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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 787048" data-attributes="member: 6929">Formian TacticsThe formians have great numbers in this conflict, which you'd think would preclude them to horde tactics. However, they haven't existed in a vacuum until their arrival on Ausel. They've conquered many wildly varied worlds, and faced armies of other extraplanar factions. In fact, considering their alignment, they're probably currently at war with the slaadi, their main enemies.The average slaad is much tougher than a formian. A formian warrior is roughly human-sized (maybe slightly more considering its centauroid body). A red or blue slaad (the most common slaadi) are Large creatures, probably close to ten feet tall and damn ugly. It relies more on its natural reach and damage capabilities than tactics or weaponry, and is generally unpredictable, being a creature of pure chaos.So to overcome the slaadi, the formians developed a strategy. Slaadi cannot be counted upon to work as a team, therefore: divide and conquer. Bring maximum force to bear on the individual slaadi and wear them down. The formian battle unit is six strong; six warriors to a slaad, they quickly surround and anihilate the slaad with their poisonous stingers. Formians never developed a mass archery phase for their battle plans; the slaad sometimes employ magical assaults, but never used missile weapons and the formians largely relied on their innate spell resistance. The myrmachs use javelins, but that's about it - the myrmachs are elites, anyway.Marching in units of 6, the formians nevertheless stick together in larger groups - six units make a Task, six Tasks make a Myrm of 216 warriors. Six myrms make a Legion of 1296 warriors. At current count, there are three hundred and eighty-six legions operating out of the fortress. A Legion marches together, unless the area is deemed 'secure'.A secure region is an area roughly a square mile in size. One legion advances to the far end and patrols the border. It is now secure from reinforcements. Another legion splits up and thoroughly works through the area, attempting to take captives before Taskmasters or, failing capture, killing anything that moves - but they don't like doing that.The 50-mile hive mind is a problem for extended campaigns, but there's a fix for this: the taskmasters. They have telepathy with 100-foot range, and are therefore capable of coordinating a tactical assault with absolute silence, albeit from the back. Overall strategic communication is achieved by the myrmachs; they can teleport without error at will - and they can carry 600lb with them! That's certainly enough for a taskmaster or a warrior. Myrmachs therefore remain in communication with their home base and their field commanders at will.Formian communication is reliant on knowledge of the myrmach's landing zone. For this reason, formians construct a small fortress in every square mile of conquered territory, where myrmachs can 'port in and coordinate with troop movements. (This fortress is build out of whatever comes to hand - stone, trees, baked clay. The subaquatic fortresses are typically created later, because they have to be watertight and have neat windows - typically permanent walls of force.)Conquered formian territory is arranged in hexagonal or square patterns. The formian worker populace will eventually move in and transform each hex or square into one specific type, normally based on what it currently is: forests will have the gaps filled in, farms will be amalgamated and extended into huge level terraces, cities will expand to the edge of their hex and then build upwards. However, the formians don't have the time to do this... yet.Against human opponents, the anti-slaadi tactics won't be so useful. The first thing the formians won't expect is archers. The second thing is battle lines - they expect to flood forwards in their own line, each unit splitting off when they encounter an enemy. If a human line can stand strong, the encircling tactics of a formian horde will fail. (Formians are still formidable opponents, but they're not quite so formidable if they're fighting you one-on-one, as opposed to six-on-one.)</blockquote>

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