You and Artur circle around each other for what feels like the thousandth time this month, though was probably closer the hundredth. He's gotten much more used to moving in the basic lamellar, small iron plates laced together to form a larger protective surface, armor your blacksmiths had worked out to equip your troops with. Likewise, being forced to face your superior bulk and greater selection of striking angles has really made him faster and sharper. Enough so that you're not eager to take the fight in close despite the range advantage he gains from his spear.
Then again, you think as he rushes in to end the spar, its not as though you haven't grown as well. You smoothly evade his spear thrusts despite your size and strike back with your longer claws just missing his armor by millimeters as he dances around your attack. For several seconds you keep the exchange going but soon natural talent shines through as usual and you wind up nursing a hard bump to the head.
"You're much better than when you started," he acknowledges to soften the loss. (You gained
Skilled)
"Asss are you," you compliment him in an annoyingly hissing tone. (Artur gained
Skilled) Frankly you prefer talking through the hive mind, but Myrddin made a good point about relying overly much on something that future allies may not have access to. Like it or not, you are the face of the swarm and getting to the point where you can pronounce words correctly will be a long hard road.
"I heard the scouts only lost one person to the Great Cats this month," he observes.
"Yesss. Having Rashe take over the invesstigation of the Ssarcosssuchuss has sssaved many livess. Sssadly we have discovered no new weaknessssess," you reply. (Scout Talent: Success, Rashe the Falconer (Scout) discovered.)
The both of you fall silent as you look towards the brand new bridge over the Great River. It had been your people's greatest feat of engineering thus far and had claimed over a dozen lives in the process of construction, including a couple drones.
"I've heard there's been increased pressure to expand the hives, he stated."
You shrug. "It iss ssomething of a fad. Perhapss we will get lucky and it will die down sssoon."
"After that fiasco at the victory celebration? I kind of doubt it." Artur chuckled at the memory. You remembered it less fondly.
The intention had been to respect the fallen enemies and their sacrifice. You couldn't entirely blame the dancers when it went right off the rails into glorifying the kill. Something in the audience just hadn't been ready to forgive or respect the creatures and as the hive mind grew closer their antagonism bled over. You'd been able to keep it from going completely to pot, but the goal had still been a dismal failure. Rather than providing Myrrdin with some proof he made a good decision he instead walked away mildly disappointed with your people. (Natural
99,
Critical Failure,
+1 CP,
Fad has changed to
Hunger)
A follow up performance meant to promote harmony did nothing to change the cultural pressures, despite being a rather good performance all around.
"Hey, I had an idea!" He tells you and then sends you something through the swarm. You have to admit it's actually rather impressive for its supposed simplicity. After all its really just a saddle, or perhaps a saddle chair hybrid... In any case, the concept was simply a creature that ferried people around in covered comfort. Kind of like a covered land-boat that steered itself, you thought. (
Ability: Ferry 2 Passengers req. Warrior or greater quality. Stackable.)
"It'll be consssidered like all the others. I make no promissses, but truly a ingenious idea." You tell him. And it would make it easier to get out to that nice lake and waterfall over to the South-East. It was apparently quite the sight and despite seeing it through the swarm you couldn't help wanting to see it a bit better with your own eyes. They'd even discovered a heard of herbivorous pachyderms in the area. Much too defensive to get close too, unlike the 'Big Softy' but equally as harmless so long as you gave them their space.
The first roads had been paved within the hive though they only connected one of the tenements to the hive at the moment. Still it was progress of a sorts and supposedly as you'd get more trade goods their lives would become somewhat more cosmopolitan.
A/N: The map doesn't go all the way South because you hit the edge of the map I had ready and kept going. A Continent-Map is in the works, though.
Map
Important Updates:
80/200 Birds gathered towards unlocking, 'Thin-boned Avian Bio-morph'
Hive Upgrade Discovered - Steel Carapace, all wounds +1
Hive Upgrade Discovered - Steel Bones, +2 wounds if the creature has the armored perk, all bone weapons (claws, spikes, horns, etc…) gain +2 to all rolls.
Ability Discovered - Ferry 2 Passengers req. Warrior or greater quality. Stackable.
Talent: Rashe the Falconer discovered.
Unit Creeper is now available.
-
Name: Rashe the Falconer
Wounds: 2
Race: Human
Quality: Soldier
Defense: Leather Armor with Iron Inserts 1d4+1
Weapon: Iron Spear 1d6+2
Traits: Loner (-10 chance of success on all diplomacy rolls, must lead a 20% smaller unit), Falconer (Can scout creatures from a distance and is less likely to lose any of her team while finding or tracking monsters.) Sneak Attack (Gets one free attack at the start of combat if she wins initiative.)\
-
Name: Artur
Wounds: 4
Race: Human
Quality: Soldier
Defense: Llemelar Iron Armor 1d6+8
Weapon: Iron Spear 1d6+8
Traits: Charismatic (+10% chance of success for all diplomacy rolls, can lead a 20% larger unit), Talented (+4 to all combat rolls from sheer natural talent), Leadership (Units they lead are resistant to morale shocks, -20 to morale shock rolls), Destined (Hard to define, but some people… They're just destined for great things.) Skilled (+2 Attack/Defense)
-
Name: You (Queen)
Wounds: 5
Race: Zerg
Quality: Specialist
Defense: Hide 1d4+2
Weapons: Work Claws 1d4+3 x4
Support: Large Sack (3 Abilities) - Larvae Inject, Creep Tumors, Micromanage
Traits: Overmind (You are the founder and leader of Zerg society and you are the one ultimately in charge of everything. +3 Actions/turn) Steel Carapace (+1 Wound), Steel Bones (+2 to all claw attack rolls), Skilled (+2 Attack/Defense)
-
Name: Creeper
Quality: Swarmer
Cost: 0.25 RP, 1 Larva
Wounds: 1
Locomotion: Crawlers
Defense: Hide 1d4
Weapons: Attack Claws, Climbing Claws
Support Sack Small: Creep Tumors
Primary Hive Statistics:
Buildings: 3 Hatcheries, 3 tenements, 1 Forge, 1 Loom
Larvae: 36
Units: 3 Queens (not counting You, 2 available, 1 dedicated(Micromanagement)), 6 Drone Swarms (4 Swarms Available, 2 Swarms Dedicated (Lead, Iron)), 2 Hundling Swarms (1 Available, 1 Dedicated (Scouting Next Map Southward)), 4 Work Crews (2 available, 2 Dedicated (Gathering)), 2 Militia (2 Dedicated), 1 Soldier, 5 scouts (1 Dedicated)
Humans: 3032 (0 Recruitable Civilians, Approx. 510 children) (Ten Children come of age and are used to fill holes in various units.)
Creep: 5.2305km Radius (85.95 RP)
Trinium Satellite Hive Statistics:
Buildings: 1 Hatchery
Larvae: 24
Units: 5 Drones (5 available)
Humans: 0
Creep: 1.06km Radius (3.53 RP)
Iron Satellite Hive Statistics:
Buildings: 1 Hatchery
Larvae: 12
Units: 0 Drones (0 available)
Humans: 0
Creep: 0.56 km Radius (1 RP)
Stockpiles:
RP: 100.04 - EP: 30 - VP: 18 - Actions: 5 (Counts dedicated Micromanagement)
|
[ ] 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.
|
[ ] 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 Points (Up to 2 Hunger)
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 Around Stargate
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 forcing the enemy through a check-point you control before they can assault the Hive. (Cost: 1 action, 2 RP, Assign 2 Work Crews and 2 Drones)
[ ] Action:
Build Support Hatchery
Does nothing but expand creep and pump out more Larva for a given Hive. Limit 1 per Queen.
- [ ] Select Hive
(Cost: 1 Action, 10 RP, 1 Drone)
[ ] 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:
Scout New Talent.
(40% of success, 11% chance of producing specialist. Can be taken multiple times.) (Cost: 1 Action)
[ ] 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 (Medium-Easy depending on force sent.)
(You know where it lives, it can't be that hard to track down. It won't give you much, but there should be some EP from its relatively unique genetic make-up. 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 Southern Rex (Medium)
(You know where it hunts, 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 (Hard)
Well, you now know of something that might be called a weakness by an optimistic sort and your basic zerg units are literally steely now. So there may be some hope... Yeah, you'd better send a lot of units and expect to lose many 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 (30/100)
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.
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
-
Name: Wagenling
Quality: Warrior
Cost: 1 RP, 0.25 VP, 1 Larvae
Locomotion: Crawler - Fast
Wounds: 2
Defense: Tough Hide 1d6+2
Attack: Climbing Claws 1d6+2 x4
Support Sack Medium: Ferry 2 Passengers x2
Upgrade: Leg Muscle Overbuilding
