Cross-Breeding

Hybrid queens have a chance to produce hybrid offspring, which have a chance to mutate into an entirely new species.

Cross-breeding is one of the main mechanics of the game, and allows the player to discover new species by cross-breeding different bees together.

Based on different critera, there's a chance for the cross-bred offspring to mutate into a new species.

Cross-Breeding

Game Mechanics

Hybrid Bees

When two different species are bred together they form a "Hybrid" Queen. When the Queen comes to the end of her Lifespan she'll produce offspring, which will also have a chance to be hybrids thanks to the ol' Punnett Square!

You can use a Predictor on a Queen to see the breakdown of offspring that she can produce, along with the chances for each offspring. The offspring of a hybrid queen will always have a 50% chance to be a hybrid (hybrid != mutation)

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Mutation

Depending on the two species of the hybrid and environmental factors, the hybrid offspring can mutate into a completely new species.

For example, to get a Verdant Bee, you need to have a Forest-Common offspring produced during the day.

To get some species of bee, the offspring need certain environmental factors like the time of day, or the weather - others need special conditions, like certain traits or nearby objects. The Apiarist's Almanac gives a hint for each undiscovered species on what these conditions are, as well as the two species that need to be cross-bred together.

Dr. Beenjamin BhD will also give you a hints for any undiscovered bees in your book if you ask him for one!

Each species also has a per-species mutation "chance" that is rolled along with the special conditions, on top of the 50% hybrid chance. This per-species mutation chance can be turned off in the Accessibility options, which means Stability is no longer used.