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The Galactus Kid wrote:Yeah, Slappy knocked this one out of the park. Chucks artwork for it is simply amazing too.

The Hive Insect is the: Flybys
Basically they are like high-speed, razor sharp, flying fletchette rounds or arrowheads!
Damage: based on the size of the swarm
Bonuses: very accurate in their attacks and extremely agile
Bio-E Cost: 25 per 50 insects
Special Bio-E Enhancements:
* High Frequency Blades: Double damage
* Hardened Carapace: increase M.D.C. of swarm by 50%, due to higher survivability, increase duration of attack by 50%
* Increased Size: 4-5 times larger then standard. Double M.D.C., less destroyed when attacked, however increased size reduces speed.
* Enhanced Flight speed: speed increased by 40%, accuracy of attacks is also slightly increased.
Base damage starts at with a swarm of 20 doing 3D4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4 melees with an area of affect of 25' upwards to a swarm of 100 insects dealing 4D6+4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4+2 melees affecting up to a 75' area. Additional bugs beyond this increase the area of affect.

Mr. Deific NMI wrote:Got Rifter #51 today.
2 new O.C.C.'s
1 is the "Metamorph" - will review in a separate thread.
The other is our beloved Swarm Lord.
First off, let me say that the picture on page 32 [and all of Chuck's art] KICKS BUTT!!!! Damn boy, you got some skillz!
Second, I have not completely compared the Swarm Lord as it appears in the Rifter vs. how it appears in this thread, but...




.... we do get 1 new Hive Insect [I could have sworn others said there were 2]

The Hive Insect is the: Flybys
Basically they are like high-speed, razor sharp, flying fletchette rounds or arrowheads!
Damage: based on the size of the swarm
Bonuses: very accurate in their attacks and extremely agile
Bio-E Cost: 25 per 50 insects
Special Bio-E Enhancements:
* High Frequency Blades: Double damage
* Hardened Carapace: increase M.D.C. of swarm by 50%, due to higher survivability, increase duration of attack by 50%
* Increased Size: 4-5 times larger then standard. Double M.D.C., less destroyed when attacked, however increased size reduces speed.
* Enhanced Flight speed: speed increased by 40%, accuracy of attacks is also slightly increased.
Base damage starts at with a swarm of 20 doing 3D4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4 melees with an area of affect of 25' upwards to a swarm of 100 insects dealing 4D6+4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4+2 melees affecting up to a 75' area. Additional bugs beyond this increase the area of affect.

I purposely did not give full details. They are pretty cool!

Blackbunny2 wrote:Someone give me a pointer here! If you buy locusts for 35 bio -e you get 50 of them?
How do I calculate dmg for that? or can you only release bugs in waves of 20-40-60 etc?

slappy wrote:

Blackbunny2 wrote:Someone give me a pointer here! If you buy locusts for 35 bio -e you get 50 of them?
How do I calculate dmg for that? or can you only release bugs in waves of 20-40-60 etc?

Yeah you get 50 but you generally want to release smaller swarms to save "ammo." Although I must admit not having damage for 10 was an oversight. You can always get with your GM to agree on damage amounts for odd numbers. You can see in the damage for each insect there is a sliding scale. Going from 20 to 40 increases damage from 5D8 to 8D8. To go down to 10 I would make it 3D8. I hope that example helps. I'll give my opinion on any specific example you have.

Mr. Deific NMI wrote:Got Rifter #51 today.
2 new O.C.C.'s
1 is the "Metamorph" - will review in a separate thread.
The other is our beloved Swarm Lord.
First off, let me say that the picture on page 32 [and all of Chuck's art] KICKS BUTT!!!! Damn boy, you got some skillz!
Second, I have not completely compared the Swarm Lord as it appears in the Rifter vs. how it appears in this thread, but...




.... we do get 1 new Hive Insect [I could have sworn others said there were 2]

The Hive Insect is the: Flybys
Basically they are like high-speed, razor sharp, flying fletchette rounds or arrowheads!
Damage: based on the size of the swarm
Bonuses: very accurate in their attacks and extremely agile
Bio-E Cost: 25 per 50 insects
Special Bio-E Enhancements:
* High Frequency Blades: Double damage
* Hardened Carapace: increase M.D.C. of swarm by 50%, due to higher survivability, increase duration of attack by 50%
* Increased Size: 4-5 times larger then standard. Double M.D.C., less destroyed when attacked, however increased size reduces speed.
* Enhanced Flight speed: speed increased by 40%, accuracy of attacks is also slightly increased.
Base damage starts at with a swarm of 20 doing 3D4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4 melees with an area of affect of 25' upwards to a swarm of 100 insects dealing 4D6+4 M.D.C. per melee for 1D4+2 melees affecting up to a 75' area. Additional bugs beyond this increase the area of affect.

I purposely did not give full details. They are pretty cool!

Blackbunny2 wrote:Premier, Is it possible for you to put the swarmlord art on DA? Stil waiting for my 51, takes a while to get a copy in norway:D

Blackbunny2 wrote:Well, for releasing 10 I was wondering about the Damage over time component?

Premier, Is it possible for you to put the swarmlord art on DA? Stil waiting for my 51, takes a while to get a copy in norway:D

The Galactus Kid wrote:WHATS UP SLAPPY!?! Way to return to the Splicers world with a bang. The article was great and I'm really looking forward to more stuff in the future.

demos606 wrote:Does tend to be difficult to get things provided to the board into print.

TechnoGothic wrote:Always like the idea of the Swarm Lords. Saw Chuck's art for it at last. WOW.

What is sad, it took PB years to print this awesome concept for us.

Premier wrote:

TechnoGothic wrote:Always like the idea of the Swarm Lords. Saw Chuck's art for it at last. WOW.

What is sad, it took PB years to print this awesome concept for us.

Thanks TechnoGothic, glad you liked the artwork an the Swarmlord has always been a fan fav of mine as well. I think however that you will see a strong flux of Splicers material in the time to come. I can tell you that there is ton of material being produced or already produced to fill 2-3 sourcebooks and there is a ton more that will be cranked out. The key is that Splicers fans need to push their demand for the product to Palladiumbooks and to introduce other gamers to the setting. I have found that many fans at the POH wish they could play or get their GM to run a campaign but it just doesn't happen because of the comfort zone with other settings. However, once they taste the Splice, they regret sleeping on it as long as they did. Hopefully when produce is released it will draw in more fans to build the demand. The key IMHO is also setting preservation as the setting grows and blossoms. This game should be carefully groomed and only top-notch quality material furnished.

Princedarkstorm wrote:I am going with playing a Swarm Lord in the next time Splicers is run by my group! Or have them encounter one when I run it!

Premier wrote:

Princedarkstorm wrote:I am going with playing a Swarm Lord in the next time Splicers is run by my group! Or have them encounter one when I run it!

I figured I would check in and see how your Swarmlord encounters or player are coming along?

Also, What Bug options and upgrades did you go with?

vaporsight wrote:I just noticed something as I was rolling up a swarm lord, the swarm lord doesn't get host armor pilot as one of their occ skill programs. Was this left out on purpose? I assumed the hive armor is still considered a host armor, yes?

Princedarkstorm wrote:Well the players were freaked out by the bugs .They liked the firepower of the Swarm Lord .One of them is thinking about making one now .GRIN

vaporsight wrote:I just noticed something as I was rolling up a swarm lord, the swarm lord doesn't get host armor pilot as one of their occ skill programs. Was this left out on purpose? I assumed the hive armor is still considered a host armor, yes?

abe wrote:if you included bees you could have both attack & binding power! (attack from the bee's stinger & binding power from the bee's wax secretions!)

Stingers
Stingers are shaped a little bit different than normal Hive Insects. The hard carapace covering the insect’s back comes to a single hard point above its head. This razor sharp spike is actually a hollow tube that allows the Stinger to inject its target with a powerful organic acid. The acid is incredibly damaging to metallic alloys and inorganic materials, but is relatively harmless to living tissue (no damage, just mild skin irritation). The acid acts like the insect’s blood, so this complete disgorging of all the bug’s vital fluids is always fatal. The acidic blood is also the reason why Stingers are more likely to inflict damage. Even if the target swats and kills scores of bugs before they can inject their stinger, their blood will still eat away at their prey.

Flight Speed: 70 mph.
• High Frequency Stinger Blade: The sharp spike the Stingers use to inject their acid payload can be Bio-Enhanced with a high-frequency field. This allows the little bugs to stab the injection tube deeper into their target before they release their corrosive liquid. Increase damage inflicted by a Stinger (or a swarm of Stingers) by 50 percent.
• Enhanced Flight Speed: Stingers can receive larger, more powerful wings that allow them to achieve much greater flight speeds. Increase flight speed to 100 mph.

Weavers
Weavers look like two-inch long spiders with wings. Despite their small size, they can create a mega-damage webbing that is strong enough to hold the most powerful opponents. Their sole purpose is to quickly immobilize difficult prey so that it can be dealt with by allies. Just a handful of Weavers can incapacitate a human-sized target in seconds, and large swarms can even disable giant hunter/killer robots like Assault Slayers and Battle Tracks. Lone Weavers are nearly worthless, but swarms of them are incredibly effective. On a successful strike, the swarm begins to wrap the target in super-strong webbing. Larger targets take longer to incapacitate, but once the Weavers begin, it is nearly impossible to stop them. The only way to interrupt the process is to quickly kill the insects with a flame thrower or similar weapon. Of course, this is more likely to destroy the target then free it. These Hive Insects can also quickly weave barriers and seal shut doors, windows, or other access points. Weavers do not perform suicidal attacks like most Hive Insects, but they have no idea when the job is done. They will dutifully continue to apply webbing, even to a fallen opponent, until they eventually die of old age or are individually recollected by the Swarm Lord.

abe wrote:diatary wise for their bio-suits you could have a netavore (a necter based diet of course)