Contingency plans (Starcraft Zerg Quest)

[x] Transformation

You withdraw into yourself for a few day only using your powers to unconsciously direct the Steel Swarm as they go about their duties. You feel your smartest children such as Terra worry for you, but they soon realize that it is merely you going into another stage of your life and is such nothing to worry about. Soon enough you will return to them.

They days seem to pass by in mere moments and you emerge from you cocoon in the form of a giant scorpion line creature with a wide variety of Terran machinery implanted into yourself including several anti-air rocket turrets as well as a large cannon on your back. It feels strange, you had never been one with a lot of physical power instead preferring to make you use of your considerable mental capabilities.

A brand new infested Terran is awaiting you when you wake up, they are still young and have yet to fit into a new role, but you can sense that they are eager to begin their duties.

What do you name them?

What role should they take up?
[x] You lack elite battlefield combatants, it may be time to change that.
[x] You could use another field commander, you'd better make one.
[x] Now that you're getting into space and will probably start work on other planets soon it may be a good idea to specialize this one for planetary management.

You also send some infested Wraiths out to scout the nearby planets.

Surprisingly you find a grand total of five planets each of which is filled to the brim with existing infested Terrans and easily co-opted infrastructure. Taking any one of these could lead to a massive increase in your overally available forces.

Another nearby planet is less a planet and more a frozen rock with a bunch of abandoned space stations in orbit, you haven't been able to look at it in depth but you have a feeling that there could be something of value within.

Finally a barren planet nearby has next to nothing in terms of available biodiversity, industry, or even population. What it does have however is a surprising number of powerful Terran psychic signatures as well several strange structures on its surface…this could be interesting.

XXXXXXXX

"Hi Daddy!" Terra squeezes herself against one of your legs, it seems you're too big to hug the old way now…that actually makes you feel a little sad. "I've finished the ideas for the infested Wraith Replacement just like you asked."

Such a smart girl, your happy that you have her with you, you don't think the Steel Swarm would be doing nearly as well otherwise.
[x] The Phantom: Much bigger then the infested Wraith the Phantom makes up for it's increased cost in the form of a much higher quality. Better energy storage made using a combination of Terran machinery and Zerg biology allows the Phantom to remain in stealth near indefinably. However in the case of an enemy detecting it's presence The Phantom is equipped with a pair of rapid fire laser cannons far stronger than those on the original Wraith as well as a couple dozen Source launchers to help bring down nearly any foe.
[x] The Spook: Basically an upgraded and streamline version of the existing infested wrait, it doesn't offer anything new but it can easily be produced in massive numbers.
[x] The Sneaker: A strange fight the Sneaker uses its stealth to close in on enemies and then once within range grabs onto the hostile units and start spewing acid onto it. It is a little cheaper than the Infested Wraith but it's still going to be less common than say a Mutalisk.
[x] The Grudge: Bigger and more powerful than the other choices the Grudge does away with the steal all together and comes with a wide variety of powerful weapons including lasers, Scourges, and even rear mounted turren to guard against sneak attacks from behind. In addition the Grudge possess increased armor making it the most durable of the possible replacements.

What do you do next? (Choose 2)
[x] The Ogre strain is a great improvement on what you have, but you feel that you can do more.
[x] Create another natural grown infested terran.
[x] Create another Cerebrate level infested Terran.
[x] Focus on building another infested unit type. (Choose an already researched infested unit to produce above the others)
[x] Scout the Frozen Planet in greater detail.
[x] Scout one of the Lush Planets in greater detail.
[x] Scout the Barren Planet in greater detail.

Terra's research projects. (Choose 1)
[x] Shrike turrets "Hey dad! Let's put a gun on those infested bunkers it'll make them even better at shooting the enemy!"
[x] Fortified Bunker "If we make bunkers tougher and able to hold more marines that's good! Right daddy!?"
[x] Perdition Turret (Fire) "With these we can burn all the bad guys!"
[x] Perdition Turret (Chemical) "On the other hand we can melt them with acid instead!"
[x] Bioports: "It will cost the infested Starports ability to take flight, but if you want I can modify the infested startport so it can create pure Zerg strains in addition to infested terran units."
[x] Juggernaut Plating: "FIrebats are very potent but they tend to lack a bit in the durability department, I think we should fix that!"'
[x] Explosive Marines "Those old school exploding marines are pretty potent, maybe we should see if we can copy them?"
[x] Larger Ships: "If we want to have a presence in space we'll need more than fighters, I can try and design an actual ship class using resources from the port city and the data from the fallen battlecruiser if given the order."

[x] Bigger Ships

You format your new Cerebrate Leve infested Terran for planetary management. With your upcoming expansion into other planets you'll need operators on that scale so that you'll have an easier time focusing you attention on other matters.

In addition you order the scouting of some of the lush worlds. Sadly there isn't much unique about them, but they are still wonderful habitants in of themselves and would allow you turn them into staging grounds of obscene potency for increasing the Steal Swarms numbers and firepower.

…you know you probably should name him as well as the strain that's he's formed from.

What is his name?

[x] Write in

What his strand named?

[x] Write in

Out of the infested Wraith variants you naturally choose the Phantom, while your forces can be expect to outnumber any 'Protoss' force as well as most Terran ones when it comes to simulated protections against other Zerg you actually end up being more reliant on quality than on superior numbers.

Along the lines you also ask Terra to come up with ideas for larger space craft. She naturally gives you a selection to choose from.

[x] The Giant Crab: "Yeah I know the names weird but it really fits the fantasy monster theme we have going! Anyway this ship is circular in shape and possess a massive missile launcher on its back capable of destroying larger enemy ships alongside a host of smaller weapons for fighting off pests. In addition it can land on planets and make use of its central battery as a long range arterially weapon! Go giant crustaceans!"
[x] The Hive: "Basically a giant Cargo Ship loaded to the brim with Scourges the Hive is capable of devastating Alpha strikes but the long time it takes to reload prevents it from being much use after that point."
[x] The Alchemist: "Based off of a Science Vessel the Alchemist can add an extra layer of armor over allies, temporarily strip the armor off of its enemies or even render hostile targets unable to tell friend from foe for a while, it only has a few point defense guns beyond those abilities though so you gatta be careful with it."
[x] The Archer: "I used this using salvage Battlecrusier parts the Archer gets its name because of the ships resemblance to a giant bow. Sadly I could not give it the power to shoot giant armors but I do have later plans to put a main gun in the center and it currently has more than enough gun batteries and armor to fight it's normal counterparts and come out on top."

Finally you work on a further improvement of the Ogre, right now you see two possible ways to go.

[x] Centaur: A large quadruped the Centaur is both stronger than the Ogre and much faster…also it can put other infested Terrans inside an organic bunker like construct on it's back from which they can fire out. Even better should the Centaur be destroyed its inhabitants will emerge safe and sound!
[x] The Giant: The Orge's design taking up to its natural conclusion the Giant is the largest infested Terran possible while at the same time getting a good return on the resouces use. While lacking the speed and transport abilities of the Centaur the Giant is far stronger and far more durable. In addition the Giant can hold of to three 'Stones' items that can have a variety of effects, so far only an explosive variant exists but more can be reaserched later.

What do you do next? (Choose 2)
[x] Create another natural grown infested terran.
[x] Create another Cerebrate level infested Terran.
[x] Focus on building another infested unit type. (Choose an already researched infested unit to produce above the others)
[x] Scout the Frozen Planet in greater detail.
[x] Scout the Barren Planet in greater detail.
[x] Order a colonization of one of the newly found planets.

Terra's research projects. (Choose 1)
[x] Shrike turrets "Hey dad! Let's put a gun on those infested bunkers it'll make them even better at shooting the enemy!"
[x] Fortified Bunker "If we make bunkers tougher and able to hold more marines that's good! Right daddy!?"
[x] Perdition Turret (Fire) "With these we can burn all the bad guys!"
[x] Perdition Turret (Chemical) "On the other hand we can melt them with acid instead!"
[x] Bioports: "It will cost the infested Starports ability to take flight, but if you want I can modify the infested startport so it can create pure Zerg strains in addition to infested terran units."
[x] Eh? "When our existing mechanical well ok partially mechanical units get ganked the pilot is out of lucl…I have a plan to fix that!"
[x] Juggernaut Plating: "FIrebats are very potent but they tend to lack a bit in the durability department, I think we should fix that!"'
[x] Explosive Marines "Those old school exploding marines are pretty potent, maybe we should see if we can copy them?"
[x] Larger Ships: "While we've already got one design down the others are always open if you feel like it." (Choose one of the four ship designs from earlier.)

OOC: Fun fact that Centaur is actually a flat out upgrade on an existing infested Tarran units, you'd actually have gotten the already existing unit instead of the Centaur itself as an option had you tried researched it earlier.