NESLife VI

Terrance888 said:

EDIT: Is it just because of the increased habitats, or is the rate of evolution (player participation) slowing down?

EDITEDIT: How common is sight underwater, especially for aquatic predators?

Sigh. These questions are not attached at all to the continent naming thing. I was asking about feeling the fewer evolutions, and am wondering whether there are actually fewer evolutions, or if it is merely an illusion due to said evolutions competing in more spread out habitats.

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I am just changing names because 3 continents have fused into one, which is deserving of a new name. It has nothing to do with rate of evolution (which is the same as it's always been) and player participation (I'd do it regardless of activity levels).

Sight is fairly uncommon underwater. Only the Padiped uses it. Technically the Phylum Maves also uses sight, but they try to avoid underwater ecosystems as much as they can, as they tend to get eaten there.

Fewer evolutions, in my book, doesn't have any implication. It just means that families are remaining relatively unchanged (evolution is happening, individual species are going extinct and appearing, but the families themselves remain in place).

Patchy said:

Hey Iggy, if I added cuticles to the Ibero would it be less of a "leaky storage tank?"

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That would be one way of minimizing its fluid-loss problem.

Also, Sundentia, Nevia and Delgon are the current leading names for the southern supercontinent.

Let me ask this directly.

Do you get as many evolution posts as before? They seem fewer. Is that because evolution posts really went down, or is it because said posts are now split into various regions.

Terrance888 said:

Let me ask this directly.

Do you get as many evolution posts as before? They seem fewer. Is that because evolution posts really went down, or is it because said posts are now split into various regions.

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We're slightly lower than the start-of-game peak, but not consistently enough to be a statistical trend. The spread of evolutions over geographic space might make it feel lower.

Ignore this, refer to later evolution.

Well, you've kind of got two mutations and two selective pressures in there. I'd prefer if you'd just pick one or the other.

Gah, thought I could get away with that. Will edit out the caffeine part.

Would the a digestive system giving the ability to store energy (say, as a fat) require significant preliminary evolutions, and could they be done in a single turn? Could i have a minor evolution related to the selection pressure alongside it?

Fat storage could be a single mutation, and if you throw it in with something minor that fits in with the same selective pressure, then it should be okay.

As a side note, I think the Spiracul seems to have gone extinct, and should be greyed out on the species map.

In any case, behold the Abomination!

Name: Abomination*
Ancestor: southern Tybiller
Selective Pressure: Lack of predation on the southern continent leads to a population explosion of Orata animals, leading to massive amounts of competition from other Orata and the swift devouring of plant matter, leading to starvation for the species.
Mutation: The Abomination, descended from the Tybiller was evolved in an environment where there was a large population explosion of herbivores due to the lack of predators. As such, food would be devoured quickly, leading to a simple maxim - either you eat fast, or you don't eat at all.

As such, the Abomination has evolved an extra set of mouths on the sides of its head, which allow it to eat plant life faster. These mouths have a full connection to the animal's digestive system, allowing food eaten from the side-mouths to be fully digested and extracted for nutrients.

However, the speed at which food disappears from the landscape means that the Abomination must eat more than it can digest at any given time in order to eat fast. As such, the Abomination's digestive system has adapted to be able to store energy as a fatty substance, which is stored in lumps on its back.

Using its fat stores and three mouths, the Abomination is able to gorge itself to total fullness, and then not be required to eat for some time as it operates on its fat stores.

*AKA: the Crawling Horror, the Thing of Nightmares from the Depths of That Which Should Not Be, the Child of the Horrors of the Deeps and the Fuel of Madness, the Bringer of Insanity, the Three-Mouthed Monster of the Crawling Darkness, the Tumorous Being of the Realms of Madness, the Black Abomination of Delgon!

Good catch Grandkhan! The Spiracul has indeed been entirely outcompeted by its descendant, the Ileum.

Organism: Tearer
Ancestor: Zeph
Selective Pressure: Predation whilst not gliding
Mutation: The primary food source of the Zeph are the floating plants that hover above the surface of Lambda Ignaceae. Although an abundant resource they have low energy density and require a significant amount of time to digest. This can lead to Zephs being caught by ocean predators because they lack sufficient energy to launch themselves out of the water quickly enough. By reverting to the pure carnivorous diet of their ancestors the Tearer has a food source with much higher energy density.
The Tearer hunts from the sky, gliding above the surface of the ocean whilst watching for prey near the surface. When it spies a likely target it dives to take its meal.
The forward appendages of the the Zeph have fused, the spines becoming a sharpened scoop that can pick up smaller prey whole or tear strips of flesh out of larger creatures and then deliver the meal straight into a receptacle formed from the fleshy parts of the limbs used to contain digesting food. The tail no longer contains a stinger but has instead become a fin that is used to accelerate the Tearer out of the water as quickly as possible and also aids in aerial maneuvering.
To increase respiration the Tearer has developed microscopic pores that run the length of its body. Air or ammonia enters the pores as the Tearer glides or swims, gas exchange occurring as it passes through without significantly increasing drag.

@Patchy, waxy roots again? Is it just me or did Iggy specifically post in the update notes why Masada's waxy roots were suicidal... Check it

Organism: Padiped
Description: An armoured swimming generalist with 10 muscular, articulated paddles, a segmented rudder-like tail, multiple peripheral hearts in an open circulatory system, jaws and two primitive stalked eyes.
Niche: Swimming Generalist.

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Well, its worth a shot. This world needs sea-scorpions!

Organism: Lanciped
Ancestor: Padiped
Selective Pressure: Predation from Shredderii while hunting and inefficiently eating prey.
Mutation: further streamlining of the body form and tail, resulting in a stinger fixed in the tail - beginning as a small defensive spine, and finally becoming an offensive weapon. The stinger now emits fluids that are almost identical to the creature's digestive juices.

The Lanciped is a niche predator. Using its eyesight to hunt small, immature animals in shallow water, preferably from the cover of Strippers or rock crevices. The sting is guided into a weak spot in the prey, which is then followed until it is weak enough to be carried away for eating, the 'venom' giving a head start on dissolving its inner parts. Lancipeds prefer daylight and complex shallow seabed terrain, where eyesight is an advantage and ambush is possible.

NOTE: I imagine the Padiped lineage being able to 'hover' above prey and make backwards or forwards movements, as they are propelled along their sides, contrasting to the powerful forward motion of the Hobonia. Is this accurate?

EDIT: edited to make a bit more sense.

Trappist
Ancestor: Watcher
Selective Pressure: Desiccation during the heat of the day.
Mutation: The Principle mutation of the trappist is stronger, much longer, spring-like front legs, angled forward, with sharp barbs on the end. This allows for a slight behavioral change. While the Trappist still uses the night to hunt, during the day, it escapes the heat and desiccation by retreating to a burrow that it has dug (They tend to return to the same burrow, though if it is damaged, they will move on and dig a new one.) This borrow allows for opportunistic hunting during the day: When anything edible walks close to the burrow, the trappists powerful legs spring out and spear it to bring it in to be eaten.

Daftpanzer said:

@Patchy, waxy roots again? Is it just me or did Iggy specifically post in the update notes why Masada's waxy roots were suicidal... Check it

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Gah! Well I give up on the plants for now, back to working on the Ileum.

Organism: Haerent
Ancestor: Southern Skitterer
Selective Pressure: Predation by Watchers, Abominations, and other Skitterers
Mutation: The Skitterers have evolved to become smaller than original with legs that are able to cling to the sides of Horods which allows them to scale them and eat the leafs in safty from the many dangers that stalk the ground.

While they still do not have a digestive system making eating the leafs a slow process their safety in the canopies from predators allows them the luxury of a slow meal. The most dangerous time for Haerent is when they have eaten all the leafs off of a Horod and must climb down to the dangerous ground in order to reach a new source of food.

My next evolution will be functionally invisible.

The stats are updated.

Having trouble deciding what to evolve.

Organism: Necrofloater
Ancestor: Freefloater
Selective Pressure: The freefloater couldn't defend itself against predators or move around.
Mutation: The necrofloater lives in the global ocean and has evolved extensively. It has become a colonial animal which floats in giant mats. The necrofloater will first release a small amount of poison as a warning. This small amount of poison will cause the creature attempting to consume the necrofloater to experience confusion. Should another creature continue to harassing the necrofloater, it will then go all out and release a massive cloud of deadly toxins. These toxins cause the attacking organisms to experience paralysis followed by the erosion of body tissue.