Year 303
This year sees the first real deployment of mages in combat, as the League fields spellcasters in more appreciable number. The scholars, clad in simple robes with silver-thread highlights, move into battle casting spells from nothing more, it seems, than willpower alone. Their effects are most apparent up close; when League ambushers strike Hive drone parties before they can join the main force, these mages confuse and distract the minds of the drones, interfering just enough with their connection to the Hive to allow the skirmishers to get the jump on them. When main battle is joined, they prove themselves worth the weight of a dozen trained spearmen each, as their spells of confusion weaken the attacking drones and they cast spells to make the company of spears around them strike hard and true.
There is just one problem; they are students, garbed in cloth. While these mages have a degree of natural protection from sheer numbers (that is, there are terribly few of them, so they use the massed ranks of slaves like meat shields to protect them), in the major phases of battle - under attack from spitter bombardment, in the brutal melee - they tend to get horribly murdered when drones inevitably find them. Some sort of protection may be in order.
It is unclear what, if anything, the Hive has done this year.
The second front just continues to hold at Dromio, even after the aphrokemae move to the first front, thanks in large part to the remaining hoplites. Despite the best efforts of the Hive, they cannot take Dromio's solid stone walls.
The first front sees the line pushed back, chiefly due to the effects of the spitters and the lack of defensive fortifications. The brutal long-ranged acid attacks prove ruinous to the massed slave ranks, as ever, and it is enough to push the force back to the hill fort of Oracuse in Western Menotos. Even with the aphrokemae they just don't have the numbers to hold the plains. With this, the Hive is able to recover the lost scholar's tomb, destroying their research and recovering the ancient drone to be dissected and its genetic wealth absorbed. [+1 Die this turn to the Hive.]
The First Front is pushed back to Western Menotos and the Hill Fort of Oracuse, a Rank I Fortification.The third front sees the continual retreat of League forces back through no-man's land to the Nippan Woods.
The Third Front is pushed back to the Nippan Woods.League Opportunity: The Hated ThanetoniansBack when the League was formed, almost all of the city-states of the Hadean Archipelago came together. Yet there was one that did not, the distant (so distant that it is off the map) and much reviled state of Thanetonia. Long an enemy of nearly every single other city in the Hadean Archipelago, it was generally agreed by both League and Thanetonians that the respective other party could go suck eggs as far as working together was concerned. For the last three years, then, nothing much has been heard from them.
This has changed. A proud, obnoxious 'centurion' of Thanetonia has arrived with an offer. Thanetonia will commit a sizeable portion of its standing army, 100 hoplites and 300 spearmen, as well as the 8 biremes they have sent to carry them, to a single Front of the League's choosing. In return, they demand not merely acceptance into the League but a seat on the ruling council, special privileges and ample land for all of their soldiers in League territory. The demands are not only unjust but heinous; scandal has rocked the ruling council over their play.
Hive: The Thanetonians have, foolishly, made us a deal; in exchange for gold and jewels taken from Menotos (of which we have but care little) and slaves taken from League armies, they will tell us the site where they plan to land so that we can help them betray the League, adding their forces to our own. Naturally, this is never going to happen - by falsely accepting their deal, the Queen has ensured that they will land their ships in a place of our choosing. By spending a die in the Strategy phase, we can intercept their forces and butcher them - reducing the reinforcements by an amount equal to our success in that die roll.
Current Reinforcement Strategy: We are reinforcing Fronts 1, 2 and 3 in a 5:3:2 ratio. Front 1 is receiving our National Effort, the Spitters. Of our 2798 manpower, all of it reached the fronts. We have no ships and no overseas fronts to supply.
It is now the Design Phase. You have 8 dice remaining.1st Front
1st Front [Hive 1st Front vs League 1st Front]
Territorial Control: 540 vs 195.75
Hive 1st Front [National!]
109 soldiers
404 workers
27 spitters
1399 manpower spent, 12 spitters, 44 soldiers, 901 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 71 workers, [ranged] 64 workers, [charge] 56 workers, [skirmish] 36 workers, [melee] 14 soldiers, 737 workers, 8 spitters
League 1st Front [National!]
7 skirmishers
4 bowmen
22 hoplites
4 cavalry
2 ballistae
1 apprentices
0 mages
89 spearmen
215 slaves
13 aphrokema
1923 manpower spent, 6 aphrokema, 24 skirmishers, 12 bowmen, 16 hoplites, 8 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 3 apprentices, 198 spearmen, 2078 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 1st Front Deaths: [ranged] 11 skirmishers, 5 bowmen, 3 hoplites, 4 cavalry, 1 apprentices, 72 spearmen, 872 slaves, [skirmish] 1 skirmishers, 1 bowmen, 3 hoplites, 27 spearmen, 202 slaves, [melee] 17 skirmishers, 8 bowmen, 8 hoplites, 6 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 2 apprentices, 147 spearmen, 1518 slaves, 2 aphrokema
---
2nd Front
2nd Front [Hive 2nd Front vs League 2nd Front]
500 fortification power vs 12 siege power.
Territorial Control: 700 vs 550.0
Hive 2nd Front
0 spitters
87 soldiers
613 workers
839 manpower spent, 29 soldiers, 602 workers reinforced.
Hive 2nd Front Deaths: [artillery] 49 workers, [ranged] 33 workers, [charge] 47 workers, [skirmish] 32 workers, [melee] 8 soldiers, 526 workers
League 2nd Front
0 aphrokema
3 skirmishers
2 bowmen
13 hoplites
3 cavalry
2 ballistae
0 apprentices
0 mages
39 spearmen
0 slaves
1433 manpower spent, 18 skirmishers, 9 bowmen, 12 hoplites, 6 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 3 apprentices, 148 spearmen, 1553 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 2nd Front Deaths: [skirmish] 1 skirmishers, 1 bowmen, 2 hoplites, 21 spearmen, 208 slaves, [melee] 14 skirmishers, 6 bowmen, 6 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 3 apprentices, 103 spearmen, 1378 slaves
---
3rd Front
3rd Front [Hive 3rd Front vs League 3rd Front]
Territorial Control: 922 vs 8.0
Hive 3rd Front
83 soldiers
839 workers
560 manpower spent, 20 soldiers, 402 workers reinforced.
Hive 3rd Front Deaths: [artillery] 24 workers, [ranged] 26 workers, [charge] 29 workers, [skirmish] 23 workers, [melee] 4 soldiers, 359 workers
League 3rd Front
0 skirmishers
0 bowmen
7 hoplites
0 cavalry
1 ballistae
0 apprentices
0 mages
0 spearmen
0 slaves
1065 manpower spent, 14 skirmishers, 7 bowmen, 9 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 0 ballistae, 2 apprentices, 110 spearmen, 1154 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 3rd Front Deaths: [skirmish] 1 skirmishers, 1 bowmen, 2 hoplites, 20 spearmen, 220 slaves, [melee] 15 skirmishers, 7 bowmen, 4 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 2 apprentices, 94 spearmen, 1372 slaves
---
==The Hive==
Production: 0/0 ore, 0/0.0 timber
Manpower: 4039.6/7919 {2798/turn} {2798 reinforced last turn.}
Menotos [Hive]: [Queen] 4 base food
Sends 2798 manpower to Hive Node 1.
Hive 1st Front [National!]
109 soldiers
404 workers
27 spitters
1399 manpower spent, 12 spitters, 44 soldiers, 901 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 71 workers, [ranged] 64 workers, [charge] 56 workers, [skirmish] 36 workers, [melee] 14 soldiers, 737 workers, 8 spitters
Hive 2nd Front
0 spitters
87 soldiers
613 workers
839 manpower spent, 29 soldiers, 602 workers reinforced.
Hive 2nd Front Deaths: [artillery] 49 workers, [ranged] 33 workers, [charge] 47 workers, [skirmish] 32 workers, [melee] 8 soldiers, 526 workers
Hive 3rd Front
83 soldiers
839 workers
560 manpower spent, 20 soldiers, 402 workers reinforced.
Hive 3rd Front Deaths: [artillery] 24 workers, [ranged] 26 workers, [charge] 29 workers, [skirmish] 23 workers, [melee] 4 soldiers, 359 workers
Hive Budget
Spitters 5% National Effort.
Soldiers 25%
Workers 75%
HIVE
Units
Worker Caste Cost: 1.1 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; the front and back limbs also have small barbs that aid in climbing and provide a desperate back-up weapon. Workers possess multi-faceted eyes, with six dark eye-spots that flank the compound eyes providing limited Infra-Red light vision that acts as a heat detected. Workers are excellent for holding and claiming territory. Competent in melee combat, acceptable in nocturnal ambushes, vulnerable to most other forms of attack.
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. Well-armoured against most types of damage, but excels in melee.
Spitters Cost: 12 Manpower. National Effort. Drones with massively engorged abdomens, atrophied limbs and tiny heads composed of a pair of massive, globular compound eyes and a thick, barrel-like proboscis. The spitter expectorates gobbets of slime-encapsulated stomach acid hundreds of feet away to splash against companies of troops. Terrible in melee combat and susceptible to charges, but potent at range.
Emitics Non-Battlefield. Swollen versions of worker drones, the job of Emitic drones is to consume food that cannot be digested by the rest of the Hive and make it digestible. By passing grains, legumes and plant matter through their ruminant digestive system, they are able to vomit it back up in an edible state for other drones to consume.
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).
Gene Bank
Worker Carapace Light, strong chitinous exteriors. Deflects close up blows but susceptible to piercing from arrow fire. Metabolically cheap. By default, Workers have these carapaces.
Heavy Carapace Heavy, reinforced chitinous exterior. Deflects blows and arrows effectively. Metabolically expensive. Soldiers and Elites have these carapaces by default.
Hexapod Limb Array All drones currently employ a six-limb configuration, making them stable if bulky.
Hypocarnivorous Digestive System A digestive system that is best suited to metabolising meat but can digest other foods such as fruits, roots and fungi, or even milk and milk products. Generally cannot digest grains or cereals. By default, Workers are spawned with this digestive system as it allows the greatest flexibility in diet.
Obligate Carnivorous Digestive System A digestive system that can only metabolise meat or similar products, including bone marrow. While this digestive system limits food choice and is therefore expensive to maintain, it provides the most metabolic power. Soldiers and Elites are designed to be Obligate Carnivores; they consume more food but can support more body mass.
Ruminant Digestive System A digestive system devoted to metabolising grains, legumes and plant matter. Food is macerated and stored in stomachs to be digested by different enzymes until it is reduced to a nutrient-rich slurry, then vomited up for consumption by simpler digestive system-bearing drones.
Vomiting Used by Emitics. Drones are able to vomit up their semi-digested food if needed.
Acid Glands Repurposed duplicated stomachs serve as acid generators. Once sufficient quantities of acid are produced, they are encapsulated in phlegm.
Long-Range Expectoration Repurposed mouthparts serve as a crude artillery barrel, backed up by powerful modified jaw muscles that serve to create sufficient pressure to spit whatever is in the proboscis up to hundreds of feet away.
Compound Eyes Wide compound eyes produce composite images from tens of thousands of photoreceptors (ommatidia) on their surface. This produces excellent perception of motion and typically allows close to 360' vision due to their large view angle. Resolution is not comparable to humans, so our drones cannot see in as fine detail and cannot see out to the same range. Our drones have a comparative advantage in close combat situations, but a disadvantage at long range.
Infra-Red Eye Spots: Small black eyespots that flank standard compound eyes, these pits sense the presence and absence of IR light, allowing for limited heat detection and nocturnal operation.
Antennae Foot-long antennae perceive a variety of local sensory effects, such as sound and smell. Senses are comparable to human.
Telepathy All drones in the hive are linked via short-range telepathy, acting as relays for other drones further away. They do not communicate verbally or by writing.
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Topic: Hive Race: The Hive (Read 40140 times)