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ARK Mating Multipliers: How to Speed Up Breeding on Your Server

Set ARK: Survival Evolved breeding speeds correctly: lower MatingIntervalMultiplier, raise EggHatchSpeedMultiplier and BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier, edit Game.ini, restart safely, and test new breeding timers.
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To speed up breeding in ARK: Survival Evolved, change three values in Game.ini under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]: set MatingIntervalMultiplier below 1 to reduce the wait between mating attempts, and raise EggHatchSpeedMultiplier and BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier above 1 to shorten incubation, gestation and growth. A practical community starting point is MatingIntervalMultiplier=0.250000, EggHatchSpeedMultiplier=10.000000 and BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=10.000000, but these are examples rather than official recommendations.

Stop the server before editing, save a backup, make sure the settings are in Game.ini rather than GameUserSettings.ini, then restart. Existing creatures or an already active breeding cooldown may not change, so test with a newly mated pair before changing every value on a live world.

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What each ARK breeding multiplier changes

The three settings control different stages of the reproduction cycle. They are not interchangeable, and they do not all use the same direction of adjustment.

Setting Life stage affected Default reference How to make it faster Important qualification
MatingIntervalMultiplier Cooldown before a creature can mate again 1 Use a value below 1 Inverse scale: 0.5 is roughly half the normal wait; 0.25 is roughly one quarter.
EggHatchSpeedMultiplier Fertilized-egg incubation and mammal gestation 1 Use a value above 1 2 gives about half the normal duration; 4 gives about one quarter.
BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier Baby growth from birth or hatching to adulthood 1 Use a value above 1 Higher values shorten the growth window and can make imprinting harder to complete.

The directions above are described consistently by the community guides and Steam discussions available for this setting, except for one hosting knowledge-base page that appears to mislabel the mating interval direction. Treat “lower is faster” as the rule for MatingIntervalMultiplier; do not copy a label that says a higher mating-interval value speeds mating without verifying it against a current ARK configuration reference.

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Before you edit: version and access checks

This guide addresses ARK: Survival Evolved server configuration. Search results also contain material for ARK: Survival Ascended, whose configuration and behavior should be checked separately. The available evidence for Evolved is largely from community guides, forum explanations and hosting help pages rather than a currently retrieved Studio Wildcard documentation page, so treat unusual behavior as something to verify on your particular server build.

  • Confirm that you have file access or a control-panel editor for the server’s Game.ini.
  • Record the current values before changing them. If a provider exposes separate configuration fields, identify which field writes to Game.ini.
  • Stop the server before editing. A running server can overwrite the file when it saves, removing your changes.
  • Make a copy of the original file so you can restore a known-good configuration.

Where the multipliers belong

All three lines belong in Game.ini, beneath this exact section header:

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[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]

Do not place them in GameUserSettings.ini. A long-standing wiki listing reportedly showed both files, but the community correction identifies Game.ini as the correct location. If your host has separate tabs for the two files, choose the one labelled Game.ini or “Game mode settings,” not the user-settings file.

Manual file-edit procedure

  1. Stop the ARK server from its panel or service manager and wait until it is fully offline.
  2. Open the server’s Game.ini. Download a copy or duplicate the text before editing.
  3. Find [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]. If the header is missing, add it on its own line.
  4. Add one line for each multiplier. Use plain decimal numbers and do not add spaces inside the setting name.
  5. Save the file, close the editor, and start the server.
  6. After the world loads, create a controlled test with newly eligible creatures rather than assuming an existing cooldown changed.

A complete example is:

[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]
MatingIntervalMultiplier=0.250000
EggHatchSpeedMultiplier=10.000000
BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=10.000000

The values in this block come from a community guide that calls 0.25 a reasonable starting point for a small player-versus-environment group. The guide does not make the block an official preset, and a tenfold hatch or maturation speed may be too fast for a solo player who wants a long care and imprinting routine.

How the mating interval multiplier works

MatingIntervalMultiplier changes the cooldown after a creature has mated. It does not make the mating progress bar fill faster and does not directly alter egg incubation or baby growth.

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Reading the inverse scale

With the default reference of 1, a value of 0.5 produces approximately half the normal wait. A value of 0.25 produces approximately one quarter of the normal wait. In practical terms, lowering the number allows the same pair to become available for another mating sooner. The relationship is approximate because species-specific timers, server state and rounding can affect what you observe.

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  • 1.000000: default reference.
  • 0.500000: roughly 50 percent of the default cooldown.
  • 0.250000: roughly 25 percent of the default cooldown.

Do not set this value high because you want faster mating. A value such as 2 is expected to lengthen the interval, not shorten it.

What it does not change

This setting does not alter the time an egg takes to hatch, the gestation period after a mammal becomes pregnant, or the time a baby takes to mature. Those stages require the other two multipliers. Changing only the mating interval therefore helps a breeding line produce another clutch sooner but leaves each clutch’s incubation and growth schedule unchanged.

How egg hatch and gestation speed work

EggHatchSpeedMultiplier controls the incubation duration of fertilized eggs and is also used for mammal gestation in the commonly cited configuration explanations. It uses a normal scale: higher numbers mean less real time spent waiting.

Examples of the normal scale

At 1, the timer is at its default reference. At 2, incubation takes about half as long; at 4, it takes about one quarter. These are proportional examples, not guarantees of an exact number of minutes for every species or server condition.

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A community explanation of the ARK wiki text uses this relationship, while Dododex’s undated help material lists an official-server egg-hatch reference of 1 and notes that event weekends typically use 2. That event figure is a reference point, not proof that every event or platform uses the same setting.

Choosing a hatch value

  • Use a modest value such as 2 when you want a shorter wait but still want time to prepare a hatchery.
  • Use a larger value such as 4 when the default incubation is impractical for your schedule.
  • Use a value such as 10 only after checking that your server’s food, temperature and handling routines can keep up with the shortened timer.

Increasing hatch speed does not automatically make mating cooldowns or baby growth faster. Set each stage independently.

How baby maturation speed works

BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier controls the time from birth or hatching to adulthood. Like hatch speed, it uses a normal scale: higher values shorten the total growth period. The default reference is 1.

The imprinting trade-off

Baby care requests and imprint opportunities occur during the growth window. If maturation is raised substantially, a baby can reach adulthood before you have enough opportunities to complete 100 percent imprinting. The available guidance flags this as a risk but does not establish one universal imprinting formula for every species and server configuration.

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Before selecting a high value, consider:

  • How often you can return to the server for care requests.
  • Whether the species has a short natural maturation period.
  • Whether your group accepts less than 100 percent imprinting on some lines.
  • Whether you are prepared to adjust related imprint settings after testing, rather than assuming the growth multiplier alone will preserve the old schedule.

For a first pass, raise maturation in stages and observe a newly hatched baby through at least one care cycle. A value of 10 can be convenient for a small group, but it also compresses the time available for imprinting by roughly the same proportional logic as other normal multipliers.

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Choosing a balanced breeding setup

There is no single best preset because the right schedule depends on how often your players are online and whether breeding is intended to be a central activity or an occasional project.

Goal Mating interval Egg hatch Baby maturation What to watch
Keep the default rhythm 1 1 1 Longest waits, but the least disruption to established routines.
Shorten waits without removing the care routine 0.5 2 2 Check that players can still return for food and imprint requests.
Small PvE group starting point cited by a guide 0.25 10 10 Community example only; test imprint timing and server workload.
Focus on frequent mating while retaining normal growth 0.25 1 1 Only the post-mating cooldown changes; eggs and babies remain at default speed.

The table is a planning framework, not a set of guaranteed outcomes. Species timers and your players’ availability should determine the final values.

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Applying changes safely on a live server

Use a controlled test

  1. Write down the old values and the exact time a test pair becomes eligible to mate.
  2. Stop the server, edit the three lines, save, and restart.
  3. Use creatures that have not already entered a mating cooldown for the first test. Reports indicate that some changes do not affect existing creatures, and mating-interval changes may apply only to newly mated creatures.
  4. Observe the new cooldown, an egg or gestation timer, and a baby growth timer separately. One successful observation does not prove that all three settings loaded.
  5. If the result is unchanged, stop the server again and inspect the file path, section header and spelling before increasing any values.

Why a restart matters

Community forum replies report that a restart is needed for edited multipliers to apply. The same discussions warn that editing or overwriting Game.ini while the server is running can cause the running process to save over your changes. Always make the edit while the server is stopped, then restart once the file is saved.

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Troubleshooting by symptom

The mating interval became longer

Check the number first. The mating multiplier is inverse, so replacing 0.25 with 2 increases the wait. Confirm that you did not copy a hosting page’s mislabeled description of the setting.

Eggs and babies are unchanged

Verify that EggHatchSpeedMultiplier and BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier are present under the correct header in Game.ini. Confirm that the server was stopped before saving and restarted afterward. Test with a newly fertilized egg or newly born baby; an existing timer may not recalculate after a configuration change.

The file keeps reverting

Stop the service completely before editing and check whether the control panel regenerates configuration files on startup. Restore the backup, apply the values through the provider’s supported editor if one exists, save, and then start the server. Do not leave a text editor open while the server is running and repeatedly overwrite the same file.

Imprinting finishes too late

If the baby reaches adulthood before the next care request, maturation is probably too fast for your play schedule. Lower BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier and test a fresh baby. Do not assume that raising hatch speed will solve an imprinting problem; hatch speed affects the time before birth, not the post-birth care window.

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A very high value behaves inconsistently

No dependable maximum is established in the available community reports. One forum user described 90 as over a limit, while another reported running 200 successfully. These conflicting anecdotes are not a supported limit. Increase values gradually and keep a rollback copy instead of jumping to an extreme number.

Common configuration mistakes

  • Using the wrong file: the multipliers belong in Game.ini, not GameUserSettings.ini.
  • Reversing the mating direction: lower MatingIntervalMultiplier to shorten the cooldown; raise the hatch and maturation multipliers to speed those stages.
  • Changing only one stage: a faster hatch does not produce a faster-growing baby, and a faster baby does not reduce the mating cooldown.
  • Testing an old timer: changes may not be retroactive. Use a new mating, egg or baby for verification.
  • Skipping the restart: the running server may continue using the old values.
  • Editing during uptime: a save by the server can overwrite your manual edit.
  • Ignoring imprinting: high maturation can remove care opportunities before adulthood.
  • Assuming a universal cap: reported limits conflict, so treat unsupported extreme values as experimental.

A practical rollout checklist

Use this checklist when changing a shared server:

  • Confirm the game edition is ARK: Survival Evolved.
  • Ask all players to finish or pause breeding projects before maintenance.
  • Stop the server and back up the current Game.ini.
  • Place the settings under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode].
  • Choose a lower-than-one mating value and higher-than-one hatch and maturation values only if that matches your goal.
  • Save while the server is offline.
  • Restart and test newly mated creatures, a new fertilized egg or gestation, and a new baby separately.
  • Check one imprint request before committing to a much higher maturation value.
  • Keep the previous file until the new schedule has worked through a complete breeding cycle.

What is and is not established about these settings

The direction of the three multipliers, their placement in Game.ini, and the proportional examples are supported by multiple community explanations. The available material does not provide a current official Studio Wildcard reference, a confirmed universal maximum, or a guarantee that every existing timer recalculates after a change. Reports about non-retroactivity and restart behavior come from forum discussions and should be treated as practical cautions rather than formal platform specifications.

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