Cell phase discussion

[Adagio]

Time to split up the discussion into several threads, instead of having all discussion in one thread

[Adagio]

A more advanced look at the cell phase:

Before you start a game you decide your food preferences. You have two choices: Meat or plants. Later in the cell phase you can find other mouths (you can find the mouth to eat both meat and plants), so you can change your diet

At the beginning you probably see something like this:



An empty ocean with a few green and red dots spread all over the place. Time to play Pacman. If your diet is plants, catch the green dots, or if your diet is meat catch the red dots. Each food gives you a DNA point. When you feel it's time to evolve call a mate and find her to open up the cell editor





The cell editor doesn't have as many options as other editors, but it's a nice introduction to the editors (all editors works the same way, so if you understand how one works, you understand how all works)

You will soon realize that you're not alone. With other cell creatures in the ocean there is more to eat (for those with meat on their diet), but also more dangers. In this game size DOES matter, stay away from the bigger creatures if you want to survive. You will see a lot of creatures in the background, these will not pose any treat to you at all as they stay in the background



The more you eat, the larger your creature becomes (and you also regain health). When your creature becomes larger, that also means that creatures you had to escape from before now becomes your snack



When swimming around there are obstacles that could hinder your escape. Most of these can be destroyed like bubbles, which are everywhere, but they can still slow you down. There are also situations where you could get an increase in speed. If you swim with the current you can easily double your speed, which is great when you're the target of a more dangerous creature



When you've eaten enough you get a brain. Time to evolve your creature into a land creature



The last editor you see in the cell phase is a mixture of the cell and creature editor. You have the same items as in the cell editor, but with a couple of legs to chose from. This is the first time you can edit your creature in 3D




Cell phase takes about 15-20 minutes to complete


The Cell phase does have a huge let down. Each game is pretty much the same. It's always the same enemies you share the ocean with. At least in the games I've played I have never seen any other creatures than the default Maxis cell creatures
The Cell phase creatures are saved, but never actually used

[Patroklos]

Each food gives you a DNA point. When you feel it's time to evolve call a mate and find her to open up the cell editor

So.....prostitution is indeed the oldest profession!

[Adagio]

Exactly

[Hercules]

You have intrigued me now.

So might actually go out and buy the game.

[Darsnan]

So I was editing my Cell Phase creature, and I decided to place the eyestalks onto the beak of the mouth. When I went back into the Cell phase, I couldn't eat! Anyone else have a problem like this?

Here's a pic to show how I set my creature up:

[DRoseDARs]

The eyestalks may be physically hitting food before the jaws do.

[MMC]

Yeah. Shrink the eyes with the scroll wheel, and then you'll be able to eat.

Or you could make the mouth bigger (again with the scroll wheel)

[Metaliturtle]

I did one last night with a herbivore mouth in the center, two carnivore mouths where the spikes are in the above creature, and 4 spikes along the rear with the flagellum for propulsion, worked great, made it through in 5 minutes flat.