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[Taricus]

Biologicals have innate repair capabilities that require minimal resources to function barring major damage, and they replicate themselves efficiently. No reason to not go biological really.

[Doomblade187]

Biologicals have innate repair capabilities that require minimal resources to function barring major damage, and they replicate themselves efficiently. No reason to not go biological really.

A friendly reminder that you can give golems and others basic regeneration and reproductive abilities.

Also, elves/orcs are biological. Imps/demons are demonic. More magic involved in creation/sustenance.

[Doomblade187]

Research Phase 2.

Spoiler: Units (click to show/hide)

Blackscales: STEALTHLIZARD
Imps: short leathery red skinned creatures with small claws and horns, imps have a minor affinity for fire.
Bolter: A low-slung creation of the darkness, the Adamant gears that form this golem softly clink together as it winds up the ballistae mounted on its back. This golem is capable of unleashing deadly barrages at range and destroying towns at range. (Champion)

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Flame Casters: roughly two feet long, Flame casters shoot small balls of fire roughly several inches across, and require several minutes of time after each shot to recharge.
Shadow Blades: short, vicious daggers formed from a semiclear crystal with a very sharp edge.

Spoiler: Magic (click to show/hide)

Fireball Enchant: the enchantment on the fire casters.
Innate Fire Magic: basic fire resistance and minor rough control.

Spoiler: General Knowledge (click to show/hide)

Adamant: A divine metal, stronger than bronze but half as heavy, only you and your master know the secrets to its creation.
Dark Crystals: Solidified dark energy, making for strong gem-like weapons that are sharp but brittle.
Etching Darkness: Magical gloom that subsumes all in its path, leaving only smoking acid and empty space.
Imps: you know how to make imp-like creatures.
Golems: you know how to make golems
Hand Weapons: you know how to make decent hand weapons.

[RAM]

Biologicals have innate repair capabilities that require minimal resources to function barring major damage, and they replicate themselves efficiently. No reason to not go biological really.

Well there are actually lots of reasons not to. The inherent degradation over time, multiple fatal or crippling weak points, many parts that don't self-repair and can't be easily replaced, a mas production method that tends to produce lots of non-combatants, environmental tolerance limited by precise chemical interactions... The list goes on, but that doesn't mean they are a bad choice, just that there are other considerations. You are correct that they are usually low-maintenance and self-manufacturing which are nice boons, can we get better from elsewhere though?
...
Slime-monsters? Dividing and recovering based upon mass is, hrmmm... Jellies tend to be bad at mobility. I guess we could try for some gas-slimes for an aerial force, though I can't see them being fast without magic... Aerial slime cavalry? Riders using wind magic to propel slimes that work like air-submarines that eat anything physical that they come into contact with and aven't been trained/treated to tolerate?
Elastic oozes can probably cover ground quickly if the terrain has something to grab hold of.

Hrmm, what else self-repairs and self manufactures... Ooooh, what about one of those monsters that make a new one from any pieces that are chopped off? Something like that would have to run more off of magic than biology, unless it was a very rare sort of worm, and even then, there are limits to biology.

Still, Worms and bacteria would be the go-to critters for the maintenance and reproduction side of things. Which, again, are bad at mobility, unless you apply wind magic on bacteria or have some sort of turbo-worm land-shark thing...

Or you could do it by focsing on the maintenance instead of avoiding it., Like, building Frankensteins/Necromancers and having the "units" be the maintenance and the "creatures" being a by-product...

[Failbird105]

Considering I just got off of binge-reading Awful Hospital(pretty good webcomic, I'd recommend it. If you're sensitive to grossness though I'd say you should try it, but don't be afraid to back out if its too much for you) I'd be all up for making some sort of splitting worm or slime monster. Slime would probably help with making the lava monster idea too.

[Taricus]

We don't get a summary of the design Doomblade? Anyway, re-posting my designs and such from last turn

Research: Biology: By studying the intricate components to living, organic mortal life would undoubtedly make us more skilled at improving and developing all the organs necessary to the performance of biological creatures.

Revision: Forgebound: Increasing the natural capacities of the imps, we could have a particularly skilled labourers that are magically talented and heat resistant. While losing the wings, and exchanging the claws for humanoid hands, the bodies of the forgebound are broadened and laden in muscle and some fat with extra fire/heat resistance built in them.

Most interestingly is the mental changes to the forgebound; more industrious, diligent & sociable than their imp forebears, the forgebound are able to work and fight alongside one another easily and without complaint.

Research: Vampirism: Vampires have been creatures associated with darkness from the moment they have been in the mortal consciousness. The midnight aristocracy would make for an excellent addition to the armies of darkness, providing us with peerless elites and formidable officers. But the weaknesses typically associated with them need to first be sorted out and eliminated.

Design: One Handed Blunt Weapons. Warhammers, Maces & Clubs. Designed to break bones and inflict blunt trauma onto flesh. While not terribly effective against soft targets and requiring some measure of strength behind a blow to be effective, the ability to ignore 'hard' armour and break stiffer & more brittle materials isn't something to bwe underestimated. Typically made out of metal.

[Failbird105]

We have to either prototype the design or purchase it in the production phase to see how it turned out. Also, now knowing that Imps aren't considered biological, I would consider biology research worth getting at some point, however I'm going to put myself down for blunt weapons for now.

Research
Biology ():
Vampirism ():

Designs
One Handed Blunt Weapons (1): Failbird105

Revisions
Forgebound ():

[Failbird105]

g-guys, please, vote.

[crazyabe]

Research
Biology ():
Vampirism ():

Designs
One Handed Blunt Weapons (2): Failbird105, Crazyabe

Revisions
Forgebound ():

[RAM]

Research: Homogeneous Omnivorous Malleable Organisms
The theory is simple. A consistent aggregation of living material, capable of manipulating its form in almost any way and consuming any compatible material to either increase its bulk or maintain its energy. Giving its lack of specialist parts it should be immune to specific injuries, such as failed organs, crippled limbs, or "pressure points" and should even be capable of forming a new being from separated material. It should even be capable of easily producing new units in the field assuming that there is a source of material that matches whatever basic elements the creature is composed of.

Practically, however, there are hurdles to overcome. A being with no focus to its form is difficult to grant agency to. We hope to overcome this by brute-forcing an inherent agency to its substance, but may need to implement agency nodes to coordinate its functions.

Motion without leverage is near impossible. We are hoping to find some inherent animus in our other entities. Some component of golems that is innately transmorphic rather than motivated by gears, or some portion of imps' extra-vital physiology that operates independently from its bones. Even Etching Darkness seems to possess a means of progression even when it annuls all it contacts, thus preventing any form of grip...
 Failing the discovery of innate animus, we would progress onto spontaneous mechanisms. We have heard of biological components that are manipulated by pressue dynamics, such as spider-legs. If it could spontaneously generate internal films, then it could produce bladders that would press upon one another along a framework of bindings to produce directional expansion or contraction, but the complexity of such forms might be difficult to produce spontaneously and converting living homogeneous material from fluid to solid spontaneously might be a difficult task to achieve.
 Finally, we might be forced to have them layer sediments into hinged skeletons and pressure bubbles. Not ideal, but further progress can be researched later... On the other hand, such a sstem might prooduce greater mobility, and could be investigated as a later enhancement even if a better system is successful.

Eating without specialised digestive sections is another obstacle. Ideally the creature's nature would be such that its entire mass would be capable of self-synthesis, and would inherently leech compatible material into its manufacturing process when in contact. failing that, some form of temporary or mobile digestive sacks could be implemented...

The final obstacle would be energy conveyance. My initial plan is to implement a form of stasis. The mass would only consume energy when in use, and when in use they would be exposed to opportunities to acquire energy. This, however, is likely insufficient, but would be greatly desirable regardless. My next proposal is to work on energy differentials. When a component is starved of energy, it creates an energy void, and high-energy components surrounding would then be unbalanced by comparison, and would "spark" energy into the void, which would then depleate those elements relative to the remainder of the organisms, resulting in energy balancing.
Or we could fail miserable and implement some sort of bladders and pumps system to ooze material around the thing in a highly wasteful process...

Research
Biology ():
Vampirism ():
1 Oozekind: RAM

Designs
One Handed Blunt Weapons (2): Failbird105, Crazyabe

Revisions
Forgebound ():

[zomara0292]

Research
Biology ():
Vampirism ():
Oozekind (2): RAM, zomara0292

Designs
One Handed Blunt Weapons (2): Failbird105, Crazyabe
Revisions
Forgebound ():

[zomara0292]

((*poke*))

[Doomblade187]

You guys should break the tie.

[Taricus]

Research
Biology ():
Vampirism ():
Oozekind (2): RAM, zomara0292

Designs
One Handed Blunt Weapons (3): Failbird105, Crazyabe, Taricus
Revisions
Forgebound ():

[Doomblade187]

Research Phase 3.

Spoiler: Units (click to show/hide)

Blackscales: Tall humanoid lizards with razor sharp claws, their name comes from their scales, which are a dark near black grey color, Blackscales have night vision and natural skills at climbing and stealth
Imps: short leathery red skinned creatures with small claws and horns, imps have a minor affinity for fire.
Bolter: A low-slung creation of the darkness, the Adamant gears that form this golem softly clink together as it winds up the ballistae mounted on its back. This golem is capable of unleashing deadly barrages at range and destroying towns at range. (Champion)

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Flame Casters: roughly two feet long, Flame casters shoot small balls of fire roughly several inches across, and require several minutes of time after each shot to recharge.
Shadow Blades: short, vicious daggers formed from a semiclear crystal with a very sharp edge.
Blunt Weapons: Warhammers, Maces, and Clubs meant to be good against armor. Designed to be made out of metal,
build quality varies by material.

Spoiler: Magic (click to show/hide)

Fireball Enchant: the enchantment on the fire casters.
Innate Fire Magic: basic fire resistance and minor rough control.

Spoiler: General Knowledge (click to show/hide)

Adamant: A divine metal, stronger than bronze but half as heavy, only you and your master know the secrets to its creation.
Dark Crystals: Solidified dark energy, making for strong gem-like weapons that are sharp but brittle.
Etching Darkness: Magical gloom that subsumes all in its path, leaving only smoking acid and empty space.
Imps: you know how to make imp-like creatures.
Golems: you know how to make golems
Hand Weapons: you know how to make decent hand weapons.