So I asked a couple of questions over at the Creaturetopia forums and judging by the feedback I've got it appears my Norns are in fact immortal. Well, kinda.
The original Norns in Creatures 1 have two things in their genomes that inhibit their aging process. It doesn't quite make them immortal, but it's pretty darn close.
The Norns have a 'die of old age' gene, which is turned off by default. From the reading I've done in the past this gene is basically a switch that kills a Norn once it reaches a certain age. I don't think this gene should need to be turned on, but for now it is. I may turn it back off at some point as I think it will prevent the Norns from increasing their potential lifespans.
The other genetic problem is that the Norns can convert antioxidants into the ageing chemical, thereby extending their overall lifespan. This gene basically reads:
4Antioxidant + 1None -> 1Ageing + 1None.
Pump a Norn with enough antioxidants, and they can essentially live forever. This gene definitely needed to be changed.
I found the solution over at Creaturetopia. Tarlia, one of the posters over there has tweaked the genetics of the incubator Norns to fix these two genetic issues and has provided a zip with all the new .gen files. Replace the files in the genetics folder with these and everything should be working properly again.
You can find this download under the "Edited hatchery genetics for C1" thread in the forums. Unfortunately Creaturetopia doesn't seem to have addresses for it's threads, otherwise I'd provide you guys with the direct link.
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So what does this mean for my experiments? Well, unfortunately it means I'm going to have to start from scratch. The Norns I'm currently using will likely live forever, assuming I take good enough care of them. So I've downloaded the new genetics and I'm testing them now. But with a new world, comes new ideas for experiments.
I found reading the "Survival of the Fittest" by Brian Hershey over at CreaturesVillage (http://www.creaturesvillage.com/creatures1/library/science/lib_science_survival.htm) quite inspiring and I've got a few good ideas from reading that.
So here's the new format for the forseeable future:
I'm going to hatch and raise Norns individually. This gives me a chance to train them up properly and give them the best chance at survival. Genetics are important, but I'm a strong believer that environment plays a huge part in who we are. It also gives me a chance to actually play Creatures and enjoy raising Norns as pets and friends. And finally it will give me the time I need to do good write ups for each Norn and share them with you guys.
Once they reach breeding age I'll export them and train another. I'll keep doing this until I have the maximum number of Norns I can import (8). Then I'll import all of them again and essentially do a feral run.
I'll let them all breed for a little while and collect a bunch of eggs. After either a certain amount of time, or after I've got a reasonable deposit of eggs I'll export any surviving Norns and start hand raising the next generation.
I'll then take my favourite 8 Norns from the next generation and do it all over again. My 'favourite' will be based upon appearance and how well they take care of themselves, such as being good eaters and sleepers. Norns tend to struggle most with these two attributes, so I'd like to try and breed some good eaters and sleepers.
As I export Norns I'll make backup copies of them, so if I find anything interesting in their genetics I'll be able to reuse them at a later date, or share them with anyone who is interested.
I imagine I'll end up with a lot of exported Norns in this process, so keeping a good database using Telinome's 'Creature Log' will be important.
So, onward we go. I now have good genetics, a decent collection of cobs I'll use and most importantly, a plan of what I want to achieve. Ultimately I'd like to breed Norns that can take care of themselves from birth, but we'll see if any other interesting mutations crop up along the way, and whether some of them might be worth investigating further.
Next post I'll introduce you to the first Norns with the new genetics, Tony.
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