Hardcore Sheep color crossing/mutations: problem?

[greezoo117]

Hello ! I'd like to know if anyone has tried to get every color with hardcore sheep enabled. I bred at least 100 sheep but I still never get non-natural color. If it's possible in theory... The odds should be really small! Am I unlucky or someone actually got non-natural color while breeding sheeps? Thanks!

[FlowerChild]

Sheep: Gotta breed with them all!

[Foxy Boxes]

Sheep: Gotta breed with them all!

Childhood = Ruined :P

On topic: I'm not entirely sure (last time I tried was exposing a bug so it might of been that), but I have definitely experienced sheep giving birth to sheep of other colours. I think it was two whites giving a black, but if that's possible...

[FlowerChild]

They're exceedingly rare. The idea was to give value to sheep of various colors found in the wild, as once you have a sheep of a certain color, you don't need dyes of that color any longer.

Mutations *do* happen, but they're very rare, and it would take you a very long time to get all the colors starting with just a couple of white sheep.

[Padfoote]

I will say though that it is very possible to get some weird mutations out of two sheep. I managed to get a lime green out of a pair of white sheep, and then a light blue one out of two grey sheep shortly after.

[Gunnerman21]

My friend and I have gotten every color of sheep just from breeding. Yes it is very much possible, it takes large chunk of time from other work.

Although, the sheep only sit in their pens doing absolutely nothing, because we have no need for more wool than we got killing extras...

[devak]

Note that while mutations happen rarely, breeding with new colors quickly leads to other new colors.

IE, two white sheep gave me a dark grey sheep, and breeding it with white rather quickly gave me lightgrey. Similarly, once i got a Lightblue sheep, a blue one was quick to follow and same with a pink one.


breeding them from white sheep only is nigh-impossible, but crossbreeding does it faster. and i bet that through careful analysis, planning and execution, you can get the colors even quicker.

[FlowerChild]

Oh yes, cross-breeding is a big part of the way the system works. I consider that to be a bit different from the random mutations though.

[Gunnerman21]

breeding them from white sheep only is nigh-impossible...

In the world I have now, I started with all white sheep. Now I have only purple, magenta, light blue, and red that are left. It actually didnt take too long either, just keeping them in multiple pens, feeding them whenever i get around to it. I guess I'm just lucky with time or something :P

[Eriottosan]

In the good ol days when I had a computer that would run MC, I remember how happy I was to get a full range of sheep from my starting whites. It was the first time, and possibly the only time, I added anything to the wiki. It is indeed possible, but it's not something you'll get done in one sitting.

EDIT: of course the full spectrum requires cross breeding logic and mutational luck (:

[tom_savage]

Yup, I've done it recently, and currently doing it again. Very possible, just breed lots of sheep, and cross your fingers.

[DaveYanakov]

Just a quick reminder that pink and lime green sheep do occur naturally and can be found as rare mutations. Each of those colours is its own separate branch with child colours.

Good luck!

[FlowerChild]

Just a quick reminder that pink and lime green sheep do occur naturally and can be found as rare mutations. Each of those colours is its own separate branch with child colours.

Good luck!

Baby blue as well actually.

[Project2100]

If i may contribute my experience on the topic, I have done a series of screenshots of my sheep pen over time, starting from white, black, and IIRC dark grey sheep, and then dumping loads (as in, full stacks) of wheat regularly.

Spoiler

Show

28 Sept: The beginning, light grey came easily from dark grey and white


Sept 29th: got a mutated light blue sheep, blue followed suit by crossing it with black; a pink sheep can be seen on the left, which is a mutation too


Sept 30th: red came by mixing pink with black, then another mutation yielded lime green. Things started to get crowdy...


After that, I expanded base and made room for a building in order to separate and contain all colours, this along with ohter ongoing side-projects leads to:

Nov 2nd: green came by combining lime with black, then I realized I could obtain both purple and magenta by playing around with shades of red and blue... a magenta sheep can be spotted on the bottom. Guess what is that stone building about ;)


Nov 4th: Following the hint on wiki about colour-mixing following the RGB model, I successfully bred red and green to get yellow. Oh the colours!


Orange and teal came easily, again by following RGB rules. Brown still eludes me up to date

So yeah, it is possible to get other colours from natural ones, the catch is having lots of wheat, space, and patience

[DaveYanakov]

Last time I went hog wild on sheep mutations I wound up building a sorting machine under the pen that would drop in one sheep at a time to allow me to choose which gates to open and put it into the correct pen. Got pretty tired of sorting even after that and just ended up killing all but two of each colour and herded them manually. The amount of work involved is truly ridiculous and you are far better off hunting down wild mutations. Fortunately brown is a fairly common colour to find naturally.

[ion]

Brown still eludes me up to date

the same i can say in my breeding quest. brown was the sheep that i needed to hunt in the world!
light blue sheep can also naturally spawn.

[Gunnerman21]

Brown is a dark shade of orange, so if you try orange and black that may make brown. I'm pretty sure this is how I got brown, but it was long ago so I don't really remember...

[dawnraider]

A way to make green paint is brown and green, so maybe try that as well.

[Project2100]

Brown is a dark shade of orange, so if you try orange and black that may make brown. I'm pretty sure this is how I got brown, but it was long ago so I don't really remember...

And here comes the frustrating part:

I did some research about RGB and found this site:

http://www.procato.com/color+wheel/?hue=30

which basically states the same thing, so I tried crossing black and orange... after 3 tries yielding black sheep, I just resumed mass breeding in my Technicolor pen, thinking i'd have more chances there.

(Meanwhile, the Sheep Palace's rooms have been filled each with their respective coloured sheep... except brown, obviously)

After a long while with no results, I consulted the related wiki page, and seeing that brown sheep were confirmed as a mutation from whites, in a *mild* fit of rage I've slain all but white sheep, then resumed the placenta production... which is still going now.

Recently I decided to fill the brown room of the sheep "palace" with black and orange again... still nothing. Might attempt darkening red, or even yellow...

Actually, looking back to the spoiler thread and reading this:

Mutations are restricted to specific colors, and are usually fairly subtle. They WILL eventually provide you with all the basic tools you need to get a full range, but selective breeding will be required after that to get exactly what you want.

This along with some interesting results* I got from a prolonged pure white breeding, makes me want to try black-black, black grey, and grey-grey...

*

Spoiler

Show

Using up a full stack of wheat in a white pen seem to always yield a single black *mutation*, whereas the lime green and light blue mutations i got are far much rarer(as in "once in a blue moon"); and I've made sure that only white adults are inside when dropping wheat.... mutation ranges/types?

P.S.: Either way, that sheep pen is now a curse plaguing my base for months... I have 9 powder kegs somewhere in my warehouse, safely disarmed from a desert pyramid, and they shall celebrate the birth of brown sheep. Inside the pen.

[kjbrona]

So I, have been breeding sheep and have achieved a nice range having only started with 3 white and 1 black: white, black, grey, light grey, blue, pink, brown, lime green.

Somehow a wolf spawned inside my base (completely walled and lit), jumped into my sheep breeding pit, and ate them all while I was adding more levels on my mob trap. Literally weeks of breeding down the tubes. So now there is a small sheep condo in my base.

My base is on the edge of a plains and forest biome. I had to travel hundreds of blocks to find any wolves in the first place, so go figure.

[Benanov]

There are two basic strategies to use when you're making colored sheep.

The first is the "shotgun method" - you need to use the law of large numbers to get mutations. If you have a pile of white sheep, just breed them like clockwork every 5 minutes.

Once you get a couple of mutations, pull them aside and breed them. If you're accurate with the clicking, you can breed your colors first and then just go back to the breeding frenzy method with the rest of your stock.

Cull often, otherwise you'll lag yourself to hell. When you get two of a new color, pull one and put it in a backup pen. Some people have 'rainbow pens' for this purpose, and I recommend you build one. You need...16 slots IIRC.

[greezoo117]

oh wow thanks a lot ! It makes me start breeding sheep again. Now that I know this is possible and I have proofs, my motivation is back. I'll try your suggestions (mass breeding then color selection). I guess I'll need more wheat than ever!

[MrPlatypus]

If it helps at all, it took me about 4 rounds of Benanov's "Shotgun Method" before I was able to get a lime green sheep from all white and grey sheep. In total I think it took around two stacks of wheat. Of course, the more sheep you have, the less "rounds" it should take. Good luck on getting those mutations.

On a different note, does anybody have an explanation as to why a 15x15 pin made of stone walls fails to contain a large herd of sheep. When I was doing the method above, every now and then I would find 4 to 5 sheep wondering around outside the pin that they were all bred in. I am guessing that a lag could cause them to lag through the walls. Any ideas?

[Padfoote]

@MrPlatypus

I would make a second pen around the first, since expanding the walls to be 2+ thick will kill sheep. So basically if they glitch out of the first they're trapped in the second at least.

[MrPlatypus]

@MrPlatypus

I would make a second pen around the first, since expanding the walls to be 2+ thick will kill sheep. So basically if they glitch out of the first they're trapped in the second at least.

Ok I will try that. It's just a shame that I have to waste so much space in order for walls to function properly.