First, you might want to avoid empathizing with the bugs, because I'm about to describe some pretty sadistic experiments for you to do!
After you read the brief description of each file, you might want to try the experiment for yourself. Also, I use the abbreviation "Kt" for 1000 ticks of the simulation, and Mt for 1,000,000 ticks.
One note about saved files in general: The large files (ones created with "Save Everything") can be compressed down to about 5 or 6K with a compression program (Stuffit, Compact Pro...), so if you have a lot of files, don't worry too much about their size. However, if your simulation doesn't depend on the locations of food and poison, try saving in the smaller format, since it loads and saves slightly faster. Remember that barriers aren't saved at all in the small format, though!
Problem Breeders - These bugs developed an interesting survival strategy that allowed them to avoid becoming "smarter" about running into poison. I added about 80 squares of poison before the bugs had even evolved simple food finding techniques, and the conditions were too harsh for the bugs to survive. Only the bugs with the lowest maturity and strength requirements for reproduction reproduced. The graph of the frequent population explosions and the shorter periods of famine that follow shows a saw-tooth pattern. You might notice that they evolve back to "normal" if you leave them alone for a while.
Poison Bouncers - I let the bugs evolve for about 200 Kt to a highly efficient cruising state, then gently (slowly) introduced increasing amounts of poison for a while.
Really Really Evolved Cruisers - I forgot to turn a PowerPC 9500/120 off. I left Prokaryote running on it overnight with the default environmental conditions. OOPS! Don't try this at home! It ran for about 180,000,000 ticks. This is probably the farthest evolution will get without changing the environment... (I hand-colorized them, since an old bug in the program turned them albino, and they didn't look interesting enough.)
Cool Picture - Ahem... I divided the map into a side with poison walls, and a side with barrier walls. Then I got bored and drew a cool picture. Don't despair, though! The bugs like the spiral pattern in the middle of the poison section, which fills up with food since it's hard to get to. Occasionally a bug succeeds, and reproduces madly. Interestingly enough, the bugs are never quite satisfied, and always leave the spiral eventually. These bugs are good at their job, too, since the simulation's ran for about 3.7 Mt.
Half and Half - I let the bugs learn to cruise for food for a while (80Kt, they evolved very quickly during the first two population explosions and collapses), then divided the map in half with a barrier. I slowly added poison, only to the left side, creating two very different climates. All the bugs in this simulation evolved from the same ancestor, but the different evironments caused the two colonies to take very different evolutionary paths. (No, they aren't different species, because the fusion algorithm doesn't care about speciation.) Be careful when altering this file, since the poisonless side's colony has evolved to be almost completely unable to breed (their strong energies are over the maximum energy amount). To correct this, increase the top allowed energy.
Too Much Poison - I tried to get the population to settle around a smaller number than the normal stable population without changing the food value or the amount of food added each tick (see the READ me file), and I thought it might be possible to add enough poison to keep the bugs from being able to easily move around and find food. I found that it took QUITE a lot of poison for this to happen... at least if the poison is randomly placed. One interesting effect is that the bugs seem to prefer paths with less poison, and create low food density "roads." (You can see them better if you hide the poison.) You might try creating a poisonless patch in the center, and seeing if any bugs evolve the ability to stay in the center. A lot of them are omnivores, which seems to be an excellent strategy, because of the frequently traveled paths.
More suggestions:
Since the point of this program is for you to have fun, I'm not going to do every possible experiment and include with the program. Why not? a)I'd go completely crazy b) it would have taken you an extra hour to download (or get in some manner) this program, and c) that would spoil all the fun!
Send me any interesting files that you make! Don't worry about whether or not they're the best bug files that's ever existed, someone else might think they're great... As an added bonus, you'll get your name mentioned in the next release of Prokaryote no matter what! (I can't promise I'll include the file, though...)
If you get stuck trying to think of experiment ideas, there are a few that I can think of:
-Slowly lower the food value and see what the minimum amount would be that would keep the bugs alive from food cell to food cell. (idea copyright 1996 by Erik Wright!) A variation on this would be to increase the food value, but also double the map size, so the bugs really have to work for their food.
-Do a little genetic engineering, and try to create a bug that will make certain designs (for example, figure 8s, spirals...). It's OK to cheat and draw a map that will cause the bug to make the design, but then you might try something more challenging, like engineering a bug that will spell something out in a field of food... COOL! Try designs that overlap themselves, and designs that aren't unicursory (designs that you would have to lift a pencil up to draw)
-Divide the map into different sections, do different things to each section, then, once the bugs are evolved, let them all loose (possibly into a different map). You could also go in the opposite direction.
-As a variation on the design idea, try to draw a maze, and evolve (or design...) a bug that can navigate the maze.
Again, pleeeeaazzzee support shareware, and the world, by being a good human and either sending $10 to a worthy cause, to me, or to both.
