will i sleep in a tree or in my preys flesh

The Uteen wrote:

Deathbite42 wrote:

The Uteen wrote:

I don't think it's a good idea to make sleep a fraction of the day, because we have strange orbits and binary systems which can cause planets to have irregular days and nights.

Sleep based on light levels would probably be better, with organisms with light/dark suited eyes sleeping when they have least advantage, and waking when their preferred light-level returns. The maximum length of waking time could then be based on the amount of sleep the organism has had.

But by "day", I don't mean rotation, i mean light level. A rotation is an "Earth day", not a "day". And Earth is not the only planet.

Exactly. Light level can't be relied on to be consistent. I probably didn't explain myself very well.

It is possible in a binary system the period of light will be longer at some times than others. When the stars are furthest apart (as viewed from the planet), it is possible one could set while the other stays in the sky, and the same when they rise in the morning. Regarding day as when at least one star is in the sky, this would cause a longer day, and shorter night. When the stars are closest (again, as viewed from the planet) the day would be more regular, like Earths. The effect will be most noticeable on planets closer to the star, and observable from an Earth-like distance.

Another possibility is an orbit which brings the planet closer and further away from the star. This would arise from a situation such as the planets spin keeping one side faced towards the sun when closest, in the same way as the moons spin keeps one side facing Earth, but when the planet is further from the sun, its progression around the sun would be much slower than its spin, causing day and night based more on its spin than its orbit.

These possibilities, while likely to affect a tiny fraction of Earth-like planets, will result in periods of light and dark inconsistent in length. Therefore, I suggest it would be better to not have a fixed time for sleep, but have a random chance of an organism sleeping at any time, a chance which increases/decreases considerably with changes in light level, in combination with a higher chance of sleep when an organism is more greatly fatigued.

"Randomness"? But the fact is, a shrew's only gonna sleep like a sloth in a lab. I said, it should be largely determined by the OE.

I was kinda thinking about caverns, creatures sleeping on the ground and one eyes it out for dangers, and camouflage to have a higher change not to die in your sleep.

Camoflauge stops you from dying while awake, too.

Hey guys, this thread is over a year old. Also, you're discussing things that are taken care of in the Organism Editor Current Concept and the wiki.

Camouflage has already been discussed, and it depends on how well your organism is camouflaged in a particular environment: a green frog does not blend in with a tan desert.

So, it starts with a day cycle which is multiplied or divided in the OE. The product or quotient is added the missing hours or subtracted the extra.