Automatic Breeding in Paddocks

[Neon Blue]

In real life if you put a mare and a stallion in the same paddock, naturally they would breed.
Will this be something in HWO too? I think, because everything else is really realistic, that this would be a really great idea, even if it is optional to players.

Also in real life, a mare would have to be in season to be bred, will this be in the game? (even optional)
thanks

[larissar]

Pasture breeding was a big part of the older version of the game and we'll absolutely include it in this version of the game too.

The long term plan is to include seasons in the game and once we add this in then yes mares will come into heat during the correct seasons however, just as in real life, you will be able to try to encourage your mare to come into heat anytime of the year.

[Argent]

Can horses be injured during pasture/in-hand breeding?

[larissar]

Yes, horses could potentially be injured during any breeding. Injuries could happen during regular turnout, during training, during foal birthing, and during competition.

[Argent]

How many stallions can a mare cover at pasture on HWO? I see 20 +/- 5 is the recommended number irl.

[larissar]

You can have any number of mares in the herd with a stallion but you'll likely only get a couple covered every virtual day. This is something we can adjust as necessary during testing.

[Argent]

And in one virtual day a horse ages one month? A quick Google search for some articles revealed that stallions are left with mares for two cycles (~2 months) and there can be a 90% conception rate. If we apply that to stallions covering ~20 mares at pasture, then each virtual day a stallion should be able to cover about 10 mares.

Stallions bred inhand cover one or two mares a day -- sometimes three for TBs -- and each mare is cover once or twice, so in a 30 day month (or one virtual day) 15 to 30 mares could be bred.

[larissar]

The way we implement it in the game may not be exactly as in real life because we still have to balance out gameplay. There are limits for each player as to how many mares the can have pregnant at once so allowing a player to exceed this limit (which can be increased by learning more skills), could cause issues. Yes it would be an artificial limitation, but we'll make sure to keep everything enjoyable however we implement it.

[Argent]

I imagine a feature could be implement that simply stopped mares from conceiving if the player had already reached their maximum number of pregnancies, as opposed to putting an artificial limit in place that would unequally impact players with higher and lower limits.

[larissar]

That is actually the artificial limit I was referring too.