Hippogriffs

Hippogriffs are a quadrupedal race native to  Hippogriffia. They are similar to griffons, having the front half of an eagle, but are taller and have the rear half of an equine rather than a feline. Theories about Hippogriffs being the offspring of horses and griffons have not been proven to be true. In addition, hippogriffs can use a shard from the magical Pearl of Transformation to change into Seaponies. In this form, they are aquatic fish-like creatures.

Racial Technology

The Hippogriff Reaserch tree focuses on boosting marines, naval and air efficiency, reconnaissance and industrial improvements. The tech tree suits a more offensive strategies with combination of air and sea, but also provides defensive capabilities.

Seapony Marines

Seapony Marines I

• 
  • Marsh
    • Movement: +10%
    • Defense: +10%
  • River
    • Movement: +10%
    • Defense: +10%
  • Amphibious
    • Movement: +10%
    • Defense: +10%

The ability to breathe underwater and swim like, well, fish, makes it remarkably easy to conduct seaborne operations.

Seapony Marines II

• Chance to Receive Critical Hit: -10%
• Effects of sustained Critical Hit: -10%

Seapony marines and technicians can conduct repairs in flooded compartments, removing much of the headache of naval combat.

Seapony Marines III

• 
  • Organization: +5.0
• 
  • Organization: +1.0

Storming beaches is normally a deadly affair, where one mistake spells catastrophe. For us, we can have whole forward operating bases underwater: hospitals, resupply, comms. Fighting them on the beaches is just regular fighting.

Seapony Marines IV

• Line Artillery:
  • Marsh
    • Attack: +10%
  • River
    • Attack: +10%
  • Amphibious
    • Attack: +20%

While heavier equipment will still have to be brought in by boat, new aquatic pack artillery can be broken down and carried by seapony squadrons, then assembled to provide fire support directly on the beaches.

Seapony Marines V

• Special Forces Non-Combat Out of Supply: -10%

Our marines, being highly trained and able to function underwater, on land or in the air, are a remarkably self-sufficient fighting force. They can survive on meager supplies for quite some time and conduct hit-and-run warfare even when supplies are running low.

Seapony Marines VI

• Extra Marine Supply Grace: +240 hour(s)
• Special Forces Supply Grace: +48 hour(s)

Our marines are able to slip away even when in heavy fighting to recover supplies from ships and underwater caches. That way, we will be able to keep ourselves in the fight for days after other forces would have run out of ammunition.

Engineering

High-Pressure Engineering

• Resource Gain Efficiency: +5.00%
• Construction Speed: +10.0%

We have learned much about engineering in general through constructing so much of our infrastructure underwater. Our civil engineers know how to deal with loads and stresses which would cause most other species' engineers to throw up their hooves (or claws, or what have you).

Rare Aquatic Materials

• Resource Gain Efficiency: +15.00%

There are a lot of strong materials you can find on the sea floor, with interesting applications both magical and mundane.

Soaring Architecture

• Construction Speed: +10.0%
• Factory Bomb Vulnerability: +10.0%
• Factory Repair Speed: +10.0%

Hippogriffkind has always had a flare for the majestic, with Mount Aris inspiring soaring spires and towering skyscrapers.

Form Follows Function

• Production Efficiency Base: +10.0%
• Factory Bomb Vulnerability: -10.0%

Hippogriff design philosophy emphasizes the unity of aesthetics and practicality. Everything is intuitively built: our engineers are almost as much artists as technical specialists, and take great pride in the elegance of their designs.

Hydrodynamics I

• 
  • Max Speed: +10.0%

The seapony body is a magnificent feat of hydrodynamics. Using it as inspiration, we have designed ships which cut through the water like, well, a fish.

Aerodynamics I

• All Airplanes:
  • Agility: +10.0%

The Hippogriff body is a remarkable feat of aerodynamics. Using it as inspiration, we have designed sleek aircraft which can adjust course with tiny movements, creating nimble dogfighters.

Hydrodynamics II

• 
  • Surface Visibility: -10.0%
• 
  • Sub Visibility: -10.0%

Our new ships glide through the water, making far less noise and wave signature than older designs.

Aerodynamics II

• All Airplanes:
  • Max Speed: +10.0%

The next generation of hippogriff aircraft will push aerodynamics to the next level, with low-drag designs reaching incredible speed.

Recon & Detection

Eyes Above, Eyes Below

• Air Detection: +10.0%
• Naval Detection: +10.0%
• Recon
  • Reconnaissance: +100%

Our lookouts are able to get vantage points both high above the ground and deep beneath the waves, allowing us to detect enemies who thought they were well hidden.

Seapony Scouts

• Spotting Speed: +25.0%

Seapony scouts will accompany our ships, tracking down enemy vessels across the waves and warning us when enemies lie in wait.

Advanced Demolition Teams

• Recon
  • Hard Attack: +50.0%
  • Piercing: +50.0%

Our recon troops are able to get quite close to the enemy by exploiting our ability to walk, fly and swim. We will train them in sabotage and minelaying to target enemy armoured elements and supply depots.

Boarding Parties

• Screen Attack: +10.0%
• Convoy Raiding Efficiency: +10.0%

Boarding tactics may seem outdated in an age of modern naval guns, but the ability to swim right up to the enemy and then fly on board makes them far more viable.

A Thousand Hidden Places

• 
  • Marsh
    • Movement: +5.0%
  • River
    • Movement: +5.0%

The ability to map riverbeds and the bottoms of ponds makes it far easier to traverse wet terrain.

Advanced Commando Tactics

• Special Forces
  • Defense: +5.0%
  • Breakthrough: +5.0%
  • Soft Attack: +5.0%
  • Hard Attack: +5.0%

The special forces truly are the pride of Aris. Equally at home on land, in the water and in the air, they train every day to outfox and outfight the enemy in any theatre of operations.

Total Naval Supremacy

• 
  • Fjords And Archipelagos
    • Attack +10.0%
    • Defense +10.0%
  • Shallow Sea
    • Attack +10.0%
    • Defense +10.0%
  • Deep Oceans
    • Attack +10.0%
    • Defense +10.0%

Nocreature can fight in the water like we can. Our navy incorporates boarders, aerial spotters, and underwater screens into a beautiful, elegant whole.

Combined Arms Warfare

We Can Swim!

• Leg Infantry
  • Marsh
    • Attack: +5.0%
    • Movement: +5.0%
  • River
    • Attack: +5.0%
    • Movement: +5.0%
  • Amphibious
    • Attack: +5.0%
    • Movement: +5.0%

You know it's remarkably easier to cross bodies of water when you can just turn into a fish.

Air-Sea Warfare

• Air Superiority Mission Efficiency: +10.0%
• Sortie Efficiency: +10.0%

The aircraft carrier represents the purest embodiment of the Arisian way of war: a ship carrying planes across the water to bomb other ships.

Natural Fliers

• Leg Infantry
  • Hills
    • Attack: +5.0%
    • Movement: +5.0%
  • Mountains
    • Attack: +5.0%
    • Movement: +5.0%

Verticality is much less of a barrier to us than to other species, as we are able to simply fly up onto ridges and peaks to get a good vantage point.

Seapony Screens

• Screening Efficiency: +10.0%

Patrols of seaponies can spot enemy torpedoes and warn their home ships to steer clear.

Universal Marine Training

• Special Froces Capacity Multiplier: +10.0%
• Special Forces Minimum Capacity: +24

Not every soldier can be a marine. Even with all our advantages, it takes nerves of steel to assault enemy beaches and it takes a lot of specialised equipment. But every soldier should at least be comfortable in both hippogriff and seapony form, and should know how to use the latter to gain an edge.

Three-Dimensional Thinking

• Air Superiority: +10.0%
• Capital Ship Attack +10.0%

Being the creatures we are, we naturally think in three dimensions. By taking advantage of this, we can allow our air forces to work more closely with our ground troops and our aerial spotters to more effectively direct the fire of naval batteries.

Multilayered Combat

• 
  • Organization: +5.0
• All Infantry & Mot/Mech
  • Organization: +5.0

The army, the navy, and the airforce will fight as one complete weapon of war. Each service branch will understand the others at an instinctual level, and support each other in all things.

Endurance

As Strong as the Mountain

• Capital Ship Armor: +20.0%

Building upon the foundations of the Mountain and the ocean floor, we hippogriffs are remarkably good at making things that last.

Applied Regeneration

• Ship Repair Speed: +50.0%
• 
  • Trickleback & War Support Protection: +5.0%
  • Exp. Loss: -5.0%

As a species adapted to physically transforming our bodies, we hippogriffs are possessed of a certain ability to rearrange our tissues, which with some coaxing can be put to use in regenerating damaged tissues.

Half-Submerged Redoubts

• Coastal Fort construction speed: +25.0%

Other creatures hate it when their fortifications become waterlogged. For us, it's just an extra layer of protection. So long as we make sure no shells land in the water itself: hydrostatic shock is not your friend.

Ocean-Proof Gear

• Division Attrition: -10.0%
• Attrition: -10.0%

Our gear is built to survive constant exposure to saltwater. It is remarkably tough stuff.

Ocean Trench Warfare

• Naval minelaying efficiency: +10.0%
• 
  • Entrenchment: +200.0%

While we can't survive the pressures at the deepest ocean trenches, wargames conducted in the shallower trenches have revealed much to us, like how to lay magnetic mines by fin, or how to dig a foxhole into hard rock.

In-Combat Shifting

• Army
  • Defense: +5.0%
  • Breakthrough: +5.0%

Shapechanging is tough, getting used to each form is tough, but training each soldier to be able to do it under pressure will give us unrivalled tactical flexibility.