Dev Blog #30 – Optimizing Genes
Cleb - October 5, 2017
Today we have released patch the CURE alpha patch 1.1.7. In this patch we have added Gene Optimization. Gene optimization will allow you to modify an existing gene. All attempts to Optimize a gene come with some risk of losing the gene, or not making any new changes. Here is what you can Optimize:
Randomize Entire Gene:
Randomize Entire Gene will attempt to use any of the following optimizations. Rarely will you ever change every aspect of a gene, but it is a cheap way to try and improve your gene in general. Randomize Gene has a higher chance of failure than all of the other options.
Change Effector Colors:
Change Effector Colors will reroll the effectors for this gene. This option has a very high rate of success.
Change Receptor Colors:
Change Receptor Colors will reroll the Receptor for this gene. This option has a very high rate of success.
Change Type:
Change type will attempt to change the type of a gene.
Change Values of Effects:
Change Values of Effects will change the actual applicable values of your genes effects. For example if your gene said, “The next gene to the right gains +1 to Health” then Change Values of Effects would be able to modify the +1 number and the Health Stat. So the result of this optimization might be “The next gene to the right gains +5 to Potency”.
Change Add To Organism Chance:
This option will attempt to change your genes Add to Organism Chance. The results of this optimization will not always be better than your current genes values, as with most other optimizations.
Change Blueprint Chance:
This option will attempt to change your genes Blueprint Chance. Given the power of this option it is quite expensive.
Change Effects Targets:
Change Effects Targets will attempt to change how your gene will target other genes. For example if your gene said ”The next gene to the right gains +1 to Health” Change Effects Targets will attempt to change everything before the “payload” of the gene which in this case is the +1 to Health. So the resulting gene could be “The previous Fex gene to the left gains +1 to Health”.
Remove Criteria:
Some effects contain what is called criteria which are conditions some effects have. Remove Criteria will attempt to remove these conditions. The Criteria of an Effect must to be met in order for the gene to function. For example if your gene read “If the next gene to the right is a Fex gene, then this gene gains +1 to health” the “If the next gene to the right is a Fex gene” is considered the Criteria. If you were to remove the criteria from the Effect above if would simply read “+1 to health” because it no longer has to meet its criteria.
Remove Effects:
This optimization will simply remove entire effects from a gene. You cannot remove an Effect from a gene if it only has one Effect. Each Effect on a gene is marked by a dot to the left of the effect text on your gene readout. This is important as some more complicated effects can have multiple parts.
Change Effect Target Values:
Unlike Change Effects Targets above Change Effect Target Values will not create new targeting functions on your gene, it will just modify them. For Example if your gene said “The next 3 genes to the Right that are Fex genes each gain +1 to Health” then Change Effect Target Values could modify the 3, Right, or the Fex variables. The result of this change to the gene might read as ”The next 6 genes to the right that are Idema genes each gain +1 to Health”.
Change Criteria Target Values:
This option works the same as Change Effect Target Values, but only will apply to the criteria portion of an effect. For example “If the next 2 genes to the right are Fex genes, then this gene gains +1 to Health” could be changed to “If the previous 3 genes to the left are Alter genes, then this gene gains +1 to Health”
Using the above optimizations any gene can be turned into a very useful gene, however it will be very expensive and time consuming to create perfect genes, and players should often wait until they find a good base gene to start their optimization process.
It took a considerable amount of time and effort to create the Gene system for CURE, and giving the player the ability to change how a gene functions really showcases the power and potential of this system.
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