A New Base Genome: The End is Never the End is Never the End is Never the End....

 After I posted the breakdown of the supposedly-final version of the RAS ChiChi genome, Dragoler offered up a criticism of it. Specifically, she pointed out that the way RAS consumed muscle tissue when breeding probably wouldn't be all that effective in adding a cost to creature breeding without also adding in a gene that prevented breeding outright in creatures who weren't taking care of themselves. 

As it was, RAS creatures can just keep kisspopping and laying eggs even when their muscle tissue is at 0, and not actually suffer all that much for it considering amino acid (and thus muscle tissue) isn't actually used for all that much by default; mostly the production of prostaglandin and also as an emergency backup should glucose levels be low but amino acid levels be higher (this setting aside the fact RAS also uses prostaglandin to heal wounds, which in my experience is a more frequent occurrence than just organ injury). 

Now, the reason I didn't stop RAS creatures with low muscle tissue from breeding to begin with was partially out of concerns over compatibility, but also partially because the levels of muscle tissue in RAS are much less stable than they are in TWBs. I monitored the levels of a group of first-gen RAS ChiChis with the Biochemistry Kit to double-check this, and sure enough they commonly had levels of muscle tissue below the levels that would prevent breeding in TWBs.

 I mulled over this conundrum and considered my options. Option 1 was just leaving things as they were, but I decided it'd bother me if I did that. Plus, if I really wanted to add a cost without outright preventing breeding, a better nutrient to have breeding and laying eggs consume would be glucose. Option 2 was adding a new gene to prevent breeding when muscle tissue got low, as is in the case for TWBs, just adjusted for RAS (specifically, my idea was to have the threshold be below the threshold for when low muscle tissue levels start making RAS hungry for protein). 

Then there was option 3, which was to switch from muscle tissue to glycogen. Glycogen levels are considerably more stable in RAS than muscle tissue levels, and glycogen is generally a more important energy store all around than muscle tissue. Plus I feel like it'd be a better indicator of health in RAS than the fluctuating levels of muscle tissue; they're a little reminiscent of C1 creatures in that regard.

But what truly made me settle for using glycogen instead was a personal bugbear of mine. It's not uncommon for higher gen creatures to develop mutations to keep them from storing glycogen as effectively. So this can lead to the near death music turning into the music that plays whenever creatures are around if such mutations are allowed to spread, which gets pretty irritating pretty fast. Making it so glycogen levels about the near death music threshold are required to breed makes it much less likely such mutations can take hold. 

So with this thought in mind, I made some changes:

• New Gene 236: "Become infertile when weak"
• Youth; Both sexes
• Cannot mutate, duplicate, or be cut; Mutation degree: 0
• In Gonad organ
• Organ: Current organ; Tissue: <no tissue>; Locus: Clock rate
• Chemical: Glycogen
• Threshold: .039; Nominal: .004; Gain: .502
• Digital
• Gene 417: "Laid egg (invol1)": Muscle tissue -.048 -> Glucose -.048
• Gene 420: "Just mated": Muscle tissue -.048 -> Glucose -.048

 Other than the obvious difference of using Glycogen instead of Muscle tissue, the other main difference between RAS's version of this receptor and the TWBs'/TCBs' is that it affects both sexes in RAS. And for compatibility's sake, RAS still handles the breeding/pregnancy cost via the stimuli genes for mating and laying eggs.

While I was adding this change, I also decided to make it so the appearance genes could no longer duplicate or be cut. There really isn't much to be gained from doing so. An appearance gene being cut just results in whatever body part that was defaulting to Norn A. Meanwhile, if there's multiple appearance genes for a single body part, only one of them actually has an effect (While I don't know for sure, it's likely the gene with the higher gene number similar to how the gene with the higher number takes priority if there's more than one stimulus gene for any given stimulus), and creatures whose appearances change over the course of their life can't pop up naturally; some fancy stuff is required first. So only allowing normal mutations accomplishes the same effect without the risk of a bunch of duplicated appearance genes causing issues in higher generations. 

I don't think either of these is a significant enough change to warrant another pack of test norns just yet. Chances are I'll see how they play out naturally over the course of developing the other RAS genomes. 

So with these changes made, now do I consider the RAS ChiChi genome finished?...It's complicated. 

I will say that I'm still pretty happy with the genome is, moreso now with these last couple changes. But while I was mulling over what I wanted to do for these, I also considered adding in even more edits. Specifically, replicating how Enhanced ChiChi Norns become weaker and less fertile in old age to make way for the younger generations. I even noticed this in my personal design document for RAS. 

The only problem, however, is that doing so would likely require even more new genes, even if I figured out how to implement it more efficiently than in the Enhanced ChiChi Norns. And with every new gene added, the risk for incompatibilities with the original 2017 genomes starts getting higher and higher. How much do I want to push my luck?

I could just throw compatibility out the window. Then I could not only go ahead with this feature without worry, but do some other features I've expressed desire for in the past, like moving the toxin reactions into more appropriate organs while leaving the immune system for cures and antigen responses, and shifting the pigment and pigment bleed genes around so they mix more evenly in higher generations. I could even go even further than the edits I've already done to make breeding more costly by making it so nutrients are required to produce the fertility chemicals. Besides, how frequently am I going to play with anything other than RAS genomes once they're finished, anyway? 

Except...going that far would basically mandate a full conversion of all the official breeds (even if that was something I was thinking about already). Do I have that much motivation in me? Would it even be worth it in the end?

I have to draw the line somewhere, and I know I don't want to keep tinkering with the ChiChi genome forever. Otherwise, I'm never going to get to the breeds I really want to make. And ultimately, I do want RAS to be mostly compatible with at least the original 2017 genomes, if not the CFF and prior. I think they'd be better for other people that way, and it'd take a load of pressure off me to do RAS conversions of all the official breeds. 

So...with all that considered, I think this is as good a stopping point for the RAS ChiChi genome as any, barring any major problems popping up in the future. For now, I really want to get to the grendel and ettin genomes. 

Until the next one, folks.