Apologies for how close my posts have been in this topic, but I have two more ideas which, when combined with the previous ideas, gives us a very good selection and baseline of abilities to implement in Thrive to demonstrate unique cellular abilities. This leaves us with a solid conclusion in this topic I feel.
Holdfast Organelle (Ranged) - This one is a pretty interesting one because organisms observed with this feature typically use it alongside another tool to become effective predators. A holdfast organelle allows a cell to attach to an object and extend itself to great lengths, up to 20 times its normal size. Stentors commonly utilize it in combination with current-generating cilia to capture prey. Here is a stentor extending itself and filtering for food:
In Thrive, the holdfast organelle can essentially serve as a surprise-based spring. It would attach the player to an object (iron, procedural terrain when implemented, other chunks, etc.), and once attached, will allow the player to rapidly extend, surprising other microbes and catching prey items. It essentially works through phagocytosing organisms at range. It can be combined with cilia to create a current similar to Stentor, and perhaps with other abilities as well.
This ability depends on procedural terrain and an extensive amount of floating objects to actually be viable, so we shouldn’t consider it until those features are implemented.
Trichocyst (Ranged Toxin Variant) - Trichocysts are organelles which eject tiny, needle-like threads in response to physical stimulus. They are found in various ciliates/protozoans, such as Paramecium and dinoflagellates, serving to confuse and deter potential predators. Here is a video of a Paramecium ejecting trichocysts:
Considering their overlap with toxins, trichocysts wouldn’t need to be incredibly distinct from the toxin system if implemented in Thrive. They can essentially operate as a toxin variant “alternative” that inflicts damage no matter a target cell’s immunity, but at much lower of a damage level than toxins. So they’d serve the “maximum applicability, minimum damage” upgrade that you oftentimes see in many games.
I also want to revisit the concept of thecal plates. Since they are made out of cellulose, if we wish to preserve the current system of membranes (where you can’t have multiple types of membranes on the same cell), we should probably limit thecal plates to cellulose-bearing organisms. As NickThe Nick mentioned before, pellicles can serve as a widely accessible part for most cells, which essentially is an extra layer of protection: reducing damage, but not outright blocking it. Then, we can have thecal plates as a variant only accessible to organisms with cellulose, which serve as the outright damage-blocking part previously described. And if we want to be ambitious, these thecal plates can also be customized to protrude akin to dinoflagellates, which can increase the size a predator cell needs to be to phagocytosize the player at the cost of increased mass.
All in all, here is a list of the parts mentioned throughout this thread, formatted in archetype format. I have attached some general notes as well:
Default/Brawler
- Engulfment - Default ability accessible to all cells, unless it is conceded in exchange for greater defense. High reward, so should come with considerable risk, hence the value of introducing endotoxins and countermeasures.
- Pilus - Easily placed part accessible to both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Makes cells difficult to engage with up close, but otherwise useless at range. In my opinion, blocking ability should be nerfed a tiny bit in the future, especially if we introduce shielding parts. Will probably happen regardless since we plan to move away from traditional projectile toxins.
- Probiscis Pilus (Pilus Variant) - A variant of the pilus, doesn’t deal as much damage but can be similarly destructive, allowing cells to steal resources from targets. Forces cell to get up close, meaning the potential for wasted energy if prey item is too fast or danger if prey item is unpredictable.
- Toxin Pilus (Pilus Variant) - A variant of the pilus, significantly reduces initial damage, but introduces toxin effects. Immunity can make this variant useless.
Ranged
- Toxin Clouds - The “default” form of utilizing toxins available to both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, involves the emission of clouds into the environment. Easily noticeable, so it might end up serving better as a defensive measure rather than a predation strategy, unless modifications are a factor.
- Nemotocysts - A quicker, more aggressive measure of transmitting toxins, where a rapidly extending “spike” will damage and then poison a target cell. Unpredictable and more direct, but has a cooldown.
- Mucilage - Slime clouds, which slow down potential prey items and predators. Not necessarily offensive, but can be used creatively.
- Axopodia - Long, hair-like extensions of the membrane which essentially serve as a trap, dragging in other cells. Requires time to set up, slows down the player, and has the potential of capturing a predator, so risky strategy.
- Suction Cilia (Cilia Variant) - Cilia which generates currents, potentially trapping prey items. High energy cost, so must be used wisely.
- Haptocyst (Axopodia Variant) - A variant of axopodia, allows hostile resource transfer upon contact and slightly quicker to set up, but doesn’t pull in prey as much.
- Holdfast Organelle - Makes a player attach to a substrate and allows rapid extension, akin to a predatory venus fly trap. Requires the player to wait for prey items, but quick and decisive. Can be combined with other abilities.
- Trichocysts (Toxin Variant) - A toxin variant, expels threads which apply damage regardless of immunity, but at a noticeably reduced level.
Heavy
- Size Attached to Health - Having health attach to size works to create large cells which the player should avoid.
- Rigid Membranes Reducing Physical Damage - As Buckly suggests, more rigid membranes can reduce damage received from abrasive forces, such as nematocysts and pilus.
Shielded
- Pellicles - Widely accessible external part which essentially thickens membrane, not outright nullifying damage but reducing it noticeably. Slightly slows down movement and reduces absorption.
- Thecal Plates (Pellicle Variant) - Upgrade variant accessible to cellulose-wearing cells, can outright nullify damage, but significantly reduces absorption and slows down movement. Can be modified to become spike-like as seen in dinoflagellates, significantly increasing mass but making it more difficult to be engulfed.
- Mucocysts - A togglable ability which temporarily blocks the player from receiving damage and being engulfed for a short time, but disables other abilities, slows down resource absorption, and significantly slows down the player. Noticable cooldown and only for a brief amount of time.
Speed
- Flagella - Constant and powerful but high-energy speed bonus, most viable in a straight line.
- Cilia - Less energy intensive and multidirectional speed bonus, but doesn’t increase speed to the extent of flagella.
- Mucilage Jets - Allows the propulsion of slime for a more dramatic but unsteady speed bonus.
Bomber
- Endotoxins - Makes it damaging to ingest an organism without immunology. Upon death, can release a burst of toxins.
That is a pool of 21 unique abilities, which absolutely is enough for the Microbe Stage. And a good thing is that a decent amount of these abilities are variants of pre-existing parts. But for all intents of purposes, this should definitely provide a good amount of customization and diversity in terms of interactions with the AI. So, besides addressing upgrades, I think we have a good selection of actions we can take to make Thrivian microbes more engaging and unique.