You can also breed an Imperial with a Faster production trait to do the same thing with a side of extra Royal Jelly. Either conventionally or using the machines and serums.
[q]How to get imperial bees?
- Thread starter Galaxystarr
- Start date
Yep, really depends on your needs. I'm always finding myself with excess wax and not enough honey, but I guess you wouldn't if you're just running Industrious and Imperial most of the time.
Yes and no. Faster production will help (or better yet, Fastest from Aura bees), but each bee species has a base speed at which it produces products which is simply modified by the Speed trait. The Apiarist Database gives you exact numbers: At normal speed, one dripping comb every 1.9 minutes for Majestic, and one every 4.8 minutes for Imperial.
I tend to prefer using the percentages from the bees wiki, because it gives me way more basis
Like imperial giving the comb with 20% chance, where the majestic has a 30% chance.
It also helps to be noted that dripping combs give actually quite few "honey drop" item, the main product from it is the honeydew. When squeezed, it indeed gives honey, and doesn't give propolis as a result.
That is really good for automating the liquid honey production, because you won't clog your machine and don't need anything else, but it also means less propolis, and some people are severely lacking that when starting, depending on their starting species.
There is no perfect route for starting with bees, except the "commons", because it mainly depends on where you settled, and that can make the experience quite a bit different.
But that's also most of the fun for some of us.
Like imperial giving the comb with 20% chance, where the majestic has a 30% chance.
It also helps to be noted that dripping combs give actually quite few "honey drop" item, the main product from it is the honeydew. When squeezed, it indeed gives honey, and doesn't give propolis as a result.
That is really good for automating the liquid honey production, because you won't clog your machine and don't need anything else, but it also means less propolis, and some people are severely lacking that when starting, depending on their starting species.
There is no perfect route for starting with bees, except the "commons", because it mainly depends on where you settled, and that can make the experience quite a bit different.
But that's also most of the fun for some of us.
Once you get imperials, seriously consider building the advanced machines ASAP. Once you can give maximum fertility and shortest lifespan to breeding pairs on a whim, things go a lot faster.
Just thought I'd say my method of breeding bees
The way I started out breeding before genetic machines was to have a "pure" set, and then a "working" set
So, once I managed to breed nobles, I'd breed the noble princess and drones together until they were both homozygous, then I'd breed a stack of drones and then put at least one drone and the princess away in storage.
Then I"d repetitively breed a rocky princess (because you end up with oodles of them) with the stack of drones until that princess is now the species of choice, this time, noble.
I'd then also repeat that for the other species, so then I had two pure sets of each, then I'd cross two, keeping one pair of each species pure. The idea was that if the mutations failed, i didn't also want to lose my bee line along with it. So all I would have to do at that point was breed drones with the rocky's again to make a new pure breeding set if the mutations failed and I contaminated all my working pairs.
The way I started out breeding before genetic machines was to have a "pure" set, and then a "working" set
So, once I managed to breed nobles, I'd breed the noble princess and drones together until they were both homozygous, then I'd breed a stack of drones and then put at least one drone and the princess away in storage.
Then I"d repetitively breed a rocky princess (because you end up with oodles of them) with the stack of drones until that princess is now the species of choice, this time, noble.
I'd then also repeat that for the other species, so then I had two pure sets of each, then I'd cross two, keeping one pair of each species pure. The idea was that if the mutations failed, i didn't also want to lose my bee line along with it. So all I would have to do at that point was breed drones with the rocky's again to make a new pure breeding set if the mutations failed and I contaminated all my working pairs.
That all sounds right, except for this last part - any reason you wouldn't just re-purify your working princess if your mutations failed, rather than use up a new rocky one?
Because I didn't think of it...? Does that count ._.
I feel really silly now..
But in anycase, I still have a rediculous amount of rocky's so the waste doesn't particularly matter for me, but yes; I should have re-purified the working pair..
Once you get the advanced machines, that plan is still the way to go: only, once you start producing drones of the new species, you get a serum for the race and put that onto one of your old princesses and drones. Then breed them until you've got another drone stack.
The benefit to doing this rather then continuing the breeding process until they're pure is that you side-step all the nasty effects (low speed, poor fertility, etc) that inevitably surface with each new species. The princess you mutated can then be purified again with some other drone stack.
The benefit to doing this rather then continuing the breeding process until they're pure is that you side-step all the nasty effects (low speed, poor fertility, etc) that inevitably surface with each new species. The princess you mutated can then be purified again with some other drone stack.
I got 2 imperial drones and a majestic princess. Well i had 2 majestic princesses but i wanted to make a stack of purebread majestic bee so i tried putting a majestic princess and drone in an apiary. Both their inactive's were noble so they ended up noble princess. Now i am afraid to loose another majestic PRINCESS. I am kinda stuck here :/
Edit: Got 1 pure imperial princess and 2 imperial - noble imperial drones. Just a quick update :/
Edit 2: Lost them, they are now noble
Edit: Got 1 pure imperial princess and 2 imperial - noble imperial drones. Just a quick update :/
Edit 2: Lost them, they are now noble
Don't get your hopes up when the princess goes majestic/imperial. Optimism leads to disappointment when the inevitable happens. Having the princess go pure before you get a pure drone is a setback, because it's near inevitable that it won't be pure after the next breeding cycle, and that's a breeding cycle where no mutation is going to happen.
So, expect to keep breeding until you get a pure drone. Put that into storage until the princess goes pure too, then throw away all the other drones you just produced and from then on use that pair. Breed them together until you've got a decent stock of pure drones, then breed an entirely different princess with them over and over until that's pure too. You're then ready to advance to the next mutation.
I know i keep babbling on about this, but this process'll be a lot easier once you can slap max fertility and shortest lifespan onto everything.
So, expect to keep breeding until you get a pure drone. Put that into storage until the princess goes pure too, then throw away all the other drones you just produced and from then on use that pair. Breed them together until you've got a decent stock of pure drones, then breed an entirely different princess with them over and over until that's pure too. You're then ready to advance to the next mutation.
I know i keep babbling on about this, but this process'll be a lot easier once you can slap max fertility and shortest lifespan onto everything.
After trying really hard, i finally got 4x fertile (i don't really know where 4x came from but isn't it awesome ) and fast PURE imperial line YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
) and fast PURE imperial line YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYou got the fertility off the majestic species. Well done! Now for industrious...
It pays to check each species in the bee data bank after using it to mutate a new one. Does it have any further mutations? If not, and if it doesn't produce any resources you're interested in, throw away all the drones (built a gene pool yet?) and breed the princess with some other species until you've stamped that line out of your collection. If it DOES have further mutations, keep one princess and one drone (or one stack of drones, if you've got 'em stacking) - don't fall into the trap of trying to store everything. In this case both noble and majestic bees will be useful later, but not for quite some time.
Now for industrious...It pays to check each species in the bee data bank after using it to mutate a new one. Does it have any further mutations? If not, and if it doesn't produce any resources you're interested in, throw away all the drones (built a gene pool yet?) and breed the princess with some other species until you've stamped that line out of your collection. If it DOES have further mutations, keep one princess and one drone (or one stack of drones, if you've got 'em stacking) - don't fall into the trap of trying to store everything. In this case both noble and majestic bees will be useful later, but not for quite some time.
You got the fertility off the majestic species. Well done!
It pays to check each species in the bee data bank after using it to mutate a new one. Does it have any further mutations? If not, and if it doesn't produce any resources you're interested in, throw away all the drones (built a gene pool yet?) and breed the princess with some other species until you've stamped that line out of your collection. If it DOES have further mutations, keep one princess and one drone (or one stack of drones, if you've got 'em stacking) - don't fall into the trap of trying to store everything. In this case both noble and majestic bees will be useful later, but not for quite some time.
I think a better way of storing them is to get a vial of every single species serum and just keep a stock of princesses and drones on hand to innoculate, because there's quite a few times that I have decided I didn't want a species, and then later figured out that they for example produce a high amount of bee's wax, so I brought them back into my collection through the serum
and for the sake of completion, I've been keeping one of every trait, so that if somebody requests bees from me, I can recreate the bee with its native traits.