The Fifth Race Quest

[SamPardi]

Xilph
Okay, there's apparently been some sort of misunderstanding here... Creep tumors expand creep... That's all they do. There is no immediate RP payout. I guess I was thinking in context of trying to connect the hives, so yeah if you build them then on this turn they'll contribute to creep growth and connecting everything together. They still just add creep.

 

[Xilph]

So what's with the +4 RP that's been listed for ages with the Queen's creep tumors action? Since its remained static over multiple turns so it was meant to show roughly how much we get if we get it but you just forgot to ever update? Also we can use units remotely right? Like, build at a satellite hive but work on projects at the main hive? I presume so as you don't seem to distinguish units but you do for Larvae so it confused me a tad.

Could effect Winged One in that case though, pretty sure they said they use the +4 RP.

 

[SamPardi]

Huh... Pretty sure that was in my notes and not meant to be copied over. Well my bad. OTOH... This really is the last turn we're micromanaging resource gathering like this... (Of course this is part of the reason this'll be the last turn we're doing this, so...)

Tell ya'll what. If anyone can write me at least 400 words in an Omake, by Saturday midnight, describing this massive expansion and how the people are reacting to it, I'll accept the current plans as is and any future plans built off the same assumptions. (Queens can be set to micromanage right away, queen abilities for creep growth grant +4 RP, etc...) If not then at that time I'll put up edited versions of the plans with those parts vetoed and people will have until Sunday midnight or so to change their votes/plans.

Edit: Arizona time, so 61 hours or so from now. Thanks Walkir for reminding me of the need to clarify that.

 

[Walkir]

by Saturday midnight,

Click to shrink...

Saturday midnight where?

 

[Xilph]

Anyway, ironing out a plan, so a goal is hitting 9.5km of creep growth, sources are Creepers at 0.06, Tenements at 0.08, Queens at 0.33 and Hatcheries at 0.5. Base growth is 1.74km/0.5km/0.5km. This plan is assuming no omake or anything.

RP: 100.04 - EP: 30 - VP: 18 - Actions: 5 - Larvae: 36/24/12 - Queens: 4 - Drones: 24 - Hundlings: 6 - Work Crews: 3 - Soldiers: 1 - Scout: 4 - Creep Growth: 1.74/0.5/0.5

[X] Morph: Queen x5 (-25 RP, -3 primary hive larvae, -1 iron hive larva, -1 trinium hive larva)
[X] Morph: Creeper Swarm x9 (-13.5 RP, -30 primary hive larvae, -18 trinium hive larvae, -6 iron hive larvae)
[X] Morph: Hundling Swarm x4 (-6 RP, -2 primary hive larvae, -5 iron hive larvae, -5 trinium hive larvae)

The huge amount of creepers is to try to work to the 9.5km creep growth goal, as that is huge and they are the cheapest source of creep growth. The queens are there because they are great, and the hundlings because they seemed the best use of the remaining larvae, although I had to split the larvae costs up a bit but meh.

[X] Queen: Micromanage x4
Need the actions to get some non spreading stuff working.

[X] Queen: Increase Creep x5
[X] Creeper: Increase Creep x54 (Main Hive)

This is the first major creep boost, giving 4.89km of extra creep growth. This tries to be valid by using the new queens not for micromanaging, but rather for just laying down tumors.

[X] Work Crew: Build Road Network (finds and hauls paving stones back to the tenements to create a route between them and the primary hatchery, then on to the Stargate for ease of deployment.)

Got one to spare and more roads could help.

[X] Hundling Swarm: Hunt birds x2

We got 80 birds last time, hopefully throwing two hundling swarms will get us the last 120 birds. Maybe even get lucky and auto-unlock a new form like with agile quadropeds unlocking hundlings?

[X] Dancer: Tell a story about a civilization that began in barbarism, but grew past their savagery to become great and enlightened. Preferably one rooted in actual history. Don't even try to hide our intentions from Myrrdin. (Suggested effect: Placate Myrrdin)
[X] Dancer: Grand opening of the new Hatcheries.

Meh, don't really care too much about dancers, although they should probably be investigated soon.

[X] Drone: Gather Trees
[X] Upgrade Milita to Soldiers
[X] Drone: Encourage Creep at Main Hive

Had four drones leftover after building actions so figured why not, half of a swarm is increasing creep and the other can gather enough extra RP to let us upgrade a militia to soldiers. That is, enough RP we could dissolve the militia and then promptly reform them as soldiers, so I figure just 2 RP to straight upgrade would be allowed.

RP: 56.54 - EP: 30 - VP: 18 - Actions: 9 - Larvae: 1/0/0 - Drones: 24 - Hundlings: 18 - Work Crews: 2 - Soldiers: 1 - Scout: 4 - Creep Growth: 6.66/0.5/0.5

[X] Scout: Stalk Great Cat
[X] Scout: Sarcosuchus
[X] Scout: Gather Herbs for study. x2
[X] Hundling Swarm: Explore west beyond the Great Bridge
[X] Hundling Swarm: Explore North x2
[X] Drone Swarm: Explore west beyond the Great Bridge x2

The scouts no longer need to be sent at distance in the hope of finding something, we've got zerg to spare. So a hundling swarm for their greater agility and mobility, scout the terrain and look for interesting features while the drones scout much less area but can detect resource nodes in the hope of finding something good. The two hundling swarms north is because I realise we've barely scouted to the north at all, to the point where our creep will actually grow past the currently known borders this turn so scouting to the north will be really, really useful.

[X] Build Support Hatchery x5 (Main Hive, -50 RP, -5 Drones)

Hatcheries are to get us the rest of the creep growth we need, and all the various extra resource bonuses they do contain.

[X] Build Tenement (-1 RP, -1 Drone)

We've just passed 3k people and it will only get worse, also these give creep growth which is nice.

[X] Train Soldiers

Since militia are basically soldiers this is valid, hopefully Artur will have a group of soldiers even better to work with than what we've currently got for them.

[X] Action: Build Walls Around Stargate (-2 RP, assign 2 drones, assign 2 work crews)

This is a solid start to being able to open the Stargate somewhat safely.

[X] Action: Scout New Talent.

Still hoping for a dancer specialist or something to investigate the use of culture more effectively, plus provides a solid start to where we might get diplomats from. I think it's more useful than the +10 EP from walking the forest anyway.

[X] Evolution: Amphibian Bio-morph (30/100)

Yep yep, more work for amphibious Zerg.

RP: 0.04 - VP: 18 - Larvae: 2/0/0 - Creep Growth: 9.24/0.5/0.5

There is a basic method of getting it working, each satellite hive grows by 0.5km, connecting their creep with the 9.24km growth of the main hive. Also, getting 5x the creep growth this turn will do stupid things to our RP levels, however it's changing next turn, otherwise the 600+ RP we'd be getting would certainly make keeping track of things more difficult.

 

[Walkir]

Okay, Xilph knows what he's doing and the plan looks good.

Own plan redacted, change to

[X] Xilph

 

[SamPardi]

So... Closing on the omake chance in an hour and a half. Winged One you're the last one with a plan that would be affected. You can give it a shot or let me know if you want to manually update your plan.

 

[Winged One]

Hm... actually, Xilph's plan is pretty good this time. The whole trinium thing is honestly a vanity project at this point, and the tenements and support hatcheries should satisfy our human subjects for this turn.

Besides, writing is hard.

[X] Xilph

 

[Xilph]

The whole trinium thing is honestly a vanity project at this point

Click to shrink...

You mean the connecting with the trinium hive as the vanity project? Because my plan does that this turn, it also connects it to the iron hive. We were told 9.5km would connect them, I grow the main hive by 9.24km and both satellite hives grow normally by 0.5km, meaning that both hives will connect as 9.24+0.5>9.5

 

[Walkir]

Why not build a support hatchery each at the Trinium and southern Iron Hive? Shouldn't that connect as well and boost growth later on as it's closer to the edge of the creep carpet?

 

[Xilph]

Why not build a support hatchery each at the Trinium and southern Iron Hive? Shouldn't that connect as well and boost growth later on as it's closer to the edge of the creep carpet?

Click to shrink...

Unless they change to a significantly more complex system than no, currently however creep growth is based off connected hatcheries, maybe they stimulate creep so that's why it gets the same boost regardless of their distance from the edge? Who knows. Also, as an aside at least based off the current system putting them at the main hive would give us about 15% more RP, about 80 RP for raw numbers.

 

[SamPardi]

gonna go ahead and close today's voting here.

 

[SamPardi]

We are the Zerg.

A Great Cat lopes across the creep towards the Primary Hive Cluster. It's anger is understandable. The expansion of creep has pushed it out of its den and it is intelligent enough to track it back to its source. However, despite the seemingly flat plane of the creep and the Cat's well tuned senses it failed to notice the pack of six Hundlings pressing themselves tight to the creep.

In a single explosive moment they throw themselves violently at the great creature. The first jumped savagely at the Cat's side but found itself batted from the air and tossed away but not quite far enough to harm it. It's partner was more careful and managed to swipe at the monster's flank leaving a deep furrow along its hind leg. Another struck for the fore-leg but was rebuffed and sent tumbling across the creep, however this time it was merely a distraction. Its partner attacked from the other side and bit deeply into the fore-leg it used to keep its balance.

The mighty beast turned to bite at the annoying creature, but it picked the wrong moment to do so. For the fifth member of the Hundling Swarm came from the back but struck for the neck. It's claws and teeth tore at the tough hide and hardened muscle digging deep until the Hundling was soaked in the blood of its prey. Still the monster struggled despite choking on its own blood, but there was one last Hundling yet to strike. When it threw itself the creatures injured flank, tearing away great strips of flesh it was finally too much for the weary beast.

It died having never even seen the human population of the Hive it targeted. (+10 EP from interesting DNA)

Our strength is the strength of the swarm. Every individual, working together in common cause for a singular goal.

"You know you didn't have to plan anything like this. I got over my disappointment quickly enough," Myrddin stated while watching the performance with a smile.

You turned to watch as the latest bright star of your settlement, a dancer named Caiti, led the performers through the story of the early days of a great civilization. (+1 CP, Independence - See Hero Card) "Perhaps," you graciously allow, "But then I wouldn't have had the chance to make you smile."

As the performance continues you notice that he's actually watching Caiti quite a bit more than usual... Perhaps there may be something to that...

Caiti

• 
  Name: Caiti the Sensuous (Independence)
  Wounds: 2
  Race: Human
  Quality: Specialist
  Defense: Trinium Laced Dress 1d4 -1
  Weapon: Bare Hands 1d4
  Traits: Charismatic (+10% chance of success for all diplomacy rolls, can lead a 20% larger unit), Dancer (May dance with a troupe at the Primary Hive Cluster for a 50% chance of +1 CP, unless already changed that turn, the Fad will change to match their political leaning), Cultured (+10% chance of success in diplomacy when opponent is also cultured, additional +10% if their political leanings are compatible.)
  
  
  
  

-Political Leanings Updated, Myrddin: Concord, Artur: Harmony, Rashe: Hunger, Caiti: Independence, You: [ ] Concord/[ ] Harmony/[ ] Hunger/[ ] Independence
Political Leanings determine what fad is started if a hero causes you to gain CP. Only the first fad per turn is used.

We evolve, constantly improving ourselves and adjusting to the environment around us.

"Feels surprisingly light," Artur commented as he brushed off his new trinium laced doublet.

"It is a very light material despite its strength," you say in agreement, glad you've gotten past your hiss for the most part. Frankly you just can't wait until you can get some of that for your own claws.

You notice a pair of scouts carefully transporting a few blanket wrapped animal bodies. A feral grin splits your face despite your preference for appearing somewhat non-threatening around the Hive. You're just too damned excited about the possibilities with this one.

One of the scouts out looking for herbs had come across a few sick deer. After carefully checking them over they'd discovered that they'd been infected with some sort of fungus that parasitically grew within them until it infected every inch of their body. A rushed examination of a small sample had proved that it was well within your capacity to emulate. Now they were bringing you enough material to make a real break-through. The sheer possibilities were mind-boggling... Sadly the most interesting one was still some distance away since the fungus affected the brain too much to allow its victims to retain sentience. (+40 EP from huge breakthrough.)

Infectious Fangs

• 
  Name: Infectious Fangs
  Damage: 1d4
  Low on overall damage making it hard to get them past an enemy's defenses, but when they do you have a 100% chance of infecting them, with 50% chance of conversion to the swarm (as a non-sapient unit)
  

And we expand, building ourselves to the heights of greatness from the humblest of beginnings.

You look out at the massive carpet of creep that has finally connected both of your satellite hatcheries to the Primary Hive. Trinium is already filtering in, but so is gold(+5 EP) and a small amount more lead. If your scouts are to be believed you're only a couple months, at most, away from acquiring Naquadah(+10 EP), Platinum(+5 EP) and even some trace amounts of Vespene(+10 EP). Though monsters yet roam beyond your creep, you can't help but feel that they simply haven't realized yet that you truly are the master of all your survey.

Your eyes naturally turn to the Stargate... Well, perhaps not all you survey just yet.

---

Locomotion: Amphibian

• 
  Name: Amphibian
  Speed: Fast*/Fast*/Slow*/Very Slow*
  Slots: 1x Mouth, 1x Tail/2x Claws, 1x Mouth, 1x Tail/2x Claws, 1x Tail/2x Claws, 1x Mouth, 1x Tail
  Special: Small/Small/Large/Medium
  Not always the best unit but it has its niche and can swim through any amount of water, diving depth is limited to only slightly better than human norm however.
  *Gains one rank of speed when in the water.
  

---
Continent Map
Local Area Map


Purchase units as needed or wanted.

[ ] Morph: Drone Swarm (6)	2 RP	6 Larvae	Limit: As many as can be afforded.
[ ] Morph: Creeper Swarm (6)	1.5 RP	6 Larvae	Limit: As many as can be afforded
[ ] Morph: Hundling Swarm (6)	1.5 RP	3 Larvae	Limit: As many as can be afforded.
[ ] Morph: Queen	5 RP	1 Larvae	Limit: 1 per turn/per hatchery.

RP: 689.01 - EP: 70 - VP: 18 – Larva: 98 – 3087 Civilians (approx. 550 children) - 175/200 Birds Gathered (Auto-completes next turn.)
Armies:
Primary Hive Combat Swarm (36/300 Units) (36 Hundlings.)
Primary Hive Army (General: Artur, 2/10 Units) (Artur's Guard (Soldiers), 1 Soldiers)
Gate Guards (General: You, 1/100 Units) (1 Militia)

[ ] Primary Hive Cluster (10/16 Hatcheries (+1 Queen Slot per hatchery)) (14.47 CR, +15.16km CR/turn, +156 Larva)

• [ ] Upgrade to Lair (0/500 EP, 0/500 RP)
• [ ] Build Tenements +0.08 (5/5 RP, 4/4 slots)
• [ ] Add Queen for +6 Larvae, +0.66km CR/T, +1 Hatchery Slot (10/10 Slots)
• [ ] Add Drone Swarm for Mining +10 RP (2/36 Slots) (1 slot per 1 quality of resource)
• [ ] Add Creeper Swarm for +0.36km CR/T (9)
• [ ] Add Barnacle Swarm for +6 Larva (0) (Req. Barnacles)

Local Units (Unassigned): 5 scouts, 4 Drone Swarms

[ ] Develop Vespene Refinery (0/100 RP, 4 Drone Swarms) (+10 VP/turn, +4 Hatcheries (w/ slots), +6 Mining Slots in Primary Hive Cluster from)

• [ ] Add Carpet Swarms for +1 VP (0/4 Carpet Slots) (Req. Carpets)
• [ ] Add Queen to oversee project for +5 VP (0/1)

Harvesting trace amounts of Vespene Gas from the nearby volcano and mixing them with a Naquadah catalyst will allow us to make a Vespene equivalent for our everyday use.

[ ] Develop Research and Education Campus (0/200 RP) (+20 EP/turn, reduces EP cost of Unit Improvements by 10%)

• [ ] Add Queen to act as researcher for +5 EP (0/4)
• [ ] Add Barnacle Swarm to improve prototyping rate. -1 EP to bio-morph research or unit improvement research. (0/1) (Barnacles Req.)

Build a series of buildings specifically for the purpose of conducting mutation research and educating your human populace. Unlocks further levels of Improve Infrastructure.

[ ] Improve Infrastructure to Basic (50/500 RP)

• [ ] Workers give 10:1 RP Boost (500/500)

Adds roads, bridges, work areas and even creep farms allowing your people to enjoy a better overall quality of life. Also frees up more civilians for recruitment. Further levels will require education and/or trade goods.

---
[ ] Expand: New Hive Cluster, cannot be adjacent to Primary Hive on continent map. (0/100 RP, 0/7 Queens) (+7 Hatcheries) (Follows Expansion Plan for 4 months(turns).)

[ ] Expansion Plan Max RP (All Larvae go to Creepers)
[ ] Expansion Plan Mixed (Half goes to Creepers, other half goes to Barnacles (Req. Barnacles))
[ ] Expansion Plan Hostile (Half goes to Barnacles, Half goes to Hundlings or a write-in set of units) (Req. Barnacles)
[ ] Expansion Plan Hyper-Hostile (All Larvae go to Schwerhundlisks or a write-in big guy) (Req. Big Guy units)​

---
[ ] Great Project: The Ark of Ecology (0/100,000 RP, 0/1000 EP, 0/100 Scouting Expeditions)
While your creep may yet overcome the world, you can still find and keep samples from all of the planet's Flora and Fauna preserved for study and appreciation by future generations. It's not enough though to just throw resources and research at the problem. You're going to need boots on the ground to get samples of all the species and ensure they are properly preserved, making it a part of every scouting mission.
(If you consume too much of the world in creep for there to be enough scouting expeditions then the project is automatically failed for that planet.)

[ ] Great Project: The First Brood Mother (0/1000 EP, 9/99 Queens (not consumed))
For now, yours is the only Zerg Brood and you its only great leader. With this investment of research and will-power you can create a new intelligence nearly on par with yourself. They will have their own wants, needs and agenda, but will always hold a basic loyalty to the swarm as a whole and you in particular.

[ ] Great Project: Sapient Infestation (0/1000 EP, 0/1000 VP, 3/6 Key Discoveries)
Still shrouded in mystery, you are starting to see hints at the possible future of this project. Now you have Unit Designing, a hero of great Willpower, and have discovered Infestation. At right this moment you'd still wind up doing little more than reducing your human subject's mind to soup, sadly. Myrddin though has given you a hint for two, letting you know that there is a world within this galaxy that has one of the components you need, and that the other is fairly common in the Pegasus Galaxy.

---
[ ] Hero: Scouting Expedition (0/1 Hero/Army w/general, 0/N Support units, at least 1 unit must be a scout or have Predatory Senses and at least 1 unit must have Resource Detector)
Moves 3* Hexes in the six major hex directions NW/N/NE/SE/S/SW on the continent map, forces a roll of all resources in the hexes they move through (1 roll per .1 value), 40% chance of monster attack, 20% chance of EP bonus, 10% chance of discovering random evolution to research. Must be moved back to a Hive to Free up hero and units.
Speed may be improved or reduced by hero and unit selection as well as terrain.

[ ] Hero: Dancing Performance (Caiti only, 0/N backup performers, at least 1 must be dancers)
Caiti dances with a proper troupe in the hopes of gaining you an additional CP.

[ ] You: Activate the gate, dial a random address and send through a drone.
It's a big universe out there, but you know, you might just be able to take it… And you'll even find out once you've tried enough combinations to figure out one that leads to an actual planet.

[ ] Army: Kill Aggressive Monsters (Assign at least one Army)
Your units will hunt down and kill the more aggressive monster types in the local area but leave the peaceful varieties alone.

• [ ] Kill ALL Monsters. (Kill all of the monsters nearby regardless of whether they present a threat or not. Or at least try in any case.)

---
[ ] Culture: Spend Culture Points (Up to 3 Independence)

Hunger 4 new wording: Creep production stops entirely, but all expansions younger than 4 turns are advanced to their fourth turn state.

---
[ ] Evolution: Hominid Bio-morph (0/250)
Allows you to build a relatively short but decently powerful two legged unit. Think Infested Gorilla not Dwarf though.

[ ] Evolution: Zerg Tentacles (0/150)
Meant to go on buildings and some units, these use the concept of a tail to create a strong, prehensile construct that can be used for grabbing or for whipping. Add claws to it and it becomes a basic defense mechanism. Excellent for chasing animals away from structures.

[ ] Evolution: Amphibious Buildings (0/100)
Allows current buildings to be built in shallow water. Also allows a few unique buildings.

[ ] Evolution: Improved Drones (0/50)
Your drones are good, but they could be better. How you're not entirely certain, but that's why you're spending the time researching it. 100% chance to improve one trait/attribute, 50% chance to improve two, 5% chance to produce entirely new and favorable mutation. 5% chance of developing unfavorable mutation, can be fixed through later research.

[ ] Evolution: Improved Hundlings (0/40)
Your Hundlings are good, but they could be better. How you're not entirely certain, but that's why you're spending the time researching it. 100% chance to improve one trait/attribute, 50% chance to improve two, 5% chance to produce entirely new and favorable mutation. 5% chance of developing unfavorable mutation, can be fixed through later research.

[ ] Evolution: Trinium Carapace (0/50)
Your zerg are much tougher in combat and don't die anywhere near so easily.

[ ] Evolution: Trinium Bones (0/50)
Your zerg are not only a bit tougher, but their much meaner with weapons sporting Trinium blades and protected by Trinium armored shells... assuming they had a shell to begin with.

Designs:
[ ] Schwerhundlisk: 12 VP (22 if not first Big Guy)
[ ] Zerg Bloodcat: 13 VP (4 Wounds unlike in the link.)
[ ] Barnacle: 2 VP
[ ] Houndling: 2 VP
[ ] Hundling 2.0: 2 VP
[ ] Carpet: 2 VP
[ ] Kilemdedar: 12 VP (22 if not first Big Guy)
[ ] Wagenling: 8 VP

As ever, I'm open to criticism. I think this does a better job of balancing detail and options. Actions are gone, instead heroes and the like can be directly ordered around to do various things.

 

[Walkir]

Holy shit +80 EP. Pity amphibious only gave the buildings.

 

[Kerfirou]

I'm in favor of Harmony, actually.

 

[Walkir]

6 hexes to Naquadah, 9 to Vespene. Nice.

There's a couple of options where you already have the Xes filled in, and I have to say I'd prefer Imgur instead of Dropbox, at least that requires no enabling extra Javascript sources.

The Vespene Refinery sounds good - but I think it can wait until we reach the Trace Vespene source.

As such I would build the R&D bit and barnacles (assuming the 10% rebate is rounded up and the barnacles don't backfire in that regard). As well as basic infrastructure.

For Great projects, the Ark of Ecology is the most zerg-y, so that one is a go. Which means we have to send out scouting expeditions even if the game never lasts for 100 of them anyway.

For Evolutions, I want the amphibious buildings, but only as the overflow action. Improved drones or hundlings as #1 option.


Edit:

The Bloodcat is perfect to fulfill the requirements of a scouting expedition.

RP: 689.01 - EP: 70 - VP: 18 – Larva: 98 – 3087 Civilians (approx. 550 children) - 175/200 Birds Gathered (Auto-completes next turn.)
Armies:
Primary Hive Combat Swarm (36/300 Units) (36 Hundlings.)
Primary Hive Army (General: Artur, 2/10 Units) (Artur's Guard (Soldiers), 1 Soldiers)
Gate Guards (General: You, 1/100 Units) (1 Militia)

[ ] Primary Hive Cluster (0/0) (+16.92km Creep Radius/turn, +156 Larva)

• [ ] Upgrade to Lair (0/500 EP, 0/500 RP)
• [ ] Build Tenements +0.08 (5/5 RP, 4/4 slots)
• [ ] Add Queen for +6 Larvae, +0.66km CR/T, +1 Hatchery Slot (10/10 Slots)
• [ ] Add Drone Swarm for Mining +10 RP (2/36 Slots) (1 slot per 1 quality of resource)
• [ ] Add Creeper Swarm for +0.36km CR/T (9/20 Slots)

Local Units (Unassigned): 5 scouts, 4 Drone Swarms

Infrastructure
[X] Develop Research and Education Campus (200/200 RP) (+20 EP/turn, reduces EP cost of Unit Improvements by 10%)

• [ ] Add Queen to act as researcher for +5 EP (0/4)
• [X] Add Barnacle Swarm to improve prototyping rate. -1 EP to bio-morph research or unit improvement research. (0/1) (Barnacles Req.)

Build a series of buildings specifically for the purpose of conducting mutation research and educating your human populace. Unlocks further levels of Improve Infrastructure.

[X] Improve Infrastructure to Basic (50+450/500 RP)

• [ ] Workers give 10:1 RP Boost (500/500)

Adds roads, bridges, work areas and even creep farms allowing your people to enjoy a better overall quality of life. Also frees up more civilians for recruitment. Further levels will require education and/or trade goods.

Great Projects
[X] Great Project: The Ark of Ecology (39.01/100,000 RP, 0/1000 EP, 0/100 Scouting Expeditions) – blocked because we cannot do a scouting expedition.
While your creep may yet overcome the world, you can still find and keep samples from all of the planet's Flora and Fauna preserved for study and appreciation by future generations. It's not enough though to just throw resources and research at the problem. You're going to need boots on the ground to get samples of all the species and ensure they are properly preserved, making it a part of every scouting mission.
(If you consume too much of the world in creep for there to be enough scouting expeditions then the project is automatically failed for that planet.)

Heroes
[X] Hero: Scouting Expedition (0/1 Hero/Army w/general, 0/N Support units, at least 1 unit must be a scout or have Predatory Senses and at least 1 unit must have Resource Detector) – Artur & Rashe /w Army, - needs to wait for bloodcats to be bought.
[X] Hero: Dancing Performance (Caiti only, 0/N backup performers, at least 1 must be dancers) – her and all the dancers
Caiti dances with a proper troupe in the hopes of gaining you an additional CP.

Evolutions
[X] Evolution: Amphibious Buildings (20/100)
Allows current buildings to be built in shallow water. Also allows a few unique buildings.

[X] Evolution: Improved Drones (50/50)
Your drones are good, but they could be better. How you're not entirely certain, but that's why you're spending the time researching it. 100% chance to improve one trait/attribute, 50% chance to improve two, 5% chance to produce entirely new and favorable mutation. 5% chance of developing unfavorable mutation, can be fixed through later research.

Designs
[X] Zerg Bloodcat: 13 VP (4 Wounds unlike in the link.)
[X] Barnacle: 2 VP

Edit 2: Scratch that, a flyer with predatory and resource detector would be perfect. Or rather, a flyer and an amphibian with both each working together.

 

[Xilph]

So initial thoughts

• Max of 10 Queens/Hatcheries per hive? What? And a limit to creeper quantity?
• Can't actually see a mention of Hatchery count or creep radius
• Independence 4 still mentions actions, on that vein Harmony 4 is pathetic, Hunger 2 seems less than stellar as well.
• Need to figure out how to get more people, sapient infestation is a really high priority as a result as being able to enhance humans? Huge boon, those scouting missions in particular are going to require a huge boost to pop numbers if we have a chance of pulling it off.
• Didn't we get some kind of ferry ability an update or two back? I think the errata is out of date.
• Going to have to mull on scouting, despite being listed as a hero action we don't need to use them yeah?
• Rundown of creep growth rate please? I have 9 * 0.36 + 4 * 0.08 + 10 * 0.66 + 13 * 0.5 = 16.66 which is 0.28 below your figure.

 

[SamPardi]

Walkir
Amphibious locomotion is added to post. I'll update the Errata later, need to sleep soon.
I'll upload to imgur later today and keep the dropbox as a mirror.

Xilph
1 - I'll probably remove the creeper/barnacle limits... The Primary Hive description is edited, somehow that didn't quite make the transition from my notes and should at least explain the queen.
2 - Should be fixed now.
3 - I'll overhaul some of the more pointless culture options on the next turn.
4 - Well, getting full members of the swarm is a long ways off, but potential citizens can be found assuming you go where they are.
5 - apparently it is... *Adds it to the todo list.*
6 - If not a hero then at least a Queen. It's a full long term expedition travelling at least 160km while scouting nearly 12,000km2 ​so there needs to be some proper leadership.

(9 * 0.36) + (4 * 0.08) + (10 * 0.66) + (10 * 0.5) = 15.16... Huh. changed to reflect this. Had to calculate a few different possibilities, must have confused an theoretical one with the final.

 

[Walkir]

Thanks. How big was a hex on the local map again?

 

[SamPardi]

Local Map 1 Hex = 1km
Continent Map 1 Hex = 60km

 

[Walkir]

Okay. Trying my hand at a unit to be used in the scouting action here.

Name: Schlammspringlisk (Mudskiplisk)
Quality: Specialist
Cost: 6 RP, .25 VP, 1 larva
Locomotion: amphibian – slow*, with leg muscle overbuilding fast on land and in water
Wounds: 6
Defense: Tough Hide, 1d6+1
Weapons: Climbing claws x2 (1d4+1), 1x tail
Support Sack Large: Predatory Senses, Detect Resource vein, Creep Tumors
Upgrades: Leg Muscle overbuilding +1VP

Listed without steel upgrades.
I am not aware of a tail weapon.

Creep Tumors was taken because one slot was unused, you can use that to extend a line back to base once a resource has been found near the hives and maybe to camp on creep while being on a scouting expedition if it lasts the night. But mostly because the sack had the room.

Edit: A bear near the Trinium hive and a T-Rex near the Iron hive are living on creep next turn... at least that's what their icons look like.

 

[Winged One]

New system. Probably better suited for our new scale, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Hm. I want those Great Projects, but holy shit they are expensive. I suppose that's the very definition of a megaproject.

Working toward Sapient Infestation is probably going to tank morale with an Independence fad going, sadly. But the Ark of Ecology is the one with a time limit anyway, so let's work on that. We picked a death world for a reason.

I feel that Harmony, with its reveling in the advantages of Zergness, is best for our viewpoint character.

Walkir, the Bloodcat was designed with stealth in mind, so I feel it has a niche even with arial units becoming available soon.

I think the Vespene Refinery project means building on that vespene vent thing.

Why no morphing Queens and assigning them to research, Walkir? More EP is always good, especially with the big projects we've got going and your desire to improve the units we have.

We absolutely can do scouting expeditions currently. We just need to assign human scout parties and drones instead of Bloodcats/bird scouts/whatever.

SamPardi, what does "Workers give 10:1 RP Boost" mean? Does assigning them give more RP to the project than they would normally generate? Does it mean we can assign a worker group and only need to pay 45 RP for infrastructure?

 

[Xilph]

Yeah, we'll need to figure out a way to break off Independence, since currently we've got the specialist dancer who has a 50% chance of setting it back to that every time we have them do anything culture related, which as a dancer is probably most turns.

Hmm, can we assign Myrddin to something? Specifically, could we give some dancers to Myrddin so he could try doing something? Since snagging Concorde 1 could be really handy.

The main issue with Ark of Ecology is going to be scouting expeditions obviously, however luckily we can use queens for those and not just needing to throw everything at scouting talent to try and get enough heroes to actually pull it off before the world is consumed, because the world is going to get consumed.

 

[Winged One]

Yeah, we'll need to figure out a way to break off Independence, since currently we've got the specialist dancer who has a 50% chance of setting it back to that every time we have them do anything culture related, which as a dancer is probably most turns.

Hmm, can we assign Myrddin to something? Specifically, could we give some dancers to Myrddin so he could try doing something? Since snagging Concorde 1 could be really handy.

Click to shrink...

I have an idea for that, actually. Walkir and anyone else thinking of making a plan, feel free to copy it.

[] Caiti: teach Myrrdin to dance (suggested effect: assign Caiti and Myrrdin, chance of Myrrdin gaining Dancer, smaller chance of Myrrdin gaining Cultured and/or Charismatic, small chance of Caiti gaining a trait from Myrrdin)

What, you think he's too old to learn something? Choosing to Descend at all was an act of humility; he might go for it. Especially since he apparently likes Caiti.

 

[SamPardi]

Winged One
Workers as a class of unit will be deprecated with the next level of infrastructure, they'll just be rolled into non-recruitable population and invisibly assigned to construction projects as needed. So now 10 workers, actual pop, contributes 1 RP towards reaching that level of infrastructure. Written another way 5 work crews contribute 50 RP per turn. You can pull them away if you can think of any write-in to use them in, but they only contribute 1 rp/turn to other projects.

 

[Walkir]

We absolutely can do scouting expeditions currently. We just need to assign human scout parties and drones instead of Bloodcats/bird scouts/whatever.

Click to shrink...

Human scouts have the Predatory Sense ability? If yes, good. Then I would assign a queen to that and the rest to research so we can at least put 10EP, aka 1% of the total, per expedition into the Ark project. The 1,000RP we would need for that on the other hand...
I definitely hope the Ark project EP will be paid off by the scouting expedition finds, though.

 

[Winged One]

Human scouts have the Predatory Sense ability? If yes, good. Then I would assign a queen to that and the rest to research so we can at least put 10EP, aka 1% of the total, per expedition into the Ark project. The 1,000RP we would need for that on the other hand...
I definitely hope the Ark project EP will be paid off by the scouting expedition finds, though.

Click to shrink...

Actually, it says that an expedition needs human scouts or the Predatory Senses ability.

 

[Walkir]

Actually, it says that an expedition needs human scouts or the Predatory Senses ability.

Click to shrink...

...brb, getting new glasses...


Edit:

Last try before I start to pack in my stuff for moving tomorrow.

RP: 689.01 - EP: 70 - VP: 18 – Larva: 98 – 3087 Civilians (approx. 550 children) - 175/200 Birds Gathered (Auto-completes next turn.)
Armies:
Primary Hive Combat Swarm (36/300 Units) (36 Hundlings.)
Primary Hive Army (General: Artur, 2/10 Units) (Artur's Guard (Soldiers), 1 Soldiers)
Gate Guards (General: You, 1/100 Units) (1 Militia)

[X] Morph Queen x6 – 30 RP, 6 steel hive larvae
[X] Morph 36x Hundling pairs – 9 RP, 36 larvae, as many as possible with steel upgrades
[X] Assign 20 Hundlings (10 pairs, as much steel as possible), two human scouts and a drone swarm each to 2 of these Queens and designate them Scouting units A and B.

[ ] Primary Hive Cluster (0/0) (+16.92km Creep Radius/turn, +156 Larva)
[ ] Upgrade to Lair (0/500 EP, 0/500 RP)
[ ] Build Tenements +0.08 (5/5 RP, 4/4 slots)
[ ] Add Queen for +6 Larvae, +0.66km CR/T, +1 Hatchery Slot (10/10 Slots)
[X] Add Drone Swarm for Mining +10 RP (2/36 Slots) (1 slot per 1 quality of resource) x2
[ ] Add Creeper Swarm for +0.36km CR/T (9/20 Slots)
Local Units (Unassigned): 5 scouts, 4 Drone Swarms

Infrastructure
[X] Develop Research and Education Campus (200/200 RP) (+20 EP/turn, reduces EP cost of Unit Improvements by 10%)
[X] Add Queen to act as researcher for +5 EP (0+4/4) – all 4 morphed, assign them already even if they don't grant bonuses this turn.
[X] Add Barnacle Swarm to improve prototyping rate. -1 EP to bio-morph research or unit improvement research. (0+1/1) (Barnacles Req.) – Barnacles are bought below.
Build a series of buildings specifically for the purpose of conducting mutation research and educating your human populace. Unlocks further levels of Improve Infrastructure.

[X] Improve Infrastructure to Basic (50+450/500 RP)
[ ] Workers give 10:1 RP Boost (500/500)
Adds roads, bridges, work areas and even creep farms allowing your people to enjoy a better overall quality of life. Also frees up more civilians for recruitment. Further levels will require education and/or trade goods.

Great Projects
[X] Great Project: The Ark of Ecology (0.01/100,000 RP, 0/1000 EP, 0/100 Scouting Expeditions)
While your creep may yet overcome the world, you can still find and keep samples from all of the planet's Flora and Fauna preserved for study and appreciation by future generations. It's not enough though to just throw resources and research at the problem. You're going to need boots on the ground to get samples of all the species and ensure they are properly preserved, making it a part of every scouting mission.
(If you consume too much of the world in creep for there to be enough scouting expeditions then the project is automatically failed for that planet.)

Heroes
[X] Scouting Unit A: Scouting Expedition
[X] Scouting Unit B: Scouting Expedition
[X] Hero: Caiti: teach Myrrdin to dance (suggested effect: assign Caiti and Myrrdin, chance of Myrrdin gaining Dancer, smaller chance of Myrrdin gaining Cultured and/or Charismatic, small chance of Caiti gaining a trait from Myrrdin)
Caiti dances with a proper troupe in the hopes of gaining you an additional CP.

Evolutions
[X] Evolution: Amphibious Buildings (20/100)
Allows current buildings to be built in shallow water. Also allows a few unique buildings.

[X] Evolution: Improved Drones (50/50)
Your drones are good, but they could be better. How you're not entirely certain, but that's why you're spending the time researching it. 100% chance to improve one trait/attribute, 50% chance to improve two, 5% chance to produce entirely new and favorable mutation. 5% chance of developing unfavorable mutation, can be fixed through later research.

Designs
[X] Barnacle: 2 VP

 

[Winged One]

[X] Politics: Harmony
[X] Plan Walkir

 

[Xilph]

Solid plan Walkir, however one slight modification is suggested.

We have five scouting units and a serious need of scouting missions so I recommend something like the following setup for them.

[] Artur: Scout + Drone Swarm + 2 Hundling Swarms (NW, NW, SW)
[] Rashe: Scout + 2 Drone Swarms + 6 Hundling Swarms (SE, SE, S)
[] Queen: Scout + 2 Drones (N, SE, SW)
[] Queen: Scout + 2 Drones (SE, SW, N)
[] Queen: Scout + 2 Drones (NW, S, NE)
Overall the plan takes Artur out of action for one turn, Rashe out for who knows how many and temporarily indisposes three queens. The queens scout all adjacent tiles and get minimal units because of that, Artur will be returning next turn but goes further so gets a bigger group, and Rashe can go on a long term scouting mission so gets a lot of units for defence and to play with. We do have four drone swarms unused so the numbers line up too.

Also, 0.01 RP to the Ark? I mean really? but yeah, any thoughts on my modified scouting plan?