Silicon-based Species

[Chat]

Silicone based lifeforms could be interesting. Out of all non carbon based life, silicone based has been theorized about the most. If they were to be included, I do feel like planets specifically suited to them ought to be included as well. It would probably be pretty fun to actually think about how to incorporate them. If they did decide to bring silicone based life to Stellaris, I believe that the time would be right to further make the types of life unique. For example, anthropoids might have a bonus to productivity or a bonus bringing down ethics divergence, and so on for each phenotype. Mammals might have an advantage with habitability or something. Silicone based life would have to be extremely specialized, like they can only inhabit a certain kind of planet but to offset that handicap they are given bonuses to leader lifespan and maybe a bonus to energy production. I also firmly believe that there ought to be creatures that can only inhabit the atmospheres of gas giants and there should be forms of life particularly suited to exclusively living on, what would be a toxic world to any other species. Either way, I really would like to see a greater inherent difference between the phenotypes. To me it only makes sense that a bird, a mushroom and a human will have more inherent strengths and weaknesses which are less interchangeable and more unique to their particular phenotype then they are in the base game. The current system will be a nice start but I think that phenotypes should be more than simply cosmetic.

I'd personally rather that the phenotypes stay without any inherent advantages and disadvantages. Just because God Emperor K'Reel looks like the most fabulous ant we've ever beheld, doesn't mean that they're going to be remotely similar to terrestrial anthropods or to other anthropoids in the galaxy. K'Reel might have nigh-impenetrable skin and inspire the people to work, but another anthropoid might be soft, squishy and lazy despite looking hard and tough (like the Vampire Squid's barbs). All of that should remain in the traits section, and is where I think silicon-based chemistry should go should if it ever gets meaningfully added.

After all, assuming 'rock people' ever gets added as a phenotype, what if I want to roleplay an evolved version of Pyura chilensis? It's not silicon based, but does look an awful lot like a rock.

 

[barny]

You could make races as NP factions that use weird mechanics, but for played species and species that are meant as direct competitors for the player it wouldn't work in my opinion.

Those species just need to have the sames basis in terms of game mechanics or it would be either not balanced or the empires would just exist in parallel because they would have different aims, different planets to live on and so on.

 

[Admiral Howe]

And compared to the wider periodic table carbon and silicon are very similar actually.

Yes, they are quite similar but in the same way a wagon and a submarine are similar. Yes, they're both vehicles but operate under dramatically different rules and conditions.

Silicon overwhelming prefers silicates structure in nature. - O - Si - O - Si - . While it can bond with other silicons into silanes, there is a limit of six silicons where it appears the chain won't grow past. That's simply because the Si-Si bond strength is relatively weak - only 222 kj/mol (as opposed to C-C). It's simply not a straight substitution for carbon by any scientific measure, which is why I spoke up.

 

[Slug-thing]

Boron is another possibility for life. It could be a better option than silicon under some conditions. There might be others that could form life under what we consider extreme conditions of heat, pressure, radiation, etc.

I don't think the chemical basis of life is really critical for a grand strategy game. Just fluff.

 

[mrinku]

And despite my flippant reply to @ShaynaLynn, Silicones are among those long chain molecules...

 

[Greyhound_Gen.]

Silicon overwhelming prefers silicates structure in nature. - O - Si - O - Si - . While it can bond with other silicons into silanes, there is a limit of six silicons where it appears the chain won't grow past. That's simply because the Si-Si bond strength is relatively weak - only 222 kj/mol (as opposed to C-C). It's simply not a straight substitution for carbon by any scientific measure, which is why I spoke up.

Out of all the obstacles in the way of silicon-based life existing that does seem to be the greatest one.

Honestly I don't think I know enough to defend my opinion that it may be a little premature to completely close the door on the possibility. I think my biggest question is whether it would be absolutely necessary for silicon-based life to use the same kinds of chemical reactions as carbon based life. It does seem logical to assume that it would but perhaps our perspective has been skewed by only having knowledge of life on one planet (our own)? Are there other reactions that could be used to provide/metabolise energy? Would the compounds silicon can form be enough to for a simple microorganism, or even a virus? Could planets with very different conditions to our own have an environment that favoured the creation of a suitable mix of compounds (even if there are only trace amounts)?

I realise that the outlook does seem pretty dire for silicon-based life, but can we say that it does not and cannot ever exist with absolute certainty? I realise that this is probably just a debate over whether the chances of finding something are zero or just near zero though.

 

[CuriousMind]

I just wanted to mention, that silicon is not very likely to be used in futeristic robots, we are allready experimentig with far more advanced materials such as graphene, in our primitive world.

 

[Admiral Howe]

I realise that the outlook does seem pretty dire for silicon-based life, but can we say that it does not and cannot ever exist with absolute certainty? I realise that this is probably just a debate over whether the chances of finding something are zero or just near zero though.

While I can't rule it out completely, the chance of real silicon-based biology is rather grim. Which is why, I imagine, so often silicon creatures are more energy beings using crystals or rocks as bodies.

Either way, I still love them as a trope in SciFi, and hope to see something like them in Stellaris.

 

[Greyhound_Gen.]

While I can't rule it out completely, the chance of real silicon-based biology is rather grim. Which is why, I imagine, so often silicon creatures are more energy beings using crystals or rocks as bodies.

Either way, I still love them as a trope in SciFi, and hope to see something like them in Stellaris.

Fair - it was probably a bit unfair of me to ask if it was categorically impossible - sorry. Also, I agree it doesn't really matter when it comes to whether they should be included in Stellaris seeing as it's a soft sci-fi setting.

Looking foward to your next Astroknowledge article by the way!

 

[Admiral Howe]

Looking foward to your next Astroknowledge article by the way!

Thanks. I promise it won't be so DOOM next time.