Storm Sphynx- 9-9-2014

[55lee55]

Lee,

By no means are you a beginner or an under achiever. Despite having some ultra rares, when I visited your island I was super jealous of your Pegasus Airforce and Sphinx, which for the life of me I couldn't breed. (My latest attempt got me the much hated ferret lol).

I started playing this game when most people were already level 20+. I spent hrs on strategy, calculating habitat efficiency and creature earning rates. I fed my creatures to a good food to earning ratio, focused on increasing habitats then upgrading them for higher capacity ones.

You can either chose to focus your time on the haves vs have nots debate or you can see that your island is already doing exceptionally well and focus on being king of a number of areas: earning capacity, unique animals, expansion, higher evolutions, best island layout etc.

E.g. I've been focusing on increasing earning rates & upgrading habitat capacity. Now I'm shifting focus to get more unique animals.

Final thing, your Storm Sphinx is the highest earning super rare creature in the game at 1/3 the earning capability of a Uni/emerald and probably costs a lot less in food.

You are in a great position.

Oh, I am in a great position redfoxytail! But I have no idea how this breeding thing works. I don't play DS, and have asked Sand to explain the breeding thing to me and finally gave up on understanding and simply followed Sand's instructions. My method of breeding has nothing to do with calculating earning rates or such because to me that is a language I don't speak. I concentrate on what I do best, which is redecorate my Forest and collect often so that I can keep expanding. Oh, and I spend money.

I am still asking questions similar to those asked below by Crr008. It worked for me, but until I read zenobia's melting pot explanation, I had no idea how breading two Beagles resulted in a Sphinx. I am a copycat! I wouldn't know where to start doing as you did to figure out which habitats to buy. I bought the cheapest, for the most part, then tried to make things fit

I leave the earnings calculations to the experts and take advice from those who do understand such things

But I agree I am not an underachiever! I just don't do the calculations. I asked Sand what I needed to breed, which ones to keep, and then I spent a day and a gift card and my good luck breeding Pegs. It wasn't until I had eight of them that Sand explained to me what I had, and I was All right! Awesome! But I didn't plan it that way.

This is why I am so nervous about the widening between the haves and have nots and was hoping the Sphinx was easier to get than the Emerald, which I still don't have, or the Unicorn, that despite uncounted four element breedings I have bred exactly one and consider myself very lucky!

I didn't realize that the Sphinx was that difficult to get, but after reading Sand's explanation it is true that the fails are less varied than in trying for a Unicorn, but in my case luck seems to be the ruling factor along with Sand's advice to keep the Peg fails.

I am still uncertain how I feel about the Sphinx, maybe because it is not as big an earner compared to the Pegs as I had hoped, but it still seems that people are breeding them. I guess that was what I saw as the best aspect of Sphinxi. Some people are at least able to add one to their stable.

I still am relying on the advice of experts. I appreciate that others ask questions before I manage to get to them or I would be asking them all!

I am happy that the critters I find most attractive, the winged ones, are among the highest earners. I have a hard time breeding the land based ones. While others were trying for their Unicorns, I was still looking for my first Plantler along with my Unicorn. Others had whole Forests full of them.

I am happy that TL is increasing the number of animals, and I love the Sphinx. I have given up pipe dreams of an army of them. I think that now that I have reached the max on habitats, I will just sit back and enjoy playing with the awesome group I do have

Congratulations to all who are getting the Sphinx!

[SANDSCApe]

Just to clarify, the "elites" to which I was referring were families of animals; not players. Ultras are in a class by themselves, and outside that class, Electric super-rares are the new elite, just a cut above the Dark supers.

This is why Storm Sphinx is such a big deal. It is the highest earning non-Gem animal. Moreover, since the Electric element is just beginning to develop hybrids, it has the fewest number of possible fails using two elements, compared to breeding other super-rares with a 2-element combo.

Highest earning super with fewest number of different fails? Why - it's hotter than a fresh baked potato! But while there are only 2 possible fails, there are an almost unlimited number of times you can roll one of those fails. So yes, most players will have a hard time with the Sphinx, but I think it SHOULD be that way.

Nearly everybody will get more Thunderhawks than they want or need. A good many should finally get the Beagle if they are persistent or lucky enough. But if just as many players fail to breed Sphinx as those who bag the Sphinx, I think that's the kind of "balance" TL is aiming for. That's the way the odds are slanted, but the beauty of probability is that it leaves room (even the tiniest chink of a chance) for a whole world of unpredictable possibility... and madness!

I probably won't breed a Storm Sphinx anytime this year. But when my 5th Thunderhawk hatches about 8 hours from now and I put my 6th Thunderhawk egg on the nest, then throw the same breeding pair back into the Garden, well... it's probably gonna be another 16-hour dance but then again, IT MAY NOT!

[SANDSCApe]

Just a breeding note to those who are unclear about it, breeding works by pooling the elements of both parents. The resulting offspring will be either a single-element animal or a hybrid -- a breed that draws from the pool.

If the pool has at least 2 distinct elements, a hybrid or composite (like Skyger) will result, if such exists. If no such hybrid exists, a single-element animal will result - a copy of one parent.

So if your pool has only Electric and Nature (from pairs like Leopard-Panda, Thunderhawk-Panda, Thunderhawk-Beagle, Leopard-Thunderhawk, Beagle-Beagle, Sphinx-Leopard...) the result MUST be an Electric-Nature hybrid. WHICH Electric-Nature you get is purely a matter of chance, and it does NOT matter which two animals you use to create the Electric-Nature pool.

Add elements to the pool, and you'll add possibilities to the outcomes. E.g., Thunderhawk-Pony or Glider-Thunderhawk will create a pool of Electric-Nature-Fire. You will get a hybrid that shares two of those elements. ANY two: Electric-Nature, Electric-Fire, or Nature-Fire. You will NOT get Leopard, Panda or Pony. Yes, you can get Storm Sphinx from that; or Fairy Ferret. LOL

Note that this outline of breeding rules is focused on the likely combos for Storm Sphinx and other Electric-Nature hybrids. It does NOT cover the unique behavior of the Gem element or other breeding peculiarities.

[55lee55]

I still don't understand breeding, sorry. So it doesn't make any difference about the rarity of the hybrids themselves that are bred? It just breaks down to the component elements and recombines them according to the rarity assigned to such combinations by TL? It makes no difference what level the animals are or which are chosen first? The only reason to use low level animals for breeding stock is to leave the high earning levels in the habitat, right?

I am still not understanding how an Emerald can be bred. I follow your instructions and was extremely lucky to get so many Pegs from the breeding, but since I have at least one of every animal but the elusive Emerald Dragon, am I correct that unless I want a lot of long rate fails in the hope of continued luck to get Pegs, I am better once or twice a day tying up my Unicorn and breeding it directly with the Panda, sort of like buying a lottery ticket once a week, not expecting to win, but using the if you don't play you can't win attitude?

But for the Sphinx, is it really special enough to be Elite and Sand, I am dense, I know, but I don't understand the Elite branding you have given the Sphinx. It is good that it is somewhat higher earning than other hybrids, but is the increase really significant? The earning is not something like double all other Hybrids as I was hoping when I got my egg early. To me that would have made it super special. It is not earning as I was hoping, say twice what my Pegs earn.

So Sand, could you explain to me (yes I know I ask two or three times to get it, sorry) what makes the Sphinx Elite? Is it the slightly higher earning than the Pegs and the Ox? Or is there something special in the breeding that sets it to breed with future Elites that will produce a different group of hybrids? Sorry, I think I may still not understand this breeding thing. I may always need instructions to breed X with Y to eventually get Z with Q as a possible good fail.

But Sand I see plenty of people with a Sphinx already, many more than the number who got the Unicorn or the Emerald once the glitches were fixed by TL. Are you giving up already? I got Thunderhawks, but I got Beagles and even sold some before I got my Sphinx egg. I know you do the calculations I can't do, but are the chances of getting the Sphinx really that low? You have the high earners. Is that why you don't expect to get the Sphinx until next year, because you don't choose to try because you don't need to? Or is it because the odds are so low you aren't going to bother? Sorry for asking what to most people must sound like stupid questions, but I don't understand where the Sphinx fits in the scheme of the animals we have so far.

Is your Elite branding based on today's calculations, or is it something you expect to see in the future, a group of animals in a different class, the Elite, than the Elements and the Jewel based animals? Sorry for asking several different ways, but I am trying to get my mind around this adorable new animal, and where it fits in the what to me is magic of breeding.

Will the Sphinx be a special animal to breed with? It seems that it shouldn't, but then lots of things seem one way to me and they turn out to be different. I won't have a better chance of getting an Emerald if I breed the Sphinx with my Unicorn, right? But will I have a better chance if I mate my Unicorn and Panda maybe twice a day for a year to get my Emerald? Advice? Sorry for being so dense.

I still like the Sphinx. Does anyone have any ideas of what to expect next? More Electric Hybrids? Or is the Sphinx the top of the heap?

[zenobia42]

I still like the Sphinx. Does anyone have any ideas of what to expect next? More Electric Hybrids? Or is the Sphinx the top of the heap?

On 8/28 they released the electric and the 2 electric-fire hybrids (common & rare)
On 9/5, the electric-nature common & rares, followed by this super-rare sphinx on 9/9.
Going by that pattern, they'll release 3 electric-something else hybrids in the next week -2 or 3 tomorrow and maybe 1 later. I'm guessing earth since it was the third element (with fire and nature) available from the start of the game.
But it may be 4 next week, since I expect they will add a super rare electric-fire soon as well. With the same earnings as the sphinx.

At some point they said one new animal a week.
Clearly it is 3 per week. A rate that almost only those not trying for the unicorn and/or with (nearly) completed albums will be able to keep up with.

[SANDSCApe]

Lee, let me try to answer a few of those questions.

Yes, what makes the Sphinx elite is that it earns more than any non-Gem animal. Not a whole lot more, I guess. But more. We can expect that other Electric supers will earn the same as Sphinx.

Yes, since Emerald is your only missing animal, and your Peggies are making the dough, I think you should enter Panda and Unicorn in the Emerald lottery at least once every day, but preferably more often.

No, Sphinx will not be needed to breed anything special. Its breeding power is the same as a Beagle or Thunderhawk. So let it stay home.

My expectations of future Electric hybrids is as Zenobia described. They will keep adding new hybrids until there is at least one common, rare and super-rare Electric-Fire, Electric-Nature, Electric-Earth, Electric-Water, Electric-Dark, and maybe even an ultra-rare Gem-Electric eventually. We still only have one Gem hybrid, so I expect to see that element developed also, but much more slowly.

No, I haven't given up on breeding Sphinx. I'll be trying again in another hour. But it is only one of 13 breeds that I'm missing, so I may eventually switch to something else for a different flavor of failure. Pessimism leaves a lot of room for pleasant surprises. No worries. Just playing the game.

[zenobia42]

Personally, I would class the Sphinx with the super rare dark hybrids. Their max income of 1,808 is much, much closer to the 1,600 that is max for a Pegasus or other dark super, than it is to the 5,160 that level 15 ultra rares make. I don't see it's income as different enough to call it "elite" or a class above by any name. Something would have to make half what an ultra-rare does instead of 35% vs. 31% to be a significant enough difference in my book to call them elite or any other classification implying it is significantly higher than the dark supers. JMO.

[SANDSCApe]

16 hours again. Here comes another Thunderhawk. This time I abandoned the Emerald-Leopard combo I've been breeding with for nearly 2 weeks, and went with Thunderhawk-Leopard instead. Same stupid fail.

I'm beginning to make sense of Thunderhawk's name. You get so many of them as fails, it sounds like a THUNDERING herd of ostriches! After this, one more try at Storm Sphinx. Maybe the new animal tomorrow will be less stubborn.

[Drachenia]

I have 11 Thunderhawk behind the other, that's not normal breeding with Pandazette / Lightning Leopard and Thunderhawk / Lightning Leopard

[riddledom]

To stay on topic first: was anyone else anoyed that the Sphynx was released after the Beagle and the Hawk? I happened to be lucky and got the two common and rare ones before the Sphynx was released. Then I thought, I would rather have tried for all three at the same time, than have one Super rare "left over".