Mutations and game mechanics

[shanaqui]

Hi all! I feel like a tutorial about the mutation stuff and how exactly it affects the game would be useful, but in the meantime, can anyone help me out?

So when you select a mutation for 50% chance to mutate, what effect will that have? I mean, what are the possibilities? Will it mutate to a desirable trait, could it mutate to an undesirable trait, when does it take effect? I've tried a couple of times but couldn't figure out quite what effects it was having in the offspring.

Maybe an example would help. Say I want to get a gene that confers an advantage to smell. Can I do that by selecting the gene for smell to be potentially mutated? Or do I have to breed it in by meeting a random animal with the gene? Do I have a better chance of getting the mutation I want by selecting it twice in the same animal? Do I have a better chance of getting the mutation I want if I select it once in each parent animal I plan to breed?

I confess I have a cold at the moment, so I could be being stupid because my head is full of cotton wool. I think the fact that I actually understand genetics (undergrad biologist, woo) is not helping me grasp genetics-in-the-context-of-the-game, too. I am prone to overcomplicating.

[Fortuna]

The mutation menu basically gives your babies a third gene that they can pull from when they're inheriting genes from their parents - the only downside being the gene is only available 50% of the time. You don't need to bring other creatures in with that gene - though it will certainly help!

Having the gene in both slots and/or on both parents does increase your chances of getting it. It's generally a good idea to have it on both parents for things like snouts and body types, because having it only on one means it might not show due to being recessive.

So if both parents have the basic snout in both gene slots and you're trying to mutate in the Big Snout on both parents for the extra smelling power, you could end up with the baby having it in the recessive gene slot, or if you're lucky, they'll have it in both and have the gene active.

[Jojo]

Okay, when you choose a mutation first of all it will stick in the parents slot and cannot be removed for that creature. Now to the rest. The gene, let's say it is good eyes, is put into the fathers mutation menu. When the female then gives birth, the baby has a chance to inherit the mothers eyes (let's say she is shortsighted) and the fathers eyes (let's say he is blind) then the game rolls a 50% chance for the baby to inherit the good eyes in the mutation menu instead of the bad eyes of it's parents. Voila! Either you have a child with mutated good eyes in both slots or
with recessive blind/ shortsighted eyes.

So as Fortuna said it is basically a third gene that the baby can inherit :)

[Rho]

There is a 50% chance the selected gene will mutate, that is, it will be passed on to the offspring. For example, if you put Rams Horns into one of the parent's mutation menu, their kid has a 50% chance of having Rams Horns in their genetics. It will not mutate into something undesirable.

You can selectively breed your animals for Big Nose (the gene which gives superior smelling capibilities), or you can invite wanderers (random animals) with the gene into your tribe.

By selectively breeding the gene, hopefully you use animals with more copies of the gene, such as with big nose, where it is dominant to a few others, there is a 3 in 4 chance the baby will also have big nose if both parents are heterozygous. 1 in 2 if only one parent is heterozygous.

Summary:
This game mostly uses simple Mendelian domaint recessive genetics.
Mutations are fixed once you have set them, and the mutated gene selected has a 50% chance of appearing in the offspring's genetics..