Year 301Both sides unveiled their forces in the first major series of engagements since the fall of Menotos. The League, for its part, brought little in the way of apparent innovation, trusting to their tried and true forces; yet the distinctly noticeable increase in trained troops over their reliance on massed slave armies has not gone unobserved. The Hive, for their part, have finally revealed the Queen's elite troops, what look almost like huge distended beetles with tiny legs, fly-like massive compound eyes and probosces that, as it turns out, spit gobbets of phlegm as far as a shortbow's range, albeit without anything like the accuracy.
The 1st Front, the most heavily reinforced on the part of the League, sees the League's traditional army at their best. Facing an entirely melee-oriented force of worker drones and their larger soldier cousins, the League blast away their lines with ballista bolts and volleys of arrows, thin out their flanks with cavalry charges and pepper them with javelins before closing in with ranks of spearmen to mop up the shattered ranks of drones. Only half a dozen soldier drones were brought down, but despite their brutal efficiency in murder the behemoths cannot effectively hold ground without support. This is enough to push the 1st Front back from the outskirts of Menotos and up to the city walls.
The 1st Front is now besieging Menotos, a 3rd level Fortification. Menotos is now Contested.On the 2nd Front, both sides have deployed their elites; the League sent the deadly Aphrokemae, hero-champions worth a dozen men each, whilst the Hive birthed their 'spitters', almost a sort of mobile turret. It is on this front that the Hive proved the worth of their spitter champions; although their aim is nothing to speak of, it proves unneeded; their gobbets of phlegm explode upon contact with the ground, spraying acid in a radius around them that can lay low dozens of men at a time. The League's more elite soldiers are able to evade or withstand the sprays of acid, but it is the rank and file troops, especially the weak and undisciplined slave soldiers, who either find themselves being eaten away because of their lack of armour or desert at the sight of their comrades falling. Enough of the ranks are destroyed that by the time the drones close in to melee, even their depleted forces from skirmishing are enough to overcome the remainder. The 2nd front is pushed back towards Southern Menotos and the stone-walled hill fort of Dromon.
The 2nd Front is now besieging Dromio, a 2nd level Fortification in Souther Menotos. Southern Menotos is now Contested.The 3rd Front is engaged in traditional fashion, but simple numbers make the difference; too few troops are reinforced there by the League and the Hive simply swarm them with numbers, pushing them back to the palisades of Fort Antipholus, a simple wooden camp on a natural hill.
The 3rd Front is now besieging Fort Antipholus, a 1st level Fortification in Eastern Menotos. Eastern Menotos is now Contested.Current Reinforcement Strategy: We are reinforcing Front 1, Front 2, and Front 3 equally. Front 2 is receiving our National Effort, the Spitters. Of our 2400 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 6 dice remaining.1st Front
1st Front [Hive 1st Front vs League 1st Front]
Territorial Control: 309 vs 710
Hive 1st Front
48 soldiers
392 workers
800 manpower spent, 27 soldiers, 600 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 20 workers, [ranged] 49 workers, [charge] 51 workers, [skirmish] 29 workers, [melee] 6 soldiers, 659 workers
League 1st Front
20 skirmishers
11 bowmen
19 hoplites
8 cavalry
1 ballistae
1 apprentices
0 mages
216 spearmen
1736 slaves
1518 manpower spent, 9 skirmishers, 5 bowmen, 6 hoplites, 3 cavalry, 0 ballistae, 0 apprentices, 0 mages, 81 spearmen, 1848 slaves reinforced.
League 1st Front Deaths: [melee] 12 skirmishers, 6 bowmen, 2 hoplites, 3 cavalry, 97 spearmen, 1536 slaves
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2nd Front
2nd Front [Hive 2nd Front vs League 2nd Front]
Territorial Control: 659 vs 130.75
Hive 2nd Front [National!]
18 spitters
43 soldiers
598 workers
690 manpower spent, 10 spitters, 23 soldiers, 510 workers reinforced.
Hive 2nd Front Deaths: [artillery] 19 workers, [ranged] 28 workers, [charge] 23 workers, [skirmish] 16 workers, [melee] 2 spitters, 3 soldiers, 336 workers
League 2nd Front [National!]
7 aphrokema
5 skirmishers
2 bowmen
10 hoplites
3 cavalry
1 ballistae
1 apprentices
0 mages
65 spearmen
147 slaves
1032 manpower spent, 2 aphrokema, 6 skirmishers, 3 bowmen, 4 hoplites, 2 cavalry, 0 ballistae, 0 apprentices, 0 mages, 55 spearmen, 1254 slaves reinforced.
League 2nd Front Deaths: [ranged] 6 skirmishers, 3 bowmen, 1 hoplites, 2 cavalry, 40 spearmen, 679 slaves, [melee] 1 aphrokema, 10 skirmishers, 5 bowmen, 3 hoplites, 2 cavalry, 96 spearmen, 1322 slaves
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3rd Front
3rd Front [Hive 3rd Front vs League 3rd Front]
Territorial Control: 837 vs 97.5
Hive 3rd Front
51 soldiers
786 workers
800 manpower spent, 27 soldiers, 600 workers reinforced.
Hive 3rd Front Deaths: [artillery] 20 workers, [ranged] 23 workers, [charge] 23 workers, [skirmish] 12 workers, [melee] 3 soldiers, 336 workers
League 3rd Front
5 skirmishers
2 bowmen
9 hoplites
2 cavalry
1 ballistae
0 apprentices
0 mages
59 spearmen
78 slaves
787 manpower spent, 5 skirmishers, 2 bowmen, 3 hoplites, 1 cavalry, 0 ballistae, 0 apprentices, 0 mages, 42 spearmen, 958 slaves reinforced.
League 3rd Front Deaths: [melee] 12 skirmishers, 6 bowmen, 2 hoplites, 3 cavalry, 102 spearmen, 1608 slaves
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==The Hive==
Production: 0/0 ore, 0/0 timber
Manpower: 2844/7200 {2400/turn} {2290 reinforced last turn.}
Menotos [Hive]: [Queen] 4 base food
Sends 2400 manpower to Hive Node 1.
Hive 1st Front
48 soldiers
392 workers
800 manpower spent, 27 soldiers, 600 workers reinforced.
Hive 1st Front Deaths: [artillery] 20 workers, [ranged] 49 workers, [charge] 51 workers, [skirmish] 29 workers, [melee] 6 soldiers, 659 workers
Hive 2nd Front [National!]
18 spitters
43 soldiers
598 workers
690 manpower spent, 10 spitters, 23 soldiers, 510 workers reinforced.
Hive 2nd Front Deaths: [artillery] 19 workers, [ranged] 28 workers, [charge] 23 workers, [skirmish] 16 workers, [melee] 2 spitters, 3 soldiers, 336 workers
Hive 3rd Front
51 soldiers
786 workers
800 manpower spent, 27 soldiers, 600 workers reinforced.
Hive 3rd Front Deaths: [artillery] 20 workers, [ranged] 23 workers, [charge] 23 workers, [skirmish] 12 workers, [melee] 3 soldiers, 336 workers
Hive Budget
Spitters 5% National Effort.
Soldiers 25%
Workers 75%
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; 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. Workers are excellent for holding and claiming territory. Competent in melee combat, 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.
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.
Vomiting Not yet implemented. Workers would be 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.
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 40241 times)