Randall Ingersoll
United States
Port Orange
Florida
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There is a lot of discussion about the interaction of user defined (not official) expansion pieces and the Mosquito. Much of this centers around simplicity and the need for or lack of exceptions.
By design, the Mosquito when it climbs atop the hive, is an exception. There is no way around this. Because the original game only has one piece (Beetle) that can climb atop the hive, it is only natural that the Mosquito moves like a Beetle when on the second level or higher. Atop the hive, it cannot move like an Ant, Spider or other bug because these bugs do not move atop the hive!
IMHO, the easiest way to solve the problem is to apply this basic Mosquito rule:
When atop the hive, the Mosquito absorbs the movement of any adjacent bug that itself has movement ability atop the hive.
If a Dragonfly, Moth or other bug has movement ability atop the hive and the Mosquito is adjacent, then the Mosquito can mimic that bug's movement (and with it all special powers and restrictions).
This ability should not be limited to bugs already atop the hive. If a Mosquito is adjacent to a Beetle at ground level, it can climb up using the Beetle's movement. If a Mosquito is adjacent to a Beetle already atop the hive, it, too, can climb up using the Beetle's movement.
I fell that this is the simplest, most elegant way to solve the Mosquito problem.
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The only question that would be left would be: "Can the Mosquito move like a Beetle if: 1)the Mosquito is already atop the hive, 2) it is adjacent to another bug with 'top of hive' movement, and 3) it is NOT also adjacent to a Beetle."
If the Mosquito loses its Beetle movement ability in this case, then some interesting defensive strategies could evolve.
As a full fledged Hive-a-holic I love these discussions!
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Christian Sperling
Berlin
Germany
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If playing with several expansions which can start or end their move ontop of the hive:
Can a Mosquito on top of the hive move as a Beetle if there is no Beetle adjacent?
My answer is a clear NO! Otherwise there will occur the curiosity user Loizz mentioned anywhere in the thread about my Dragonfly:
It could be the case that the Mosquito adapts the Dragonfly/Moth/other expansion`s movement to get ontop of the Hive and there is still no Beetle in the game.
How or why should the Mosquito be able to adapt a movement of an animal which is not present in the game?
For that reason the Mosquito should be allowed to use ALL movements of animals in the game which can move on top of the hive OR be "paralyzed" until there is another bug adjacent.
This would weaken the Mosquito`s strength because it gets stuck if there are no other bugs around to adapt their movements.
Another question I asked myself is:
What means "adjacent"?
Can a Mosquito also adapt a movement of an animal of a lower level than its own?
Since there was only the Beetle movement available for the Mosquito ontop of the Hive - it was no problem to deal with it: The Mosquito could use the Beetle movement also without an adjacent Beetle.
In my opinion a Mosquito on top of the hive should be allowed to adapt movements of bugs on any level but only those movements which are allowed to start on top of the hive. A spider move on the second or third level doesn`t make so much sense and overpowers the Mosquito.
John Yianni gave us a really hard nut to crack with his Mosquito - but this causes inspirational discussions in the Hive community here - so it also has its advantage. 
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Mosquito is a troublesome creature in Hive. Not only because it creates problems for new pieces moving atop the hive, but, in my opinion, also because it gets too much power if more pieces are added to standard set. When you play M-Hive (standard Hive plus Mosquito), the Mosquito is a powerful piece. When you add the Ladybug, the Mosquito becomes very powerful. If you add the Dragonfly to LM-Hive, the Mosquito becomes a super powerful piece. I think this has a serious consequences for game's balance and propose a slight change for Mosquito movement rules: The Mosquito can copy the movement of any uncovered creature on an adjacent field, but only if this movement does not end on top of the hive. This rule doesn't allow the Mosquito to climb the hive, decreasing his power a little (partially fixing the balance of the game with many expansions at the same time), plus it allows to introduce additional creatures as the Dragonfly or the Moth without ''atop-the-hive-movement-problems''. If we leave the Mosquito as it is, any rules for playing with Mosquito, Dragonfly and Moth will be either too complicated, forcing memory elements into the game or illogical.
Randy's idea of allowing the Mosquito to move atop the hive as Beetle/Dragonfly/Moth is truly simple and logical, but - will one remember which creature's ability had the white mosquito seven turns ago (let's assume it climbed the hive as Dragonfly and didn't move for seven turns)?
Greetings!
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Christian Sperling
Berlin
Germany
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Simple and interesting suggestion.
Although I like the possibility to cruise on top of the Hive with a Mosquito, your solution could truly take away lots of sorrows for game designers creating upcoming expansions.
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Thanks. That was my intention - to propose something that will help for the Mosquito and any new addition to work smoothly. I also intend to publish such mosquito rule in my Moth thread. Hope John Yianni will forgive me for meddling in his original piece
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Antonio Ferrari
Italy
Bagnolo Cremasco
Cremona
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I think the answer is simply the fact that mosquito movement on top of the hive is an exception also in original rules: the author had already considered all possible implications (maybe also respect to future expansions), so to go whole dog he wrote a simple rule/exception: "If moved as a Beetle on top of the Hive, it continues to move as a Beetle until it climbs down from the Hive".
I'm a novice of Hive, but I'd like all future expansions will follow those simple original rule...
So I don't like so much this variant: "The Mosquito can copy the movement of any uncovered creature on an adjacent field, but only if this movement does not end on top of the hive". I prefer mosquito can climb, when copying a beetle or any other possible expansion piece.
Also I don't like so much this one: "When atop the hive, the Mosquito absorbs the movement of any adjacent bug that itself has movement ability atop the hive.". The mosquito when atop is a very very stupid insect and so can only move as a beetle (even if beetle has not yet being played).
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Christian Sperling
Berlin
Germany
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Hi Antonio,
if the Mosquito is a Quote: very very stupid insect (which can`t be true otherwise it wouldn`t have such a smart special ability ) how can it copy a movement of a bug who is not adjacent - not even present in the game? Is the Beetle movement already inherent in his genes but is only activated when climbing on top of the Hive? Very strange!
Your suggestion is to follow exactly John Yianni`s rules but I doubt that he had foreseen all kinds of trouble his Mosquito exception will lead to. An exception was necessary otherwise the Mosquito would have been stuck on top of the hive most of the time. This would not have been a very attractive feature for a new introduced expansion but if we play with more expansions, limiting the Mosquito`s abilities could prevent overpowering it.
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Joe Conard
United States
Hillsboro
Oregon
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af7hqs wrote: ...he wrote a simple rule/exception: "If moved as a Beetle on top of the Hive, it continues to move as a Beetle until it climbs down from the Hive".
This exception technically doesn't apply when the mosquito might move as other insects that can get on top of the hive, since it explicitly states "If moved as a Beetle on top of the Hive".
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