Year 304The year 304 sees the League's mages improve significantly in survivability. Now wielding a third distinct spell, the mages seem to be able to harden their own seemingly ordinary cloth robes into as hard a substance as bronze, with even the splashes of acid from spitter strikes sliding safely off it before completely destroying the fabric. The fortunate spearmen surrounding these spellcasters too seem to benefit from the enchantment, their boiled leather armour gaining something of the nature of bronze to it as well. Even the many unfortunate slaves dragged into the fight sometimes benefit from a mage's touch. Mages do still die to being punched through the chest by a Soldier drone's pincer, of course, but they seem to be able to avoid being killed by ordinary workers now.
For the Hive's part, it unleashes a small amount of a new type of drone, a house-cat sized insect without the deadly forelimbs of workers or soldiers and atrophied mandibles. Its limbs have been converted into forward-facing legs and it is covered in uneven armour. This 'hunter drone' proves fast; not so fast as a charging warhorse such as the
hippeis ride, but faster than the fastest of the League's runners. Instead of trampling foes, however, these tiny insects get close to their targets and then violently spray acid from their mouths before fleeing. It is effective against slaves, but they cannot generally approach close enough to most spearmen to vomit their attacks. Indeed, the creatures once cornered are easily enough despatched; a solid spear blow to the weak points in their armour will disable them, and a second killing stroke is often easier thereafter. The problem is catching the beggars in the first place.
The League chose not to accept the Thanatonian 'offer', insisting they could have an even seat at the table or none at all. The Thanetonian centurion departed, promising that his people would not be 'so generous next time'. However, the
aristoi of the League seem heartened by the council's decision in this matter. Better they stand together than raise one above the rest.
Whether the result of more apprentice assistance, the fact that the Hive withdrew their spitters or simply the fortifications at Oracuse, the hill fort does not fall this year.
The walled town of Dromio is less fortunate, as the Spitters are returned to the second front to provide their distinctive support. With worker ladders and an unceasing barrage of acidic spit, the town falls. Only two apprentices, a team of siege engineers and seven hoplites for a bodyguard manage to escape the ensuing massacre.
The 2nd Front moves to the edge of the Kydessan Plains and the Kydessan Woods. The Hive, as the attacker, may choose which territory the front will push through.The aphrokemae join the fight in the Nippan Woods, but the tide of battle is clear. They mostly help organise the retreat of a handful of more valuable troops to Nippi itself.
The Hive has taken the Nippan Woods and may extract its bounty. The 3rd Front has moved to the edge of Nippi, but has not yet pressed far enough forwards to besiege the walls.Opportunity; Design AdvantageWith numerous opportunities on the horizon for a new hive, the Queen is preparing to design her first daughter (drones are sexless, except for the immobile, mindless lumps that attach themselves to the Queen's body and serve as repositories for male genetic material). Obviously the new Queen will be subservient to her mother, but there is a tricky line to walk here; too docile and she might not be useful, too independent and she might be rebellious. The Queen has therefore chosen to delegate to you, her Thinker caste. Design (as a free action) the next Queen to be spawned. You must present designs based upon the following criteria and others you may consider:
- Gross physical anatomy. The current Queen's abdomen is akin to a massively corpulent larva that continuously spits out eggs, while her head and forelimbs are tiny and between Worker and Solider sized. She is immobile.
- Nutrition. The current Queen is an obligate carnivore, brought food by workers.
- Environmental Tolerance. The current Queen requires a stable environment with regular temperature and humidity. She resides underground, her chamber maintained by drones.
- Defences. The current Queen relies entirely upon a bodyguard of Soldiers to protect her in the event of incursion.
- Personality. What should the Queen shape her daughter's personality to be? The current Queen is cold, lacks empathy and is highly independent and intelligent.
Depending on the finalised proposal, you may get either an Advantage to Effectiveness, Cost or Bug-fixing/avoidance. Invoking your Advantage lets you roll the die twice, picking the better roll. An excellent proposal may see other benefits.
Note: The League seems to be getting magic slaves out of nowhere. This is a reporting bug; they are using up spare manpower that isn't being used in ships (ships are allocated 10% of all manpower but don't use it all). Trying to fix that has resulted in game-breaking weirdness, so I'll take a shot at it when I'm not tired. I've left it be because it's representative; they might as well use that manpower anyway, it's going to waste if not.
Note 2: From next turn onwards, terrain will be taken into account. More on this when coded. 3 terrains will be considered; plains, forest and hills.It is the Design Phase. You have 5 Dice remaining.1st Front
1st Front [Hive 1st Front vs League 1st Front]
200 fortification power vs 5 siege power.
Territorial Control: 416 vs 501.35
Hive 1st Front
146 soldiers
266 workers
0 spitters
4 hunters
1399 manpower spent, 62 soldiers, 17 hunters, 910 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 1 soldiers, 87 workers, 1 hunters, [ranged] 13 workers, [charge] 1 soldiers, 67 workers, [skirmish] 46 workers, [melee] 23 soldiers, 835 workers, 12 hunters
League 1st Front
7 skirmishers
2 bowmen
30 hoplites
6 cavalry
3 ballistae
5 apprentices
0 mages
124 spearmen
406 slaves
0 aphrokema
2237 manpower spent, 14 skirmishers, 21 hoplites, 9 cavalry, 2 ballistae, 5 apprentices, 235 spearmen, 2359 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 1st Front Deaths: [charge] 4 spearmen, 55 slaves, [skirmish] 3 hoplites, 23 spearmen, 186 slaves, [melee] 14 skirmishers, 2 bowmen, 10 hoplites, 7 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 1 apprentices, 173 spearmen, 1927 slaves
---
2nd Front
2nd Front [Hive 2nd Front vs League 2nd Front]
500 fortification power vs 14 siege power.
Territorial Control: 833 vs 496.0
Hive 2nd Front [National!]
37 spitters
111 soldiers
679 workers
6 hunters
839.0 manpower spent, 13 spitters, 31 soldiers, 8 hunters, 457 workers reinforced.
Hive 2nd Front Deaths: [artillery] 1 soldiers, 64 workers, [ranged] 6 workers, [charge] 25 workers, [skirmish] 25 workers, [melee] 3 spitters, 6 soldiers, 271 workers, 2 hunters
League 2nd Front
0 aphrokema
0 skirmishers
0 bowmen
7 hoplites
0 cavalry
1 ballistae
2 apprentices
0 mages
0 spearmen
0 slaves
1738 manpower spent, 11 skirmishers, 16 hoplites, 7 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 4 apprentices, 182 spearmen, 1833 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 2nd Front Deaths: [ranged] 7 skirmishers, 1 bowmen, 5 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 86 spearmen, 1037 slaves, [charge] 3 spearmen, 26 slaves, [skirmish] 4 hoplites, 25 spearmen, 150 slaves, [melee] 7 skirmishers, 1 bowmen, 13 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 2 ballistae, 2 apprentices, 107 spearmen, 620 slaves
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3rd Front
3rd Front [Hive 3rd Front vs League 3rd Front]
Territorial Control: 725 vs 42.0
Hive 3rd Front
100 soldiers
621 workers
4 hunters
560 manpower spent, 25 soldiers, 7 hunters, 364 workers reinforced.
Hive 3rd Front Deaths: [artillery] 45 workers, [charge] 27 workers, [skirmish] 22 workers, [melee] 8 soldiers, 488 workers, 3 hunters
League 3rd Front [National!]
0 skirmishers
0 bowmen
11 hoplites
1 cavalry
1 ballistae
2 apprentices
0 mages
12 spearmen
0 slaves
15 aphrokema
1321 manpower spent, 6 aphrokema, 8 skirmishers, 12 hoplites, 5 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 3 apprentices, 138 spearmen, 1387 slaves, 0 mages reinforced.
League 3rd Front Deaths: [charge] 1 spearmen, 24 slaves, [skirmish] 2 hoplites, 18 spearmen, 187 slaves, [melee] 8 skirmishers, 6 hoplites, 4 cavalry, 1 ballistae, 1 apprentices, 107 spearmen, 1176 slaves, 4 aphrokema
---
==The Hive==
Production: 0/0 ore, 0/900.0 timber
Manpower: 4277.6/7919 {2798/turn} {2798.0 reinforced last turn.}
Menotos [Hive]: [Queen] 4 base food
Sends 2798 manpower to Hive Node 1.
Nippan Woods [Hive]: 4 base timber
Hive 1st Front
146 soldiers
266 workers
0 spitters
4 hunters
1399 manpower spent, 62 soldiers, 17 hunters, 910 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 1 soldiers, 87 workers, 1 hunters, [ranged] 13 workers, [charge] 1 soldiers, 67 workers, [skirmish] 46 workers, [melee] 23 soldiers, 835 workers, 12 hunters
Hive 2nd Front [National!]
37 spitters
111 soldiers
679 workers
6 hunters
839.0 manpower spent, 13 spitters, 31 soldiers, 8 hunters, 457 workers reinforced.
Hive Budget
Spitters 5% National Effort.
Hunters 2%
Soldiers 25%
Workers 68%
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: 10.5 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.
Hunters Cost: 1.75 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.
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.
Mixed Carapace A collage of worker carpace for joints and articulating sections, with plates of heavy carapace for protection. Not an ideal armour, but does support lighter drones than heavy carapace while offering somewhat more protection than purely worker carapace.
Hexapod Limb Array All drones currently employ a six-limb configuration, making them stable if bulky.
Forward-Facing Hexapod Limbs A form of six-limb configuration where all six limbs are legs, face forward and have limited side-ways mobility and less stability in exchange for the ability to build up forward momentum.
Low-Power, Endurance Muscles Drones by default use slow-burn muscles capable of great sustained strength and endurance, but not powerful explosive discharges of muscle power.
Weak High-Power, Explosive Muscles We have a design for explosive muscles better suited to fast movement, but they don't produce the output we see in creatures such as mammals.
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. Weaponised by Hunters into a short-range vomit burst, like a digestive shotgun shell.
Acid Glands Repurposed duplicated stomachs serve as acid generators. Once sufficient quantities of acid are produced, they are encapsulated in phlegm. These glands are colonised by commensal bacteria that help produce acid.
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.
Microbial Selectivity The Queen can select what types of commensal bacteria drones will be born with, and in what proportions.
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 40204 times)