AMCO
I'm Sorry Dave
- Intent: To create a swarm fighter for Vandiir Consolidated Holdings' "Firebird Series".
- Image Source: [X]
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Vandiir Consolidated Holdings
- Model: FS-03 "Storm" Swarm Droid, aka "Thunderstorm", "Hailstorm", or "Firestorm"
- Affiliation: Closed-Market
Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Duranium-Trimantium Hull,
- Classification: Droid Swarm Fighter
- Length: 3.6 metres
- Width: 1.8 metres
- Height: 1.8 metres
- Armament: Low
Two Fire-Linked Heavy Ion Cannons and Two Fire-Linked Ion Cannons, aka "Thunderstorm" or FS-03-T - or
- Two Fire-Linked Heavy Maser Cannons and Two Fire-Linked Maser Cannons, aka "Hailstorm" or FS-03-H
- or
- Two Fire-Linked Heavy Laser Cannons and Two Fire-Linked Laser Cannons, aka "Firestorm" or FS-03-F
- or
- One Tractor Beam Projector, aka "Windstorm" or FS-03-W
[*]Defences: Very Low*
[*]Squadron Count: Very High [24]
[*]Manoeuvrability Rating: High
[*]Speed Rating: Average
[*]Hyperdrive Class: N/A
STANDARD FEATURES (WIP)
- Ion Drive
- Ion Maneuvering Jets
- Repulsorlifts
- Communications Systems
- Targeting Systems
- Full Sensor Suite
- Ionization Buffer
Strengths:
- Droid: As droids, FS-03s are cheap, expendable, able to maintain 24/7 preparedness, and loyal to a fault.
- Specialised:
[Thunderstorm]: Armed exclusively with ion weapons, Loadout T excels against other droid fighters and recovering prisoners and vessels intact. - [Hailstorm]: Armed exclusively with masers, Loadout H offers a potent combination of laser and kinetic energy to catch enemies off guard.
- [Firestorm]: Armed exclusively with lasers, Loadout F is particularly reliable and requires less maintenance than the other Loadouts.
- [Windstorm]: Outfitted with a tractor beam projector, Loadout W is capable of, e.g., moving space mines and slowing down or possibly even stopping other starfighters.
[*]Strength in Numbers: From shields which rely entirely on nearby units, to the tactician battle computer that increases accuracy based on engaged units, and finally the effective group-based tactics used by its droid brain, the FS-03 is highly optimised for swarm combat.
Weaknesses:
- Droid: Despite its many advantages, the droid brain controlling an FS-03 is unable to match an organic pilot in creativity and unpredictability, and is susceptible to Ion and especially EMP-based attacks.
- One-Trick Pony:
[Thunderstorm]: While effective in its niche, Loadout T fares poorly against vessels outfitted with sophisticated ionisation buffers, organic targets, and is typically unable to exert lethal force on its own. - [Hailstorm]: While it certainly gives the vessel an edge, the masers on Loadout H requires more maintenance than the other Loadouts, at least to engineers unfamiliar with the relatively uncommon technology.
- [Firestorm]: While highly reliable, the laser armaments of Loadout F is nothing special. There are no cleverly calibrated weapons and no missiles. Just boring old lasers.
- [Windstorm]: While it has more utility than the other Loadouts, Loadout W isn't all that useful in a combat scenario due to the weakness of their tractor beam projectors, though a clever commander might find a creative use for it.
[*]Swarm Dependence: While effective in a swarm, the FS-03s shields are all but useless on its own. The same goes for its accuracy, though the decrease isn't nearly as drastic. Finally, the droid brain simply isn't suited to operate effectively on its own.
Description:
Designed to complement the FS-01 and FS-02, FS-03 differs from the previous vessels in Vandiir Consolidated Holdings "Firebird Series" in two important regards. Firstly, and most notably, it is a droid fighter intended for swarm combat; quite different from the decidedly unexpendable FS-01s and 02s. Secondly, it is built in a modular manner that allows its weapons loadout to be switched by a qualified technician or a Storm Droid Pod™ comparitively quicly. That being said, only one loadout comes with standard purchases, so additional loadouts and/or Storm Droid Pods™ cost extra. Furthermore, the loadouts are meant to be used in packages, so combining them is fairly time-consuming, though still somewhat easier than switching out the weapons of a non-modular Starfighter.
During the initial development of the model, its defensive capabilities was a constant concern. While sporting the same durable Duranium-Trimantium hull as many VCH Starships, its hull plating is abnormally thin in order to reduce its cost and weight to thrust ratio. The attempts at providing a decent shield for the vessel met with constant setbacks, partly due to cost and partly due to the vessel's comparatively small size. A solution was, however, found in Jaeger Solutions' SG-1012 "Waveform" Starfighter Shield, which allows nearby Starfighters outfitted with such shields to strengthen each others' shields until it is on par with heavier shielding. There is, however, limits to this technological marvel. The device normally only works out to a range of 500 metres, which is quite low in space combat, and the shield is all but useless if less than four such devices work together. Furthermore, technical limitations arising due to slight incompatibilities between VCH's unconventional designs and the Jaeger made shield has reduced the effective range even further, down to 300 metres, and rendered the feedback loop inoperable.
Deciding to roll with this limitation, VCH outfitted the FS-03 with a Tactician Battle Computer, which allows the droids to share targetting information during a fight, greatly increasing their accuracy. It is worth keeping in mind, however, that this only serves to compound the problem should the swarm be broken up; if that happens, their shields will be all but nullified, and their accuracy will decrease substantially.
(*) Defence Specifications (by operational units in range):
- 1: Very Low to None.
- 2-3: Very Low.
- 4-6: Low.
- 7+: Average.
