Raising creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved can be one of the most rewarding and time-consuming parts of the game. Maturation, the process where a baby dino grows into an adult, can take several real-life hours or even days depending on the species. This makes it important for players to understand how to speed up maturation in ARK, especially on unofficial servers or in single-player mode where adjustments are possible. Whether you’re breeding for stats, color mutations, or just building a powerful army, knowing how to accelerate dino growth efficiently can make a massive difference to your gameplay experience.
Understanding Maturation in ARK
What Is Maturation?
Maturation is the final stage in the creature breeding cycle in ARK: Survival Evolved. After the incubation or gestation phase, a baby dino is born. From there, it will pass through juvenile and adolescent stages before reaching adulthood. During this time, it must be fed either manually or through a feeding trough, and it will gradually increase in size and health.
Why Speeding Up Maturation Matters
By default, some large dinosaurs like Gigas can take real-world days to fully mature. This can be a heavy time commitment, especially for players with limited playtime. Speeding up maturation allows you to raise more creatures in less time, maintain better breeding cycles, and reduce the risk of losing babies due to food mismanagement or server crashes.
How to Speed Up Maturation on Unofficial Servers
Server Settings You Can Change
If you are playing on a private or unofficial server, you have the ability to alter server configurations to speed up dino maturation. The key setting you need to adjust is:
- BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier Increasing this value will make creatures grow faster. For example, setting it to 5.0 will make babies mature five times faster than the default rate.
This setting is placed in theGame.inifile. Here’s how you can apply it:
[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode] BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=5.0
You can increase this number as high as you want, but keep in mind that too high a value may cause balance issues or result in you missing key imprinting windows.
Adjusting Other Related Settings
In addition to maturation speed, you may also want to tweak other breeding settings:
- BabyCuddleIntervalMultiplier This controls how often a baby needs to be imprinted. Lower values mean more frequent interactions.
- BabyImprintAmountMultiplier Increases the amount of imprint gained per interaction, allowing you to reach 100% faster.
- BabyImprintingStatScaleMultiplier Adjusts how much bonus a fully-imprinted creature gets to its stats.
Adjusting these settings in conjunction with maturation can give you fine control over your breeding process and reduce wasted time.
Speeding Up Maturation in Single-Player Mode
Using the Settings Menu
If you’re playing in single-player, you don’t need to edit game files manually. You can adjust the settings through the in-game menu before starting or loading a world:
- From the main menu, click ‘Host/Local.’
- Navigate to the Advanced Settings tab.
- Look for the ‘Baby Maturation Speed’ slider and move it to the right to increase the rate.
- Start your game, and the settings will apply automatically.
Why This Works Well in Single Player
Single-player mode allows time to pause when you exit the game, which reduces the risk of losing babies if you step away. Combining this with fast maturation settings makes solo breeding viable and much less stressful.
Using Mods to Accelerate Maturation
Popular Mods That Help
For players using the Steam version of ARK, mods can provide additional ways to speed up maturation or automate care. Some useful mods include:
- S+ (Structures Plus) Includes Nanny and Hatchery features to help raise babies automatically.
- Dino Storage v2 Includes the Soul Terminal that can automatically feed and imprint on babies.
These mods don’t change maturation speed directly but greatly reduce the workload associated with raising dinos, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the game.
Strategies for Managing Faster Maturation
Prepare Resources Ahead of Time
With faster maturation, your babies will eat through food more quickly. Be sure to stock up on meat or berries depending on the species. Use preserving bins, fridges, and feeding troughs to keep food available. For carnivores, raw meat and raw prime meat are essential in early stages.
Use Cryopods When Needed
Cryopods allow you to store and pause a baby’s growth. If you need to log off or manage other tasks, cryo them to avoid starvation or imprinting issues. Just remember that imprinting won’t progress while they’re frozen.
Keep a Watchful Eye on Imprinting Timers
Faster maturation also shortens the window for imprinting. If your settings allow babies to mature in just a few minutes or hours, you must be ready to interact with them quickly. Missing an imprint window can permanently reduce the bonuses they get as adults.
Recommended Maturation Settings for Balance
Suggested Values for Medium-Speed Growth
To balance time investment and gameplay challenge, here are some recommended values:
- BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=10.0
- BabyCuddleIntervalMultiplier=0.1
- BabyImprintAmountMultiplier=10.0
These settings allow dinos to mature within 30 minutes to 2 hours for most species while still offering full imprinting opportunities.
Settings for Fast-Paced Servers
If your server is focused on PvP or quick progression, try:
- BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=50.0
- BabyCuddleIntervalMultiplier=0.05
- BabyImprintAmountMultiplier=50.0
This setup makes breeding almost instant for small dinos and manageable for large ones, without sacrificing imprint bonuses.
Learning how to speed up maturation in ARK is essential for players who want to breed creatures efficiently and without stress. Whether you’re tweaking server settings, using mods, or playing in single-player, there are multiple ways to accelerate the process while still enjoying the challenge of raising powerful creatures. Plan your resources, understand the settings, and experiment until you find a pace that fits your playstyle. With the right setup, you’ll be breeding and maturing your dream dinos faster than ever before.