Currents
I thought I had mentioned this in my OP but I’ll elaborate more here. Currents are one alternative that can help address the issues. Though I don’t think currents should not be implemented (they should of course be implemented), I think there are some drawbacks to relying solely on them to solve the above issues.
- Sessile and less active/mobile organisms would still be inviable in low current or no current biomes (note that this affects you even if you play super mobile since the AI will be less viable as sessile).
- The amount of Phosphate and Ammonia needed to reproduce can get so high (for example for a eukaryotic plant cell or some other larger/complex cell) that it would take many many waves of ammonia and phosphate getting washed into you to be able to reproduce.
- If clouds of ammonia and phosphate are few and far between, they will wash over you so infrequently that it would be quite frustrating. On the flip side, if they are large and frequent, the environment will literally be awash in bright purple and orange and really ruin a lot of the good visuals of the game that we have built.
Reclassifying Ammonia and Phosphate as Background Compounds
There are a lot of topics for conversation in the thread, namely: Do we replace all clouds with chunks and background absorption? Do we only replace Ammonia and Phosphate? Do we Replace clouds with chunks but no background absorption?
So in an effort to focus the conversation, it seems the least controversial idea is potentially changing Ammonia and Phosphate into background compounds. It seems to me that out of all the suggested changes, this is the smallest change with the biggest potential impact. Additionally, implementing such a change would allow us to then play with it, reassess, and then decide if we wanted to take the further step and move other clouds into background absorption as well. If they were moved to background compounds, this is what it could look like:
Overview
Phosphate and Ammonia exist as features of the patch like Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. However, since they are liquids (and not gasses), they can be stored, and so upon first spawning you will start to see a steady trickle of them flow into your storage. They will exist in different concentration per patch, and will fluctuate in response to natural processes that produce them and how many organisms are consuming them.
Realism Justification
We can say that Phosphate and Ammonia exist as such small molecules that are so diluted in the oceans that they do not appear as specific clouds, as opposed to Glucose, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Iron, which are scarce and concentrated enough that we represent them with clouds.
Rate of Absorption
The rate at which you absorb Ammonia and Phosphate from the environment is determined by their concentration in the environment, by your membrane type, and by any specific mutations you may have to increase absorption rate (like microvilli). Moving can also increase your absorption rate while moving, since motion facilitates fluid flow across membranes.
Other Sources of Ammonia and Phosphate
Cells will still yield Ammonia and Phosphate when they die. As such, there is a large incentive to evolve predatory or scavenging behaviour, especially if no other species have yet, since the cells around you represent untapped ammonia and phosphate stockpiles.
Nitrogenase will still yield a rate of Ammonia over time, and so it would speed up the rate at which you accumulate Ammonia. However, Nitrogenase will not be required to be self-sufficient for Ammonia, which is good because most autotrophs never evolved Nitrogenase.
How will Different Niches Play
Heterotrophs will still need to hunt for glucose, hydrogen sulfide, or iron, as without them they will starve and their ammonia and phosphate will be useless. As such the constant pressure of the risk of starvation is still present.
Autotrophs will need to find a way of producing their own glucose, hydrogen sulfide, iron, or some other energy source to be fully self sufficient. For example, a photosynthesizer would use chloroplasts to produce their own glucose. Once an autotroph has that, they are fully self sufficient. They will gradually absorb Ammonia and Phosphate from the environment, and they will have some way of producing an energy yielding compound for themselves without needing to move.
Other Consequences of Such a Change
This would effectively make growth a passive process. The player will need to hunt for food to stay fed, and make sure they stay alive from predators and environmental hazards, so that they can ensure the passive process of growth continues uninterrupted. This is exactly the gameplay loop of 3D Multicellular, Aware, and Early Awakening. Hunt for food and stay fed, and meanwhile your organism will slowly and passively grow. It’s similar even in an indirect sense to the core gameplay loop of Late Awakening and onwards, you supply your people with food and resources and their population will passively grow on its own and their prosperity increases.
However, this doesn’t make the time it takes you to grow completely out of your control. Remember that your absorption rate is affected by several variables, so the following are steps you can take to increase your ammonia and phosphate absorption rate:
- Migrate to patches with lots of natural production of ammonia and phosphate (vents, tidepools or ocean surface before the Great Oxygenation Event, patches with high rock erosion (which is where phosphate minerals enter the ecosystem)).
- Migrate to remote or underpopulated patches where there are less other species consuming ammonia and phosphate
- Evolve your membrane or other adaptations to increase your absorption rate
- Become a very mobile and active species so that you swim around a lot, increasing your absorption rate
- Evolve to become a predator or scavenger, so that you can harvest phosphate and ammonia from other cells
- Evolve a nitrogenase to produce your own Ammonia