2021 Darwin Game - River

post by lsusr · 2021-10-06T07:29:16.510Z · LW · GW · 8 comments

Contents

  Generation 0
  Generations 1-100
  Generations 100-9000
  Winners
None
8 comments

The River contains lots of every foragable food. The River is like the Human Garbage Dump except:

  1. It has 5x as many resources.
  2. Both air-breathing and water-breathing species can survive in the River.
  3. Organisms may not start in the River. They must wander in.

Name Carrion Leaves Grass Seeds Detritus Coconuts Algae Lichen
River 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500

Generation 0

At first, there are no animals and the foragables accumulate.

Generations 1-100

Species Original Biome Venom? Weapons Armor Speed Forage? Creator
Leafy Luncheoner Temperate Forest Neither 0 0 1 Leaves Sean Hyer
Mooshroom Grassland Neither 0 0 5 Grass;Seeds Vanessa
slow vulture Desert Antivenom only 0 10 10 Carrion eat (Allows survival in the Desert),Corm
mediocre 1-2-s Grassland Neither 1 0 2 Seeds Corm
Very Lesser Forest Dragon Rainforest Neither 2 0 2 Persephone 0461

The same pattern repeats for each foragable. First the foragable accomulates. Then a species which can consume the foragable appears. Its population explodes until it has eaten the accumulated foragable. Finally, its population reverts to carrying capacity.

Persephone 0461's Very Lesser Forest Dragon wandered in. It thrived until another predator appeared which hunted it to extinction.

Generations 100-9000

Species appear. Species Disappear. Life is always in flux.

This is where all the Ocean's Soonbegons were coming from. Until they didn't anymore.

Winners

Name Native Biome Venom? Attack Armor Speed Forage? Temperature Adaptation? Creator Social Media
Booyahs Desert Neither 2 0 10 Carrion Heat (Allows survival in the Desert) CK None
Snark Temperate Forest Neither 0 0 10 Leaves Vanessa None
Venomoth Rainforest Venom + Antivenom 0 0 3 Grass aphyer None
Locust Eater Eater Temperate Forest Neither 2 0 2 Seeds Multicore None
Hopsplitter Grassland Neither 0 0 10 Grass;Seeds Nem None

8 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by Vanessa Kosoy (vanessa-kosoy) · 2021-10-06T10:31:17.397Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

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.

Replies from: elspood, lsusr
↑ comment by elspood · 2021-10-06T12:56:38.110Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

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.

Replies from: vanessa-kosoy
↑ comment by Vanessa Kosoy (vanessa-kosoy) · 2021-10-06T13:17:34.424Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

What do you mean, you just started it in the Temperate Forest? The Snark comes from the Temperate Forest.

Replies from: elspood
↑ comment by elspood · 2021-10-06T14:27:51.631Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

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. :)

↑ comment by lsusr · 2021-10-06T17:12:32.625Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

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.

Replies from: vanessa-kosoy
↑ comment by Vanessa Kosoy (vanessa-kosoy) · 2021-10-06T18:08:42.225Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Well, the Snark also survived in the Human Garbage Dump. [EDIT: And in the Temperate Forest and the Rainforest]

comment by aphyer · 2021-10-06T21:19:30.411Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The same pattern repeats for each foragable. First the foragable accomulates. Then a species which can consume the foragable appears. Its population explodes until it has eaten the accumulated foragable. Finally, its population reverts to carrying capacity.

Persephone 0461's Very Lesser Forest Dragon. It thrived until another predator appeared which hunted it to extinction.

 

Did a sentence or two get left out between these two paragraphs?

Replies from: lsusr
↑ comment by lsusr · 2021-10-06T21:43:24.748Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

That was indeed missing words. Fixed. Thanks.