Thor

Lift the veil that has descended on the Nordic worlds by winning points with rides to Asgard, Midgard and Niflheim. Take care when choosing which ride to go on!


When you get to 900 points, the veil is raised and Thor gives you a prize:

1 x Zeus' Lightning Bolt

This horse cannot be sold.

My beautiful trees.

Choose a tree which Blitzen (your divine reindeer-like mare you got from the tutorial) will go get for you immediately and decorate it with the required amount of baubles, hanging ornaments and tinsel strands.

Once the tree is fully decorated, you can choose to retrieve the gift OR make your tree evolve to get a more valuable gift.

If you retrieve the gift, the tree is added to your Forest.

If you make your tree evolve you have to add more decorations. When that part is complete, then you can choose to make your tree evolve or retrieve the gift, and so on until you reach the highest level of the tree (level 3 for normal trees, level 4 for those with divines).

Note: if you choose to take your tree to the next level, you don’t get the gift.

There are 5 divines to win, at the end of 5 different trees: I love you, Sequoia, Tangaroa, Taranis and Thor, a new Nordic divine.


Trees

Each tree has:


3 or 4 levels

a required amount of Skills from Blitzen to be unlocked

Each tree level has:


A required amount of each decoration

A gift that can be chosen when full

A certain amount of skill given to Blitzen with the gift if chosen (skills will be equally added to the different skills of the horse)

At the beginning, there are 2 tree slots and a 3rd one when the community goal is reached (decorate X number of trees). You cannot decorate more trees than that at the same time. You can’t go back once you have chosen and started to decorate a tree. (Also you can’t see how many decorations a tree requires before choosing it.)



Decorations


There are Baubles, Hanging Ornaments and Tinsel Strands.

How to get decorations:


with Blitzen :
give her a candy cane so she’ll give you decorations on the next day.

Win a Skijöring competition (1x/day)

Go on a sleigh ride (1x/day)


by opening Advent Calendar Windows

buy them with passes (permanent offers & weekend packs)

with UFOs during the first weekend (not sure if they will be activated on the preprod)

Tree decoration:


Each tree requires a specific number of each decoration (the colors don’t matter, only the type of decoration).

You decorate the tree by drag-and-dropping the decorations where you want (there are no specific spots anymore).

It is also possible to “skip” the current decoration level by using the button to automatically decorate the tree by paying X pass(es). When doing so, no additional decorations are placed on the tree, but the level is instantly completed. Also, if player already placed decorations on tree before activating auto-complete they are NOT placed back in inventory but lost in the process.



Blitzen
Blitzen is a divine mare looking a bit like a reindeer. Everyone gets her after completing the tutorial.

She’s the one who retrieves your Christmas trees. Her skills increase every time you get a gift from a tree. Some trees require higher skills than others (especially the divine ones) which is why you can’t go get the divine tree immediately.

During the contest you can:

give her Candy cane so she’ll give you decorations on the next day

participate in Skijöring competitions (if you win, you get decorations 1x/day)

go on a sleigh ride (1x/day you get decorations)

She’ll stay on the player’s game after the contest ends, but won’t bring any bonuses.

Howrse DE 10th birthday!


To celebrate the 10th birthday of the German version, there will be a new edition of the Candle search contest we had for FR and COM’s birthday. It works exactly the same, will be on all servers, lasts 24 hours, with a Vintage Apple as a jackpot.


Concept


Players take part in an event in which they must find all 10 candles hidden throughout the game. Clues will help them find the candles. Those who find all 10 candles win a Vintage Apple.

Advent Calendar


The graphics have changed but the principle remains the same as last year: every day from December 1 to 24 players open one window of the advent calendar and receive presents. The “day” is counted from maintenance time to maintenance time. You can open a window for a previous day by paying Equus.

There is a slight chance to win a divine horse on each Sunday (the divines aren’t the same as last year).

10th birthday of the German server?

thor looks lovely
anyone know what promo he'll be in?

This is part of the Christmas promo. It is all combined as part of the Avent calendar.

Christmas tack.
Saddle cloth

Ear bonnet

Polos wraps

First off the Christmas Packs:





No idea about Loki's perk but he will be obtainable via packs. And maybe the griffing pet?

And as you can see, the falabella they get will have no wings but a horn instead.
Looks to me like Owlient won't introduce a "new" falabella but "re-introduces" the old ones again, just as unicorns instead of pegasi.

Also: Tenth birthday is the 03.12.2017

Already got Taranis, Tangaroa, Sequoia, and "I love you". Blitzen probably isn't impressive if we all get a divine for free without doing anything. Unless your information is wrong and we keep it only for the promo and have to get another one from decorating.

So would only be Thor.. Not too eager on him. Got enough divines who give me a bolt once an eternity. No need for another one.

So aiming for TC, VA and Harmony Packs

After doing the tutorial Blitzen helps you do Skijöring competitions that will get you tree decorations. Howrse decided that they will just let you keep him. So he is useful during the promo. For those that complain they get no divine because they don't spend passes, well here is one free.

Divine Hippogriff. Noticed it in Olympus and Ultimate pack icons

a Divine -companion- if anything, to add to the Griffon and Phoenix we currently have...

TEENY PACK - £30
20 passes
The Falabella unicorn Chiquitin
500,000 Equus
100 x Ageing point

LUCKY DAY PACK - £50
10 passes
A Divine Loki
2 months VIP account
4 x Titan's Challenge
4 x Golden Fleece
4 x Horn of Plenties

OLYMPUS PACK - £80
80 passes
A divine mythological horse of your choice.
A divine Greyfell
A Hippogriff companion
1,000,000 Equus
200 x Ageing point

ULTIMATE PACK - £150
110 passes
A divine mythological horse of your choice.
A divine Greyfell
The Falabella Unicorn Chiquitin
A divine Loki
A Hippogriff companion
2 months VIP account
4 x Titan's Challenge
4 x Golden Fleece
4 x Horn of Plenties
1,500,000 Equus
300 x Ageing point

All you need to do to get it is the promo tutorial. It will help you get decorations during the promo and after it will remain with you.

Nowadays the points are
130 training, 40 age, and 30 wins.

The new distribution will be:
80 training, 80 age*, 40 wins*
(* with the last one giving you more than the first)

So the focus will be moved from training a horse to get wins (not the age as one could presume). Someone else made the table for the ageing impact. I am simply so bold to re-format and repost:



Impact of wins as followed: (done after 10 years and bolding hence the intitial 60)

Couldn't test it with TBs (which are 10GP below top at the time they copied the live server) as I took a break in exactly then so I had to use QHs which are 80GP below top.
I‘ve only bred twice for each blup as the horses would have gotten too old afterwards and lose MA and did the test twice. Still no proper database obviously but one can see a trend as I have seemingly gotten both sorts of extrema out of it.



CrimsonVex has posted the old and new percentage GP gain already but I repost it for easiness. Of course this is still sort of beta version and needs more testing but it doesn‘t seem too wrong if I compare it to my test. The calculation is

% GP gain = (( A+100 ) / 200) ^ x

Where A is the average blup of the parents and x the exponent. As CrimsonVex already stated the exponent is something between 1.8 and 2.1. (table was made with x = 2)


Assuming you get the minimum age for a certain blup and blup 100 gives you 1 GP you end up with the following:


However you will see a noticeable difference (18.34% namely) if you do a much lower blup like 30, where you need half the AP of a full blup but getting much less GP per generation than 50%.

The Germans for example only train the horses in their three skills and enter the competitions for skill gains until they reach 30 blup, maybe grabbing a few wins in the process. They don't even bold. According to CrimsonVex‘ table 30 blup gives you 60% the GP of a full blup. Their current gains are 0.06 - 70 blup would mean 0.085 GP gained. The time spent on a 30 blup? About 4 minutes. How long for 70? Personally, around 15-20 minutes, and quite a few people say I‘m a fast blupper.
So, who ends up with more GP? Exactly. Them with 5-6 blups done while I get one done, resulting in 0.3-0.36 GP compared to my 0.085

I didn‘t noticed much difference in time when blupping to 30 or 70 on prepod (and the additional time was mostly checking up and writing down other blups), where as now you can save yourself much time with their tactics. And time is more precious than resources in a race of that sort, at least there.
And I think, exactly that is the purpose of the change. They don‘t want to make 100 the only possible way to blup but rather stop those hideous „mini-blups“ which are common on larger servers. Even if they only do 30, they will need considerably more time and thus slowing down the whole progression. Where as smaller servers who blup currently 70+ won‘t notice much difference, besides being forced to do additional wins if they want to get most of their AP.

Some numbers for 70 blup
Minimum age will be 7 years 4 months with bolded skills and 20 wins.
Minimum amount of wins when bolding and 10 years are 7.

And some for 60 blup
Minimum age will be 6 years 6 months with bolded skills and 20 wins.
Minimum amount of wins when bolding and 10 years are 0.

Judging from the little data I have is that the use of a Chronos’ Timer or a Heel, the ability to change ECs, and the fountain will be almost if not totally pointless if you aim for 70 or more. My Mustang was 7 years and 10 months when I bolded the top three skills and my Nokota was 7 years 6 months. Only advantages were a water trough and a shower.
Obviously only bolded the skills, you can add up another 3 ageings for getting 20 wins unless you plan on getting the wins with the ‘right’ competition which involves all three skills.
A Nyx Pack in conjunction with the appropriate perk however has its usefulness increased as the age gives more points now and removing that is always good. Had no Nyx in my inventory and used up all my passes for Joker Packs so I bolded a TB using CT and a Heel separately (no fountain though) at 3 years 8 months. Again, add up ageings for wins and remove a few if you have a fountain

The mare will end up with 100 blup with the third cover at the latest anyways. With the new system you will want to get all 20 wins as that‘s the fastest way to get blup points. And at least top teams have enough people to fill competitions. Or have access to enough co-accounts. Even if you keep the stallion at 60 blup, the average will go to 80 and thus giving you around 81.00% of the maximum GP gain.

With 6000 AP you would end up with 60 blups at 60 plus 60 with 100, resulting in an average GP gain of 99. If we do the same math with 70 blup instead of 60 we‘ll get 99.8 GP. All 100 blups give you 100 GP, with a variance of 1.00% for 60 and 0.20% for 70 which is statistically insignificant.
Obviously I am not taking into account the continuous decrease of GP gain and the random factor.

So cost-wise it pretty much doesn‘t matter if you‘re going for 60, 70 or 100 blup. Only real advantage when doing 100 blups is that it will be slightly faster than 120 blups. And the fact you need less fillers/competitions. Not to mention the time you need to breed but that‘s a random factor you can‘t calculate a priori, thus I am only talking about the time you need for blupping itself.

I also crunched the gains I got a bit. Judging from that little data I have the random factor seems to be 15% of the absolute gain. Meaning, whatever the exact calculation of the GP gain is, you can add or remove an additional 15% for the actual GP output.
As example we assume a horse would get 10GP at 100 blup:


A more realistic example for „top“ team stock:
My QHs (after 10 covers @100 blup) had a gain of anything between 1.85 and 2.47, resulting in a median of 2.17 (which would be a possible gain of 1.84 - 2.49) and an average of 2.15 with a range of 1.82 - 2.47. Thus the median comes pretty close to the actual results and mostly varies due to rounding.

From what I can see right now it’s up to each team what they want to pursue.
If you are aiming for a steady, continuous gain (or just more GR points for the same GP progression) you are better of with a lower blup (ie. 60)
If you want to use as few fillers/competitions as possible 100 are the way to go.

Looks like an exponent of 2 is relatively close - any suggestions on formula refinement?

Regarding random factor for GP gain, I too found a variance of about 15-20%.

The formula looks pretty good. And I think we both know enough about math to know that such little data isn't enough to get an accurate formula so I would like to stick with yours for now. Especially when my results vary so much. Prepod is closed now otherwise I would have toyed around a bit to get more data. But could do so when the next opens.

Though I would dare to say that, if the exponent is a constant and not 2 it's closer to 2.1 than 1.8 but I think 2 is close enough to get a valid formula. But I really need more data on that. My results for 90 blup for example are almost exact with e as exponent but the rest is way off of that.

so called "Falacorns" (yes that's the official name it seems).
Well, there isn't much known about them to be honest. More or less only the basics for now:
They're not sellable (unlike "regular" Falas) and share the normal divine "traits" as in not ranked, immortal, only one "normal" competition a day etc.

Their perk isn't known yet but as Falabella and Falacorns are labelled under the same 'special horses' tab I guess it will be a similar if not the same thing.

Also: large image of it

Images for the christmas tack:

Without saddle/bridle




with saddle/bridle

1. Return of the Advent Calendar. Works the same as last year mostly. Windows hold either prizes or decorations for the Pine Tree event. On Sundays there is a rare possibility you will find a divine. Je'Taime was possible the first Sunday, not sure the other days yet, or if these will be the divines in the live version. If you miss logging in to open a window you can pay to open it later, which starts at 500e, and I suspect it goes up with each window opened. My guess is that the Calendar will start on Dec. 1, then the Pine trees will open a week or two later.

2. Howrse.De's (German) birthday candle hunt. Works the same as candle hunts we've had for France and INT's birthday. You get clues to find 10 candles and when you get all the candles we get a prize (Vintage Apple). Super easy, and fun, so I won't bother posting the clues which looked to be the same ones as previous hunts. Someone posted the date for this, but I can't remember what it was

3. My Beautiful Pine Trees (main event):
It's quite different than we've had it in previous years. Please make note of the arrows/boxes/highlights etc. I made around important sections.

New divines:
Thor
Thor is one of the Nordic horses.
Lift the veil that has descended on the Nordic worlds by winning points with rides to Asgard, Midgard and Niflheim. Take care when choosing which ride to go on!
When you get to 420 points, the veil is raised and Thor gives you a prize:
eclairzeus 1 x Zeus' Lightning Bolt
This horse cannot be sold.

Loki
We do *not* know his perk yet. Judging by the images of the Xmas packs, we'll have to buy the Packs (costs real money) to get him. He'll likely be released later on in a TC or Fleece or something like the divine from last year, is my guess.

Blitzen
As noted in the Contest spoiler above she is gotten from the Pine Tree tutorial to help us earn decorations. We get to keep her *even after the event ends!!* but she won't have any bonuses. It's unknown at this time if she'll be able to enter regular competitions, or if she'll keep the skills gained from the contest.

Falacorns!
Looks like one of the Xmas Packs will contain a new Falacorn (that name is derived from the new Falabella Special Horses page. We don't have any perks/info for it yet, but it looks like a unicorn Falabella.

Pine Tree prizes:
The prizes probably don't seem like much, but keep in mind we are getting a free divine out of this. The tree and horse statue ornament are decorations to be used in the contest. The red tack items (Noelle) are a new tack set, that are identical to the one Blitzen wears and we'll be able to put those on regular horses.

Every year Howrse offers the Christmas Packs that can be bought with real money. Aside from the images posted we don't yet have details as to this year's price, date release or exact contents.
I'm not sure we were given this info during preprod last year anyway.





The Pine Tree offer:
Decoration Packs for 1 pass= 3 tinsel, 3 baubles, 3 ornaments.
I don't know if we'll be able to buy the divine ornaments (the tree and horse statue things) with passes or if maybe they will be in another pack. We've only been told of the Decoration Pack, but the Potions contest gave us two different packs and I don't remember the second being released on preprod.

Where to start...
Here are the ornament requirements I've collected. Still missing the other divine tree requirements. If you open the images and hit CTRL+scroll with the mouse wheel you can zoom in. Keep in mind it's possible for the requirements to change when this goes live.


If you want any of the divines, I recommend focusing on trees that each level you can complete with one decoration pack (I highlighted those). The blue highlights are more ideal because you only need 2 of each type and the Packs give 3 of each.

To get Thor in particular:
Since you have to first unlock trees by Blitzen gaining skills (you gain skills by decorating trees), focus on the Oriental tree first as each level can be completed with 1 Deco Pack. When you get 90 skills to unlock Bristlecone, work on level 1 only and complete that X times until you get 120 skills to unlock the Love Tree. Complete any or all of the first 3 levels as needed (you can either just do the first level, or go all the way to the A.Tear level if you want as the skills for finishing the Tears level is the same as if you'd completed the first level 3 times anyway) until you get 200 skills to unlock the Plant Tree. You now want to get to the 3rd level (the ornament level) and complete that level 11 times as on preprod at least we need 11 divine ornaments to get Thor. Since the 3rd level gives Blitzen 96 skills along with the ornament, the process of getting the ornaments will give Blitzen enough skills to unlock Thor's tree.

The details are sadly lacking, but since you can see the skill requirements to unlock each tree (that is the number underneath each tree name), along with the skills gained at each prize level and the ornaments required, someone might be able to figure out a better strategy with the info I've provided. But it also depends on if ornament requirements change or if we're able to buy divine ornaments during the contest.