Sci-Fi Females (White) vs. Alien Hive Mind (Black)

Humanity has spread throughout the stars. It has taken centuries of technological progress and the sacrifice of those who lead the way, but the human race has established itself across hundreds, if not thousands of worlds.

This spread has gone unchallenged... until now. From the periphery of human expansion, an alien has already claimed some human colonies and made moves to claim more yet. All attempts at communication have failed and, worse yet, it seems that the aliens are focused on capturing all women for their own uses.

Pieces (Female): While every planet enjoys at least some level of self governance, they have all coalesced into a Federation for collective self defense. These Federation forces operate within Naval Strike Groups that rapidly respond to any requests for help or signs of distress... though there are murmurs of discontent at how they prioritize some planets over others.

Pawns - Planetary Garrison:

Light Infantry. These units are not technically part of the Federation's armed forces, but part of the colony's local defense forces. Usually by the time the Federation arrives these forces are at best somewhat battered and at worst in complete disarray.

Unit Size: 1-3 Light Infantry

Special Note: While not technically part of the same chain of command, Federation forces have made it common practice to enlist planetary defense forces directly under their control when appropriate, either when they perform well or as needed. As such, when enlisted they join any reinforcements arriving on the battlefield in their new role.

Rooks - Armored Cavalry:

Dropped off at the outer edges of a battle, these units can rapidly advance on enemies and unleash massive firepower while doing so. Unfortunately, despite the advanced automation provided by their vehicles, they can easily be swarmed and overrun without support from friendly units.

Unit Size: 4-8 vehicle operators (2-4 vehicles)

Knights - JumpJet Infantry:

A relatively new innovation brought about by the Alien's ability to rapidly traverse rough and urban terrain, these infantry are few in number but heavily armed and able to bound over buildings, terrain, and other units alike. More advanced models are capable of short sustained flight, while the earliest production models were only capable of an initial burst of power followed by enough thrust for a survivable landing. Requires a short recharge between jumps.

Sometimes deployed ahead of the main as a scouting element.

Unit Size: 2-4 JumpJet Infantry.

Bishops - Air Cavalry:

Deployed initially to cover the Command Element as they establish control of the battlefield, they are capable of weaving through scattered enemy formations to strike deep into enemy lines. Despite initially having little resistance from enemy ground fire, the Alien's have been noticed to be developing countermeasures to the Federation's air assets lately.

Unit size: 2-6 pilot/copilots (1-3 vehicles)

Queen - Rangers:

The elite of the Federation's Armed Forces. They are deployed directly with the command element and then tasked with disrupting enemy operations whenever possible. This unit makes use of JumpJet Infantry loaded into Gunships to exploit any opening in the enemy formation. This combination means that while the gunship can plow through enemy formations, it can also go evasive and allow the Rangers to hot drop, clear out the enemy, then jump back into the gunship as it passes back over.

Unit Size: 2 pilot/copilots (1 vehicle), 4-8 Rangers (Elite JumpJet Infantry)

King - Command Element:

The beating heart of all ground operations, due to the dynamic nature of the Alien threat it is necessary to have Command & Control (C&C) directly on the ground to avoid any issues of jamming communications or time lag. These Command Elements utilize advanced communications gear to act as a relay for all units on the battlefield and to coordinate their efforts into one cohesive . Command Elements are armed, however they are not very mobile so are supposed to take cover away from enemy activity as much as possible.

While theoretically only the best and brightest get slotted into a command element, it is not unheard of for someone to get assigned there via family connections or backroom politics. How much impact this has is yet to be determined.

Unit Size: 1 Commander, 1-3 Adjutants

Special Note: If a Command Element is captured by the enemy, all communications for Federation forces cease to function due to enemy jamming. This typically leads to mass confusion and most forces quickly being overwhelmed and captured.

Pieces (Alien): The Alien Hive is a mysterious, horrifying encroaching on human territory from the periphery of their colonization efforts. Only recently discovered by the Federation they are hard to classify as their space forces are elusive and hard to track, though thankfully so far no match for the Federation Navy.

The same cannot be said for their ground forces, however. Each invasion seems to be almost purposefully evolved to each planetary environment, meaning that no two invasions are composed of the exact same alien creatures. There are, however, patterns that have been observed across all invasions (Alien player is free to introduce unique variations of the below templates as they are introduced. Once introduced, the unit type is locked for that path and must remain consistent).

While most forces call these Aliens simply 'The Hive' or 'Hive Forces', there are some other nicknames applied colloquially across the Federation.

Pawns - Broodlings:

Small, fast, ambushers, these aliens will work alone or in small groups. While varying in appearance drastically, they all try to ambush their prey from the sides or rear and quickly breed before letting the victim(s) be pulled back to the nest site. It is very common for one group of Broodlings to act as a distraction or sacrifice itself so another group can successfully capture their target.

Special Note: If Broodlings manage to penetrate Federation lines, they will wreak havoc on the civilian population. While not completely understood, when not distracted by combat Broodlings are able to greatly accelerate the gestation time of any Hive spawn. This has lead to some encounters where once Broodlings had infiltrated the colony, they were able to reinforce the Alien Hive with freshly spawned units.

Rooks - Behemoths:

Living battering rams, Behemoths are massive, multi-legged, walking tanks capable of destroying vehicles and structures alike. While massively destructive and violent, when the opportunity presents itself they will also quickly, almost greedily, claim any targets for breeding, even going so far as to trample over other Aliens to do so.

Unlike other Aliens, Behemoths will usually keep the breeders they capture, attaching them to their back or sides until the battle is over, using them as shields to discourage attacks to the less armored sections of their tough exterior. The method it achieves this varies by the type, but previously observed Behemoths kept their victims in place by organic adhesives, special restraints exposed on their carapace, or even just tentacle like appendages that tied them into place.

Knights - Flyers:

One of the only airborne Alien types, they are often large enough to carry off one or two fully outfitted troopers each. While they are loud and cumbersome when taking off, once they have gained enough speed and/or altitude they can glide in on an opponent almost completely silently before striking, then carrying them off to a secluded spot for breeding. While first encounters with them showed only their beaks/mouths and talons/feet capable of inflicting damage to armor, it has been observed more recently that some Flyers are able to use their wings to slice through heavy armor or fortifications while flying.

Bishops - Burrowers:

Given the Alien Hive's penchant for ambushes and flanking, it is unsurprising that they have used some of their forces to tunnel underground. These forces are known to pop up out of the ground in surprise attacks right in the midst of a Federation unit's ranks, take them by surprise, then carry off their victims back into their tunnels where they will then breed with them.

It is not uncommon for Burrowers to coordinate with other Hive forces in order to take down targets beyond their abilities. It has been noted that when this occurs successfully, the burrowers split the breeders captured evenly with the complementing unit.

Queen - Skirmishers:

Greatly feared by Federation forces, these Aliens are bred to quickly cross any terrain, infiltrate any structure, and sneak across any landscape. Capable of slicing their way through almost any material known, of climbing any surface, and most worryingly of silencing their victims while breeding them, they are often slightly larger than most humans, travel in small coordinated packs, and have the reputation of being the silent doom of many a Federation trooper.

It is rumored that some skirmisher variants even have the ability to jam communications when in close proximity, however this hasn't been verified.

King - Nest:

The Alien Hive has not been known to make use of structures so far. Thusly, it is not surprising that even their nesting sites are mobile and have some degree of sentience. More of a collection of creatures intimately linked to the rest of the ground forces, they act as the conduit between the Hive Mind projected by whatever ships are in orbit and the swarm of ground forces they move with.

The Nest, or more accurately the creatures that compose the Nest, act as a staging area for all breeders captured by the Hive. While not so far capable of producing more Hive spawn rapidly enough to change the tide of battle, if the Hive win a battle a Nest with fresh Breeders can quickly change the strategic outlook of the planet they're on. If successful in taking over the planet, Nests will collect the required material to construct new starships, where their breeders will be stored beyond hope of rescue, as they grow a new invasion for the next invasion.

Special Note: If the Nest is destroyed, Alien ground forces will lose their connection to the Hive Mind. If this happens, all Alien units will either go into a frenzy attacking everything around them including themselves in an uncoordinated pandemonium or they will go dormant, simply ceasing all activity regardless of their surroundings. In cases where this would lead to the alien dying, they perform the bare minimum activity to reach safety and then go dormant.

There is no known explanation for why this happens or why there are different reactions.

Grubs: It should be noted that there is an additional alien type not previously mentioned. By far the most numerous of Alien creatures, seen accompanying almost all other types, they serve a variety of logistical roles among the hive, the most vital of which is servicing the Nest in whatever way is needed. They will consume all available biomass, typically from local vegetation, crops, or livestock/wildlife felled by other aliens and provide nutrients to wherever it is required. Given the Alien's rapid metabolism, feeding a wounded alien is largely the same as healing it.

While almost defenseless in combat and mostly used as living shields to take a bullet intended for a more threatening of it's brethren, they are feared for another reason. Grubs are the primary means of transporting those captured and bred by combat units back to the nest and once those breeders are handed off grubs are almost solely focused on completing this task as rapidly as possible. Once in a grub's grasp, very few troopers manage to escape.

Terrain/Biome: The Biome and terrain will be determined by the Female player on their first move. The play space will only cover one battle, so this will remain somewhat consistent.

Special Considerations: Female player's unit size determines how many characters each unit represents. This is determined by the type of world the battle takes place on.

This is not a hard rule, but a recommendation. If the writer diverges from this, give some sort of indication or story reason for why in the initial chapter along that path.

Frontier: Low population, very little development outside the initial colony.

Minimum unit size.

Established Colony: Medium population, some development of infrastructure outside the colony

Median unit size.

Core World: Large population, very well established infrastructure, lots of urban environments.

Maximum unit size.