The Fifth Race Quest

[Xilph]

Xilph, may I suggest undedicating that Dancer team and dedicating a Queen? Apparently the "tell stories" action isn't that good, so we'll want to pursue alternatives when they present themselves.

Click to shrink...

Done, Dancers can now be reassigned more easily, and permanent bonus action unless something goes wrong from dedicating a Queen to Micromanage, as we're going to be making heavy use of those for a very long time to come I suspect.

 

[SamPardi]

Vote closed. Feel pretty confident handing the win to Xilph on this one.

 

[Xilph]

Reminds me of a question I had, what advantages do militia have over soldiers other than the RP cost? Since the RP shortage was a thing for my plan (hatcheries are expensive) so I didn't upgrade them but I was wondering. Also were numbers ever given for how much creep/larva hatcheries produce? and is there a proximity limit on hatcheries?

 

[SamPardi]

Xilph being cheap is about all they have going for them. soldier is a direct upgrade in quality over militia. I suppose militia might make better police types, but I don't see the Zerg having a massive need for that role...

Hatcheries produce 12 larvae per turn. Start with 0.56 creep, if not already on creep, and expand creep radius by 0.5km/turn.

 

[Xilph]

So if two hatcheries are connected by creep they combine and apply both their +0.5km/turn bonuses to the block of creep? Nice, going to have to pick up some more for sure then.

Actually that's another thought I just had, is it one queen per turn as they require great focus or something or one queen per hatchery per turn and they're just too complex for hatcheries to produce too quickly?

 

[SamPardi]

Queens are 1 per hatchery per turn.

 

[Xilph]

Nice, that explains where our primary growth mechanic is then as once our creep really gets going we should be able to setup an exponential feedback loop to get things going really strong. Assuming that we can stack Hatcheries growth rates anyway, otherwise things slow down. Best case has us taking over the planet inside 20 turns, of course 20 turns given how much happens each one is huge but for an earth sized planet inside 20 turns could definitely be possible, so under two years for the zerg to go from one hatchery to dominating a planet is pretty good, particularly as everything after the first planet is way easier given the huge amounts of resources we can call on. Like, we can basically take over planets as fast as we can ship units there. One earth sized planet by the numbers would produce have enough resources to cover another in creep inside a few turns. Although realistically I expect things to change a fair bit before we hit the point where we're throwing tens of thousands of hatcheries or millions of RP at taking over planets, that's definitely empire management unlike this much smaller scale stuff after all.

 

[SamPardi]

Though your party easily gains the drop on the distracted Great Cat it quickly becomes clear that she's not going down without a fight. The first two drones attack but are batted aside with ease. A third drone escapes her notice, though and spit its corrosive on the muscles of her upper leg and dig in deep with both claws. She howls in pain and collapses, incapable of properly standing and bleeding heavily but still not out of the fight.

Your soldiers attack bravely but their luck is particularly awful, every charge is met with the she-beasts unexpectedly quick reaction and lives are lost. Artur darts in and manages to wound her chest but its still not enough to put her down. When the best claws a chunk out of one of the drones you attempt an attack of your own. Faring no better than your soldiers you not only fail but gain a tearing wound across your head, nothing serious but enough that you decide to leave the rest of the fight to the actual fighters.

She kills a drone outright soon after but Artur keeps his assault up and she has no chance of catching the nimble man in his finest form. Soon he buries the shaft of his wooden spear up to the hilt in her eye and she falls for a final time. (+25 EP, 3 Evolutions Discovered, 3 Upgrades Discovered, -10 VP on next Big Guy design.)

16 Soldiers are killed in the battle along with 1 drone, you can't help but think the former was more luck than anything. When it comes to the cubs, you realize that genetically speaking there really aren't any opportunities for interesting mutations. Perhaps a few generations would lead to major changes in size or coloring, but one you have covered and the other is entirely useless to you. You give them a simple and humane death and absorb what little useful genetic information they do give. (+10 EP)

Energized by the victory and the performance your people wind up rather more busy than usual this month, producing 66 new children. Infant mortality is quite low at only 9 lost, and maternal mortality claims only 2 lives despite much higher projections.

"The creatures of nature exist within eco-systems. It's easy as outsiders to see these eco-systems and think 'aha nature loves balance!' The truth is much more complicated and difficult. Rather Eco-systems tend to be in near constant states of change and adjustment. More wolves are bred one year, leading to fewer rabbits the next year, leading to more grass fully growing the next, leading to a rebound in rabbit population just as the wolf population is once more dying off. But these dynamics are not give and take like they seem. Perhaps the Wolves breed far too much, the rabbits are consumed wholesale, the grass grows in while the wolves slowly starve, new herbivores are attracted as the predator population declines enough to make it safe, the remaining wolves find themselves with enough food to get by and suddenly the system is apparently back in balance... Just withotu any rabbits." Myrddin explained. (+10 EP)

"Nature... Is harsh. Uncaring. Beautiful, powerful, and I do recommend you don't consume all of it. But respect her for what she is not how she appears. Greater than beings than most that now walk the stars have been crushed by her unfeeling need to keep the reaction going. An entire galaxy suffers endlessly for my people under-estimating the sheer inertia we unleashed when we thought to have harnessed her completely." He sagely advised.

When you return to camp afterwards you are full of thoughts but soon interrupted. A strong and fast catching fever struck the populace. For a while its very touch and go, but the herb scouts managed to find a particular plant that treats the fever and with proper treatment the epidemic is ended. 19 die, most of them children, sadly. Yet this is life, you can do nothing but keep moving on.

Your scouts following the Great Cat and Sarcosuchus were both attacked by their respective prey while trying to track them. That's the loss of seven more able men and women, but they at least succeed in discovering a single weakness in the Sarcosuchus. Just at the base of its neck, where it meets the jaw the lighter scaling of the underbelly gives way entirely to thick leathery skin. A particularly talented spearman may be able to take advantage of such a weakness, but it'll be a dangerous thing to attempt and almost certainly cost lives to implement in the field.

Looking south, your other scouts found and handily evaded a rather large bipedal lizard that hunts the light jungle territoriality but avoids the heavier jungle. They also get a decent idea of the area and skirt the edges of what one might call 'local'. Sending them any further would require a dedicated effort as they would be moving beyond the area they could decently explore while still coming home at the end of the month. The drones manage to find an Iron vein near the river but its exceptionally close to the latest monster.

Those scouting around the Trinium vein managed to find the most massive, most intimidating and easily the toughest monster yet. In shape its similar to a giant bear almost twice the size of the Great Cat, but its face is an enormous circular maw surrounded by huge webbed jaws. Rather than fur the creature had an outer layer of hardened stone armor over it that seems nearly impenetrable considering your current means. Despite your scouts being utterly terrified at the sight of it, it soon proved to be far less of a threat than it first appeared.

Its strange and enormous mouth is shaped as it is to provide a wide area of intense suction, you see its primary diet are insects which it sucks from trees, rotting logs, obvious ant or termite colonies or even just straight from the soil. The 'Big Softy' as its been nicknamed is actually a remarkably gentle beast, even tolerant of scouts directly approaching or petting it. That being said, its still not something you'd want to intentionally piss off anytime soon.

At the end of the month you can't help but look around and feel that you're truly are making progress. The Primary cluster has a new hatchery and the another has begun the very first satellite cluster. A new unit design has finally come about and more could very well be on the way.

---
Map

Important Updates:
Weapon: Attack Claws is now available.
Locomotion: Agile Quadruped is now available.
Support Ability: Twin is now available.
Weapon: Attack Fangs is now available.
Weapon: Climbing Claws is now available.
Defense: Tough Hide is now available.
Upgrade: Retractable Claws is now available.
Upgrade: Leg Muscle Overbuilding is now available.
Support Ability: Predatory Senses is now available.
Iron Vein of Quality 7 is discovered.
The Unit Design System has been unlocked.
Fever Medication is discovered and is now cultivated in Zerg Tenements.
Unit Hundling is now available.

Hundling

• 
  Name: Hundling
  Quality: Swarmer
  Locomotion: Agile Quadruped - Very Fast
  Wounds: 1
  Defense: Tough Hide 1d4+1
  Weapons: Attack Fangs 1d6, Attack Claws 1d6 x2
  Support Sack Small: Twin (Produce 2 units for the price of one. Swarmer only.)
  

Primary Hive Statistics:
Buildings: 2 Hatcheries, 3 tenements
Units: 2 Queens (not counting You, 1 available, 1 dedicated(Micromanagement)), 27 (4.5 Swarms) Drones (1.5 Swarms Available, 3 Swarms Dedicated (Lead, Iron, Gathering to support new hatchery), 4 Work Crews (3 available, 1 Dedicated (Iron Work Camp)), 2 Militia (2 Dedicated), 1 Soldier, 5 scouts
Humans: 3011 (0 Recruitable Civilians, Approx. 471 children)
Creep: 3.37km Radius + 0.56km Radius

Satellite Hive Statistics:
Buildings: 1 Hatchery
Units: 5 Drones (5 available)
Humans: 0
Creep: 0.56km Radius

Stockpiles:
RP: 38.79 - EP: 50 - VP: 20 - Larvae: 36 - Actions: 5 (Counts dedicated Micromanagement)

[ ] Morph: Drone Swarm (6)	2 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.

[ ] Drone Swarm: Gather Trees
(+3 RP) (Cost: Assign 1 Drone Swarm, or fewer at appropriate penalty)
[ ] Drone Swarm: Encourage Creep Growth
- [ ] Select a Hatchery
(+0.06 creep growth radius around selected Hatchery.)

[ ] Work Crew: Gathering (Work at Lead hatchery to avoid creep distance penalties.
(+1 RP) (Cost: Assign 1 Work Crew)
[ ] 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.)
(+1km of road) (Cost: 1RP, Assign 1 Work Crew)


[ ] Queen: Increase Creep
(+0.33 Creep = +4 RP, Queens may use only 1 ability per turn.)
[ ] Queen: Increase Larvae
(+12 Larvae, Queens may use only 1 ability per turn.)
[ ] Queen: Micromanage
(+1 Action, Queens may use only 1 ability per turn.)

[ ] Gather: Trade Goods
If you're going to be dealing with other cultures soon you might want to start picking up some things to trade with them. (Cost: Assign 1 Work Crew to gather 1 Lumber, 1 Drone to gather 2 Lumber, or 1 Scout to gather 1 Bundle of Herbs, automatic +1 bundle of medicine)


[ ] Culture: Spend Culture Point (Still Harmony)

Phase II: Add up all your gains and losses from the last phase and add that to your stockpile for the rest of the turn.

Scouting: Pick one for each scout.
[ ] Scout/Drone: Explore [Direction.]
(Write-in the direction. Multiples going the same way increase chances of finding something.)
[ ] Scout: Stalk Great Cat
(We know where another den is, now we just need to follow it around a bit form a distance and maybe we can learn of its weaknesses.)
[ ] Scout: Sarcosuchus
(We know where likes to sun itself on the shore, now we just need to follow it around a bit form a distance and maybe we can learn of its weaknesses.)
[ ] Scout: Gather Herbs for study.
(You can fairly easily figure out whether a plant is safe or not or how it can be used as a medicine. Get them gathering some up and it may decrease overall mortality rates.)

Activities: Each Activity costs at least 1 Action and may have other costs as well.
[ ] Action: Build Walls
Not the most traditional Zerg action, but needs must as they say. This will combine simple wooden log walls with creep tumors to build strong fortifications. (Cost: 1 action, 2 RP, Assign 2 Work Crews and 2 Drones)

[ ] Action: Build Hatchery Near Iron Vein
Starts a second satellite hive and gives it easy access to the Iron. It will soon connect back up with your own Hatchery to form part of the local Hive Cluster. (Cost: 1 Action, 10 RP, 1 Drone) (May send more units along as seed troops/workers.)

[ ] Action: Build Support Hatchery
Does nothing but expand creep and pump out more Larva for a given Hive. Limit 1 per Queen.
(Cost: 1 Action, 10 RP, 1 Drone)

[ ] Action: Build The Bridge
(A large and dangerous project. Set a dozen Work Crews and/or Drones to the massive undertaking of building a bridge across the Great River. Requires access to trinium to start.) (Cost: 1 Action, 12 Work Crews or Drones.)

[ ] Action: Train Militia
(Can be taken multiple times, expend an effort on sharpening a militia unit into real, if not quite so well armed, soldiers. 70% chance of Militia advancing in troop quality.) (Cost: 1 Action, Assign 1 Militia Unit)

[ ] Action: Draft Militia Into Artur's Soldier Unit
While bringing a whole unit up to speed isn't working out for you there should be more than enough training acumen to cherry pick 36 recruits that can be made worthy of the title in the next month. (Cost: 1 Action)

[ ] Action: Scout New Talent.
(40% of success, 11% chance of producing specialist. Can be taken multiple times.) (Cost: 1 Action)

[ ] Action: Spar With Artur
Recent experience has shown that Artur's gifts for combat well and truly exceed your own. However through the expenditure of real effort you could both improve. (50% chance, each, of earning the Trait: Skilled (+2 def/+2 all attacks) (Cost: 2 Actions)

[ ] Action: Appreciate Local Jungle
(Sure it's easy to see how a giant beast that thus far casually destroys everything in its path can help the swarm, but it's hardly the only way things can be helpful. Take a walk in the jungle with Myrddin and observe the small creatures, perhaps one may have something that stands out to you. +10 EP) (Cost: 1 Action)

[ ] Action: Ponder A New Unit Design
While Vespene is great for quickly accomplishing things, you can still manually put in the time and research to get it done. (-1 VP on next Design Purchase.)
(Cost: 1 Action, 5 EP)

[ ] Action: Upgrade Yourself
Now that you have some obvious improvements to your equipped morphs you can sacrifice doing anything this turn and apply those morphs to yourself. (Attack Claws, Retractable Claws, Tough Hide) (Changing design costs double the Design Cost of the given design, must be Specialist or Big Guy) (Cost: 3 Actions - Does not grow with number of upgrades)

[ ] Action: Attack Northern Great Cat Den
(You know where it lives, it can't be that hard to track down. Select any combination of units, Drones/Militia/Soldiers to this action. Each Hero assigned increases cost by one action.) (Cost: 1 Action, Assign N Units)

[ ] Action: Attack Sarcosuchus (Very Hard)
Well, you now know of something that might be called a weakness by an optimistic sort and your basic zerg units could get pretty tough here soon. So there may, kind of sort of be hope... Yeah, you'd better send a lot of units and expect to lose most of them. (Cost: 1 Action, Assign N Units)

[ ] Write-in.
(Cost of write-ins in user posts are suggestions, last word is mine

Decisions. Some possibilities have come up moving forwards. If you meet the requirements you may select one thing from the following list.
[ ] Ask Myrddin to Reactivate the Gate.
Next turn you'll have the option to start exploring the Galaxy/Universe. This is a big decision, so be sure you feel ready for it.

Evolutions: Select an evolution to put points into.
[ ] Evolution: Amphibian Bio-morph (0/100)
Being able to cross water and interact with it can be a huge boon. After all, many interesting bio-morphs occur only in water. You're still going to be limited to the shallows and will be fairly small to start with.

[ ] 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: 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: Lair (0/500)
Now that you have multiple hatcheries you've become aware of a possible path for building them into something... More. Better creep spread, more larvae, a tougher building, and an underground cavern network that makes moving things easier near the Lair, reducing any distance penalties by one km. Also gives something else, but you aren't quite certain what just yet.

[ ] 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.

[ ] Evolution: Steel Carapace (0/10)
Your zerg are a bit tougher in combat and don't die quite so easily.

[ ] Evolution: Steel Bones (0/10)
Your zerg may be a bit tougher, but their definitely a bit meaner with weapons sporting Steel blades and protected by Steel armored shells.... assuming they had a shell to begin with

Designs... Details coming soon... Need sleep...
Basic Outline:
User selects the various body types and pieces from the codex, puts it together into a design which must be proposed separate from any plans. All legal designs are added to the codex on the next turn and then Planners can use whatever units strike their fancy.
Process:
Type: 1 VP for Swarmer, 5 VP for Warrior, 10 VP for Special, 20 VP for Big Guy
Assign Locomotion, support sack and weapons (+1 die class for warrior, +2 die class for Big Guy). 1 VP per upgrade or Support Sack Ability. Unit VP cost = upgrades/4
RP costs are estimates, following rule of thumb, Swarmer 1 RP per 3-6 units or 2 for more specialized roles, Warrior 1 RP per 1-2 units with a bit extra for special roles, 4-6 RP for Specialist unit, 6-12 RP for Big Guy depending on size and level of armament. May be tweaked before its added to the codex if I feel it absolutely necessary.

 

[Derek58]

Sweet! Victory, a bunch of new upgrades, and actual combat Zerg!

 

[Xilph]

On my phone so can't post a plan now but my quick thoughts.

• Based off the rivers there is either a delta or some mountains to the south, which way is downstream SamPardi?
• Lair looks great, it also looks expensive so no going for that yet, I suggest grabbing steel carapace and bones before moving onto agile quadrupeds and amphibians next turn. Aquatic creep would be awesome but even just the ability to create zerg that swim would be invaluable for distance scouting, water is faster than land after all.
• We need more RP, which means more hatcheries and more queens. However they are expensive so are not a number one priority, trying to snag at least one support hatchery a turn is probably good though.
• Initial thoughts on action/RP spread is iron hatchery, support hatchery, bridge, draft militia, spar, and three queens.
• I'll tackle unit design in the morning.

 

[Daeth]

So SamPardi once you've had your good night sleep(and only once your rested).
On the Evolution List Agile Quadruped is still listed, is this a mistake, or is it to improve the existing bio-morph, ir did we not get the bio-morph despite it being a part of the Hundling.
Are drones and queens automatically equipped with attack claws or do we have to upgrade them?

I think we should focus on increasing creep and connecting our Primary Hatchery to our Tritium Hatchery first.
As such I think we should have our work crews start building roads, we should probably start a bridge over the smaller river first, leading to the Tritium Hatchery, even if we don't need it like we do for the Great River, it would be a valuable learning experience and likely make traffic between hatcheries much better.

We should definitely Draft Militia Into Artur's Soldier Unit.
If we have an action to spare Sparing with Artur sounds like a good Idea.

 

[Winged One]

...so, were we supposed to get a shitload of free evolutions from killing DEATH KITTY, SamPardi? I mean, I'm certainly not complaining. In fact, I think it's about time to open the Stargate.

Myrrdin wants us to leave some of this planet uneaten, it seems. I'm inclined to humor him, actually, but maybe that's just the conservationist in me. There's also the Appreciate Jungle action and the possibility of spawning even more monsters to eat for free evolutions, of course.

I don't want to upgrade the viewpoint character just yet. We still have the trinium upgrades to unlock first. Likewise with designing DEATH KITTY 2.0, even though it delays the hilarity of an agile Big Guy unit. We require more vespene gas anyway.

I'm tempted to go for the Hominid bio-morph before trinium upgrades, but my guess that it gates adding humans to our polity is pure speculation.

[X] Morph: Queen (-5 RP, -1 larva
[X] Morph: Drone Swarm (-2 RP, -6 larvae)
[X] Morph Hundling Swarm x8 (-12 RP, -24 larvae)

[X] Work Crew: Build Road Network (-3 RP)
[X] Undedicate: all Militia
[X] Milita (dedicated): Police the Stargate hive cluster (suggested effects: cannot promote to Soldier, slight increase in protection of the hive cluster, reduction or prevention of hidden crime modifiers, improve morale)
[X] Soldier: Escort humans leaving the hive cluster on business
[X] Hundling Swarm (dedicated): Protect the Stargate hive cluster x2
[X] Hundling Swarm (dedicated): Protect the trinium hive cluster
[X] Hundling Swarm (dedicated): Escort humans leaving the hive cluster on business
[X] Dancer: celebrate the victory over the mother cat, in a way that respects your fallen foe (suggested effect: chance of CP, Myrrdin less likely to think he made a mistake)
[X] Dancer: exploit the bond of the hive mind for intricate choreography (suggested effect: chance of CP, promote Harmony within the Swarm)
[X] Gather (dedicated): 1 drone swarm
[X] Gather: 1 Scout
[X] Queen: Micromanage x2 (+2 actions)

Resource tally: 16.79 RP, 7 actions, 2 spare drones, Chance of +2 CP, +12 lumber, +1 bundle of herbs

[X] Scout (dedicated until finished): Gather Herbs for study.
[X] Scout: Stalk Great Cat
[X] Scout: Sarcosuchus
[X] Scout: explore east, beyond the trinium hive cluster
[X] Drone: explore east, beyond the trinium hive cluster

[X] Action: Build Hatchery Near Iron Vein (-1 action, -10 RP, -1 drone, dedicate 1 Hundling Swarm for defense until it joins with the Stargate cluster)
[X] Action: Draft Militia Into Artur's Soldier Unit (-1 action)
[X] Action: Spar With Artur (-2 actions)
[X] Action: Scout New Talent. (-1 action)
[X] Action: Appreciate Local Jungle (-1 action, +10 EP)
[X] Action: Build eastern bridge (suggested effects: -1 action, assign 1 drone swarm, Stargate hive cluster and Trinium hive cluster can eventually unite when their creep meets, less chance of "Build the Bridge" going wrong, easier movement to the east)

[X] Ask Myrddin to Reactivate the Gate.

[X] Complete Evolution: Steel Carapace (-10 EP)
[X] Complete Evolution: Steel Bones (-10 EP)
[X] Evolution: Trinium Carapace (0/50)

 

[Daeth]

Hmm, I really want the Trinium Hatchery to be connected before we open the Gate.

Also I recommend that you change the Drone Swarm from Gather to Increase Creep. Gather may give us more RP now, but Creep is the gift that keeps on giving.

Also I think it might be a good Idea to differentiate between the Drones at the Primary and the Drones at the Trinium in the plan. Just for clarities sake.

 

[Winged One]

Hmm, I really want the Trinium Hatchery to be connected before we open the Gate.

Click to shrink...

But that's going to take so long!

Also I recommend that you change the Drone Swarm from Gather to Increase Creep. Gather may give us more RP now, but Creep is the gift that keeps on giving.

Click to shrink...

I have them gathering trade goods, not RP. More creep is somewhat tempting, but our income honestly looks fine as it is.

Also I think it might be a good Idea to differentiate between the Drones at the Primary and the Drones at the Trinium in the plan. Just for clarities sake.

Click to shrink...

The drones at the trinium are already dedicated anyway.

 

[Carrnage]

[X] Winged One.

 

[Derek58]

[X] Winged One

 

[Winged One]

Hm... I think I have a biomorph idea that works equally well or better with steel. SamPardi, what does the Predatroy Senses module do? Because if it lets the zerg find monsters as well or better than scouts can, I think we have what we need for a dedicated scout unit. Also, does metallic carapace or bone have any downsides besides cost and possible building locations?

 

[SamPardi]

Winged One
Predatory Senses allow a unit to seek out enemies, track enemies, search for specific known chemicals, find heat sources and gives a much better chance of gaining initiative for your units should it come to a fight. So yes they are much better at finding monsters and other things besides.

The bone and carapace upgrades have no downsides besides requiring access to the material in question.

 

[Winged One]

Alright then. How's this?

Working name: steel scout Zerg Bloodcat
Quality: Specialist
Locomotion: Agile Quadruped - Fast
Wounds: 1
Defense: Tough Hide 1d6+1
Weapons: Attack Fangs 1d6, Climbing Claws 1d4+1 x2, Attack Claws 1d6
Support Sack Medium: Predatory Senses (much better at finding enemies), Detect Resource Vein (what's it sound like it does?)
Upgrades: Steel Bones?, Retractable Claws?, Leg Muscle Overbuilding (increase in speed?) None
Cost to morph: 4RP
VP to evolve quickly: 13

Not sure about the retractable claws, or even the steel bones. If they push the VP cost to morph above 0, I'll drop them immediately. I might even drop Leg Muscle Overbuilding to avoid a VP cost.

 

[Daeth]

Do we really have enough options open at this point to start designing units?

 

[SamPardi]

Winged One
Well this was going to be explained later, when one was actually properly researched but... any upgrades that are just a material type are categorically different than regular 'upgrades'. When you finish researching Steel Carapace every Zerg unit, unless already equipped with better, that spends a turn at or from now on is made at a hive with Iron resources automatically gains +1 Wounds (Unless a better resource is in play for it). Trinium is +3 Wounds. Steel Bones are +2 to Bone Weapons (claws, fangs etc) and if you had some sort of bone armor, scales that sort of thing, then you'd gain +2 Wounds. Trinium bones... Well, there need to be some surprises.

1. Name... In light of the prior: Scoutling/Bloodhound maybe?
2. Quality is fine
3. locomotion is correct for before upgrade, including Leg Muscle Overbuilding pushes it to Very Fast.
4. I'd expect something with a native wounds 1 to be extremely low cost RP wise. So probably more 4 RP cost there.
5. This would be Tough Hide so 1d6+1 (Reminds me I need to add the defense scaling to the defense sections.)
6. Looks awesome.
7. Also looks awesome.
8. Retractable claws probably aren't what you're looking for, I've added their description to the codex. Honestly I think you have plenty of sneakiness just form the predatory senses. Leg Muscle Overbuilding on the other hand makes tons of sense.
9. Final Cost Estimate: 13-14VP to research, 4RP/0.25VP to actually morph.

I'll try and get the actual design system post finished tonight, but there really isn't that much too it once you know the parts and the VP costs.

 

[Winged One]

Do we really have enough options open at this point to start designing units?

Click to shrink...

Eh... I think so. I mean, there's a morph that's fast with a support sack just big enough for the combination of support abilities I have in mind. Besides, our scouts might get killed less if we leave the blind exploration to a purpose-evolved zerg.

Winged One
Well this was going to be explained later, when one was actually properly researched but... any upgrades that are just a material type are categorically different than regular 'upgrades'. When you finish researching Steel Carapace every Zerg unit, unless already equipped with better, that spends a turn at or from now on is made at a hive with Iron resources automatically gains +1 Wounds (Unless a better resource is in play for it). Trinium is +3 Wounds. Steel Bones are +2 to Bone Weapons (claws, fangs etc) and if you had some sort of bone armor, scales that sort of thing, then you'd gain +2 Wounds. Trinium bones... Well, there need to be some surprises.

Click to shrink...

Alright, good to know.

1. Name... In light of the prior: Scoutling/Bloodhound maybe?
2. Quality is fine
3. locomotion is correct for before upgrade, including Leg Muscle Overbuilding pushes it to Very Fast.
4. I'd expect something with a native wounds 1 to be extremely low cost RP wise. So probably more 4 RP cost there.
5. This would be Tough Hide so 1d6+1 (Reminds me I need to add the defense scaling to the defense sections.)
6. Looks awesome.
7. Also looks awesome.
8. Retractable claws probably aren't what you're looking for, I've added their description to the codex. Honestly I think you have plenty of sneakiness just form the predatory senses. Leg Muscle Overbuilding on the other hand makes tons of sense.
9. Final Cost Estimate: 13-14VP to research, 4RP/0.25VP to actually morph.

I'll try and get the actual design system post finished tonight, but there really isn't that much too it once you know the parts and the VP costs.

Click to shrink...

Hm... I'm tempted to leave off the overbuilt legs, now. Even if we can turn Naquedah or something into VP, we don't have any of that yet. Then again, this morph should help us find some... edited. Maybe I'll add Overbuilt Legs and a second native Wound onto a later model and call that a Scoutling. For now, a major part of this unit's primary role is going into areas of unknown danger, and our VP is currently irreplaceable until we find a way to replace it.

 

[Daeth]

Hmm, this talk of scouting units, has me thinking. What about an avian bio-morph? A small flyer with predatory senses and detect minerals would be a magnificent scout wouldn't it?

SamPardi are there birds around the area? As in animals that aren't one of the great predators? Or is that part of Appreciate Local Jungle?

 

[SamPardi]

Well the jungle walks could result in it. That is a possibility. On the other hand if you wanted to do a write-in actually putting some units on the problem, hunds would probably be best since they could just hunt them like regular predators, but bringing them back to the hatchery for evolution research instead.

 

[Xilph]

Alright, creating an actual vote here. Notable differences from Winged One's summarised at the end. This will possibly change slightly when information such as which way the rivers flow becomes available.


Starting Resources

RP: 38.79 - EP: 50 - VP: 20 - Larvae: 36 - Actions: 5 - Drones: 9 - Scouts: 5 - Queens: 2 - Work Crews: 3 - Soldiers: 1

[X] Morph: Queen (-15 RP, -3 Larvae)
[X] Morph: Drone x13 (13 drones, -4.29 RP, -13 Larva)
[X] Morph: Hundling Swarm x2 (-3 RP, -6 Larva)

Carefully balanced for optimal usage, presume morphing by drone is still an option as I need exactly 13 drones and no more.

[X] Drone Swarm: Gather Trees x1.5 (+4.5 RP)

Need the RP, still cut it mighty close though.

[X] Work Crew (Dedicated): Gathering (Work at Lead hatchery to avoid creep distance penalties.)

Why wasn't this there already? Lead can be handy, might as well go for it.

[X] Work Crew: Build Road (-1 RP)

Let's see what some road does shall we? And I have so little RP to spare so one road it is.

[X] Dancer: celebrate the victory over the mother cat, in a way that respects your fallen foe (suggested effect: chance of CP, Myrrdin less likely to think he made a mistake)
[X] Dancer: exploit the bond of the hive mind for intricate choreography (suggested effect: chance of CP, promote Harmony within the Swarm)

Seems decent so copying from Winged One.

[X] Queen: Micromanage x2

Considered using one to boost Creep, decided not to. We have tons more larva than we can use now so that's useless, but we haven't hit enough Creep for it to be irrelevant as a concern, need several times more than we've got for that.

[X] Gather: Trade Goods (1 Scout)

Medicine is good, let's make sure we still have some yes?

[X] Hundling Swarm: Hunt birds

Let's see if we can't grab some birds as well right? Getting a reference for how hard wings are is good.

[X] Soldier: Escort humans leaving the hive cluster on business

Copying Winged One's action for soldiers, even if it's not too much use without the stargate.

[X] Buy Design: Creeper (-2 VP)

It's a small swarmer zerg for getting us more creep, see the next page for details but the point is to at as a resource/larva dump. Being much more efficient per RP invested than either Queens (0.066 Creep/Turn/RP) or Hatcheries (0.05 Creep/Turn/RP) at 0.24 Creep/Turn/RP while also having no competing interests.

Phase II Resources

RP: 20 - EP: 50 - VP: 18 - Larvae: 14 - Actions: 7 - Drones: 13 - Scouts: 4 - Queens: 2 - Work Crews: 1 - Soldiers: 1 - Hundling: 12

[X] Scout (dedicated until finished): Gather Herbs for study.
[X] Scout: Stalk Great Cat
[X] Scout: Sarcosuchus
[X] Scout: explore east, beyond the trinium hive cluster
[X] Hundling Swarm: explore south, looking for where the rivers go.

[X] Action: Build Hatchery Near Iron Vein (-10 RP, -1 Drone)
[X] Action: Build Support Hatchery (-10 RP, -1 Drone)

All aboard the power train! Hatcheries + Queens = Exponential Power Growth.

[X] Action: Build The Bridge (-11 drones, -1 Work Crew)

[X] Action: Draft Milita
[X] Action: Spar with Artur
[X] Action: Scout New Talent.

Building the bridge is to open up scouting to the west which is good, sparring is because of the potential buff to Artur, and scouting/drafting are to try and nab some boosts, I mean we probably won't get another Artur but something like an advanced scout or dancer could be quite useful, a specialist dancer particularly could be brilliant for culture.

[X] Evolution: Steel Carapace (0/10)
[X] Evolution: Steel Bones (0/10)

They are much cheaper than trinium and much easier to mass produce, trinium is a heavily limited resource so can be delayed while the one we can definitely get tons of is done for now. Also I really want aquatic morphs much more than I want the minor boost from steel to trinium, as steel to trinium is apparently about +33% boost from the base of 1 and aquatic morphs are worth far more than that to us.

[X] Evolution: Amphibian Bio-morph (0/100)

Water travel is great, and water tends to be the best source for poisons once we get a bit more. Plus the incredible distance that could be gained by scouting up/down the river is fantastic.

Final Remaining Resources

VP: 18 - Larvae: 14

That took a lot of going back and rebalancing to get things finished up, cutting super fine there at the end too using literally every last drop of RP I could. Even the extra 0.0266 RP for mass morphing by swarm had to be sacrificed for the per drone morphing, also because 2.166666... swarms is a stupid figure compared to 13 drones, that and it means the 0.29 remainder is gone as the changeover in rounding systems could've left that for a long while, a nice integer number of RP next turn hopefully. I did manage to squeeze in all three queens and two hatcheries though, along with twoish new swarms of drones and hundlings so I think I did pretty good for the RP. May add units once they are decided on, also at least if the river is confirmed to flow north scouting doesn't cost RP as there is nothing left.

Anyway my pertinent questions for SamPardi about what is possible for minor adjustments.

• How big are the hundlings and is that big enough for scouts to ride on? or could they just scout themselves as they're our fastest and most agile units so far so probably the best scouts for mapping terrain at a distance.
• What way is downstream? Our people aren't stupid enough to not tell which way the water flows after all.

And the dot point summary of differences I promised.

• I build both hatcheries and three queens instead of one of each.
• I build seven extra drones, they build 36 extra hundlings.
• I build the big bridge over the western river instead of a minor one over the eastern river.
• Basically totally different hundling actions, scouting and hunting for birds instead of escorting and protecting.
• I go for amphibious morphs over trinium carapace.
• Most importantly, I do not activate the Star Gate yet.

For the star gate thing it's because I don't believe we're stable enough yet, in another turn or two maybe but as is I've already demonstrated we're still pushing our resources to their absolute limits in the path of expansion. We also have a distinct lacking of military capabilities, although steel armour from the forge is probably a thing so the soldiers probably aren't using wooden spears still at least as going through the stargate with the peak of tech being wooden spears? Really recommended against, honestly some kind of trapped fortification around it before opening would be suggestion, a hope in case something goes wrong to just swamp the area in death inducing nerve gas or something.

 

[SamPardi]

Xilph sorry forgot that question. The rivers so far discovered flow south. The Hundlings are about the size of Great Danes, biggish, but not that big. Warriors start to reach the lower limits of pony sized which is plenty rideable and Specials are anywhere from the size of a cougar to the size of a small car depending on concept and purpose. And yes you can still buy individual drones, I'd just prefer you didn't unless its absolutely necessary to your plans.

Also just as an aside, Artur was earned on a natural perfect 100.

 

[Walkir]

[X] Xilph

You got me with amphibious here.

 

[Xilph]

Yeah I only went by drone because I was trying to get the most out of things, RP is still a little tight right now but my predictions of future growth have any concern for that totally clearing up within a few turns once we manage to push creep ahead of expansion. I'll swap that little bit though and add a Hundling swarm to scouting south, they should be better given the distances involved then human scouts.

Also I've got to ask, how are you calculating how much creep we get from buildings built during the turn? Last turn for instance we built a second hatchery and ended up with a radius for the main base of 0.74km higher, which is the base +0.5km we always get plus slightly under half of the +0.5km/turn we'll get from the second hatchery? I mean it doesn't matter here but just wondering for the future, this turn for instance assuming no building/encouraging we'd get 4.37 km radius for the primary hive and 1.06km for the trinium hive right? Just want to make sure I get the numbers right.

 

[Daeth]

Xilph Would you be willing to change the building of the bridge, to building a smaller bridge across the eastern river, leading to the Trinium Hatchery. This should help unite our hatcheries and be a valuable learning experience before we start on the much harder western bridge.

 

[Kerfirou]

[X] Xilph