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Photosynthesis

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Anonomous Guest Person:
(We need longer topic descriptions.)

Ahem.

Photosynthesis would be a method of spending some energy, to get some energy back for converting things.
You could have to specifically choose what you're going to convert, or maybe not.

(By converting things, I mean converting body, waste, or anything else that can be turned into energy.)

Before I go on, I assume that converting something into energy would cost a number of energy equal to the amount you're converting. (10 body into energy would cost 10 energy.) (As another assumption, unless you're converting waste (which will generate plenty of permanent waste for you), you should gain this much in waste as well.)
But with this method, you can, provided you receive enough sunlight, expend even less energy.
To use photosynthesis, you'd basically set a variable called .photo.
This would be deleted after use. I'm not sure how this would work programming-wise, but it might require the use of a variable in which conversion costs would be added to this, and then later on in the cycle, it would be taken from .photo and then from energy.
Of course, you don't simply gain the energy you put in .photo.
Actually, the program'll read the value stored in .photo, and take this much energy from you.
Only afterwards would it limit it to (Body/50) or something like that.
After THAT, it would then be multiplied by how much light you're receiving (or something.)
Of course, rather then strength, once multiple types of energy storage are in, it would use a size-type number. (That way bigger bots can photosynthesis better, while smaller bots can fight better.)


If I'm wrong about photosynthesis, please tell me. But as far as I know, this is the basis of how it works. (And we shouldn't make DarwinBots TOO complicated. :P )

Numsgil:
Here's how I plan to incorporate photosynthesis.  Tell me if this fits all the criteria.

Each cycle you recieve 'light' into your stomach based on your surface area (size).  At the end of each cycle, all light is removed from your stomach.

Now, all food bits, from carbs to fats, are converted to usable forms by enzymes inside your stomach.  There are roughly 20 enzymes, from shell dissolvers to chloroplasts.  Chloroplasts also 'use up' waste to become more productive.

Chloroplasts convert light energy into nrg.  Once you have enough chloroplasts to convert all the light you recieve in your stomach to energy then you must increase your surface area to recieve more energy per turn from an increase in the number of chloroplasts.

PurpleYouko:
Photosynthesis is a process whereby a plant uses energy from sunlight to power a chemical reaction in which it extracts Carbon from Carbon-DiOxide in order to build cellulose for its own structure. Oxygen is produced as a by-product of this process.
It can only be used by plants.

I am in the early stages of working out a DNA based specialization system for DarwinBots in the attempt to blur the line between plants and animals.
Here is a brief outline of it. Many of these thing could change yet.

* 1  A robot has a total of 5 specialization points which are assigned at the beginning of the robot's life. They are assigned a little like custom variables but are prone to change by mutations.
* 2  The specialization points define how efficiently a robot is able to gain energy from a given food source. He can choose between Photosynthesis to gain energy from daylight, Chemosynthesis (probably not a real word) to convert energy directly from chemicals in the environment such as Sulfer from a black smoker or feeding on other robots.
* 2  These specialization points can all be spent on one option or spread between several.
* 3  The more the robot specializes in one area the more efficient he gets at itI am also contemplating a similar set of points to specialize in different environments based on temperature, waste and a few others. Plants love waste and can use it as fertilizer. Animals normally get sick around it. Some shrimps and alga can live in boiling water around hydrothermal vents where others would die. Some can handle freezing temperatures at the poles.

 :D  PY  :D

Anonomous Guest Person:
No offense, PY, but that sounds kinda boring....
It might totally ruin the whole idea of a plant league too.
And what about bots that feed on other bots?
Would they specialize in tie feeding, or shots?

Simply having a specialization system might make programming it easier, but it might make programming less of an aspect in Darwinbots.

And if you don't have tie feeding or -1 shots or -6 shots as specializations, then a bot could specialize in methods of recycling energy, thus making plants redundant.

I think I'd rather have a whole DNA system about such things.
It would complicate things, yes, but I think it'd complicate them in a good way rather then a bad way.

Numsgil:
If you examine real life, maybe an answer will show itself.

Why don't animals have chloroplasts?  Probably because chloroplasts are much less efficient than digesting fats and carbs.  Plants are huge because they need all that surface area to get enough light to make chloroplasts worth it.

This huge mass means movement is difficult, so plants attach themselves to one place, for better or worse.

So what we need to do is make photosynthesis only really worth it if you are huge.  Schvarz had an idea a while ago of having plants swell up something like 10 times the size of regular bots.

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