By wood24
On PonyIsland, one of the main things to do is questing. A quest is a great way to earn PG (pony gold- the currency on PI) and sometimes even BP (Bonus Points- when you collect ten, you can make a starter; they are also used to buy pixies, which feed and vet your ponies). While it seems many PI users prefer training quests, another option is breeding quests. A breeding quest is just that, a quest to breed, often times a very specific color or range of colors; these colors are either for the body color of a pony, the hair color of a pony, or the eye color of a pony.
To complete a quest:
- The pony with the right color(s) must be born in your stables for the quest to be completed
- The pony only needs to be born, not named
- Breed, gender, purity, inbreeding, etc. does not matter; the color(s) is the only thing you need to worry about
To help understand breeding quests, it is first essential to take a look at a pony's profile (this is found if you left-click on the name of your pony). You will see at the top your pony's name, gender, breed, and age. Below this, you will find a section labeled as 'Genetics'. Genetics, in real life, is the study of DNA and how certain sets of genes (called alleles) are passed on to offspring. On PI, the system of genetics is quite simple; the pony's colors are always something between the colors of its parents'.
Take a look at the underlined text. As you can see, this is labeled as the eye color. You can see also the little rectangle that shows what color the pony's eyes are (in this case, a bright green). The underlined numbers are called an RGB (red green blue) code. On computers, colors are a mix of three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Together, they can create any color imaginable. Here is a list of what are considered on PI to be 'pure colors':
| Colour | Code (Comment) |
|---|---|
| White | 255|255|255 (notice that 255 is the highest number. White is a mix of every color, therefore you see that all colors are present in the code) |
| Black | 000|000|000 (000 is, of course, the smallest number. As black is the absence of color, it is represented by 000) |
| Red | 255|000|000 (In the code, the first place stands for the value of red, therefore pure red is completely red and nothing else) |
| Green | 000|255|000 |
| Blue | 000|000|255 |
| Yellow | 255|255|000 (In art, yellow is a primary color, however in the world of TVs and computers, yellow is made by red and green) |
| Magenta | 255|000|255 |
| Cyan | 000|255|255 |
Of course, these are just the basic colors; you will find that there are many, many more color possibilities.
Now that you have a good handle on how colors on PI work, it's time to start your quest. To do this, find the tab on the left of the screen labeled 'Quests'. Click on this. You will then find a drop-down menu that will ask if you want to start a breeding or training quest. Click breeding. Now, you will be asked what level you'd like. These range from newbie to impossible in difficulty. You can choose any you'd like, but it's preferred that you start out on easy quests. You will, however, get more BP and PG for more difficult quests. Here is a list of quests and their rewards:
| Level | Rewards |
|---|---|
| Newbie | 3 000 PG |
| Easy | 4 000 PG |
| Medium | 8 000 PG & 1BP |
| Hard | 15 000 PG & 3BP |
| Extremely Hard | 30 000 PG & 6BP |
| Impossible | 60 000 PG & 10BP |
And, as said before, the difficulty of a quest increases as you choose harder types of quests. Here is a list of what you are usually expected to do for each level of quests:
| Difficulty | Quest |
|---|---|
| Newbie | Breed a pony, any pony |
| Easy | Breed a pony with one hex between the two given; gap between these two is fifty points for each three RGB values |
| Medium | Breed a pony with two hexes between the given ones; gap between both pairs of hexes is still fifty points |
| Hard | Breed a pony with two hexes between the given ones; gap between both pairs of hexes is twenty five points |
| Extremely Hard | Breed a pony with one hex, however this hex must be exact |
| Impossible | Breed a pony with two hexes, both must be exact |
When you have chosen a quest, it will show up on your quest page like this. As you can see, this is an easy quest, and it happens to be for hair color. The hex range, as you can see, is between 175|130|009 and 125|080|059. If you hover your cursor over these RGB codes, you will see what is called a hexidecimal code. This is very similar to an RGB code, however instead of three sets of numbers, hexidecimal (or just 'hex') codes use a set of six numbers or letters (these include: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F). Each pair, as you might have guessed, represents three numbers in an RGB code. Here is a simple chart for converting RGB codes in to hex codes (and vice versa):
| Hex Code | RGB Code |
|---|---|
| 00 | 00 |
| 33 | 51 |
| 66 | 102 |
| 99 | 153 |
| CC | 204 |
| FF | 255 |
So therefore, the hex code for black (remember, this was 000|000|000) would be 000000, and the hex code for white (255|255|255) would be FFFFFF. Red (255|000|000), therefore, would be FF0000.
Now you have the color(s) you need, it's time to search for ponies with these colors. To search for colors, see this page: True Hackers Guide To PI Search
It's best when searching for colors to search for sale ponies (a reminder that ponies must be born in your stables or the quest won't be completed). Sometimes, however, it's difficult or impossible to find the right ponies for sale, in which case it is necessary to borrow a pony who is not for sale (in other words, owned by someone else). Here are a few tips that should help when asking to borrow a pony for a breeding quest.
DON'T:
- Ask for someone's pony; even if it's mixed and inbred, the user may be very fond of the pony
- Use chatspeak when PMing a user; this will set a bad example and show that you don't really care
DO:
- Use very polite manners when asking to borrow a pony; being thoughtful and kind will get you what you want
- Inform the user that it's for a breeding quest
- Ask for a RB (reverse breed); you will likely get a pony who fits your quest requirements, and the user doesn't have to worry about sending a pony to a user they don't know
- Offer to give them one of your ponies (preferably of equal or greater value) as a calateral; this helps to reassure the user that you will keep your promise
- Offer positive feedback if you have any
- Don't forget to thank the user for their effort and time, even if they object; be thankful they took their time to read and answer your PM
