Hivers any good?

[DrDaft]

So ive come back to playing this for almost a year and a half and ive seen the starting races but they have clothing limitations and kinda makes me think they are only useful for labour? just wanted other peoples advice

[kaiyl_kariashi]

they're not good tanks but they have about 20% faster base combat speed (they're also faster in general) than other races, making them good support attackers.

and if their legs/arms fall off, you can replace with robotics and remove most of their weaknesses. (Shirts are basically worthless due to how stun damage works).

[Locklave]

They are the best for work, worker drones that is. They have +20% to all the basic base support skills except cooking, but key ones like engineering/farming/labour are all +20% skill growth.

The +20% for combat skills does very little but they are amazing for non combat. In addition the best selling point of their workers is 1/2 food requirements.

For combat they all suck due to lower hp and/or lack of armor options. Their soldiers require 60% of the food of a normal human, so they are good fodder I guess if you can get them cheap or have junky gear you could toss them.

Prince hivers are good crafters, use less food 1/2 I think. They suck at combat and everything else. They lose limbs like crazy in combat, even workers totally outclass them.

[Aereto]

Originally posted by Locklave:

They are the best for work, worker drones that is. They have +20% to all the basic base support skills except cooking, but key ones like engineering/farming/labour are all +20% skill growth.

The +20% for combat skills does very little but they are amazing for non combat. In addition the best selling point of their workers is 1/2 food requirements.

For combat they all suck due to lower hp and/or lack of armor options. Their soldiers require 60% of the food of a normal human, so they are good fodder I guess if you can get them cheap or have junky gear you could toss them.

Prince hivers are good crafters, use less food 1/2 I think. They suck at combat and everything else. They lose limbs like crazy in combat, even workers totally outclass them.

Better described than I can. Hivers are worst in combat, especially when not outnumbering. Hivers in general don't starve as easily since they have the widest food selections that make even a Scorchlander puke, especially when all you have is foul raw meat. Workers and Princes commonly work better as scouts and thieves.

Workers have better base-related skills, but easily defeated in combat. They are good in menial labor, but let the greenlander cook if you want to pick up the cooking pace. In fights, they work better as turret guards though Skeletons may beat them with the lack of hunger and immediate repairs.

Warriors can't really make up well for what other humanoids can do better since they have the least armor options. While they bleed a lot less, a Skeleton bleeds little, while a Human or Shek enjoys the most armor options to tank as much damage.

Princes are literal support commanders. They heal and repair better than others, while the ease of dexterity and perception training makes them skilled crossbowmen (while Workers have dex and turret bonus). But they are not able to tank as much damage as any other creature. They make excellent thieves, since stealth, thievery, and lockpicking are easy to learn for them. They match greenlander humans with science, but only the Hive Prince enjoys easier medical experience. Probably gets dibs for prosthetics, becoming a glass crossbow with a good pair of steady arms; The Holy Nation are not full on hostile on them so long as a human male does the talking, but anything mechanical will make things bloody difficult.

[Locklave]

Rofl, dibs on prosthetics... Only because every time they enter combat their arms and legs launch into orbit because someone bumped into them.

Man I want to love princes, I want to tell everyone that their bonuses make up for them sucking in combat. I want to but I can't because it would be a horrible lie...

[Runner Girl]

RIP Beep. He lost a leg before I could get him out of the Fog Islands.

Anyways, Hivers are great. Get a Hiver. Get five of them... Get 20 Hivers. Make your own hive. It will be glorious.

Oh! And a Lantern of Radiance! You'll never make it through the Fog Islands without one!
- This comment was paid for by the Western Hiver Princes of Vain and Dreg.

[Locklave]

As a normal person and not at all paid Hive actor I agree the Lantern of Radiance is great.

[Bragdras]

They're quite worthless for anything related to spike damage, due to their silly low amount of limb health + not being able to cover everything fully, meaning even if your hiver had 100 in every stats he could get insta killed with a harpoon to the head, or any meitou-wielding character hitting them there.

They do get some good benefits outside of combat though, princes are good at crafting, drons are good at any menial labor, soldiers are pretty garbo because their 200 health head doesn't offset the fact they can't protect it and are bad at everything else, and their toughness doesn't really make up for anything. Although those are really just temporary benefits since anyone can and will get high stats in all of those naturally over time.

Just about their best advantage comes from their reduced bleed rates meaning it's kinda difficult to make them bleed out, and their reduced hunger rate means just that, they're easy to feed.

Sheks are basically still the best at everything in the long run due to them being the only race that has increased body health + can fully cover every parts (well, if the changes to armor balance go through, the head can only be covered at 90%.. Which still makes them best overall, cause skeletons and soldier hives can't protect their 200 health head, so they'll still go down quicker overall.

Of course robotic limbs can greatly increase their resistances and combat effectiveness, but then again, it'll be more useful on a shek.

[Reigdaer]

hivers in general are like Ants, they are great workers, have a good speed, but for fights, go for numbers always

[Locklave]

Shame the balance point of the entire game is combat. Being a great worker or farmer won't save you from a wild animal or a bandit that refuses to talk.

I imagine at the time they made Princes/Workers so worthless in combat they told themselves all those non combat skills would make them super powerful. I have no clue what they were thinking with soldiers, they are sorta okay at combat and suck at everything else lol.

[Tovias]

I feel like Warriors need some ridiculous buff to make up for all the lack on the other sub-types. Been wanting to try a hiver game but they just seem like a chore to play as, more so than skeletons.

[Blame]

They do have some bonuses, some that are already mentioned above, and some that aren't.

1. Low bleed rate.
2. Immune to acid.
3. Fast.
4. Increased damage resistance from toughness.
5. Slow hunger rate and can eat pretty much anything.
6. Fast exp rate for their specialized tasks and preferred weapon type.

So they are great for exploring, cheap to maintain, and more likely to survive after being knocked down due to less likely bleeding to death.

Workers and Princes can wear some helmets, for example Iron Hat for 70% head coverage (Masterwork: 57% Blunt Resistance, 76% (-20% stun) Cut Resistance, 85pts Harpoon Resistance).
Soldiers can't wear helmets, but, along with having 200 hitpoints on head, there are gear such as Dustcoat with its great coverage actually also having 25% head coverage as well.

Yes, they can't wear shoes or shirts, but they've got a whole lot of other stuff going on for them.
They aren't as bad as people make them out to be.

[Tovias]

Here I am hoping we see some hiver racial armor specific for them, mod or otherwise

[Nuclearmonkees]

They are great once all of their limbs fall off and are replaced with prosthetic ones.

And they will.

[Locklave]

Originally posted by Nikolis:

4. Increased damage resistance from toughness.

Only skill growth, a human with the same number has the same toughness. Also Soldiers don't get this bonus for whatever insane reason.

[amardj]

I don't know about them being abismal in combat. I once got jumped by a samurai hiver drone with a katanta. He will just about block everything.