The Nameless Queen's Rules and Mechanics · 11:17pm Feb 14th, 2018
For those who want to have a better understanding of the hive to plan their strategies, here is a guide for all the hive mechanics introduced in the story.
Statistics:
Anonymity: How much suspicious ponies are of you. Once the anonymity level reaches 0, all the world will know about your hive, and they will react according to your reputation level with them.
Reputation: How much a community likes or dislikes you, this score ranges from -10 (hated) to +10 (loved). As your score gets higher, you'll receive bonuses such as love supply and other possible sidequests or rewards. As it gets lower, it will become harder for the queen to interact with members of that race, increasing the likelihood of being attacked by its members. The amount of reputation earned by each faction might be influenced by the Queen's Personality.
Aside from that, there's also Overall Reputation, this statistic represents how well your persona and your real form are persieved worldwide, it ranges from -100 (hated) to +100 (loved).
Personality: How the Young Queen reacts to the world around her. Her personality will change according to the choices she makes, friendly choices will make the Queen react more happily, if only a bit naive. More tactical choices will make the Queen be more analytical of the world around her. Lastly, more aggressive choices will make improve the Queen's assertiveness, but also her hostility. You gain bonus reputation with factions that match your current personality trait.
Love Supply: How much love energy you're consuming per how much you're producing (e.g.: 2/4). Any bonuses or penalties are applied to produced, or stored, love supply. (e.g. a research might cost 2 love supply, dropping the love count to 2/4(-2)) If your love consumption becomes higher than love produced, your units won't be able to heal in standard healing chambers, such as hatcheries. Also, at every -1 love supply, your hive's morale will decrease, leading to the possibility of changelings abandoning the hive.
Morale: This represent the happiness of the hive, this scale varies from -10 (angry) to +10 (happy). As this scale gets higher, your drones will gain bonus exp from their assigned tasks and may achieve a critical success, resulting in a better reward. As it gets lower, your changelings will receive an exp penalty and their successfulness rate will drop. Additionally, some changelings might choose to leave the hive. (Morale is lost or gained at the end of each chapter
Your drones might ask you to fulfill some requests from time to time, these requests will always award you additional morale, aside from potential extra rewards. Denying them, however, may lead to a loss of morale.
Experience: This represent the skill level of a drone. A higher level drone will have a higher successfulness rate on its task. It will also unlock new passive abilities for that drone. (Exp is shared through all the drones in a unit, however, their skills can be chosen individually)
Successfulness and Danger rate: The successfulness rate represents the chance of completing an assigned task. Completing a task award the drone unit exp. The danger rate represent the cance of your changelings getting hurt or killed, regardless if the assigned task succedded or failed. The sucessfulness rate is influenced by Fatigue.
Fatigue: As your drones work, they'll build up Fatigue, decreasing their sucessful rate by 15% for each command performed. Tired drones may rest at the hive or any annex structures to recover 40% fatigue. Some upgrades or spells may reduce the fatigue build up or provide a temporary bonus while some structures might increase the amount of fatigue recovered after resting.
Changeling Classes:
Gatherer: Changelings specialized in passively gathering love on nearby settlements, increasing the hive's produced love supply while gathering. They have their own personal pony form and spend most of their time living among them. They can also assist the workers on their tasks, increasing its successfulness rate
Infiltrators: The most versatile basic changeling breed. They can gather active love on pony settlements by replacing one of their kind or scout the area ahead for the warriors to work with. They can also assist the Warriors on their tasks, reducing its danger rate and increasing its successfulness rate slightly.
Warriors: The main line of defense and attack force of the hive. They work in conjunction with the infiltrators to make sure the hive is safe and secured. They can also provide support for the Gatherers and Workers, reducing the danger rate of their tasks.
Workers: The hard working class. They're the ones that build new chambers that unlock new units and upgrades and keep the hive alive. They're also a secondary line of defense in the absence of warriors.
Caretakers: Evolved version of Gatherers, they are the healers of the hive. They can heal injured changelings even if the hive has negative love supply or during combat. They can also manage the hatchery, reducing the cost of love supply for every unit of changeling larvae by 50%.
Spectres: Evolved version of Infiltrators, they're the cover ops specialist of the hive. They can recover lost animosity and can imitate a target perfectly and even turn invisible if in need of a quick escape, thus reducing their danger rate permanently by 10%. If managing a Covert Network, they can infiltrate other known changeling hive's hivemind, receiving feedback information about possible attacks and manipulating their reputation with other hives.
Guardians: Evolved version of Warriors, they're the defenders of the hive. They have bonus health and provides an additional 15% assistance rate. While managing a barrack, they can train changeling units to be prepared for every kind of task, giving the trained unit a temporary 50% exp bonus.
Hivekeepers: Evolved version of Workers, they're the sculptors of the hive. They can create a stronger building slime to fortify the hive's structural integrity and fortify external hive annexes. While working at the Slime Pit, they can slowly spread their building slime underground, making it easier to expand the hive later.
Sorcerers: Unique advanced class, they're the researchers of the hive. They can develop new spells for the Queen and the Hive itself. They can also cast lesser versions of the Queen's spells to Protect the hive while also being able to disrupt unicorn magic if needed.
Geneshifters: Unique advanced class, they're the evolution masters of the hive. They can upgrade the drone's genetic structure to make then harder, better faster and stronger. If the hive is threatened by other changelings, the Geneshiters can disable their brood's special abilities.
Larvae: Infant changelings, they're the blood and soul of the hive. Every egg-cluster holds at least 5 changeling larvae. Changeling larvae can remain in their infant state as long as the Queen requires. When their time comes, they can grow into any kind of changeling, provided the hive has the proper pre-requisites.
Queen: There can only be one Queen of the hive. Being the most important changeling of the hive, the Queen can perform any and every task the hive may require with a +25% successfulness and -25% danger rate bonus.
Changeling Broods:
Bombardier Beetle (Red): Unknown Arch Queen. The Bombardier brood is specialized in sieging an enemy hive or castle, corroding its structural integrity with its acid spray. However, once killed, they become volatile and explode, spewing acid on its surroundings, potentially hurting its allies.
Cicada (Pink): Unknown Arch Queen. The Cicada brood is the livelihood of the hive, their sweet voice not only helps on keeping hive morale high but also earn the love of lots of ponies as they tour around Equestria, performing shows and singing on the streets. however, they're prone to losing their disguise if things get too excited.
Wasp (Orange): Unknown Arch Queen. The Wasp brood is the artist of the hive, their impressive wax sculptures are not only deadly weapons or sturdy armor but also pretty profitable, selling for thousands of bits per piece. However, if their wax armor ever gets destroyed, their natural carapace is much frailer than normal drones.
Bee (Yellow): Unknown Arch Queen. The Bee brood is the herbalist of the hive, utilizing the flora around the hive to produce various useful honey that can not only heal your drones but can also be traded with other hives as a valuable resource, at the cost of combat prowess.
Hercules Beetle (Brown): Unknown Arch Queen. The Hercules brood is the unshakeable will of the hive, their immense strength can halt the assault of even the mightiest dragon, but at the cost of mobility. Their heavy armor hinders them susceptible to traps or terrain disadvantages.
Scorpion (Purple): Unknown Arch Queen. The Scorpion brood is the deadly poison of the hive. Their venomous needles can hinder even the mightiest Archqueen as helpless as larvae as it slowly consumes her from inside out. But due to their lack of wings and other means of escape, they can be easily surrounded.
Spider (Blue): Unknown Arch Queen. The Spider brood is the master weaver of the hive. Their ability to weave and manipulate memories of both ponies and changelings make them the perfect spies, turning enemies into allies in a pull of a thread and erasing any memory of their presence. However, if they're counter-attacked, their neural connection might reveal valuable information about your hivemind.
Locust (Green): Arch Queen Chrysalis. The Locust brood is the owner of the skies, no army can cover a greater distance them they or fly as fast. But their unwavering stamina and flying prowess come at the cost of an insatiable hunger for love.
Mantis (White): Unknown Arch Queen. The Mantis brood is the perfect hunter of the hive. They lure its prey with a false sense of security, completely invisible and impossible to trace with magic, striking at the most unexpected places. But due to their anti-magic carapace, friendly spells also have no effect on them.
Moth (Grey): Unknown Arch Queen. The Moth brood is the crowd control of the hive. In a few beats of their wings, they can spread a potent sleeping powder across a large area, creating the perfect opportunity to flee or subdue their opponents. But be careful, or you may put your own hive to sleep.
Firefly (Black): Unknown Arch Queen. The Firefly brood is the saboteurs of the hive. Their dark light completely drains the love energy from their prey, turning a thriving hive into a withering husk. They're easily displeased, however, and if they ever turn against your own hive, the same fate might happen to you.
Hive Chambers:
Hatchery: Unlocks Caretakers. Provides a safe place for the young larvae to develop, increasing the number of larvae per egg-cluster by +2. Stationed Caretakers can suppress the young hunger for love, reducing their love supply consumed by 50% (Aditional larvae will remain dormant until enough room in a unit is available.)
Covert Network: Unlocks Spectres. It can be used to search for any signs of suspicion the locals may have about the hive, allowing the Spectres to cover these suspicions and regain anonymity. It can also intercept other know changelings communications, creating the possibility for Spectres to spread rumors through their hivemind, manipulating their reputation.
Barrack: Unlocks Guardians. It can be used as a training ground for other drones to receive a temporary bonus exp. If managed by a guardian, it can serve as a medical bay to slowly heal injured drones, however, it requires a positive love suppy.
Slime Pit: Unlocks Hivekeepers. It spreads the construction slime through the hive and underneath it, fortifying its structural integrity. Hivekeepers can use the Slime Pit to prepare the ground for future constructions, increasing its successfulness rate.
Arcanium: Unlocks Sorcerers. It serves as the main arcane research facility of the hive, developing spells for the Queen and Sorcerers to use.
Gene Pool: Unlocks Geneshifters. It serves as the upgrade station of the hive, enhancing your drones abilities.
These are all the rules and mechanics introduced in the story so far, new rules will be added as the story progresses. Current rules are susceptible to change if necessary.
I hope this helps
Nice, now I don't have to keep a local cheatsheet of all the mechanics.
Question when it comes to the skills of the drones after they earn enough experience, is that up to you, the person who provided a name, or the general comment section as a whole or a combination of those? Also can a changing class change? Like a gather change into a caretaker? (Can they shift into the evolved unit that comes from their class?) Also hope questions luke this can help vclear up game mechanics and spurr on new ideas, if the questions getting annoying then let me know please.
4796896
Glad it helped
4796953
If the in question has owner than the one who named it will get to choose its skill according to a list of available skills for that changeling. (if the owner of the changeling doesn't choose a skill until the next chapter, then I'll roll a dice to decide its skill)
Yes, a basic changeling can evolve into an advanced changeling, (e.g. a gatherer to a caretaker and so on.)
Questions such as these can always help others to understand stuff I might not have covered in the guide. Keep it up
4796981
Thank you for the clarification, I will ask questions again in the future so I hope they help clarify and buiild up the story more.
How much experience does it take for the changing levels? (Leaving this question not for a answer but rather to make you think about the leveling system if you haven't already) What determines if a specific changing does some thing other then the queen is it the comment section or you? Also can specific changelings interact with the queen or specific ponies? (Sorry my analyst side is being detail oriented)
4797030
The drones will do as their Queen instructs them since the comments are basically the Queen's will, the comments controls the drones actions.
As for how much exp does it take for level up, I'm still fine tuning it but it won't be that much.
It sorta sounds like you are trying to program a text base game by coming up with divergent paths and writing a story out of it before you make the actual game. I wonder if you thought about finding someone to program it for you?
4797125
Well, I know the very basics of programming, but I never considered actually turning it into a game... Tho I must admit it would be kinda awesome
4797125
Heh, I kinda already started that as a private side project of mine, although I never planned on publishing[no need to deal with ownership if you don't distribute]
4797154
Just thought I ask simply because I'll play such a game. I would program it myself but my programming skills is limited to moving files around on the computer and I don’t have the time or the drive to learn how.
Ok last question for the night (sorry if I'm keeping you from sleep) can the drones act independently from the queen at all?
4797179
Yes, they may even rebel against the Queen if morale gets too low
4797156
Sure would love to see it someday
4797194
Thank you
4797154
It would be very awesome! I would love for a changeling based game like this! (or well something similar if Hasbro didn't like that...)
4797196
Oh you won't just see it, my plan is to simply make an engine for a game of this type[turnbased, with global and per-unit events, and global and per-unit stats], that reads all the rules [list of unit types, starting conditions, events, and end-of-game condition] from an XML file. That will make expansion and a lot of modding really easy to do. [and since it is text based, performance won't matter on most current computers]
... Question, what brood are we originally from? I mean, if I'm reading this correctly, the different Broods correspond to the different nations or their equivalent for changelings. Each queen is the equivalent of nobility in a feudal setting, with those queens split off from the hive in question being subordinate nobility to the queen of the hive they originate from with it going up to the Arch queen, which has the position as head of the entire brood from which the other queens under them derive from, and thereby give fealty to. So, knowing which Brood we are a part of is quite relevant because that allows us to know which Hives that we could encounter would be possible allies, and which should be removed from play to increase our own prestige.
4819976
Well, I can't really spoil the secret right?
The only thing I can tell you now is that the Young Queen has no affiliation with any of these broods
4819977
Hmm, so there are more brood types than what are currently listed? Interesting, so to figure out which one we are, we need to look at the gaps of species to figure out which one we might be. The gaps of major types of insect/arachnid examples I can see are Ticks, Dragonflies/Damselflies, Ants, Termites, Cockroaches, Mosquitoes, Flies, Aphids, Lice, Silverfish and maybe Butterflies or Crickets. Now, we must examine our natural habitat and behaviors to figure out which species matches up the closest, and therefore determines which unmentioned Brood we likely belong to. The information we have shows that:
A) our species likely is social in nature due to how poorly the queen did without any support from her hive, at lest when it comes to conflict.
B) has a marked preference to live within an urban environment due to our hive being located within a preexisting building, the disinclination for us to have a self sustaining food supply in preference to passively feed by proximity to civilization.
C) Have somewhat of a greater than average endurance against damage, considering the fact that we were able to survive an attack by a timberwolf pack with only half of our HP lost when most would have died rapidly, even if they had the experience in combat or armor that we lacked in the confrontation.
Thanks to the information we have so far, the most likely unmentioned Brood that we are part of would be the Cockroach Brood. Fascinatingly, Cockroaches determine food sources and hiding locations based on a form of collective decision making where the choice is made once a quorum is reached, kind of like how voting in the quest itself works.
How about Changeling Princess, nascent Queen who lives in the Hive until her mother
kick her outsends her into the big world.4827276
That haven't been explained in the story yet it's a surprise ;)
Besides, there are differences between queens and arch queens. It will also be explained later
could you difine what broods and archqueens are, up in the rules?
or how those terms works in this setting?
4857226
OK... These terms would be really well explained in the story when it became relevant, but I'll see what I can do
most structures have been built and that's good, but will you have more advanced structures like a food storage chamber (love stores), an armory (soldier equipment), crafters (refine and finish good and services), ect.?
5070710
Something of the sort, yes.
5070775
Will you be taking suggestions for chambers?
5070775
Will you be taking suggestions for chambers?
5070808
what do you have in mind? Also, double post.
5071117
I hate it when it double posts and as for what I was thinking about the chamber and its specs will be listed below:
healing post: patch up drones, build time: one chapter, unlocks: field healers
infirmary: accelerate healing time, build time: two chapters, unlocks: medical drones, prereq: healing post, upgrade: healing post
resource depot: store collected resources (love and other resources), build time: three chapters
school: educate nymphs/drones to perform certain tasks more effectively, build time: one chapter, unlocks: teacher drones, prereq/add-on to: hatchery
Arsenal: store weapons and armor, build time: two chapters, prereq: barracks
forge: craft tools and other items, build time: three chapters, unlocks: crafter drones, prereq: resource depot, barracks, and arsenal
these are just the ones that I just thought of though I do recommend building a resource depot once queeny gets home.
5071214
When I was originally planning the story, it had way more buildings than the ones currently available, but I decided that those were adding unnecessary complexity to the story so I decided to scrap them. There will be new unlisted building opportunities as the story progresses thought
5076075
nice, though there should be a way to at the very least develop new buildings. like a tech chamber where new chambers are designed and technology can be researched.