The Truth About Grendels: Norns Eating and Sleeping


Posting-frequency: every 7 days

Last-modified: Mon Mar 15 1999

Copyright: See Section 8

Getting C2 Norns to Eat and Sleep

Denise Voskuil

grendenise@hotmail.com

[The latest version of this FAQ can be obtained via the web at
<http://www.enteract.com/~dvoskuil/faqs/eat.html>.  Versions posted to other websites might not necessarily be up-to-date.  For links to this and other FAQs for Creatures and Creatures 2, visit the alt.games.creatures FAQ collection at <http://welcome.to/creatures.newbies/>.]

Changes: Changes about the location of the a.g.c FAQs.

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Subject: 0. What is this document?

The purpose of this FAQ is to provide information to players of the game Creatures 2 on how to encourage good eating and sleeping habits in their norns.  Very little of this will be applicable to the original Creatures game (also called "Creatures 1"), aside from some basic behavioral training information.

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CONTENTS

1) Better Norns

1.1) Why are people telling me to get new norns/eggs?  What's wrong with mine?

1.2) Are there other "better" norns than the improved ones from CyberLife?

A) Lis Morris' norns

B) LummoxJR's norns

C) Frimlin's norns

D) Slink's norns

2) Tips on Eating

2.1) How do I break the "eat food"/"food" cycle of conversation?

2.2) Why do some people say you should NOT reward them when they eat?

2.3) What's with those long whines about being hungry?

2.4) My norn likes mushrooms, but tries to eat other "plants" too and gets mad!

2.5) My norn won't pay attention - he still doesn't want to eat.

2.6) I think my norn is starving!  What can I do as an emergency solution?

3) Thirst Problems

4) Nutrition

5) Tips on Sleeping

5.1) How do I get my norn to go to sleep?

5.2) My norn doesn't sleep long, then complains of being sleepy!

5.3) Are there any COBs or patches that will help?

5.4) What if my norn sleeps but doesn't seem to get less sleepy?

6) Grendels and Ettins

7) Acknowledgments

8) Copyright/Disclaimers

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Subject: 1. Better Norns

1.1) Why are people telling me to get new norns/eggs?  What's wrong with mine?

The norns that came with Creatures 2 when it was released were a bit more fragile than players liked, and also had various learning problems (would seem to forget everything after an hour) and genetic problems (females would often become infertile before reaching breeding age).  There are now improved norn eggs distributed by CyberLife at the official Creatures 2 site.  This provides an improved genome (genetic code) for new hatchling norns, but will not fix norns you have already hatched.  This version is sometimes called the 254 genome, which seems to refer to its version number.

Official Creatures 2 site:

     <http://www.creatures2.com/>

1.2) Are there other "better" norns than the improved ones from CyberLife?

A) Lis Morris's norns

You might want to try downloading Lis Morris' new norns.  Some of her work in "gengineering" went into the improved CyberLife norns.  As of version 1.10, they were made with slightly more intelligence, less tendency to early eating refusal, improved physiology, and different reward and punishment genes.  Also, Lis and Chris Double have made a type they call Canny Norns; they have three extra brain lobes set up to improve their intelligence, and evidently they have shown signs of being good eaters.  Canny Norns should not be bred with other norns due to the new brain lobes; this could lead to birth defects in offspring.

Lis Morris's site, The Palace of the Evil Shee:

     <http://www.shee.demon.co.uk/>

Chris Double's site, Creatures Developers Resource:

      <http://www.cnd.co.nz/creatures/>

B) LummoxJR's norns

LummoxJR of The Norn Underground has engineered a new norn genome called "Nova Subterra".  They have four new brain lobes, and improvements include better eating and sleeping habits, good intelligence and personality, curing of the problem of norns forgetting everything after one hour old, less likelihood of jumping off cliff edges, etc.  Because of the new brain lobes, these norns should not be bred with other norn types.

The Norn Underground:

<http://www.dreamscape.com/lummoxjr/creatures/>

C) Frimlin's norns

In addition to making brightly-colored versions of improved norns from CyberLife and Lis Morris, Frimlin has created his own improved genome, using Lis Morris's v. 1.10 genome as a starting point.  As of version f001, these norns have a number of new instincts for related to eating, drinking, and sleeping, as well as changes to current instincts and stimuli.

Frimlin's Kiwi Creatures:

     <http://www.frimlin.co.nz/>

D) Slink's norns

Slink had some of her own creation at her site (but now the Creatures section of it is gone), and helped Lis a lot with her genome work. It was recommended on alt.games.creatures that you only breed Slink's norns with each other, as the changes she made may lead to stillbirths when they are bred with other norn types.  Still, they come very highly recommended due to the amount of work and care she put into engineering them.  She added an extra organ to help with digestion, and made MANY changes to instincts, digestive processes, and several other areas.  Carolyn Horn has archived the C306 genome on her "Slink's Specials" page, and has developed a C307 genome with Slink's assistance.

Slink's Specials:

<http://www.jannart.on.ca/caro/carotoc.htm>

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Subject: 2. Tips on Eating

2.1) How do I break the "eat food"/"food" cycle of conversation?

If a norn only repeats "food" when you say "eat food", then repeat "eat".  It may help to first encourage the norn to "look food", then "get food", and only use "eat food" when the norn is actually holding some food.  Give a little spank if you aren't listened to after a while, but don't overuse that, or the norn will become scared of you eventually.  Also, carefully raise one norn at a time, until adolescence (or better, youth), and keep him or her in the incubator area if you can.  (Be sure to bring in toys for the norn to play with.)  To get ideas on what foods are very attractive to norns - and thus might encourage eating better - check the Nutrition section (subject 4) of this FAQ.

2.2) Why do some people say you should NOT reward them when they eat?

A method to teach eating (which I first saw noted by Bean) is that you should not tickle norns, say "yes", or otherwise reward them when they eat.  The reward created by you interferes with them learning from the natural reward they get by the decrease in hunger, and so they may not properly learn that eating reduces hunger.  The method that Bean uses is to put the hand in "invisible" mode and to repeat "eat food" when the norn is hungry.  When the norn eats, you do not reward them, but simply wait a moment and then repeat "eat food" again.  Stop when they are no longer hungry.

2.3) What's with those long whines about being hungry?

You might have noticed that your norn seems about to eat when it suddenly drops the food, holds its hands to the sides of its head like it has a headache (or to the sides of its mouth like it is calling out), and says something like "<name> very hungry, eat food".  Various people on alt.games.creatures have become annoyed at this seemingly disruptive behavior, comparing it to the norn being "possessed".  It's worth noting that this is a regular behavior just like anything else (no one's found it in their instincts yet, but CyberLife insists it's in the norns and not something the game inflicts upon them), and can be punished with a spank if you think it's too disruptive.  Be sure you hit them while they are saying this, or they might think you're punishing them for something else.

Perhaps an easier way to take care of this is to download Martha Brummett's No Need COB, which reduces their at times overwhelming need to express their urges, and allows them to concentrate on actions.  People have reported that their norns are more likely to eat, sleep, and explore after this has been used.  You can download it from the newsgroup alt.binaries.games.creatures (or from its web archive), or from her site (if it's been put in place yet), the Bonadrey Nornery.

alt.binaries.games.creatures Archive:

<http://welcome.to/alt.binaries.games.creatures/>

Bonadrey Nornery:

<http://www.diac.com/~mokus/bonadrey.html>

Something that Lis Morris pointed out is that when norns voice their needs, it reduces their boredom and loneliness a little, but increases their sadness.  Norns who have too strong needs in other areas will be less likely to eat, so if your norn is whining about being hot, hungry, etc., it may be extremely lonely and bored.  If a norn is complaining about being sad, it will only become more sad.  Take care of your norn's needs, and it will probably regain its appetite.

2.4) My norn likes mushrooms, but tries to eat other "plants" too and gets mad!

That can be annoying, since mushrooms seem to be the first food that many eat, yet when they discover another type of plant (all of which are inedible) and try to eat it, they get very frustrated, and may not go back to eating mushrooms again.  In their Object Pack 2, CyberLife included a COB that changes the classification of mushrooms from "plant" to "fruit", which should help a lot.  You can download it from the official Creatures 2 site:

     <http://www.creatures2.com/>

2.5) My norn won't pay attention - he still doesn't want to eat.

Check the Health or Science Kit - if your norn is very tired or sleepy, he won't want to pay attention to you long enough to eat.  You can read up on how to encourage a norn to sleep in this FAQ, under subject 5.

If this doesn't work, you can try to make a norn eat food or fruit by using the two "Eat, Stupid Norn!" COBs developed by Lis Morris.  Each time one of the COBs is injected, it will fire a neuron in the brain that makes the selected norn try to eat a nearby piece of food or fruit (depending on which is used).  Lis recommends using these a few times in a stubborn norn to encourage eating, so that hopefully the norn will learn that eating food and fruit is a good thing to do.  Please be sure to try to take care of the norn's other needs first, to see if those needs were the only thing preventing it from eating.

The Palace of the Evil Shee:

     <http://www.shee.demon.co.uk/>

2.6) I think my norn is starving!  What can I do as an emergency solution?

You might want to try a COB that Lis Morris developed, called Brain-Friendly Food. It's supposed to help nourish them without reducing hunger or providing any reward, and thus won't interfere with their learning how to eat.  Note that the Science Kit does contain an injection called Liquid Food, but AntiNorn has told me that many people have reported to him that norns who are often injected with it do not learn to eat on their own, and seem to age quickly and/or not live long.  You can download the Brain-Friendly Food COB from Lis' site, The Palace of the Evil Shee:

     <http://www.shee.demon.co.uk/>

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Subject: 3. Thirst Problems

You might have noticed that your norns remain thirsty even after they've been drinking from the water pump.  This is an error in the game.  You can download a COB patch that will allow water pumps to quench thirst, from the official Creatures 2 page:

     <http://www.creatures2.com/>

Doesn't it seem odd that something as juicy as a tomato wouldn't help quench thirst?  Slink thought so too - you can download a COB to patch the tomatoes from the Slink's Specials site:

     <http://www.jannart.on.ca/caro/carotoc.htm>

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Subject: 4. Nutrition

Norns benefit from a balanced diet.  A variety of food seems to be best, both for health reasons and to encourage eating.  Try a few jars of the strained carrots from the COB by Slink - it seems to be very attractive to most creatures. Plant a nut on the left side of the incubator; they are found in the Health Kit, in the Doctor section. If you've been down to the garden area where the ettin sometimes hangs out, there's a carrot seeder machine in one of the "treehouses" right above it - plant carrots in front of the incubator and computer.  Be sure to get rid of them somewhere (desert, ocean, goldfish pond) if they shrivel up (they are called "detritus" at this stage), since if a norn eats one, he or she can become ill.  If the tomatoes have died off, plant one by placing a tomato from the Health Kit on the ground; it will go to mush, then sprout.  Also get Slink's "cream cheese" COB - the cheese in C2 doesn't have protein or fat in it, only starch.  Fussy eaters might also like some of the coconut-like fruits that can be found growing above a sandy beach on the left side of the dark blue ocean - I've seen my grendels gobble them up eagerly.  However, watch the levels of fat in your norn's diet, and check on the level of fat in the norn itself using the Science Kit.  According to Lis Morris, when their Adipose Tissue level is at or above 95%, this is dangerously overweight, and a norn may begin to suffer from heart damage because it is obese.

Slink's Specials:

     <http://www.jannart.on.ca/caro/carotoc.htm>

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Subject: 5. Tips on Sleeping

5.1) How do I get my norn to go to sleep?

If you can, isolate the norn, take toys or other interesting objects away (hide them on another level if you can), and tell the norn to "rest".  The norn should gradually crouch down until he lies down and goes to sleep.  Try tickling (or saying "yes") and repeating "rest" until he is smiling slightly; for some reason, I've seen their sleepiness levels reduce very quickly when this happens. If that doesn't work, wear him out first by getting him to chase a toy (the bouncing red & white ball or the toy car) or to walk around using "come hand", then try again.  If you have to, tickle the norn over and over while repeating "rest" until the norn crouches down to sleep.  If you watch the Science Kit while the norn is sleeping, you should see Sleepiness and Tiredness fall in stages.  Once Tiredness is down to zero, Sleepiness should fall rather quickly.

If the norn is extremely tired but not sleepy, try getting the norn to not run around for a while.  Another good solution is Slink's Pink Lemonade COB - the refreshing drink reduces thirst and tiredness.

Slink's Specials:

     <http://www.jannart.on.ca/caro/carotoc.htm>

5.2) My norn doesn't sleep long, then complains of being sleepy!

If your norn wakes up after only sleeping a short period of time, then complains that it's sleepy, give a quick spank and say "rest".  Hopefully, the norn should learn to just settle down and go to sleep when tired, instead of trying to walk around and whine about being sleepy.

5.3) Are there any COBs or patches that will help?

CyberLife released a sleeping COB patch in Object Pack 1 that is supposed to alleviate the insomnia and unrestful sleep that some norns have, but mixed results have been reported with it.  You can download it from the official Creatures 2 site:

     <http://www.creatures2.com/>

LummoxJR created a SleepyTime COB.  It seems to work best when the norn is already crouching down as if ready to sleep, as it puts a creature to sleep instantly.  If you use it while the creature is walking around, he or she will continue to walk a bit while sleeping, and soon wake up.  You can download it from the Norn Underground:

     <http://www.dreamscape.com/lummoxjr/creatures/>

5.4) What if my norn sleeps but doesn't seem to get less sleepy?

If your norn doesn't seem to have decreased sleepiness and tiredness from sleeping, you can use the Science Kit to inject a little Sleepiness Decrease and Tiredness Decrease to help teach that sleeping is good.  Don't overuse this, as you want to end up with a norn who will sleep on his or her own, and gets enough sleep to have learned properly (they use sleeping time to process what they've learned).  If you don't have the Science Kit and can't get a norn healthy enough to explore for it, you can download the Game State Controller (which activates the other kits) in Object Pack 2, from the official Creatures 2 website:

     <http://www.creatures2.com/>

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Subject: 6. Grendels and Ettins

As far as I know, everything in this FAQ should also be applicable to grendels and ettins.  The FAQ title mentions norns because that is what most players are interested in, and since using the generic term "creatures" might lead to confusion with the game's title.  Also, many new players are not aware of how close grendels and ettins are to norns, physiologically, might not especially care about other species, or might not have even encountered those species yet.

If you're interested in having ettins or grendels that have better eating habits, Frimlin has gengineered ettins and grendels with various improved genomes.  Also, Carolyn Horn used Slink's C307 genome to create better grendels and ettins.

Frimlin's Kiwi Creatures:

     <http://www.frimlin.co.nz/>

The C307 Grendels and Ettins!:

<http://www.jannart.on.ca/caro/carotoc.htm>

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Subject: 7. Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following individuals who have helped and contributed to this document:

AntiNorn <antinorn@usa.net>, for informing me about the effects of Liquid Food injections.

Bean <bean118@aol.com>, for posting her method of teaching norns to eat without rewarding them.

Martha Brummett <mokus@diac.com>, for creating the No Need COB to make norns more able to concentrate on their actions.

Chris Double <chris@cnd.co.nz>, for his work on the Canny Norns.

Frimlin (Ashley Harman) <ashley@frimlin.co.nz>, for his work in gengineering both C1 and C2 norns that have better eating habits, among other things.

Carolyn Horn and x0tix, for archiving Slink's contributions to the
online Creatures community.

LummoxJR (Lee Gaiteri) <LummoxJR@aol.com>, for genetically engineering improved norns and for his SleepyTime COB.

Lis Morris <Lis.Morris@shee.demon.co.uk>, for her work in genetically engineering norns and in creating COBs to help them.

Slink (Sandra Linkletter) <slink@netins.net>, for her efforts in gengineering, and for the various patches and COBs she developed for C2, especially the cream cheese COB and the patches for the tomatoes and water pumps.  You will be missed.

CyberLife, for making changes to assist norns.

Plus anyone else who may have contributed to the information in this FAQ or in creating better norns or items to help them out.

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Subject: 8. Copyright/Disclaimers

Copyright (C) 1998, 1999 by Denise Voskuil, all rights reserved.

This FAQ may be posted to alt.games.creatures, or to any on-line service or BBS as long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this copyright statement.  It may be posted to webpages as well, but the page maintainer should try very hard to keep up with any revisions/changes, so that an outdated FAQ will not be archived.  If this is too difficult, a link may be made directly to it at the location specified in the first paragraph of this FAQ.

This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain.

This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from the author.

The author of this FAQ has merely compiled this information for use by others, and is not responsible for any harm to your creatures, game, or computer through usage of any of the above-referenced information, addons, or programs. If you are having problems with any of the COBs, norns, or programs, please contact the item's creator and not myself.  Corrections/additions graciously accepted.

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