So you made a hut, and youβre no longer a dumb goop animal but instead a dumb goop person!
I think the early game would consist of the players manipulating their environment. Like settling near a river and damming it up..
Oh yeah, speaking of which. How much will we be able to modify the environment?
Note that youβre probably already a person by the awakening stage.
Damming rivers took a long time, so if anything youβd first unlock the damming of small rivers/streams and only in industrial you would get the ability to dam large rivers.
I mean, monkeys and crows could be considered in the awakening stage and are they people?
Also yes, I meant streams
Regular monkeys probably not, Apes do possess a level of sapience so perhaps they should be considered βnear-peopleβ (so aware-awakening transistionary perhaps), and crows are probably somewhere between regular monkeys and apes or at the ape level.
The start of agriculture. The transitioning from a hunter and gather diet to one with lot of grain, via agriculture (if an organism is an omnivore/herbivore). The possible start of animal-like organism husbandry (if an organism is an omnivore/carnivore). And of course, the possible crude creation of irrigation canals from streams.
By the way, would it be harder to unlock fire if youβre a herbivore since fire doesnβt improve herbi food quality that much?
Doesnβt fire heating water also help to sterilize water? That discovery should be independent of diet.
I suppose so, but Iβve heard at least early on one of the main uses of fire was in cooking meat, so perhaps herbivores would generally discover fire later when compared with their omni/carnivoreous friends?
Would sapient herbivores βcookβ their food before eating it?
Probably to rid them of pathogens but thatβs not as immediate of an advantage as cooked food is over raw meat.
Would sapient herbivores even exist? Is there enough nutrients in plant matter to sustain their brains?
Donβt all herbivores technically on occasions also eat some meat? Also, if I remember correctly, Elephants are very smart for being herbivores.
Yeah but they spend eighteen hours a day eating. Not very efficient to cram in civilization building, art, learning literally everything else into those other 5-6 hours
Maybe in game, it should also take more time for civilization to develop if you are an herbivore? Also, I could imagine sapient herbivores growing high-protein seed producing plant-like organisms to supplement their diet.
Fire provides light at night, warmth when itβs cold, and protection from animals that fear it. Cooking came after that. Also, coking vegetables changes there taste (though i believe also negatively affects their nutritional value, but that might depend on the vegetable).
It depends on the vegetable and fruit, and how digestible the raw form is. Resistant Starches are component of plants, and are important for health due to the digestibility of the plant material in question. For instance, we humans cannot digest raw potatoes due to the packing of starch granules, and thus, need to cook potatoes in order for the starch granules to be hydrolyzed in a form we can digest.
Also, some fruits and vegetables may taste better when they are cooked, and some vegetables and fruits are normally not cooked at all. Like carrots can be eaten raw or cooked, but you would not normally eat a cooked cucumber (it tastes so weird). Of course, this is from a human standpoint, and I do not know if something similar would happen with sapient herbivores. Still, it would be interesting for sapient herbivores to discover the taste differences of fired cooked vs. raw plant materials, and their preferences towards food preparation.
We should also probably distinct herbivores / fruitivotes here
Should nectivores also get a separate distinction?
Would those even be capable of becoming sapient?
I certainly hope so. Humming birds have a lot of energy, and they are nectarivores. I guess that would be a question of size? If one could reach the nectar without the hummingbirds high wing beat flight, I imagine they could support a brain.