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Old 12-08-2009, 11:58 PM   #31
Phoenix42
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mainz, Germany
Default Re: GURPS Alpha Centauri

Quote:
Originally Posted by capnq View Post
Planet's predators could also cull ill or otherwise defective larger lifeforms, similar to the scavengers that eat dead or defective mindworms. They have the planetmind to guide them to prey that needs to be removed.

The game's artwork for the Locusts of Chiron [1] look quite wasp-like IMO, so other insect forms have a precedent. The "glue" that hardens into an Isle of the Deep's shell could have a more flexible variant for chitinous structures.

[1] The image displayed during combat that replaces the faction leader portrait, not the unit on the map.
I'm not sure they have the planetmind to guide them as such, since the planetmind is as yet not capable of doing anything conscious, nor is it self-aware. That being said, it wouldn't mean that predators don't use some sort of sophisticated tracking to guide them to the prey that is defective.

One could imagine, for instance, that herbivore animals (do or do not) secrete certain pheromones when they are somehow lacking certain hormonal input that they would require in order to fulfill their symbiotic task. The predators home in on those and get rid of them.

However, one problem I see for predators so far is that lion-type predators, that is ones that use an incredible amount of energy in one boost to catch the prey and then relax for the rest of the day, are unlikely. The only useful reactive for animal life in the atmosphere remains oxygen, and there is not enough to provide air for prolonged stressful tasks, especially above sea-level. Even with filter-lungs filtering out the nitrogen, they still couldn't attain the high level of activity exhibited by earth's life forms, simply because they lack the necessary oxygen (which is at 8% at sealevel on Chiron, rather than 20% on Earth) - unless they had some means of storing it...
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