Civilization XLCVIII

[Aegis J Hyena]

400,000,000 Years

Improving the Lure: 67
Heat Resistance: 4
Improve "Mind" Control: 95 (Success)
Ability-Stealing: 78
Digestion/Acid Resistance: 87
Increased Regeneration: 17
Pressure Equalization: 44

Z. Reditori Croctinii has split into two forms. The first form is an extremely light "larval" stage which mimics a blob of waste bacteria no one would want to touch, let alone eat. The second form is the bacteria's "adult" form, where it can generate its bases to put up the Salt Defense from you. This near-weightless larval stage enables it to float far and wide, escaping the local predator chain and settling on several other vents all over the place. The larval stage is weakest when it's about to turn into an adult, and it's beginning to develop a salt skin "covering" in order to protect it from predators before it "hatches". They have also begun to float away with the tides, and in a few turns they will no longer be a source of food or a rival for resources.

X. Hyea Aginessi is attempting to needle-nose through the salt shell but is having an easier time piercing larger prey, such as J. Ayeik Pondo still living on the ocean floor. The population of J. Ayeik Pondo is beginning to take another hit, and X. Hyea Aginessi is rapidly turning its needle-nose into a specialized "pick" or digging claw, or something, anything to dig through the salt to the precious proteins beneath.

Z. Reditori Croctinii has also elected to float away with some of the tides, looking for a new place to settle. As both D. Shloopi Dorfis and yourselves have elected to burrow into the heat vents with the former populating crystals closer to them and the latter using the heat as a means of defense, this means that Z. Reditori Croctinii is out of the picture and will no longer be a contender for resources in your area. There may be new predators to worry about, but certainly not in this 100,000,000 year span. Their floating will bring them far from this location, and when they settle on a new vent (in three turns), there will be completely new bacteria to tangle with and wrest resources from.

You, meanwhile, have decided to follow the heat source, burrowing down into the heat vents. Slowly but surely U. Klixstem Faltoni naturally develop a tolerance to the massive heat waves, pulses and spikes that flow through the deep earth, and all the meanwhile they're fixing to prey on anything that comes close. They've focused solidly on developing their control of their "nervous system toxins" so as to be able to produce a number of effects; this would be considered "emotional control through drugs" if this was an intelligent species concept.

This time the acids and toxins are even enough to lure D. Shloopi Dorfis out of its protective crystal shell -- it is only through the bait and decoys D. Shloopi Dorfis now employs that the latter bacteria is able to survive at all. Because of all this easy-to-access food, you are RAPIDLY reproducing now, as it's able to lure almost any bacteria to your domain, surround it and devour it. J. Ayeik Pondo develops a bitter taste that U. Klixstem Faltoni ignores, while T. Vopal Gravimorium has no defense and X. Hyea Aginessi is now consciously avoiding you -- the needle-nose sucks up the control toxins and causes their energy store to burst upon chemical contact.

You dig in, colonizing the vents as fast as it can in order to crowd out the other bacteria. The heat resistance will only grow naturally from here until you can tolerate the extreme center of the vents, giving them an immunity. Focusing on finetuning their "mental acids" some more, you've gotten it to the point that when some of this acid enters the crystal homes of D. Shloopi Dorfis, the dried-out husk of crystal begins to break down... and you can get at the chewy bacteria inside. Your acids aren't potent enough to break through to consume D. Shloopi Dorfis completely yet, but next turn the crystalline shells will not be a defense against them.

D. Shloopi Dorfis has evolved bait and decoy tactics in response. By coloring the blackish points of their crystal homes, they're able to break brittle pieces off and make it seem like they're loose outside their "shell" and unprotected. Anywhere from six to twelve decoys are on any one crystal at a time, and it's having a noticable effect. T. Vopal Gravimorium is lured to the decoys like moths to light and D. Shloopi Dorfis zaps 'em, while it actually begins to hunt things closer to the vents -- especially J. Ayeik Pondo, whose salt shell is porous to the oxygen injections of D. Shloopi Dorfis (and thus they're "inflated" until they "pop" in delicious proteins).

X. Hyea Aginessi cannot compete with the decoys (it always attacks the wrong one only to have its needlenose zapped right off its ugly face) and is avoiding them. The crystals as a whole are getting stronger the closer they get to the vents, and so the bacteria go where the heat is -- and right into U. Klixstem Faltoni's domain. On the plus side, U. Klixstem Faltoni WILL pierce their shells soon. On the minus side, the "trails of salt" that form any time acid meets base are beginning to link individual crystals together... and the electrical pulses from individual bacteria traveling from one to another are beginning to mimic the very basics of synapses...

There are new crystals right by the vents, where mineral-rich earth meets the hottest jets of the vents. The crystals down here are a lot harder, and instead of being pure "crystal" or "hardened condensation where hot met cold" (as their current homes are), these crystals are heavily igneous / silica based... a rich, opaque chocolate brown to black. These crystals are slightly resistant to electricity, and more rooted to the ground instead of "floating in midair."

X. Hyea Aginessi is developing a pick to dig through T. Vopal Gravimorium's heavier body and J. Ayeik Pondo's salt shell.
T. Vopal Gravimorium is close to extinction, attempting to evolve spikes to "catch" the pick of X. Hyea Aginessi or deflect the harpoon of J. Ayeik Pondo.
J. Ayeik Pondo has developed a salt shell and is burrowing into the ground, eating dead bacteria and filterfeeding the ocean floor. It's... not having much luck.

How do you evolve now?
Do you focus on digging into the heat vents themselves, or are you going to gluttonize the seafloor, robbing others of resources?

[BadgeAddict]

I'm beginning to think that voting options work better in your games than random suggestions.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Evolve Intelligence.

Can we choose to do both? Because I want to do both!

[spiderwrangler]

Evolve water... you know, that thing that dissolves salts.

[twistedstraka]

Gluttonise and evolve chemical lures

[Aegis J Hyena]

It'll get better once evolution really gets going, Badge

[BadgeAddict]

Evolve hot pockets.

[Patdragon]

Gluttonising the sea floor seems good...but digging in seems more in line with what others wanted last turn so lets have the ability to start making tunnels. This way it will be a defensive home, possible traps filled with our lsd, keeps us closer to the heat.

Adaptation - Tunnel builder

[LAYF]

Evolve long free flowing nervesystem.
This should allow us to "connect" with others of our species to form hive minds or even simple brains early on without having to evolve size yet, or even make a "avatar" like connection to other creatures...

[BadgeAddict]

Hiveminds

[spiderwrangler]

Mucus secretions.

[Arch Lich Burns]

No hiveminds, it ended poorly last time. Maybe have telepathy but no hiveminds

[BadgeAddict]

I think we can all agree...that we want to grow up to be a Beholder.

[spiderwrangler]

Psssh... Beholder is setting your sights too low.

[BadgeAddict]

no...it's setting my sights at a reasonable level for what we typically turn into.

[thinkslogically]

Why not morlocks

[BadgeAddict]

Why not just go ahead and create our own time-machine while we're at it.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Temporeal creatures? This can be useful.

[BadgeAddict]

^Ooo, I never thought of that. like being able to jump into time about 1 hour to avoid being lunch. I like this, scratch my "turn into a hot pocket" and change to "Ability to jump a few minutes/hours forward into time"

[spiderwrangler]

Trouble if the foes get wise to it and just wait around for you to reappear... and they have time to bring friends.


Develop the ability to metabolize salt for energy... imma eat your shells, you nasty salt critters!

[BadgeAddict]

^Well, what if it was Space and Time then? Okay, then the ability to "Dimension-Door" at will that includes Time-Displacement.

[spiderwrangler]

That would help, yeah.

[Patdragon]

No don't jump forwards jump backwards in time. then we have more time to evolve other strategies

[BadgeAddict]

^Ooo, I like...

[Arch Lich Burns]

You might want to edit your original post so agies wont skip on it