After I made my last post, I decided to make what I intended to be a temporary version of the 2017 ChiChi genome so I could get to making actually interesting breeds. I took the first released version of RAS as my base, replaced the old disappointment-gained activase with a "Muscle Energy" used emitter....
...And then I realized that maybe that rather than trying to reinvent the wheel as far as this biochemical balancing goes, maybe I should work with what the 2017s already had. That line of thought lead to more tweaking, and at last I reached a point with the biochemistry I could call myself happy with.
Then one thing lead to another from there, and next thing I knew what I had intended to be just a temporary base had turned into what I'd call the final version of the RAS ChiChi genome. Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?
Of course, then it took me a couple weeks to muster up the spoons to write this post. You win some, you lose some.
As with RAS Test Version 1, I'll be breaking down all the changes I made. If you just want some norns to play around with, you can check them out on Creatures Caves here and here (the first pack is missing some of the changes described here, since I was still waffling on whether or not to include the changes in question).
Without any further ado, let's get started.
This version of RAS was based on Test Version 1, which I detailed here. Be sure to read that if you want to know all the changes RAS TV1 made from the original 2017 genome.
The way I've been doing these breakdowns, I've just been copying what Gene Compare tells me and pasting it here. However, not only is that rather ugly looking and rather difficult to read, the values given are also a little inaccurate (Gene Compare's numbers take after C2; e.g. the sliders on receptor genes are shown as a number from 1 to 255. C3/DS's Genetics Kit, however, instead operates on a scale of 0 to 1, with the slider values being the decimal conversion of <value>/255). So I'm going to try listing things a little differently this time.
Receptors
- Gene 446 (444): "Start dancing (14)": Threshold reduced to .812 from 1
- Gene 447 (445): "Start jiving (15)": Threshold reduced to .812 from 1
- Gene 451 (447): "Activase (loc27)": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree raised to 128 from 0; Threshold reduced to .047 from .125
- Gene 57: "Antigen 6": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut
- Gene 231: "Mutation from stress": Mutation degree reduced to 0 from 128
- Gene 232: "Mutation from stress": Mutation degree reduced to 0 from 128
- Gene 846 (840): "Oxygen (loc 24)": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree raised to 128 from 0
- Gene 849 (843): "Fermentation Regulation": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree raised to 128 from 0
- New Gene 425: "Wounded"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- In Bones organ
- Organ: Current Reaction (Gene 423: "Prostaglandin breakdown"); Tissue: <no tissue>; Locus: Reaction Rate
- Chemical: Wounded
- Threshold: .063; Nominal: .878; Gain: .125
- Output REDUCES with increased stimulation
- Digital
- New Gene 428: "Wounded"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- In Bones organ
- Organ: Current Reaction (Gene 426: "Make prostaglandin"); Tissue: <no tissue>; Locus: Reaction Rate
- Chemical: Wounded
- Threshold: 0; Nominal: .753; Gain: .502
- New Gene 448: "Low energy limp (6)"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Cannot mutate, duplicate, or be cut; Mutation degree: 0
- In Muscles organ
- Organ: Creature; Tissue: Sensorimotor; Locus: Special gait 6
- Chemical: Glycogen
- Threshold: .039; Nominal: .937; Gain: .937
- Output REDUCES with increased stimulation
- Digital
I also thought about making creatures limp when Wounded is high, something the TWBs/TCBs do. I decided against it, mostly because I already felt like I was pushing my luck enough already with all the other new genes I added. RAS takes enough from the TWBs/TCBs as it is, anyway.
Emitters
- Gene 452 (448): "[Loc 27] Anabolic Steroid": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree raised to 128 from 0
- Gene 847 (841): "Lactate Dehydrogenase (loc 24)": Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree raised to 128 from 0
Two more genes that couldn't mutate in the CFF/original 2017 that can in RAS. Not much to say on these I haven't already said.
- New Gene 450: "Activase"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- In Muscles organ
- Organ: Creature; Tissue: Somatic; Locus: Muscle energy used
- Digital
- Chemical: Activase
- Sample rate: 5 ticks; Gain: .027; Threshold: 0
Here is the Muscle Energy Used locus I've mentioned a lot (or at least in one post). Had I gone with a different genome base than 2017 for RAS, I might've had this emitter emit anabolic steroid outright, but as I talked about at the start of this post, working with the system 2017s already had proved to be the best (or least frustrating) way of handling it. So this basically replaces the Activase from the disappointment stim in the original 2017s and RAS TV1.
It tends to be a lot more consistent than the disappointment stim, as well, as it triggers when the creature moves in general and not just when it triggers an activity stim. In practice, this can result in RAS creatures with similar amounts to muscle tissue to the original 2017s, but it's balanced out by the increased production of prostaglandin and another change I'll get to later.
Reactions
- Gene 336: "Stress affects healing": Mutation degree reduced to 0 from 128
- Gene 423: "Prostaglandin breakdown": Mutation degree reduced to 0 from 128
- Gene 426 (425): "Make prostaglandin": Can no longer mutate, duplicate, or be cut; Mutation degree reduced to 0 from 128
Fitting that all three chemical reactions concerning prostaglandin get changes in the same genome that gives prostaglandin another use. That being said, all three of these changes are just yet more mutation rate tweaks. The first two couldn't mutate anyway, so I just set the degree to 0 to make it more obvious from the main editor window. As for the last one, it involved digestive chemicals (specifically, amino acid and fatty acid react to make prostaglandin), and in lieu with the other reactions that involve such chemicals being unable to mutate in CFE-derived genomes I decided to make it unmutable just to be on the safe side.
- Gene 337: "Antioxidant cure for CO poisoning": Can no longer duplicate
- Gene 343: "Cure ATP Decoupler": Can no longer duplicate
- Gene 346: "Cyanide cure": Can no longer duplicate
- Gene 349: "Glycotoxin cure": Can no longer duplicate
- Gene 350: "Drunkenness cure": Can no longer duplicate
- Gene 351: "Radiation cure": Can no longer duplicate
I think the idea behind letting these reactions duplicate was to make it so these toxin cures had the potential to become even more effective as the generations went on. However, I make it a point to make it that if a gene cannot be cut, it cannot duplicate either. Otherwise, if a bunch of duplicates of these genes build up, they run the risk of "pushing out" more vital genes from the offsprings' genome. Things like the brain. It's a similar principle to why the pigment and pigment bleed genes can only mutate but not duplicate or be cut in RAS.
I opted to make them only able to mutate as opposed to allowing them to be cut to make it more likely cures will continue to work on higher generation creatures.
- Gene 352: "Ag to Ab 0"
- Original reaction: 2 Antigen 0 + 3 Glucose -> 12 Antibody 0 + 1 Histamine B
- New reaction: 2 Antigen 0 + 2 Glucose -> 10 Antibody 0 + 1 Histamine B
- Gene 354: "Ag to Ab 1"
- Original reaction: 2 Antigen 1 + 3 Glucose -> 12 Antibody 1 + Histamine A
- New reaction: 2 Antigen 1 + 2 Glucose -> 10 Antibody 1 + Histamine A
- Gene 356: "Ag to Ab 2"
- Original reaction: 16 Antigen 2 + 3 Glucose -> 12 Antibody 2 + 2 Coldness
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 2 + 2 Glucose -> 5 Antibody 2 + 1 Coldness
- Gene 358: "Ag to Ab 4"
- Original reaction: 2 Antigen 4 + 3 Glucose -> 3 Antibody 4 + 1 Hotness
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 4 + 2 Glucose -> 4 Antibody 4 + 1 Hotness
- Gene 360: "Ag to Ab 3"
- Original reaction: 1 Antigen 3 + 3 Glucose -> 1 Antibody 3 + 2 Coldness
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 3 + 2 Glucose -> 4 Antibody 3 + 2 Coldness
- Gene 362: "Ag to Ab 5"
- Original reaction: 1 Antigen 5 + 3 Glucose -> 3 Antibody 5 + 1 Wounded
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 5 + 2 Glucose -> 3 Antibody 5 + 1 Wounded
- Gene 364: "Ag to Ab 6"
- Original reaction: 1 Antigen 6 + 3 Glucose -> 3 Antibody 6 + 1 Hotness
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 6 + 2 Glucose -> 4 Antibody 6 + 1 Hotness
- Gene 366: "Ag to Ab 7"
- Original reaction: 1 Antigen 7 + 3 Glucose -> 3 Antibody 7 + 1 Pain
- New reaction: 1 Antigen 7 + 2 Glucose -> 4 Antibody 7 + 1 Pain
As I mentioned before for the reasoning behind allowing prostaglandin to heal wounds, I don't play with bacteria all that often since they feel overpowered, especially on modern hardware. But I do experiment with them from time to time, and some people do use bacteria. Coupled with the fact the antigen reactions always felt a little inconsistent to me, I figured I'd tweak them some for RAS.
The biggest change here is that RAS requires slightly less glucose for antibody production than the original 2017s and the CFFs (where this change originated from), since I felt the original value was a little too high for my liking. I also considered simply removing the glucose cost outright, similar to how it was in Creatures 2 and vanilla C3/DS creatures, but decided against it.
The immune response was also mostly strengthened across the board, as well. The response to Antigens 0 and 1 are a little weaker than they were before, while the response to Antigen 2 is much stronger. The rest are smaller tweaks, and the response to Antigen 5 is mostly unchanged save for the reduction in glucose cost with the intent of further cementing its status as the deadliest antigen.
- Gene 453 (449): "Activity consumes triglyceride" ("Activity breaks down fat storage")
- Original reaction: 3 Activase + 2 Adipose Tissue -> 1 <nothing> + 1 <nothing>
- New reaction: 4 Activase + 8 Triglyceride -> 1 <nothing> + 1 <nothing>
- Reaction rate reduced to 50 from 59
- Gene 454 (450): "Activity consumes glucose" ("Activity breaks down starch storage")
- Original reaction: 2 Activase + 2 Glycogen -> 1 <nothing> + 1 <nothing>
- New reaction: 2 Activase + 6 Glucose -> 1 <nothing> + 1 <nothing>
- Reaction rate reduced to 50 from 57
These two genes probably saw the most changes out of everything in this version of RAS. First I tried making it so Activase simply broke down the long-term energy stores into their respective short-term energy stores; that didn't work because they simply got converted back. Then I tried making it so these reactions produced anabolic steroid, replacing the Activase/Anabolic steroid receptor/emitter combo. That resulted in too little muscle tissue. So instead I just had these reactions consume short-term energy stores instead of long-term energy stores but otherwise were similar to the originals, which at least feels less cheaty. I also increased the speed at which these reactions work.
The end result is that this version of RAS is considerably less prone to heart attacks than RAS TV1 provided they're fairly active, while still leaving them as a possibility for lazy or overeating creatures. Mission accomplished.
- New Gene 885: "Wait crowdedness convert"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- In The Brain organ
- Reaction: 8 Crowded + 1 Wait -> 1 Wait + 8 Crowded backup
- Reaction rate: 19
This version of RAS has instincts and stimuli to encourage them to use elevators and doors when crowded, much like TWBs/TCBs. This means that they might try to use an elevator that can't go any higher or lower and get stuck staring at it. So this gene is there to help make sure they aren't staring at elevators all the time.
It's a similar principle to the similar reaction involving boredom that I added in RAS TV1 and that still exists in this version. I briefly considered changing that reaction to this one as opposed to adding a new gene, but decided I'd rather keep the old reaction for future use (at least, my next attempt at RAS ettins will likely get some use out of it).
- New Gene 886: "Prostaglandin heals wounds"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- In The Brain organ
- Reaction: 1 Wounded + 1 Prostaglandin -> 1 <nothing> + 1 <nothing>
- Reaction rate: 28
The two receptors from earlier allow RAS creatures to produce prostaglandin when wounded. This reaction is what allows them to actually use prostaglandin to heal wounds, since Wounded is a different chemical from Injury and as such isn't handled the same way as Injury is by the engine.
I opted to have prostaglandin be consumed here for the purposes of consuming nutrients, and also to help keep RAS creatures from becoming invincible.
Stimuli
- Gene 395: "Disappointment":
- Boredom .008 is no longer silent.
- Activase .008 -> Unused 0
Since the new emitter handles the bulk of Activase production now, being disappointed no longer produces Activase. Simple enough, really.
However, RAS can now learn that being disappointed makes them bored. The reason is mostly to try to get RAS to cut back on things like getting stuck pushing edibles as I observed during my initial RAS ettin feral run, and was a suggestion from Verm.
I'm not entirely certain on this change, as disappointment is also triggered by things like trying to grab things out of reach or trying to use an elevator a creature just called that was immediately called away by another creature. But so far, I feel like it's helping more than hurting.
- Gene 398: "I hit someone": Boredom -0.04 (Silent) -> Unused 0
Another change inspired by C2, where most norn genomes get next to nothing out of hitting another creature. With the boredom reduction being silent already, I'm not sure how much of an impact this change has on this version of RAS. But it'll at least remove hitting as a way for RAS to keep boredom levels down, even if in RAS TV1 it was in the sense of "never getting bored because hitting keeps boredom levels down" as opposed to "hitting because it reduces boredom".
- Gene 408: "Traveling": Coldness -.008 -> Crowdedness -.089
One of the goals I had for this version of RAS was to provide more ways RAS creatures could feel less crowded as opposed to just retreating from each other. Retreating is a somewhat unreliable way of handling it, particularly if there's a huge amount of creatures in one place.
So now the simple act of traveling to the left or right is equivalent to retreating from another creature, as is the case for TWBs/TCBs. That being said, like I noted for the Enchanced ChiChi Norn breakdown, the traveling stim doesn't actually fire all that often.
- Gene 409: "I ate it": Unused 0 -> Water .024
Did I mention RAS takes a bit from the TWBs/TCBs? Because this is another change that comes from them. Water isn't quite as important to RAS as it is for TWBs/TCBs, but they still need some level of it to breathe properly, which can be a problem if the creature's recovering from drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, fevers, etc. So I figured giving RAS an extra way to gain water was worthwhile.
- Gene 416: "Laid egg (invol1)": Sleepiness .185 -> Muscle Tissue -.048
- Gene 419: "Just mated": Loneliness -.056 -> Muscle Tissue -.048
Right from the beginning of this project, I was planning on giving RAS some kind of cost for breeding. In the initial post detailing my goals, I stated I was considering porting over the TWBs'/TCBs' method of doing it, which prevented female creatures from breeding outright if their muscle tissue was too low and made pregnancy gradually consume muscle tissue.
However, RAS's long-term energy stores are considerably less stable than TWBs'/TCBs', so instead I opted for this less elegant method that doesn't stop RAS from breeding but nevertheless makes it so it's not free. Plus, this way probably has better results for crossbreeds with other genomes...I say for the same genome that has a bunch of new genes added, including a new reaction + receptors for healing wounds with prostaglandin.
- Gene 537 (531): "Traveled in lift": Unused 0 -> Crowded -1
- Gene 539 (533): "Went through meta-door": Unused 0 -> Crowded -1
- Gene 540 (534): "Went through internal door": Unused 0 -> Crowded -1
As I mentioned earlier with the Wait crowdedness convert reaction gene, RAS now has instincts to use elevators and doors when crowded, and the stimuli are changed accordingly.
I did have some reservations about them removing crowdedness entirely as opposed to just a little bit, mostly to make it look less like I'm copying the TWBs'/TCBs' homework than I already was, but I decided that this was the best way of handling it as it'll keep creatures from constantly trying to use doors/elevators when crowded. RAS doesn't get a fear reduction from using doors like TWBs/TCBs do, though; I decided I'd rather keep my options open for future genomes. RAS has other ways of reducing fear, anyway.
- Gene 541 (535): "Found company": Fear -.024 -> Fear -.032
Case in point. This is a pretty minute change, all things considered; just further reinforcing how RAS creatures are encouraged to approach each other when afraid.
While it's not listed here since it's the same in both TV1 and this version, I'll note that both the loneliness reduction and fear reduction are silenced. I've noted a couple times in the past that 2017-based creatures never seem to seek each other out when lonely. And as I noted in another past update, it turns out that C3/DS creatures basically never track other members of the same species via scent.
I asked about this in the Norn Nebula Discord (more specifically: I asked if something was wrong with my game since it turned out I was having trouble getting creatures of any genome to approach each other, not just 2017s), and Verm and Dragoler did some research and found that providing an instinct to go home when lonely while silencing the loneliness reduction in this gene did result in creatures that more consistently do something about their loneliness (the exact reason is complicated, but basically creatures will learn to assume whatever it was they were doing when they're at the peak of same species CA if the drive decreases weren't silenced, no matter if that action had anything to do with seeking out the source of the CA or not). I guess Arnout came to a similar conclusion independently, as the loneliness decrease is silenced in the original 2017 genome as well.
In any event, it's now part of RAS and hopefully will reduce the amount of creatures who are off by themselves.
- Gene 542 (536): "I've stated need" ("Discomfort")
- Age changed from Child to Embryo
- Stimulus changed from "Discomfort" to "I've stated need"
- Chemicals changed from Comfort 1 -> Anger -.048, Crowded -.016 (Silent), Boredom .008
The CFF initially silenced this stimulus and the one for hearing other creatures speak, out of the logic that both genes got in the way of creatures tending to themselves. In RAS TV1 I opted to change this stimulus into a different stim entirely, since at the time I had no plans for the original version. But now here it is back in the newest version of RAS, not only changed back to its original form but expressed again.
The reason for it? Well, during my initial ettin feral run, I shared a picture over Discord of an ettin doing almost nothing but complaining of boredom, with the intent of just sharing a creature doing stupid things so people could laugh at it. Then Verm noted that since the ettin in question wasn't being punished for expressing herself, she had no reason to stop doing it, drawing a comparison to how Lurhstaap noted how his Imperial Dragons were actually more carnivorous than his original Abyss Dragons despite how they actually get nutrition for eating things other than creatures, likely because of it.
So with that logic in mind, I figured giving creatures a stim for expressing themselves could possibly actually cut back on it. And in a similar vein to the unsilenced boredom in the disappointment stim, I threw in a little bit of extra boredom to hopefully further discourage endless complaining. It should be noted RAS continues to lack a stim for hearing other creatures speak and possesses no instinct to express themselves for any reason.
- Gene 544 (538): "I have teleported": Unused 0 -> Fear -1
Partially because it made sense given the other teleporter-related instincts and partially because I wanted to give RAS more options to reduce fear, RAS now gets a fear reduction from teleporting.
Though despite the name, this stim doesn't actually trigger on using teleporters, like the vanilla C3 and DS teleporters. By default it's only used by warp portals. It's nevertheless useful if there's third party teleporters and portals around, though.
- New Gene 855: "Discomfort"
- Embryo; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- Stimulus: Discomfort
- Significance: 0
- Reaction: Default (quiescent); Intensity: 0
- Chemicals: Comfort 1
With the old Discomfort stim being turned back into an "I've expressed self" stim, a new gene was necessary to bring the Discomfort stim back. Of course I could've left the original Discomfort stim as it was and made a new gene for "I've stated need" instead, but I was going to need to make a new gene either way and I felt better doing it this way.
Appearances
- Genes 25 ("Head"), 75 ("Body"), 112 ("Arms"), 372 ("Legs"), and 458 ("Tail"): Can now mutate, duplicate, and be cut
Whether or not appearance genes should be able to mutate is one of those things that tends to come down to personal preference. I personally adore appearance mutations, so now they're possible in RAS.
The fact these genes weren't already able to mutate is partially why I went through the genome and changed the mutation degree on all genes that couldn't mutate to 0 (assuming I wasn't instead allowing them to mutate). The mutation degree on the appearance genes in the original 2017s was still 128 despite the fact they couldn't mutate and I wound up missing it entirely while making RAS TV1.
Instincts
- Gene 465 (461): "Mating instinct": Age changed to Adolescent from Youth
CFF-derived genomes breed much slower than vanilla genomes, and RAS is no exception. Noticing this, I decided to take a page from the Gizmo Norns and have their mating instinct kick on a lifestage before they're able to breed, giving them a headstart on knowing what to do when the time comes and hopefully increasing reproductive success.
- Gene 467 (463): "Eat 3 when H4F": Reward/Punish intensity changed to -.75 from -.5
- Gene 468 (464): "Eat 11 when H4F": Reward/Punish intensity changed to -.5 from -.75
- Gene 471 (467): "Eat 8 when H4C": Reward/Punish intensity changed to -.75 from -.5
A set of changes geared around further lowering the risk of heart attacks and also making it more likely RAS creatures will choose to eat fruit more often. Now when they get hungry they'll usually prefer the less fatty seeds or fruit over food, though they'll still eat food.
I briefly considered inverting the intensities from RAS TV1 (making it so they'd prefer fruit when H4C, seeds when H4F, and food when H4P), but that'd be making them prefer the less nutritious options over the more nutritious options and altering the respective stims to compensate would feel like I'd defeat the point of making the change in the first place.
- Gene 477 (473): "Push lift if crowded" ("Activate lift if bored")
- Gene is now expressed (carried)
- Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Reward changed to Crowdedness from Boredom
- Reward intensity changed to -.306 from -.25
- Gene 497 (492): "Push buttons if crowded" ("Push buttons if bored")
- Gene is now expressed (carried)
- Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Reward changed to Crowdedness from Boredom
- Reward intensity changed to -.153 from -.25
- New Gene 478: "Pull lift if crowded"
- Adolescent; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- When IT is ID 26 (Elevator) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Activate 2 it....
- Reward with Crowdedness -.306
- New Gene 873: "Push door if crowded"
- Adolescent; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- When IT is ID 2 (Door) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Activate 1 it....
- Reward with Crowdedness -.306
Now that the stims for using elevators and doors reduce crowdedness in RAS, it only makes sense that their instincts reflect it. This involved repurposing the formerly dormant "Activate lift if bored" and "Push buttons if bored" instincts into ones that involved reducing crowded (reducing the intensity on the former to match), while adding a couple new instincts (with the instinct to pull lift when crowded helping to reduce the chances of a crowded creature constantly pushing a lift that won't move).
Since it didn't make the most sense to me to have fresh-out-of-the-egg babies use elevators and doors, all of these instincts are set to kick in at adolescence.
- Gene 511 (506): "Navigate lift wait": Age changed to Embryo from Child
A navigation instinct kicking in at childhood looks like it makes sense, based on what I just said about the instincts to use elevators and doors when crowded...except this was the only navigation instinct that wasn't present from birth.
I really couldn't think of a reason for it to be the exception considering the instinct to wait for doors is there from birth, and I didn't want to go the Gizmo route and have all the navigation instincts kick on at childhood, so I decided to mend the inconsistency.
- Gene 517 (512): "Push teleporter when bored": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Gene 518 (513): "Push teleporter when crowded": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Gene 519 (514): "Push teleporter when in pain": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- New Gene 520: "Push teleporter when scared"
- Adolescent; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- When IT is ID 27 (Teleporter) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Activate 1 it....
- Reward with Fear -.306
- Gene 865 (857): "Push portal when bored": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Gene 866 (858): "Push portal when crowded": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- Gene 867 (859): "Push portal when in pain": Age changed to Adolescent from Embryo
- New Gene 868: "Push portal when scared"
- Adolescent; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- When IT is ID 34 (Portal) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Activate 1 it....
- Reward with Fear -.306
As with the new instincts to use doors and elevators when crowded, the stim for teleporting now reducing fear calls for two new instincts to use teleporters and portals when afraid.
They've also all been changed to kick in at adolescence rather than being there from birth. Once again I didn't feel it made the most sense for fresh-out-of-the-egg babies, and it was definitely a little annoying as well for a freshly hatched baby to suddenly warp away.
- Gene 856 (849): "Go left when crowded" ("Young stay near parents")
- When IT is ID 5 (IT is my parent) in Tissue 7: detl.... -> When IT is ID 0 (Self) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Approach it.... -> ...And you Travel west....
- Reward with Fear -.71 -> Reward with Crowded -.5
- Gene 857 (850): "Go right when crowded" ("Maturing scatter from parents")
- Age changed to Embryo from Adolescent
- When IT is ID 5 (IT is my parent) in Tissue 7: detl.... -> When IT is ID 0 (Self) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Approach it.... -> ...And you Travel east....
- Punish with Crowdedness 1 -> Reward with Crowdedness -.5
In my breakdown of the Enhanced ChiChis, I noted their way of making babies stay near their parents (or other norns, as the case may be) while making adolescents leave their parents (other norns) was a lot more complicated than the CFF's pair of instincts. I also noted that I wasn't sure if the CFF's method actually worked or not.
As it turns out? It doesn't work. According to Dragoler, the Detail lobe these two instincts reference isn't hooked up to the combination lobe (where the actual learning happens), so it has no bearing on instincts. Creatures can't really tell whether they're looking at their parents (or siblings, or children); they just see "Norn" (Or "Grendel", or "Ettin"), similar to how they see all seeds as just "seed" and not "edible seed of a friendly plant" and "poisonous seed of a deadly weed", and so on.
Since these instincts didn't work in their original forms, I decided to repurpose them into instincts to go left or right when crowded, to match how the Traveling stim now reduces crowding. It also gives babies and children an alternative way of handling crowdedness before the instincts to use elevators and doors kick in.
It's similar to how the TWBs/TCBs handle crowdedness instincts, though unlike the TWBs/TCBs RAS creatures still have an instinct to retreat from each other when crowded and that's still their strongest instinct for dealing with crowdedness.
- Gene 862 (855): "Go home when scared": Age changed to Child from Adolescent
- New Gene 863: "Go home when lonely":
- Child; Both sexes
- Can mutate, duplicate, and be cut; Mutation degree: 128
- When IT is ID 30 (Norn Home) in Tissue 2: noun....
- ...And you Approach it....
- Reward with Loneliness -.5
Last but not least are these two instincts about heading home for reasons other than homesickness. For the first instinct, one of Evolnemesis's stated reasons for adding that instinct to the CFF was so drowning creatures had something productive to do. In line with that, I felt it made sense for it to kick on as early as possible, if not quite as early as from birth (as by default the brain structures responsible for navigation don't kick in until childhood anyway).
The new instinct is in line with everything I said when talking about the stim that reduces loneliness and fear at the peak of same-species smell, and makes it more likely lonely creatures will actually try to do something about their loneliness even if they can't see other creatures of the same species. This does sometimes result in lonely creatures endlessly pacing around their home if all the other creatures in the world have friends nearby already, but at least they're much more likely to find other creatures of the same species this way at all.
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