Ovum
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Ovum
An extracted, unfertilized, human ovum cell stored in a protective capsule. Once fertilized by a male, it becomes an embryo which can then be implanted into a human mother or growth vat.
Acquisition
Ovum items are harvested from live female humans, with a Fertility stat greater than 0%. This is done through the "Extract ovum for IVF" surgery, which requires the Fertility Procedures research. This requires 1x herbal medicine or better. Ovum can be extracted from prisoners.
After extracting an ovum, it will not be possible to extract another for the next 10 days. A pawn's health tab will show how many days it will take before the next ovum can be extracted.
Summary
Ovum items can be fertilized by a controllable, fertile male pawn in order to create an embryo. Select the pawn, and right click on the ovum to start fertilization. This always succeeds if Fertility is greater than 0. Male prisoners cannot fertilize an ovum. The embryo will have genes dependent on who the mother and father are.
Ova do not rot or spoil over time; they only deteriorate when left outside.
Analysis
Embryos are generally superior to natural pregnancy, once growth vats are available. Embryo growth only takes 9 days rather than 18 days for pregnancy. More importantly, natural pregnancy has a small chance to kill the mother. This comes at the cost of increased food uptake (6 nutrition / 9 days vs. 18 days of +30% nutrition), power, and the medicine used to extract the ovum. These costs are usually affordable by the time you can build growth vats in the first place.