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[TricMagic]

The birds would likely be an Air/Nature/metal mix?

[Jerick]

We have the bulwark so I don't see the need for the shieldbearers right now. I do like the army swarmer though. I'm a sucker for small, fast, expendable things but I'm currently thinking something more like;

The messengers are floating assemblies of stable metacrystal that hover just a little ways off the ground. They cannot fly any higher, are rather slow and have no offensive or defensive abilities. However they can read the minds of any nearby creature or entity capable of something resembling thought and they can transmit their own thoughts and ideas directly to anything it can read. Cognitively simple minds can be overwhelmed by the thoughts and ideas the messenger sends them allowing the messenger to convert them to the blue entity's cause. They are however able to send messages between messengers and far greater distance allowing instant transmission of information. The messengers are very cognitively complex and are capable of high level strategic thinking and coordination and serve as officers for the blue entitiy's forces. These traits also make them excellent negotiators

Main design
Army Swarmer ()
Shieldbears ()
Messengers (1) Jerick

Mercenary Recruit
Flame Reaper ()

[TricMagic]

Pretty sure we can't do merc designs, just ask for something instead. The current mercs are critters, so don't think elementals fall into them.

Also, Shield bears take advantage of already having the shields. They're an upgrade to the basic pawn. And if they go well there is an easy revision to make Bulrocks cheaper. (Using hard rocks instead of just durable metacrystal.)

[Failbird105]

The birds would likely be an Air/Nature/metal mix?

I mean, I'm no scientist but I'm pretty sure Birds don't need wind magic to fly. These are pretty much just reinforced birds of above-average size. Think like a shoebill with a spear for a beak.


Also, two things:
1. We get two designs this turn, same with the next. Y'all don't need to vote for just one thing
2. We don't get to design the Merc units ourselves. As far as I can tell the idea is that we write up a request in a manner of "we want something/someone that can do these general things, plus a few additional notes." and it's Fallacy who comes up with the actual design if our Request rolls well. Also, Merc units don't really fall under the limitations of our own personal units.

[Jerick]

Main design
Army Swarmer (1) Jerick
Shieldbears ()
Flame Reaper ()
Messengers (1) Jerick

Mercenary Recruit
Support Unit ()
No requests yet(1) Jerick

My bad I though you were submitting the flame reaper as something from the menagerie. My brain has been scrambled lately. Hence me missing the fact that we get two designs this turn. (It has been quite the week for me too). That said I'm not sold on making a request just yet. If we fail we'll be locked out of making a request for a number of turns or we could get the vague GM promises of other consequences. I'd rather get a negotiator to improve our odds of not screwing up our merc rolls. I'd be much more comfortable rolling every chance we got then.

[Failbird105]

Personally, I feel like the Army Swarmers complexity isn't going to be quite as offset as one might think. Really I think the biggest reason to make a Revision phase is just so we can work on improving the output speed of the Gates. Though we could also use a different Shift to create something that can be used to create Gate alternatives instead.

Other Shift ideas:
A fucking sun and moon(or an emulation of them) for day/night cycles, we're going to be pretty limited on what we can get from the Menagerie if we don't have those. I'd personally say it should be that the first half of a Battle Phase takes place under daylight, while the second half takes place under moonlight.
A way to create a persistent shelter for creatures we bring from the Menagerie, since we can't do that when the battlefield shifts every week. I'd recommend creating a decently sized "home base" for each faction, which remains consistent between battlefield shifts and would steadily change whenever a design that can theoretically contribute to it arrives.


Oh on the topic of the Messengers though: brilliant idea. Honestly, they even make it more viable to use non-sapient creatures in armies, since they can bypass the communication barrier with direct mind-to-mind instruction. I'm not sure on anything else though. Keep in mind Tric: I added the Elements, but there's not really any system of magic yet, nor is there necessarily any "elemental mana" or energy. I feel like we need to keep our applications of the elements more material in the short term.

Main design
Army Swarmer: (1) Jerick
Shieldbearers: ()
Flame Reaper: ()
Messengers: (1) Jerick

Mercenary Recruit
Support Unit ()
No requests yet (2): Jerick, Failbird

[TricMagic]

Question, does  it actually cost us anything to hire mercs?

[FallacyofUrist]

Question, does  it actually cost us anything to hire mercs?

That depends on the faction you're hiring from. The Menagerie requires sustenance upkeep - food, water, and the like. Currently the Elemental Gate Design both teams received provides 2 / 2 sustenance upkeep.

[TricMagic]

Can we cut a contract?

[Failbird105]

Main design
Army Swarmer: (1) Jerick
+1 : ()
Shieldbearers: ()
Flame Reaper: ()
Messengers: (2) Jerick, Failbird
 +1: (1) Failbird

Mercenary Recruit
Support Unit ()
No requests yet (2): Jerick, Failbird

I remembered that we did managed to meet the soft deadline for the Shift, so we have a +1. I figure that, while the Swarmers will probably be more difficult, the Messengers are far more important to make sure we get right.

[TricMagic]

Main design
Army Swarmer: (2) Jerick, TricMagic
+1 : (1) TricMagic
Shieldbearers: (1) TricMagic
Flame Reaper: ()
Messengers: (2) Jerick, Failbird,
 +1: (1) Failbird

Mercenary Recruit
Support Unit (1) TricMagic
No requests yet (2): Jerick, Failbird

I really don't see a reason not to make the request. Support units are generic enough to have a low threshold.
Shieldbearers make wizards very difficult to actually get to, since they can and will get in the way, and having a better base unit means their lines will crumple. Swamers meanwhile, exist to cause trouble. (Though messengers to direct forces is also a good strategy.)

[Jerick]

Main design
Army Swarmer: (2) Jerick, TricMagic
+1 : (1) TricMagic
Shieldbearers: (1) TricMagic
Flame Reaper: ()
Messengers: (2) Jerick, Failbird,
 +1: (2) Failbird, Jerick

Mercenary Recruit
Support Unit (1) TricMagic
No requests yet (2): Jerick, Failbird

That's purely an assumption. The truth is we don't know what kind of threshold we're dealing with for the requests. Something as generic as 'support' won't be the highest but we're currently rolling with a minus two. If the messengers are even just alright we go from -2, to +2 on those rolls. A single turn of patience means our odds go way up (unless the reverse dice kicks in). I don't want to be sitting here having pissed off the menagerie with an excellent negotiator unit not able to negotiate just because we couldn't wait a turn. We can't support too much right now anyway.

[TricMagic]

Fallacy never answered if we could cut contracts. Cause what happens when the creater of them, Red, gets an extra unit to help make up for shortcoming? Like some sort of focus fire type.

[FallacyofUrist]

Fallacy never answered if we could cut contracts.

Okay, please explain what you mean exactly by 'cut contract'. I'm happy to answer reasonable questions.

[TricMagic]

Fallacy never answered if we could cut contracts.

Okay, please explain what you mean exactly by 'cut contract'. I'm happy to answer reasonable questions.

If we've contracted a mercenary design, we have to feed it. I'm asking if, if we want another design but it would put us over the amount we can pay, can we cut loose a design we received.

Basically, the other two are worried that if we receive a merc design, we will be unable to get another one later. Because they are apparently permanent in their eyes and we have to pay for all of them? Always.