Ideas for the Microbe Stage [Put your ideas in this thread]

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

Would becoming a parasite be a dead end you’d need to get yourself out of to continue?

[Rathalos]

@aah31415

Would becoming a parasite be a dead end you’d need to get yourself out of to continue?

I guess yes and no. Very old closely associated parasites live up to today, so we can’t really call it a dead end as far as life is concerned!

But I don’t think a tapeworm could advance to the next Thrive stage.

@AnthropocenianAge

I am pretty sure commensalism does exist between bacterial and/or archaeal species in real life, so it would make sense to add that feature eventually.

Plants IRL often produce more sugars via photosynthesis than they can actually use (kind of like what we see in Thrive). So they often literally dump it into the soil via their roots. Some of it is eaten specifically by symbiotic bacteria, but I guess anything crawling around just feeding on free sugar is less likely to be a specialised pathogen too.

As far as I can tell algae also secrete sugars at least sometimes. Could be fun to have Thrive photosynthesizers excrete excess glucose in a similar way for the little scavengers to pick up.

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

Could symbiosis be a system convergent with endosymbiosis or leading to the later?

[AnthropocenianAge (𝒜𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝒽𝓊𝑔!)]

@Rathalos

Plants IRL often produce more sugars via photosynthesis than they can actually use (kind of like what we see in Thrive. So they often literally dump it into the soil via their roots. Some of it is eaten specifically by symbiotic bacteria, but I guess anything crawling around just feeding on free sugar is less likely to be a specialised pathogen too.

I saw recently saw a NOVA documentary on Forest Ecosystems, which was where I learned this from originally.

@aah31415

symbiosis be a system convergent with endosymbiosis or leading to the later?

I think that would be a great idea! People could potentially evolve into lichens, or other symbiotic organisms, with this new symbiotic system in Multicellular.

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

I suppose we could need regular symbiosis to be doable by autoevo too then…

[Rathalos]

@aah31415

Could symbiosis be a system convergent with endosymbiosis or leading to the later?

The type of symbiosis I was describing would just be emerging from the game’s other systems I suppose. Maybe it could be implemented as a type of miche?

While microbe stage endosymbiosis right now is a very separate system that is very deliberately started and ended by the player. I don’t think that’s very easy to connect.

@AnthropocenianAge

I think that would be a great idea! People could potentially evolve into lichens, or other symbiotic organisms, with this new symbiotic system in Multicellular.

I think, if it’s possible to pull the develop resources together, symbiosis with existing microbe species would be a very nice feature for the macroscopic stage. Like we see with indeed lichen, tube worms (chemosynthetic bacteria), legumes (nitrogen fixing bacteria), and maybe even like in the digestive system of animals.

@aah31415

I suppose we could need regular symbiosis to be doable by autoevo too then…

I get the distinct feeling that implementing the whole endoymbiosis system usable by non-player species would be a bit of a nightmare. But a rare chance of species suddenly getting a eukaryotic organelle does represent it decently enough I think.

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

How far do you think symbiosis could be taken in-game?

[Rathalos]

What exactly do you mean by “how far”? Technically endosymbiois is about the most advanced form of symbiosis I can imagine. We’re also in the microbe stage thread, so I assume you’re still talking about that?

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

Indeed. Would non-endosymbiotic relations where one of the symbionts can only live in the vicinity of the partner cell exist?

[willow (they/her or yours are was/were)]

and/or endoparasitism
for example, you could cut open the membrane of your preferred host cell, and swim inside, then swim around in the host cell and steal their compounds

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

So like a bizarre reverse version of the old engulfing mechanic?

[OceanPlanet]

Maybe add Methane as a gas. It can be generated using methanogenic proteins.

[AnthropocenianAge (𝒜𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝒽𝓊𝑔!)]

Other people on this thread have suggested things similar to this, and it would be great to add other food sources.

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

Unfortunately I think it might be too late now to add new major compounds like this one.

[OceanPlanet]

If it’s possible, maybe add an expansion to Thrive (like a DLC)

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

If anything it could be a mod in the foreseeable future.

[Poodelicus (Crazy, Curious, and Stubborn)]

@OceanPlanet

Maybe add Methane as a gas

@AnthropocenianAge

it would be great to add other food sources

Given the many potential ways methane could likely play a part in later stages (global warming, fuel, noxious fumes, rumination, etc.), I assume it is a matter of time before, in some form or other, methane ends up in the game. I just hope, when the time comes, someone goes back and adds it to the single-cellular level. But it does seem likely to be a while before that time comes.

@aah31415

it might be too late now to add new major compounds

It is never to late. It is just surely not going to make 1.0.0.0. But it could make 4.0.0.0, or perhaps 7.0.0.0, or even 9.0.0.0. Or it could be a mod, but I suspect EVENTUALLY methane will be officially in Thrive, in some form.

[Oncpapa]

@Poodelicus

It is never to late. It is just surely not going to make 1.0.0.0. But it could make 4.0.0.0, or perhaps 7.0.0.0, or even 9.0.0.0.

So sad Henri H. Hhhyyrylainen had to go back through all 8 previous stages to properly account for the enormous ramifications of alien cow farts, if only we had stayed on microbe stage for longer

[aah31415 (The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)]

Also wouldn’t “9.0.0” suggest Thrive would have 9 stages in the end (currently it’s 8)?

[hhyyrylainen]

Nothing is impossible if someone volunteers to actually make the feature.