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[TricMagic]

Nanomachine bishops.

Shift: Revision Phase: A phase where alterations/improvements/fixes can be made to existing units. Max 2 revisions per phase on standard rolls.

As for ideas.

Vanguard: An upgraded pawn wielding an improved shield and spear based upon the Bulwark. The first line of defense.
Supporters: Units capable of providing buffs to aid allies.
Reavers: A good idea to boost offensive presence.

[Maximum Spin]

I'm just going to keep coming up with weird ideas.

Shift: Unvision Phase: In this phase, which takes place immediately after the battle phase, each team has the chance to choose a known enemy design to erase from existence. Choosing not to exercise this right applies a bonus to the possible progress gained by the team in the next battle phase.

[Jerick]

I'm a fan of weird ideas in general but Unvision phase seems like it'll result in a very unfun game. Both teams would be stuck with the most middling and crappy designs and when either side gets a good/useful design it'll be guaranteed to go poof.

How about this instead;

After the battle phase each team will choose a design (either their own or the enemy's) to either make one step cheaper or one step more expensive

[TricMagic]

Either of these results in pawns disappearing from exitance as threats.

[Failbird105]

I'd say Pawns should be made exempt from either potential handicap, just so the two teams always at least have a basic fighting force.

I personally either want revisions, or a resource Shift. I'll make one of the latter when I get home in a couple hours.

Update:

Six Core elements, magical fundamentals from which to be built upon. Fire, Water(yes that includes ice), Earth(Everything from metal to soil), Air, Electricity, Natura(Biological matter and Life). All in balance around the elementally neutral base that is Metacrystal.

With their formation, the creation of non-Metacrystal things becomes dramatically simplified, provided they are reasonably within the bounds of the elements. However the elements are not unlimited. To create a fully animate construct will require one of two things:

1. A basis in the biology from Natura, which are capable of higher speed and thought with less difficulty, but resist large scale integration of other elements and can be killed with things such as blood loss or destruction of vital organs.(Theoretically starvation is also an issue, but it's not hard to just produce lumps of plant/meat matter to be fed on)
or
2. A Metacrystal core, providing far more elemental flexibility and possessing no biological failings, but causing greater limitations in mental and physiological complexity.

[Jerick]

Revision Phase ()
Unvision Phase ()
Market Fluctuations ()
Elemental Foundations (1); Jerick

Voting for more complex materials for making more complex units.

[Failbird105]

Revision Phase ()
Unvision Phase ()
Market Fluctuations ()
Elemental Foundations (2); Jerick, Failbird

Yeah. I'll go for Revision Phase if we mostly-but-not-quite flub a design this turn and/or get handed one by the 6.

[Maximum Spin]

I would prefer something like:
Shift: Materia and Scavenge Phase
Teams now have access to materia which can be spent to improve designs. During the new scavenge phase, which takes place after the battle phase, teams gain materia based on the scavenging ability of each team's designs. Materia can come in as many types as the GM imagines; materia gained during a scavenge phase is themed after both the battlefield as it exists at that time, and the pieces that have fallen or any other effects which may have occurred during the preceding battle phase.

So now it's a whole minigame to get resources, and the random battlefield shift naturally ties into this.

[TricMagic]

Revision Phase ()
Unvision Phase ()
Market Fluctuations ()
Elemental Foundations (2); Jerick, Failbird, TricMagic

[Failbird105]

Well, now that the forum is back, I wanted to pitch a unit design idea for this Shift:

Stymphalian's. Large birds(Natura base) with powerful wing muscles, beaks sharpened to a spear-point, and both beak and bone alike reinforced with metal(Earth), though the bones have it in more trace amounts than the beak. They'd fight enemies by dive-bombing in coordinated strikes like a volley of arrows.

[Jerick]

Those Stymphalian things are exactly the kind of thing we could be requesting from the Menagerie. So the question is do we make a negotiator or something to care and feed animals this turn at the risk of losing progress on the battlefront? Or do we ignore making that kind of infrastructure design, ignore future long run benefits to hit them harder now? I feel there's a good chance they'll make something to support animals this turn. Otherwise what's the point of making that shift?

[Failbird105]

Those Stymphalian things are exactly the kind of thing we could be requesting from the Menagerie. So the question is do we make a negotiator or something to care and feed animals this turn at the risk of losing progress on the battlefront? Or do we ignore making that kind of infrastructure design, ignore future long run benefits to hit them harder now? I feel there's a good chance they'll make something to support animals this turn. Otherwise what's the point of making that shift?

Yes but here's the thing: this world is currently not made to support the existence of long-term life like the Menagerie would want. We can feed them and give water, sure, but the lack of sunlight is going to be a big problem for most creatures. And the Stymphalian's in particular are the kind of creature where their main function is inherently sacrificial, they basically use themselves as living arrows and that means anything they're exposing themselves to anything they don't kill. If we design a creature we can at least be sure we'll have unrestricted use of it and that it can have metacrystal eyes for sunless sight.

We do still have two designs this turn IIRC, so we can make a negotiator and a combat unit anyway, but getting something from the Menagerie on this particular turn will be hard unless we do legitimately have a fairly good set-up.

Anyway this is all to say: we should prioritize getting creatures that don't care for sunlight from the Menagerie this turn(if any) until someone bothers to Shift in a Sun. Not ones who are repelled by Sunlight, but things like cave dwelling monsters that have no need for sunlight to navigate and hunt.

Honestly, making a sun(or facsimile of one) so as to improve the viability of living creatures without the need for metacrystal feels like it'll be an important Shift to make for almost ANY Mercenary group we might want to hire.

[FallacyofUrist]

Might want to propose and vote for some Designs, the soft deadline is tonight and the hard deadline is tomorrow.

In the future I might make the deadlines contain a bit more time, especially when it's a weekend.

[TricMagic]

Swarmers are fast, skittering, and winged six-legged insects of quarter a meter in length. They have compound eyes, a pincer on their front, and emits pheromones to work in concert with other insects. When approaching an enemy they will attempt to either burrow into or latch onto them. Once secured they'll begin to to tear into and burrow into the target. They are capable of self-detonation through a chemical reaction to break holes in tougher prey. Their complexity is directly offset by their ability to be created in large numbers due to their small size.

Pawns given a durable metacrystal shield based upon the bulwarks and a sharp obsidian/crystal lance, they interlink into a shield wall with allies. The use of earth-aspect mana is imbued into their bodies, making them foes of surprising resilience. They travel the ground, linked to the earth, but can climb walls as if it were floor and have a solid stance hen supporting each other.

Make a request to the Menagerie for forces capable of supporting units.

A large inhuman fire elemental made of flames, colored according to the faction it belongs to. Moves at a slow float on the ground when upright, or a formless flight. While formless, it's core is exposed to attack, but it can spread freely to cause chaos and appear at any point those touch. Minor Intelligence, can follow simple directions, but cannot move in formation due to it's nature. Its forelimbs end in razer-hot scythes tipped in white flames. It uses these to slash through the armor as it spreads fire and panic. Given enough time, it's body can become giant by absorbing more of it's element, feeding off the fallen.

[Failbird105]

Shoot, I have to admit I've kinda had some of the wind sucked from my sails, especially because this has been a really bad week for me that I'm not going to be through with until the hard deadline is basically over. The concept of the Stymphalian is something I had come up with literally the exact same day the forums first went down, so any proper write-up for them vanished from my brain long before I was able to propose them. I'm kinda just drawing a blank on ideas in general right now.