HIVE RACEAsymmetric Arms Race game. One side plays a Wands Race style human alliance of Classical city-states that have just discovered the rudiments of magic. The other side play a hive mind race of insectoid conquerers, able to alter their own genetic code to produce new forms of workers and warriors. Both sides are capable of mundane innovation, but the hive race is incapable of using magic and the humans are incapable of modifying their own genetics in the same manner the hive race can.
The League is a fragile alliance of Bronze Age human city states joined together by the threat of an emerging menace that has already consumed one of their brightest city-states and threatens to overturn all of the Hadaean Archipelago. Their scholars have just rediscovered the fundaments of magic alongside the new threat, and hope to wield this new power against their scourge.
The Hive is a hive-mind collective of insectoid drones, freshly resurrected from their ancient slumber. Massively outnumbered at first, the Hive has a lower variety of troops, doesn't really use tools, and cannot use magic. They have two advantages; a phenomenal rate of reproduction and the ability to re-shape future generations at the whim of their queens.
You can join the Hive here.You can join the League here. Discord.Please note that you can only play for one side, so once you declare yourself for a side you can only read and participate in that thread. Don't cheat, nobody will appreciate it and it ruins the fun of the game. You can throw sass at one another here in the main thread just fine.Also, please remember the cardinal rule:
Don't be a dick. Vigorous discussion is fine, personal attacks on your rivals (out of character) are not. If you have to ask "Am I being a dick?", you're being a dick.
Don't be a dick.Phases
There are three phases to each turn; Design, Revision and Strategy. Nakedly stolen from the superior Spire Race game, each side has a pool of five dice that it may spend on Designs, Revisions and Strategy. Unused dice are saved between rounds. Dice are d6s, with degrees of success or progress depending upon the die roll. As a general rule, 1 is an abject failure, 6 is a marvellous success. You have exactly one vote per phase. This is an integer and cannot be split between votes. Unless you state otherwise, proposers will be assumed to be voting for their own designs.
During the Design phase, each side may attempt to create one (or more, with banked dice) new design for a troop type, equipment type, technology, strategic or tactical doctrine or body type (for the Hive) or spell (for the League). It is also possible to vote No Design to save dice. It costs 3 dice to create a Design [1 for Effectivess, 1 for Expense, 1 for Bugs]. Expense will determine how many versions of a new design will be rolled out (further limited by Training and Resource capacities, potentially). Effectiveness will determine how much of an effect each design has on a per-soldier basis (or equivalent). Bugs will determine how much of a malus each design contributes in the field. Note that minor bugs may not have obvious effects, but each contributes a small malus across every unit that employs that equipment. An army employing powerful but slightly buggy equipment may have maluses they don't expect.
During the Revision phase, each side may spend dice on one or more Revisions. Each Revision attempts to refine or fix a single element of an existing design (Effectiveness, Expense or Bugs) and costs 1 die. Its scope is less limited than Design, but has less chances of going wrong as well. You may vote No Revision to conserve dice.
During the Strategy phase you may spend dice to try and change your side's strategy. It costs 1 die per strategy employed. Valid options include directing your forces to pressure one region in particular; constructing or improving fortifications; withdrawing under scorched earth tactics to do more damage; and so on. Changing the budget is also a strategic action. You can also vote No Strategy to preserve the status quo and conserve remaining dice for the next turn.
Reinforcement
Manpower is produced by Cities and Queens. Where there is an unobstructed connection border between a City/Queen and a Front, they will send the entirety of their manpower to reinforce that Front (split amongst Fronts according to Strategy). Overseas, however, reinforcement is limited by transport capacity; you can only bring as much manpower as you have transport ships that can make the journey. Unless you have naval supremacy in a given sea territory, some of your transport ships will be lost or blockaded in naval battles, further limiting reinforcement. The base reinforcement rate can be improved through research.
Manpower Limit
Both sides have a total limit to the amount of Manpower they can maintain at any given time, based off the number of Cities/Queens they have and access to Food. Sides will reinforce up to that limit but cannot maintain more soldiers than that. This limit can be improved through research.
Resources
There are three main resources, Timber, Ore and Food. For both sides, Timber and Ore are used in the construction of ships, weapons and similar. For the League, territories with Food can support Cities (see below) and determine their size. For the Hive, territories with Food can support Queens. All three resources have varying extraction rates depending on technology, although a territory does have to be captured to be exploited. Ships are limited by the total amount of Timber available, as are archers (it is assumed that Timber represents high-quality wood; ordinary spears and such use cheaper, easily available wood). Metal-using troops (both bronze and iron) are limited by the total amount of Ore available.
Although the map shows amounts of resources between 1-4, these are representative of resource deposits. Actual resource production depends upon a faction's technology.
Unlike Wands Race, designs are not ranked by Cheap, Expensive, and Very Expensive, at least not explicitly. Instead the relative resource cost for each unit type is listed by the design, e.g. Spearmen cost 1 manpower, 1 training, 1 ore. How many units are produced of a type depends upon the faction's Budget, which determines the maximum percentage of total resources they are willing to devote to a design.
There is still a distinction between normal units and National Efforts. National Efforts represent designs that are not only expensive but require significant enough administrative, manufacturing or strategic effort that only one group of that unit type can be committed to a single front. Where the National Effort is sent can be determined at the Strategic stage. Up to 5% of a faction's resources will be devoted to a National Effort.
Training
The League has an additional 'resource', Training. Training is generated by Cities and represents the total amount of both skilled military training and literate education the League can output. Highly skilled units such as the Aphrokrema use up Training to represent the resources dedicated to training them up to skill. Any magic-users will use up Training as well.
Training, like any other resource, is allocated to unit production based off the League's budget.
Cities
The League has Cities in place already on most eligible locations on the map. Wherever there is the Food resource, a City can be built (or already exists). The city's size is based off how much Food it extracts in the region (based off that territory's Food capacity and resource extraction efficiency) and acts as a source of troops and training. Cities produce reinforcement each turn based off their size as well as Training, a League-specific resource used for troops. Establishing or re-establishing a City is a Strategy action. The Hive will destroy and consume Cities where they find them. If all League cities are lost, the League loses the game.
Queens
The Hive can produce Queens in any location with the Food resource. Queens produce reinforcement based off the amount of Food in the area and their extraction efficiency. Hatching a new Queen is a Strategy action. The League will slay Queens where they find them. If all Hive Queens are slain, the Hive loses the game.
Territories
Land and sea are divided up into multiple territories. Neither League nor Hive can colonise the sea, but sea provinces are vital to hold in order to cross between islands in the Archipelago. Land territories may have sources of Ore, Timber or Food (or none) and may also have Fortifications. They have two basic states; Owned and Contested. A province that has either been utterly conquered or is not being invaded is counted as Owned. Owned provinces produce Timber and Ore for their owner. When one side sends forces against the other and the mobile forces of the defending side cannot hold against the attackers, they will retreat. If there is a fortification in the territory, they will retreat to said fortification and the province will become Contested. If the province has no Fortification, the defenders will instead pull back to the next available territory they can retreat to (unless they are chased into the sea and slaughtered to a man if no retreat exists) and the province will become Owned by the attacker.
A Contested province still has defenders holding out in the province's fortifications, but cannot defend the territory at large. Neither side can draw Timber or Ore from the territory (although manpower and training production from Cities/Queens is not affected) and the territory will remain Contested until either the attackers can overcome the Fortification (plus the mobile defenders) or the mobile defenders can overcome the attackers, at which point the Province will be Owned by the victors and the losers pushed back and out of the territory.
In order to Overcome a foe, one side must have 50% more Territorial Power than the other's Territorial Power (equal to the total power of the troops for a border fight, or the total plus the fortification strength in a siege). This pushes them back.
Fortifications
Fortifications add a defensive bonus to Territorial Power to a province. This is both a flat bonus and a multiplicative one (applied to defending mobile units for the purpose of the fort not being taken). It is a Strategic action to improve, construct or raze an owned fort. (See Below.)
Colonisation
The wars of the past centuries have depopulated areas of the Archipelago, and vital resources are untapped. Unclaimed territories may be colonised by either the Hive or the League if they have untrammelled sea access or a contiguous border. This is a Strategic action and will cost at least 1 die, with varying success. Similarly, re-colonising a ruined city for the League costs such an action as well. It is not necessary to have colonised an area to move troops through it, provided no enemy resistance is met.
Sieges and Territorial Control
To push a Front, you need 50% more Territorial Control than your opponent. As seen in Year 301, the 1st Front saw the League raise 710 TC to the Hive's 309, or 227.5% of their opponent's score. This was enough to push the Front back to Menotos. The 2nd Front saw the Hive raise 659 TC to the League's 130, so they pushed their Front to Dromio.
Every unit exerts some Territorial Control; by default, this is a TC of 1. Forts provide both a flat bonus to TC as well as a percentage bonus to all units stationed in the Fort.
Level 1 Forts (Redoubts, Palisades): 200 Fortification, 10% increase to defender TC.
Level 2 Forts (Walls): 500 Fortification, 20% increase to defender TC.
Level 3 Forts (Keeps): 1200 Fortification, 30% increase to defender TC.
Unless you have siege units, Fortification adds a flat bonus to defender TC. For example, if the 2nd Front's armies were to remain the same next turn (which they won't because reinforcement), the Hive would exert 659 TC, while the League would exert 656 TC, or 130 * 120% (156) + 500 from the Walls. This would mean the Hive has barely over 100% of the League's TC, stalling their advance.
Siege units such as ballistae directly reduce flat Fortification bonuses. They do not reduce the multiplicative bonus to TC that forts provide. e.g. If the Hive got hold of ballistae, it wouldn't matter whether they fielded 20 ballistae or 100, they could only knock down Dromio's Fortification bonus by 500; the 20% bonus to TC for the defenders would always hold regardless, representing unchanging terrain conditions that help them out even if you knock all the walls down.
There is no randomised element to the strategic portion of the game (although standard rolls do apply to the R&D Arms Race sections). As battles take place on a large enough scale, they can be modelled statistically instead; depending on reinforcement rates and kill rates, numbers will go up or down until they are enough to take territories or fortifications.
Unit Stats
Individual soldiers and units have three basic statistics they contribute to battle. Other statistics may be added as we go along.
Kill Power: The number of ideal peasants (a hypothetical unarmoured threat) they could kill personally in a straight-up fight.
Armour: How hard they are to kill (effectively resistance to Kill Power) in a straight-up fight.
Territorial Power: The ability of the unit to hold or capture territory, independent of their ability to kill enemy units.
The total kill count on each Front is equal to the attacker's aggregate KP minus the defender's aggregate Armour (for both sides) and divided amongst the troops accordingly. The survivors then compare Territorial Power to see which side has advantage enough to press their Front forward to either Capture or Contest a province. There is a separate Kill Power and Armour for each battle phase, and a base KP/Armour that adds to all of them (so units are never entirely defenceless).
There are (at game start) six battle phases: Artillery, Ranged, Traps, Charge, Skirmish, and Melee.#
Combat for each Front is engaged in order of phases; Artillery units such as the Ballista will shoot first, then Ranged units such as Bowmen, then any traps will go off, then Cavalry type units will Charge, then Skirmishers and ambushes will happen, then the brunt of both forces will engage in melee. It is therefore possible to whittle down forces in the earlier stages before closing to final stages such as melee.
LEAGUE
Units
Slaves Cost: 1 manpower. Poor unfortunate souls, these 'draftees' are sent into war without training or even real equipment to plug the holes in the lines. Extremely cheap, but cannot be counted upon to hold or capture territory, as they will flee unless watched constantly.
Spearmen Cost: 1 mp, 1 training, 1 ore. Given leather armour and a bronze-covered shield, these militia forces have gone through some training in the simplest of weapons (but still an effective one).
Skirmishers Cost: 1 mp, 2 training. Lightly armoured and lightly equipped with slings and darts, these men have better stamina than most and are mobile, able to attack at short range.
Bowmen Cost: 1 mp, 2 training, 1 timber. Unarmoured but equipped with fine shortbows, these archers can engage the enemy at distance, thinning their ranks before the melee closes.
Hoplites Cost: 1 mp, 3 training, 3 ore. Well-trained troops armed with spear, shield and heavy bronze armour, these are the shock troops of a League army. They don't move quickly, but when they get there nobody gets past them. Unless they go around.
Cavalry Cost: 3 manpower, 1 ore, 3 training. Armed with spears and riding light, fast horses, these cavalry form a powerful skirmishing force that can harry foes and take advantage of the less mobile.
Aphrokema Cost: 1 mp, 10 training, 3 ore. National Effort. Costs lots of training, some ore. Hoplites, but hoplites trained from birth in a gruelling manner that costs the lives of the weaker. These men are deadly beyond measure and will not break, fighting to the very last man.
Apprentices Cost: 1 mp, 20 training. Capable of casting Lesser spells. Can cast up to 3 spells.
Mages Cost: 1 mp, 50 training. Capable of casting Greater spells. Can cast up to 5 spells, including Lesser spells.
Biremes Cost: 20 manpower, 10 training, 50 timber. Passenger Capacity: 50 manpower. Combination cargo ship and battle ship. Limited passenger capacity, but reasonable ranged combat with bows and a ram.
Ballistae Cost: 6 manpower, 20 training, 10 ore, 10 timber. Negates siege bonuses, some extreme-range anti-personnel effects. [Siege stat counteracts fortification bonuses on a flat level.]
Palisades Simple palisades for defence, on a natural hill. A level 1 fortress.
Walls Stable stone walls, built high, to defend cities and towns. A level 2 fortress.
Keeps Constructed wooden castles with stone supports, typically within a larger wall. A level 3 fortress.
Technology
Bronze Working - The League is most familiar with the art of smelting and shaping bronze from copper and tin.
Slave-Farmed Smallholds - Agriculture is farm-based, with high productivity from slave labour, although technological advances are limited.
Shipbuilding - The League is particularly capable at crossing the sea, even compared to the nations of the Continent.
Architecture - The League has a functioning understanding of architecture and construction, allowing it to build up to Level 3 Fortresses (Keeps).
Family Education - Close-knit groups of kin or kith are responsible for training and educating their own. Knowledge is preserved, but the quality of troops and scholars alike is highly variable.
Militia Service - Armies are nominally part time, but citizen militia can spare time to train and prepare for battle without draining the resources a professional army would.
Spells
The League starting spells are unknown.
HIVE
Units
Worker Caste Cost: 1 Manpower. Cheap and plentiful, more suited for day to day operations but a cheap and available design to churn out. Six-limbed insectoids about the size of a large dog, using four legs for balance and possessing two arms with four-digit graspers. The middle legs have serrated ridges that double as weapons and saws for cutting wood and butchering meat. Workers possess multi-faceted eyes. Workers are excellent for holding and claiming territory.
Soldiers Cost: 6 Manpower. Heavy duty drones, a dozen times the size of workers and consuming consumate amounts of food to deal even more damage. About the size of a shire horse, soldiers have four short, heavy supporting rear legs and a pair of pincered front limbs with sharp, reinforced points and serrated edges, designed for piercing, slashing and cutting with the approximate strength of an ox. Massive plates of heavy chitin protect the soldier drone from damage and its low, squat (if massive) form gives it a beetle-like appearance. Soldiers are not fast, but they are difficult to stop. Its multi-faceted eyes are hooded for protection and forward-facing for better depth perception. These drones have two main downsides; they need a lot to eat and cannot hold territory as effectively as their metabolic weight in Workers.
Elites Cost: ? National Effort. It is not yet known what the Elite unit will be.
Redoubts Dug out warrens with piled timber supports for defence. A level 1 fortress.
Technology
Neolithic Toolmaking - Drones are capable of constructing crude wood and stone tools where needed, but these are usually superceded by the natural tools of worker drones.
Hunter-Gathering - The Hive does not currently practice any kind of stable agriculture, instead hunting or denuding local resources for food.
Construction - Despite their relatively limited tools, drones are natural diggers and can create simple structures. Can create Level 1 Forts (Redoubts).
Author
Topic: Hive Race: An Asymmetric Arms Race Game [Core Thread] (Read 9301 times)