Author Topic: New feeding methods  (Read 2424 times)

Offline cliftut

  • Bot Neophyte
  • *
  • Posts: 22
    • View Profile
New feeding methods
« on: August 06, 2007, 07:27:50 PM »
I had this idea the other day. As far as I know, the feeding methods in DB don't really resemble real life feeding methods. This caused me to think about how actual single-celled organisms feed. There are two main ways that I know of; some larger ones do so by "taking in" smaller organisms, and some smaller ones "hijack" larger organisms by penetrating into them and using them as a breeding house. I was wondering if these sorts of behaviors could be implemented in DB.

-------
[you]
1. Engulfing other bots
[/you]
A bot would only be capable of absorbing a bot smaller than it (less mass), and it could only engulf multiple bots if their mass equalled less than its own. A bot would engulf another bot by throwing out a special type of tie that would drag the other bot inside of them (this tie, although invisible, would remain connected even when the bots were inside). Once a bot was inside, the bot that engulfed it would expand as their masses were added together (if multiple bots were engulfed, the bot that engulfed them would expand by adding all of their masses to its own. Also, if "fixed bot radius" was checked in the options, the bot would simply enlargen to acommodate the bots it absorbed). Any bots pulled inside would act as if they were tied to the bot that engulfed them (but not to each other). Energy sharing, waste sharing, tie feeding, or memory editing could be done by the bots to the one that engulfed them, or to the engulfed bots through this "virtual internal tie". Naturally, tie lengths and such things would not apply, though, so trying to changer them would have no effect. Any nrg, poison, venom, waste, or virus shots fired a bot that was engulfed would act as if it had hit the bot that they were inside (feeding or body shots would be disallowed). Also, the bot that engulfed another bot could transfer its own poisons, venoms, or virii to the engulfed bot/s. The movement of any absorbed bots would be prohibited. If the bot that had engulfed the others died while they were still alive inside, they would be released. I'm not sure if engulfed bots should be allowed to reproduce while inside.

To feed off of engulfed bots, the bot would either "decompose" them (feed nrg from them while randomly deleting their dna; this could be automatic or require a special sysvar command), or tie feed from them using the "virtual internal tie". The main pros and cons of this feeding method would be as follows;
PROS:
   1. It would be efficient like tie feeding; no worry of feeding shots missing or nrg shots not being collected.
   2. It would not hinder a bot's movement like tie feeding does.
CONS:
   1. Since the mass of any absorbed bots would be added to the mass of the one that absorbed them, it would become larger and easier to hit.
   2. The bot that engulfed the other bot/s would inherit all of their waste as it absorbed them, since they would be inside of it.
   3. Any bots that were absorbed could easily affect the bot that had engulfed them with poison, venom, or virii. They could also drain nrg from it, but that would have to a specialized response, taking advantage of the "Virtual internal tie".

I think that this would allow for some interesting behaviors in bots, and since a bot that engulfs other bots doesn't have to feed off of them, two bots could have a symbiotic relationship, where one lives inside another.

--------
[you]
2. Infecting (Hijacking) other bots.
[/you]
This would be the reverse of the above. A bot would only be able to do this if it was smaller than half the mass of the bot it hijacked. Similarly to engulfing, the smaller bot would shoot out a tie to the larger one, and pull itself inside the larger one, and adding its mass to the larger one's (like with engulfing, this tie would remain connected even once the bot was inside). Once inside, any shots it fired (except for feeding and body shots) would act as if they automatically hit the hijacked bot (the host). The bots would be capable of reproducing while inside the host bot, as well as feeding energy from it. If the mass of the bot/s inside exceeds the mass of the host bot, then the host would die. When the host bot died, the hijackers would be released. They would also be able to escape on their own by using a special command. The pros and cons of this method are as follows;
PROS:
   1. While inside a host, the hijacking bots would be safe from direct attack.
   2. The bots would not be able to harm one another while inside their host.
   3. They could easily use venom, poison, or spread virii to the host.
   4. They would only inherit a fraction of the host's waste when they fed off of it, unlike with engulfing.
CONS:
   1. They would be incapable of movement while inside the host; they'd go where the host went.
   2. I'm sure there would be other disadvantages, but I can't think of any others right now.

---------

Does anyone think that these would be good for DB? They are fairly flexible, allowing for feeding or symbiotism, not to mention they mimic real life a bit more than the current feeding methods. Some interesting ideas come to mind. One of which is a bot that would engulf veggies and use them as batteries.

Also, these would allow programmers to produce unique multibots (I'm sure they would count as multibots if they were designed right).

I realize these would probably be tough to implement, but that's just me guessing. I think they might be worth some effort to introduce, though.

What do you think? This post is really long... >< I've attached an image because I get nervous about my ability to explain things when my paragraphs get too long...
I want these graphs to look superb. ...
I want these graphs to be scalable. ...
I want these to be the smoothest, most user friendly aspect of the program. I want people to marvel at our superb graphs.
             -Numsgil, motivational speaker at work. ;)

Offline Numsgil

  • Administrator
  • Bot God
  • *****
  • Posts: 7742
    • View Profile
New feeding methods
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2007, 11:52:00 PM »
That's very similar to what I'm persuing for the new version.  The term I use to describe it is phagocytosis.  The details I'm imagining are a little different.  

Basically, any bot can engulf any other (dead or alive).  The engulfer's volume increases depending on what's inside it, making it easier to hit with shots, as you suggest.  If a live bot is engulfed in this manner, the engulfee has a perfect shot and can't miss using ties or shots.  To the bot on the inside there isn't any slime, poison, venom, or shell to worry about.  Every cycle a bot can devote energy to digest what's in its stomach or spew chunks (regurgitate what's in its stomach).  Digesting slowly dissolves the engulfee and gives back various substances to the digester.

See this subject where I discuss what I'm thinking for the new system.