Thursday, April 7, 2011

Farmville Sheep Breeding: How to Breed a Masked Sheep


If you have already read my article, How to Breed a Flashing Sheep, you are well on your way to breeding you first Masked sheep.  Since both the Flashing sheep and the Masked sheep are coded the same as sheep colors, they follow a lot of the same rules.  However, some differences exist, so I have provided a summary of the rules that you will need to follow for the best and fastest results when breeding Masked sheep.  The concepts that you need to remember when breeding are gender, color, design, and sequence selection. 

1.     Obtaining a Lamb: Since the origins of the first Masked sheep are still unknown to me and to anyone I’ve ever asked, I cannot tell you how to produce a Masked sheep from scratch.  So the first step to breeding a Masked sheep is to ask one of your Farmville neighbors to send you a Masked lamb. 

2.     Gender Selection:  Before asking a friend for a lamb, you should be aware of the sheep gender differences.  If you want to breed a particular design, it is best to ask your neighbor to send you a boy lamb since the design gene is strongest in the Ram.  However, if you want to breed a particular color, you should ask for a girl lamb with the desired base color.  Since the Mask feature in sheep is coded similar to a color, it is best to ask for a girl lamb.  It is not impossible to get the mask from breeding a Masked Ram, but it is considerably more difficult.

3.     Color: Once you have your first Masked sheep, you are ready to breed it.  If you have an Ewe, you should have no problem breeding Masked sheep.  However, if you do run into difficulty, make sure the Ram you are using has a lighter color.  Since lighter colors are less dominant, you will have better chances of the Masked color being selected in the resulting lamb.  Another note on color is that you will know that you have a masked lamb by the albino or extremely bright appearance of the lamb.  If that sounds confusing now, you will recognize the difference between a regular lamb and a masked lamb when you see one.

4.     Design: When breeding your Masked sheep, always be aware that the design will most likely be the design of the Ram.  So if you have a Masked Ewe and a Camo Ram, it is likely you will get a Camo Masked sheep.  The design does not make a lot of difference when breeding Masked sheep.  However, if you run into any difficulty in breeding, you will have better chances if you use a Ram with the same design of the Masked Ewe and vice versa.  You will also have better chances using no design when coupling with the Masked sheep.  This just simplifies things since different designs are more likely to create mutations or exceptions to the general rules.

5.     Sequence Selection: Finally, one of the most important aspects in breeding a Masked Sheep is the sequence selection when breeding.  If you have a Masked Ewe and a non Masked Ram, you should select the Ewe first and then the Ram.  Selecting the Ewe first favors the Ewe’s color as well as the Ewe’s gender.  This will give you better chances of getting a Masked color in the lamb.  However, if you have a Mask Ram and a non-mask Ewe, breeding may be more difficult, but not impossible.  Be sure to select the Ram first in this instance, which will give preference to the Ram’s color and gender.  If you get another Mask Ram, do not worry; just keep selecting the Ram first until you get a Masked Ewe.

Tips for Breeding a Masked Ram
If you were fortunate enough to get a Masked sheep from one of your friends but you got a Ram instead of an Ewe, you can still get the Masked feature but you will have to work harder to do so.  The first thing you should try is to couple the Masked Ram with an Ewe with light colors or with a white Ewe.  Second, you should select the Ram first.  If you get a non-Masked Ram from this, keep trying but with another sheep.  Once you get a non-Masked Ewe, place that new Ewe in with your Masked Ram.  This may sound like incest, but for the purpose of Farmville sheep breeding, it works nicely since it compounds the DNA and also forces a mutation.  You will be more likely to get another Masked sheep from doing this, and hopefully it will be an Ewe.  Once you get your Masked Ewe, use this instead of the Ram.  Only use the Ram if you want to couple it with a Masked Ewe and have better chances of getting a Masked lamb.

Once you have a good base of Masked sheep, you can start having fun with breeding all of the different possibilities.  Since the Masked feature acts in the same way as a base color, you can make many combinations of designs and base colors to create the most interesting and neat looking sheep.  Remember also that Zynga changes how things work from time to time, so feel free to post a comment if you discover any variations or changes to these rules.

You may also be interested in:

Farmville Sheep Breeding: How to Breed Popping Colors Sheep 

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