Simulation Parameters (v0.938)

Simulation rules

Model: this switch affects physical simulation. There are two models available: "Limited motion" - compatible with older (before 0.932) simulators and "Low damping" which allows creatures to move/jump faster and more naturally. NOTE: This new model is experimental for now, some modifications may be introduced in near future.
Old neurons compatibility: Since v0.933 Framsticks neurons' properties can be individually changed. The default settings give similar reactions as v0.933 and older, but not exactly the same. You can use this switch to make neurons work just like in old Framsticks. (can be useful if you want to see your old creatures behaving properly). It should not be used in your new experiments.
Simulator capacity - maximal population on the species list
Delete species - you can choose which species will be deleted when capacity limit is reached.

Randomly
Inv. proportional fitness (Better fitness - lower chances for deletion)
Only the worst (with minimal fitness)

Destructive collisions - when a creature hits another one, sticks can be destroyed (simulation of fights)
Internal debugger - it's for developers mainly. In each step of simulation, structures are thoroughly checked and errors are reported.
Death - creature dies when it's energy reaches 0

Selection criterion

These parameters describe how the species' fitness is calculated. Fitness is the weighted sum of life span, velocity, distance, and structure size (with a constant added)

Velocity and Distance are calculated from creature's center of gravity position measured during its lifetime. Velocity precision parameter changes 'sampling period'. Low values cause vibrations/little moves to be counted as velocity. High values let only smooth, straight moves to be counted.

Scale fitness - modifies fitness linearly according to the following rules:

final fitness=1.0 for creatures with average fitness
final fitness=0.0 for creatures with fitness less or equal (average fitness - N * standard deviation of fitness) where N = (shift coefficient)
final fitness=(Scaling coefficient) for creatures with maximal fitness

Energetic efficiency: In this mode, fitness is divided by creature's starting energy before further rating calculations. Thus, 'fitness' becomes a 'fitness ratio'. The motivation is to include creation costs into the final fitness. It can lead to more fair competition, although we don't know yet the real advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
Enable stats after... - statistics calculation for a new born creature can be delayed. It's useful when the criterion is speed or distance. Creature could gain additional ("unfair") fitness bonus because of its initial position (eg. creature falls on the ground and earns the speed). Possible values are:
"...creation" - velocity/distance is calculated from the beginning
"...first move up" - simple delay for 'falling down' creatures. Statistics are calculated after the creature moves its center of gravity upwards (we assume this as its first real move). NOTE: in water environment this is incorect.
"...freezing" - most restrictive, statistics are started when the creature completely stops (all initial vibrations stop). This is probably the best solution, but concurrent living creatures can cause problems (when simulating >1 creature).
Species similarity: Similarity to other coexisting species can lower the species' rating. Two methods are possible. Threshold function: fitness is divided by the number of species with similarity coefficient bigger than the threshold value (the value is set in the Creation Probabilities page). Linear function: fitness is divided by the sum of similarities (the given species vs. species list).
This option is introduced to give better selection chance to species that have small population, but are innovative (are not similar to other species).
Value used for division (in both methods) is 'Similarity' and is displayed on the species list. See also Genetics/Similarity.

Creation probabilities

Simulated creatures - the set number of creatures will be automatically inserted into the simulator world
Other parameters decide how the new organisms will be created

Unchanged - genotype will be copied from existing species
Mutated - existing species & mutated
Crossed over - two species crossed over
Self-crossed over - means some parts could be duplicated
Empty-crossed over - some parts could be deleted

Minimal similarity: Only the species that are more similar than the given threshold can be crossed-over. This excludes breeding of totaly different species, whose offspring would be probably inefficient/unable to live. See also Genetics/Similarity.

Energy flow

Starting energy - new creature's starting energy (per one stick). This parameter is the base energy value when no energy modifiers ('E'/'e') are used. This value can be modified in certain species' genotypes to be higher/lower, relatively to this value.
Growing energy (EXPERIMENTAL) - Enter a small fraction of "starting energy" here to enable this (eg. 5, when starting energy=100). Now every new creature have to collect its initial energy while it grows. Growing process is an attempt to solve the problem of initial position (see 'enable stats') and it gives a handicap to smaller creatures - they grow faster.
Idle metabolism - energy requirement for one living stick in 100 simulation steps.
Aging time - energy requirements will be increased during the lifetime if this value is set above zero. After each period of 'Aging time', idle energy is doubled. This option was introduced to ensure that every creature will die sooner or later. Higher values mean longer periods of increasing the need for metabolism effieciency.
Muscle static work and Muscle dynamic work - energy requirements for dynamic (a muscle moved using a force) and static (a muscle stays in a position when an external force is trying to bend it) work. Values are maximal energy requirements in 100 simulation steps for extremely strong muscles (with enough 'M' modifiers).
Assimilation energy (aka 'sun activity') - Maximal energy production in assimilation-specialized sticks (in 100 simulation steps). A stick gains such an amount of energy if it is placed vertically. Horizontal sticks can get only a half of this value.
Automatic feeding - a given number of energy balls will be placed randomly in the world all the time
Ball's energy - an amount of energy in one ball
Eatable corpse - after creature's death, its corpse stays in the world and can be used as energy source (each dead stick has the given amount of energy)

Files

Save backup - if set to >0, the simulator writes a species file each N*100000 steps (where you set N)
Overwrite - if not set, the simulator will change filenames if needed so that it will not overwrite old files

World

Type - world can be a 'Flat surface' or 'Blocks'
Size - Side length of the (square) world
Map - description of blocks layout (in 'Blocks' mode), it can be:

randomly generated world: r (size1) (size2) (seed)
size1,size2 are number of blocks in west-east and north-south direction. seed can be omitted, for different numbers you get different worlds.
custom layout: m (size1) (size2)
followed by world map (size1*size2 digits)
5 means 'normal' block height, 6-9 is 'hill', 1-4 - 'hole'
example (a cross-shaped hill):
```
  m 3 3
  575
  777
  575
```
additional characters "-" and "|" are slope surfaces between blocks ("-" is WE direction, "|" is NS direction). They are valid only between digits
more sophisticated example:
```
  m 5 5
  22-66
  222-6
  2|333
  -6-33
  4|498
```

Water level - the main surface is at 0.0 height and you set the water level here
Boundaries - what's happening when a creature comes to the boundary of the world?

None - the world is unlimited
Fence - creatures can not go outside
Teleport - creatures are moved to the opposite side

Genetics

These parameters let you change global intensities of mutations.
The modifiers entered in exclude fields will not be used in genotypes during mutations, so you can prevent some features from being present in species evolved. Excluding 'E' and 'e' is needed when energetic efficiency mode is disabled (so that species will not change their starting energy). And, for example, if you don't want your creatures to use different sticks' weights to improve swimming ability in water, exclude 'W' and 'w'.

Genetics: structure

Detailed mutation probabilities concerning structure parts in genotypes.

Genetics: neuron net

Detailed mutation probabilities concerning neuron net parts in genotypes.

Genetics: similarity

The way of evaluating similarity of the two species. It is important during crossing over, which can depend on similarity of the species being crossed over (and can make crossing over of differing species impossible). Enter relative weights of the given species criteria, concerning 'body' and 'brain'.