Design: Symbiotic Organisms [Effectiveness: 2+1 (Theoretical)] [Expense: 5+1] [Bugs: 4+1]
Up until now, Hive genetic modification has been limited to the stock of our drones. The Queen, after all, has a natural ability to modify the genes of her own progeny. But all drones naturally contain some microbes; bacteria, yeasts and other commensal organisms that sometimes harm, rarely help, mostly don't make a significant difference to things one way or another. We have already had some success incorporating commensal bacteria into the ruminant digestive system; the Queen finds that she can manipulate the conditions of foetal or nascent drones to change the proportions of commensal flora that take root in their bodies, eradicating some strains, incorporating others. At the very least, we can now pick and choose which types of flora exist in our drones. We cannot yet tweak the properties of commensal flora with the same ease and expertise that we modify drones, but this is a significant step forward.
A marginal side effect of this is that we have adjusted the default colonies of microbes in all of our drones to favour harmless or marginally helpful microbes, helping slightly reduce the risk of infections resulting from wounds on the battlefield. It is only a very slight edge, but it costs us nothing, except perhaps a marginally higher metabolic load to support the extra flora.
Design: Hunter Caste [Effectiveness: 1] [Expense: 4] [Bugs: 5]
The Hunter is not our best work. We regressed the mandibles and reverted the front limbs into legs rather than graspers, and moved the compound eyes and IR eyespots forward for better depth perception. We even miniaturised the Spitter stomach into a form that could be supported by a less-than worker-sized drone and incorporated the vomiting reflex. We attempted to try and improve mobility by creating a new type of chitin carapace, stronger than the standard worker carapace but keeping much of the lightness.
A few things went wrong. We couldn't manage to stabilise a new light-weight high-strength form of chitin that didn't result in weird curls happening everywhere and making it utterly useless, so we had to try using thin plates of Soldier Chitin, which then resulted in weight and mobility issues, so we had to set the plates far apart and shrink them. We ended up with essentially articulating sections of Worker Chitin and then occasional plates of Soldier Chitin on the less flexible parts.
As expected, getting running and jumping limbs down isn't as simple as making all six limbs into legs. The main issue is trying to develop high-powered explosive muscles, whereas for the most part drones use low-power, high-endurance muscle forms, which is one of the reasons drones tire rarely and can maintain long hours of work. Not to mention the difficulty of getting the articulation right on the limbs, where worker limbs are built for balance and stability and not the right sort of movement.
Still, we have something. The finished Hunter is half the size of a Worker, but consumes twice as much food due to its obligate carnivorous digestive system (which it desperately needs to deliver the power it requires). The format of the six forward-facing limbs has been finalised to our satisfaction, but the explosive muscles just aren't as good as those found in mammals. The Hunter can't jump well and struggles with inclines and uneven terrain. It can build up faster speed than workers, certainly, and can even manage to outpace sprinting humans, but it lacks manoeuvreability. The compromise armour system leaves it extremely vulnerable to targeted attacks; it cannot hope to hold up well in melee. In fact, given its size, weight and maximum speed, if we used it like humans use horses for a charge it would barely deliver the same impact as a worker thrusting with their saw-toothed middle limbs.
Fortunately, that is not their method of attack. Instead, Hunters strafe the enemy, running close to them and then turning their heads to vomit up a short-range blast of sprayed acid. The acid spray only has an effective range of a metre before it thins out too much to be effective, but within range it is the equivalent of an acidic shotgun blast. Hunters then run past the enemy, either retreating or trying to escape. Ultimately, the Hunter works, but it doesn't work well.
Hunters Cost: 2 Manpower. Cat-sized drones with six forward-facing limbs designed for running and jumping (although not necessarily that effective at either). Patchwork chitin gives them some mobility and some protection, while aiming to keep them lightweight, giving them enough speed to run up to targets, strafe them, and deploy their weaponised acid-glands in a short-range blast.
It is now the Revision Phase. You have 2 dice remaining.
You will need to adjust Budget in the Strategy phase to give the Hunters any production.
If you set up the ambush and the League doesn't accept the reinforcements, you lose the die. It's a gamble.
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Topic: Hive Race: The Hive (Read 40152 times)