Alright so I've recently been reading up on some of the ideas that other people have for being able to breed your submales. There seems to be A LOT of people who want to be able to breed their submales, but also a lot of concerns with how this would work, and what it would do to stat creep and the cub market.

Personally, I love having a diverse gene pool to breed from, and would love to be able to breed my submales. But I agree with everyone else, there are a lot of things that could go wrong if this was allowed, and I don't think it's reasonable or wise to ask for multiple studs breeding at the same time in the same lair. So I tried to create an idea that would satisfy all sides of the argument while still staying true to what (I think?) the developers want for the game, as well as Liodens theme as a Lion simulation game. So here's my idea, I will try to be concise:

Fight For Leadership Mechanic Implementation

- Mechanic: Players will be able to switch Main Males with one of their subs
- Theme/Flavor: Pride politics are a complex thing, and your male lions are competition for leadership of the Pride!
- How it would all work: Players will have the option to simulate challenge for leadership of their den. If they want to replace their main male with a sub, they can have that sub issue a challenge to the main male. An NPC style battle will take place. If the submale is successful, It becomes the new stud of the pride and the old stud becomes a (very much disgraced) submale. If the sub was unsuccessful, it remains a sub.
- Precautions to balance the difficulty of the mechanic: Fights would be on a one week cooldown. After a lion has earned leadership, it can not be challenged by another male for seven days (Flavor: it has struck fear in the hearts of the pride's males!). If a lion is unsuccessful in it's challenge, it can not challenge again for seven days (Flavor: It must have time to lick it's emotional and physical wounds!). Main Males will suffer an energy decrease each battle. Subs will suffer hunger increase.
- Bonus features: chances to earn scar decors, main males or winners earn experience from the battles

How It would satisfy different Lioden Players:

1. ROLEPLAYERS - They want to have deep den stories and struggles for power within their den. This mechanic has a ton of flavour and opportunity for roleplayers who love to mimic their stories as closely as possible!
2. MARKING BREEDERS - Want a more diverse gene pool to breed from, and a lot of them want to avoid inbreeding. They also have a ton of ideas for cubs that are limited by having only one male to choose from in their den. This gives more meaning to their breeding projects, a wider range of genetics to choose from, the chance to enjoy breeding for vastly different looks, and more value to the male cubs they breed. They also get to be more careful about planning their breeding schedule.
3. STAT BREEDERS, this gives people who loves stats another reason to breed for them and opens up the market for their cubs even more! Especially if the battles that take place are stat based, and earn experience. This is another way to help train your lions and increase their stats.
4. THE MARKET would be diversified by more cubs. It also doesn't have the same issue as having all your subs able to breed at once (Cubs overflowing the market, because with this option, you still only have one stud at once). I predict that it would also INCREASE the value of male cubs, bringing them closer to female cubs in value. People would have a good reason to want nice submales.
5. THEMATICALLY it is congruent with Lioden's lore, and that is awesome!! It adds another layer of gratifying realism to the game, while satisfying the different needs of gamers with varying playstyles.


It sounds like a great idea to me, to be honest. But I'll admit there are probably things that I have not thought of! Please let me know your concerns, I'd love to hear them an discuss with you! Either why or why not you would be interested in this mechanic, or changes that you think might need to be made to it.


EDIT:

Proposed changes
Thematic: Fights for dominance of a pride are an act of ceremony as much as usurption. Defy tradition and you run the risk of losing the Pride’s good opinion. Presenting the dominant male with golden beetles signals your intent to challenge.
Mechanically: Challenges cost 2 Golden Beetles! I still believe that a 7 day cool down would be the best for this price.
Rationale: I’ve chosen 2 golden beetles, which is relatively low, but considering that there is a chance for the sub male to fail, I believe a higher price would leave a very bad taste in players mouths. New mechanics should make gameplay more enjoyable, not less.
So because I wanted a low price, I still think a shorter cool down would be best. Since you are all right, people would pay the 10GB to retire their male much less often. But I think a LOT MORE people would be willing to spend 2GB every 7 days. Possibly even amounting to greater site-wide total GB spending than main male retiring would. I think it is a lot easier (from a psychological standpoint) for customers to spend a smaller amount of GB more frequently than it is to spend a LARGE sum all at once.

My argument is hinging on an assumption that I’m not sure is true or not: That the early retirement fee is one of the sites most often purchased Gold Beetle features, or at least is roughly equal to purchases of other items.