Domestication

When the player domesticates a species, they domesticate it, learning how to care for and reproduce it, and bringing it into the broader multi-species hive.

Domestication serves several gameplay purposes:

  1. Gate wildly different technology in a visually distinctive way.
  2. Tutorialize the process of caring for a new species.
  3. Give players a reason to care about and get excited by the flora and fauna they see around them.
  4. Encourage players to explore new areas.

In order to domesticate a species you must:

  1. Optionally, study the species in the wild for a time.
    1. When a scout observes key life cycle events, the corresponding section of their encyclopedia entry is unlocked.
    2. These are also unlocked when the event happens inside a research reserve.
  2. Capture a number of specimens of a species.
    1. These must be placed inside a research reserve. Research reserves are closed areas that:
      1. Have at least one research outpost building.
      2. Have no other crafting buildings in them.
      3. Are fully isolated, except via gates.
  3. Keep that population alive until a threshold of biotic mastery is reached.
    1. Progress advances each time a new individual is born there while the research outpost is staffed.
    2. Progress also advances steadily for each individual kept alive in the research reserve.

Once you have domesticated a new species, you unlock control over guided evolution for that species, and can build reproductive structures for that species. Non-wild strains of this species will be cooperative, following signals or performing other actions to assist the colony.

Implied Constraints

  • players should be able to tame almost anything they meet
  • players must be able to clearly differentiate between tamed and wild organisms of the same type
  • species must be mechanically and visually distinct
    • you cannot have 3 species of dragonflies!
    • this is because players must be able to clearly tell when an encountered species is new to them
  • there must be a moderate number of species in the game
    • with too few species, players will get bored
    • with too many species, finding and understanding each species will explode complexity and development costs
  • exploration becomes an important game mechanic
    • map cannot start fully visible
    • different species must live in different regions
  • each species must have an interesting life cycle that players must learn about and master
    • survival, feeding and reproduction are the obvious choices
    • unique / interesting / challenging behavior is also a good option
  • progression must be robust: there must be many paths to the same resources and comparable tools