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[flabort]

I'll note that if votes appear on plans Split Efforts or Divided Efforts, and moving my vote would not result in a tie, I would be willing to move my vote (or have it moved) to one of those off of Minimal Effort, but only if it would push one of those two ahead of Minimal Effort. I don't like Ravine Push or Focused Effort, and I still like Minimal Effort most, personally.

I have a better idea for next phase's scout design, Tric.

Nullwing
The nullwing is an evolution of the hovering grub, morphing through a cocoon phase into a winged creature. Its two wings are wide and triangular, but curl up to fold against the body tightly when not in use. These wings do not have enough lifting power for full flight on their own, but with the aid of psionic power, can be made to fly - the nullwing uses a combination of pushing against the ground far below with telepathic feelers, and creating small gusts of wind close by to push back upon itself, depending on the situation. At full speeds it uses both methods, but to avoid detection from pressure sensitivity below it can use just wind, and to avoid detection from sound from anywhere it can use just pushing. In cases where either method would be disadvantageous, it can still use its wide wings to glide until the risk of detection.

It's psychic sensitivity and range has been expanded greatly, giving it enhanced ability to scout the nearby region out, plus avoid obstacles better, such as tall trees in a jungle, or hot rays of focused light, or other airborne lifeforms. It can sense the movement of threats below, and assess whether to go into silent flight mode preferably before it's psychic probing turns into psychic pushing. It has six spindly barbed legs, for landing with, walking with, carrying smaller things such as rocks or underdeveloped grubs with, and fighting with. It has two eyes on the front of its head, mandibles underneath for grabbing prey and ripping out chunks while holding it still, and two more eyes set on the side of it's head for the ability to see as well as possible, though these features are secondary to it's psionic sight and ability to fly.

Tertiary priority when the queen created this new evolution, was the powdery coating of refractive scales the nullwing has on practically every surface, except its eyes and orifices. These scales can be manipulated with close range psionic pushes to rotate them and change the colour being reflected off of them, creating a somewhat primitive active camouflage, allowing it to appear sky-colored against the sky, or ground colored against the ground. This is further augmented by it's psychic node, being able to gently bend the light around it to hide what it's camouflage cannot, such as the edges of its profile or it's eyes and orifices. The ability to almost completely disappear gives the nullwing its name. It's not surprising, then, that when it's not relaying scouting information to a larger squad, it's ambushing lone targets or small groups by falling upon them unseen from the sky and tearing into them with mandible and limb. In an emergency, it can also scatter the orientation of these scales to create a hypnotic pattern of random colors to try and escape from a larger threat.

[TricMagic]

My idea is to focus the telekinetic on the body to move it, yours is to expand it so it can push the ground from high in the sky. At first glance, the Nullwing seems difficult, to say the least. Guess we'll see when we get to design phase and GM Review occurs.

[Draignean]

It is now Design Phase 3
You have 1 Design and 0 Credits.


Starter Contest: The Map (Art)  [DUE THIS ROUND]

As your ingested memories become organic and begin to fade, you struggle hardest to hold on to the map of the region, committing it to mind time and time again. What does it look like?

For this contest you need to draw a map that shows the 9 regions and the 2 sequestration caverns. Have fun, it’s the memories of a giant bug-monster.

The winner will gain a credit to make a design at full advantage. You have until the 3rd battle report to submit a map. Only submissions in the core thread are valid.

[flabort]

The nullwing is an evolution of the hovering grub, morphing through a cocoon phase into a winged creature. Its two wings are wide and triangular, but curl up to fold against the body tightly when not in use. These wings do not have enough lifting power for full flight on their own, but with the aid of psionic power, can be made to fly - the nullwing uses a combination of an advanced form of hovering by pushing against the ground far below with telepathic feelers, and creating small gusts of wind close by to push back upon itself, depending on the situation. At full speeds it uses both methods, but to avoid detection from pressure sensitivity below it can use just wind, and to avoid detection from sound from anywhere it can use just pushing. In cases where either method would be disadvantageous, it can still use its wide wings to glide until the risk of detection.

It's psychic sensitivity and range has been expanded greatly, giving it enhanced ability to scout the nearby region out, plus avoid obstacles better, such as tall trees in a jungle, or hot rays of focused light, or other airborne lifeforms. It can sense the movement of threats below, and assess whether to go into silent flight mode preferably before it's psychic probing turns into psychic pushing. It has six spindly barbed legs, for landing with, walking with, carrying smaller things such as small rocks or rozer plates, and fighting with. It has two barely functional eyes on the front of its head, mandibles underneath for grabbing prey and ripping out chunks while holding it still, and two more eyes set on the side of it's head for the ability to see all around it up-close, though these features are secondary to it's psionic sight and ability to fly.

Tertiary priority when the queen created this new evolution, was the powdery coating of butterfly-like scales on it's wings and body. These scales come in a few colors that create a simple pattern, allowing it to appear sky-colored against the sky, or show some large "false eyes" on it's back. The disguise against the sky gives the nullwing its name. It's not surprising, then, that when it's not relaying scouting information to a larger squad, it's ambushing lone targets or small groups by falling upon them unseen from the sky and tearing into them with mandibles and its weak limbs.

I do believe next turn is prime time to evolve the medusa into a second gen monster, but this turn I do think a scout to help our troops avoid obstacles like killer robots and giant mirrors that set the sands on fire is necessary. This should give us more survivability in all our troops, via superior intel, and then we can start doing the monsterous killers to really start ignoring the terrain and going straight for the throat. This will also give us a basis for flying units, allowing us to create carriers later on.

Nullwing, Revised: (1) Flabort

[TricMagic]

The humble Grub hardens, forming a cocoon, and within it's flesh turns to goop. Chitin weaves itself into four sturdy and thick wings anchored to an aerodynamic shell. The profile is sleek and smooth, but the primary note is that this chitin has channels which psionic power flows through, granting the creation the ability to propel itself forward without wingbeats. The Aerplanar's wings swing out from the cocoon, breaching it. It's head has four slanted insectile eyes which see as sharp as any bird on it's bridged skull looking forward and to the side. Beneath are large teeth with a layer of chitin atop that it opens to eat and tear into targets. The Aerplanar psionically pushes itself off the ground and then propels itself forward, it's wings stiffening and catching the air beneath them to lift into the sky where it soars at high speeds.

The Aerplanar is primarily note for it's speed and mobility in the air, using it's thick wings not to beat and achieve height, but it's psionics to propel itself forward and catch the air as if gliding. Due to aerodynamics(something long imprinted in instinct for Omega) this give it lift. The wings can shift to change direction and angles. It's mouth is more developed in that it has large teeth beneath a chitin layer it can open and close, though it primarily keeps them closed in flight to maintain profile. While it can beat it's wings to stay in place, this is far clunkier. It's insectile eyes are sharp enough to catch details far away and track movement extremely well, but as a result it's close-range sight is rather horrid and blurry. Psionics range is reduced to just the body, with hovering changing to push on the shell to give it initial lift off the ground and it's much more refined propulsion, and sensory merged for better control of it's psionic push.

And lost my edit..

Lower Hard to Medium Hard > Higher Medium to Low Hard.

To summarize, the speed allows them to transverse large distances beyond our swarm, and get away from attacks. The eyes give them great sight over the land. Having a proper brain from the grubs helps. Got chitin so it won't have to worry as much about poison and corrosion. And Psionics make it's speed pretty high when airborne. Just as well modifiers don't impose penalties to a roll, but its a good choice for a pure scout, able to see far beyond where the main swarm is, and we can plot a safe course through the Badlands and Desert of Mirrors, as well as over any other lands. And when it comes to scouting the enemy they will be very useful too, we'll know far in advance of where they are, which can prove useful later in picking our battlefield and prepping ahead of time. Gliding takes less energy too. A pure scouting unit. And we can revise some stuff into them later on.

Aerodynamic form is probably where a good deal of difficulty comes from. They fly from those principles, rather than that of birds. But as a result they would have a higher flight ceiling and less reliance on air currents.

Aeroplanar: (1) TricMagic

[Talion]

Nullwing, Revised: (1) Flabort
Aeroplanar: (2) TricMagic, Talion

[flabort]

Nullwing, Revised: (0)
Aeroplanar: (3) TricMagic, Talion, Flabort

May as well get this vote rolling so we get a turn sooner

[Draignean]

Design Phase 3 - Omega

Aerplanar
[Efficacy: 8]
-Base Incidence Rate: 20%
-Evolution Chance: 35%
 -Available Evolutions:
 -- Aerplanar+ 100%
 -Mutagenic Potential 3
-Description: On land, the Aerplanar is a truly peculiar beast. Far more refined in appearance, with thin but strong chitin completely covering its body in a hard shell of sleek angles and sweeping curves, the Aerplanar is nonetheless awkward on the ground. Its four long, flat, stiff limbs are capable of walking, but in a peculiar sort of half-bent rowing motion that is both ungainly and graceless. Fighting on the ground is difficult for it, as its form forces it to embrace a somewhat awkward fighting style that is a combination of a grub's flopping forward bite and its own peculiar stilted lurch. That being said, the bite is notably upgraded from the grub, courtesy of a toothy maw capable of shredding off bites from lightly armored targets and chewing into modest amounts of chitin.

On land, however, isn’t even half the Aerplanar’s story. The telekinetic ability of the grub, used for senses and hovering the grub, has been refined to a single purpose - where the grub had to push off the ground to hover, the Aerplanar pushes off the air. Psionic cores networked by disseminated neural ganglia throughout the body and four limbs are capable both of making wide pushes against the air in extremely rapid succession and in creating compressive pads to manipulate air pressure around the wing-limbs. The wing-limbs themselves are optimized for static flight, reinforced, and with flexible portions acting as control surfaces to cut through the air. It is also capable of making psionically assisted flapping motions in order to stay aloft without forward motion, but this is a physically exhausting method typically used only when making a holding pattern would be unnecessarily dangerous. Its vision is remarkably keen, well optimized for long-range, but still superior to that of a grub when forced to the ground, which enables it to act well as a scout and spotter for the Queen.

It is quite difficult to understate how fast the aerplanar can be when in the air. Its streamlined body, psionic propulsion, and hardened carapace allow it to attain speeds of approximately 40-50 meters per second when in level flight, and capable of briefly accelerating to 80 via the means of a hefty pulse of psychokinetic energy - a feature which is typically used to take off from the ground or provide a brief ‘jump’ forwards.

However, the fault with the Aerplanar’s extremely aerodynamic structure is that it has a hard time fighting… anything. Its form, unmarred by claws, talons, or other manipulator appendages, relies solely on its jaws for combat. This means that the Aerplanar often needs to physically fly into its target (slowing down to a survivable collision speed first), smash its open jaws into the target, and then use its psionic boost to attempt to tear a chunk away and continue flight. In practice, this does not often work well. It is highly maneuverable, and likely more capable of air-to-air combat, but its shape makes fighting difficult to suicidal depending on the circumstance.

Aerplanar+
-Evolution Chance: NaN
 -Mutagenic Potential 3
-Description: The elite Aerplanar is only slightly larger than an ordinary Aerplanar, with its form primarily bulked out by increased armor and thicker chitin. This enhanced armor is offset by stronger psychokinetic potential, allowing it to maintain the same flight parameters as its parent despite its increased durability. The primary difference between the Aerplanar+ and its parent is its tongue - a long, flat, prehensile appendage where one side is completely covered in sharp, thick, keratinous fangs. When on the attack, the Aerplanar+ will extend and curl its tongue into a characteristic ‘buzz-saw’ configuration, flying just above the target to rake it with a slash of teeth rather than attempting to collide for a full bite.

On the ground this toothy tongue is used to compensate somewhat for the Aerplanar’s incredibly awkward motion, reaching and lashing targets in order to pull them toward the creature’s waiting maw.


It is now the Revision Phase. You have 2 revisions to spend.

TURNTURNTURN

[TricMagic]

Aerplanar Revision: Grasper Coils
Within the body of the Aeroplanar, not all is as it seems. Tentacles rest beneath the surface of the chitin's bottom layer, the chitin itself having seams connected to these. They are extremely tough and durable, and can be retracted midflight. What makes them deadly in aerial combat is that very contraction that allows them to be stored within the shell, grasping prey and crushing them within the coiling, before letting go and leaving the crushed to fall to earth without them. On land these tentacles greatly improve the Aeroplane's movements and can be used to some degree in combat if one lands a top, or grasp a foe and bring it to the sky with a psionic jump before letting gravity do the rest. (Note that improves movement is more a slithering motion. Better stability helps a lot. As is not needing to rely on wings that were not designed as feet.)


The tentacles, they're everywhere! (Really, though. Pretty useful for air combat. Crush their wings and bodies and let them fall to their death. Maybe a few bites added in. The + version is likely to be Serrated! Somehow.)
And now to bring back the Heatproof material.



Rozer Revision: Heatproof Foamceramic Production(HFC for short)

A revision to the Rozers, this gives their slime production the ability to produce a type of foam made up of certain ceramic structures. As it sets quickly it will harden just like the slime normally does, but this foam acts as a superb insulating material, able to handle an ridiculous amount of heat while staying cool. In a formation of foam/plate/foam/plate outside heat won't be an issue. The foam's viscosity can also be adjusted on production. This pretty much replaces the slime for the most part outside of certain situations, and due to it's makeup can block gas from passing through once put together and set. It can also double as armor against the environment for a Rover if left to dry due to being produced from the pores on the skin, and grubs can make use of it too if applied properly and left to set.(Note as environmental armor, it allows some protection from acid rain for a time, but this will corrode it. It is not suited to long-term or for battles. And only reason grubs can use it is because they do have some intelligence and can be ordered to sit still so it sets properly and just needs to be applied. Other creatures can receive it too, but would likely need a Rozer+ to apply it properly as Rozers don't have the brains for the different body types, nor the size.)

Nother idea.

Aeroplane Revision: Psionic Air Current
A major advancement in psionic power, focused on the manipulation of air currents to allow greater acrobatics and levitation at lower airspeeds. This is done through the creation of further subcores linked to the main psionic core, allowing this fine control. Should result in new tricks that make actually staying in place and swooping around at low speed easier. As a bonus this can also mess with others in the air. The Aeroplane may not be the most offensive creature, but it is a master of the skies no matter the speed or weather.

Fireheat Survival
HFC: (1) TricMagic

Other Revisions
Grasper Coils: (0)
Psionic Air Current: (0)
Rozer+ Psionic Lift: (1) TricMagic

Need to deal with the fire to progress in the Desert of Mirrors, even if we have a ridiculously good scout now.
PAC is also good, lean into it's psionics to control air currents. (Ala Revali's Gale from Breath of the Wild.) (Not really possible sadly.)


Do not be distracted by the Shiny! They don't need weapons with nothing they can fight at the moment. Later.



Rozer+ Revision: Psionic Lift

The Rozer+ is fairly smart, for something from a time where Grubs were dumb. This revision is threefold. First is changing the Recessive Psionic Core to dominant, allowing it to manifest fully. Second is improving it and focusing entirely on the Hovering of the Grubs, allowing it to express it through psionic channels, with the skin of a Rozer+ having outlets for their Psionic Energy to enter the channels. Third and most important, being able to produce chitin with psionic channels already in them for Psionic Lift to occur through the base. These chitin is put together as the skeleton and base of a housing in the open, a flat base and supporting structures. Normal Rozer can be directed to help produce the walls and ceiling, and their slime can be used to keep everything together.(Anything else applicable can also help) The Rozer+ then form the finishing touches and go dormant. This is where the psionic core and Psionic Lift comes into play, allowing them to use the Base as a conduit, creating a hovering structure for creatures to travel in safely, without worry from the environment. And having such a wide base to use makes it stable and capable of bearing great loads in travel. Rozer+ Don't really have the sensory of Grubs, nor the brains. The Channels however make things simple, just keep it hovering and travel in the directed direction, and unlike the Rozers they do have some intelligence for such a task.
Of note, a Rozer+ can form an extremely basic platform on their own and use that for hovering movements.  However, this usually only occurs when there are not enough Rozers to help complete the base housing around a Rozer+.

[flabort]

Do not be distracted by the Shiny! They don't need weapons with nothing they can fight at the moment. Later.

No.

Aeroplanar revision: Biobomber
The aeroplanar forms a series of three glands in a row on either side of it's body, left and right, for six glands total. Within the aeroplanar, it starts to produce a reactive compound that it can release in streams and short bursts of droplets through these glands. This reactive compound starts to exothermically react on contact with air, expanding and gaining mass as it absorbs as much oxygen and other trace chemicals as it can. If dropped from high up, this will harden into a kinetic projectile by the time it hits the ground below; alternatively, if low strafing runs are made, it will still be gooey when it hits the ground, where its absorptive properties will rob the surrounding area of oxygen, smothering fires as the compound expands slower (because it's not moving through air, it can't react with the air being displaced as quickly) and spreads out before hardening.

This organic compound will decay after hardening, eventually flaking away and degrading, so it's not useful as a building material. However, as it is dual-purpose, being used as a weapon and to smother fires, the rate of release should be carefully controlled as to not accidentally smother or shoot the aeroplanar's own allies. Should the aeroplanar find it is overproducing the compound, it can also re-digest it before it reacts, saving on energy expenditure. The primary uses of this are to apply streams of fire suppressant in a large area similar to crop dusting, or raining a hail of tiny bullets on a much larger area to soften up an enemy force before it engages with the aeroplanar's allies.

Fireheat Survival
HFC: (2) TricMagic, Flabort
Biobomber: (1) Flabort

Other Revisions
Grasper Coils: (0)
Psionic Air Current: (0)
Rozer+ Psionic Lift: (1) TricMagic

[TricMagic]

Rozer Revision: Organelle Reprocessing System(ORS)

A dedicated overhaul of the Rozer, making them bigger. However, this size is mostly due to the addition of greatly improved processing system that can sterilize and process any number of materials, and a boost to their digestive ability tied with their extrusion ability. Put more simply it can intake materials safely, prevent them from reacting due to the combination of acids and bases in their body, and process them with various organelles. Upon coming across a new material with negative effects on the body, new organelles are produced to counter that effect, kind of like a specialized white blood cell in some mammals. As a result of this, they can add something to their extrusion that targets those materials sampled, allowing tunneling through just about anything unharmed. These processes are uniquely suited to survival in any environment, it only takes a sample for a counter to develop, and with many ways of countering it's immune systems are one of the most robust that can be created. (Note that to develop a counter requires they survive long enough of course. Their systems are good at that, but some may die before it develops among the Rozers. And it doesn't help if something from outside kills them before they can do anything, they do still need to breath.)

Do not be distracted by the Shiny! They don't need weapons with nothing they can fight at the moment. Later.

No.

Yes.

I had a thought of future planning. Rozers need to deal with the toxins/spores, and heat/fire. Meet ORS, the answer to the other half of the issues. (With names like this, do expect something named EVO for whatever improves that chance in them.) This allows the creation of the Great Worm. Or at least takes care of the issues that come from tunneling through toxic ground, chemical-infused rocks, and spore-ridden earth. Not perfect, but should help Rozers. And the great worm is going to be a Thing, a massive Thing.

Fireheat Survival
HFC: (2) TricMagic, Flabort
Biobomber: (1) Flabort
ORS: (1) TricMagic

Other Revisions
Grasper Coils: (0)
Psionic Air Current: (0)
Rozer+ Psionic Lift: (0)

[10ebbor10]

Rozer Revision: Organelle Reprocessing System(ORS)

A dedicated overhaul of the Rozer, making them bigger. However, this size is mostly due to the addition of greatly improved processing system that can sterilize and process any number of materials, and a boost to their digestive ability tied with their extrusion ability. Put more simply it can intake materials safely, prevent them from reacting due to the combination of acids and bases in their body, and process them with various organelles. Upon coming across a new material with negative effects on the body, new organelles are produced to counter that effect, kind of like a specialized white blood cell in some mammals. As a result of this, they can add something to their extrusion that targets those materials sampled, allowing tunneling through just about anything unharmed. These processes are uniquely suited to survival in any environment, it only takes a sample for a counter to develop, and with many ways of countering it's immune systems are one of the most robust that can be created.

Do not be distracted by the Shiny! They don't need weapons with nothing they can fight at the moment. Later.

No.

Yes.

I had a thought of future planning. Rozers need to deal with the toxins/spores, and heat/fire. Meet ORS, the answer to the other half of the issues. (With names like this, do expect something named EVO for whatever improves that chance in them.) This allows the creation of the Great Worm. Or at least takes care of the issues that come from tunneling through toxic ground, chemical-infused rocks, and spore-ridden earth. Not perfect, but should help Rozers. And the great worm is going to be a Thing, a massive Thing.

Fireheat Survival
HFC: (3) TricMagic, Flabort, 10ebbor10
Biobomber: (1) Flabort
ORS: (2) TricMagic, 10ebbor10

Other Revisions
Grasper Coils: (1) 10ebbor10
Psionic Air Current: (0)
Rozer+ Psionic Lift: (0)

[dgr11897]

Fireheat Survival
HFC: (4) TricMagic, Flabort, 10ebbor10, DGR
Biobomber: (1) Flabort
ORS: (3) TricMagic, 10ebbor10, DGR

Other Revisions
Grasper Coils: (1) 10ebbor10
Psionic Air Current: (0)
Rozer+ Psionic Lift: (0)

[Draignean]

Revision Phase 3 - Omega

Heatproof Foamceramic Production
[Efficacy: 5 (5)]
The modification to Rozer glue is ambitious. The ceramic micro-structures within the slime foam are difficult to synthesize biologically, and while they can be foamed out with the existing slime, they aren’t capable of simply drying into a uniform material without some of inherit weaknesses of the original binding medium. As such, while the ceramic material is capable of insulating well, this very property of heat isolation causes the binding medium it’s embedded in to break down more rapidly due to the focused heat. It is more heat resistant than normal glue in extreme conditions, but still serves as an additive outer layer to standard structural glue. It does have significantly better thermal reflectivity than ordinary Rozer glue, making it highly suitable for coatings to reduce incident heating but it will slough off and decay over time. As physical armor, the ceramic micro-structures don’t form a tight enough lattice for it to be useful as a direct armor, but it does combine will with the chitin sheets that the rozer produces to form chitin armor plates with an ablative front layer.


Organelle Reprocessing System
[Efficacy: 5 (3)]
Modifying immune system structure of the Rozer in order to isolate, learn, and break down novel chemical agents and hazardous elements as well as ordinary organic materials is a serious challenge. Particularly in the case of novel chemicals which are actively killing the Rozer, destroying its tissues, and disrupting its biology, the adaptive part of the system requires the Rozer to actively take a break from digging and eating to process the new compound. While many compounds can be broken down, complex chemical agents and toxic elements frequently can only be sequestered in keratin and then left behind. The creation of an extrudable immuno-goop meets less success, as many of the biological processes needed to safely tease apart the molecular structure of hazardous waste requires an environment of controlled temperature and acidity, as well as access to living biological structures which quickly die outside the body. As a result, while the Rozer gains a robust and adaptive toxicity resistance, their slime is only capable of neutralizing relatively simple compounds.




It is now the Birthing and Deployment Phase
You have the following organisms available to be deployed,

|              |	|              |	1200 Grub 360 Grub+	|              |	|              |
351 Rozer 189 Rozer+	|              |	351 Medusa Crab 189 Medusa Crab+	|              |	234 Aerplanar 126 Aerplanar+

You can currently deploy to,
 The Misted Ravines: 1/4
 The Desert of Mirrors: 0/4
 The Shattered Badlands: 2/4

TURNTURNTURN

[TricMagic]

Misted Ravines: 151 Rozer, 79 Rozer+, 180 Medusa Crab, 170 Medusa Crab+, 20 Aeroplanar, 20 Aeroplaner+ 400 Grubs, 120 Grub+

Desert of Mirrors: 100 Rozer, 60 Rozer+, 171 Medusa Crab, 80 Aeroplanar, 30 Areoplanar+, 400 Grubs, 120 Grub+

Shattered Badlands: 100 Rozer, 50 Rozer+, 19 Medusa Crab+, 134 Aeroplanar, 76 Aeroplanar+, 400 Grubs, 120 Grub+

GSA: (1) TricMagic