Proposal: Ability Genes II [Trivial]

If there is an Ability Genes rule,

• change
  
  

  (This paragraph shall be replaced by the first Ability created)

  
  
  to
  
  

  * Synthesizing (Growth): Any Strain may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 2 Size and 5% of its Population. A Strain with this Ability can, once a day, Synthesize to make its Size grow by 1.
  * Super-Synthesizing (Growth): Any Strain with Synthesizing Ability may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 5 Size and 12.5% of its Population. A Strain with this Ability can, once a day, Synthesize to make its Size grow by 3.
  
  * Consuming (Offensive): Any Strain may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 2 Size and 5% of its Population. A Strain with this Ability can Consume another Strain. Both Strains lose Population equal to 10% of whichever was the smaller original Population.
  * Super-Consuming (Offensive): Any Strain with Consuming Ability may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 5 Size and 12.5% of its Population. A Strain with this Ability can Consume another Strain. The Acting Strain loses 10% of its Population and the Consumed Strain loses 30% of its Population.
  
  *Spiking (Defensive): Any Strain may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 2 Size and 5% of its Population. Any Strain trying to do an Action that would result in loss of Size or Population by this Strain must pay an additional 1 Size cost, before doing that action.
  *Super-Spiking (Defensive): Any Strain with Spiking Ability may acquire this Ability by paying a cost of 5 Size and 12.5% of its Population. If this Strain has lost any Size or Population in the last 24 hours due to an Action by other Strain, it may Retaliate. The Retaliating Strain takes again 50% of the damage already taken to its Size and/or Population and the Retaliated Strain takes 100% of the damage originally done.



• In the Enome rule, change
  
  

  Enome[1] tracks a Strain’s Growth Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.
  
  Enome[2] tracks a Strain’s Offensive Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.
  
  Enome[3] tracks a Strain’s Defensive Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.

  
  to
  
  

  Enome[1] tracks a Strain’s Growth Abilities. Possible values are:
  * s - Synthesizing
  * S - Super-Synthesizing
  
  Enome[2] tracks a Strain’s Offensive Abilities. Possible values are:
  * c - Consuming
  * C - Super-Consuming
  
  Enome[3] tracks a Strain’s Defensive Abilities. Possible values are:
  * s - Spiking
  * S - Super-Spiking

Some workable examples

6-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Orson

Proposal: No Batch-hopping [Trivial]

If a rule called Quarantine exists, change the line:

A Strain may change its Batch number at any time.

to read:

If a Strain does not have a Batch number, the Strain may set it at any time.

[We can always make Batch switching rules later]

2-1 - Self Fail - Failed by Orson

Proposal: Ability Genes

Create a rule named Ability Genes:

Abilities are traits indicating Actions a Strain may take, Actions it is immune to or modifications it can enforce upon Actions taken by other Strains.

Removing an Ability from a Strain reverts to innocuous the Enome Base tracking that Ability. Giving an Ability to a Strain overwrites any Ability that Strain has and is tracked by the same Enome Base. The current list of Abilities shall be found in this rule at all times.

Abilities are categorized into Groups. Each Group is tracked in the Enome by a different Base. The description of an Ability must specify to which Group that Ability belongs. The current list of Ability Groups shall be found in this rule at all times.

Currently, the Ability Groups are:

* Growth: Abilities in this group must specify ways for the Acting Strain growing up its Size. These Actions cannot affect any other Strain other than the acting one.
* Offensive: Abilities in this group must specify ways for the Acting Strain provoking damage to one or more other Strains. Those Actions must have a non-zero cost, either in Size or Population loss, specified in their definitions, and must not affect the Acting Strain other than to pay that cost.
* Defensive: Abilities in this group must specify ways for the Defending Strain preventing, raising the cost or retaliating Actions or damage done to it by other Strains. Retaliating Actions must have a non-zero cost, either in Size or Population loss, specified in their definitions, and must not affect the Acting Strain other than to pay that cost.

Currently, the Abilities are:

(This paragraph shall be replaced by the first Ability created)

In the Enome rule, change

(This paragraph shall be replaced by the first Enome tracked information)

to

Enome[1] tracks a Strain’s Growth Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.

Enome[2] tracks a Strain’s Offensive Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.

Enome[3] tracks a Strain’s Defensive Abilities. There are no possible values, currently.

Ubber-Endowments... I'll come with some example abilities soon.

6-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Orson

Proposal: Victory Condition [Trivial]

At the end of the Population rule, add:

If a Strain is the only non-Dead strain in the Game, that Strain may claim Victory.

That's it. Simple, quiet and clean. The last one standing wins.

7-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Orson

Proposal: No Sudden Batch Victory [Trivial]

Add to the rule Quarantine, if it exists:

Rules numbered 100 and over cannot specify Strain Victory conditions.

7-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Orson (no effect, since Quarantine rule doesn't exist)

Proposal: Quarantine

"Another experiment down the toilet," moaned Dr. Cranius. The end had been in sight, but now precious weeks of work were wasted. He wasn't going to get published in the Journal of Mad Science any time soon.

The Strains were all so promising, yet their interactions were erratic, even slightly toxic. Dr. Cranius considered a stack of new petri dishes, "Its the different metabolic speeds - that's the real problem...Of course! I could prepare separate batches and then compare the best strains of each dish! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!"

Create a new rule called Quarantine,

Strains have a Batch number recorded in the GNDT. A Strain may change its Batch number at any time. Proposals may indicate a Batch Number in their title (Proposal:[Batch#], [Title]). When Enacting a Proposal with a Batch number, an Admin numbers the rule in the corresponding range:

Batch 1 (Ruleset range 100-199)
Batch 2 (Ruleset range 200-299)
... and so on.

In rules numbered 100 and above, references to 'Strain' only consider Strains which match the corresponding Batch number.

4-3 - Self Fail - Failed by Orson.

Proposal: Re-enact Virus [Trivial]

Add a Virus rule

A rapidly-mutating virus has found its way into the petri dish.

The Virus is a Strain listed in the GNDT but is not counted as a Strain for the purpose of any rules with a number between 1 and 10.

There are some Exceptions about the Virus being a Strain. Those Exceptions shall be found in this rule at all times, and currently are:

* The Virus cannot take any action in a manner different than defined in this Rule.

If there is an Enome rule, add to the list of Virus Exceptions:

* The Virus Enome cannot be changed in a manner different than defined in this Rule.

If there is an Elements rule, add to the end of the Virus rule:

The Virus always attempts to absorb the element that the greatest number of Strains other than itself emit, and to emit the element that the greatest number of Strains absorb. Any Strain may, at any time, update the GNDT to reflect this.

If there is a Classifications rule, add to the end of the Virus rule:

If the Virus size is “Stable” or greater, and its Population is “Thriving” or lesser, any Strain may force it to Split.

If this Proposal passes, give the Virus a size of 100 and, if there exists that definition, a Population of 100.

He's back...

1-6 - Reached Quorum - Failed by Chronos

Proposal: Re-enact Elements [Trivial]

Add an Elements rule:

Some Strains are able to Absorb one Element and to Emit another; this is tracked in the GNDT. The Elements choices are restricted to Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen.

Initially, all Strains are Inert, absorbing and emitting nothing. An Inert Strain may change itself to absorb and emit two different Elements, at any time.

Any Strain whose Size is between 26 and 50 may change either the Element it Emits or the Element it Absorbs. Any Strain whose Size is under 26 may change both its Element. A Strain must have reached size 51 before it may make changes under this paragraph again.

The Elements a Strain emits or absorbs shall be different. Any action that would make the Element a Strain emits the same as the Element that Strain absorbs is invalid and may not be performed.

If there is an Enome rule,

• In the Elements Rule change
  
  

  tracked in the GNDT.

  
  to
  
  

  tracked in the Strain's Enome.



• In the Enome Rule change
  
  

  (This paragraph shall be replaced by the first Enome tracked information)

  
  to
  
  

  Enome[1] and Enome[2] track the elements a Strain Absorbs and Emits, respectively. Possible values are:
  * C - Carbon
  * O - Oxygen
  * N - Nitrogen

If there is a Classification rule, change the third paragraph of the Elements rule to:

Any Strain whose Size is at 'Declining' may change either the Element it Emits or the Element it Absorbs. Any Strain whose Size is 'Critical' may change both its Elements. A Strain must have reached the 'Stable' classification before it may make changes under this paragraph again.

This brings the Elements back, though is innocuous until some Eating/Breathing mechanics are put into play.

1-5 - Reached Quorum - Failed by Chronos

Proposal: Re-enact Enome [Trivial]

Add an Enome rule:

Each Strain has an "Enome" tracked in the GNDT. The Enome is represented by a string of uppercase or lowercase characters, separated by dashes. (Dashes are used as dividers to make the code easier to read and are not counted as a character of the string.)

Strains begin with the Enome XXX-XXX.

The single character parts of the Enome are called Bases and they may be identified by referencing their position in the format Enome[#].
(for example in XXX-XEX, Enome[5] = "E").

An "X" value means that position of the Enome is innocuous and has no effect in the game.

The current information tracked by the Enome and the possible values for each Base shall be found in this rule at all times.

List of Enome Bases information:

(This paragraph shall be replaced by the first Enome tracked information)

I used to like this bit of the ruleset. Quite in-theme.

5-3 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal: Re-enact Population Mechanics [Trivial]

Add to the Ruleset:

11 - Population

Each Strain has a Population, tracked in the GNDT, being the number of individual Specimens of that Strain - all Strains begin a Population of 100.

Any Strain with a Size greater than 5 and which Population is Thriving or lesser may, at any time, Split. When Splitting, a Strain reduces its Size by 5 and halve its remaining Size (rounding down) to double its Population.

A Strain's Biomass is calculated by multiplying its Size by its Population.

If a Strain's Size is reduced to zero, its Population is also reduced to zero; if its Population is reduced to zero then its Size is reduced to zero. If a Strain has been with zero Biomass for at least 72 hours, its Size, Population and Enome values may be set by any Strain to the same value assigned to new Strains.

If at any time a fractional value would occur for Population that value is rounded down to the nearest whole number.

12 - Classifications

Strains are classified by their size:

* 0- 25 - Critical
* 26- 50 - Declining
* 51- 75 - Stable
* 76-125 - Healthy
* 126-150 - Growing
* 151-175 - Flourishing
* 176-200 - Rampant

Strains are classified by their Population:

* 0 - Dead
* 1- 100 - Under-Populous
* 101- 1,000 - Thriving
* Over 1,000 - Over-Populous

13 - Overcrowding

The Free Space in the Petri dish is equivalent to 120,000 Biomass.

If the sum total of all Strains Biomass exceeds Free Space, then the Petri dish is Overcrowded and any Strain may administer Overcrowding, if it has not yet been done in the last 24 hours. The Strain administering Overcrowding may claim 1 Size after applying all its effects to the GNDT.

When Overcrowding occurs, reduces every Over-Populous Strain's Population by 30%, and every Thriving Strain’s Population by 15%. An Under-Populous Strain’s Population is not affected by Overcrowding.

If this Proposal passes, give all existing Strains enough population to bring their Biomass as near as possible to 10,000, without going over 10,000.

This re-enacts the Population mechanics, while keeps all the checks and balances we had already introduced (and which, given time, would have brought the big strains's Population to more logical values). The new values of starting Population, Classification, splitting limits, Free Space and Overcrowding effects are intended to keep Population low, making competition fierce.

5-3 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos

Back

Seeing as the big red button has been hit. Quorum remains 5.

Notice: Survey

I liked a number of rules which were repealed and I am tempted to re-propose them, but I want to test the waters and not tire people with beating a dead horse. Please give me some comments on which rules you'd definitely vote for or against. Thanks.

Disinfectant

Since my superpowers seem to be a bit granular, and since we're just going to have another boring population explosion if I don't repeal Rule 11 - all Rules from 11 to 22 have been repealed. Let's try something different. (I'm beginning to suspect that having players act out the behaviours of ostensibly unintelligent organisms was a flaw. No room for identifying with a character, or even considering it a particularly interesting pet.)

Notice: Experiment Completion

orson's proposal Experiment Completion was failed for having five Imperial votes without a vote from Kevan. This is technically incorrect; orson should've had an implicit For vote, passing the proposal one to nothing. It might not matter for long if Kevan repeals it, but for the time being it should be enacted.

As an Admin, I believe I am empowered to fix that. I have corrected the Enactment, but taken no reward, as the Enactment would have occurred before the GNDT Reset. -- orson

Call for Judgement: Boreness

Considering only a small part of the Strains are currently interested in the Game, and that continued tries to bring more competition around have failed to bring the other Strains to play;

Considering also what was made in a similar situation during Brendan's Dinasty;

Should this CfJ pass:

* Kevan shall be entitled to repeal any rule with a number greater than 10;
* every player will have its GNDT entries reseted to the values expected at the start of a new Dinasty.

5-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos. As I don't know which rules Kevan shall repeal, I reseted the GNDt this way: Size was normalized as per new Dinasty rule; All other fields were set to the values attributed to new players, including the Virus and the only existing Hybrid. I'll refrain to take any action in the GNDT until Kevan states which rules will remain and which ones will be repealed.

Call for Judgement: Admin Application

[I'm spending more time with the game than I expected to, so I might as well be an Admin. We could use another Admin anyway, since we only have one among the active players. I'm sorry if the other players are bored, but I pledge that as an Admin I will help move the game along. I've got my Ascension Address all ready to go... ]

If this Call for Judgement passes then the Strain Orson becomes an Admin Strain.

6-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos. I'll send you an e-mail with the caveats.

Proposal: East of East St. Louis

Cheese is awesome.

Passes due to inherent awesomeness of cheese. (Enacted 02 December 2004 by Truman Capote.) + 10 points to Cheese

Proposal: Order to the Ruleset [Trivial]

[It has been said that I am a bit Obsessive/Compulsive.... a logical sequence to the ruleset would make me feel so much better.]

Reorder the Ruleset above 10 so that:

11 - Population
12 - Classifications
13 - Overcrowding
14 - Enome
15 - Food Chain
16 - Enzymes
17 - Affliction Gene
18 - Endowment Gene
19 - Virus
20 - Hybridization
21 - Hybrid Request
22 - Scheduled Experiments
99 - Glossary

If this Proposal passes, no Size reward shall be given to me.

3-0 - Timed-out - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal: Experiment Completion

[this is my attempt at a Victory condition.]

Add to the end of the Enome rule:

Enome[6] tracks a Strain’s Enigma Gene. A Strain may change its Enigma Gene Base at any time, but once an Enigma Gene is no longer innocuous, it cannot be altered.

Add to the drafting guidelines of Scheduled Experiments:

It must specify a Base which hasn't been specified by any other Scheduled Experiment, and it must specify a target value for that Base.

And replace the last paragraph with:

After an Admin has made the changes called for by a Scheduled Experiment they annotate it with the date and time completed as well as the Names in the Ancestry of the Strains which have Biomass>0 and whose Base value matches the one specified in the Experiment. The Strains named are called the Candidate Strains of that Experiment. If all Candidate Strains for that Experiment have a non-innocuous Enigma Gene, and a Strain is named as a Candidate Strain in more Scheduled Experiments than any other Strain, that Strain may claim Victory.

After completion and annotation, a Scheduled Experiment cannot be removed or edited until a player has declared Victory.

[The Enigma Gene allows Strains to signal that they are ready for the end-game. The requirement for Biomass>0 means stubborn Strains can be over-ruled by force. Non-editable Experiment results prevents the majority from quashing a winning Strain.]

No votes for or against - Timed-out - Failed by Chronos

Correction: 1 Vote for, none against - Timed-out - Enacted by Orson, 7th October

Hybrid Request: Chronos, Knightking

Name : Knightphaenon
Enome: VCO-XmX
Pop. : 100,000,000 donated by each parent.

Let's roll the ball

3-0 - Timed-out - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal : Cleanup

Add a new Rule, "Cleanup":-

Any Lifeform may announce a Lab Cleanup (unless one is already in progress) by posting an entry to this effect, with a subject of "Lab Cleanup".

48 hours after a Cleanup is announced, all Critically Under-Populous and Critically Oozing Strains are temporarily removed from the Petri-Dish - if a single remaining Strain is larger than all the others, it is transferred to the main vat for global colonisation, and may claim Victory. Regardless, all removed Strains are immediately replaced.

Self-Kill - Failed by Chronos

Proposal: Immune Virus [Trivial]

In the Virus rule, change

the Virus cannot take any action in a manner different than defined in this Rule and Hunger cannot be enforced upon the Virus.

to

the Virus cannot take any action in a manner different than defined in this Rule, its Enome cannot be changed in a manner different than defined in this Rule, it cannot be target for Afflictions or Endowments and it doesn’t count when tallying conditions for creating an Affliction or Endowment. Hunger cannot be enforced upon the Virus.

If Proposal: One Scary Virus passed, remove

The last three Enome Bases of the Virus become the same as those of the Assimilated Strain (Enome[4] - Enome[6]).

If the Virus has any Affliction or Endowment when this Proposal is Enacted, those characteristics shall be removed from it.

I tried to make possible to the Virus act upon its Afflictions, but it was not accepted. Now I'm trying to take the Virus out of Affliction domain.

5-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal: One Scary Virus [Trivial]

[Introduce the concept of Assimilation. The Virus now becomes one nasty customer!]

In the Virus rule replace this section:

If when the Virus Pollutes no Strain’s Biomass is reduced, the Virus must Consume the Strain with most Population between the ones emitting the same element the Virus absorbs. The same Strain that forced the Virus to Pollute must enforce this paragraph’s action.

, with:

If when the Virus Pollutes no Strain’s Biomass is reduced, the Virus must Assimilate the Strain with most Population between the ones emitting the same element the Virus absorbs. When the Virus Assimilates a Strain, reduce the target Strain's Population by the Virus' Population, and then add the amount of Population the Assimilated Strain lost onto the Virus' Population. The last three Enome Bases of the Virus become the same as those of the Assimilated Strain (Enome[4] - Enome[6]). The same Strain that forced the Virus to Pollute must enforce this paragraph’s action.

[We may want to add a clause which make events triggered by Consumption also get triggered by Assimilation. I couldn't word it right.]

5-1 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal: Endowment Gene

Add a rule called Endowment Gene,

An Endowment is a trait which is generally favorable for a Strain. Its description may include conditions which allow a Strain to get that Endowment.

Removing an Endowment from a Strain reverts to innocuous the Enome Base tracking that Endowment. Giving an Endowment to a Strain overwrites any Endowment that Strain has and is tracked by the same Enome Base. The current list of Endowments shall be found in this rule at all times.

List of Endowments:

• Toxic

If a Strain has lost more than 50% of its population in the last 24 hours due to being Consumed, that Strain may become Toxic. A Strain Consuming the Toxic Strain loses 3 Size, in addition to normal Consumption losses.

• Vigorous

If a Strain has lost more than 50% of its population in the last 24 hours due to being Consumed, that Strain may become Vigorous. A Vigorous Strain may increase its Size by 4 when Synthesizing or Consuming.

Remove from Food Chain the line:

If the Consumed Strain has lost more than 15% of its population in the last 24 hours due to being Consumed, that Strain may become Fierce. Fierceness is tracked by the Strain’s Enome.

, and remove:

Alternatively, if that Vegetable is Fierce it may increase its size by 3% when Synthesizing.

In Enome, replace the Enome[4] section with:

Enome[4] tracks a Strain’s Endowment. Possible values are:

• t - Toxic
• v - Vigorous

5-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos

Proposal: Affliction Tidbits [Trivial]

In the Affliction Gene rule,

• change
  
  

  Afflictions have a certain cost to be given to a Strain, and may have as many positive or negative effects as the creator wishes.

  
  to
  
  

  An Affliction must have one or more well defined conditions that trigger its activation upon one or more Strains, as well as one or more well defined conditions that allow an Afflicted Strain to get rid of the Affliction.
  
  An Affliction may have as many positive or negative effects as the creator wishes. Removing an Affliction from a Strain reverts to innocuous the Enome Base tracking that Affliction. Giving an Affliction to a Strain overwrites any Affliction that Strain has and is tracked by the same Enome Base.



• change
  
  

  When a Fever passes to a new Strain, the old Strain's Enome tracking Afflicitions shall revert to innocuous.

  
  to
  
  

  When a Fever passes to a new Strain, the old Strain shall remove the Affliction from itself.

It makes legal the two Afflictions Orson proposed and we approved. It also clarifies what removing a Affliction does and what to do when a already Afflicted Strain gets another Affliction.

5-0 - Reached Quorum - Enacted by Chronos