Underwater civilisations

Civilisations of sapient species that live in water are called underwater civilisations. If the sapient species can live both on land and in water, it is called an amphibious civilisation. Cities on floating seaweed count as amphibious.

One of the most popular suggestions for Thrive was having the possibility of creating of underwater civilisations in society stage and beyond. But soon it turned out that there are some serious problems with water that prevent developing some technologies, such as metalurgy. The developers said that underwater civilisations will not be added to the game unless someone can figure out how a hypotetical civilisation can overcome such roadblocks.

The arguements weren't productive, people didn't read the comments that were made befode and disproven, and kept suggesting the same things over and over again, which resulted in the "smeltal the meltal" meme.

One post managed to prove that it is possible to reach a temperature high enough to melt metal underwater, but melting alone isn't sufficient for creating good quality metal.

Discussing underwater civilisations is currently banned in the community forums unless someone comes up with a complete proof. But the discussion can be still made in the subreddit dedicated to this topic with no restrictions.

Currently (in the prototypes), the game warns the player if awakening stage is entered with a fully aquatic organism. It will not be possible to progress beyond a certain level in society stage.

Arguments for smelting metal underwater:

Humorous arguments:
 * 1) Thermite
 * 2) Hydrothermal vents
 * 3) Focusing suns light
 * 4) Regions with air inside the water
 * 5) Biologic iron
 * 6) Tool breeding
 * 7) Technology without metals
 * 8) Land suits or symbiote for breathing air

These arguments aren't serious proposals.


 * 1) Sponge bob fire
 * 2) Interaction with another sapient civilisation
 * 3) Moving your hands out of water when you need to use fire

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