Multibot Vegetable

[Numsgil]

I've asked a couple of time ...
could you please tell me the name of the variable that determines
in what color the bot is displayed/drawn?

"color", or maybe it's robcol or robcolor, but I don't think so.  Have you even looked at the robot structure, it seemed fairly self explanatory when I first looked at the code.

and also ... the variable name of the color the graphs use?
it would be nice to have them match .... or at least have the graph
use the color designated when we set up the species ...
rather than the defalult color depending upon the order of species ...
ie, yellow, red, blue, violet, white ... or however it goes

As I've said many times, I have no idea, I didn't program that code.  Haven't even looked at it.  You know as much about it as I do, perhaps more.

[Numsgil]

Haven't even looked at it yet, but are you fixing the roots in place using fixpos?  Otherwise your plants would theoretically begin drifting around rather aimlessly.

[Griz]

You might want to try something using .tielen1 when robage equals 1 or 0. Basically the bot can be sure of affecting the correct tie since it should only have one tie at that age.

Gotta thank Evolution for that little trick, some blind bots I made started using this to spread themselves out during their birthing cycle.

yeah ... that's the trick isn't it? ...
'cause the real discoveries always come from a place we didn't expect ...
and wouldn't have looked had we not made some mistake in the first place. ;)
that's my experience anyway.
so our thinking/understanding evolves also ...
to the degree we are willing to remain open and adaptable ...
paying attention to what actually shows up and not just to
what we expect or think we will  find.
that's the fun part is it not?  'discovery'. ;)

[Boris of Quirm]

Not looking at roots just yet.  Iam setting the bot as blocked when I test it.

May look at fixing them in place in later versions.  On that note is there a way of knowing when I am at the bottom of the screen?  I.e. If .sun helps me grow upwards in a pond, is there a way of detecting the bottom of the pond so I can drop towards it and only start growing when I am there. I could then fix myself to the bottom as you suggested.

[Numsgil]

to point downards, you can use 942 .setaim store

you know you hit the bottom if you register *.edge.  It turns from 0 to 1 if either you hit the edge or see the edge, I forget which exactly.

[Griz]

Haven't even looked at it yet, but are you fixing the roots in place using fixpos?  Otherwise your plants would theoretically begin drifting around rather aimlessly.

only the 'stem' would have to be fixed, yes ...
as long as the ties are not broken?
I think BOQ also wants the 'seed' to eventually attach to a passing
bot and be carried off to become replanted as a 'stem' in some other
location.
would be nice to allow the other parts of the 'plant' to wave in the current ...
and rename 'em kelp. ;)

for now, one could always position them at the bottom ...
and limit the repopulation to the bottom of the pond as well.

lots of ways to go methinks.

[Boris of Quirm]

Thanks for that Numsgil, I'll try that now.

I can then grow my plants from the bottom and hopefully fix them to it.

[Griz]

to point downards, you can use 942 .setaim store

you know you hit the bottom if you register *.edge.  It turns from 0 to 1 if either you hit the edge or see the edge, I forget which exactly.

let 'em root and grow from the edges too.?
other than the top edge that is.

[Endy]

Welcome, you might want to temporarily unfix the plant while it is spreading out at birth. At robage 0 it could unfix(.fixpos dec) and spread out with the use of tielen1. At about 20 or so it could fix itself again.

I 'm going to go ahead and investigate the tieports a bit more myself. I normally only use them over a relativly short period to snap ties, so haven't seen how they respond over longer periods.

[Griz]

I've asked a couple of time ...
could you please tell me the name of the variable that determines
in what color the bot is displayed/drawn?

"color", or maybe it's robcol or robcolor, but I don't think so.  Have you even looked at the robot structure, it seemed fairly self explanatory when I first looked at the code.

and also ... the variable name of the color the graphs use?
it would be nice to have them match .... or at least have the graph
use the color designated when we set up the species ...
rather than the defalult color depending upon the order of species ...
ie, yellow, red, blue, violet, white ... or however it goes

As I've said many times, I have no idea, I didn't program that code.  Haven't even looked at it.  You know as much about it as I do, perhaps more.

hmmmm ...
just thought you might be able to help save me some
time and point me to it seeing you are the one who
has coded most of this.
never mind ...
sorry for bothering you.

[Griz]

I start with 10 bots with an energy of 3000 and no other bots.
They are flagged as vegetables and blocked.
Also mutations are disabled.
NRG/veggy/cycle is set to 10.

As the cells randomly decide what type they are, it may be necessary for you to run the test several times before you get a stem that starts to grow to any degree.

The resulting plant should look like my first image.
 
In order to see the plant, pause the cyles and stretch the cells of the plant out. Once you have opened the cells out you should have something resembling my second image.

yes. just fingured that out ...

how about pond mode?
I'm not sure how the light intensity thing works ...
if the number that comes up in the box the intensity at the top of
the pond or how  the energy scaling factor attenuates it at depth.

ok thanks for the settings.

[Griz]

re: Alga Reactum

This veggiebot will only reproduce if it is attacked. This includes by shooting or tiefeeders.

I don't see this happen.
I have both T_Preservans and C_Circumgirans fire on them ...
as I thought T_Preservans didn't kill the agla it fed on ...
and I see no reproduction take place.
now on occasion I have noticed a veggie added ...
but it is reproduced in an entirely different portion of the field ...
not anywhere near the 'parent'.
I suspect this might simply be a repopulation event ...
as it happens so rarely ii haven't been able to see if it came from the
parent being fired upon or not.
what settings are you using for "Max # of veggies", "Repop threshold"
and # of veggies per repop event?
all of these will affect how a new bot is 'born' ...
whether it comes via reproduction or a repopulation event ...
so wanted to use the same setting you are.

As all cells live mainly to reproduce it is interesting to note that when this veg is attacked it may eventually surround its predator. This produces quite a nice symbiotic relationship between plant and predator. The plant has 'caught' a predator and therefore it has guaranteed it will be shot and can reproduce. The predator, in being 'caught' now has a food source on tap.

as I said ... I have no repro going on anywhere near a veggie that is being
attacked .... and so no 'surrounding'.

This also means that one predator bot can be used in a test and as they become seperated into different 'colonies', they can mutate independantly down different evolutionary paths.

that would be interesting ...
but again ... I don't any reproduction at all.

I suspect there are other settings that you are using that are different
than my own ...
what about the advanced costs?
from what I can see the default has them all at zero ...
and I had to select the F1 defaults.
have you done this as well?
how about the physics settings?
also ... under the General tab ...
what do you have Veg body/NRG percentage set to?
I had mine at 50% and can't recall what the default was ... 10%?
 
could/would you upload a settings file?
although even then, not all settings are reloaded.
seems to me ...
unless we can all operate from the same environment ...
it's going to be tough obtaining similar results ...
and I would like to be able to give you some feedback.


as far as your first vegy bot ... Multiveg1.0 ...
I have been experimenting using C_Circumgirans with it
in a 9237 x 6928 nontoridal field with some interesting results.
the C_Circ are very active and end up tieing to, and stretching
out the agla ... which are not fixed in place.
settings:
Multiveg1.0 Qty 5 NRG 3000 Vegetable Yes Blocked No Mutation disabled
placement in the center ~ 1700 x 1700 of the screen.
C_Circumgirans Qty 5 NRG 3000 Vegetable No Blocked No Mutati0n enabled
General Tab:
Vegie energy 5 NRG
percentage of Veg body/NRG 50%
Physics default? no Z grav, no Y grav, Bang eff 80%
Advanced costs: F1 defaults

I get some fairly large alga organisims with this ...
although they remind me more of masses of frog eggs in a pond than alga. ;)
throwing a few botumor bots into the mix is interesting as well ....
as they eventually seem to 'hookup' with masses of alga forming large
organisims.

attaching the settings file

[Griz]

Multiveg1.0 Qty 5 NRG 3000 Vegetable Yes Blocked No Mutation disabled
placement in the center ~ 1700 x 1700 of the screen.
C_Circumgirans Qty 5 NRG 3000 Vegetable No Blocked No Mutati0n enabled
General Tab:
Vegie energy 5 NRG
percentage of Veg body/NRG 50%
Physics default? no Z grav, no Y grav, Bang eff 80%
Advanced costs: F1 defaults

should have added ...
Max veggies 100
repop threshold 50

[Boris of Quirm]

I have attached a setings file for you.

[Griz]

I have attached a setings file for you.

hmmmm ...
something wrong here.
although the bar tells me veggies are being been born ...
I haven't seen any new ones appear ...
the total population is still 10 and hasn't changed since the start.
 
if I add in a few C_Circumgirans which more aggressivly attack ...
the veggie population simply decreases from 10 until all veggies are dead.

I still suspect not all of the settings are loading up correctly.
I find gravity set to 0.5
Max veggies 2000; Repopulation threshold, veggies/repop and pop cooldown all at 0.
Advanced costs all set to zero.
can these possibly be the correct repop settings?

I have lots of trouble with this pop control ...
sometimes it seems to work, mostly not.
if I increase the threshold to 20 and the # added/event to 1 ...
I can get bots to be added but even then the pop maxes out at the Threshold
number of 20, not the maximum bot number regardless of what it is 100 or 2000.
and ... they seem to come from the 'repopulation' being placed wherever in the field ...
and not as offspring of any particular bot ...
iow, via repopulation, not reproduction.

if I go back and reload the settings for the MultiAlga sim ...
everything works fine ... including the population controls.
 
however, if I reload the settings ...
or even just delete those species ...
and insert Alga_Reactum ...
the population controls no longer work.
I don't get it.
 
anyway ...
that's what happens, or doesn't happen, here. ;)

thanks for trying.