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[Addict]

Theres not too much on the wiki about genetics, and it doesn't cover non-dwarfs from what I see.

Every last one of my dogs, and puppies have the "gigantic" trait, except a single puppy that says "she is very muscular and just gigantic overall".

I started with a single male and female dog. Not hunting, or war, and I trained them at the kennel early on to be war dogs.
I just let them run around and they mostly follow this one dwarf everywhere.

So I'm wondering... were the traits passed down genetically, and if so are these traits of any use? I.E. "gigantic" giving a bonus to "health" more tissues and such. Or possibly more strength it can put behind a bite or charge or something.

[Imp]

When DF2010 came out this topic generated some interest.  Here's a couple of threads, the second one longer than the first and containing some additional useful details, such as a string dump of all the possible combinations of descriptors and a few butchery results from variously sized critters of the same species (posters seemed to prefer testing cows and whales).  There's probably a few other threads on the topic too.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54065.msg1160136#msg1160136

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53429.0

In short, as far as meat production goes, larger sizes and more muscle descriptors seemed to consistently increase meat yield, and increased fat descriptors seemed to reduce meat yield.  Interestingly, nothing seemed to increase or decrease fat yield, that appears flatcoded.

In my observations of play, the fighting ability of warbeasts does not seem greatly affected by their descriptors - but that side of 'genetics' did not appear to be explored in either of these threads, and I've not seen it explored elsewhere.

[Addict]

wow. I read it all.

The sad part is that it was mostly consisting on breeding livestock for food, and focused on meat industry.

I want to capture giant grasshoppers, and breed the strongest of them..... why? because thats epic.
Not sure about giant grasshopper stats, but it sounds fun.

[Imp]

wow. I read it all.

Well, you are "Addict", I am not surprised 

The sad part is that it was mostly consisting on breeding livestock for food, and focused on meat industry.

I want to capture giant grasshoppers, and breed the strongest of them..... why? because thats epic.
Not sure about giant grasshopper stats, but it sounds fun.

Well, this is an opportinity for you to do some ~!science!~ of your own if you'd like, the wriggly iggly kind too it sounds!  Please do be sure to post your results - many will read them and you may find your experiments referenced by others for a long time to come.

[Loud Whispers]

were the traits passed down genetically

In terms of animals, yes. Although Dwarf observation says that the attributes are inherited from both parents and are dulled down to average - whether it be bad or good stats.

[i2amroy]

In my observations of play, the fighting ability of warbeasts does not seem greatly affected by their descriptors - but that side of 'genetics' did not appear to be explored in either of these threads, and I've not seen it explored elsewhere.

Being gigantic or large genetically does have an effect upon combat, its just that it is an extremely small one. This means that in most creatures the small difference in combat caused by a slightly larger size is almost unnoticeable.

As for genetics in animals, I believe that Toady greatly expanded some of the effects of genetics on animals from DF2010 to DFV with the implementation of various animal "breeds" for different areas.

[Addict]

In my observations of play, the fighting ability of warbeasts does not seem greatly affected by their descriptors - but that side of 'genetics' did not appear to be explored in either of these threads, and I've not seen it explored elsewhere.

Being gigantic or large genetically does have an effect upon combat, its just that it is an extremely small one. This means that in most creatures the small difference in combat caused by a slightly larger size is almost unnoticeable.

As for genetics in animals, I believe that Toady greatly expanded some of the effects of genetics on animals from DF2010 to DFV with the implementation of various animal "breeds" for different areas.

Could you link me to this exansion by Toady?

And I've began breeding a few different things. Dogs, and Bobcats mostly. Giant grasshoppers from what I saw in the object testing arena mostly push and grab, and seem little use in a real fight. (a real fight consisting of a kobold or goblin released from a cage in a locked room with the animal in question.)

I'll be keeping track of the animals, their traits, how much damage they deal and recieve from what I put them up against, and the traits of the creatures I put them up against.
Its not an exact science, but as Imp said, it doesn involve a squiggly. : D

[IT 000]

Dogs might be a bad choice because they are small so any damage positive would be very small. A larger animal like giant lions/tigers or bears might be more noticeable.

[Addict]

Dogs might be a bad choice because they are small so any damage positive would be very small. A larger animal like giant lions/tigers or bears might be more noticeable.

good point. Thank you.
Its a good thing I'm in a tropical broadleaf biome. And that I'm not at war with elves..... yet.

[i2amroy]

In my observations of play, the fighting ability of warbeasts does not seem greatly affected by their descriptors - but that side of 'genetics' did not appear to be explored in either of these threads, and I've not seen it explored elsewhere.

Being gigantic or large genetically does have an effect upon combat, its just that it is an extremely small one. This means that in most creatures the small difference in combat caused by a slightly larger size is almost unnoticeable.

As for genetics in animals, I believe that Toady greatly expanded some of the effects of genetics on animals from DF2010 to DFV with the implementation of various animal "breeds" for different areas.

Could you link me to this exansion by Toady?

The easiest way to find reference of it is to go to the main bay12games.com/dwarves page and search for the word "breed". It was mentioned earlier then that elsewhere, probably in the Future of the Fortress thread, but I'm not 100% certain where it was at the moment.

[Addict]

aha! Thank you.

01/12/2009 852. Finished up the inheritence I was working on yesterday. Right now it'll do dominant-recessive stuff with the color variables, and it can also do that with the appearance variables or do averaging. It's pretty simple at this point, but what's there now could be used to, say, breed your dogs toward certain colors and body dimensions, as well as whatever facial features there end up being (though the colors and patterns would be limited to whatever is in the raws). Of course, the process might involve a lot of culls as there aren't a lot of controls on which animals breed.


Creature Improvements
 I.A: Appearance tags for the raws and associated data (beards, color, etc.) (Core92)

Going to continue the ~!Science!~ though
See just how small (or big) of an effect more muscle and such has on combat.