Editing Openai/6921ae73-3700-8000-8ab7-90012976bb8a (section)

==== This is the first ability that really pushes things toward a possible stalemate or loss, depending on details. ====

There are three key questions:

===== If: =====
* 500 mm, 0.01c shells are enough to vaporize anything they destroy,
* Leaving no usable biomass or matter,

then:
* Devour doesn’t get much to work with.
* Most dead simply stop existing as solid stuff.
* Devour helps mainly in: - Mopping up lightly damaged units, - Eating shattered survivors, not full corpses.

In that world:

: 

If instead:
* Kills leave partial remains / chunks,
* Then your kill-zones are literally buff zones for the swarm if you don’t keep them suppressed.

===== If: =====
* They only recover, say, 10–20% of the dead’s “value” as HP or new bodies,
* Then devouring is like: - A regeneration/slow-growth mechanic, - Slows your progress, but doesn’t reverse it.

If:
* They can turn 1 dead monster into ~1 new monster (or more),
* Then:

: 

That’s where you can get into infinite-war or losing scenarios.

===== If: =====
* They have to come through the volumes your guns control,
* And you focus on: - Vaporizing, - Keeping the dead zones saturated, - Denying them time to feed,

then:
* Even with devour, over a long time, you can still push their total HP down.

If:
* They can: - Retreat to safe zones, - Drag corpses away, - Feed far from your fire,

then:

: