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| Thread: Another town to talk aout... The Hive |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT» |
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crepus
Adventuring Hero
Nuclear Power Plant
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posted October 04, 2006 05:09 PM |
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Edited by crepus at 15:02, 10 Oct 2006.
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Another town to talk about... The Hive
OK, so I know that this forum is filled with different approaches to new towns, and improvements of existing ones.
Here's another new one, please give me some input on what you think of it.
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The Hive
Subterranean town of insectoids, lead by troglodytes and medusae.
Insectoids are weak but abundant and, immune to the spell wasp swarm.
History:
In the wizards creation of beast men they made many new, strange races using al sorts of magic and samples of tissue and blood from many of the existing races. The Wizard Farouk Al-Jiza travelled most of the known world to get specimens on which he could experiment. In 515 YSD he injected the blood of a Naga into several hydra eggs, and forced the genomes to mix, so that what hatched seemed both humanoid and reptilian. He named his new creatures Medusae, and they were proud and enigmatic creatures, with the Naga abilities to wield magic.
After he heard of the pact Tuidhana made with a Faceless he travelled to her kingdom and managed to sample something of that surviving eldest. Using this (tears? blood? toenails? nobody knows) ad combining it with imp blood and large subterranean fungi he created the blind troglodytes in 545 YSD. Both species reproduce very rarely but on the other hand they have very long life spans.
In the early years of the Civil wars of the Seven Cities the four hundred or so medusae and the thousand or so troglodytes fled their hometown, seeing that its ruin would be imminent. Searching out a subterranean home, as they all were partially cave dwellers, they came upon a strange area known as the Marsh Caves, hidden on the border of Heresh. There they found several species of large insects, living in a constant war over foodstuff and living areas. The medusa thirst for knowledge led them fairly quickly to tame the insectoids in stead of having to constantly fight them, and in the taming the different species ceased fighting among one another. They now try not to bother any other countries, and live their life in solitude and tranquillity.
As both medusae and troglodytes shun oppression, remembering their status as slaves and playmates in the Seven Cities, they have no king or queen, rather every Hive town is its own city-state. They also dislike their former masters godlessness, and have taken to pray equally much to all six elemental dragons, as they believe in equality.
Faction special:
Hive Mind
The Troglodytes and Medusae have built a special link to their insectoids, leading them in battle. Each time the hero attacks an opponent all insectoids in his/her army will do greater damage to that particular opponent until the heroes next move. Both min. damage and max. damage will augment.
Basic Hive Mind: max damage increases with one.
Advanced H.M. : min damage increase with one, max damage increases with two.
Expert H.M. : min damage increase with two, max damage increases with three
Ultimate H.M. : min damage increased with three, max damage increases with five.
Creatures:
Level 1: larvae/armoured larvae
Attack: 1, 1
Defence: 1, 4
Damage: 1 – 1, 1 – 2
Initiative: 7, 8
Speed: 4, 4
HP: 4, 5
Looks just like a big larvae. Green with yellow blots or brown with black blots.
Emotionless: can have a morale level no lower than -1 and no higher than +1. They are immune to all sorts of terror and fear, and have a 50% immunity against mind magic.
Eat dead opponents regaining health in the process. 1 HP for every 2 HP of individuals killed in the stack during that attack Only works on corporeal organic enemies, including skeletons, zombies, vampires, lich and skeleton dragons. Does not work on elementals, golems, war machines or ethereal undead. Larvae do not resurrect using this ability.
* Retaliator: Armoured larvae gain a 100% bonus on retaliation damage after defending.
Level 2: troglodytes/troglodyte hive-throwers
Attack: 4, 5
Defence: 4, 5
Damage: 4 – 6, 5 – 7
Initiative: 7, 8
Speed: 4, 4
Shots: 0, 4
HP: 10, 12
Immune to blind (since they don’t have eyes)
*Nestthrowing
Throwers throw hornet nests with a short range, can not be thrown longer than 4 squares. The nest acts like a wasp swarm curse, decreasing the initiative of the hit monster by 20% until next action.
Level 3: drone/warrior
Attack: 5, 6
Defence: 3, 4
Damage: 3 – 6, 3 – 8
Initiative: 10, 12
Speed: 6, 7
HP: 11, 15
Ant-like insectoid, warriors first attack is with its bee-like stinger
Emotionless
*Egglayer: if the warriors manage to kill living enemies at their first attack then for each enemy killed one new warrior will be hatched after the battle (or as many as there are warriors, depending on which is the lowest). Only works on organic enemies leaving carcasses. Does not work on elementals, golems or undead, except for zombies.
Level 4: serpent fly/dragonfly
Attack: 6, 8
Defence: 7, 7
Damage: 5 – 8, 7 – 12
Initiative: 14, 15
Speed: 5, 7
HP: 22, 28
Flyer, emotionless,
disruptor: 50% chance to dispel beneficial magic on opponent
*suffering attack Dragonfly always dispel beneficial magic and 40% curses with a weak variety of suffering, decreasing enemy attack with three for every hit, lasting five turns.
{or dispelling is X% - 2% per level of enemy spellpower + 1% per 5 serpent fly/dragonfly}
Level 5: mantis/war mantis
Attack: 13, 15
Defence: 12, 12
Damage: 8 – 10, 8 – 14
Initiative: 10, 10
Speed: 6, 8
HP: 38, 48
Large Creature, Flyer, No enemy retaliation, Emotionless
* Supreme retaliation: The war mantis has a 50% chance to withstand enemy no retaliation ability, she also retaliates so fiercely that enemy defence is completely ignored.
Level 6: medusa/medusa mystic
Attack: 22, 25
Defence: 20, 20
Damage: 18 – 22, 20 – 25
Initiative: 9, 10
Speed: 4, 4
Shots: 8, 10
Mana: 0, 12
HP: 80, 95
Large creature, Shooter (bow and arrow), no melee penalty
petrifying gaze with a 50% chance to work (in melee only). Petrified creatures do not retaliate, loose all their accumulated ATB value, reaccumulation takes twice as long as usual (i.e. losing 50% of initiative until they move next). Only works on living creatures. If enemy is healed then petrification is lifted.
Medusa mystic is spellcaster (adv. haste, adv. weakness, master magic fist) and has a melee attack that has a 30% chance to turn 10% of enemy stack to stone, stone gaze thereby killing it instantly. Only works on living creatures.
Level 7: flame bug/fire bug
Attack: 25, 28
Defence: 30, 30
Damage: 20 – 25, 22 – 30
Initiative: 10, 10
Speed: 5, 5
Shots: 0, 5
HP: 160, 180
Fire bugs are gigantic beetles spewing a highly flammable liquid (think Starship troopers…) Troglodytes ride them to direct them properly
Large creature
The flame bug has a fire attack similar to dragons, hitting any creature behind chosen opponent.
The fire bug shoots its organic napalm in the same manner the magi shoots his magic fire, all the way through the battle field, hitting everything in its way. Since the fire bug creates its own napalm it can once per combat spend a turn accumulating, gaining five more shots.
Heroes:
• Troglodyte: attack/defence of larvae (luck, soldiers luck )
• Troglodyte: attack/defence of troglodytes, more nests to
throw (attack, archery)
• Troglodyte: attack/defence of drones & warriors, twice as
many warriors hatch (summoning magic, m. of life) spell: Fist of Wrath
• Medusa : attack/defence of serpent & dragon flies
(destructive magic, m. of storms) spells: lightning bolt
• Troglodyte: attack/defence of mantis ()
• Medusa : attack/defence of medusae
(sorcery, magic insight)
• Troglodyte: master breeder (all insectoid habitats get
a 20% increase +1% per hero level in creature growth. Must be situated in town for growth to take effect)(leadership, recruitment)
• Medusa : insect intelligence (negates emotionless and gives all insectoids enraged ability)
(light magic, master of wrath) spells: righteous might
• Medusa : elemental defence (lesser damage from elemental magic attacks and fire attacks, -5% -1% per hero level; no enemy elemental chaining, skills hellfire, mana burst, fiery wrath, corrupted soil, cold steel and chilling bones have their effects halved)
(defence, protection)
• Medusa: equilibrist (chance to begin battle by
simultaneously casting free haste on slowest own troop and slow on fastest non-immune enemy troop, and stealing 0.25 of that enemy creatures initiative, giving it to the affected own creature. Up to two creatures at lev. 10, three at lev.20 etc.)(light magic, dark magic) Spells: haste, slow
Specific abilities:
Racial:
Pheromonal frenzy : the opponent is hit with a stinking substance that makes all insectoids (friend or foe) in its vicinity attack it. This includes all that it has to pass to reach its target. Effect stays until heroes next turn.
Double attack: Hero will simultaneously attack two opponents if they are directly next to each other, or one square apart. Thus marking two opponents for Hive Mind attacks.
Hatch master: if the Hatchery is built in a Hive town, hero will be able to hatch larvae into drones (cost 5 wood per larvae), serpent flies (6 wood/larvae) or mantis (8 wood+1sulphur/larvae). The metamorphosis will take at least 2, 3 resp. 5 days, but creatures will not be available until the beginning of the next week.
Hive Lord (ultimate): Hive Mind also augments the attack by the insectoid with 3-9 depending on hero luck.
Logistics:
Death March (req. Pathfinding)
Teleport Assault (req. Death March)
War Machines:
Master Healer: First Aid Tent gets initiative 12 and a full six healing actions (req. First Aid)
Plague tent (req. Master Healer)
Enlightenment:
Graduate (req. Scholar)
Leadership:
Bug hatcher: Hero will be able to hatch flame bugs for 12 wood+2 sulphur, 7 days (req. recruitment)
Blind Joy: Troglodyte morale never goes lower than zero
Luck:
Spoils of War
Medusa Salvo: there is a luck-based chance all medusae in heroes’ army will get a shot at the enemy the hero just attacked. No luck roll on those attacks.
Offence:
Termite attack: At the beginning of each battle, hero summons termites that attack the enemy ballista, first aid tent and/or ammo cart. For each turn they take damage depending on hero level (req. Tactics)
Retribution (req. Termite attack)
Defence:
Resistance (req. Vitality)
Poison pins: melee attacked insectoids get the chance to poison their attackers in their retaliation. Poison works like the assassin ability, but damage is multiplied by level of retaliating creature (req. Resistance)
Sorcery:
Fast Magic: casters in heroes army use only 70% of their initiative when casting spells
Exoskeletal ward: like bone ward, but for insectoids
Destructive Magic:
Sap Magic (req. Master of Storms)
Seal of Elements: enemy hero is forced to spend twice more mana to cast Destructive Magic spells in combat (req. Sap Magic)
Dark Magic:
Vicious critters: give all insectoids, troglodytes and medusae a 60% chance to withstand Curse of the Netherworlds.
Dark Renewal
Light Magic:
Suppress Light
Fortune taker: Hero gets activated ability to steal one point of luck from random enemy creature for the rest of the battle, adding one to random own troop (req. Suppress Light, Advanced Luck)
Summoning Magic:
Wall of fog: troglodytes are immune to this (req. Master of Conjuration)
Bugfest: Hero receives the spell Wasp Swarm, can cast it for free and in a 3x3 area (req. Wall of fog).
Town
Dwellings:
Queen’s Dwelling: Allows you to recruit 20 larvae per week
Upg. Queens Lair.
Warren: Allows you to recruit 12 troglodytes per week (req. town lev. 3)
Upg. Buzzing Warren
Drones nest: Allows you to recruit 12 drones per week (req. town lev. 4, Queens Dwelling)
Upg. Warriors nest
Serpent fly Hive: Allows you to recruit 8 serpent flies per week (req. town lev. 5, Queens Dwelling)
Upg. Dragon Fly Hive
XX : Allows you to recruit 4 mantis per week (req. town lev. 7)
Upg. YY
Chapel of Stilled Voices: Allows you to recruit 2 medusae per week (req. Temple of the Six, town lev. 10)
Upg. Statuary Garden
Mound: Allows you to recruit one Flame bug per week (req. town lev. 14, Hatchery)
Upg. Fire mound
Buildings:
Blacksmith, cheap First Aid Tents
Mage Guild, levels 1-3 have one Destructive and one Summoning each, and one Light or Dark spell. However, if the 2nd level Light spell is Cleansing; or the 2nd level Dark spell is Decay then the spells Deflect Missile and Confusion will not be available at 3rd level. Also, if both 1st and 2nd level spells are Light/Dark then 3rd level spell will be Dark/Light. Guild levels 4 and 5 have one Light and Dark spell each.
Special buildings:
Hatchery, see above. Only one type of metamorphosis at a time can be done. Also increases number of larvae with 5 per week (req. Queens Dwelling, town level 4)
Temple of the six: this temple dedicated to equal appraisal to the dragons of light, darkness, air, water, earth and fire, gives every visiting army a 40% magic resistance to enemy cursing and elemental magic until the next battle. During that battle no destructive magic Mastery abilities (freezing, stunning, armour damaging) work on your army. The temple also adds one spell of Dark and Light Magic each, both meant to be the equivalent of existing spells in levels 1-3, and the Summon Elemental spell to town Mage Guild (req. Mage Guild level 4).
Equilibrative spells are Weakness–Divine Strength, Slow-Haste, Vulnerability-Endurance and Suffering-Righteous Might.
Funghi Farms: Increases the number of troglodytes by three per week. (req. Warren, town level 4)
Channeling Tower: Increases Knowledge and Spellpower with one for each visiting hero. During siege, the Tower steals additional mana from enemy caster when he or she is casting a spell, increasing own hero’s mana. (req. Citadel, town level 10)
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Mater tua criceta fuit, et Pater tuo
redoluit bacarum sambucus.
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watcher83
Supreme Hero
Child of Malassa
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posted October 04, 2006 07:52 PM |
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Interesting town. Isn't lv6 a bit high for the medusa? How about making one unit an evil eye?
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SBlister
Famous Hero
Rakshasa Commander
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posted October 04, 2006 09:28 PM |
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I'll admit when I saw the title I thought this was gonna be crap, but this a very well thought of town. And I don't simply say that. I like the mantis unit. Yeah the medusa is a little high but the abilities you thought of are brilliant. A little tweaking and it would be excellent. Good job. 
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SBlister
Famous Hero
Rakshasa Commander
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posted October 04, 2006 09:30 PM |
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Hey Crepus, you should help us with developing our Naga town. We need fresh ideas.
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Ted
Promising
Supreme Hero
Peanut Exterminator
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posted October 04, 2006 10:01 PM |
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Very nice, it should go well in Ashan because there has only been one offical underground people (dungeon) so if they go to war over control it would be an interesting campaign.
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baklava
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Mostly harmless
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posted October 04, 2006 10:06 PM |
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Respect.
I agree with SBlister, drop in to the Perfect <insert naga town name here>, we could use your help
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Ted
Promising
Supreme Hero
Peanut Exterminator
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posted October 04, 2006 10:58 PM |
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Hey maybe you could add female matis as the upgrade there bigger, but can not fly (because of larva in its.....). But dont no what to have it made from to be called
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crepus
Adventuring Hero
Nuclear Power Plant
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posted October 05, 2006 12:27 AM |
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Answers 1
watcher83:
My thought of the medusa as a level six was that she is on the same strength level as the Dungeon Shadow Witches. Sort of that the combination of Naga and Hydra made something more powerful. As for the Evil Eyes, I do like them (especially the H4 variety), but they really don't fit into my history. I know there is some similar creature in Dark Messiah, so possibly they will show up as neutrals or in an orc faction.
SBlister & Baklava: Thank you very much!
Post a link to your Naga town and I'll see what I can do 
Ted: I'm concidering both my mantis and war mantis to be female. They both probably feasted on their males after conception, as is the tradition among several mantis species 
Did you mean that the female mantis would be full of eggs, hence not being able to fly?
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As yo might see on the differences between my troops, I had in mind that the master races, troglodytes and medusae, would be more like Dungeon creatures in numbers and strength, while the insectoids would be numerous but weak.
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Mater tua criceta fuit, et Pater tuo
redoluit bacarum sambucus.
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SBlister
Famous Hero
Rakshasa Commander
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posted October 05, 2006 01:39 AM |
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Here's the link:
Naga Town
Hope to see you around. It's a long read. There's like 7 pages and a lot of bickering.
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actionjack
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted October 05, 2006 05:32 AM |
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very nice written
great details.
Highly creative.
I love a bug swaming hive town. But just a personal prefernce, but still feel strange to have Medusa and Troglodytes in there... just seem out of place with rest of the bug. Would perfer something like Hive Queen or so, and make it all bug town. Also the lv 7 creature could use a better name.
Anyhow, great stuff.. lots better and more well compose than many other's proposed towns.
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Sindbad
Famous Hero
The lost soul
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posted October 05, 2006 02:47 PM |
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Edited by Sindbad at 14:51, 05 Oct 2006.
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Yes, I agree. This is nice work!
I havent read it very carefully, but I think you missed the heroes racial skill (you wrote only the abilities) and the hero class. (sorry if I missed it)
Edit: Oh now I see it! The insect mind (or whatever its called)! I think this racial skill isnt very original and I think its way too overpowered (imagine a stack of some hundreds of larvas getting a +5 damage!!!!!). But still I cant find the hero class.
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Imrix
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 05, 2006 04:04 PM |
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True, but that's the ultimate grade, which I've found is pretty hard to get.
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Sindbad
Famous Hero
The lost soul
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posted October 05, 2006 04:09 PM |
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Quote:
True, but that's the ultimate grade, which I've found is pretty hard to get.
No, its not. (You ever played heroes?) And thats not what I mean, try to compare it to other ultimate racial skills!
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Ted
Promising
Supreme Hero
Peanut Exterminator
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posted October 05, 2006 05:06 PM |
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Quote:
Ted: I'm concidering both my mantis and war mantis to be female. They both probably feasted on their males after conception, as is the tradition among several mantis species
Did you mean that the female mantis would be full of eggs, hence not being able to fly?
Yes i ment that, since the female is full of eggs it wouldnt be able to fly. But what about the men? what do they do in this anyway? Hey it could be an upgrade on the building to let you get more at te start of the week
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Visit my Site!
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Imrix
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 06, 2006 02:46 AM |
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@Sindbad: Yes. Repeatedly. Getting say... Ultimate Necromancy/Gating/Avenger/Whatever is fairly hard, because it's purely a matter of luck. If you don't find a Pendant of Mastery, well, sucks to be you.
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Sindbad
Famous Hero
The lost soul
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posted October 06, 2006 07:19 PM |
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Quote:
@Sindbad: Yes. Repeatedly. Getting say... Ultimate Necromancy/Gating/Avenger/Whatever is fairly hard, because it's purely a matter of luck. If you don't find a Pendant of Mastery, well, sucks to be you.
I have no idea what you mean...
All I can say to that: its right you must have luck.
But what I meant is that in comparison to other racial skills this one is pretty overpowered. (And also very unoriginal to me)
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crepus
Adventuring Hero
Nuclear Power Plant
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posted October 09, 2006 03:23 PM |
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Answers 2
Actionjack:
I've read through a number of other insectoid towns, and had to agree with many comments on them: very frail history and no hero fitting the town, but rather human heroes taking over hives just because. That is why I added the troglodytes and medusae.
I do agree that 'flame/fire bug' doesn't sound all too good. 'Flame/Fire beetle' would be a bit better. I guess I just got stuck on the only memorable line from the Starship Troopers film: BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS! 
Sindbad:
You did notice that the Hive Mind ability only works for one turn after hero attacks, right? Well... it might still be a bit overpowered.
Maybe powering down by setting
Advanced Hive Mind to increase min. and max. damage with one.
Expert Hive Mind to increase min. damage with one and max damage with two.
Ultimate Hive Mind to increase min damage with two and max damage with three.
And then let the Hive Lord ability add an extra two to max. damage, as well as the attack bonus.
But I do partially agree with Imrix, getting the Pendant Of Mastery is mostly coincidental, and you have to have a Trade Guild/Artifact Forgery in a town or a Black Market waggon to find it.
And - by golly - you're right, I haven't given the heroes a class name. So let's call the class Hive Lord and rename the ultimate ability to Insect Master or something the like.
You say you find the class ability unoriginal. Well, it was the best one I could think of. Setting the Hatchery ability as the main one would simply turn the town into a carbon copy of Haven. If you can think of anything similar, that would fit the faction then please tell us all 
Also, if anybody has an idea for a catchy name for the dwelling of the Mantis (I think XX/YY isn't very comme-il-faut) then fire away!
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Mater tua criceta fuit, et Pater tuo
redoluit bacarum sambucus.
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Sindbad
Famous Hero
The lost soul
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posted October 09, 2006 03:28 PM |
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One thing I dont understand - it seems you are taklking like if the ultimate level of the racial skill was obtainable only by the pendant of mastery... Is this true?
And I havent been thinking af a different racial skill for these guys yet, but if I can, Ill tell you. And Hive lord sounds also very unoriginal (too similar to demon lord) and like if the heroes were somkinda noble...
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crepus
Adventuring Hero
Nuclear Power Plant
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posted October 10, 2006 02:01 PM |
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Ultimate Necromancy, Ultimate Avenger etc are all - as far as I've seen - only available with the Pendant of Mastery. I haven't even managed to cheat a hero up to that level, which one is (or was, depending on patch) supposed to be able to do.
Trying to find better acronyms for "Lord", i looked through thesaurus.com and only found a few names that could work. I suggest Hive Ogema
Hive Sachem
or Hive Suzerain.
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Imrix
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 10, 2006 02:18 PM |
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Suzerain is Isabel's racial ability, you can only get the Ultimate level with a Pendant, and what about Hive Dominator? Or master/mistress?
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