A little too fast paced..?

[ElysianBlight]

I've been wanting this game for awhile, and finally stopped talking myself out of spending money   There hasn't been a really good genetics game since Creatures in the 90's, so I have been pretty excited. I do LOVE the variety of combinations possible. 

But after four failed attempts where my tribes ended up with immunity problems..  it seems like the only way I can be "successful" is to constantly pop out babies - each couple has to have at least 10 before I get a male and female with compatible immunity, and by then they have to start right in on the next generation because the originals are old and dying.  

I feel like this doesn't leave me any time to actually work on other genes. I have to take whoever I can get with the right immunity, so there are really slim pickings if I want to select for paw type, etc. 

I've just discovered the console commands so I think that will help me enjoy it a little, but does anyone else feel this way? 

I think if they lived a bit longer... like maybe 3 or even 4 times the lifespan they have now, I could actually put some focus on the genes I want to see expressed. 

[Dinocanid]

I used to have the same problem, but the answer it to just take your time. Don't rush through the days and take time to look at the current genes and the mutation menu. If there's a gene you want, add it to that nicheling as a mutation (or try to breed it in. adding it as a mutation if they have it recessively gives you better chances too)
Your starter nichelings will have different immunity genes, so breed them for a while, but not too much. If you only have 10 food, don't constantly pop out babies or your tribe will starve super fast. Have each baby find food and move them back to the nest if you plan to breed them. Stray nichelings have fresh genes that prevent the double-immunity illness that inevitably happens after so much inbreeding, so invite them in if things are running thin. You can survive on the starter island without inviting in strangers for a short while, but eventually you will need them. However -- this does not mean you should wait for offspring to have completely different genes before breeding them, it will put you in jeopardy. If you have two siblings with, say IJ and JI, you can breed them and there is still a chance that the offspring won't have JJ or II. If you have AB and BC, there's a chance you could get BB, but also a chance you can get AC, which could be vital if C isn't an immunity gene found in most of your nichelings.
Sick nichelings aren't completely a loss though. If you have a AB nicheling and a breed with a sick CC nicheling, then you can get a healthy AC or BC baby.

Basically be sure to take your time to look over your nichelings, and your run will go so much smoother. Don't do what I used to do and slowly panic when sick babies started appearing and starting zooming through trying to fix it.

[Jojo]

What Dinocanid said is already really good.

Just longer lifespans wouldn't help much because then you'd have to many Nichelings who wouldn't die fast enough before you can express the right genes. For gene expression as it is now it is actually quite good.