Guide

How it works

What the simulation does each day, one mechanism at a time, with the numbers it runs on.

• Needs and healthEach day every living thing scores its needs; health follows the score.
• Death and hazardsOnly hazards kill, each rising from zero at its threshold.
• SoilLayers drain, hold water, feed plants and set the pH the roots feel.
• WaterSoil fills to what it can hold; the rest drains to the drainage layer.
• Humidity and the lidSealed jars keep every drop; open jars lose water to the room.
• LightThe day's light, brightness times hours, drives growth.
• TemperatureThe jar follows the room, a little warmer under a lamp.
• PlantsPlants grow on light and food, share space, and stop at the lid.
• MossMoss creeps from its edges in damp air and browns back when dry.
• CrittersEach crew is a colony that grows to what the jar can feed.
• MouldWhite mould blooms on fresh organics and leaves; springtails eat it.
• CareMist, water, vent and tidy, by hand or on a routine.
• Chance and forecastsTwo things are random; everything else repeats exactly.
• Checked against real jarsFourteen jars their owners described online, rebuilt and run: all fourteen turn out the way the real ones did.