A Little Bit of CAOS

I have meant to post some of these helpful codes more than once, and it continually slips my mind. Fortunately, I remembered this time! CAOS stands for Creatures Agent Object Script, and there are a lot of codes that can be used in Creatures 3 and Docking Station. Not only can these affect individual agents, but they can also alter many of the game conditions. The Creatures Wiki has an excellent section dedicated to CAOS and some very nifty codes. In this entry, I quickly wanted to cover a few that I often use. Remember that these codes can be entered via Ctrl+Shift+C in-game, but they can also damage a world if not used correctly.

Note that the quotation marks (“) must be included in these codes when typing them in-game.

setv game “engine_multiple_birth_maximum” 6
Want to control the maximum number of births during a single pregnancy? Here is the CAOS code! In looking at various sources, it looks like 6 or 7 is the maximum that the game can handle. Six is the default value in a new C3/DS world: I would recommend only reducing this number. Norns have a penchant for reproducing quite quickly! With the codes listed below, it is also possible to guarantee a certain number of eggs per pregnancy. Note that if this value is set to one, multiple births should not be possible and the following codes will have no merit. I have not tested this to see if having a maximum of one egg per pregnancy creates a problem when the chance of multiples is guaranteed. Best to set up realistic parameters!

setv game “engine_multiple_birth_first_chance” 0.04
This CAOS code determined the percentage change of having twins. When a female gets pregnant, it is immediately determined how many eggs she will have: There is usually a single pregnancy icon, since Norns typically have single births. There will be multiple pregnancy icons when a female is pregnant with more than one baby Norn, though. The 0.04 value corresponds with a 4% chance that a female will have twins, at least in a base world. This can take on any value from 0.0 to 1.00. So we can control whether a female will always give birth to one Norn, always give birth to twins, or have a certain chance of twins occurring. Remember that 0.04 corresponds with 4%, and 0.4 corresponds with 40%.

setv game “engine_multiple_birth_subsequent_chance” 0.01
This code is very similar to the previous CAOS code related to twins, but it defines the percentage chance of every birth beyond twins, up to the maximum number of births per pregnancy. The standard value is 0.01, or 1%, which means that triplets are extremely rare, and anything beyond is almost impossible. Keep in mind that this does not mean that there is a 1% chance of having triplets, quadruplets, and so on: First a Norn has to be lucky enough to be in the standard 4% bracket to produce twins, and then has a 1% chance from there to have three eggs at once. So this actually means that a Norn has just a 0.04% chance of having triplets!

setv game “engine_multiple_birth_identical_chance” 0.5
As this CAOS code implies, it defines the likelihood of having identical genomes when a multiple birth occurs. Normally, this is set at 0.5, or 50%, which means that every instance of twins or more has a 50/50 chance of producing identical siblings. As with the other multiple birth codes, the value can be anywhere from 0.0 to 1.0 to control how often a multiple birth with result in identical or fraternal siblings. This means that the genomes will be identical, but one can still end up with a mix of males and females. This is because a genome is created at conception, but the gender of each egg is not determined until it hatches. I actually believe the gender might be determined as the egg begins to hatch, if that timing difference means anything. In my next entry, I actually have a case of identical triplets who ended up being two males and one female.

Somewhat related to this is the fact that Creatures 3 and Docking Station actually have seasons, which are not actually visible. However, this plays an effect on the probability of having males and females at different times. During springtime, an egg has a 75% chance of hatching into a female, and autumn ushers in a 75% chance of eggs hatching into males. The summer and winter seasons have an equal chance of producing males or females. Amaikokonut of Naturing :: Nurturing created the No Seasonal Gender Bias, which equally balances the chances of males and females throughout every season. Pretty nifty, as her downloads tend to be!

ject “xxx.cos” 1
ject “xxx.cos” 4
ject “xxx.cos” 7
This set of CAOS codes has different effects on the installed .cos files. The first code, ending with the value of 1, removes a .cos file completely from the world. I use this for the Snotrocks: As cute as they are, I always seem to have a population that eats all of the Tuba Plants. Those are supposed to be for the Norns! I simply replace “xxx.cos” with “snotrock.cos” and they disappear into thin air! The code ending with a value of 4 has the opposite effect: It injects that .cos into the world again. I sometimes use this when my Gnarler population gets a bit low, thanks to a dormant volcano. “xxx.cos” simply is replaced with “gnarler.cos” and another one pops into the desert! Finally, the code with the ending value of 7 resets a particular .cos file. I have not used this one very much, though, since the other two often allow me to keep a good balance. Not every item in the world has its own unique .cos file: Best to look through these before typing in something that could be incorrect.

There are many other helpful CAOS codes, but I find these to be the most helpful in setting up my C3/DS worlds. It’s very fun to be able to change the chances of multiple births. Be warned that this creates a lot more work when managing a population: It’s at least twice the work to keep up with the youngsters! However, the multiple birth CAOS codes could be quite valuable during wolfing runs where Norns often die off quickly and keeping the generations going is a must. Have fun creating some real CAOS! Ouch. Awful pun to end the day.

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