All About Eras

What are eras and why do we need them?

Eras break up all the horses in the game into groups of peers. These groups track when the foundations of a line were first created. For example all foundation horses created during a set six month period and all their descendents would make up one era. The higher the era number the more recently the line was founded. In era breeder clubs horses only compete against horses of their own era. That means leaderboard competition is fair and accessible to everyone. Members who have only played for 6 months can compete on an even level with members who have played for 6 years. Having ever changing eras means that starting new lines is more than just fun, they can be competitive as well.

How often do eras change? 

New eras start on June first and December first to coincide with out winter and summer celebration events. 

What era is my horse?

Open up your horse’s page. Just below its age you will see what era that horse belongs to. It will also tell you in the search what era a horse is. All new foundation horses are created as members of the current era. The exception to this is exceptional creates. Exceptionals are created with a 5% bonus to their showing and/or breeding ability. This is roughly equivalent to one generation of good breeding. Since this is an unfair advantage, they receive a one era penalty at the time of creation. 

Should I use exceptionals in my era program?

Exceptional creates are great for jump starting your color leaderboard line but are not the best for era breeding programs. Because of the penalty they will be at best, the same breeding ability as the second gens of the era prior to the current one. At worst, if created just as a new era begins they can be two generations behind. While exceptionals can be used strategically and be a valuable asset to a era leaderboard program (particularly when working towards the 2nd generation points category) it is best to stick to normal creates while you get the hang of eras.

Breeding Eras

Two horses of the same era will always produce a foal of that era. If two horses of different eras are bred they will produce a foal of the era of the lower era parent. For example when breeding two Era 5 horses together the foal will be Era 5. When breeding an Era 1 and an Era 5 horse together the foal will be era 1. 

This is no reason not to cross horses of different eras. There is no penalty. However when breeding for an era leaderboard keeping the era of your lines as high (as recent) as possible will give you the best shot at the leaderboard. A foal from an era 5 horse probably can't compete with a foal from a pure Era 1 line, simply because the Era 1 line has had more time to develop. 

What era are we in now?

You can always see what the current era is by looking at the top right corner of the website next to the game server and year info.

What is the Primary Era?

There is a special era called the Primary Era. The primary era lags two real life years behind the current era. This era is a celebration of the hard work put in by players to produce some spectacular pedigreed horses. By this time herds of this era have obtained star and gold status. We celebrate this achievement by rewarding this era the largest trophies in the game and a significant increase in gene mode token awards, and giving them out through 5th place. 

A primary era trophy compared to a standard trophy.

Boosting, Maxing, and Cloning

• Boost Tokens: When you boost a horse you can push it past the ability possible for a horse of its era. To compensate for that boosting results in a one era penalty. This is applied one time per horse regardless if you add three 1% boosts, or one 5% boost. 
• Max Out Ability: Maxing out a horse makes it the best possible offspring (maximum training, and breeding ability) possible from its two parents. As this can not push a horse past what is possible for that era, it does not change the era of that horse.
• Cloning: When you clone a lined horse the resulting clone will be the same era as the original horse, (since it has the abilities of a horse of that era.) When you clone a foundation it will create a foundation horse of the current era. Boosted and exceptional foundations will result in the clone having the approparete era penalties of any normal create/