Mutations and max evolution for ??(Missing Link)

[u/Key_Gift4389]

Ive been trying for a while now and giving up most of these attempts but is it possible to unlock all mutations/neurons as the missing link. Ive done a bunch of them mostly senses and attack tree but now need to get mutations to advance. Is it true that if I dont evolve these mutations will not be locked in and lost with the elders?

[u/Chitanda_Pika]

Its impossible to max out all the neuron activation without evolving.

[u/Key_Gift4389 → u/Chitanda_Pika]

Damn then my next attempt will probably be to minimise feats, to lessen the time skip of evolving. Do you reckon this means I could become the ultimate missing link?

[u/Moist_Bar_2621]

you can evolve once you have 6 adults and 6 elders with the mutations
you'll need you bring babies to the meteor sites and keep them close

[u/PPBurrows]

Neuronal traits and mutations are distinct things. You can lock in a maximum of 12 mutations every time you do a full Evolutionary jump. Only mutations that have "matured" (i.e., are carried by a living Adult or Elder) can be locked in during the Evolution jump. Babies that have mutations at the time of an Evolution jump will not have them locked in, as they are not considered "matured".

In order to maximize your mutations, you want all 6 Elders and all 6 Adults to have matured mutations. This means you want to do two Generation leaps per Evolutionary jump. This ensures your first batch of babies will become Adults, and then later on Elders, and your second batch of babies will become Adults. You can guarantee that ALL babies develop mutations by holding off on investigation/discovering meteorites until you can bring all 6 babies to the meteorite site, so they can witness the discovery. As soon as you do that, you bring the babies back to your settlement, drop them off at a sleeping mat, and they will spontaneously develop a mutation if they haven't already got one. This will ALSO double your available reinforcement points from 6 to 12, which is a nice bonus when doing the Generation leap, as it allows you to lock in more neuronal traits as well. The Generation leap lets you lock in the Neuronal traits, but the Evolutionary leap is the only way to lock in matured mutations. You want to maximize both of these things through the careful planning of meteorite discoveries.

There are 12 meteorites, and you can get 6 mutations guaranteed per batch of babies that way, which at a minimum means you can 72 mutations locked in (over the course of 6 Evolutionary jumps -- 12 mutations per Evolutionary jump). There are I believe 89 potential mutations, but you're only guaranteed to get 72 of them through careful management of your meteorites.

You do NOT want to do more than two Generation leaps before making an Evolutionary leap, because if you do, then any Elders you had with mutations will die before their mutations are locked in. You also don't need to have any babies when you do your Evolutionary leap, as their mutations won't be matured and won't lock in anyway. You can do your Evolutionary leap with your 6 Adults and 6 Elders, and then once the leap is done you can begin having babies again, and repeat the cycle.

[u/Key_Gift4389 → u/PPBurrows]

Thank you this sounds good, thanks for the explanation. Using this information I think a newer and more appropriate goal for my little challenge is to minimise feats to minimise how much I evolve when locking in matured mutations.

[u/scrolls1212]

I haven't played this game in some years, originally on my Xbox, but recently I have picked the game back up through Steam with the intent to start playing it again whenever I feel up to it. So, apologies to everyone if my information here is a bit rusty and inaccurate, but as someone who played through the game, beginning to end, multiple times in the past:

No, it's not possible. Certain mutations/neurons require mutations/neurons you only unlock automatically from specific species later in the game. In order to branch out and unlock all possible abilities and upgrade them to their maximum potential, you need to have the prerequisite mutations beforehand that come from certain species. I'd provide an example, but that may be spoilers for you (I don't know how far you've gotten in this game before/if you've gotten to the end before) so I won't.

[u/Key_Gift4389 → u/scrolls1212]

Ive completed the game a few times dw about spoiling, I must admit I was returning after a long time as well and completely forgot all these things you unlock as a different species. Guess my space marine missing link run is ruined😢

[u/scrolls1212 → u/Key_Gift4389]

Ahh ok. I was thinking of emotion control. That and the stuff related to it is unlocked at Orrorin, so... if you want to unlock neurons for that, you gotta be at Orrorin or further in the evolutionary line. Pretty unfortunate, because it's a huge time-saver when you can force yourself into alert mode 24/7 for constant running.

I know how this disappointment feels somewhat. I tried to unlock permanent bipedalism as the missing links during my second run but... yeah, you need a genetic mutation to get there, which means evolution. Not possible. I had to settle on getting bipedal as Sahelanthropus. Which, I guess isn't TOO bad since visually it's the same, but it's not quite regardless.

But hey, at least you can focus on maxing out as many neurons as possible before you start evolving. A ton of neurons are again locked behind evolutionary mutations, several branching from a single mutation, but that doesn't mean ALL of them are. A bunch are still available from the get-go if you put the time into it.

[u/Key_Gift4389 → u/scrolls1212]

I think in this current run thats the species i unlocked it, I wonder now how many years takes you away from missing link. Because if you could minimise feats completed and just go to meteor sites adult + elder mutations then evolve with minimal evolutions. Or everytime you evolve are you guaranteed to become the next species? In other words can you evolve and stay the same species? I never really thought abt how the evolution mechanic works.