Nesting is a feature in The Isle that allows a female dinosaur to create a nest and incubate eggs, where players in a server can be invited to. They will hatch as infant dinosaurs of the same species.
Nesting was added to The Isle in Patch 0.1.11.2906.
Description[]
Nesting is a basic mechanic of the game. The default button for creating a nest is B. After being invited, another player will hatch from the egg and starts his/her new life as a juvenile dinosaur.
It does not require any progression points, so it is a popular way to start off as high tier dinosaurs. It is also possible to nest alone.
Who can nest[]
Most of the dinosaurs can nest. Right now, only Velociraptor and Psittacosaurus cannot nest as they are starting at tier dinosaurs, so there isn't a reason to nest in as a baby version. Also, it requires an adult dinosaur to make a nest (listed as capable in their asset profile).
How to Use[]
Key Points[]
B-Key: Creates a Nest (and opens the inventory while you sit on it).
E-Key: Open the Nests inventory/interface.
Destroy: In the Nests inventory/interface is a button or any Dinosaur destroys it through an attack.
Who can nest: Every female adult and subadult dinosaur.
Duration for an egg: 18 minutes (9 minutes for gestating, then 9 minutes for incubating. Requires 0 food in the nest).
Interacting with a nest[]
A player can enter in his/her nest interface by using "E" in front of it, or if you sit on it "B". It's possible to give food to the nest, pressing the "Give Food" button to transfer 25 food from your current dinosaur into the nest. Other players can give food to the nest, too. Everyone can see the nest statistics but only the owner can send invitations.
Making an Egg[]
You need to sit on or near the nest to get egg points. An egg needs 18 minutes to be ready, shown as above. It will not consume resources to appear.
A nest can store 4 eggs at the same time but will be produced one after another. Each additional egg after the first will start 10 minutes after the current egg is fully incubated. It requires 58 minutes in total for a full nest. Eggs do not die when the nest runs out of food.
Hatching the eggs[]
If an egg is ready, the owner of the nest can send an invite to a player in the nested interface. The player selected will receive an invitation. It is possible to accept, refuse, or block nest invitations.
In case the player accepted, they will start as an infant at the location of the nest, no matter where or as what the player was currently playing as. Infant dinosaurs currently seem to have genetic similarities with their parent dinosaurs and carry the same color pattern.
Destroying a nest[]
A nest can be destroyed per button in its inventory or via any dinosaur by attacking it, including others species than the owner. They need to destroy their previous nest and wait 5 minutes before they can build a new nest and gain progression points again. You cannot have two nests at the same time. If a player dies, his/her nest is automatically destroyed. A destroyed nest can have damage marks on it and looks remarkably different from functional nests.
Finding your nest[]
Currently, there are nest markers that exist only for the owner of the nest. They are part of the UI and maybe added later through the scent system.
Behind the Scenes[]
Roadmap:[]
The Nesting mechanic is being added in "Update #4".
Click here to see the development current status of Nesting on the Official The Isle Roadmap
- future nesting
From Punchpacket, 01.01.2019:
With the affinity system in the works, there will be a few incentives to nest. But as it stands for the moment, nesting is still the best way to bring your friends along with you on your journey through The Isle. There isn’t much in the way of buffs or boons we can truly give players for nesting in their friends, due to abuse cases that would arise from that. But we do plan to work something in that won’t be abusable and will make you want to settle down and hatch a few eggs in your lifetime.
- sniff their own nest
From Punchpacket, 15.01.2019:
Players can already scent the eggs inside of a nest at short range. That said, the scent system is still a work in progress, and this is not a bad idea. Unfortunately, with the way the system works currently if we added the ability to smell the nest itself right now then every dinosaur around would be able to scent it out, not just the parents. However, we will be adding back a nest marker for the owning parent in the future so they can easily locate it, alongside other UI additions to convey the nest’s current state better at a glance.