User:Benzrf/Crossbreeding

In ATITD, a plants genome is not a sequence of base pairs, though that should have been fairly obvious. No, it's a sequence of colors instead. Here's a table of them (shamelessly filched from Genetics for Dummies):

Gene Color	Abbreviation	Used In	Not Used In
Black	K	All Plants
Red	R	All plants
Orange	O	All plants
Yellow	Y	All plants
Green	G	All plants
Blue	U	Orchids, Rose of Ra, Sand Blooms, Sea Lilies	Flax, Grape Vines, Wheat
Indigo	I	Orchids, Rose of Ra, Sand Blooms, Sea Lilies	Flax, Grape Vines, Wheat
Violet	V	Sea Lilies	Flax, Grape Vines, Orchids, Rose of Ra, Sand Blooms, Wheat

If a certain sequence of genes (called a "phenome") appears in a plant's genome, it will influence the plant when it's grown.. For example, testing has shown that for every OR (orange red) that appears in a flax plant's genome, it will need one less weeding than the default (which, incidentally, is five, not two). Flower Genome Theories and Flax Genome Theories have lists of identified phenomes.

To crossbreed a pair of plants, you place a seed (or vine cutting, or bulb, or etc.) on the right splint of a greenhouse and another seed on the left splint. Then you make sure you have a drop of Nut's Essence in your inventory, and click the button. Vóila! There-a you a-go.

What's that? You want to know where that new seed came from? Well, it's pretty simple. Say the plant on the right splint has a genome thusly: BGYIOR and the one on the left has VVIUGGGYGG. Add together the length of each (5 + 10 = 15) and divide by two. It's a fraction? Roundup. So ya get 8. The new seed's genome is 8 long. The four on the left come from the four on the left in the plant on the left splint ->VVIU|YIOR<- The four on the right come from the four on the right in the plant on the right splint.

There's actually only about a 50% chance that the new plant will have a genome of VVIUYIOR. Another quarter of the time, one of the genes to the left and the right of the splice point will be blown up, and in the last quarter, one of them will be doubled. To sum up:

50%: VVIUYIOR
12.5%: VVIYIOR
12.5%: VVIUIOR
12.5%: VVIUUYIOR
12.5%: VVIUYYIOR

So far, I've covered almost every topic besides mutagens. Mutagens, contrary to what you may have thought (at least, I thought this), are not added to a crossbreeding to alter what happens. Instead, they're used as a standalone operation. To use a mutagen, you have to first have a seed on both splints (doesn't have to be the same one on left and right). You then choose which one (mutagen) you want to use. The mutagen will pick one gene from the plant on the left splint, and one gene from the plant on the left splint. Then it'll swap them. You'll get two seeds back: 1 will be the plant on the left splint with the new gene, and the other vice versa with the right splint. Example:

LEFT: VVIUGGGYGG
RIGHT: BGYIOR

Apply the mutagen:

NEW SEED ONE: VVIUYGGYGG
NEW SEED TWO: BGGIOR

Make more sense now?

The genes that the mutagen targets are not random, or at least, not entirely. It depends on the recipe used to make the mutagen. Each mutagen recipe has two stats, usually called m% and n%. This is how you figure out which genes will be hit once you know m% and n% for a mutagen (see Mutagen Tables for Genome Builds):

1. Add one to the length of the genome of the plant on the left splint (for example, length of VVIUGGGYGG = 10, plus 1 = 11). 2. Multiply by m% (say, 11 * 12% = 1.32). 3. Round down. (1.0, or 1). 4. Add 1 (2).

This is the lower end of the range. For the higher end:

1. Add one to the length of the genome of the plant on the left splint (for example, length of VVIUGGGYGG = 10, plus 1 = 11). 2. Multiply by m% (say, 11 * 12% = 1.32). 3. Round UP. (2.0, or 2). 4. Don't add 1 (2).

The lower end is 2, and the upper end is 2 (if the genome were longer, they might be different numbers). So the gene selected in the left splint is #2. To find the one in the right splint, do the same, but use n% instead of m%.

And that's the end of my guide. Good luck crossbreeding!