Chemotrophy and compound absorption in Thrive are actually quite unrealistic. To survive, you need to purposefully seek out compounds. Real microbes donβt behave this way; they typically simply wait for the compound to reach them through diffusion and currents. In thrive, this only works in the coastal biome, since only there are currents that move compounds at all actively; in other biomes, the water is either practically stagnant, or the currents are not active enough. At the same time, auto-evo does not take currents into account at all; your type of microbes that rely on currents for nutrition, according to auto-evo, can thrive in a biome without currents, but if you try to survive there, you will die out due to the lack of currents. In reality, microcurrents are very important for microbes.
The number and intensity of microcurrents depend mainly on two factors: topography and temperature changes.
Hydrothermal vents - most powerful, given the enormous temperature difference between the cold ocean floor and the hottest spring, as well as the presence of complex terrain nearby, the strongest microcurrents should be found here.
coastal, estuary, tidal basin, arctic, underwater cave - powerful, given the temperature difference and topography.
epipelagic - powerful (but slightly weaker), since the epipelagic biome has virtually no relief.
The mesopelagic zone and the seabed - moderate; in the first case, there is no relief, and temperature differences are not so significant; in the second, there is relief, but there are almost no temperature and pressure differences.
Deep ocean - Microcurrents are almost absent.
I also think that auto-evo should take microcurrents into account in its calculations (especially for sedentary species).
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aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
2
I am not sure how would the devs integrate that, and they also may not want to extend autoevo times right before the massive load of multicellular evo gets added
Since currents can take compounds away from, as well as toward you, wouldnβt that make currents have a neutral impact on Auto-Evo?
Also, unfortunately, some realistic considerations might need to be unincluded for gameplay and quality-of-life purposes. I am unsure if this is one of those instances.
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aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
4
Could be a reason the currents arenβt included in the calcs.
It should be noted that this autoevo vs gameplay distinction in the survivability of specimens extends to factors unimpacted by the currents aswell
Indeed this is a concession to making gameplay more dynamic, though I have to note many micro-organisms do specifically seek out compounds and move towards them.
I suppose this could be βsolvedβ by chaning some of the spawning behaviour. Could be worth looking into.
In general, currents being strong enough to have a significant gameplay impact at all is relatively recent. Itβs been expressed that we should avoid turning every patch into one where you get swept around by the currents, especially the ones where the movement tutorial for new players is likely to take place.
Indeed it does not. In recent updates I added a kind of βpassive collectionβ to auto-evo, with the idea that by just surviving in place you will eventually absorb some compounds that drift your way.
I suppose I could indeed try to make it depend on current strength. I am not sure if that number is easily exposed right now, but I can hopefully eventually look into it.
If not, I can weaken or remove this effect for most compounds other than phosphate and ammonia (I need to eventually get around to making this distinction anyway). That way at least you donβt get misleading predictions and non-functioning AI cells.
No need to worry about performance here. This would just be multiplication by one number. I would have to see if this number can be easily grabbed though. And we would probably need new UI for showing current strength in patches.
Right now, auto-evo is indeed just expecting that there is no nett difference, though that might not be accurate to gameplay.
This should not happen. If it does, itβs a bug. Species that try to migrate to a patch will not show up if their only food source is not there.
Are these leftover from previous generations? Otherwise, they might be considered to be surviving in the other available miches.
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aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
12
Thatβd be the tidepool and the vents patches. Could there perhaps be a way to disable the currents until that tutorial is complete and only then enable the stronger currents for those patches?
I think the solution proposed by ahh 31415 is better, especially considering that the decision to use hydrothermal vents and tidal pools goes seriously against the idea of ββscientific realism of Thrive, not to mention the fact that they can choose panspermia for the first start, appearing in any biome.
So the solution to simply turn off the currents during the first generation sounds more reasonable.
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aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
14
I think the problem could be whether this disablement could be easily added in
Maybe also introduce a tutorial about currents after first generation so players know that they donβt lose their mind when the patch suddenly sweep them around.
3 Likes
aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
16
aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
20
Maybe only then have it play in patches with sufficiently strong currents incase during the 2nd generation the player is in a patch with currents too weak?