Yea yea yea, I know. Whatever. Let's go.
Some new stuff exists. NPC background animals exist now, in much less detail. And I improved the species profile format. And the ecosystem roles changed.
Way of action
You play as clades of animals, with the goal of speciating, and surviving whatever the world and GM throws at you. There are no teams, everyone will fight for themselves, though you may form alliances if you so desire.
You get 3 actions each turn, with their amount of success determined by a 5-sided dice. You can use your votes for;
• Causing a mutation on a single species,
within reason.
• Speciating a species. This can stack for
rapid adaptative radiation.
• Improve a previously ineffective/
maladaptative/vestigial feature. Roll
gets a +1 bonus to account for the fact
that the requested feature already exists
in some form.
There is no cap for the times you can use these. You can use all three of your votes on the same exact thing.
If a biomes species capacity is full, and a speciation happens there, then the weakest of the prexisting ones is instantly replaced by the new one. This may happen as many times as required.
The Evolutionary Dices
This is going to be pretty self explanatory. Normal dices are;
5= Very good. The vote grants an
additional small supplementary
feature.
4= Good. It is exactly what you asked for,
no more, no less.
3= Still good, just mediocre and doesn't
affects much about the species'
evolutionary success.
2= Bad, the roll does more harm than
good to the species involved.
1= Maladaptation. The roll actively
harms the afflicted species. May cause
extinction if the species was already
endangered
Just because you dice went great, doesn't means you will be automatically successful and beneficial. For example, a turtle-like shell is useless on a fast predator, and a high roll from such will actually harm it.
If an added feature is antithetical to a current one, the pre-existing one will be lost.
Vestigialism
Senses may lose sharpness, brains may shrink, tusks and horns may lose purpose novel behaviors may be forgotten. If a trait is no longer useful to a species' current niche and ecological situation for too long, it is automatically lost.
This will happen in at least three turns following the feature going vestigial. If you repurpose the vestigial feature with an improvement vote into something useful again, this no longer applies.
Sexual Selection
Unlike seaspn 4, you will have to evolve your SS vote again. Any form of reproduction that requires effort and involves mixing of genes unlocks this vote for the player that succesfully gained it.
It's success is divined by a 7-sided dice. It must be used every turn, and can be used to make an entirely new species, add a mutation to a new species, or support a single action.
This is an intentional wild card. It may either screw you over, save your otherwise awful throw, or just create unintended consequences.
It can be used in two ways. It can either be used as a separate vote, or as a modifier for a normal action.
The numbers are here. The former ones happen if the SS is used to support an action, and the latter ones are the standalone effects.
7= +3 to the action / Over-adaptation.
The feature is very intensely selected
for. It is overpronounced to the point
of changing the lifestyle of the whole
species. That change isn't guaranteed
to be for the better.
6= +2 to the action / Above, but to a
lesser extent.
5= +1 to the action / What you wanted + a
small additional perk.
4= +0 to the action / Exactly what you
wanted.
3= -1 to the action / The feature is slightly
broken. Minor Fisherian Runaway.
2= -2 to the action / Significant Fisherian
Runaway. The feature makes the
species more vulnerable overrall.
1= -3 to the action / Extreme Fisherian
Runaway. Pretty much a
maladaptation kept afloat in the gene
pool by sexual selection.
The effects of an SS vote can change wildly, depending on the context. It's real effects usually show themselves in highly competitive environments, while places with low competition are much more lax with the repercussion of having bright red fur in an open grassland.
Biome and Ecosystem Mechanics
The word "biome" is no longer so vague. It denotes separate ecosystems now.
Each biome tab has multiple sections for its available niches instead of ecosystem roles. Depending on the multiple factors, such as plant cover, climate, and what adaptation players have, certain niches may appear and dissappear. As a result, the number of niches should be in flux much more often. Niches will ıt be more specific than, say, ''aerial carnivore''. As in ''eagle analogue''. Player will be able to create new niches by evolving certain adaptations. Nothing regarding the air will appear until someone evolves flight, for example.
There will be only a limited, but varying amount of niches in a given biome. A gallery forest will have more, and the desert will have maybe one or two.
In addition to anything plant, there will also be a vague ''vermin'' category of non-descript small animals for every ecosystem, aquatic or terrestrial. Insectivores and piscivores and such will eat those.
Population
The criterion used are the Wildlife Status symbols used worldwide, and abstract numbering from 1 to 100.
LC/>60: Least concern. This species
enjoys their high and healthy
population counts. Not in any direct
threat.
NT/60-41: Near Threatened. Not quite in
danger, but could be in a better
situation than it is.
VU/40-21: Vulnerable. This species is at
the limit from enough, to not enough.
Needs to get better at survival a bit.
EN/20-11: Endangered: The danger of
extinction is close to this species.
Needs to adapt to whatever is
causing its decline.
CR/10-1: Critically Endangered: This
species is at the very cusp of going
extinct. Something must be done, and
quick, or else...
EX/0: Extinct. This species has no living
members. If you hit this, you lose
this species entirely. If it was your
only/last, then you have to branch out
of someone else.
Environmental Dices
Every turn, an event occurs. Three dices determine the strength, length of time, and the temperament of the said event.
Strength dice:
0-25= Nothing Happens (Makes the other
two values N/A)
26-70= Minor Event
71-90= Major Event
91-100= Very Major Event
Timeframe Dice:
0-10= A single Turn
11-14= Two Turns
15-17= Three Turns
18-19= Four Turns
20= Permanent Effect
Temperament dice:
7= Awsome stuff
6= Good stuff
5= Convinient stuff
4= "Meh" stuff
3= Inconvinient stuff
2= Bad stuff
1= Awful stuff
The Environment
You play on a small, low gravity, low atmosphere, kinda cold, not-quite-martian desert world, inside of a large freshwater mountain lake. You branch off of The Worm, unspecialised strips of cells that move around aimlessly and collect detrius to eat. The said detrius falls from the waters surface, formed by dying algea.
Author
Topic: Competitive Evolution Season 5 │ Joins Open │ Turn 14 (Read 7015 times)