Do you know what is venom?

[Light]

hmmm Im lovin Henk's idea :)

If the "frequency" is stored in a memory location it would be possible to find it in an enemy bot and make yourself imune to their venom, which is in a way the same line I think that anonomous is on about.

[PurpleYouko]

It would still be a little too easy to directly read the poison's frequency using .memloc/.memval so maybe a little more thought is need here.
However it would be impossible to simultaineously block or absorb poison and venom if we use one single sysvar for phase/frequency intercept.

Definitely the start of a cool idea here.

[Numsgil]

I had a similar idea as Henk as I started reading the post.  If you can assign a unique serial number to a bot's venom/poison/etc. based on its species, memory target, and maybe a custom value, then you can allow for the creation of antivenom/antipoison without underpowering venom and poison.

The easiest method would be a one-to-one deletion of venom for antivenom.  If you have 30 antivenom that is keyed into a specific value (ie: protein marker) and I shoot you with 40 venom, then you lose 30 antivenom and get 10 venom worth of effect.

That encourages the simoltaneous buildup of attack and counter that we see in nature (I forget what it's called, but it's basically like how the US and Russia kept building more weapons.  It's a mutual escalation that doesn't actually change the individual positions.)

The same idea could be applied to all attacks and defenses.  A -6 shot that matches the target bots body serial would be useless (good for conspec immunity).  If your shot matches a shell's serial, it could pass right through unhurt (a sudden leap in evolution for the attacker.  Suddenly it can eat hundreds of times easier than its compatriots.)

[Numsgil]

IMHO, species is only a convenient label but shouldn't have any in-game effect.

Ideally, yes, but there are quite a few things in the game that keep track of a robot's lineage, some subtle, some not.

Mutation rates, for one.  A few other things.  The program is a large amalgamate of 'hey, at least it works'.  I'm not saying if that's good or bad, but, hey, at least it works.

[Greven]

I am beginning to think that many parts of DB could be due for a complete overhaul to try and make evolution a lot more open ended. This needs some serious thought.

I agree on this and have stated that the DNA is a main source of limited evolution in another topic.

[Carlo]

Ideally, yes, but there are quite a few things in the game that keep track of a robot's lineage, some subtle, some not. Mutation rates, for one.  A few other things.

No, there aren't (well, there weren't in the code I released). Mutation rates, for instance: are not in any way species-dependant, but are individual for each robot. The only thing which is indeed linked to the species is the autotroph status.

The program is a large amalgamate of 'hey, at least it works'.  I'm not saying if that's good or bad, but, hey, at least it works.

Well... :rolleyes:

[PurpleYouko]

I think I would side with Carlo on this.

The only things that are truly species dependent at present are the Autotroph settings and the (relatively) recent addition of the poison and venom immunities for conspecs.

I think that moving towards a venom/poison system such as Henk or Num suggested, is definitely the right way to go.

It does sound a little Star Trecky though. Multi-phasic shields to intercept shots with certain frequencies.
Could work well I guess but it just sounds a little Sci-fi.

[Numsgil]

You just have to use the right words to explain it :P

Multiphasic Shielding becomes Unique Protein Receptors.

Real cells have certain proteins that hang out of the cell's membrane to accept certain chemicals that can't pass through the membrane through osmosis, and to identify itself to other cells (I think white blood cells do this to identify conspecs?).

We could say that bots' shots have a special receptor that renders it disabled if it encounters a certain protein marker in the target bot.  This could be the way that bots are immune to their own shots.  If a whole species uses the same protein marker, then conspecs are immune to each other.  If a bot changes it's shot receptor's to not recognize this protein marker, then it becomes a cannibot.

[PurpleYouko]

Yup it definitely sound better when you put it that way.  :D

[Old Henk]

Scotty! Activate the Unique Protein Receptors!  ;)