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New Virus Paradigm

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Elite:
Here's a prototype new virus paradigm that I was thinking about.

I really think viruses need a major overhauling ... our viruses are a little artificial and overpowered. I've tried to formulate a new one. I like the ideas about viruses being transmitted through feeding, death and proximity, but I feel that the 'immune particles' are a little too artificial.

Oh well, see what you think:

New sysvars:
.vrepro
.retro
(only accessable from viral DNA)
.mkvirus
(only accessable from non-viral DNA)

.mkimmune
.immunity
(only accessable from non-viral DNA)

A virus is a self-contained 'unit' that doesn't automatically incorporate itself into it's host's genome like our current viruses. It cannot replicate outside a host. It is essentially a codule.

An 'infected' bot will have a certain number of virus particles inside it. Some are aquired from the initial infection but the virus particles can use their host to replicate using .vrepro. This will use up a considerable amount of their host's energy. If the virus replicates continually, the host will die extremely quickly. This is usually not benificial to the virus for obvious reasons.

If a bot feeds on an infected bot, then one or two virus particles might come back with the -2 shots, giving the would-be attacker a nasty surprise. The probability of infection is proportional to the amount of virus particles that reside within the attacked bot.

If an infected bot dies, the virus particles that were in the cell will spray in all directions with the 'poof'. If another bot happens to be close by, the chances are that they will become infected. If there are no potential hosts close by, the virus lingers for a short time and then vanishes.

The third way a bot can become infected is through proximity. If a 'healthy' bot colides with an infected bot then there is a small chance that one or two virus particles will cross into it.

The chances of viral infection are increased by a greater numbar of virus particles in the infected bot. The chances of viral infection are decreased by a slime layer.

Viruses cannot access, read, or write to any of their host's sysvars unless they use .retro. A virus does have a 'viral memory array', which it shares with all other viruses in the cell. The sysvar .vrepro is not shared, but posessed by each virus particle.

A virus can use the sysvar .retro to permanently incorporate some of its DNA into the host's DNA. Likewise, normal DNA can make itself into a virus using .mkvirus. Viruses can use this to 'hide' in their host's DNA for a few generations and then reappear, or manipulate their host.

Viruses can be combatted by making 'immunity particles', which drive off viral invaders. If the immunity particles are sucessful in combating an infection, they will have a greater chance of sucess next time. Immunity particles are very expensive and require constant maintainence.

.mkimmune makes immunity particles
.immunity reads back how many immunity particles you have

Thoughts?

shvarz:
I like the idea of having viral DNA separate from bots DNA and replicating it.  Question is - if it's just a codule then how is it going to be called for execution?  If it can be called from regular bot DNA, then how is it separate from bot's DNA?  The idea of codules breaks the line between own and viral DNA.

Transmission through feeding - a nice idea.
Transmission through death and "puff" is a nice idea.
Transmission through proximity - horrible idea, I hate it.

I like the distinction between .retro and .mkvirus commands.

The whole idea with immunity and immunity particles is utter crap.  The immunity should be functional, not artificially provided and it should be very specific.  That is a bot may be immune to virus A, but the virus should be able to evade that immunity through a single mutation.

Elite:
I was thinking the virus(es) would be executed each cycle like regular DNA


--- Quote from: shvarz ---Transmission through proximity - horrible idea, I hate it.
--- End quote ---
 OK, I'll scrap that bit


--- Quote from: shvarz ---The whole idea with immunity and immunity particles is utter crap.  The immunity should be functional, not artificially provided and it should be very specific.  That is a bot may be immune to virus A, but the virus should be able to evade that immunity through a single mutation.
--- End quote ---
I didn't like it either. I was running out of ideas at that point ...

Instead, I'm thinking of having some kind of hash of the viral genetic code that cells could use to delete/block it. If they found the right hash code they could become immune to the virus, but one change in the virus' DNA and they'd have to start all over again. It'd probably be so that a small change in the DNA meant a small change in the hash so a small virus mutation would mean that the bot would have to try some hashes 'around' it's current one by mutating it slightly.

What do you think of that?

shvarz:

--- Quote ---I was thinking the virus(es) would be executed each cycle like regular DNA
--- End quote ---

In the new version the DNA will be in codules which are going to be called from main DNA. Say you add viral DNA as a codule, what number do you give to it?  What if there is already a codule with that number?  

Again, if viral codule is going to be called by main DNA just like any other bot codule then it is "inserted" into DNA already.  And therefore there is no need for .retro command.  The whole thing needs to be thought through one more time


--- Quote ---I'm thinking of having some kind of hash of the viral genetic code that cells could use to delete it
--- End quote ---

Does that mean that you are planning to calculate these hash functions for all codules in bot DNA?  And allow bot to delete any codule that corresponds to a certain hash function?

Endy:
I'ver had some good success where the mutated viral dna provides a bot immunity. The virus used:

.vshoot inc

to duplicate itself. While in a bot this mutated to -10000(about) .vshoot store

It wasn't until the viruses increased further in numbers that they were able to defeat the species.

Like the idea about having viruses in an array seperate from the bot's dna. Closer to the real life Rna that they normally use.

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