Home EN General Discussions & Questions

Join the official Goodgame Big Farm Discord today!Join our Big Farm Discord Server


Are you looking for a community of like-minded farmers to discuss your farming experience with? Look no further than the GoodGame Big Farm Discord Server!


Our server is the perfect place to connect with other farmers from around the world. Whether you're looking to chat about strategy, share tips and tricks, or just make new friends, our community has got you covered.


And that's not all - as a member of our Discord server, you'll also have access to exclusive giveaways and other special events. It's the perfect way to stay up to date on all the latest news and updates from GoodGame Studios.


So what are you waiting for? Join the GoodGame Big Farm Discord Server today and start connecting with fellow farmers from all over the world. Just click here to join the fun!

horse farm confusion

24

Comments

  • edited 27.12.2014
    I too like the horse ranch BUT i do think as the horse ranch is a permanent fixture it should have a dedicated permanent farm you can build up and get the horse shoes you require to advance your horse breeding, building up the island and the viking farms to do this is just not practical and it is also very expensive which will put off a LOT of players from even doing the horses,the horse farm is quickly becoming an elite players thing and it should be for all players,
  • RunsWivScissors (GB1)RunsWivScissors (GB1) GB1 Posts: 6,633
    edited 27.12.2014
    I too like the horse ranch BUT i do think as the horse ranch is a permanent fixture it should have a dedicated permanent farm you can build up and get the horse shoes you require to advance your horse breeding, building up the island and the viking farms to do this is just not practical and it is also very expensive which will put off a LOT of players from even doing the horses,the horse farm is quickly becoming an elite players thing and it should be for all players,

    I agree with most of what you said & I think when we have the whole package the ranch has potential to be a lot of fun. While I like that it is available to everyone above level 30, I don`t think it should necessarily be made easier or cheaper. Everything in BF is geared towards building up your farm over time & as it gets bigger and more profitable, new challenges are added. Just like we have to wait to be able to cope with a 2nd & 3rd farms, I think its right that we need to work up to a level where we can comfortably afford to be able to do the temporary farms. It makes the rewards all the more of an achievement, rather than making them easy so that everyone has them..... Just like any other event really, you wouldn`t expect everyone to start one of the weekly events on specialist farmer level. If we can`t afford to do them, it means we should still be using our cash & building slot to improve our main farms.... Patience, patience patience :thumbsup:
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 27.12.2014
    sableskye wrote: »
    Hi Trippel,

    I for one am enjoying the Horse Ranch. I make no apologies for that. I also am looking forward to any improvements GGS will make to the Horse Ranch relative to the rest of the farms and the game as a whole.

    I'm not confused at this point by the Ranch and look forward to whatever new Task has been set. I've won a gold mining license which I think is great among other things - to me anyway.

    I am running out of horseshoes so I know at some point I will have to start stocking up on them again. I hope GGS makes it easier to collect horseshoes for training.

    I think KISS is a great acronym for Keep It Simple & Sensible

    And yes I am having lots of fun!

    I don't dislike the horses, but when playing a game the player should at least have an idea about what he/she is doing.To build the pyramid to obtain 1 6th generation horse you need to train 62 horses. To train a new horse to level 19, as I understand a higher breeding value gives a higher chance (still just a chance) to obtain a better effect, will take two months. To complete the whole pyramid takes three years.

    What can you do with that horse when it finally reached its top level? My level will probably be close to 300 so there is nothing I need anymore. Competing with other players? I don't feel the urge to enter a pokergame where you can buy the better hand.

    I know that GGS always tells us the best is yet to come and that we've seen nothing yet. The latter is true and promises given over and over again will lose its strength.

    I 'do' the horses when I play the game, if the horses where the best this game had to offer, I would not even been playing this game. I'm still prepared to give it a change, but the promised ' excitement' still has to come.
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 27.12.2014
    Trippel, I do see now you were very confused about my post. I said the key to it all was "patience." I gave no numbers of horses required. I said it was a long term goal. None of these statements indicate I am underestimating anything. Feel free to point out where I did.

    I also see now you entirely misunderstood my point about training to lvl 14. It wasn't to say it should be done in a day (though it could be.) The point of that paragraph was to state how quickly you advance to a certain point with a base horse, and how it slows down after that. Reinforcing the point that breeding your horses and getting faster training is beneficial. The bit about 4000 HSs was just to illustrate that.

    (And if you are training only the one horse, I think that between 2-3 weeks is a far more reasonable guess than one month, to get to 14. You'd only need 25.3 training stars a day to do it in 30 days.

    -Y)
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 27.12.2014
    @Yakoska,

    I do understand that every time you breed a higher generation horse its easier to train. Makes sense, seems logic and therefore easy to comprehend.

    About the patience:
    To get a higher lvl horse you need to breed two horses from the previous level. G6 representing a horse with 6 slots, G5 a horse with 5 slots etc. To breed a G6 horse you need 2 G5 horses, 4 G4, 8 G3, 16 G2, 32 G1 and 64 G0 (new) horses. A stagering total of 127 horses to train (in my previous post i forgot the last generation).
    To train a horse from 0 to lvl 14 takes 24 days, (i did check my horse wich is currently 14 days, 31 stars to go in every training, halfway to reach lvl 13, three days to go and a week to reach lvl 14). But, somewere along the way you will have more horses to train then there are training facilities.
    In my opinion patience is a huge understatement.

    I do understand that breeding two new horses generates a random effect however the value of this affect can go from +1 to +10, a huge difference. Given the time it takes to complete the pyramid, depending on luck is not exactly the kind of thing I'm fond about. Owning a lot of horses its easy to make a mistake in breeding, breeding a G5 horse with a G1 horse will set you back about a year, as far as I know there is no canceling or conformation button.

    Training horses or racing agains NPCs is not exactly rocketscience and even selecting wich effect to drop after breeding doesnt seem that hard (not sure, not that far yet). For now, the low input from the player in the proces combined with the huge amount of time it takes, its about just as much fun as the mine. That being said, maybe I'll change my opinion if I'm futher 'down the road'.
  • djgreeneyes (US1)djgreeneyes (US1) Posts: 1,766
    edited 27.12.2014
    Trippel, I know I'm a neophyte at this horse-farm thing, but I have a 3rd generation horse right now. I've trained 4 horses to get her and am now training her and her future mate. She is level 40 now (started at level 26). Each next generation horse starts out at a higher level and trains faster. I just don't understand where you get the number of horses and the time frames you are describing. My facilities are level 5 and my stable has 3 stalls so far.
  • AftonGuestAftonGuest Posts: 1
    edited 27.12.2014
    how do you get Animals? :)

    hi um... how do you get animals?

    Edit by PINJO: merged posts, please use edit button
  • djgreeneyes (US1)djgreeneyes (US1) Posts: 1,766
    edited 27.12.2014
    Alton, you continue to play the game and level up and then you will be able to get to the horses. You can start with your chickens, pigs, etc. on your Main Farm. Happy farming!
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 28.12.2014
    Trippel, I agree patience may be an understatement. Which is why I mentioned it several times. :)

    The one thing many generations will do (Other than test many people's patience, including mine!) is lessen the effects of random breeding effect. You get to choose from the Parent's Effects, as well as get a random new one. After so many generations, and breeding most of the Breeding effects chosen to carry over will be pretty high.

    -Y
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 28.12.2014
    Trippel, I know I'm a neophyte at this horse-farm thing, but I have a 3rd generation horse right now. I've trained 4 horses to get her and am now training her and her future mate. She is level 40 now (started at level 26). Each next generation horse starts out at a higher level and trains faster. I just don't understand where you get the number of horses and the time frames you are describing. My facilities are level 5 and my stable has 3 stalls so far.

    You trained 4 new horses to get 2 second generation horses, you trained 2 second generation horses to get the third generation. To get a 5th generation you will first have to 'make' another 4th generation, doing the same thing al over again. To get a 6th generation you will nee another 5th generation, etc. Every step up, doubles the number of horses to get there.

    ''G6 representing a horse with 6 slots, G5 a horse with 5 slots etc. To breed a G6 horse you need 2 G5 horses, 4 G4, 8 G3, 16 G2, 32 G1 and 64 G0 (new) horses. A stagering total of 127 horses to train (in my previous post i forgot the last generation).'' You can check the numbers yourself.

    Timeframe is based on minimal use of horseshoes, spending 20 shoes gives a +5 bonus and spending 4000 shoes gives the same bonus, so i decided to make full use of the upgrades. My stable is lvl 2 so there is no need to hurry.
    As soon I get the golden shoes to do the upgrade I will speed up the training so this new hors will cache up with the second horse. Since the horsefarm is still under construction, nobody knows what to expect but the second upgrade saved me a lot of shoes because I didn't rush the training.

    My decision how to play the horsefarm is based on my math, not on my experience. Its not my intension to dictate other players how to play the game, the choice is theirs. I only want to share the math.
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 28.12.2014
    Trippel:

    One misconception you seem to have is that a horse with 6 slots is bred from two horses with 5 slots.

    "Depending on the average breeding value of parent horses, different amounts of breeding effect slots are created for their child.
    Foal breeding value 10 or higher: first slot is created
    Foal breeding value 20 or higher: second slot is created
    Foal breeding value 35 or higher: third slot is created
    Foal breeding value 50 or higher: fourth slot is created
    Foal breeding value 70 or higher: fifth slot is created
    Foal breeding value 90 or higher: sixth slot is created"

    To me this reads, that the parents have to average a breed value of 90, and one of them has to have 5 slots. Another piece of math to back this up... there is no way to breed two '5th generation' horses by your definition, with only 6 stables. You end up having a horse with 5 slots, a horse with 4 slots, a horse with 3 slots, a horse with 2 slots, a horse with 1 slot, and a new horse with 0 slots. And no way to improve any by the method you say.

    Thus the fewest horses (not necessarily the least amount of time) is this:

    You breed two horses with 0 slots, trained to value 10. You get a horse with 1 slot. You train him to value 25. You have a new horse with 0 slots, trained to value 15. Their foal will have 2 slots. Then you train that foal, and the new one, until they average 35. etc. I requires 2 horses to start, and 1 additional horse per level. Thus, 2 make 1, 3 make 2, etc up to 7 makes 6.

    This may get REALLY slow with just two horses at a time, training wise (Which is why you have a chance to add more horses and improve training speeds.

    Now that I have just figured this out... lol. Time to completely change my training/breeding regimen!

    -Y

    Edit> I am not actually sure that you even need 1 horse to have 5 breeding slots to make a horse with 6 breeding slots. It may well be that two horses with 0 breeding effects, that average 20 Breeding value or more, may produce a foal with 2 (or more) random breeding benefits. In which case, you only need 2 horses... if you have the patience to train them at the worst horseshoe to training stars ratio all the way up.
  • ArtmakerArtmaker Posts: 415
    edited 28.12.2014
    reading through all this,

    there is patience, and then there is futility. I keep trying to play the horses. I still have no idea if partially training (slide the bar over as far as I can afford) does anything or not.
    I have no clue why I can compete with a horse with a lower level and still lose more often then I win.
    (Hence naming my horses nag.....)

    I do like the viking island. At least it's something new and different. But dang! It's taking FOREVER just to get through chapter 2. And taking even longer to afford to buy seeds. Really sucking the fun out of this.

    So... for me, the nag farm of horses can just sit there. It's not worth the frustration trying to figure out what SHOULD BE SIMPLE!!!!!! Breed one with another and you get three. Not an inferior replacement. What is the point in breeding at all then?

    GG really needs to put manuals IN THE GAME somewhere. I'm in three coops and I can tell you the confusion level is high from people who never visit (a few don't even know about) forums.

    Oh well. Only when I'm waiting to harvest something do I bother trying to race a nag. If they win great. IF not so what. click click.... move on.
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 28.12.2014
    Well if you read all the threads on this, you know the foal, while possibly inferior in abilities to one of the parents, is far easier to train. Fewer horseshoes will get you more training, making it better in the long run. Sort of a one step back to take two forward kind of a deal. If you want to ensure no backwards steps, you can spend your time instead making both parents identical. Though this may end up taking even longer. I haven't done the math. In either case, the foal will have the same, or better breeding effects and quality as the best parent.

    -Y
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 28.12.2014
    @Yakoska,

    I know you need 7 slots in the stable to complete the pyramid I suscribed. But the stable has 7 levels, Seems logic that there will be 7 slots at level 7.

    I know you can skip a chance to breed but will there be a benefit in doing so?
    Two new horse, trained to level 10, breeding to create a next generation and training this horse to lvl 20 or skip the breeding and train it till it reaches lvl 20. You use one horse less, but wich way is faster , cheaper in training?

    I used a new horse in the example, but the same counts for skipping a chance to breed at any given level.
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 28.12.2014
    Yep, I understand. My point wasn't about which was better, just that you could use fewer horses. :)

    I personally have been very lazy with my training/breeding. Kinda doing it by feel. I have adopted a more numeric approach now, we'll see if it helps. lol

    -Y

    Edit> Duh, yes, the level 7 says there are 7 stalls. Smacking my forehead.
  • lancia (US1)lancia (US1) Posts: 2
    edited 29.12.2014
    ya I am in the same boat. However if you wait until they are level 10. So the heart is at a 10 on both horses it gives you a bonus. But I wouldn't have bread before this if I would have known. I email technical support and never heard back as I never read that you would loose your original horses. You would think you would keep them and just get a new baby horse with the bonus.
  • Latten (DE1)Latten (DE1) Posts: 6,246
    edited 29.12.2014
    The horse stable is quite an elaborate new feature, and more options will come soon. I am sure there will be some overhaul of the menu design and maybe more tipps and hints to help new users a bit better.
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 29.12.2014
    ''Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes... but no plans.''
    Peter Drucker
  • bankerbanker Posts: 3
    edited 29.12.2014
    thanks for the info you highlighted regarding losing the parent horse when breeding. however I do not see "why?" this is deemed necessary. will that be explained later? Regards banker.?(
  • Jiesta (NL1)Jiesta (NL1) Posts: 6,557
    edited 29.12.2014
    “Some people spend their time so focused on the negativity they become negative”
    ― Alcurtis Turner
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 29.12.2014
    ''For some people truth is a virtue, only fools thrive on empty promises''
    Trippel.

    “If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.”
    ― Gordon A. Eadie
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 29.12.2014
    Banker: Probably not going to get an explanation. Some options include:

    1) They want people to be able to breed horses with only 2 stable slots.
    2) They also might want to avoid this: Horse A and B have two foals, C and D. Is breeding C and D really a good idea?
    3) Throw into the mix also, that the the Horse farm (when its finished) is intended to be a long term project.

    So their solution to 1 and 2 above, also helps make things longer. Adding to 3. There are probably other reasons as well, but I doubt they will share them.

    -Y
  • MrsSGBrownUserMrsSGBrownUser Posts: 84
    edited 29.12.2014
    I was just wondering what the training facilities level number has to do with anything. What got me so frustrated by losing my very high level horse in the breeding process was that it is taking so long to get a horse that can win races and competitions again. [again I am like one user who said I can't stand that I can't beat that darned dressage horse that is much lower in number but has been beating me for months and with no idea why it is like the game is rigged for that crooked character Leroy to win no matter what] but I am only at level 4 facilities just shy of enough gold horseshoes to level up one training area when this breeding thing happened. Had I known what would have happened I would just continued with my original horse and bided my time and waited until we could have 3 horses. That way I could have bought a second horse for ten horseshoes, trained it up and bred that one with the new comer and got the new foal and still had my very high level still winning horse and be building up my facilities. Going backwards makes no sense. We should be keeping the good stock plus a new foal with a + from it's parents and continuing like that, gradually adding more horses and training them. And instead of each of the consecutive foals being good at everything they should be specialized. That would make more sense. Have a horse that is fantastic at racing, one that is great at dressage, one that is terrific at jumping. That is the real world of raising horses. Horses were never meant to be good at all 3 that is incredibly rare. And it is a waste of horseshoes training them all to be that way. Let us just say I am not making that mistake again. I will not lose a very high value horse again that wins competitions. Though I agree with again another user, this new island almost makes it impossible to get any horseshoes. I about bankrupted myself to get level 1 done on it and it is not worth it. You can't win enough currency to buy enough seeds for horseshoes. I will just do the minimum like I do on the other island now. I have learned my lesson.
  • Trippel (NL1)Trippel (NL1) Posts: 299
    edited 29.12.2014
    The level of the training facilities is not directly linked to the breeding proces. It does give a 'bonus' when you train your horses. Especially when you train with minimum shoes, this bonus is a great help. Paying for two stars, recieving 7.
  • UserDIgger2UserDIgger2 Posts: 62
    edited 29.12.2014
    All way too confusing. Just ignoring the whole horse farm for the time being. IF the nag wins a race fine. If not who cares?
  • Gambit8Gambit8 Posts: 42
    edited 30.12.2014
    Hello all, I'm a new player that just started a few days ago. I see a lot of discussion about this feature, which I've come to realise is a very new addition to the game, so I thought I might weigh in with my experience so far!

    Please note that this is a new player's perspective, and I may be incorrect about many things. I still don't fully understand the feature yet. My opinion only reflects my limited experience with it so far, but I hope it proves useful in some way.

    The first thing I noticed is that there does not seem to be a long-term 'point' to training/competing horses. Everything uses horseshoes, you train with horseshoes, and your reward is more horseshoes to upgrade the training facilities. So my immediate impression is that this feature is very much disconnected from the rest of my farm operations. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. One the one hand, there seems to be no point to participate if the rewards do not benefit my 'main' operations. On the other hand, there is no impact if I do badly-- it simply makes no difference. There's no reason to play this feature if I don't want to, I don't stand to gain or lose anything either way.

    Having said this, as a new player with a very young farm, there is no barrier to entry. I was able to start training and competing horses immediately when the feature became available to me, because I did not require high-level goods or a strong economy. Again, not sure if this is good or bad, BUT, since the horses give me no tangible rewards, it does not unbalance my gameplay experience by giving me any sort of advantage on my main farm.

    With regards to how the feature is presented and explained, I have mixed feelings. I am someone who researches a lot about a game and reads all of the tips/guides I can find to help me along. So I received a lot of very useful information from the forum, even before this feature opened for me. However, taking the ingame presentation by itself, I find a few things confusing and unclear.

    First of all, there are so many different 'buildings' that make up the horse ranch, I feel it could benefit by being more centralised. There's no real reason for the Riding Circle, Riding Arena and Show Jumping Course to be seperate buildings-- they all lead to the same screen, just different tabs of it. What's more, those tabs say "Strength Training", "Agility Training" and "Endurance Training" without making any reference to the name of the building I originally clicked (i.e. the Riding Circle). When I am in this screen, I frequently forget which building corresponds to which statistic, and I have to exit the screen and mouse-over the building to find out.

    The second thing that confused me was the Training Points. I took a screenshot to help explain my point with this:

    Attachment not found.

    Where you see the 'Strength' training bar, it says "0 more" if I train this horse for 60 horseshoes right now. If this is correct, shouldn't the statistic display 4 stars, not 3? If there are 0 more stars needed, does that not mean I've given it enough horseshoes to level up? I still don't know. This forces me to train for 80 horseshoes, just so I can be sure my horse will have 4 stars once the training is done-- otherwise I've potentially just wasted four hours of my time for no gain.

    I'm also confused as to why the training 'stars' drop on the ground after training is complete. Is this necessary?

    Clicking the "Max Amount" button simply moves the slider up to 4000 horseshoes. I don't have 4000 horseshoes, so this button would be more useful if it raised the bar to the max amount of horseshoes I currently possess (236 according to the screenshot).

    Regarding the competitions, I was initially scared to click the 'Skip' button once I'd entered a race. In every other instance in BigFarm so far, "Skip" = "Spend Gold". This label should be renamed to something a little less daunting!

    That's all the feedback I have so far. In summary, I think this is a fun little side-activity which appears to be entirely opt-in and it doesn't matter if you play it or not. It has no impact on the rest of the game. There are some confusing bits, and there are some improvements that can be made. However, largely, I enjoy the feature and will continue to play it, even if it's pointless. :)
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 30.12.2014
    Gambit, nice post. Yes, the horse farm, aside from being mildly entertaining to those of us (all who bother to try) trying to figure it out, has no point yet (Aside from sidebar tasks, which do give some nice prizes... seaweed, gold mining licenses, etc.). As you noted its a new feature and the final meaning has yet to be announced. There have been hints, such as races against other players.... and if you combine that with the hints about new Co-op challenges... one possibility is that winning races will, in the future benefit your Co-op. But no one really knows.

    The "0 more stars", "max amount" and "skip" comments you made, I think are good ones, and might deserve a repeat post in the "Suggestions" folder of the forum.

    Welcome to Big Farm.

    -Y
  • Myriame fMyriame f Posts: 1
    edited 31.12.2014
    Horses, wow i breed this horse to lose it. i put lots in to it for what, it doesn't give me gold,money or experience points, what's the point. I see I'm not the only one, i saw a message from the management, in november. Come guys
  • Yakoska (US1)Yakoska (US1) Posts: 1,631
    edited 31.12.2014
    It gives you a better horse. Not immediately, but long term as the horse trains faster.

    I never seem to get tired of posting that...

    -Y
  • ArtmakerArtmaker Posts: 415
    edited 03.01.2015
    I can't even GET one of those side bar tasks. Train in three areas. I have three farms and no matter how much I train, I can't get all three. When I look at my horse in the stable it seems to have a HIGHER number than needed. Yet the task never gets finished.

    I compete and compete. Sometimes I win. Most times I don't. And that makes no sense either since the level of training for each horse is on the screen. Mine is higher and yet it looses.

    I gave up on the breeding since you have to start over. Starting over might not be bad if I had a clue what I was doing or why bother doing it?


    GOD I wish they would figure this crap out before unrolling it to the world. Now someone in my coop is all upset because her well trained horse just vanished after breeding it. Clearly this person does not sift through countless forum posts about this. Just assumed breed horse A with horse B you would end up with THREE horses.
    But no. That would be logical and make sense. Polar opposite of how this game is programed.

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file