Preparing for the New C3/DS World Concept

Over the summer, I devised a new Docking Station world concept. The concepts took me a few minutes to go through and remember… Someone loves her details! After a few months, I believe I’m finally about ready to get started. I had a short test run yesterday which revealed a few possible issues, yet it was still quite an interesting wolfing run. I discovered that the alpha male succession can be very difficult when there are no participants! My test male was completely uninterested in kisspopping, even in a group of about ten females. Go figure!

One event really pushed me to make this concept a reality: I was finally able to install C1toDS with no problems! After some careful consideration, this metaroom is going to be the home of the main group. It brings the natural Creatures 1 world into the more artificial environment aboard the Shee Ark and Capillata. It is also a very large area with abundant food sources. This might make it more challenging, since there will only be one male roaming about. This should make things quite interesting! An alpha male can easily be replaced upon his death, but self-imposed isolation is an entirely different animal. It might be an unusual scenario with far-reaching consequences.

Devising the test for the alpha male succession has been one of my most difficult tasks. One option is to hatch the males in the Learning Room, where the cheese vendor, food, and toys will be removed. There is a door outside the Learning Room that can be closed from the other side, forcing the males to jump (or fall) off of the ledge near the Norn Terrarium incubator. I can see how this might be counterproductive, since Norns should not want to jump off ledges! The males would then need to travel up the lift to finally reach the food. This IQ test is similar to the standard intelligence test.

This gets away from my original concept of leading the males to the main group. However, I rather like the different spin on it. In my experience, the ledges that Norns can jump off of or fall from can save them the hassle of getting stuck in a lift. I rarely find a Norn who stays away from cliff edges: Many simply can not resist those few seconds of free falling! There are other conditions I may impose on this test, as will be discussed a little further on. The standard IQ test could still be used, but I would like to test this alternative idea out.

The Norn Terrarium would become the home to the potential alpha males. Bachelor paradise? Maybe so! I might introduce a few more dangers to this region, to keep the population in check. A new alpha male would mean the death of his brothers, so keeping this population too low could seriously limit who would become the next alpha male. I still need to finalize the procedure for bringing these males to the main group. Meanwhile, the females would be raised in the Norn Meso in a similar way, only without the IQ test.

I found the perfect agent today: The Selective Force Field! I have yet to test it out completely, but it is a very powerful force field used to keep certain creatures from passing by it. The beauty of it is that it can be configured not only for species, but also for life stage. One can choose to block all Norns, for example, or just Norns older than the child life stage. It is pictured here in the Jungle Terrarium because this is where all inferior females and their sons will be placed. Survival is almost impossible, but this might open up a way for a sub-group to develop. One never knows what Norns might decide to do, and they often find a way to survive.

The Selective Force Field is from Emmental’s Docking Station Agents. I can see the possibility of using it for the alpha male succession intelligence test: Males would have to wait to pass through to different parts of the test based on their life stage. In this way, some could return to earlier parts of the test, rather than moving forward. Perhaps this could get too complicated for them, though. Part of me wants to have another test run, while another part of me just wants to jump right in!

One lesson I learned with the first test world is that it is not beneficial to have a Norn of every species! Things got a little out of control: There was a time when everyone expressed how much they disliked one Norn, and this went on for a good five minutes with ten creatures saying the same thing over and over again. It was a nightmare! Since this is a project I intend to share with the community, are there any preferences on which breeds to include initially? Remember that there must only be one male, while the rest of the first generation Norns will be females. I have all of the official breeds with CFE genomes, aside from the four breed packs (Bondi, Hardman, Toxic, and Treehugger). I also have the Apple and Yautja Norns, which are also based on the CFE genome. Preferences and suggestions are most welcome!