What's your Breeding Male/Leader strategy?

Topic name is insufficient, sorry. But the gist of my thoughts are that there are likely a few strategies you can take with your long term choices of breeding male and lead wolf, and I'm curious to see what others are doing or planning to do.

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?

I'm really curious to see how others are going to manage this aspect of the game!! Right now I'm caught in indecision. I don't want my BM and Leader related, because I don't want inbreeding issues. But that will be hard if the BM fathers my Leader's pups, and I choose the new leader from those pups. Maybe I can have the BM father all pups in the pack, but just choose a new heritageless male for BM when the time comes. Tough decisions!! Tell me how you're managing it?

My lead wolf is female and my breeding male is her mate, not open for studding. For lore reasons and to make gameplay more interesting, my lead wolves will follow a matrilineal line and mates will be purchased as pups from other packs. (I want to follow NIB breeding.) I’m also going to start a secondary herbalist line (current breeding male x third member of their throuple) which I would ideally purchase mates for buuuut the current breeding system doesn’t allow that (pbbbt) so I’ll probably use studs, idk.

Edit: I will be breeding my lead wolves when they are five and six, then picking the heir from those two litters based on appearance, sex, and stats. The heir will be trained as a scout until it is time for them to take over. The heir’s mate will also serve as a scout and be purchased based on stats and appearance.

My lead wolf is female and my breeding male is her mate. He's open for studding, but I don't breed him with anyone else in my own pack (he's mostly opened for studding so my girlfriend and I can mess with genetics using both our studs and the other one's female wolves). I have a cave specifically for their offspring and one of them will become my next lead wolf, based on age, stats, and appearance (preferably female, but I've been having a lot of boy litters so far so I'm not making guarantees). My female wolves breed to outside studs. Once I pick my new lead I'll pick them out a mate who is similarly aged and who I like the look of. I've got a spreadsheet that lets me easily check there's no inbreeding going on too.

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?
My BM and Leaders are different, and I plan to keep them that way.

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?
My leader is Female.

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?
I intend to breed her to both, depending on what kind of bases, markings, and stats I am looking for at that specific time, mostly my BM probably though.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?
Maybe sometime in the far future, but not as of right now

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?
Speaking of, I just selected a new BM. I choose them based on lineage. For example, my new BM, Dusk. His father is my past BM, Karma, and his mother is a gen 2 wolf in my pack from a different lineage, but he holds the Akabane surname, which was his father's. When I choose my lead heir, I'll be looking for mainly stats, so I'm trying to level my current gal to 20. 

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?
They will be different lineages. Dusk has Karma's (past BM) lineage and my next heir will have Mazlenitsa's (current lead) lineage respectively

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?
I am breeding my own respectively in their roles. I am doing this because I want my wolves to display how a normal family tree would, with the exception of outcrossing. (Outcrossing is breeding any generation wolf to a generation 1 wolf)

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?
Different wolves and tbh I don't intend on making them the same, at least not for now ^^

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?
My leader is female!

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?
I do intend on breeding all of my females, not just my lead wolf, to my BM. However, I may use outside studs when I wanna incorporate a new gene or fresh blood into my pack. I do intend on keeping inbreeding to a bare minimum, whilst also keeping outside blood at a minimum due to pack lore.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?
Most likely not, but who knows if I'll have changed my mind by then!

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?
Mostly by genes, following my 'oreo pack breeding project' guidelines. I won't be too rigid, but I'll also keep an eye out for stats! I'd also prefer for the new leader to be a descendent of my first leader! As for the BM, I'd most likely prefer them to be of outsider blood ^^

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?
This time I'd rather avoid inbreeding just so that they'd sell better. But whilst inbreeding has no effects on the game, 100% pure lineages won't bother me too much as long as they fit the pack look criteria and have decently good stats!

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?
I'll be breeding them! Due to my pack's lore, heritage plays a huge role in the pack's culture, and I'll be following a 'royal' lineage order, where the one related to the previous alpha with the highest stats or best looks becomes leader. Since the BM and lead role aren't connected like they are in lioden, I won't have to worry too much about my lead wolf's looks as much as I do with the BM. ^^

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?
Different wolves. I don't think my DM will ever be my pack leader.

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?
My lead is female :>

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?
I will either never breed her, or only breed her on her last heat to the best stud I can find. I don't want any of my females to breed with my own BM mainly because of lore reasons. I also hate the idea of a "harem" so all of my females have their own studs they're bred to.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?
Yes. I will probably make a descendant of my lead wolf the next leader. For the next BM, I'll be looking for the rarest, most desirable traits for a stud.

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?
Leader's offspring will become her replacement for lore reasons, my next BM most likely will be bought.

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?
I avoid inbreeding as much as possible!

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?
I will be breeding my own leaders, for BMs - I don't really care. Might buy one, might use one of my pups if he's pretty, might customize one. I personally don't like the idea of BMs lore-wise, since I don't like that my wolf pretty much randomly mates with anyone and that's not really how it works in nature either, so I just have one for profit!

I'm still figuring out my plans about all this, so it's great to see other people's responses!

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?  Right now I don't have a BM at all yet (haven't picked one after the initial quest, since none of my males are that great and I want to take my time with the decision), but I'll pick one of my non-lead males once a nice enough one grows up.  My lead is just a standard newbie 3-marking tier I, he's not very worth breeding - I could customize him, but I'd rather have a stud with special markings. 

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?  My leader is male and I'll probably keep it that way - females sound like a bit of a nuisance with the slowed energy gain while pregnant and the surprise last-minute hunger while nursing.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above? Once my current leader retires, I might make the stud the next leader, if I'm still exploring enough that the leader levels up the fastest.

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?  BM will be whoever's going to give the best puppies (both ones I'll personally like and ones that will sell), leader will probably be the BM unless I come up with a good reason against it.

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding? I don't care about inbreeding at all.

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?  Not sure yet!  I'm not doing a lore lineage or anything, so it all depends on whether the prettiest/best breeder turns out to be one I bought or one I bred. There's likely going to be a bit of customizing added in either way (eyes, opacities, maybe a few markings as needed).  I'm tentatively considering a breeding project, but if I find the right wolf on the TC in the meantime I'm not going to say no.

Oh this is super interesting, I'll definitely be peeking at other people's responses.  For my own: 

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?

Different.  Admittedly, I chose this pretty blindly when I started by making my packleader female right off the bat and therefore completely eliminating the possibility of my breeding male being the packleader, lol. 

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?

Female. 

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?

Both / either, although I only intend to breed her two more times at max, and possibly only one when they're six years old.  In my lore, they are mates, but they're not monogamous (and are in a poly relationship with the pack's herbalist anyway) so I'm pretty indifferent about it.  I'll probably look around for studs to see if any of them line up with what I'd be after in a pup and if not, use my breeding male. 

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?

I'd be fine with a male packleader, and, if so, he'd probably also be my breeding male, but I'm not dead set on it. 

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?

The packleader must be descended from one of my original three founders (my current packleader, my breeding male, and my herbalist), but may be male or female.  If the packleader is male, he will also be the breeding male.  If the packleader is female, the breeding male will be purchased or customized. 

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?

Separate lineages.  I'd like to avoid inbreeding to the extent possible. 

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?

Big shrug.  I'd like to breed my leader heir, but expect to do some customization at least in terms of opacity changes, if not adding / changing markings or more.  I'd be okay with breeding, buying, and/or customizing my breeding male. 

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?

Different!

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?

Female!

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?

Outside studs! I'm using my BM for a specific stat-breeding project (Chasers) so his highest stats will be Spd and Agi. I'm thinking leads need much higher Str/well-rounded stats so they wouldn't be an ideal match statwise.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?

Doubtful!

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?

The BM will come from one of his litters with one of my Chaser girls, the new leader will be a new female from my current leader.

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?

I don't really care all that much about the inbreeding thing, but their lines are unlikely to cross.

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?

Breed them! I want to keep my lead's line in charge, and my BM will have to be from his lines for my breeding project to work.

1. Are your BM and Leaders the same wolf or different wolves?

Will be different, I don't have a BM yet!

2. If they're different wolves, is your leader Male or Female?

Female!

3. If they're different wolves and your leader is Female, do you intend to breed her to your BM or to outside studs? Why or why not?

I will probably breed her to an outside stud, so I can use two of my male hunters as BMs to keep their lines going because.. okay they're NBW and basic as heck but I'm attached? And they'll hopefully have really good stats by the time I want to breed them. And side factor is I do want my lead female's offspring to have more special markings and colors, so I'll need a good stud for that.

4. When the time comes to replace your BM and Leader, will you change any of the above?

It depends. If my lead female's litter has a female, that female pup will be my next lead. If not, I'm stuck with male, and if he's pretty, he'll likely become my BM to continue the line.

5. How will you select your new BM and Leader?

Leader is gonna stay in my current lead's line, and if not for whatever circumstance, her companion's line. My BM will then either be the leader if male, or then just a pretty wolf I've bred or found.

6. Do you want them to be related or completely separate lineages to prevent inbreeding?

Preferably separate, I want to prevent inbreeding. 

7. Are you trying to breed your own BM or Leader heirs, or buy them, or customize them? Can you explain why?

Def gonna try and breed them! Tho I may customize eventually, but I have other GC spending priorities rn. It's just more fun keeping things to my own pack and hard work. I also feel like it's so easy for me to get obsessed with only buying wolves with markings/bases that are considered popular and trying to make profit, but then it gets so overwhelming and I lose any lore connection. I'd rather keep my pack of basic woofs but have a story connection to them, so hopefully I keep on the game longer without getting discouraged.