Friday, November 24, 2017

Hera For All

Does anyone remember Hera from like five years ago? Probably one of my more oddly specific worlds, Hera implemented a scenario script that forced an all-female world and scored creatures based on how well they cared for themselves. It promoted more self-sufficient creatures by selecting genomes from the creatures with the best scores to go into the next generation and attempted to spread creatures out in the world by impregnating the creature furthest from the group when the population dropped.

I have distributed a few copies of my Hera script over the years to people who requested them via email, but I have wanted to write a more user-friendly version for a long time. So I got around to doing that!

Here is what the Scenario Script for Hera does, in brief terms:

  • Exports males and ensures all eggs are female
  • Once creatures are old enough, assigns them a score based on their drives. Creatures with lower drives will have a lower score. You must have Creature Nametags installed to see the scores, but the script should function without them.
  • Ensures the population continues by impregnating a norn with a mix of genetics from the lowest scoring creatures when the population drops below the limit.
  • Alters the life chemical of creatures based on their score, so creatures who cannot take care of themselves age and die quickly while low-scoring creatures stick around longer.

Additionally, this for-release version includes several Magic Words commands so you can tweak certain settings to your liking!

Basic Commands
  • Hera Favor: This will reduce the selected creature's score next time it is calculated, giving it a greater chance to survive and pass on its genes even if it isn't doing so well.
  • Hera Score Reset: Resets all creature's scores to 50, giving them all a chance to start over. Useful if you've recently moved the population to a new metaroom or world. This will go into effect the next time score is calculated.
  • Hera Difficulty # : Set a number from 1 (very easy) to 10 (very difficult). This affects how gently or harshly creatures are scored. Default is 5.
Advanced Commands
  • Hera Score Rate # : Set a number from 1 to 100 that will affect how quickly score changes take place. Lower values will cause the score to reflect more current drive levels, while higher values will reflect a creature's drives over a longer period of time. Setting this to 100 will freeze scores in place. Default is 50.
  • Hera Range #-# : Set a range of numbers such as 10-90 or 40-60 that defines the 'neutral zone' within which a creature will not see any changes to their lifespan. Creatures with a score lower than the first number will live longer lives, while creatures with a score above the last number will not live as long. Default is 20-90. 
  • Hera Life #/# : Set two numbers such as 5/15 or 20/90 representing Reward and Penalty respectively. These numbers affect the amount of life a creature gains or loses if its score falls outside the values set in Hera Range. Suggested values are between 1 and 100 but higher values can be set with caution. Defaults are 50/50.
Download Scenario Script Hera here! (Updated 12/7/21*) A huge thank you to KittyTikara of The Mobula Ray for all the detailed testing and feedback on this script. 

I know this is kind of a weirdly specific scenario to run, but I always kind of hope it'll spark more interest in unique gameplay styles. I am particularly charmed by both SpaceShipRat's Creatures Scenario Generator and c1anddsaddict's C3/DS Game Generator. Do any of you take inspiration from things like these? Are there any scenarios you've come up with that could be made easier or fully automated with scripts?

*Note: Hera was updated on 12/7/21 to add a "Hera Pause" command. The update post is here, and the old version is here if you want it for some reason.

10 comments:

  1. This scoring system seems more effective than breeding, failing norns don't reproduce!

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    1. It is pretty effective in that regard! Theoretically if you leave it running long enough over enough generations, the average score in the world should keep falling lower and lower. I will add though, that one of the pitfalls of a script like this is that creatures never actually need to breed, so even if you eventually end up with a creature that takes perfect care of itself and maintains a low score consistently, it may have mutated to become completely infertile in the process.

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  2. 1) thanks for the mention, 2) oh my god I absolutely did not remember I'd made that, and that it was so in-depth. The Lannister challenge, lol!

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    1. Hah, I love it though! There's an awful lot of unique and quirky ideas in that generator :P

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  3. How precisely does this work? i have the GoG creatures 3/docking station, and i put this in the agents file for docking station (since im playing a docked game) and its not showing up in the list of items to make- i tried putting it in the COS folder too, and nothing. I'd love to try it but i cant seem to figure it out haha ><

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  4. I'm having trouble getting the score to appear under their name tags! I've tried resetting and pausing/unpausing but no luck. Any tips? Thank you!

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    1. That's certainly strange-- what version of the nametags are you using? If you have Magic Words installed, when you type 'help' do you see the Hera commands in the list? That would confirm that it at least injected properly/is running. The only other thing I can think of is that since creatures don't get their score calculated until they are of Youth or older age, maybe none of the creatures are old enough? Is this just an issue in one world or across all worlds? Let me know if you're still not having any luck.

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    2. Thank you so much! I do see the Hera commands on the list and can pause/unpause, I just don't see the score in the nametags. I thought the issue would be age (since I did start with baby creatures!) but I've aged everyone up and the issue still persists. This is all worlds where I've tried it. I'm using nametags v 1.3 . If it's running but not displaying scores it should still work, right?

      Thank you for your help!

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    3. Nevermind! It worked. It turned out I had to change rooms and back again after aging everyone up (?)

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  5. The difficulty is actually 1 is hardest and 10 is easiest, from testing.

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