Creatures 1: Gen3 - Stubbs

My goodness it's been a while since I did a post, let alone a post on an actual Norn. The honest truth is I'm starting to run out of steam with these guys. There's just so many Norns and so much to document. So I'm thinking of adding some things to the mix to spice things up a little. But more on that later.

For now, let's turn our attention to Stubbs, AKA: Moniker 0XUJ.

I actually spent quite a bit of time with Stubbs before exporting him, so he's one of the eldest Norns I've raised in this experiment. He's just over an hour old. Most of the other Norns get to maybe 40 minutes.
I guess that says good things for his personality, as he was rather fun to raise.
Unfortunately he has inherited the bad Tiredness Instinct mutation, which makes it difficult for him to learn resting is a good thing.
He may also have some problems with Anger, although they're quite minor and haven't really shown up in his day to day activities yet.

It's quite interesting at this point to see some mutations constantly popping up in the later generations. If they become any more prolific I may have to conclude they're here to stay. The unfortunate aspect is that most of them aren't too good.

Mutations:
Stubbs inherited most of his mutations from either Mayflur or Bonza, with I believe only two completely new mutations. Let's start with the new ones.

RECEPTORS:
249: Creature, Sensorimotor, in pain, chem=Pain, thresh48, nom=0, gain=238, features=Analogue
249: Creature, Sensorimotor, in pain, chem=Pain, thresh48, nom=0, gain=239, features=Analogue

This gene dictates how much of the chemical (Pain) will be injected when Stubbs is hurt. This decrease in gain should means Stubbs is every so slightly more resistant to pain. Depending on the circumstances this could be good or bad, but with such a small decrease it won't be noticeable.

REACTIONS:
70: 1*AngerIncrease + 1*None = 1*Anger + 0*Punishment
69: 1*AngerIncrease + 1*None = 1*Anger + 1*Punishment

It is very much open to debate whether this gene mutation should be considered good or bad. In a nutshell it punishes Norns for increasing their anger. Naturally you don't want angry Norns, but I also don't agree that punishing creatures for feeling certain emotions is always a good thing. It may be possible to have a scenario where feeling angry is a good thing!
I prefer my Norns to feel a range of emotions, then be rewarded or punished based upon what the scenario entails.

And now on to the inherited genes.

RECEPTORS:
56: Creature, Drives Levels SexDrive, chem=Anger, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255
56: Creature, Drives Levels SexDrive, chem=SexDrive, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255

Here we have that gene from Bonza again. He seems to be doing a good job of passing it on. Davis also inherited this gene.
My initial thoughts on this gene may have been wrong. I believed this would increase a Norns anger when aroused, but Ettina informs me it may be the exact opposite!
What this means is that this gene will make Davis and Stubbs aroused when angry! Still hardly a good mutation, but at least it may give them something useful to do with their anger.

253: Creature, Sensorimotor, tired, chem=Tiredness, thresh=174, nom=1, gain=255
253: Creature, Sensorimotor, tired, chem=Tiredness, thresh=174, nom=0, gain=255

Another bad mutation, but at least this is very minor. This gene means Stubbs Tiredness level will never drop below a value of 1. Stubbs will be permanently tired, but at least it's only a very small level of tiredness.

61: 1*HotnessIncrease + 1*(NONE) => 1*Hotness + 1*Punishment

Like gene 70/69, this gene is debatable as to whether or not it's a good or bad mutation. In the case of Norns, hotness and coldness aren't exactly linked. In theory a Norn can be both very hot and very cold at the same time, although they should work to cancel each other out pretty quickly, assuming the Norn has the genes for cancelling these out.
So in Albia both increasing hotness and increasing coldness can be considered bad things, regardless of the creatures current temperature.

231: 2*Antigen3 + 4*Glucose => 1*Antibody3 + 1*Hotness; half-life=81
229: 2*Antigen3 + 4*Glucose => 1*Antibody3 + 1*Hotness; half-life=80

A very small increase to the half-life here means Stubbs will keep Antibody3 in his system just that little bit longer. It's dreadfully unlikely a Norn would catch two Antigen3 infections one after the other (although reinfection from another Norn is possible), but this should give Stubbs a better chance of fighting off the infection the second time around, assuming it happens before the Antibody3 chemical leaves his system.

INSTINCTS:
136 Drive i/ps Tiredness + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I rest => 93*(048)
135 Drive i/ps Tiredness + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I rest => 93*Reward

Much to my disgust this gene keeps getting passed on. This gene replaced Reward for resting with a random, unused chemical, thus making it difficult for the Norn to learn resting is a good thing. I'm really hoping to breed this gene out of the future generations, as it's a rather terrible one.

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So, as to the future of my little Albian tribe? As I mentioned earlier, I'm starting to get bored with keeping such detailed data on such a large number of Norns.
My solution? To return to the whole point of this experiment. Try and breed Norns that are self sufficient. Once I've catalogued the remaining Norns for Gen3 I'll be setting 12 of them free into the world to do their own thing. With a bit of luck they'll be able to take care of themselves and breed successfully into Gen4 and hopefully beyond.
With the Forest Norn genes becoming fairly prolific in the gene pool I'm optimistic they should do a reasonable job of taking care of themselves. I still intend to interfere from time to time to give them the best chance of survival though. Over time though I hope to be able to do this less and less.

So cross your fingers and get ready to help pick the best of this generations Norns, as Gen4 will be relying on it.