Civilization XLCVIII

[Patdragon]

More mutable because it retains its past junk "dna" or failed adaptations.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Plague/parasitical-like, when something eats us or our corpses more of our dna is passed down to the kids than the original parent

[M0rtimer]

Staying at the volcano vents is life and love... Evolve some "clamps" that we can use to attach ourselves to other creatures (Potentially later further evolving into an offensive mechanism), but more importantly the soil- We can then use it to stay tethered despite the large amount of turbulence the vents can create, effectively turning them into a defensive mechanism as other lifeforms will have trouble staying in the area unlike us.

[thinkslogically]

I feel obliged to vote for the go deep option

[BadgeAddict]

I'm with thinks.

We develop the ability to dig, going down into the earth's crust beneath the ocean. Eating the minerals that we find.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Ooooooh and become magma creatures? I approve!

[Theis2]

The ability to produce and excrete chemicals that affects other organisms, causing them to behave in various ways. Predators are deterred to come closer while prey on the other hand is lured in as an example of how it could work.

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Hmm....
How about the ability to generate a chemical reaction that produces heat/steam for defense/attack? (Rather like a bombardier beetle dose). A steam explosion generated underwater would have the added benefit of causing shock wave damage, like a mantas shrimp dose.

[Patdragon]

As we are currently amoeba ish in form i'd say rise upwards now and get a head start on evolving in the next level.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Why must we go up to evolve? I see no reason we cant be the deep ones

[LAYF]

I support the idea that we should become ß©Æ╠ù╠á╠▓═ë╠«╠ª╠║╠ú╠▓╠ª╠á╠▒╠╗╠│═û╠ò═á═àß©ø╠£╠Ñ╠¼╠ª╠ƒ╠ƒ╠£╠╝╠║╠Ø╠½═ç╠¼╠ò═ƒ═×═àeÊë╠«╠Ø═Ä╠Ñ╠ù╠╗╠¡╠░╠ú╠Ö╠│═ç╠»═ò╠®╠ª═óp═ô═ç═Ö╠«╠░╠«╠╣╠╗═ô═ç╠×╠╝╠Ñ╠Ç═ƒ═à ╠À╠╗╠«╠╗╠¬╠«╠Ø╠£╠ú╠ú╠ª═ë╠Ö╠£╠òoÊë╠┤╠░═Ü═ô╠£╠▒╠á╠░n╠Á╠«╠╗╠ÿ╠ÿ╠½╠║╠╗═ó╚®╠Â╠┤═ì╠ù╠ù═Ü╠û═ê╠░═Øs═Å╠À╠┤╠ø╠¬╠¡╠á╠®╠Ø╠Ø═ì═Ä╠░═Ö╠ƒ╠│╠╣═ô╠Ø╠ò!╠Á═ç═ç═ì╠«═ç═ë═û╠▓╠│╠½╠ª═ç╠▓╠¬╠Ç

[thinkslogically]

Indeed. No reason we need to make it onto land to evolve

[BadgeAddict]

5 votes for going deep... I hope that means something

[M0rtimer]

I too would like to add my sentiment of becoming rules over the ocean.

[Patdragon]

Fair enough... but we'll have some competition then.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Not if we become deeper than deep ones in the mantle

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Probably too early for land. The major reasons to go would be to escape predators in the ocean and to harness fire. Evolution has more...options in the ocean than on land. Land is actually environmentally very hostile to simple lifeforms.

[BadgeAddict]

Magma creatures would be so awesome... Living beings of fire in the underdark

[Arch Lich Burns]

Okay so the reddit post seems to have a lot more comments, and from looks of it want to 1: get to the vents and 2: target us to destroy our emzymes so we will be weaker. It doesnt seem that more votes for something will help so we need more variety.

[Aegis J Hyena]

I knew I shouldn't have crosslinked games in my sig or mentioned it... but I figure you guys browse enough that word would have eventually gotten out. I'm doing the rolls now and I'll have something up tomorrow afternoon.

[spiderwrangler]

Now just to make a Reddit account to supply dummy options for their voting...

[Aegis J Hyena]

Spider, you asshole.

300,000,000 Years

Heat Resistance: 86
Mutagenic Adaptations: 69
Parasite to Others: 78
Clamps: 59
Digging Claw: 75
LSD Production: 95 (Success)
Chemical Defenses: 69


Alright, everything is simultaneous now, rather than going in one specific order so you don't see others' actions until the next turn. I will be writing it from the point of view of the Reddit community then tailoring it to your point of view.

Cast of characters: -- why have three copies of a file I need to maintain when I can have just the one.

Z. Reditori Croctinii (also known as X Neutralis Thromalius from the previous game) has developed a means of dealing with U. Klixstem Faltoni's acids, by developing a series of bases and counter enzymes that turn wherever the two meet into salt! The salt barrier keeps U. Klixstem Faltoni from getting anywhere near close, but now the bacterium is evolving some numbing toxins instead of acid (think LSD, the "other" acid). They're not powerful enough to dissolve the salt, so you'll need to find a way around that. The heat of the vents carries their bases far and wide and now there are long "tunnels" of salt floating in the water, raising the PH. The salt dries out many other bacteria, including T. Vopal Gravimorium. This leads to a rush for a food source away from the vents as both they and you are gorging on the corpses. Any salt tendrils that touch the ocean floor and reach J. Ayeik Pondo are used by that selfsame bacteria to build a salt shell -- nothing is going to be penetrating its cell walls now, not even X. Hyea Aginessi (who -is- developing a long specialized stinger, much like a needle-nose, on one end of its body).

You rapidly breed and divide from all of the corpses on the heat vents, and while you doesn't seem to evolve heat resistance (keeping you away from the hottest part of the vent), you have begun to modify your chemical structure so that the acids become a sort of numbing agent akin to a novicaine/LSD beerslam. Your predators are so dizzy that they can't fight back, and those it would hunt are poisoned even more -- instead of being scared away by the acids and poisons, they're drawn in as the numbing agent shuts down what passes for a cell's nervous system. U. Klixstem Faltoni's acids are not powerful enough to pierce D. Shloopi Dorfis's crystals, and the lattice the latter seems to be developing is amplifying the numbing agent, backlashing it in an electrical pulse back on you. Those two bacteria are neck and neck, and are living in unpleasant harmony.

D. Shloopi Dorfis has developed two "burrowing" tendrils that dig into the crystals they feed on, enabling them to become one with the crystal. Their limpet shape shifts to be a teardrop shape, with both "burrowing" tendrils close to the point of the teardrop. This burrowing has enabled them to feed on the strongest point of the crystal, "drying" it out and turning it as dark as the waters around them. When other bacteria come up to the burrow "opening", they are are ZAPPED by electrocution (from the first tendril) and injection of stored oxygen (from the second), killing the target. Before long the tendrils lengthen just a little bit to serve as feelers in the environment just outside the crystals. The downside is that these "black" crystals are as brittle as a rusty knife and about as useful. So far nothing is attempting to shatter the crystals they live in, though. T. Vopal Gravimorium is trying to tank its way in, but D. Shloopi Dorfis is not having any of it.

T. Vopal Gravimorium is attempting to evolve a stony exterior, so it cannot be "bitten through", but this makes it heavy and it sinks to the bottom, where J. Ayeik Pondo is able to harpoon it and survive. I think we might be looking at our first extinction here. X. Hyea Aginessi is evolving the aforementioned needle-nose, and it is losing some of its segments making way for a specialized energy store that makes it blink green, like a firefly's.

Today's situation is that a huge boulder, dislodged from an seafloor mountain by a seaquake, has rolled over one of the main vents... crashing into it and sending everything flying. The vent isn't sealed, but your "home" has been utterly pulped. There are other vents nearby, so if you choose to focus on those, you should remain fine if you plan to wield their might for yourselves.


How do you evolve now?
Do you choose to float away with the tide looking for a new bolt-hole, or try to head for one of the other sea floor vents?

[twistedstraka]

I vote new bolt hole and if evolutionary traits are still to be suggested improving the luring effect we have

[M0rtimer]

Heeaaaat vents

Let's try going for heat resistance once more.

[Theis2]

Improve its mind altering capabilities, and find a new home