Re: [DS] Alien psychology house rules

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremey Claridge" <jeremy.claridge@kcl.ac.uk>

> Alien Psychology: Colony
> Based on an insect colony the entire alien force acts and fights as
> one. This co-ordination requires the presence of a controlling alien.
> The colony goal is simple. Destroy the enemy and preserve their own
> existence.

Although the presence of a controlling	"Mother" alien is a common theme
in
SF, actual insect colonies don't really work that way in their shot-term
activities.

Basically, the colony "intelligence" is a distributed process brought
about
by many independent, individually quite weak brains and a fairly
sophisticated communication system. This consists mostly of pheromones
or
direct contact and hence is fairly slow.

The Queen breeds and also sends out some control pheromones indicating
her
needs.

Otherwise, the various members commuincate between themselves with
signals
such as:

Here's Food ! (and its location)
Enemy ! (we need reinforcements!)
Too hot ! (open ventilation channels)
The brood is hungry ! (Get stuff from the stores !
Stores are running low ! (Go hunting !)
etc.

Reduced to its military functions, a bug colony this could make a good
enemy
for a solitaire game.

BTW, I wonder how an ant colony would react to a DSII invasion force ;-)

Greetings