COI: a full breakdown guide with notations [WIP]

[Ealesi]

Hello! Welcome to my nerdy brain portion of how COI works and a guide of sorts for those who want to learn how to lower their coi (or maintain a low COI).

(This is going to be a lengthy topic. For quick answers, see the google doc.)

The main portion of this guide will be going over how to keep a low COI, and how to maintain a low COI.
For many general questions, please review this google doc that goes over most of the generals of COI.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/196h ... sp=sharing

What is COI? Coefficiency of Inbreeding.
COI tells you how inbred your horses are. The more a horse appears in a horse’s pedigree as an ancestor, the more inbred the horse will be. Think of this like the Targaryen Family Tree, except sometimes quite a bit harder to understand. In human history, the Habsburgs famously married and had children with nieces and uncles, having a human inbreeding COI of an average 9%. This lead to numerous health issues as well as fertility issues.

Now that we know what COI is, let's address how to make it work on HWO as the game stands: mostly 100%+ COI stock in the HGP range of 55-72k. How can we fix this? Let us deep dive.

The easy way is to just say "Well, let's breed 0 coi horses to the 100%+ COI horses!"

The problem with that is not all horse breeds are available in the Adoption Center. You can't just go and spent 25 PonyTokens and get any available breed. You are limited to a handful of breeds:

• Arabian
  Belgian
  Caspian
  Forest Horse
  North African Barb
  Przewalski Horse
  Shetland Pony
  Tarpan
  Turkmene

These horse are called Ancient Breeds in HWO. These are the building blocks of all possible breeds on HWO. They can also be bred by themselves without having to play build a breed.

How do you build a breed you ask?

It's complicated. You can't just breed two horses and always expect to get a new breed. It takes weeks to months (depending on how fast you play/move and get turns) to create a complicated breed. Here's some complicated breeds as examples:

• Thoroughbreds
  Auxios
  Bardigiano
  Comtois
  Danube
  Dartmoor
  East Bulgarian

Here's some examples of easier breeds to create:

• Akhal-Teke
  Baladi
  Hucul
  Mongolian
  Kirgiz
  Exmoor

A total list of all breeds can be found here:
https://www.horseworldonline.net/wiki/breeds

How do I make these breeds with a low COI?

That is the million dollar question.
Not really.
It starts with a lot, and I mean a lot, of AC stock. Starting with a already 0 COI stock such as AC Arabians, can be a money and time saver. Make sure to set yourself up for success as it's easier to raise COI, rather than lower it. The more stock of your chosen breed or to make a new breed, the better off you are. It takes a much longer time to lower COI in generations using 100%+ stock with 0% stock (roughly minimum of 20 generations, at a rough math) that it does to raise COI (taking merely one generation to even raise up to 25%).

Keep track of your horses with a name or number system. Example one line of mine to make 0.25% thoroughbreds is all Tortured Poets Department lyrics. Another is superheroes from a bunch of different genres.

All of this to say, yes. It is possible to breed low COI stock.


When does COI become a problem?

Currently? It's not a function in game (4/25/24). Confirmation that it is a possibility has been confirmed by LarrissaR, both on forums and the Chat Room discord:

"Eventually there will be genetics added to the game that can have negative health effects and a high COI will increase the chances of those bad genes being passed on. I just don't want players to think that I'm specifically programming in negative effects at only 40% COI and higher, it's more like a sliding scale. Low is good, high is bad."

What does it mean right now when it's not implemented in game? Well, in short, it's a period to get our houses, and horses, in order. Use this time wisely to find your breed, the one you like best, and keep that COI low. Currently with COI not being the biggest issue, it's great to work with trying genetic positives into your line, however when the >40% sliding scale issues get implemented, that can be a very hard time to have to lower your COI from 100%+ (max 200%).

The one thing you need to be careful of with COI is the plateau area. That comes about in the 80% range. That's about the same time you'll start creating carbon copy horses (horses that seem more identical or closer to being identical than not). If you (maybe WHEN you) get to this point, you can start to weed out all the GOOD genes that push the horses upwards further. So the plateau must be watched for, but if you have a far-sized breeding base, it won't be a problem for awhile.
So, remember to use COI when it fits your needs.

[WIP - updates will include recipe breeding information, and go further in depth on optimization of low COI and how to use your playstyle to maximize efficiency]