Cell ingestion - the concept behind consumer, autotrophic, phagocytosis and decay

Before I want to start writing, I want to comment on a few things:

  1. I do not write well and it may be that words have gone out of context, so I’m sorry and you can ask me questions.
  2. I may be repeating topics that have been discussed in the past, I link to the ones I found:
Links

pacing and combat - Deus
Revisiting engulfment mechanics
Feedback on Predation

  1. This is my idea and my vision to give a solution to the problem of predators, and also to give some meaning to a field that has been touched relatively little in the forum.

Introduction - What is the current situation, according to my experience

Since version 0.5.8 came out I have tried a lot of trials in all sorts of examples: what would happen if I used different energy sources, what would happen if I played only chemotropic, or metal-autotropic or play as a scavenger at the seabed or play as a super protected phototropic or as an active predator.
After all these attempts, I came to the conclusion: it is much easier to play as an autotrope, and many people who have played it have understood this. It is even listed as part of the methods to thrive quickly. I even tried this one.
But there were rounds I wanted to play more aggressively, to be a predator. But here I ran into a pretty big problem: all the prey was so much faster than me, that almost every time I went to try to be a predator, I went on to produce toxins, and it pretty much destroys the main part that feels what a predator is: the chase, the ambush and the part where you get the satisfaction Absorb your prey into the cell and make it a part of you.
Predatory Pillus also does not help me so much with it colliding with the remains of the floating organelles and making it difficult for me to absorb them.
It pretty much ruins my experience of being a predator.
And let’s not forget the problem that those little prey are much faster than you, no matter how much Flagellum you add.

It pretty much ruins the experience of being a predator as part of your options to succeed, but it’s not impossible. I managed to get multicellular as a predator, but it took me a lot longer compared to when I played as an autotrope, and also the amount of my population was much larger (3K as an autotrope I reached stage A compared to only 237 when I was a predator, in a sense it makes sense, but on the other hand, it Much harder). And even until then, I was playing on the seabed as an omnivore, not a real predator.
This only exacerbates the problem that exists at the moment.
The change to Flagellum in the post version helped a bit, but does not solve the big problem, and here, I want to give maybe a solution that can help solve some, if not all, of this problem.
I may be repeating solutions in the past, I put links related to those at the top of things, I would love for you to read them.

Digestion at different levels

Problem number one from what I felt: “When you manage to catch something, you do not get enough to survive.”
I have noticed that as much as I try to chase some prey, the glucose level I get after I manage to catch it does not pay off for its effort because even if I manage to digest it, I get little compared to the effort I put in.
This is also true when I played as a scavenger.
I’m leaving speed right now because I’m going to talk about it in the next topic, so far I’m focusing on something that is sometimes not addressed: Digestion and Engulf.
As far as I know, there is a version that is being worked on where you can see the cell being digested slowly inside the larger cell, and I like that idea, but I would like to expand more as a solution step:
How fast is it digested? How much does it add? And how much can you digest?
Let’s start slowly:
Why do I ask these questions? Because digestion has a very big impact on how living things get from the food they eat to the environment. The bigger the food, the more nutrients it gets from it, the easier it is.
But what if this food is difficult to digest? Dangerous to digest? Not getting enough nutrients from it?
Predation has a huge advantage over autotropic: “meat” is very easy to digest compared to plant material. It is a soft substance that decomposes quickly, and if an analogy is made to the cells in the game, it means that a large cell that eats will create a small life like a prokaryote, digesting it faster than a cell that has for example cellulose or silica in its membrane. Such membranes can affect the rate of digestion and this is the first step that can be treated or focused on: different membranes are digested at a different rate. The harder the crust, the harder it is to digest and get less nutrients from it relative to the time you are digesting it. In total, cells that have an equal size other than the type of membrane should be equal in terms of the nutrients you get from it.
But if so, does it not give priority to plants, or to build cells with digestive resistance?
This is true, and it can extend the method through a very unusual way of escaping from your predator, but also gives something else: long-term energy production, and the creation of groups that specialize in the digestion of various creatures.
And who is it that will affect this rate of digestion depends on how reality says:
Prokurites and almost all living cells, including in multicellular cells absorb their summons in a way that seems to be pinocytosis (cell drinking), which is true of what is happening right now, and I do not suggest changing it.

What I suggest to change is the following step:
When you get to the point where you add the nucleus to your cell, you automatically open up a new option: Phagocytosis (to eat a cell), where the cell is able to swallow pieces or even small whole creatures right inside the cell, similar to what macrophages do in our immune system and that’s what its staff do. In Thrive try to do it at this link:

I would like to suggest adding this option:
Add an organelle with a new membrane that can help with digestion speed depending on how big the ingested cell is and how hard it is to digest (what organelles it has, what type of membrane it has and the like, I leave that decision to you): the lysosome.
In the game, I imagine he takes one hexagon, needing a little more ATP compared to a similarly large organelle just to survive, but he uses a very important role in digestion:
It shortens how long it takes for the swallowed cell to digest: the more of it there is, the less time it takes to digest or neutralize hazardous substances such as toxins. One for example will take a cell with one membrane and very few organelles to digest in less than half a second compared to something like a small plant with a lot of chloroplasts and a membrane of cellulose that in order to take the same digestion time, need for example (throws number) 4 lysosomes.
It can really affect not only the digestion of an entire cell, but also the organelles: a complex organelle such as mitochondria needs more time to digest compared to, for example, a metabolism, etc.
But the lysosome has another useful role that I want to see: digestive efficiency.
The more of it, the more nutrients you get from it.

It can be really useful as a predator and can also help some of the predators in general and gives them priority over autotropics. But as for why would autotropics also use it as well? Plants have it too, but when it comes to autotropics, I will focus on them in a different topic.
I will currently focus on another topic:

Decay

Another topic worth focusing on is decay. When a cell dies in reality, it does not disintegrate and loses its membrane straight, these are a process that takes time or in case you have a lysosome, apoptosis (intentional cell death). It takes time for it to break down and disperse its nutrients.
And if we translate this into a game, what I see is basically a kind of nerf for non-nuclear cells (acuriots) that can not digest the dead cell straight, these wait for it to break down and release the nutrients, or alternatively, accelerate the duct by releasing toxins or stabbing Him and force the body to release and rupture the membrane.
It’s a locomotive idea that can be interesting in some ways and can also work strangely that cells that are unable to swallow can use in this way to absorb substances from them.
Another point to add is to the chemoreceptor the option to look for rotten corpses can make the field of scavengers more interesting and interesting

Size in relation to the environment affects speed

Something that really annoys predator lovers is that it’s hard to catch them, and I think that’s true, according to my experience. And I here want to offer a solution in accordance with one law in nature that not many look at:

“A living creature adapts according to its environment”

this is a phrase known to everyone here, but another point that they develop is not only the conditions, these are also what is the state of the environment in relation to their size!

An animated video that explains this topic well, but I will explain it here as well:
Environmental conditions vary not only in its conditions, but also in their size ratios in any ecological environment.
One of the basic rules that every living creature focuses on is that the smaller you are, the harder it is to move within the environment:
One very interesting creature is the fairy fly:
image

The smallest insect in the world, and because it is so small, the environment in which it was found is also different, in fact it is so different, that the rules in it are different: the air becomes denser when you are small, and its wings are adapted to this environment, and they act as if it swims in the air , And did not fly.
And what does this have to do with our topic here?
Small cells are supposed to swim slower (slightly) because the water-like aquatic environment makes it difficult for them to move compared to a larger cell. And I think that law means working here too (in the game).
Only if you have only cytoplasm.
Organelles add weight and I prefer to keep them that way, but I think organelles that produce energy (like chloroplast) naturally should be a little heavier than they are now in the game.

And it also gives something else interesting: the cell is supposed to be gentler heavier and slow down the bigger it is, but I think Flagellum or motion organics should get some boost: the bigger the cell, the more it should swim a little faster depending on their body: the more it The larger (in size, not weight), the faster he swims. Gave the goodness that each of them adds the normal speed, + 10% of their size. If you’re small, it does not affect or even affect their speed now, but if you are a large cell, the speed should be faster because of the environmental law I wrote earlier, and I think even if it’s not a good idea, you should think about this fact that size The environment affects how living things are affected by it.

If cells can not escape, then how can they fight back?

  1. Different membrane types can increase the chance of escape or make it difficult to digest, and give more life to adapt to the type, how big and how heavy it is
  2. Toxins can impair the ability to digest and contribute to escape. In order to fight against toxins, I think a lysosome mentioned in previous topics can fight against it. The more there are 2 things, the stronger their effect
  3. Predatory Pillus should be used as a tool that allows to escape from a cell or prevent swallowing (only if it is in their direction, as now)
  4. Can the membrane be liquid or hard to affect how much easier it is for him to escape

Summary

  • Digestion should play a larger role in defining a predator or a consumer
  • Give predators another tool that can give an advantage over autotropics and make the game more interesting in the realm of digestion advantage
  • Decay should look a little more real and give the benefit to scavengers
  • Size conditions are supposed to affect how cells of different sizes move, and with it an idea of how to fix the speed without hurting any side
  • Escape from a predator should be more interesting

Conclusion

The game is currently in better condition than I remember it a long time ago, but as for the predator-prey thing needs to be worked on a bit, and I hope what I wrote about them can give some open mind about this topic. And even if said before, I think it’s right to return them, and even if I missed something.
This is my vision of how I want this problem to be solved, it can be a right or wrong thing, but I hope at least it contributes at least to a canon that can be solved in the future.

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Quality post.

Much of these points are essentially being considered, it’s just a matter of when to implement what. As you mention, it’s not just digestion that’s hampering predation, it’s spawning and the fact that auto-evo doesn’t really evolve suitable prey items. The good news is that along with engulfment soon to be revamped, the (microbe) spawning system and auto-evo fixes are being established, so those should be in the next update, allowing us to consider predation from a fresh plate.

Buckly already has plans to have specialization around diets, with lysosomes oriented towards cell walls, basic membranes, double membranes, etc.; the question is just whether we want to include it as a traditional specialization, or eventually move lysosomes to an “enzyme system” we have conceptualized. I’m pushing for the latter heavily, but it won’t be in for a while if it is decided to be an adequate system, so there are questions to be asked.

Also, predation is indeed harder for prokaryotes because of their size and meager rewards from predation. They tend to use toxins more and as you said externally digest items rather than internally digest. I wonder how much we’d want to implement that; I don’t think we’d go with engulfment being locked behind the nucleus, since endosymbiosis occurred before the nucleus and hence phagocytosis. I think we’d encourage less engulfment along prokaryotes with a toxin system implemented, where a player might be more encouraged to adopt a more defensive cell membrane lacking the ability for phagocytosis.

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I also think one should not completely lock the engulfment, maybe above a certain size (actually like now), after all, this ability came long before, as it was quite necessary in a world where important compounds for life began to dwindle and another source of food had to be found, like to eat others
Good to hear I did not invent the wheel in most types and at least I want everyone there in the same mind.
Thanks for reading my post

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