I Am the Swarm

The matter of improving crops is not a high priority, and I will study it later when I have free time.

As the scale of the swarm gradually grows, it will soon come to the stage and face various challenges.

Therefore, what Rowan urgently needs to do now is to first determine the main combat arms for a period of time to come.

So now the question comes again, what kind of creature template should be chosen?

If you still use the template of ants, it is not impossible to replace it with an advanced enemy tracking system, add a surging heart, replace the support system, and enhance its mobility. But there is a very serious problem that cannot be solved.

That's their exoskeleton armor.

The exoskeleton armor not only makes the ants strong, but also enhances their defenses.

It can be an exoskeleton, but it can also be an exoskeleton.

Although the exoskeleton has various advantages, it also limits the size of the ants. If they want to continue to enlarge their body size, they need to constantly molt.

For example, the Big Mac among them, the super giant, needs to go through two molts when it grows to a full body. This is only a body size of twenty or thirty centimeters. If it was Luo Wen, he couldn't even remember how many times it pupated and molted before it grew to a body length of sixty centimeters.

Shedding, on the other hand, is a rather energy-intensive and risky act.

The solution is also simple, that is to prolong their time in the larval stage. Directly add genes to allow the larvae to grow to the corresponding size, and then cast into shape at one time, which can save the trouble of constantly molting.

But how much time and resources will it take to make the larva grow half a meter away? You must know that the larvae have no production capacity at all, and their combat ability is extremely poor. They even need the assistance of worker ants to eat.

Maybe the swarm can raise such baby worms in the future, but with the current size of the swarm, it simply can't afford to raise a few.

And the insect swarm relies on the sea of ​​insects tactics, what effect can a few large soldier ants have?

In addition to the ant template, other small dinosaur templates? Tail mouse template? Long face beast template? They are not limited by the exoskeleton armor, but their combat power is not directly proportional to the consumption they produce.

Leopard template? This is okay, but with the resources of the insect swarm, it is not possible to raise a few.

What Rowan needs is a unit with strong combat effectiveness and low cost.

After thinking about it, he thought of transporting bugs. These units produced with the cliff spider as a template, of course, became auxiliary units because of their fast action speed and high load.

But in fact, these guys are quite powerful in combat, and have made great achievements in many battles. Their piercing attacks serve as harvesters for smaller combat units.

Their multi-joint feet can cross various obstacles, and they have strong grip, and can walk on rocky cliffs as smooth as mirrors, and can meet most of the harsh battlefield environments.

Although they also have exoskeleton armor, they also need to manage a process of molt during growth. However, Rowan can modify the genes to remove the exoskeleton of their main body and only keep the exoskeleton armor on the legs.

At the same time, their body trunks will not be without the slightest defense. Rowan will add some genes such as tough skin and steel wool protection to enhance their defense.

Moreover, they do not fight alone. When hunting, there will be many of the same kind helping each other, a little loss of defense should not cause too much problem.

In this way, their bodies are no longer restricted by the exoskeleton armor. Without the exoskeleton of the body backbone, their movements are more flexible due to the reduced load.

With the growth of body size, it is only necessary to replace the exoskeleton armor on the legs regularly, which greatly reduces energy consumption and risk.

At the same time, Rowan will also add a small poisonous gland at the end of each of their legs, and hide a stinger. In this way, their attack power is not only not reduced, but also greatly strengthened.

In addition, Rowan also added an echolocation system to them, so that this new type of spider combat insect can find enemies faster and more accurately in the jungle, so as to better exert their abilities.

Also, Rowan will modify their diet system, changing them from carnivorous to omnivorous. This is something he wanted to do a long time ago, but it was a pity that his ability was slightly insufficient at that time, but now he finally succeeded.

Besides that, they will also have dormancy genes and tail fat genes added.

In Rowan's vision, the size of these new spider war insects was maintained at about 30 centimeters. A small part usually eat omnivores to maintain consumption and maintain the daily vigilance of the insect swarm. The large army either eats dirt or simply goes dormant, and wakes up in wartime. Only in high-intensity wars will they supplement meat for consumption.

The tail fat gene allows them to carry more supplies under certain circumstances to fulfill some special war needs.

Originally, Rowan wanted to add an optical cloaking system to them, but after checking, the cost of this system turned out to be surprisingly high. It essentially adds a layer of special nanostructures to the biological surface, so it is equivalent to a full-body transformation, and consumes an astonishing amount of energy.

After thinking about it, as the main combat unit for some time to come, the spider war worms will face group battles, so it doesn't seem necessary to hide or not.

In the end, Rowan concocted a template of Spider War Bug (modified), added an optical stealth system, and produced it in small quantities as a supplement for special operations.

The main battle unit is determined. Among the remaining auxiliary units, some super giants based on ants are still to be produced, and their size can continue to be enlarged to half a meter to one meter.

After all, the defense ability of the spider war worm is insufficient. If you encounter an opponent who needs to be tough, you still need some "heavy armored infantry" to support the scene.

The ground arms are basically done, and the next is the air force.

This is a new unit that the swarm is about to build. It has no experience before. Fortunately, Luo Wen has seen a lot recently, and he has a general idea in his mind.

There are only three optional templates for the Air Force, flying insect gene, flying beetle gene and flying bird gene.

First, the flying beetle gene was removed. Their body structure makes flight extremely inefficient. Rowan suspects that they evolved the ability to fly not for fighting, but simply because their clumsy bodies are inconvenient to walk.

However, their flying ability and technological content are the highest. Rowan believes that there will always be a time when they will shine, but not now.

Secondly, the flying bird gene was also discarded. It's the same old saying - value for money. Maybe they can easily kill a flying insect when they are singled out. However, the cost of a flying bird with a body length of 30 centimeters is enough to make more than ten or even dozens of flying insects with a body length of about 10 centimeters.

And one flying bird is certainly no match for ten flying insects. Maybe it can fight off most of the flying insects, but if ten birds fight against a hundred flying insects, they may not even be qualified to fight.

Although their flight capabilities and endurance are better, these are not needed for the time being. Moreover, compared to the flight and battery life of these flying birds, Rowan has better options in the future.