New to Orions Arm

[Vaktus]

Ive been trying forever create an ammonia based alien species but all the literature focuses on what it couldn't be rather than what it could be. I know pure ammonia wouldn't be compatible with oxygen or lipid bylayers or phosphate groups and would prevent any real development of technology because they couldn't have fire. I was excited when i discovered the article on the Soft Ones, but it makes no mention of what their respiratory mechanism would be. Would aliens based on an ammonia-water solvent be able to breathe oxygen?

Hmm, probably not oxygen. Their respiration would probably include the ammonia-water mixture along with some other gas that is abundant in that atmosphere like methane.