Perhaps. Would things like fractal symmetry max out those meters?
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Depends on if we are talking about structure and function versus aesthetics. Fractal symmetry is efficient, which is why it reoccurs in Biology. That would affect the total energy balance, and complexity of parts.
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I presume smaller details would add less to the complexity meter?
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Would this relate to meatball size and number in Macroscopic, or be completely separate from them?
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Probably, since the organism will be made of meatballs and those surfaces possible with the type of metaballs weβre using iirc
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If you went with a βtime skipβ mechanic, how might you handle the possibility that an egg or cocoon was in a place where predators/bad weather could reach it? Maybe a βtime speed upβ mechanic that requires the creature to stay still while it is active?
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Would a speed-up button/slider beyond just 2x also work for βsessilityβ? Maybe the ground work for that cheat could be used in regular game?
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I already use it in regular game most of the time.
Perhaps you could still be attacked while skipping?
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Sessile gameplay needs a different system because 2x speed is not enough, 5x speed would also not be enough probably. And thereβs no way we can make the game speed run more than that, so a totally separate system is needed to skip forward time by months of simulated time for sessile species.
Iβm pretty sure Iβve said this exact same thing before in a proper sessility discussion.
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What would happen between the timeskips, or would it just be one VERY large timeskip for each time you play your sessileling?
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I think someone should find the actual sessility discussion thread where early strategy mode etc. all points have been discussed before.
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I belive that would be this dev forum thread:
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I found this where I previously mentioned the topic on the community forums:
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By the way Iβm pretty sure there needs to be a warning put for the sessile/autotroph macroscopic players at some point like the one for the underwater awakening transition, that they wonβt be able to reach civ (or for the plants, even sapience)
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In RPGs directly or indirectly descended from D&D there is often some type of βrestβ mechanic:
If there is no imminent danger, you can choose to βskip 8 hoursβ to let your HP and abilities recover. Your DM (human or computer) rolls some physical or digital dice to decide whether you hear βyou weak up after an uneventful 8 hoursβ or βoh no, after 2 hours you are ambushed by zombies!!!β. The odds can even depend on how dangerous the area is, and how good you are at hiding your camp.
Of course, there was no actual simulation of dozens of zombies slumbering past without finding you. But we sure do pretend that is the case.
So we can do the same in Thrive: skip uneventful times and use random rolls to decide when something happens to βwake upβ the player.
As Hyyrylainen pointed out, this does not work for the amount of time that needs to be skipped. The 2X button already often fails when too many cells are being simulated.
The advantage of skipping time is that things are not being simulated, so any digital system can handle it.
I think what I outlined above should work for that.
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Btw I presume not all organisms would try to eat the entirety of you, like how some herbivores wonβt eat the entire plant?
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Isnβt it partially because the leaves start to become filled with more tannins than what the herbivore can digest?
Would similar message appear for more sessile gameplay?
Look how cute it is! 
In my opinion Motile/Sessile topic is the question of behavior. I donβt think we have to argue that sea anemones and clams are sessile, yet theyβve been known to show high speeds when moving.I donβt think we have to argue that sea anemones and clams are sessile, yet theyβve been known to show high speeds when moving.
Many scallops are motile, and many also move when threatened. Also, as an aside, one the largest clam fossils ever found was 187 cm!
I assume some species will exhibit giganticism eventually?
MirrorMonkey2 Artist
Iβm not sure what comes first in this cascade of developments. Do muscles evolve which then necessitate dedicated respiration? Or does respiration evolve which then im turn allows gas-exchange-heavy muscles to evolve? Either way it feels like these are somehow tied together and are necessities for mobile organisms whose thickness crosses the threshold beyond which diffusion alone is no longer viable.
Sometimes, one gene can affect multiple phenotypes, called Pleiotrophy. The Msx2 gene is believed to be responsible for the (major) disappearance of the "thirdβ eye and transition from ectothermy to endothermy, appearance of hair, mammary glands, and lactation in early Triassic (proto)mammals.
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep25604
Maybe a similar feature of having multiple phenotypes being affected could be included in Thrive? It might be tricky to implement, since we are basing it off Earth genetics, and alien evolution might have a completely different set of connected pleiotrophic traits.
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Or for instance they canβt digest the lignin in the wood-y parts
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Well, the Thrive version might not literally have any text. But you could imagine a lot of time skipping interspersed by you getting to watch animals trying to eat you. (If youβre fully immobile) Or if you somehow do have some defenses, being able to use them at that time.
Then go back to skipping time once the event has passed.
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Would this also include various infections and stuff?
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