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[Hoverdog]

Third race is unveiled: Krom

[Sirian]

I've read the Krom lore, and I have to say, it doesn't really make sense to me, how eating rocks would deteriorate the fertility of a planet. If anything, it should increase fertility. If they were eating, say, dirt, and turning it into stone, it would make more sense. Even then, plant life is mostly dependent on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and water in the soil for it's growth.

[Kaje]

I've read the Krom lore, and I have to say, it doesn't really make sense to me, how eating rocks would deteriorate the fertility of a planet. If anything, it should increase fertility. If they were eating, say, dirt, and turning it into stone, it would make more sense. Even then, plant life is mostly dependent on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and water in the soil for it's growth.

http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-ii/environment-and-environmental-problems/soil-erosion.php

Soil is formed as a result of weathering of rocks. There are also many living organisms in the soil. Soil is, in fact a product of the interaction of living organisms with rocks.

It also says that wind and water dams are needed to ensure soil fertility - eating rocks would damage that process.

Sounds fine to me.

[Mephansteras]

I get how they deteriorate the planet, but not how they make it unlivable for themselves. I really doubt a rock-eating race would be able to consume that much in a hundred years. Maybe a few thousand...but, seriously, look at the rocky mountains. I'd take a very, very long time to consume all that rock, and that's just a single mountain range.

Mechanically it's quite interesting. A race that trashes it's home planet and needs to move on a regular basis adds an interesting element to the game. It's just that the lore is a bit off.

Maybe have them require rare earth elements to survive, and that's what gets depleted. In their hunger for it, they end up trashing the environment. Probably via strip mining.

[Kaje]

Perhaps just the line 'particularly soil, which is vital for their nutrition' would clarify things?

And once they've eaten all of the good soil, which also leaves the planet relatively unhabitable, they need to move on.

[Hoverdog]

It's more than that. Krom do not just eat rock formations that can be found on a planet's surface. A couple Kroms can absorb them in a few months. They actually consume the planet's crust slowly but surely destroying the whole surface. Such a process will make it uninhabitable.

[cerapa]

So...

theres an absolute fuckton of Krom? Theres really no other way to eat an entire planetary crust.

The Krom have suddenly turned into grey goo(well, rocks in this case), making them way cooler.

[hemmingjay]

Another interesting mechanic would be that after consuming a planet and making it unlivable for Krom, it would actually be MORE fertile for traditional races. Just a different line of thinking.

[tiagocc0]

Another interesting mechanic would be that after consuming a planet and making it unlivable for Krom, it would actually be MORE fertile for traditional races. Just a different line of thinking.

That's a good idea, but we would need to change the fact that others hate them.


If we had the population of Earth but with Kroms instead, and they need to eat everyday more than a human would in average. Imagine how the planet would look like since food is not produced.
Kroms are much sturdy than a human, maybe we should compare it to an elephant.
An elephant may consume 300kgs/day. (http://www.elephant.se/how_much_do_elephants_eat_and_drink.php)
That's 9 tons a month and 108 tons a year. Just one elephant.
Now let's add 6 billion Kroms and we have 648 billion tons (how do I write that?) per year being consumed without being replaced in any way.

Now, what becomes of the soil/rock being consumed. Part becomes it's own body, but much more compact and resistant than a normal rock, the rest probably turns into a gas.
So the problem is not only the soil/rock being used but also the atmosphere that becomes polluted.

Now let's take a look at Earth's crust: http://img.techpowerup.org/110311/layers-of-the-earth.jpg
It's not even on scale, imagine it smaller than that, the crust is really like a very thin skin that covers Earth.

When Krom dies, their body probably must take millions of years to decompose, they may live longer than humans but imagine how they would end up with a planet filled with dead Kroms they won't/can't eat. Maybe that planet itself can't be used the same way a normal planet would be used, but other races could probably use the dead Krom bodies as resources.

So it's not that impossible for a race that consumes soil/rock to end up destroying the planet for them and other races, because the planet would need much more work and maybe a much more advanced tech to be terraformed.

EDIT: One interesting tech Krom could research would be to produce volcanoes, they could send a huge driller to the center of the planet on a place on the planet where the crust is thinner and lava would eventually come out. Or they could provoke earthquakes that would make inactive volcanoes active again and then feed on the molten rock after it cools down.
This could extend how much time they stay on a planet but would make it even less habitable by other species.

[Mephansteras]

Hmm. Ok, but what do they do with the stuff they consume? I assume most of their mass isn't being lost in any way if they're that dense/resilient. And how are they getting the energy to move around and do stuff? Some sort of reaction with the rock?

I guess they'd have to have some sort of internal furnace that's burning up the rock in some way to give them energy, which would at least explain the consumption of that much material.


I suppose my real point is: Give a good explanation in game for why and how they work the way they do. They're Alien enough that it's interesting, but you're also going to hit the 'What? How does that work??' button on a lot of your players with them.

[tiagocc0]

Hmm. Ok, but what do they do with the stuff they consume? I assume most of their mass isn't being lost in any way if they're that dense/resilient. And how are they getting the energy to move around and do stuff? Some sort of reaction with the rock?

I guess they'd have to have some sort of internal furnace that's burning up the rock in some way to give them energy, which would at least explain the consumption of that much material.


I suppose my real point is: Give a good explanation in game for why and how they work the way they do. They're Alien enough that it's interesting, but you're also going to hit the 'What? How does that work??' button on a lot of your players with them.

Thanks Mephansteras, no problem, we will give it more thought to be able to answer those questions and will be sure to put them in game.

[Mephansteras]

Happy to help.


We can be rather critical around here, but it really is intended to be Constructive most of the time.

[tiagocc0]

Happy to help.


We can be rather critical around here, but it really is intended to be Constructive most of the time.

It is very helpful, it's great to see people interested on our game, giving ideas, asking questions. 

[Sirian]

If we had the population of Earth but with Kroms instead, and they need to eat everyday more than a human would in average. Imagine how the planet would look like since food is not produced.
Kroms are much sturdy than a human, maybe we should compare it to an elephant.
An elephant may consume 300kgs/day. (http://www.elephant.se/how_much_do_elephants_eat_and_drink.php)
That's 9 tons a month and 108 tons a year. Just one elephant.
Now let's add 6 billion Kroms and we have 648 billion tons (how do I write that?) per year being consumed without being replaced in any way.

Using Earth as a model, accounting only for the continental crust (148 940 000 km²), with an average crust thickness of 40 km (continental crust is 30 to 50 km thick), and an average density of 2.55 g/cm3 (2.2 to 2.9), that is around 15 billion billion kg (15 191 880 000 000 000 000 kg), enough to last about 23 thousand (23 148) years at the rate of 648 billion tons a year.

According to your lore : "While a single Krom’s impact is hardly noticeable, a whole colony can have disastrous results. A planet once bursting with life is reduced to a lifeless husk within no more than a hundred years."

Even if "a whole colony" means 6 billion kroms (that sounds more than a colony to me), that is nowhere near enough to consume the crust in a hundred years. And if the planet has no oceans, that's even more crust to consume (I haven't accounted for oceanic crust).

I understand that it's a game, not hard sci-fi, but when I read stuff like that, I HAVE to point out the wild inaccuracies.

I could also check how unlikely it is for silicates to be turned into a gas, but I think that's enough nerding-out for one evening.

[Kaje]

If we had the population of Earth but with Kroms instead, and they need to eat everyday more than a human would in average. Imagine how the planet would look like since food is not produced.
Kroms are much sturdy than a human, maybe we should compare it to an elephant.
An elephant may consume 300kgs/day. (http://www.elephant.se/how_much_do_elephants_eat_and_drink.php)
That's 9 tons a month and 108 tons a year. Just one elephant.
Now let's add 6 billion Kroms and we have 648 billion tons (how do I write that?) per year being consumed without being replaced in any way.

Using Earth as a model, accounting only for the continental crust (148 940 000 km²), with an average crust thickness of 40 km (continental crust is 30 to 50 km thick), and an average density of 2.55 g/cm3 (2.2 to 2.9), that is around 15 billion billion kg (15 191 880 000 000 000 000 kg), enough to last about 23 thousand (23 148) years at the rate of 648 billion tons a year.

According to your lore : "While a single Krom’s impact is hardly noticeable, a whole colony can have disastrous results. A planet once bursting with life is reduced to a lifeless husk within no more than a hundred years."

Even if "a whole colony" means 6 billion kroms (that sounds more than a colony to me), that is nowhere near enough to consume the crust in a hundred years. And if the planet has no oceans, that's even more crust to consume (I haven't accounted for oceanic crust).

I understand that it's a game, not hard sci-fi, but when I read stuff like that, I HAVE to point out the wild inaccuracies.

I could also check how unlikely it is for silicates to be turned into a gas, but I think that's enough nerding-out for one evening.

Klingons, Vulcans and Andorans don't exist.

Star Trek still rocks.