Creatures 1: Tabby

Time to introduce the latest Norn. It's a female forest Norn, going by the name of Tabby.

I'm really not a fan of the Forest or Ron Norns, but they came with the fixed genetics I downloaded and although I still don't really like the way they look I'm glad I decided to give Tabby a go. They have very different genetics than the original Norns and by the looks of it, it does them a lot of good.

Tabby:



Tabby has a couple of new instincts included in her genome, one of which gives her a huge boost of reward chemical for resting. As I suspected this makes her a good, deep sleeper, as she enjoys her nap times far more than other Norns. I also seem to be having some success in telling her to sleep, although it hardly seems necessary.

She tends to doze off any time her sleepiness drive gets to around 50%, which means she's never grumpy due to lack of sleep.

She's also a darn good eater. Again due to some new instincts, Tabby gets 127Reward chemical when she approaches plants and a whooping 255Reward for approaching food. As well as this extra reward she doesn't seem to need as much food as other Norns, with her hunger drive almost never rising. Honestly, she probably eats more food than she needs to.

Although mostly minor, Tabby has a lot of changes to her genome. I'm going to hit you with a wall of text now, but don't worry, we'll go through them bit by bit. Just scroll down past the giant wall of text for an explanation.

Mutations:

Lobes:
121 Different in File 1 6 0 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type0 PLUS type1 , WTA= 1
121 Different in File 2 6 0 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type0 , WTA= 1
122 Different in File 1 7 0 Emb B Mut Lobe #= 8 at X=11 Y=5 is 42 neurons wide and 18 neurons high. Perflags=0. Dendrite Type 0: Input Lobe=0, Min#=1, Max#=5, Spread=1, Fanout=2

Receptors:
274 Different in File 1 40 0 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, stagger, chem=Dancing, thresh=86, nom=0, gain=173, features=Analogue
274 Different in File 2 40 0 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, stagger, chem=Alcohol, thresh=106, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue
324 New in File 1 44 0 Emb B Creature, Circulatory, floating chem 2, chem=Glycogen, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue
326 New in File 1 45 0 Sen B Creature, Somatic, die of old age, chem=Ageing, thresh=5, nom=117, gain=255, features=Inverted Digital


Emitters:
325 New in File 1 28 0 Emb B MutDup Creature, Circulatory, floating chem 2, chem=Hunger, thresh=0, samp=5, gain=2, features=Inverted Analogue

Reactions:
58: 1*NFP++ + 1* => 1*NFP + 1*; half-life = 8.
58: 1*NFP++ + 1* => 1*NFP + 1*Punishment; half-life = 8.

59: 1*Hunger++ + 1* => 1*Hunger + 1*; half-life = 8.
59: 1*Hunger++ + 1* => 1*Hunger + 1*Punishment; half-life = 8.

62: 1*Tiredness++ + 1* => 1*Tiredness + 1*; half-life = 8.
62: 1*Tiredness++ + 1* => 1*Tiredness + 1*Punishment; half-life = 8.

64: 1*Sleepiness++ + 1* => 1*Sleepiness + 1*; half-life = 8.
64: 1*Sleepiness++ + 1* => 1*Sleepiness + 1*Punishment; half-life = 8.

68: 1*Boredom++ + 1* => 1*Boredom + 1*; half-life = 8.
68: 1*Boredom++ + 1* => 1*Boredom + 1*Punishment; half-life = 8.

142: 1*Starch + 1* => 2*Glucose + 1*Hunger--; half-life = 64.
142: 1*Starch + 1* => 2*Glucose + 1*; half-life = 64.

144: 3*Glucose + 1* => 1*Glycogen + 1*; half-life = 56.
144: 3*Glucose + 1* => 1*Glycogen + 1*Hunger--; half-life = 56.

145: 1*Glycogen + 1* => 3*Glucose + 1*; half-life = 64.
145: 1*Glycogen + 1* => 3*Glucose + 1*Hunger; half-life = 64.

146: 1*Glucose + 2*Hexokinase => 4*CO2 + 8*Activase; half-life = 24.
146: 1*Glucose + 2*Hexokinase => 4*CO2 + 1*; half-life = 24.

292: 4*Adrenaline + 1*Ageing => 1* + 1*; half-life = 128.
292: 1*Adrenaline + 1* => 1* + 1*; half-life = 88.

308: 1* + 1* => 1* + 1*; half-life = 248.
308: 1*Hunger-- + 1*Hunger => 1* + 1*; half-life = 32.

320: 4*AntiOxidant + 1* => 1*Ageing + 1*; half-life = 56.
320: 5*Geddonase + 5*Glucose => 5*Geddonase + 1*; half-life = 72.

321: 2*Geddonase + 3*Glycogen => 1*Geddonase + 1*; half-life = 88.

322: 1*Dancing + 1*NFP => 3*Dancing + 1*; half-life = 128.

323: 1*Dancing + 2*Boredom => 1*Boredom + 1*; half-life = 112.

331: 8*Adrenaline + 1*Activase => 1*Fear-- + 1*Anger--; half-life = 32.

Stimuli:
92: 'Creature pats me' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 48NFP-- + 16Loneliness-- + 31Crowdedness++ + 8
92: 'Creature pats me' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 48NFP-- + 16Loneliness-- + 16Crowdedness++ + 8SexDrive++

97: 'I bump into wall' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 25Pain++ + 127Turnase + 0 + 0
97: 'I bump into wall' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 25Pain++ + 0 + 0 + 0

98: 'Object comes into view' => 12NFP-- + 12Boredom-- + 12Loneliness-- + 3SexDrive--
98: 'Object comes into view' => 0 + 0 + 0 + 0

99: 'Unrecognized word' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 12NFP-- + 12Boredom-- + 12Loneliness-- + 3SexDrive--
99: 'Unrecognized word' 'Sensed Even When Asleep' => 0 + 0 + 0 + 0

332: 'I have retreated' => 127Collapsase + 0 + 0 + 0

Instincts:
327: Stim source i/ps Herb + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Reward
328: Stim source i/ps Weed + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Punishment
329: Stim source i/ps Food + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 255*Reward
330: Drive i/ps Sleepiness + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Rest => 255*Reward

Okay, you're still with me? Good. Lets start with the lobes.

Lobes:
The lobes are one of the things that still confuses me, but with some of the reading I've been doing I've started to get an idea. I'm not sure yet what 121 does, but I'm pretty sure 122 has made Lobe #8 slightly larger to incorporate some of the changes in Tabby's genome.


Receptors:
Again, not entirely sure what some of this does. But I can tell you that 324 and 326 are the changes that allow Tabby to die of old age.

Emitters:
Okay you got me. This one. No idea.

Reactions:
Ah, finally something I can explain properly. Changes 58,59,62,64 and 68 all stop Tabby from feeling punishment went receiving certain chemicals. These chemicals are NFP-Increase(Need for pleasure), hungerIncrease, tirednessIncrease, sleepinessIncrease and boredomIncrease.

What this means is that whenever one of the original hatchery Norns felt NFP, hunger, tiredness, sleepiness or boredom, they'd receive a small amount of punishment for it. The problem with this is, firstly Norns can't distinguish where they are getting their punishments from, therefore they associate the punishment from whatever their last interaction was (got that from reading "Creation: Life and how to make it"). On average, this still works and over time Norns will still learn what they need to learn. But with the punishment chemical being injected into their bloodstream constantly from these original genes there's a good chance it was confusing them.

The other problem with this is that being tired or sleepy, or even hungry, isn't always a bad thing. If you're exercising you'll feel all of these things and it's a perfectly natural thing to happen. Likewise, when a Norn is tired and tries to sleep it slowly increases their boredom. In other Norns this would send a small amount of punishment and could potentially be telling the Norn that sleeping is a bad thing.

So I've pretty happy to see these changes. They make a lot of sense.

142, 144, 145 and 146 all seems to be changes to how a Norns digestive system works. I suspect these changes are what is causing Tabby to need so little food. The starch/glucose/glycogen reactions now give her a dose of hungerDecrease, bringing down her overall hunger. This should mean her body's energy levels are more realistic and should prevent her from feeling so hungry when her internal energy supplies are still high.

320 is again related to ageing. In the original hatchery Norns 4Antioxidants would turn into ageing, essentially allowing Norns to live forever. This has now been corrected.

323: Ever see a Norn do that funny little dance movement? Well, now that decreases boredom slightly.

Stimuli:
92: Having other Norns push them increases crowdednessIncrease by an additional 15. Also removes the 8SexdriveIncrease.

97: Bumping into walls now adds 127Turnase. I haven't looked it up, but I'm pretty sure this prompts a Norn to turn around and walk the other way.

98: Objects coming into view now inject 12NFPDecrease, 12BoredomDecrease, 12LonelinessDecrease and 3SexdriveDecrease. Previously this did nothing.

99: Hearing unrecognised words now injects: 12NFPDecrease, 12BoredomDecrease, 12LonelinessDecrease and 3SexdriveDecrease. Previously this did nothing.

Instincts:
327: New instinct that gives 127Reward for approaching plants.
328: New instinct that gives 127Punishment for approaching weeds.
329: New instinct that gives 255Reward for approaching food.
330: New instinct that gives 255Reward for resting.

As we discussed above, Tabby has instincts that reward her for trying to sleep and approaching plants and food. She also has another instinct that punishes her for approaching weeds. I imagine you'd find some pretty similar instincts in Creatures 3 Norns, as they've always seemed to know exactly what to eat from birth.

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So that's it. I know this has been a darn long post, but hopefully that wasn't too scary. Good on you for sticking with it for this long. There's a couple of changes I skipped in the genome, either because they're not terribly interesting or because I don't yet know what they mean. Feel free to ask questions.

So, next update, I'll introduce you to Heartly. Don't worry. He's not nearly as complex as Tabby.