>>10781374
I'm still raging over the changes for ladybugs.

The "Daawww so cute!" rule is beyond bullshit. 75% less chance of getting squished? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

Get the Africanized trait. It will give you back the old swarm bonus, but your units will be harder to control. It's not like bee armies require tactics anyway.

Where ARE they all anyway? All I see lately is FUCKEN WASPS everywhere.

I was was once playing an ant army against a wasp army with the human bystandard rules. He terrorized the bystandard into crushing most of my army. What a bastard.

Ants were always that bad, people are just getting better at being overpowering with them, their discipline and horrifyingly good economy makes them op.

what game are you guys talkin bout?

Japanese hornet was here

Africanized bees are small time

>>10781431
Sure, it seems cheap, but when your only method of surviving is devouring lowbie aphids, and your fly speed is capped lower than DAMN NEAR EVERYTHING, you gotta give them something.

Same goes for bumblebees. Without that +DAWWW, they'd be all but extinct in Urban zones with their slow spawn rate.

>>10781440

You'll want tactics once you face hornets.
Their armor is insane but they lack heatsinks and only coordination can keep them from raping your hive.

Woodlice: never nerfed, still solid and invulnerable. A line of Woodlouse Defenders is tougher than a brick wall and much more deadly.

What's that, beefags? I'm afraid I can't hear your bitching over the buzz of how awesome I am.

>>10781495
Enjoy getting a tenth of the units and having your recon shut down by massive enemy swarms.

>>10781516
> Try playing with a spider in your group...

What's worse is that every powergamer always plays female spiders, just like mantises. So fucking obvious they're scared of NPC seduction rolls.

Take a unit of assassin bugs.

Kill the Queen.

Bird here.

It's not rape if it's a bee.

>>10781516

Spiders and fucking Scorpions, man.

The only reason my group kept our Scorpion was because he was great at hiding in people's boots and stinging them to death before they realized what was happening. It was an Old West campaign.

But then one time there was this fat cowboy and he got squished...we didn't have to deal with his backstabbing anymore, at least.

>>10781539
pfft

only Japaneses honey bees can actually pull off the overheat swarm maneuver with any amount of reliability. With everything else its just a matter of time before they all die.

what game are you all talking about?

>>10781547
Powergaming too, for the size bonus. Can't wait for our GM to finally give in to the wolf spider player's bitching and let him have young. I just know he'll try to use the young as an attack option.

>>10781547
the canabalistic mating rules only come into play when in captivity

What am I doing wrong? My praying mantises always end up with just one left, every time.

And walking sticks? Try hitting in close combat, nearly impossible.

MY NAME IS HUGE

Am I the only one that likes termites? Their tunneling ability makes them pretty damn good in team games

>>10781593
Arthropodia and Arthropocalypse

GOLIATH ONLINE.

Sure, I may pay through the fucking nose for it, but it's like I'm a fucking walking castle.

bees score only a 2.x on the sting pain index, since 1st edition
play bulett ants instead

>>10781577

Yeah, but Japanese bees get raped hard by Japanese hornets.

And since you really only find Japanese bees in Japan, you're bound to run into Japanese hornets. The only way to survive then is to have brought in some killer bees using the My Hive Is Your Hive feat, and that brings up a whole new slew of problems...

>>10781619

Praying Mantises aren't good at all in large engagements. Their Ambush ability and their high camouflage skill makes them good at picking off stragglers.

>>10781643
Here's a link to an attempt that died off:
http://arthropocalypse.forum-motion.com/forum.htm

I don't understand why anyone would even want to play social insects, hive rules are bullshit. Beetles or GTFO, IMO.

>>10781619

If you're using a walking stick for combat purposes, you're doing it wrong.

They're specialized PURELY for stealth and, maybe, if you're lucky, an assassination or two on COMPLETELY UNAWARE targets.

>>10781667
you sir need to read your books properly

The japanese bee is the only type of bee that can stand up to the japanese hornet because of the higher tactical ability. Everyother type of bee just gets steamrolled because they don't have access to high level tactical swarm maneuvers.

And that killer bee trait only works with other bees, it won't do shit to a hornet.

>>10781655

Yeah, but with only 1 attack a round while being swarmed by tons of ants isn't fun.

Does anybody have that double dire death bee a drawfag made a while back?

>>10781698

Meh, hive insects are pretty vulnerable to AOE attacks, and they generally have low armor values.

these are my favorite threads on /tg/

>>10781708

Really? I have to admit that I haven't played since the Vermin update. When they added in rats I just raged so hard I vowed never to play again, so my knowledge might be a little outdated.

My group has a tiger beetle rogue. Rolling all of those dice is not fun.

I'm trying to play a butterfly/moth for our next campaign. Looking through the core, they kind of suck. No, really suck. Can't fight, only good for flying. Does the Lepidoptera splatbook fix this?

Mole crickets are fucking nightmares statswise.
I hope my players don't catch on and keep on rolling gimped spiders and mantises.

Tardigrades are way too overpowered
IMHO

>>10781762
nah that stuff was in the errata since the guy who wrote the stuff had their bees confused

but adding in rats was just FFFFFFFFF

but at least we got the coconut crab as an added bonus in the exotic web special

Camel Spider is fucking ridiculous. It's one of the most expensive units, and it has shit defenses, but holy fuck, if that thing gets across the field (and it is fucking fast), then it is absolutely terrifying.

-Easily breaks up even the highest defensive units.
-Can go one on one with most things.
-Can destroy hives in an instant.
Fuck, if you don't play with one of these guys, you're smalltime.

>>10781779
Play a venom-spined caterpillar. Butterflies and moths are only good for reproduction.

>>10781789
there's a difference between overpowered and harmless yet indestructible

Fucking mary sue.

This build is BULLSHIT.

>>10781781

I like mole crickets

>>10781762
Roll up a tarantula if there's someone on your team abusing rats.. If your GM allows rodents and not larger arachnids, he's a douchebag.

>>10781779

They do strengthen them somewhat (you finally get access to poison, for instance, making it less likely to be eaten), they also add in a new weakness: light fixation.

If you ever play a night game you'll have to pass a very difficult check to not go off and investigate every light source you see, and if you fail there's a small chance of instant death.

It really affects moths badly. They need to be strengthened in the next update.

>>10781800
Spiders fall apart against any smart player using hornets or wasps.

>>10781789

I once played a Tardigrade in a microscopic game. It pissed the DM off no end, cause I just wouldn't die. In the end, he literally shot me into space. That's when I showed him the vacuum immunity all Tardigrades have.

He literally quit right then and there.

>>10781802
I was hoping to fill the scout role, maybe drop pebbles from above and transport our party's cockroach along. But yeah, those strength penalties are killer.

>>10781692
the funny thing about that is that arthropocalpyse was the name applied to the post apoc giant mutant bugs thing and it got carried over to the prior threads by dipshits that couldnt read

Can't believe stag or rhinoceros beetles haven't come up yet, the best tanks by far

>>10781800
Camel spiders are not as powerful as some people lead you to believe. They may be fast but when people talk about them they are usually talking about a unit of 3+. Centipedes are where it's at. They are one of the few units that can take on mammals. Land and air units.

>>10781830
>implying anyone will seriously play against people who use hornets and wasps
They're heavily limited in tourney play for a reason, bro.

>>10781762

Oh, another jackass bitching about Vermin. Mosquitoes NEEDED that Plague-carrier update and you know it. Rats are kind of cheesy, sure, but they'll get nerfed next update. All they really got going for them is Advanced Thermoregulation, anyway.

>>10781692
wait you mean this ISN'T /tg/ just bullshitting everybody about a made up game?

Did you check out the new update to the beetle armies?


Didn't think they'd actually go through with it, and I know it has pretty serious cost but c'mon. Its got more range then about anything else, fastest attack of any insect and its acidic

not cool at all

>>10781864
no this is a made up game

that sack of shit failure there doesn't count

>>10781864
It used to be, then people when "woah this needs to be real." Check the link; there's links to the /tg/ threads that started it.

>>10781864
most people are bullshitting though

>>10781868
a parasitic wasp army will rape its brain and then turn it against you

I heard theres a secret uber boss thats a bee

>>10781895
Is it a double dire death bee?

anyone have an RS or torrent of this?

>>10781895

No, the super boss is a BEAR. Not a BEE, a BEAR.

It's never been legitimately beaten, as far as I know.

Cockroaches got crazy regeneration going on.

>Take Scorpion
>Add Flying Trait
>???
>Profit!

>>10781893
you have a point though but there's still a chanse it gets caught in the blast

thats insta kill for them


at least they did scrap the water transportation bullshit and nerfed its flying a bit

>>10781913
you can do it, you just have to the entire force made up of black widow spiders and brown recluses

>>10781913
I had some kind of retarded hybrid build a while back that could beat it using a suicide attack.

>>10781934

They fixed that in the most recent errata. Unless you take the Mutant disadvantage, you can't put flying on any creature with more than 6 legs.

And if you take Mutant, you're gonna get screwed over by all the checks you have to make each turn.

>>10781936
true but thats wait you use baiting

>implying scorpion armies aren't the best

I'M A SCORPION ARMIES
SON OF A BITCH WASPS
WASPS IS PIG
DO YOU WANT A STINGER?
DO YOU WANT A LARVAE IN YOUR BACK?
WASPS IS PIG DISGUSTING
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ IS A MURDERER
FUCKING WASPS

>>10781929

Who lets Cockroaches in their game? I mean, seriously? Not like they pose a serious threat, but ugh. So annoying. Just ruins the pacing.

>>10781961
didn't that involve mass poisoning or so?

last I heard they gave it some innate poison resistance through eating herbs. Makes that build impossible.

>>10781983
only kids think pure scorpion armies are good

>>10781954
Good luck making all the checks to avoid your force tearing itself apart.

>>10781781
>implying you have to allow your players to use overpowered races from fluff books

>>10781985
well some parasitic wasps can make a zombie army out of them

>>10782002
well thats why about a good 70% of the time the match ends in a draw

>>10781966

Fuck Errata, its one of the most fun builds ever!

>>10782011
parasitic wasps can be easily countered by seeking human support

their attractiveness ratings are far into negatives so they almost instantly get squished. Ladybug baiting is extremely effective

Centipedes are where it is at.

Picture related. One day. One day.

I'm playing an ant-mimicking spider in an all-ant party. Haven't been caught yet; one player almost caught on, but his character had an "accident."

>>10782011

They die in like 2 turns though.

Not worth it.

Scary ass in fluff but gameplay wise? Meh.

Tardigrades are a sure win in every survival campaign
even in darwinian mode
should be banned in tournament games

>human support
wat, never heard of those rules... elaborate

>>10782030
i know how you feel but you do know there is the After The Bomb splat which is specifically for doing mutant armies

torrent or RS pl0x

>>10782064

NOTHING. Suburbs & Cities isn't a real splatbook,don't pay attention to these fags.

>>10781989
No, this was a really weird build. It involved using a centipede with the symbiotic trait mutated into it. Because this is such a major splice, it causes genetic instability. What you do is latch onto the bear, then force mutation on every section of your centipede. And because you have so many sections, you will have a lot of mutations and because your a symbiote, it will carry over into the bear and eventually turn it into a big fleshy pile of cancer cells.

>>10781966
I count on all the mutant disadvantage checks! I use millipedes and stack on flying and acidic feats, then because the critical mutation table gets worse and worse for each set of legs you have beyond three (insects) I just fly into the enemy line, let the millipedes ridiculous armor soak up the brunt of the attacks, then wait until I roll explodes on the critical mutation complication! Since millipedes are big and have great armor their shrapnel damage is devastating, and for anything caught in the blast with high armor the acid damage (from the acidic feat I stuck on there) makes their protecting worthless.

tl;dr if it isn't millipede death squad it ain't shit

>>10782050
it's a 40% for 2 turns or 3 turns, 10% for 1 turn or 4 turns

>>10782101
that build was only possible because of some very loose applications of the rules that shouldn't have rightfully taken place

it's like our version of punpun

Fucking hell,man. I roll some obscure stuff because people generally don't know how to react to them. I use the Daddy Long-Legs as a distraction unit, generally. Fucks their tactics up like nobody's business and since insects of a certain size or lower have to tear off most of his legs before they can deal normal damage, he's insanely hard to kill. And since i took Spiked Limbs and Part Regeneration, well, they're very useful for keeping the enemy distracted. The rest of my army in a moment.

Guys, I just got back from the worst session ever.
My colonizing party (5 drones, 1 pre-queen) had just found a sweet hive spot, a rotted-out window frame on an abandoned house, next to a flowershop. A FUCKING FLOWERSHOP, GUYS. It was beautiful. We had just started setting up the beginnings of camp, when down from the powerlines... fucking pic related.

TPK. 2 rounds. Don't think I'll be playing this again for a while, unless I find a new GM.

>>10782135
read the damn book, millipedes dont use insect rules

the new varroa destructor rules are broken
fuck it i quit playing and sell my bee army

I require a link to a sourcebook, or I'm disbelieving everything in this thread.

Guys, I need help.

One of my friends is being a total dickbag with his Army Ants. He can build bridges across bad terrain, munch anything that gets in his path, and there's just so many of them! How the hell am I supposed to beat him? Is there anything that can stand toe-to-toe with army ants?

>>10782177
there are worse things you can do in AtB than that

like the acid goo veletworm with poison spines

>>10782213

Man, the game's already been named. Arthropocalypse.

Just go to your FLGS and ask for the player's guide (which they not-so-funnily called the insect's guide).

You are the cancer killing traditional gaming.

army ants dont have anti air faggot

>>10782215
japanese hornets and parasitic wasps will show them

Anyways. Generally i use the rest of my points on parasites, varying it depending on terrain. You take some parasites with the Bodyjacker advantage and suddenly your opponent's army is taking on a flock of seagulls.

Holy shit, has anyone seen the bullshit you can pull with household insects now that 5e has come out? The new rules for stealth buffed the Hell out of them, and now they can include GODDAMN RECLUSE SPIDERS, which makes household insects fucking ridiculous

>>10782215
hell some very smart play with a velvet worm backing up some bombardier beetles

>>10782215

Army Ants are usually blind. Feats can be taken to give sight to them, but it takes a LOT of points to buy it for the entire army.

So what you need to do is use units that have the Silent rule. Army Ants, since blind, require their hearing to attack or defend against other insects, and Silent units give off no sound.

Trapdoor spiders are common, though expensive, examples of Silent units.

>>10782278
they aren;t that good sure they are better but by no means are they anything worth shitting your pants to up against

Has anybody ever played against a "Wild Card" army? Basically, it's all bombardier beetles with super unstable DNA.

I've seen them kill birds.

Some fag archive this

>>10782212
if you take the "domesticated" trait, all you have to do is roll 2+ for your beekeeper unit to remove them

will someone please give me a fucking link to a source book or stop tricking me or something?

>>10782358
www.readthethreadlinkshavebeenposted.com

>>10782344
yet again, you can't play that in mainstream play unless its an After The Bomb tourney because the mutation drawbacks will make you useless

>>10782190
You think that's bad? GM plays random species rolling for a new campaign. We got to pick from Cockroach, Earthworm, Snail, Pillbug and Dung Beetle, one for each of us. We got put out in a park and started setting up before- BOOM! Fire Ants EVERYWHERE.

>>10782381
snails aren't even arthropods what the fuck?

Beyond my Daddy-Longlegs build,anyone got a good decoy unit? I figure if anyone knew how to keep another army distracted, it'd be you guys, and i got trampled by my friend's goliath beetles last time because they didn't have to fuck up his legs first.

>>10782344
Radioactive Arena mode is fun. Everyone takes one swarm or large unit, rolls on the Major Mutation table. Free for all match commences.

>>10782381

FUCK FIRE ANTS. SERIOUSLY, YOU SHOULD PUNCH YOUR GM IN THE FACE.

Against an earthworm and a slug? Your GM is a fucking dick. I mean, maybe an entire part of beetles might have stood a small chance, but worms and slugs?

I'd be surprised if they lasted more than 2 rounds.

>>10782417
Take a moth or any other bug with eyespots and the Predator Mimicry ability. Position it just so on the table and watch as your opponent has to deal with everything in sight panicking.

>>10782374
Everybody plays After the Bomb around here. It has much better units and customization.

>>10782373
are you talking about >>10781692? because in that link i havent really seen much for stats and suchlike

>>10782381
molluscs and annelids shouldnt even be on the random table

>>10782502
You can make legit builds with Snails and Slugs though. Toxic and Parasitic host respectively are available without mutation and with their slime trails, they can render any surface harmful and/or unusable by anyone but them and those like them. Crawling Poison Tanks ftw.

>>10782592
yet again, if you aren't using After The Bomb then the mutation flaw tables kill you

>>10782477
go away summerfag

>>10782347
domesticated trait gives you the "chance of ccd" disadvantage.
no thank you

Scorpion player here; what do I do about this motherfucker? A guy at my FLGS just sets up three of them on the table with the Large trait so that their sandtraps cover the whole fucking thing.

>>10782646

Take some fucking fliers, bro. DUH.

>>10782646
just charge the dumb kid and use your pincers to wrestle the thing into exposing its main body so you can sting it

use more than one scorpion per antlion

>>10782477
If you haven't figured out by now there's not much more than wishful thinking going on...

/tg/

making games that are too cool to exist

>>10782676
I'm a fluff player though. I don't know what to do. Are there any splats that give ranged poison attack from stingers?

Worms apparently make really good mutation monkeys because of their simple structure. I was thinking of making one with increased armor, water breathing, snail trail, acid trail. increased muscle, regeneration, and venomous spines.

>>10782592
That's really only viable in the wargame though. PnP, the slow speed and lack of manipulators can be a hindrance.

>>10782781
you'd have to one of the chemsparyer types to get that and i don't think any flyers get those

I rolled a male mantis a while back and bugged my DM for 2 months to let me mate so I can raise a tiny army of mantis commandos.

Fucker killed my character off. I dont care what the fluff says, it was a dick move.

>>10782817
Should have gone female mantis instead, buddy.

>>10782817
Nope, you're retarded.

>>10782785
What kind of DM would let you do that?

>>10782817
no one ever notices that the sexual canabalism thing only occurs in capativity no matter how many updates or erratas are released

The rules of Periodicals are fucking bullshit.

This faggot in my group just keeps a goddamn nest of cicadas underground for seven or eight rounds and then suddenly swarms of the fucking things all over the place. Anyone using a slower Order is totally screwed, especially when they start molting and get their health back for free.

Christ, where did the balance go?

>>10781374
Beads?

>>10782872
the fact that their swarms are nigh useless in combat if you aren't simply drowning yourself in their corpses

>>10782872
Are they regenning back to full health? Doesn't work that way.

Put some points into a Bird or two. Their random strikes may hurt you for a while, but once the cicadas show up, probability means the other guy will be hurting more than you.

>>10782817
you got to make sure you mate upside down, gives you a +15 on the "get away before she eats ya" check.

Protip: If somebody in your group wants to play a worm, slug, or any other softies, don't let them. They're probably trying to powergame.

Wasp player here. Lots of butthurt casuals in this thread. If you're not going to be serious about it, stop bitching about people who are more skilled than you.

Cockroaches with increased armor mutation carrying glowworms with increased armor, bombardier beetle explosion, radioactive glow, and acid blood.

How do I stop this shit?

>>10783036
>implying that playing wasps takes skill

wasp players are 12 year olds with small dicks
worse than scorpion players

>>10783069
Just be thankful the worms don't also have poisonous spines. That type of army is very bursty, just focus on survival and he'll kill himself off.

Poisonous spines need to be nerfed, and their upgraded version, poisonous quills, needs to be buffed.

>>10783069
Stop playing with 12-year-olds who don't read the rulebook? Even for After the Bomb, that shit is retarded and impossible.

I spent all my points on an amazonian centipede, and now I keep getting rushed and killed by swarm armies! Any ideas?

Also, what does everyone think of that shitty 3rd-party "crabs and lobsters" splatbook? It doesn't even fit the damn setting, and all the units are WAY overpowered! I won't be allowing it at my table!

>>10783069
>>10783111
Trying to outlast him is a good idea, but one of the Spiders spats has rules for trapdoors. They're accurate enough to pick up -just- the roaches on their snatch and grabs, which leaves the worms and beetles free for harassment without any kind of defense.

>>10782872
Ants bro, or any tunling unit will work, but ants can do it the best.

What I do against wasp and hornets is, I use a standard black ant army with the "pherimone imitation" trait. Use "Cooperation" to ally in a few termites (no enemity penalties due to imitation). Get some termites to hollow out a nest for you in the tree wih thier nest (P-Imitation shoots your non-visual stealth through the roof, and burrowing makes it unlikely they will get any visual checks). Then bam, swarm in with a mass of warriors and go strait for their queen, you'll lose most of the wariors (lets face it, black ants have the weakist units of any ant, but you get SOOOO many extra points for traits its rediculous).

I also run Generation hives (multilpe queens per hive)
"egg capture" (Combined with the aformentioned stealth queen kill raids you also steal some eggs, if your lucky you can even breed a queen of your enemys army and P-imitation removes the alliegence penalties of using extra species)

I love abusing the trait system.

>>10783152
>Also, what does everyone think of that shitty 3rd-party "crabs and lobsters" splatbook?

I like it. Has great artwork and the writing isn't too bad. But yeah, it doesn't fit the game at all unless you want to do crab battles all the time or something.

Or, use the conversion guide the publisher released and take something like the Hermit Crab. Instant boss creature there for the PnP.

Beetles are overpowered with After the Bomb rules. Because of tiger beetles, hercules beetles can take fully upgraded increased speed without mutation penalties due to having a creature in the same family that has that trait.

Pic related. This is my GM's idea of "fun".

>>10782990
thats like the antithesis of powergaming

>>10783394
JESUS DICKSHITTING CHRIST ON A PINEAPPLE YOUR DM IS SADISTIC

>>10783394
So pretty much "rocks fall" the monster? You're not playing a game, you're taking part in his control fantasies.

>>10783453
Actually he uses it more like "rock falls anywhere but on the railroad".

But there's no one else willing to GM in my weevil's hole of a town.

>>10783410
Depends if you play with the "balancing" pointbuy system. You know, the one where choosing a weaker thing like a worm or slug gives you extra points for chargen. Take a couple extra flaws, spend the points just right and you have a creature very focused on one or two things in a gamebreaking manner.

That's how you get characters like slugs that burrow through concrete.

>>10783522
there's a limit to just how dumb shit can get with that though

>>10783522
>slugs that burrow through concrete.
I've had that happen before. It was not a fun experience.

>>10783514
A railroad paved with anteaters? Hilarious image, even if it does suck to be you.

>This Thread

>>10783514
my GM had us make our way through a 'forest of insectivorous plants' only to end up in the den of a honey badger

shit was not cool

>>10783579
Yeah. One touch and suddenly that Stag Beetle you planning to use as a miniboss has a hole where it's head used to be.

>>10783652
Try "magnifying glass out of nowhere." Can't run, can't hide and can't fight because the GM says we're too slow and weak.

>>10783700
the only way that makes any sense at all is if you're on pavement

Dude. You guys suck at this. Its all about the acacia ant. Bitches got economy done, and a bad-ass defense!
Mammals don't like em. Birds can't get to em. Wasps? Fuckers go down hard! Scorpions can't climb their terrain.

Seriously guys, Aint nothing is better than the acacia ants.

>>10783730
spiders can destroy you just by camping your exits with webbing

>>10783579
Yeah, but softies fall apart to any natural weapon. Even caterpillars with poisoned spines gets their shit wrecked by mites who just run around them and lol their way into its brain to use as a breeding ground. BTW, best wargame strategy ever.

>>10781374
archive this

>>10783806
already done bro

>>10783761
Lolz. Gl with that friend. Spiders dont go near this shit.
Even Army Ants fail against these mo-fo's.

>>10783728
Which we were. Ants and a grasshopper looking to find a new place for a colony. We had just left the drought-stricken yard and were crossing the sidewalk.

I think he had some puzzle solution in mind, but wouldn't give us any hints.

FUCK YEAR PARASITIC FUNGI

ZOMBIE-ANT SWARM FOR THE WIN

>>10783819
of course once you are off your plant acacia ants are miserable

>>10783819
Yeah...problem with them is they only play on a specific environment with any effectiveness. They never see tourney play because Acacia trees are not allowed as a fair terrain type and because they'll shuffle fields regardless.

>>10783922
>>10783925
True... Great for Scenario play though.
And their stats are not half bad on the normal.

>>10783815
cheers dude

'Sup guys.

Many people seem unaware that ants can take the suicide explosion trait without mutation penalties.

>>10784292
Combine that with acid blood and flying, and you've got an ant army that can roll over wasps.

Wasp players ain't got shit on Australia players. Goddamn.

On the other hand in the pnp Australian campaigns are comedy gold.

>>10784484
japanese hornet still has you beat

>>10784292
it just sucks unless in AtB

I stopped playing this when the roaches got nerfed.

God I miss my roaches

>>10784500
Unless he sees you in other matches and rolls out something like this. Golden Orb Weavers have how much of a bonus in their nestbuilding round?

I'm surprised that will all this Ant talk, Termites haven't come up. Chemical defenses, tunnel blocking, burrowing in typically unnatural environments, ALL without mutation penalties.

>>10784617
Sorry, forgot the pic. But yes. These guys can ignore Bird Hazards in the wargame if you play them right.

>>10784617
what's your point? You dont get to win becaue you have a pretty nest or web or whatever. Hornets do the job well enough and then kick you around the battlefield.

>>10784620
Yeah but they're -very- environmentally-dependent. That No-Eyes penalty really fucks them up against flyers outside the hive.

>>10784655
Yeah, unless the fucker just sits in the middle of a birdsnest sucking protein and letting it wipe out the wasps.

And that's why they're for trolls.

>>10784686
They're better for defensive scenarios and tournaments using territory. That fortification bonus does wonders.

Parasites are the best way to deal with powergamers who believe only one species is best.

This kid thought his army ants swarm was untouchable.

NOT AFTER A CORDYCEPS FUNGUS ENEMA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgkL8PulPdE

>>10784761
Is it better than social spiders? I don't have the book they're in but my friend swears by them for defence.

>>10784998
Termites have better nests and defensive positions; when contesting a territory, you have to put a lot more effort in destroying the termite's home structures and if they reclaim the place quickly enough, they have less work to do.

Not sure about socials; I think they're better on offensive defense; venom and webs work well against larger units. But when it comes to hunkering down and holding the line, termites might have the advantage.

>>10781522
*brofist*

Most people around here only use them so they can have a woodpile alternative without learning how to play termites.

>>10781779
Basically the only way to play butterflies right is if you invest in Batesian Mimicry traits. On the other hand Eyespots are pretty much the best thing ever.

>>10781692
They should have never tried to make it a reality.

>>10785871
Maybe not the way it was tried there. Things got tied up in shit like trying to come up with fluff, a system was voted on that a) another /tg/ homebrew was using (AE) and b) Not everyone was familiar with, too small a group of interested people...

>>10785346
Im glad they came out with the muli-racial insect cities rules.
Fucking awesome now that we got termites, ants, and a couple other groups living in cities. Makes great for the d20 based version.

Though I heard a while back that a couple guys were trying to convert the cities into a wargame.
Dont know how thats going.

Don't mind me, just chillaxin' with my Shore Battle army. Great for when the random terrain includes even as little as 10% water.

Basic ant:
Size: tiny
Type: Insectoid
Hit Die: 1d4+1
Initiative: +1
Speed: 12 inches
Armor: 15 (+4 due to chitton shell, +1 due to size)
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+4
Attack: Bite +4 melee (2d4+4/18-20)
Special Qualities: Darkvision 30 inches
Saves: Fort:+3 Ref +0, Will -2
Abilities: Str: 16 Dex: 12 Con: 14 Int: 16 Wis: 6 Cha: 10
Skills: Listen +1 Spot +1 search +1 Escape Artist +1 Pick Pocket +1
Feats: Ambidexterity
Enviornment: underground
Organization: Army (10-20 ants, 5 Soldier ants) Swarm (100-500 ants, 50+ soldier ants)
CR: 1/2
Treasure: standard
Alignment: Any Lawful
Advancement: any character class, preferred is soldier
LA: -1

You guys want me to keep building races?

>>10787152
If you were actually building in something other than 3.5. Already has stats for bugs.

>>10787321
I guess youre right. meh, ill just leave it there.

A friend of a friend was running a one-shot at the LGS, so I rolled a cicada. I brought a kazoo for "roleplaying" purposes. DM raged.

Are lightbees balanced?

in comparison to what? Not the worst of things, and not the best. They are okay, and make some good roleplaying moments...

>>10787527
Mostly I just wanted to bring them up. I was there for the thread where they got written, and I always wanted to do something with them, but nothing really took off.

I don't care what you guys say, if you're playing Japanese hornets, you gotta micro out your ass. I don't care how good the armor and weapon bonuses are, there are just too few.

>>10787527
I've always been more of a Locust guy.

Inb4haters

>>10787446
I rolled a mayfly for one game and set a timer. One hour later I announced I had died and left.

>>10787629
I will admit, they can stripe an area's resources down like nobodies business. But there economy just isn't sustainable enough for my tastes.

>>10787629
Locusts... my god man, all they ever do is eat and swarm! hell, their movement kills them randomly!
Seriously bro, switch to ants.
>>10787600
Lets face your hornets up against my ants. I will rock your world my friend.
FUCK YEAH FOR MUTATIONS!

Find bees. Find epic druid. Maximized, empowered awaken bees. Bees now have about 26-27 int. Take them to wizard school, creating a swarm of ~5000 tiny angry wizards. Fuck shit up with thousands of magic missiles at once. Plus they do a d6 to everyone the wizard swarm covers.

>>10787674

Dumbass, I don't have to fight you all at once. Swoop in, bite a few ants, fly out before you can sting. Suck it.

Hey, does anybody else play Locust Plague?

Shit is unstoppable, they may as well have called them the Green Tide.

>>10787813
Mutations bro. Ants explode when killed.
Suck it your own damn self.

>>10787905
They're pretty unstoppable...

...as an encounter.

They can't control a location because they have no strong defense or offense against insects. They have speed. Sure. But all that speed for what? Attacking a hive means death for anything that gets close. Nests are pretty much invulnerable. Trees are fortresses more or less. They wreck economies though. They can starve out an enemy if they last long enough. IF they last long enough.

>>10786952
take your D&D shit elsewhere, this is an arthropocalpyse thread

Bees have always been bad due to the backlash trait. Yeah wasps are mostly shitty asshole players, but they love to swarm and don't hurt themselves in the process of the attack.

>>10787905
are you crazy? Stopping locusts is easy for ants and wasps

it takes over a dozen locusts to bring down a single wasp and the locusts themselves are food for them

all they need to due is outlast you

>>10787958

Good thing we don't need to kill all of them. Dash in, grab the larva, dash out. Hurts the ants, gives us more resources. Plus, bonus to attack and defense in enemy nests.

>>10788161
I do love my Acacia ants.
You can suck it cause your dudes would be screwed in every way possible.

>>10788196
locusts eat those too, just more slowly

Truly skilled players run mantis. Solitary, not good in a straight up fight. It's all about blending in and preparing the perfect ambush.

Nothing makes some faggot playing a broken bug tweak out like being ambushed by a mantis and knowing it's their own damn fault for being sloppy.

>>10788247

It's a shame that the male Mantis gets removed at the end of the game, if you deploy them in pairs; A cheap fix is to use two Special choices, so there's only one Mantis in each group, then deploy each other at opposite ends of the board.

I mean- Mantis army. You're not going to have too many units.

>>10788205
Acacia ants, are pretty much invincible in acacia trees as much as I loathe them. And with locusts as an enemy, locusts are almost totally out their major method of victory: economy wrecking.

>>10788287

Yeah, but that's only if you've set the Terrain Type beforehand, or fork out a large chunk of points.

> Terrain Type = Desert

WHATNOWNIGGER.jpg

>>10788196
Can those little fucks take the exploding death thing? That seems OP.

>>10788268
READ. THE. FUCKING. ERRATA. YOU. SNIVELING. CUNT.

MANTIDS ONLY DO THAT WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING LAB BATTLE

>>10788319

That was nerfed, wasn't it? It's all Ant armies now.

>>10788337
parasitic wasps were here, ants are out bitches

Bombardier Beetles were here, everyone else are faggots

I can't wait for the next game, I have a strategy to try out. Spend points on a Mindless predator like a giant spider or rodent and several small, fast bugs. Maybe grasshoppers or a swarm or two?

Then I use my units to lead around the predator.

>>10788313
Simple. Land pick comes before sub-racial selection.
Ill still run ants.

>>10788337
I think so, but that is alot of explosions.

>>10788369
not in officlal tourneys

land is random there

>>10788337
If you have 3 Queens, then its still an option. It actually got better, but people think its nerfed because it restricts it to people who run 3+ queens.

>>10788313
>Ants burrow into mounds and send drones to get as much food as possible
>Play the waiting game
>Feed only the queen with resources vs. Feed every locust

locusts only look good on the front end but a horrible when you actually use them

>>10788390
You still find out what land youre running before you select sub-species.
Its to make sure that people aren't niggers about running the same damn species over and over again. It gives them the opportunity to switch over to a diffrent sub-species.

>>10788396
I thought that was only viable if the ass sucker is running rats.

Seriously, adding other vermin was SO GAY.

>>10788417
that was last edition bro because everyone that ran ants kept acacia ants in reserve in case those fucking stupid trees came up and then it would just be a dead end gridlock

Mosquito was here.

Tactics are for faggots.

>>10788430
Fucking Rats. Who the fuck plays with Goddamn Rodents anyways?

Sides, all you need to do is run a bee army to beat the shit out of them anyways.

>>10788417
Best land to play on: Aquatic, preferably ponds.

>>10788440

Just use termites. Fuck those acacia ants up.

>>10781812
No no no. If someone rolls rat, roll Vietnamese centipede.

They'll be dead in an instant.

>>10788461
no one seriously plays vermin except to troll

>>10788462
I loved playing Aquatic! My god, the looks on peoples faces when they STILL get steamrolled by ants? Fucking Priceless man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhachis_sokolova
Article related. I couldnt find the army I used, but there you go, its a similar one.

>>10788461
Well Rats are squishy just like slugs but have relatively insane amounts of health to compensate. They also have land swarm tactics like ants, but need less units to do the same resource efficiency. As long as poison or hives aren't the opponent, rats are a nice squishy swarm to use.

>>10788461
>Who the fuck plays with Goddamn Rodents anyways?
Get your hands on "Australian Adventures" book, so many cool rodents. I made a wombat! My rump shield gives me 75% negation in my back 180 degrees!

>>10788461
And they are SO under priced. They can out number my hornets!

Luckily, Japanese hornets have a rule that lets them shoot acid at any units that are larger then them. Does some damage, and is a penalty to hits.

>>10788544
get out of here you miserable faggot

rodents were supposed to antagonists only for the P&P game. Just because the wargame uses a streamlined version of the P&P rules doesn't automatically mean rodent armies are valid.

>>10781985
>roaches
>not a serious threat

Newfag spotted. Sure, roach armies aren't that tough, and sure, they have that terrible morale check vs. sudden light thing, but they don't die. They don't die. They just don't die. Besides that, where there's 1, there's 10,000. Most players won't take a roach swarm seriously because they kinda keep to themselves, but once endgame comes, no one outswarms the roaches. You can't even destroy their resources, since they have the Eats Anything trait.

>>10788390
What edition you playing bro? Im running 8th edition. All the tourny organizers accept 8th, 9th, and 10th because of the crossover rules that are listed in each.

>>10784904

Your Groups next BBEG, Have fun.

>>10788605
8th is gone when 10 hits the shelves.

>>10788598
as usual, wasp and hornets will demolish you before you know what hit you

Bee: the Stinging

I used to want to run spiders so bad. I just thought they had the coolest units, they were a blast to paint, and their damage output looks hot on paper. But I never figured out how to use terrain. Spiders are too much of a finesse army for me.

That's when I learned about BEETLES. Beetles don't need to use terrain, they ARE the terrain. Beetles can take hits all day and they don't give a shit. People say beetles can't close the distance and become a real threat, but they must have forgotten that beetles can fly when they have to. And did I mention bombardier beetles? They make their points back every single time.

tl;dr: Beetles will ruin you.

Beetles. Fuck all of your swarms and vermin. Ants and wasps? Say hello to the trojan parasite. Hell, grasshoppers and locusts can say the same too. Flies? Let me get out my armor. Slugs and Snails? Let me get out my giant pincers. Is that water? Let me just wait there while you try and hit me. Beetles do it all.

>>10788638
>>10788663
Beetlemind.

>>10788630
10's been out for a while. They dropped 8th for about a week, then brought it back when they realized that 10 only added rules for black ants.

I swear, GW fucked up 40k, and they are trying the same thing with this!

MANTIS SHRIMP PLAYER HERE. ALL OF YOUR AQUATIC ARMIES ARE FUCKED

>>10788663
lol beetlefags dont know about centipedes or japanese hornets

>>10788638
Spiders? They're easy to get the hang of man. What were you running with? Defensive lure and trap webbers or run forward and bite hunters? Or something more exotic like a Bird Eater or two?

You just had to keep in mind that spiders are not armored very well. Keep to cover, have somewhere to retreat to (not that you need it if the attack goes right). Webslinging even let you create your own terrain! I've seen players using snails or beetles avoid even a small web. Too bad they didn't notice my crab spider in the flower right next to the closest path.

Okay, fuck it guys, this is way too awesome not to exist. We need to make this game for realz.

>>10788698
well most of 10 is clarified mutation rules for the normal game and heap of stuff for AtB (like dragonflies with bombardier beetle style chemical sprays)

>>10788571
HA-HA! SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE GOT STOMPED BY THE COMBAT WOMBAT!

>>10788541
They're scary smart too. Must better at tactics then other Vermin or Insect armies.

>>10788748
the last morons that did that turned it into a miserable festering pile of shit by basing it off of d20

>>10788766
wombats are easy to take down

a black widow army will take it down before it even looses 1/4 of its own numbers, and most of the losses there will be from infighting rather than your stupid wombat

>>10788759
So AtB is part of the core rules now? I'll have to see if I can get the group at my FLGS to switch to that.

>>10788808
AtB isn't really isnt part of the core rules per se... its like its own splat and should only be used seperately

its like comparing WHFB to 40k

>>10788748
or just run it freeform, and ban the faggotry.

Lets see,
God Tier:
Ants (acacia works best)
Japanese Bee's

Mid-Tier
Beetles
Arachnids
Rats

Shit-tier
Locusts

>>10788783
The arthropocalypse forum posted earlier? They were trying to reskin Dark Heresy for it.

>>10788834
Damn. Maybe I'll have some luck. A few of the players are real weird about supplements upsetting balance.

>>10788841
must be a different attempt from what i remember

>>10788839
japanese bees are different from japanese hornets

and acacia ants are only good when the entire terrain set is their trees and victory conditions aren't erradication, otherwise bullet ants or army ants steam roll them

>>10788863
an AtB army should only play versus other AtB armies

though the rules for mutations in normal arthropocalpyse are much better in 10

>>10788881
Wouldn't be surprised there's been multiple attempts. Happens every time this thread rolls around.

Mosquito player here.

Sure, my units are squishy, but give me a small pool of stagnant water and I will swarm the board, a wave of blood draining and disease.

It's awesome.

>>10788925
you need to be carrying some good diseases to really see use out of mosquitos

>>10788881
Not the entire terrain. Spend 500 points and they start out with the Acacia plant. Fuckin waste of points most of the time, when most games are only 600-1000 points and youre starting with 3 25 point queens and 25 1 point workers for 600 points.

1000 points you get to add in some starting soldiers, each at 5 points a piece, and upgrade your queens too.

Luckily you can buy mutations by sacrificing 100 spawned ants. I dont remember the fluff, but it was something about finding the right combination.

>>10788925
Have fun when you're playing against dragonflies. What's that? Nymphs in the water? hahaha you're fucked.

>>10788783
OOC: Then let's have it...not? Contrary to what the thread says, we should probably build it as a war game first before PnP. AI levels differentiate based on die size. The smaller, the better. Rat for example would consistently get d4s for almost everything from scouting to attacking to protecting the nest, regardless of situation. Hive insects on the other hand may get d20s when issuing orders that may be counter intuitive to the situation like scouting when the nest is being attacked. Succeeding the rolls means they do what you tell them. Failing (and the margin can be determined later) means they either go do what they "should be doing" or get lost or distracted or something

Each species and species group have different types of units. Many are just Male and Female while others are Soldier, Worker, Queen, etc.. They have different costs according to species. Attacks are flat damage. No rolling, just positioning. Same with movement distances.

>>10788925
Except: What blood? I'm not playing with vermin.

>>10789016
WE could probabbly base it off some of the 40k armies... Or conversions therof.
I know ants would basically be nids, and bee's would be orcs...

>>10788630
Not unless the roach player is running his swarm in the open like a tard. Roaches rock tight spaces, then come out and eat everything.

>>10789076
Preferably something free or homebrew. Rather not have to buy/pirate something to learn how to play.

>>10789076
>>10789112
simple d10 pools would work

>>10789089
how typical of a roach player, you don't even bother to read the books on what the opponent is using and just assume that you can eat all their stuff

GUESS WHAT DIPSHIT THAT MEANS YOU ARE EATING YOURSELF

irc://irc.thisisnotatrueending.com/arthropocalypse
start brewing?

Im suggesting we start with a simple
Ants
Bee's
Wasps
Spiders

Make it easier, and then from there we design more as we go.
Ants should be Heavy Economics.
Bee's Should be Heavy Economics
Wasps Should be Heavy Military
Cockroaches should be Heavy Military, or Survival at least.

>>10789076
It might make a nice leaping off point, but ripping probably wouldn't be the greatest idea. Adapting simplified and altered mechanics would be good though.

>>10789187
Like I said, they've got Eats Anything, so yes, they WILL eat your shit. Fuck's sake, the devs even ruled that they can consume human stuff like GLUE.

Even eating each other, their numbers are just too much. There's a reason why when a GM breaks out a human family, the players break out roaches.

tactics and maneuvering seem to be of great importance

>>10789261
you still almost always loose in the wargame though when the goal is to kill the otherside

>>10789263
So maybe secret movements?

>>10789277
Depends on whether or not there's a time limit. Roaches are hard to goad into aggression unless they're hungry, but they'll defend themselves, and like all beetles, they've got good defensive numbers.

>>10789284
For units that rely on stealth and hiding, sure. WH40k example here, but weren't/are lictors like "Write down where you're hiding it. Then reveal on one of your turns."? Secret movements for everything just drags it down after a while.

>>10788416
You don't get it do you... Locusts can't be played like they get set up in the examples... Those massive swarms are totally impossible to move. What you gotta do is bite the bullet and pay for the more expensive individuals, then go apeshit on their economy. They expect you to take a couple points off their food, but instead you eat EVERYTHING by turn 2... Upkeep kills 80% of their army, and since they died of starvation, all your locusts are buffed by the "Biblical" trait... You did pay for biblical didn't you? It takes a idiot to not pay a measly 3 points for that sort of power.

>>10789284
and a heap of special rules and abilities for such things

like the japanese honey bee being able to clusterfuck around the japanese hornet to overheat it but no other bee can pull that off since it isnt their nature to do so

>>10789314
those numbers aren;t good enough againt some of the really angry centipedes or japanese hornets

face kid, if you are up against those it will take a miracle for you to win

>>10789329
When we can build the basics, then we can start getting into the weeds of stuff like the Japanese Hornet and Honeybee

>>10789360
Depends on the centipede and the hornet. If you've got an ultratight terrain feature, you can hide with impunity against forces that you won't be able to touch until you have very serious numbers.

rolled 6 = 6

Attack (How likely you are to damage, 1-10)
Movement (12 is a good base move)
health (Damage you can take, should be 1-5)
Will (save against fear effects, 1-10)
Intelligence(1-10, roll under on a d10 to do something out of character, like retreat from an invader in your nest)
Armor (out of 10, how hard is it to damage this unit)
Speed (Reaction to enemy)
Flight (1-3, 1 is none, 2 is only during movement, 3 is perma)

>>10789360
Again, depends on the victory conditions. If it's point gathering, then cockroaches have the hornet fucked since they can get ANYWHERE as opposed to that fuckhuge thing.

Time limit screws roaches, tbh. No point in running them in such a game unless you get a BIG pointbuy to start, in which case it's all about delaying your swarm as long as you can without losing via time expiration.

In PnP, they're a great "everyman" class because they're so tough and have the Legacy trait to pass on some stats following the inevitable death.

>>10789526
Yeah, but in PnP you might as well pick Rat if the GM allows it.

>>10789612
Why even play, then?

'Behemoth' Class spiders were here.
Everything other than wasps is small time.
Quite literally everything.

>>10789684
We are building the wargame

>>10789624
Because enemy notice checks pretty much always succeed if a rat is in the room.