Make Xenobotany a little more streamlined

[Syncron]

To start off, this is not a post to strip everything from Xenobotany. I rather enjoy it, but the issue lies in how long it takes to do anything VS the average round time (2h before voting begins)

 

As it is, Xenobotany is a gamble (What gene does what), on top of a gamble (Shoot a tray 40+ times and get 1-2 mutations that make 0 changes, etc).

My suggestion is simple; Make specific genes already known, and on a paper in the xenobotany lab. Something like vigor, atmosphere, etc. Basic things. The reason is: I find it hard to believe that absolutely no research would have ever been done to find this information.

Obviously I'm not saying to make EVERY gene pre-known, since things like vines, gas production, spines, etc would be more akin to mutant variants. But as it stands, it takes over 40 mins-1 hour to even get the basic genes from the pre-existing seeds (See: Vigor, Hardiness, Metabolism, etc.), but then to add to it, for some you have to wait for plants to grow to see if a mutation you were after even happened, (of which, some are INCREDIBLY slow without outright gene altering them, but even 3/3 mat/pro can still take 5-10 minutes to be harvestable.)

This suggestion is just to make xenobotany a little more time efficient, to make more interesting plants, be it for antag reasons, or just for fun. I personally enjoy xenobot, but find it very irksome to spend the first half of the round just jotting down the genes, and playing 'The fuck does this do' due to some of the genes altering stuff that has nothing to do with the actual value (I.E. I've had biochem alter unrelated stats like endurance)

Edited July 3, 2023 by Syncron
added info

[Rabid Animal]

It's been a while since I've played xenobotany so I should verify myself but a much faster way to get the genes is comparing two wildly different plants, not mutating one plant till the gene you want to find gets changed. I do recall it only taking about 20-30 minutes to get all the genes down when I played it last. That said, idk - on one hand making science easier lowers the bar for more people to play it which is good, on the other I think the real issue with xenobotany is lack of interesting mutations and making the 'endgame' easier to get to makes that much more obvious.

[Syncron]

47 minutes ago, Rabid Animal said:

It's been a while since I've played xenobotany so I should verify myself but a much faster way to get the genes is comparing two wildly different plants, not mutating one plant till the gene you want to find gets changed. I do recall it only taking about 20-30 minutes to get all the genes down when I played it last. That said, idk - on one hand making science easier lowers the bar for more people to play it which is good, on the other I think the real issue with xenobotany is lack of interesting mutations and making the 'endgame' easier to get to makes that much more obvious.

Thats how I do it as it is. But even with top tier luck it still takes 30 minutes for the most basic genes like Vigor that you'd think would be researched already.

Honestly, We need Bay's version of the somagun which can focus which gene to mutate. That alone would make Xenobot 100% better

[Rabid Animal]

Yeah tbh idk why the somagun isn't jacked, it takes rnd to make anyways so why not make it actually useful. 

Still on the fence about having stuff be pre-researched.

[Syncron]

If they added the better Soma gun, I would retract my gene statement. But as it is currently, basic genes shouldn't be an issue, to me. It would just save time.

[RustingWithYou]

On 05/07/2023 at 03:43, Syncron said:

If they added the better Soma gun, I would retract my gene statement. But as it is currently, basic genes shouldn't be an issue, to me. It would just save time.

We have that. It's a firing mode for the somatoray.

[Syncron]

4 hours ago, RustingWithYou said:

We have that. It's a firing mode for the somatoray.

At the original time of posting it wasn't in/wasn't functional. Though last time I tested it like 1-2 weeks ago (whenever someone said they fixed it) it was still mutating randomly even with specific genes selected. I submitted a report on it a bit back.
https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/issues/16836

[geeves]

did u set the firing mode to selected gene after selecting the gene on the gun

[Syncron]

On 12/08/2023 at 04:34, geeves said:

did u set the firing mode to selected gene after selecting the gene on the gun

Per the issue report: 

Quote

The Somatoray's gene select does not choose the specified gene.

I manually tracked down the biochemistry gene, seen below

<Biochem specifications image from wiki was here, but it did not copy paste>

Using the found gene, I specified it on the somatoray, but even when using it, it was randomizing mutations within the 'Fruit' catagory, as well as others such as endurance and vigor.

But yes, I selected the fire mode after selecting the gene, and it went 'lolol'. But this post is also old. It was made when the soma gun wasn't patched at all.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Syncron