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[MonkeyMarkMario]

Let's get this going.

Slimer (Soldier, but can spit sticky slime):
Blaster (self-destruct drone):
Gene Bank: Basic Wings (wings, duh):
4 - Xylophagic External Digestive System (better digestion methods): 10ebbor10, NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist, MonkeyMarkMario

[FallacyofUrist]

Don't forget to change the count.

Slimer (Soldier, but can spit sticky slime):
Blaster (self-destruct drone):
Gene Bank: Basic Wings (wings, duh):
4 - Xylophagic External Digestive System (better digestion methods): 10ebbor10, NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist, MonkeyMarkMario

So, any thoughts on our Revision or whatever else we may do with our leftover dice? Burrowing ambush tactics? Whatnot?

[NUKE9.13]

Well, if we don't get the bonus automagically, we will want to use a revision to put these new stomachs into action.
Otherwise, we save our dice for the strategy phase/next design phase.

Speaking of which, Iituem, regarding the strategy phase- could you provide some examples of viable actions in the core thread? I'm not sure how much we need to do in it. Like, I know that building fortifications is one possible action. But I'm unclear on what else would be.

[Puppyguard]

For the swarm!

Slimer (Soldier, but can spit sticky slime):
Blaster (self-destruct drone):
Gene Bank: Basic Wings (wings, duh):
5 - Xylophagic External Digestive System (better digestion methods): 10ebbor10, NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist, MonkeyMarkMario, Puppyguard

[10ebbor10]

I asked Iituem. Tactics are designs, our current tactic is Charge (flank when able).

[RAM]

Pretty Ornamental Shells for the Hive
Our forces shall be artworks. Iridescent carapace gleaming in the sun, a myriad of elegant patterns emerging in the shade, subtle curved textures and imprints shallow enough to avoid catching weapons but deep enough to bear their patterns with clarity and grace. Our glorious appearance shall crush the pride of those who think themselves our betters, and sway the passions of those who would be tasked with our destruction.
Looking for a morale bonus by being beautiful...

Tunnel construction
Excretions that reinforce passage walls and enhanced rubble-moving skills should allow us to produce complex tunnel-systems from which to ambush enemy forces, retreat overwhelmed forces, fortify our territories, and store and transport supplies in an environment suited to our abilities.
If combined with improved digging abilities, we might be able to undermine fortifications and create passages through mountains...

0 Slimer (Soldier, but can spit sticky slime):
0 Blaster (self-destruct drone):
1 Gene Bank: Basic Wings (wings, duh): RAM
5 - Xylophagic External Digestive System (better digestion methods): 10ebbor10, NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist, MonkeyMarkMario, Puppyguard
0 P.O.S.H.
0 Tunnel construction.

[Iituem]

Looks like we have a consensus on XEDS.  Once the other team has their decision made, I'll do a phase update.

[Iituem]

Design: Xylophagic External Digestive System  [Effectiveness: 1-1] [Cost: 1-1] [Bugs: 3-1]

The XEDS has proved to be an unmitigated disaster.  Quite apart from the ambitious attempt to skip right past any sort of omnivorous stomach based around digesting grains or fruits and going straight to digesting plant matter, we seem to have run into basic chemical failures.  We tried extending the stomachs of some experimental Workers to incorporate more acid, but a lot of them simply eroded themselves from the inside or even violently exploded after any sort of mild trauma.  Worse still, it seems that no amount of acid will actually break apart the cellulose in the plant matter we have tried to digest.  The only thing we have managed to get out of this is a slightly improved mechanism for Workers to expel the contents of their stomachs in a hurry.

Given the total failure, we will not be implementing this design in any of our drones this turn.


It is now the Revision Phase.  You have 2 dice remaining.

[10ebbor10]

 A great begin.

Given that that design is utterly useless, I don't even know what to revise.

During the Revision phase, each side may spend dice on one or more Revisions.  Each Revision attempts to refine or fix a single element of an existing design (Effectiveness, Expense or Bugs) and costs 1 die.  Its scope is less limited than Design, but has less chances of going wrong as well.  You may vote No Revision to conserve dice.

[RAM]

Ugh. I really wanted to save up our dice. I thought, let's just get a rush of stuff out, cover our bases, and then revise up some more effectiveness in our now well-rounded stuff. But ugh, two ones, that is a non-event. Even the three is below average, so maybe we would be better off rerolling the whole thing next turn than trying to squish a working model out of this fiasco.

Slanted workers
Introduce some workers with extended, pointier fronts to give them better deflection against spear-thrusts from their front. These would ideally act as a vanguard, eing at the front when contact is made and withdrawing once battle-lines break down.

Staggered hunting
We stop hunting and move onto a new region prior to it being completely depopulated to ensure that the regions near our colonies continue to be productive.

[NUKE9.13]

Let's start as we mean to go on, eh?

So. Hmm. Our current tactics are "Charge enemy, attack enemy until no more enemy". Could we do anything useful to that with a revision? Maybe something like

Don't Charge Straight Into Spears: Seriously, don't do it. Their spearmen are few in number compared to us. We can easily afford to circle around them, mowing through the ranks of slaves, then charging into their sides instead- or better yet, targeting their weak archers and skirmishers, forcing the spearmen to come to us.

[10ebbor10]

Nuke, while your thing is a nice strategy, do note that all fronts are going up against fortified positions. That makes flanking very hard.

[NUKE9.13]

Point. Well, in that case, I can't really think of a revision that could help us at the moment. Certainly not when we don't actually know what the balance of combat looks like.
Slanted Workers- we don't know how weak to spears Workers are at the moment. It says they are decent in melee combat already.
Staggered Hunting- I don't think we'll get much of a boost to food production with a revision. Then again, maybe even a small boost would be worth a die. I dunno.

Slanted Workers:
Staggered Hunting:
No Revision: (1) NUKE9.13

[10ebbor10]

Anyway, fun with math.

Drive link

The enemy has at least 3728 Manpower,957 Training, 661 ore and 55 timber. Add to that whatever they spend on ships.

That is considerably more than us, btw.


On a per front level, the math is the following :

Front 1  (5 Food + Naval Support)

1737 Manpower
411 Training
295 ore
22 Timber

Front 2 ( 4 food + Naval)

1100 Manpower
335 Training
209 Ore
17 Timber

Front 3 ( 2 food + Naval)

891 Manpower
211 Training
157 Ore
16 Timber

Based on this, I can make no useful considerations whatsoever.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway, a few revision proposals.

Our workers are already equipped with serated ridges on their middle legs. Further messing with their DNA causes similar edges and hooks to appear on all their legs, which they can use to hook onto trees and pallisades to rapidly climb them. The edges are also useful in combat, being dangerous tools that can be used to pull and pin down opponents, though that is not a priority. 

Slanted Workers:
Staggered Hunting:
Clawed Workers (1) : 10ebbor10
No Revision: (1) NUKE9.13

Basically, we have to take fortifications, let's teach our workers how to climb.