Two-Mode Realistic Breeding System

@QueenofFrowns, hard same. That said, @red has an incredibly good point -- the mods are trying to balance a LOT of competing interests, and I think they're doing their best.

I think the devs are doing a good job and are very kind to open the Suggestion Boards so early into release. Especially when they already have behind the scene projects they're working on. 

It would not be easy to run any website (let alone two with loud player bases, lol) and I do not envy them. 

@QueenofFrowns, No kidding. The dev team here is honestly amazing.

Should there be any changes to breeding cool downs?

 like mated pairs having a smaller breeding cool down or would it be better to stay the same?

@Zohowler, I think breeding cooldowns would probably stay the same? I hadn't thought about changing them much, tbh. Right now, I think they're balanced so that the female only goes into heat again once her pups are adults, which seems pretty nice and well-balanced to me.

I think the current cool down works well from both a gameplay and realism perspective. I’m pretty happy with the way females are handled, I just think the males need tweaking.

I was with you up until you said a 5% or less survival chance for the non-lead's puppies. Pupsitters lose 1% proficiency on the rollover that puppies age into adols, meaning you can basically never keep a sitter able to give 100% protection without breeding a lot, or buying fodder puppies.

I breed small, 1-2 litters at a time, but I would only be able to potentially protect one litter to 100%, even with a pupsitter per pup? No thanks.

The fact that everything short of 100% means potential puppy death makes the suggested feature 99% redundant in my eyes. If most of the time your entire litter dies anyway, what's the point? Not to mention, with the game being fantasy, I have pack lore and personalities for my wolves that clash with the idea. Having it decided for me that they would just neglect their siblings pups "because realism" is something I can't really put into words right now, but it's not a great feeling.

@VagueShapes, is it just the 5% survival chance that you have issues with? If, say, the starting percentage were at 15%, how would you feel about the rest of the system as it's presented?

That's a large part of my issue, yes. I think if the base survival started with winter penalty levels of survival, got boosted to normal levels in the spring  and had a double winter penalty, then I might like it more.

That said, my other concern is harder to fix. Game-enforced puppy neglect. Because I play my pack as one big extended family, it doesn't make sense for them to have harsh realism-based issues. I'll admit that part of it is deeply personal, which is definitely making it harder for me to see it from a purely mechanical point of view, but I do think anything that severely limits other's gameplay styles would be swapping out one set of problems for another.

It's a very well thought out idea, but considering a lot of the game delves into fantasy, I'm not sure if the pros outweigh the cons for features based heavily off of real life.

What about smaller litters instead of lower survival? It’ll have the same impact of debuffing  casanovas and limiting the puppy market, but won’t have the same negative implications & people won’t get upset about losing pups to fickle RNG.