Kha'ak Seeder archetype

The Seeder is the mod’s most-different archetype. Not flagship-centric like Admiral / Pirate. Not immobile like Coordinator / Engineer. Instead, the Seeder’s identity is the network they grow — hives, outposts, spawning locations. The flagship is a delivery vehicle, not the archetype’s core.

The Seeder is Kha’ak’s build-out counterpart to the Hive Lord’s strategic command. Together they self-propagate Kha’ak presence: Seeder drops new hive → Hive Lord defends it → both together drive the threat forward.

Coverage

1 template — Khaak faction only
Dynamic quota: max_seeders = 1 + floor(hive_count / 10). A galaxy with only Kha’ak home hives → 1 Seeder. A galaxy where Kha’ak have spread to 30+ hives → 3+ Seeders. Self-scaling.
Slow-burn: 10 hives × 2h Big Summon cooldown = dozens of hours real-time before the 2nd Seeder ever spawns
Not disband on hive loss — Seeder is loosely coupled to network. Loss of one hive doesn’t kill Seeder; Seeder death doesn’t kill hives

Playstyle — the gardener

Seeder is a Brood-Mother / Gardener of Hives. Not a warrior, not a defender. They:

Fly around the galaxy looking for mineral-rich sectors (ore, silicon, ice, nividium)
Drop outposts (small structures, defensive purpose)
Drop hives (large structures, spawning purpose)
Summon Kha’ak fighters from own network — the more hives + outposts the network has, the more units each summon produces
Teleport to safety when threatened — no combat, ever

Unlike other archetypes, Seeder is hostile to everyone (vanilla Kha’ak relations). Even other Kha’ak factions if any exist. Pure isolationist expansion.

Fleet composition — small, light, escape-oriented

The Seeder flagship stays M Kha’ak throughout all ranks — no flagship swap. Small escort screen grows:

★	Flagship	Escort
★	M Kha’ak flagship	0
★★	M Kha’ak flagship	2× S
★★★	M Kha’ak flagship	2× M + 4× S
★★★★	M Kha’ak flagship	4× M + 8× S

Not enough fleet to hold ground against major forces. Speed + teleport make up for it. Fleet is there to survive travel to unclaimed sectors + defend during 10-min hive drop windows.

Decision cascade — tier-priority

The Seeder cascade is tier-aware — different star ranks have different priority chains. Rule 0 always applies regardless of tier.

flowchart TD
  Start[for each seeder hero] --> R0{threat > 200<br/>AND has hive?}
  R0 -- yes --> T0["TELEPORT<br/>to random hive sector<br/>-100 RP fixed cost"]
  R0 -- no --> Tier{tier?}

  Tier -- 1 star --> Q1A{RP >= 100?}
  Q1A -- yes --> A1A[small summon<br/>random ore/Si/Ni sector<br/>1h cooldown]
  Q1A -- no --> D1[default: guard hive OR<br/>patrol spawn sector]

  Tier -- 2 stars --> Q2A{RP >= 150 AND<br/>outpost CD ok?}
  Q2A -- yes --> A2A[spawn outpost<br/>1h CD, 150 RP]
  Q2A -- no --> Q2B{RP >= 100 AND<br/>summon CD ok?}
  Q2B -- yes --> A2B[small summon]
  Q2B -- no --> D2[default]

  Tier -- 3 stars --> Q3A{RP >= 200 AND<br/>hive CD ok?}
  Q3A -- yes --> A3A[spawn hive<br/>2h CD, 200 RP]
  Q3A -- no --> Q3B{RP >= 150 AND<br/>outpost CD ok?}
  Q3B -- yes --> A3B[spawn outpost]
  Q3B -- no --> Q3C{RP >= 100 AND<br/>summon CD ok?}
  Q3C -- yes --> A3C[small summon]
  Q3C -- no --> D3[default]

  Tier -- 4 stars --> Q4A{RP >= 200 AND<br/>hive CD ok?}
  Q4A -- yes --> A4A[spawn hive]
  Q4A -- no --> Q4B{RP >= 150 AND<br/>outpost CD ok?}
  Q4B -- yes --> A4B[spawn outpost]
  Q4B -- no --> Q4C{RP >= 150 AND<br/>big-summon CD ok?}
  Q4C -- yes --> A4C[BIG SUMMON<br/>2h CD apex]
  Q4C -- no --> Q4D{RP >= 100 AND<br/>summon CD ok?}
  Q4D -- yes --> A4D[small summon]
  Q4D -- no --> D4[default]

Key principle: on each ★, Seeder first builds infrastructure (improving formula buff for future summons), then spends RP on spam. This automatically creates a network-growth pattern at higher tiers.

Threat calculation (Rule 0)

Threat = sum of hostile ship strengths in current sector:

XL → 100
L → 50
M → 10
S → 5

If total ≥ 200 AND the Seeder has at least 1 hive, teleport fires (rule 0). Cost: -100 RP fixed.

At ★1-2 (no hives yet) teleport is impossible → Seeder is genuinely fragile. Design intent: lower-tier Seeders are the fragile catalyst that risks itself to build the initial network. Once the network exists, Seeders are effectively invulnerable via teleport.

The 4 abilities in detail

Small summon (★1+)

Cost: drain ALL free RP at ship weight (L=400 / M=40 / S=20)
Cooldown: 1 hour
Effect: spawn Kha’ak fighters at random own-network hive location. Fighters roam and attack.
Scaling: more RP + higher-quality units. A ★1 with 100 RP gets ~5 S. A ★4 with 400 RP gets ~10 M + a few L.

Spawn Outpost (★2+)

Cost: 150 RP fixed
Cooldown: 1 hour
Effect: create a Kha’ak outpost structure in a picked ore/silicon/nividium-rich sector
Persistence: outposts add to outpost_count — improves the summon formula for future spawns

Spawn Hive (★3+)

Cost: 200 RP fixed
Cooldown: 2 hours
Effect: create a Kha’ak hive structure (large — ships spawn from it via faction logic)
Persistence: hives add to hive_count — biggest formula multiplier + enables Seeder quota expansion
Requirement: target sector must have mineral-rich resources; scanner filters non-viable sectors

Big Summon (★4 only — apex ability)

Cost: drain ALL free RP at 1/4 the ship weight of Small Summon (L=150 / M=20 / S=5)
Cooldown: 2 hours
Effect: spawn a massive wave across ALL own-network hives simultaneously
Only available at ★★★★ — this is the “endgame Kha’ak surge” moment
Result @ 400 RP: dozens of Kha’ak fighters materialize across the galaxy in one HMW cycle

Spawn formula — network multiplier

units_per_summon = (outpost_count × 10) + (hive_count × 30) + free_RP

This is the vanilla Kha’ak spam mechanic extended by the Seeder network. Each outpost adds +10 to the summon multiplier; each hive +30. A ★★★★ Seeder with 3 hives + 5 outposts + 400 RP triggering Big Summon produces ~130 fighters in one wave.

Dynamic quota — self-propagating

max_seeders = 1 + floor(hive_count / 10)

Periodic check every 30 min. When Kha’ak grow to 10+ hives, a 2nd Seeder can spawn. At 20 hives → 3 Seeders. Each Seeder can build the network further.

Slow-burn: 10 hives × 2h Big Summon CD = many game-hours before the 2nd Seeder spawns. Player has time to react.

Loose coupling — network vs Seeder

KIA of Seeder → hives live on (feral). Hives keep spawning Kha’ak per vanilla faction logic even without a Seeder. Just no new hives are being built.

Destruction of a hive → Seeder unaffected. They lose the formula bonus, but continue operations from other hives.

Persistent Kha’ak threat across Seeder generations. A player who clears out one Seeder + 5 hives still faces the remaining hives + eventual next Seeder.

Default fallback (when no RP / cooldowns)

If ≥1 living hive exists → guard hive (AssignCommander assignment.defence on the nearest hive)
If no hives (★1-2 Seeders in early game) → patrol spawn sector where the Seeder originally appeared

Behaviour example — ★★★ Seeder builds a new hive

Brood-Mother (★★★, 1060 XP, 59 kills, 750,000 cr).

HMW tick: current sector (Sanctuary of Darkness) is safe. threat < 200 → teleport doesn’t fire.
Tier=★3 branch: RP = 111/200. Below 200 → hive-spawn doesn’t fire.
Falls to Q3B: RP < 150 → outpost-spawn doesn’t fire.
Falls to Q3C: RP ≥ 100 AND summon CD is ready → small summon fires. Spawns ~10 S fighters at random own-network hive (there are 6 galaxy-wide).
Next tick: RP tick brings total to 115. Nothing possible. Default → guard hive on the nearest hive (Sanctuary of Darkness).
Continue for 5 more ticks until RP reaches 200. Now hive-spawn fires. Picks an unclaimed mineral-rich sector 2 hops away. Flies there.
Deploys hive over ~15 min (uninterrupted — sector chosen because low threat).
New hive added to network. Kha’ak population capacity increases. Big Summon formula bumps up.

The Seeder Network state is exposed on the hero detail page — this is the swarm-expansion machinery in action:

Recovery cycle

Same d100 death roll on flagship destruction. Kha’ak flagships aren’t invulnerable — a decent Argon patrol can kill an unescorted ★★ Seeder.

Wounded/unscathed — normal cooldown, RP tick resumes, Seeder rebuilds fleet from RP
KIA — lineage archived, 120-min vacancy, then next clone spawns with inherited perks. Kha’ak network persists throughout.

Relationship to Hive Lord

Seeder = builder (creator role) — creates hives + outposts, spawns new units at those locations
Hive Lord = commander (strategist role) — collects existing Kha’ak, coordinates strikes

Together they self-propagate:

Seeder finds undefended border sector adjacent to Kha’ak space
Seeder drops new hive
Nearby Hive Lord picks up new hive in territorial defence rotation
If attacked → Hive Lord commits force to defend or counter-strike
If aggressor gives up → Seeder finds another target

Clearing one Kha’ak sector doesn’t stop Kha’ak. The Seeder will eventually find another vulnerable position. Over enough time, unattended Kha’ak spread. The universe is expanding without a script telling it to.

Design intent

Seeder is the “network-first” archetype. No other archetype tracks +30 network multiplier or dynamic quota. The Seeder’s identity is deliberately different.
Player-buildable Kha’ak repellers (design open) — a way for the player to build permanent defensive stations that Seeders won’t target. Would give a way to lock down “cleaned” territory.
Seeder / Hive Lord coordination (future) — currently they don’t share state. Planned coordination via shared warfront ledger.
Xenon-like variant (future) — a Xenon-flavour Seeder for Xenon Mil Units. Similar network-first mechanic; different aesthetic.

Kha’ak Hive Lord archetype — the strategic-commander counterpart
Military Coordinator — the human-faction analog (though Coordinator is defensive, not expansive)
Recovery Points — the RP economy that gates every Seeder action
Death cycle — the d100 roll for Seeder destruction
Perks system — Khaak Seed / Prepared / Volunteer / Legendary Veteran and other Kha’ak-appropriate perks