Here is a proposal for a lock-and-key mechanic for agents.
Agent Rock-Paper-Scissors Mechanic
Toxins will serve as a dynamic, active threat to the player. Serving as an introduction to themes of evolutionary arms races which will be important in other biological phases of Thrive, this system introduces a layer of complexity to the game.
Prokaryotes v. Eukaryotes
Prokaryotes will have access to all forms of toxins, and will have limited means of developing immunity. This will make toxins very influential and powerful for prokaryotes, and a bit more like a traditionally rock-paper-scissors mechanic for eukaryotes.
Rock, Paper, Scissors Mechanic
Toxins will generally have three parts to represent aspects of agent warfare…
- Target - Characteristics that the toxin is more effective against.
- Scaling Factors - Environmental factors which can increase or decrease effectiveness. Represents resource availability/constraints.
- Inhibiting Factors - Traits which counteract the effects of the toxin.
The first aspect helps players know what to be wary of or what to target, depending on their or their competition’s composition. The second aspect helps players understand what the landscape of toxins in a particular patch might look like. The third aspect helps provide controls over immunity.
Toxins will damage all organisms, but will be more or less effective against certain organisms depending on certain morphological features and adaptations. Although players can tweak their morphology and utilize adaptations to counteract toxins, effective toxins will always be something to watch out for.
Type A, Heavy Metals:
- More effective against organisms with sulfur respiration parts.
- Affected by percentage of iron in patch. More iron % means more damage.
- Inhibited by iron-respiration parts.
Type B, Herbicides:
- More effective against organisms with photosynthetic parts.
- Increases with increased temperature (capped at a certain temperature to avoid OP hydrothermal vent toxins).
- Inhibited by adaptations to the mitochondria and chloroplasts, as well as cellulose membranes. More rigid cellulose membranes are more effective against herbicides.
Type C, Cytolytic Toxins:
- More effective against organisms with more fluid membranes.
- Damage increases with higher oxygen concentration.
- Inhibited by increased rigidity for membranes.
This type of toxins will likely be a toxin that is effective across the entire microbe stage. It will have a pretty accessible form of immunity in the form of rigidity, but rigidity itself has some solid concessions needed from the player, opening up other concerns for the player.
Type D, Anti-Mitochondrial Toxins:
- More effective against organisms with aerobic respiration parts.
- Effects mitigated by sulfur contents in a patch, and lower temperature areas.
- Inhibited by sulfur and nitrogen-processing parts. Inhibits growth of your organism.
This one is based somewhat on cyanide. It will have steep energy demands to portray the immense amount of adaptations required to maintain homeostasis despite possessing such a potent toxin, and will inhibit the growth of a cell (utilizes nitrogen).
Players will be aware of what is effective for and against toxins upfront; it would be a huge burden to place on players to figure this out for themselves.
Overall, players will likely focus more on toxins type C & D later in the Microbe Stage, as well as type B. Type A will likely be more present in the earlier Microbe Stage, and might dissipate in presence overall as the player and the planet progresses unless they evolve in deeper patches.
Other Adaptive Traits
Some upgrades or adaptations can also mitigate general toxicity effectiveness.
Membranes
Certain membranes will reduce or outright cancel external toxin damages, necessitating more intrusive forms of delivery. Endotoxins and toxins delivered through means such as the injectisome will inflict damage unaffected by membrane resistance.
- Cellulose will be weakly resistant to external toxins.
- Chitin will be moderately resistant to external toxins.
- Calcium carbonate and silica will be very resistant to external toxins.
Upgrades & Parts
Certain traits will counteract toxin resistance.
Mitochondrial Adaptations - The mitochondria will have an upgrade which allows for greater processing of toxins as a whole in exchange for total energy production. Cells won’t be able to absolutely mitigate toxins through this single avenue, but in combination with other parts, can create a formidable immune response system.
Chloroplasts can also be given certain upgrades to provide adaptive measures against agents.
Mucilage - The amount of mucilage you have stored in your organism will slightly reduce the effect of toxin damage on your organism, due to the slime somewhat reducing the permeation of harmful agents. This will provide some sort of option for prokaryotes besides fully transforming your morphology.
Part Composition - Since toxin effectiveness is dependent on player composition, players can make morphological changes to foster immunity.
(Pending Implementation/Acceptance) Surface Area and Volume Ratios - Certain toxins can be more effective for lower ratio organisms, while other might be more effective for higher ratio organisms.
Ultimately, I think agents will be something that requires a good amount of feedback and playtesting to get correct and balanced results. We can ultimately think about different target, scaling, and inhibiting factors to get a different risk layout if improvements are needed.
What is needed to be established in such a system is:
- A type of toxin that the player should be wary of, and should not be able to easily adapt to.
- A mechanism for the player to atleast counteract this primary toxin, and somewhat dismiss certain toxins.
With proper balancing, that can be done. And if nothing else, a much more simple “toxin A with A effect, toxin B with B effect, etc.” can work as well.