HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
Image: All images were taken from DeviantArt, first is the piece called Clone Wars Dwarf Spider Droid by Kampfdroide (link here), second is the piece called Mecha Zone: Crab Tank by Mecha-Zone (link here), and third is the piece called Red Mech by TheUncannyKen (link here)
Intent: To create a line of droid weapon platforms that would utilize the heavier Hyper-Velocity Kinetic Firearms I designed lately
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers
Model: Mobile Weapons Platforms- Light, Medium, and Heavy
Affiliation: Barony of Abregado-Rae, partially Omega Protectorate (see Production)
Modularity: Able to be equipped with three heavy guns the Gados developed, Shattergun Rotary Cannon, Shatterboltgun, and Shattervolleygun. The Light variant has a hardpoint for one of those guns, Medium has two, and Heavy has three.
Production: Minor production (Enough to supply the Iron Company and Militia of Abregado-Rae, any additional production would require a development thread with backing from another manufacturing company, i.e. Omega Corps buying off the design to manufacture the weapon for Protectorate forces)
Material: Durasteel and Bronzium for aesthetic purposes.
Description: With all the new weapons Gados have developed for HK based on the designs of the Verpine Shatterguns, there were some models with a little too much kick for infantry to handle properly, well at least not without leaving themselves open. The Rotary Cannon required to be set up first, for which the Mobile Barricades recently developed worked fine, but the Volley Gun and Mass Driver required a pause between shots, something which would leave them open. For this purpose HK needed a more armored unit which could carry these heavy weapons with ease without leaving itself too open.
He went to the designs of a CIS Dwarf Spider Droid, an archaic unit used during the Clone War for similar purpose, the older droid encountered these models during the said War when he was active and aiding the Republic's efforts. He had a close enough look at them to provide the Gados with enough information to reverse-engineer the designs.
From these plans came the Light Variant of the Mobile Weapons Platform, a design based closely on the previously constructed Dwarf Spider Droids.
Gados and HK both agreed the design was already efficient at the purpose it was made for, support in tight combat spaces and walking suppression fire platform, there was little they needed to change. They were able to decrease the droid's size, making him lighter, easier to get aboard a dropship and out into the combat. The central blaster gun was replaced in favor of a hardpoint on which a volley gun, rotary cannon, or mass driver can be mounted, depending for what purpose the droid is meant to be used. However, this change requires to be done before the combat setting by a proper technician, swapping the weapons in combat setting would be very risky as it takes some time.
The armor on the front of the droid was also increased, corresponding to that of light-armored vehicles, being thick enough to resist personal firearms such as most common blaster pistols or rifles, however to balance that out, the rest of the droid's armor has rating of 7 and can be pierced by personal firearms with multiple shots. This made the risk of the droid being flanked by infantry units a possibility and weakness due to its lower rate of turning, therefore, the Gados has added a possibility for its gun to be swiveled in an arc of 90 degrees, 45 degrees to left, 45 degrees to right. Making aiming easier when facing moving targets without need to turn the main body.
However, it is recommended for the droid to be always accompanied by a group of soldiers, in order to protect the unit from being flanked by the enemy units, as well as aid in case the unit runs out of ammunition and needs to be reloaded. The Gados attached two compartment units in the back of the droid's main body for additional two pellet drums, two stacks of volleygun disks, or additional magazines for the mass driver unit. The droid has also received a pair of retractable claw-like members to allow the unit reload itself, however this is done quicker with the help of a technician who could feed ammunition to the droid.
All in all, it's a smaller but reliable weapons platform, perfect for boarding actions where it can rain suppressing fire at enemies right away, the increased amount of repulsorlifts and inertial dampeners allows the droid to fire the heavy guns while staying mobile, counter-acting their recoil, this is especially useful when mounting the Rotary Cannon on the droid.
The second, Medium, variant of the droid line has traded in increase of the weapon points and armor for increase in size and weight.
While the Light Variant has armor corresponding to Light Vehicles only at its front, the Medium Variant has it all over his body, forcing enemies facing it to use weapons of higher caliber than standard blaster pistols and rifles. This unit also received a second hard-point for weaponry, with the hardpoints being moved to the back and top of the droid, allowing the weapons to be mounted on top of the unit. This layout allows the unit's guns to be swiveled in greater arc than those of the Light Variant, cover a greater field with the fire of its weapons, however, it also causes the recoil from the double guns to destabilize the unit while moving, forcing the droid to come to a stop when it wants to accurately fire its two guns.
As with the light-variant, the Gados left the ammunition compartments, this time leaving them at the back of the bottom of the droid, and the two retractable claw-like members, allowing the unit to reload itself, however, a technician's aid would still allow the droid to reload its guns faster.
The addition to the droid's size and weight requires a heavy-dropship to place them on the field of battle, making the use of them in boarding actions a bit awkward and inefficient.
As such, the droid is meant to be put onto the field in a group of its units along with a team of technicians and spotters. The layout of its guns and mobility makes the unit perfect for use and light artillery for flanking and hit-and-run maneuvers and mobile anti-aircraft unit when utilizing the rotary cannons. Just as well it can be used along with infantry for simple fire support like the Light Variant.
The third variant of the droids is the Heavy Variant, more or less a Walker Tank for heavy combat engagement in ground battles.
This time the Gados slapped an outer shell of Heavy Armor Plating over Light Armor Plating used in the Medium Variant, making anything short of a tank shot or anti-armor weaponry inefficient unless the unit is flanked and its joints, or parts under the outer layer of armor, are attacked.
This variant received three hard points, one as the main gun, with little room for swiveling but increased stability due to being mounted in the middle of the unit, and two at the sides, with ability to swivel up and down and to the sides for additional coverage but quickly destabilizing when moving, making them the most efficient when the unit is stationary.
Many gun layouts have been proposed by the Gados, three rotary cannons, so that the droid can be used as anti-personnel unit, three mass drivers, to use it as an artillery vehicle, or a more balanced build with two rotary cannons at the sides and a mass driver in the middle, for mobile anti-armor coverage, or two mass drivers and rotary cannons, for mobile anti-personnel fire but a good punch against armor when stationary.
Speaking of its mobility, it's as slow as anything of its size would be, not the fastest Heavy Walker around, however, the rotatable "head" of the droid containing its three guns and the swiveling side guns make up its lack of maneuverability once it does get somewhere.
The companionship of a technician with the droid is required this time around, the droid has ammunition compartments on its under-belly and the two claw-like appendages are still present, however, the droid cannot reach with them to the ground when fully standing. As such, the walker-droid would need to "sit down" to replace ammunition without a technician, it is easier, therefore, for a technician to help the droid reload quickly and continue suppressing fire.
In summary, the Heavy Variant is a heavy, slow walker which can be customized with different guns for different scenarios, such as anti-armor artillery, anti-personnel suppressing fire, or a balanced tank lay-out.
Continuing, the droid brains used to contain the programming of the droids are rather simple and innovated by Gados. They contain an operating system designed on Abregado called the GaDOS, Generic (an)Droid Operating System. As the name suggests, neither the droid brain nor the programming are too advanced. After all, the droids are not meant for too complicated tasks, they have knowledge of how to handle the guns manufactured by the Guild of Hammers, but other than that they are not capable of much except firing at what they distinguish as foes, or firing on command, or with the help of a spotter.
The Gados wanted to design the programming system based on the one that operates HK-36, however, the droid refused, wanting to preserve the obscurity that revolves around his programming and its slightly organic nature due to self-evolution. Instead, the droid gave the Gados designs of the advanced sensors he has received from the Omega Pyre as well as the voice sample used by the droids.
The sensors have a range of 30 meters and they are able to track multiple targets, including projectiles, at high-speed, making them very useful, especially for Medium and Heavy variants which use multiple guns, as such they would be able to fire upon multiple foes at once. Computerized interface scopes have also been installed on the droid when firing on far-away targets, such as using the long range of the Mass Drivers for artillery purposes, or bombarding infantry lines with shots from the volley gun.
As to the voice used by the droids, they are able to communicate both through binary signals, and voice commands with their organic companions, letting them know when the unit is running low on ammunition, when target is acquired, or repeating back commands such as opening fire or halting fire. The voice used in the droids is one HK associates with rage and destruction, it belongs to the mermaid Thessa Kai.
And with that, I conclude my essay describing the nature and behaviors of the three variants of Mobile Weapons Platform.
Classification: Fourth Degree
Weight: Light- 300 kilograms (Based on the weight of original CIS Spider Droids), Medium- 450 kilograms, Heavy- 900 kilograms
Height: Light- 1.60 meters, Medium- 2.50 meters, Heavy- 5 meters
Movement: Quadrupedal
Armaments: Light- One hardpoint for either Shattergun Rotary Cannon, Shatterboltgun, and Shattervolleygun. Medium- Two hardpoints for mounting a combination of the three weapons. Heavy- Three hardpoints for mounting a combination of the three weapons.
Misc. Equipment: Military grade Omega Pyre heat sensors and scanners (30 meters of range) and Advanced HUD with tracking and targeting systems based on those used in Greycloak Droid Squad (30 meters of range). Repulsorlift, inertial dampeners, and sound dampeners built in for weapon system control and stabilization. Computerized interface scopes for long-range bombardment.
