding males by territory... So maybe every 10 adult slots = +1 breeding male. To keep the stud pool down, only one could be put up for stud, with a sorta long cooldown for switching out. (Long enough to prevent rapid cycling, but not so long that it's basically not worth it to plan for another stud until your first one dies. Maybe 20 RO?) [Seems pretty reasonable and balanced to me, and while it's not fancy I think it's still a freeing enough.]

REGARDLESS OF HOW OTHER MALES BREEDING WOULD BE IMPLEMENTED:

I think it would be a good idea for the pups of the main breeding male within a pack (not stud babies) to get a small survival boost, as a pack would be more likely to work together to raise the pups of the main breeding male (/breeding pair, in the wild.) In the wild, occasionally males will run around breeding everywhere, or other pairs in the pack will breed, but these pups don't get the same care from the whole pack as the breeding pair's do. Therefore, pups of other males would have a penalty to their survival. And/or, perhaps they only get half protection from sitters... This could be played with, but I think would help balance the game. 

Additionally, perhaps a male that is not the main breeding male is taken out of work for a the day he's out there hopping on the good foot and doing the bad thing. He'll regen energy as usual, but similar to nesting he's just... Very busy not doing his job. He could also only breed one lady a day this way; he has to focus on impressing this lady, and that'll take aaaaall day. Hope this would add some balance as well.

Thoughts? I might make my own thread for some of these, but since this one seems like an open forum I thought it might be good to see what sticks first.

I would support the suggestion of secondary males being able to breed, only within the pack and with a single slot either weekly or (preferably to me) monthly. I feel like this gives them a little more use, and gives lore-based packs a bit more flexibility, but doesn't negate the "breeding male" mechanic completely. Also helps up puppy value (hopefully) since people will start wanting, if not an equal number male and female wolves, then at least more males than they have currently. 

I also like red's suggestion of the breeding male's pups within the pack having a higher survival chance than the secondary male's. I don't know if this should necessarily be a boost to the breeding male's pups though, rather it could be a penalty to the secondary male's. Though, if it is a boost, it would also make sense to apply it to pups of the lead wolf, if they are not the same wolf... Wouldn't want them to stack though, just a singular boost if either or both parents are lead/breeding male. Dunno which option I like more... 

Hmm yeah, definitely feel like lead pups would need a boost if breeding male pups do... So maybe it's just the penalty to the survival of pups from non-breeding males. Because otherwise, a largest pup in a litter born from a breeding male and a lead female in spring would have, like, 85% survival from birth, lol. Maybe that's too many stacked bonuses.