Now it’s the time to admit I created species without any thought for strategy, but solely by the principle of thinking of cool names and then assigning attributes which seemed suitable (yes, it did lead to me to submit a bunch of species with weapons + armor > 10). The fact one of my own survived anyway confirms what I suspected, namely that the game is so complicated that few people could find reliably successful strategies (or maybe it’s just the random?) I guess it also helped that I submitted 10 species and most players submitted much less.
I submitted the exact same 10 speed leaf eater that you did, I just started it in the Temperate Forest. Luck of the draw that yours got here first, I guess.
Ah, I read the wrong line. So yeah, we submitted the exact same creature.
There were definitely reliably BAD creatures, and certainly some reliably good ones, but a lot of variance based on the overall makeup of the population. I certainly didn’t expect so many total creatures to be submitted; there was a lot more variability in results with 500-creature populations. In 5000-creature populations, basically the only thing that ever survived was invincibles.
With this size population, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your minimal invincible survived—and certainly wasn’t just luck that you arrived at its design. Give yourself SOME credit. :)
The fact one of my own survived anyway confirms what I suspected, namely that the game is so complicated that few people could find reliably successful strategies (or maybe it’s just the random?)
I think this is exacerbated in the River and Shore where “what species arrives first” has extra high random variance.
Now it’s the time to admit I created species without any thought for strategy, but solely by the principle of thinking of cool names and then assigning attributes which seemed suitable (yes, it did lead to me to submit a bunch of species with weapons + armor > 10). The fact one of my own survived anyway confirms what I suspected, namely that the game is so complicated that few people could find reliably successful strategies (or maybe it’s just the random?) I guess it also helped that I submitted 10 species and most players submitted much less.
I submitted the exact same 10 speed leaf eater that you did, I just started it in the Temperate Forest. Luck of the draw that yours got here first, I guess.
What do you mean, you just started it in the Temperate Forest? The Snark comes from the Temperate Forest.
Ah, I read the wrong line. So yeah, we submitted the exact same creature.
There were definitely reliably BAD creatures, and certainly some reliably good ones, but a lot of variance based on the overall makeup of the population. I certainly didn’t expect so many total creatures to be submitted; there was a lot more variability in results with 500-creature populations. In 5000-creature populations, basically the only thing that ever survived was invincibles.
With this size population, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your minimal invincible survived—and certainly wasn’t just luck that you arrived at its design. Give yourself SOME credit. :)
I think this is exacerbated in the River and Shore where “what species arrives first” has extra high random variance.
Well, the Snark also survived in the Human Garbage Dump. [EDIT: And in the Temperate Forest and the Rainforest]