Raising Young

## Summary

Raising young is undoubtedly the primary and fastest way to gain points in Web Earth Online. In any life, raising as much young as possible should be one of the player's top priorities right under staying alive. This page will go over all the aspects of having young and raising them.

## Mating

Before an animal can have children they must be mature and wait until their mating season. Around the very end of the season, an egg icon will appear on the animal's Advanced View to signal that mating season has begun, and females will be ovulating. Each female has a random number of eggs, in which the min/max will depend on the animal. The eggs will be unfertilized, but become fertilized once the player has mated with either an NPC or another player.

Once the player has successfully mated with their partner, the partner will follow them until they enter a nesting location, such as a cliff site, a cave, a den, or a tree hole. Once there the mate will go to the back of the area and do nothing until the player gives birth. In this state they will not move for any reason, even if being attacked.

#### **Nests**

Some animals require that you build a nest before accepting mating proposals due to the fact that some young will die if they don't have a sufficiently built nest to be born in. Any kind of nest will work with every animal, and a nest can be made in any of the nesting sites regardless of which animal you are playing. Nests will be considered owned by a player when the player has added at least one material to it. One nest can have multiple owners, so that multiple players may use the same nest.

Nests will deteriorate after a season or two so it's recommended to build your nest up to at least 200%.

Nests that are exposed to wind, such as tree nest sites, can be blown out of the nesting area if they are not built to at least 100%.

#### **Cross-species Nesting**

NPC Mates will attack any animals entering the nest the player has lead them to, but NPC Mating partners do not need to be lead to the player's nest, and can be lead to any non-main world location such as caves or holes. This allows players of multiple families and species to use the same nest and location without their mates attempting to chase out the other players and their children.

#### **Stat requirements**

Along with requiring a nest, the player will also need to be clean and have full socialization. Though socialization is intended to be with the potential mate, the player can socialize with any animal and succeed with any potential partner as long as the bar has been filled. This means the player might max out their socialization with another player, then go and mate with an NPC while the stat is still full.

## Basic Care

Once the young have been born or hatched from their eggs it's up to the player and their mate, if the player chose to lead them to the den, to feed and clean them regularly. The young of non-mammals will eat the same diet as their parents. The player will need to go out and pick up food and bring it back to their children. Young are unable to clean themselves and require that the parents do it for them.

Children will periodically challenge each other in order to bring up combat skill. If they do this more than the average amount, they will get hungry faster and require more food.

Most meat-eaters are capable of regurgitating food for their young which is much easier and more efficient than picking up and bringing food piece-by-piece.

## Milk

Mammals such as foxes, bison, and rabbits will need to nurse their young until they are old enough to ween. Milk can be difficult to produce, and most players will find their children starving from being unable to produce milk fast enough.

There are some things that are observed to affect milk production.

* Sleep
* Stomach, Fat, and Energy
* Calcium
* Animal's Speed
* Animal's Age

Sleeping constantly while another player or your NPC mate brings you food, bones, and minerals seems to be one of the best ways to go about nursing young. It also helps to pick up and move young that are more hungry than the rest to prioritize nursing them.

(More to be added)