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Gene Placement

Mutagenics

Mutagenics is a form of crossbreeding which rearranges the genomes on flower bulbs, vine cuttings, and flax seeds A mutagen swaps one letter in the genome sequence from the parent on the left splint in the greenhouse with a genome letter from the sequence of the parent on the right splint. There are apparently many, many possible mutagens for which we will need to discover the recipes, and each will do something slightly different. The results can be quite interesting - drastic changes in color/size of flowers, for example.

Note: It is possible also to cross wheat grains via mutagenics, though it works a little differently. There is the option to place up to 1k grains of wheat on each splint in the greenhouse. Deohotep, when testing, tried 100 grains per splint and was returned one grain per splint. Presumably, adding more grains will yield more than one per splint, but right now this is unknown.
Note:: I believe this if for crossing with nuts. I have used 1/1 with mutegens and got back 1/1, however when crossing with nuts using 1/1 I got failures and the suggestion to use more grains -Aberdon



Making Mutagens

To make a mutagen, you will need Water in Jugs, Salt, Quicksilver, and some combination of Moss and Mushrooms depending on the recipe you choose (see below).

IMPORTANT: Once your mutagenics lab has been fed a recipe, it will start producing that mutagen, and it will not stop for a RL month. You *can* change the lab to a different recipe, but not until after it has stopped running. (This data is certain - confirmed in T3 by Calixes.)

Making a mutagen is very simple and only really requires having the right ingredients in your inventory. While holding water, quicksilver, salt, and your mushrooms/moss, simply click on the lab and let the menu guide you through the following steps:

The recipes are very specific; adding the wrong item or quantity of items will produce a failed mutagen - something that is only useful for researching new recipes.

Once started, a mutagenics lab will produce ~8 drops of the mutagen daily for a month.



Trading for Mutagens

There are a number of people willing to trade mutagens for other mutagens (or sometimes other resources). Since this list was getting a little long, I've moved it here:

Mutagen Traders



Using Mutagens

A mutagenic cross is accomplished by applying a drop of a mutagen to two flower bulbs (or vines or wheat or flax seeds) in a greenhouse. Once you have placed your two parent items on the greenhouse splints, you will need to find the "Apply a Mutagen" option on the main greenhouse menu instead of using the "Initiate the Crossbreed" button.

About a minute after you apply the mutagen, your cross will be complete, and you can plant the items normally.

Three big differences (fun!) from normal crossbreeding:

What to Expect

One thing to note is that the mutagens make their changes to the genes of the items crossed - not directly to the obvious physical characteristics. The implication of this is that what happens to your flowers depends on what their genes are like. Some physical changes will be minor. Some changes will be huge. And a physical change that happens on one color/size of flower will not necessarily happen on another. In a cross done using two of the same rose bulb, a mutagen might alter the size of one flower or darken the stamen. That does not mean it will do the same thing to a different rose bulb.

You can have plenty of fun simply crossing things without ever looking behind the curtain at the genetics, but in order to be able to predict what changes will happen with your items, you need to know what the genes of items are *and* what the mutagen you plan to use does to them. This takes solvents a-plenty.



Researching New Mutagen Recipes

Read this bit before you waste your materials! =)
Each uni with Mutagenics unlocked will have one recipe to be researched at a time for *all* of Egypt (which means three possible recipes right now, since three regions have it unlocked). If someone else has already figured out one region's current recipe and is simply waiting for the right type of moss to complete it, you're flushing your resources down the toilet if you also try to research it.

If you have questions about whether this is the case at present, /join MMR or E! in game, and ask there. Most likely, someone looking at these channels will be able to tell you.

Mutagen Researchers! Please indicate below which mutagen you are currently working on. If we can keep this table current, it will save us time/materials/frustration. =D

Current Mutagen Research location Current Researcher Date Started Notes
Karnak
Kush by UThought-join Equitos Lakes to use
LE
7L by UThought-join Equitos Lakes to use
UE #5
Khartoum by UThought-join Equitos Lakes to use Ariella 2-8-08



The Details

Researching a new mutagen is just like outlined above; you will need 1 quicksilver, 7 Jugs of water, and some mushrooms and moss for each attempt. A good rule of thumb for resources to have on hand when beginning is 20 salt, 20 quicksilver, 50 of each shroom type (if possible), 100 water in jugs (in case no lake is near), 5 of each single attribute mosses.

See Strategy below (~Ariella~ as explained to me by Eigam).

When your attempt fails, you will receive a failed mutagen in your inventory. You will need to take your failed mutagen result to a UThought that has unlocked Mutagenics for evaluation as compared to that uni's current recipe (currently only Karnak), where you will be given a little guidance on how to proceed. In order for your research to remain valid, you will need to continue to take your results to this same uni so they are evaluated against the same recipe each time.

Type of information given at the university when you check a failed mutagen:

    * Moss is missing some required attribute
    * You are not using enough moss
    * At least one required kind of mushroom is missing
    * Total bulk of mushroom is not sufficient
    * Of the 1 type of mushrooms present in the sample, 1 of them are present in the wrong quantity.

These are some absolutes you can and cannot find out from the hints given at the University of Thought each time you turn in your failed mutagen attempt:

It always tells you how many moss attributes are missing.
It always tells you if you have a negative moss attribute but never how many negative attributes or which are negative.
It always tells you if you have moss quantity too high or too low.
It always states if types of recipe shrooms are missing, but never the exact number of types missing or specify the names of those missing. "At least one required kind of mushroom is missing." is the best you get.
The most of any recipe mushroom that can be used is 7. Bulk compares the total number of shrooms used in a recipe attempt to the total number of shrooms needed in the actual recipe but not how many for any particular mushroom needed in a recipe.

Make SURE to hit Clipboard when you get your hint window and save that in a file.



Strategy

Before beginning to discover a mutagen in a particular region please register above to avoid duplicating efforts and wasting resources. Thanks!

To begin, use 1db of a single attribute moss (so you know if that moss attribute is a critical one or negative one or neutral and to initially find out how many total moss attributes there are-See First possible analysis message) and 1db of one type of cheap shroom (to initially see how many total type shrooms there are in the recipe-See Sixth possible message, but be aware that the shroom you use might be one of the needed recipe shrooms in the correct quantity, thus lowering the numer of required mushroom types by 1).

First possible analysis message:

"The moss is missing xnumber of critical attributes."
'xnumber' will tell you exactly how many attributes the current mutagen recipe will need unless you have added a moss with a/some critical attributes. (It would be recommended using single attribute mosses like calico moss not calico,spotted moss, so you know if that attribute is critical) If the message is missing you have found a needed attribute for the recipe in the moss you added. Otherwise, try another single attribute moss and see if the last xnumber lowers by 1 if you are using a single attribute moss. Once you have all the critical and negative attributes discovered, just use green moss so as not to waste as you work on the shrooms and ignore the moss messages.

Second possible message:

"The moss has some attribute which is destroying the potency of the mutagen."
You only receive this message if the moss attribute/s include a negative attribute/s. Another reason to use a single attribute moss so it is pinpointed. If you used a multi-attribute moss you will have to try with each single attribute moss until you receive the message again.

Third possible message:

"You are not using enough moss." This message will always appear unless you have added the correct quantity of moss. If it does not appear it only means you know the correct quantity of moss for the recipe and not which moss attributes. If it appears, add 1 to the number of debens of moss until this message disappears. Then go back to 1db of moss so as not to waste.

Fourth possible message:

"At least one required kind of mushroom is missing."
You will receive this message if one or more required mutagen recipe mushrooms are missing. In this case, if you have left two out, try adding each of the two mushrooms back into your list of tries until this message disappears. You will have to keep this mushroom in your current list/tries. It never tells you how many are missing. If this message is missing then you have all the required mushrooms in your current recipe mushroom tries.

Fifth possible message:

"The total bulk of mushrooms present is not sufficient/too much."
Bulk compares the total number of mushrooms used in a recipe attempt to the total number of mushrooms needed in the actual recipe but not how many for any particular mushroom needed in a recipe. As your list of possible tries reduces, note when it changes from too much to not sufficient. This will give you a hint later, when you find your required mushrooms, as to what total recipe amount of shrooms it will be.

Sixth possible message:

"xnumber of the required mushroom types are present in the wrong quantity."
'xnumber' tells you how many required mushroom TYPES you will need to find for the current recipe, but not how many of each required mushroom you need. It also tells you that the quantity of each of the required mushrooms is not correct. So as you find each required mushroom, add 1 to the quantity of that shroom on each mutagen recipe attempt until xnumber reduces by 1. I would recommend only working on figuring out the quantity of one required mushroom on each attempt to know it is that particular required mushroom that hits the right quantity. When xnumber reduces by 1 then put that required mushroom back to 1 each attempt so as not waste and start varying the next known required shroom in its quantity. The max of any shroom in a required shroom is 7. So when you know all your required shrooms, the correct quantity of all but one required shroom, and the bulk required (or very close to the exact amount from carefully watching the fifth possible message as it changes) then you can know the amount of the last one (or very near it).

Once you've received this information, it's time to go home and try again. It's a bit of a puzzle and may take quite a few tries before you succeed.

You might then try 1db of 10 shroom types and 2db (See third possible message) of the next alphabetical single attribute moss (See First and Second possible messages). Subsequent tries, if the Sixth possible message x-number does not reduce, would consist of trying 2db of the same 10 shroom types, then 3db, etc up to a max of 7db, and increasing the deben quantity of moss and going to the next single attribute moss to simultaneously work on all 3 needed properties of the mutagen recipe.

If the Sixth possible message reduces in x-number compared to your last try then you need to narrow down which of the 10 shroom types it is by cutting in half the number of types of shrooms you just tried and keeping the deben amount the same. You can continue increasing deben amount of moss and changing single attribute moss types, though.

When all the positive and negative moss attributes are discovered you might just use 1db of green moss on subsequent mutagen recipe attempts while you finish discovering the rest of the shrooms and their quantities needed.

Once the recipe is correct, the lab will begin producing the recipe and will immediately produce one drop. Take this drop of it to the UThought you've been working with for verification so that the university will move on to a new recipe for research.

Once this is done, anyone can reproduce the recipe in their own lab. Don't forget to add your new recipe to this page!



Known T3 Mutagen Recipes

Please note: once you start your mutagenics laboratory making any recipe, it will continue to run for a RL month and cannot be changed in that time; to change recipes, you will have to wait the full month for the lab to stop. It's a good idea to choose carefully which mutagens you make for this reason, or if it might be better to wait for a new recipe.

Recipes by Region

This list was getting a little hard to read because it's so long, so I've broken it into regions:

And since I'm such a visual little bugger, I wanted to put this in chart form for easier reading:

Mosses Needed to Complete New Recipes

These mosses are currently required in order to complete the active recipe in these regions.
Region Moss Must Have Moss Cannot Have

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Last edited June 30, 2008 2:02 am by Ariella (diff)
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