Really worried about illness / puppy survival...

Apologies if this is the wrong board for this, lemme know if I need to move!

So, I've been noticing from guides written by Beta Testers: illness and puppy survival seems like it's going to be pretty rough.

While the guides I have read so far have definitely been helpful (found here and here), I'm really worried that it's going to make a more casual playstyle difficult. I don't mind the idea of an illness and survival mechanic, but going off what Beta Testers have talked about (in conversation and guides), it doesn't seem to leave much wiggle room for casual playstyles.

That said, seeing as how the illness mechanic hasn't kicked in yet, I'm willing to give it a try! I'm just worried that the work I've already put into some of my wolves and pups will have been for nothing.

My best advice would be to stock up on herbs! You'll be able to trade them for herbs later if you need a certain herb. Once the quest line is unlocked Start foraging and crafting herbs. Having everything unlocked and readily available will be a lot easier. In addition make sure you have a den to isolate anyone sick!

A lot of us beta testers speak from a time frame where everything was being adjusted. At the beginning of testing we had a lot illnesses come in and it would spread quickly as a result.

Ye I've got plenty of herbs and I'm working towards getting my den set up, as I said the guides were super helpful; and like, I understand this is Early Access and things might change later, I'm just still a bit worried how it might go over for those who prefer a more casual approach to this sort of game, you know?

Yeah! That is understandable! Hopefully everything works out and is pretty balanced in the long run. Hopefully it'll work out with your playstyle. I plan to play it on the more casual side myself.

I am stocking up on herbs and have a wolf ready to become a herbalist.

I even made a special quarantine cave.

My struggle will be keeping pups alive, I’ll  be gutted if a valuable/ rare puppy dies just because of a dice roll chance.

I actually think it suits a more casual playstyle better than an intense breeding one - less pups to protect/herbs to gather!

Since there's no pup training feature yet, I think what I'm gonna do is one, be really choosy with the wolves I keep/get attached to, and two, invest in the aging crystals and just age up any pups that I really, really don't want to die on me.

I'm guessing there'll be some kind of a buff thing like the hornbill in LD, I just figure it's not in yet. 

I don't think it would really be casual-friendly for many, because in this case you'd almost feel forced to only keep a few. If you wanted to get more there would be higher chances of illness spreading, pup-sitters being spread too thin, etc. Again, I'm willing to give it a shot, but if I'm already worrying this much over what the mechanic will do to my pack and pups, I no longer feel like I'm playing casually.

I certainly hope there is something similar to the hornbill, having things like that would certainly ease my mind.

Agreed  once I can figure out how to make more SC, I’ll be investing in Aging Crystals to save valuable pups. I don’t love the mechanic, but I guess it makes things more interesting play wise .

While it's true that illnesses and pup survival might be a nightmare, it's also true that it just take a bit of planning and good sense to avoid everything turning into a mess.

• Pups survival it's not that difficult if you don't breed all of your female at the same time. Plan the litters to be maybe a couple of days from one another, so you won't find yourself with 10 pups at the same time and not enough free pupsitters.
• Keep your nursing females fed and happy: that will raise your puppies survival bar. And feed and play with your pup daily. That will raise the bar too.
• Choose a pupsitter for those pups you reeeaaaly want to survive. If that puppy is precious for you, you might want to let them have a pupsitter all for themselves. When protecting a single pup, a pupsitter will give them 60% protection that, together with their starting survival rate, will be near 100%
• Be selective: pups are cute. But unless you breed just 1 female at a time, you will need to give up some pups and focus your effort on others. Get rid of potatoes pups or those you don't think will even sell. Have a pupsitter protect max 3-4 pups you want to keep and get another dedicated pupsitter for the one you want to sell

Mass breeding it's a risk in this game, but with just some small smart moves, your pups will survive without problems (I managed to have 23 pups survive at the same times, so it's possible!)

As for illnesses, most common illnesses are not lethal and don't spread. If you don't get rid of your herbs and use the forage and exchange mechanic, you'll be able to craft what you need to heal you pack mates usually the same day they get ill. Check the guides to know what each illnesses do so that you know if you need to cure it right away or if you can take a couple of day without putting your pack in danger.

I can assure you that illnesses can become almost fun if you approach them the right way!