Development Forum |
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Making a New Genetic Breed | |
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/24/2018 | |
I'm thinking of making a new C3/DS genetic breed based around my C2 Albian Ant Norns. However, there are a few things I need to consider:
1. How would I go about making a breed where the females can't breed whilst one of their parents is present? (was going to say mother, but I don't think it's possible)
2. Can a breed be genetically modified to pick up food and take it back to said parent AKA the queen norn?
3. Besides the butterfly norns, what other breeds could I use to make the genetic breed more ant-like in appearance?
These are all I can really think of for now, though if any new ideas arise I will post them. |
Peppery One
Papriko
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11/24/2018 | |
I suck at genetics, but for question 1 and 2 those stepmotherly treated neurotransmitters seems to be the way to go. Instead of reacting to fixed stimuli, they detect specific states of the brain, also allowing for more detailed combinations. They can detect family relations too for example. I think e.g. the CFE Family norns use those exact genes to prevent incest. The only problems is that all gen1 creatures ever are considered siblings of all other gen 1ers.
Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/24/2018 | |
A very long time ago I made something similar to this, though I was pretty sloppy with genetics at the time. One method you could use to only allow the "King" and "Queen" Norns to breed is to stunt their aging until a certain trigger has been made, this way the king and queen are also easily distinguished from the rest of the group. For food hoarding instincts, you could perhaps encourage the king and queen to stay at Norn home, then make the workers feel homesick when they pick something up?
As for sprites, i'm tempted to say nonobruin :p
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/24/2018 | |
Thanks for the advice, Dragoler - the aging think actually never crossed my mind. What sort of trigger would you suggest? I'd say when the queen and king die but it might be difficult unless it's linked to the parent pheremone. |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/24/2018 | |
The problem with the parent detecting neuron in the detl lobe is that it only activates when a Creature is looking directly at its parent, not when that parent is within proximity to it. The issue then arises that if a Creature goes long enough without looking at its parents, any chemical assigned to emit from that neuron can run out, which isn't an unlikely scenario when there are a lot of Creatures about in the same area.
One possible solution to this is to start Creatures with a high initial concentration of loneliness, strongly encouraging them to look at whichever Creature is closest at the time - hopefully the mother. That can then generate a chemical within them that doesn't decay and acts as a sort of developmental blocker. Hopefully then when the queen dies she will leave behind some eggs which will hatch without ever seeing her, and these can become fully mature.
A possible way to make sure the queen leaves behind eggs is to not let her die until she lays an egg once reaching an advanced life stage. Perhaps even limit the developmental blocker to only be produced when looking at the queen by involving the detl 7 neuron too (two genes, one for female Creatures one for the males, so it always points towards the female parent)
There are a lot of ways to approach this, though i'm not sure that a perfect solution really exists. Back in the day I just triggered my Norns to mature by giving them a tickle lol
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/24/2018 | |
Perhaps I could delay the aging process by making the queen's female offspring receive a portion of life chemical when they look at her? They'd age and die eventually but whilst the queen is alive they wouldn't age past adolescence.
The problem with the blocker chemical is that it would effectively make the children immportal, something that I wouldn't want. |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/24/2018 | |
Not necessarily, you can still set them to die once the life chemical is depleted just like with energy and ATP.
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/24/2018 | |
The issue I'm thinking is how I would go about making a blocker chemical. How could I make it halt the ageing process? |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/24/2018 | |
The way I can see it working is to set another chemical emitter to activate at adolescence, then set the Creatures to move onto the Youth stage once that chemical has hit a certain threshold. The blocker chemical can be given a simple reaction that removes the adolescent -> youth growth chemical before that threshold can be met. After that all other aging genes can work as normal.
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/25/2018 | |
That makes sense. So the "blocker" chemical is emitted when one of the young females sees one if her parents? Sounds feasible.
As for the males I'm not sure. I could make them the same as the females but then the player would have to hatch additional males from the egg layer to breed with the queen. Of course, that might also encourage players to keep seperate colonies and let the males from one colony travel to the other to mate, much like real life ants. |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/25/2018 | |
Presumably the queen is going to be a fast breeder as that's what real life eusocial insect queens are like, in which case there should be multiple eggs unhatched when she dies with some turning out to be male and some female. It is definitely an *if* though, so multiple colonies would be the safest bet, and most realistic method as you say.
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/25/2018 | |
If I do try the chemical emitter and blocker method, will the children still die of old age like regular norns, or will they stay as adolescents indefinitely? |
Wrong Banshee
Dragoler
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11/25/2018 | |
They will not age, but they will die eventually from losing life chemical if you add the appropriate receptor for it. Think of them as developmentally stunted before reaching sexual maturity (which is realistic for eusocial insects as well).
Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.
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Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/25/2018 | |
This is very confusing.. I have no idea what genes I would to create for the mother's presence to create the blocker chemical. I also have no experience with editing the brain either.
Edit: Hang on, would a neuroemitter be the right choice? |
Scatty
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11/25/2018 | |
For ant-like appearnance what about nano norn sprites? |
Lollipop Lord
C-Rex
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11/25/2018 | |
I'm not a big fan of the nano norns and I don't want the breed to be too small. I've actually already decided on what breeds to use anyway, but thanks for the suggestion! |