Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To create a probe droid to assist in mapping out space and hyperlanes.
Image Source: Hasbro Probe Droid figure found here modified by your's truly
Canon Link: N/A
Restricted Missions: N/A
Primary Source: N/A
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: L2 series Excursor-class Probe Droid
Production: Mass Produced
Affiliation: Closed Market
Modularity: software, appendages
Material: Durasteel, droid components
Classification: Second Degree
Weight: 250 kg
Height: 2.2 meters
Movement: Repulsorlift, ion thruster
Armaments: None (Default)
Misc. Equipment:
Modular appendages(x4)
2 Large Grasper appendages
Universal Transceiver Package w/additional common droid sensors intregrated into package
Miniature Hyperspace Beacons (x3)
Frequency Agile Subspace Transceiver
Hyperwave Signal Interceptor
SPECIAL FEATURES
Space Beacon Launcher: Excursor has an internal hyperspace beacon launcher, capable of deploying 3 miniaturized hyperspace beacons.
Sensors Package: Excursor has a starfighter-grade sensor and communication package integrated with a hyperwave signal interceptor.
Modular appendages: Excursor has four modular appendages designed to be backwards compatible with the easily obtained replacement limbs of the WED Treadwell repair droid, allowing it to equip a variety of common repair tools.
- Mapper: Excursor can autonomously map deep space for hyperspace routes and place hyperspace guidance beacons to establish and maintain stable hyperroutes.
- Modular: Has an open software slot and appendages backwards compatible with the WED Treadwell, allowing it to act in secondary roles as spacebound mechanics or saboteur droids.
Fragile: Excursor is exceptionally weak.
Unarmed: Excursors have no ranged weapons, and can only use htier tools as impromptu weapons
DESCRIPTION
Technical Explanations
Personality: Excursors are instilled with a sense of curiosity and helpfulness, with both traits being essential to its role as a pathfinder and custodian of new hyperlanes. Lucerne Labs intended for its inherent curiosity to help drive it forward to blaze new paths without becoming distracted or overwhelmed by any obstacles it might face. This has also proven helpful in discovering and cataloguing new objects it discovers during its trips. Likewise, the inherent need to be helpful ensures that the droids maintain their hyperspace beacons and try to interact with ships that it encounters according to its master's interest. It would have little difficulty in independently acting on its own to repair a friendly ship, or try to sabotage an enemy ship, even if it ultimately leads to its own demise. Unfortunately, these traits can be used against it, whether by luring the droids into traps or overextending themselves to the point where they can't perform their main duties.
Skillset: Excursors have the skills and basic knowledge inherent to most probots, with a comprehensive understanding of utilizing sensors to fully explore and understand their environment. As a spacebound droid, Lucerne Labs paid special attention to astronavigation, allowing it to independently calculate and form hyperspace jumps on its own (much like advanced astromech droids) while it utilizes a jump pod. Excursors also have the proper software to chart their findings and transmit to their supervisors. Excursors also have a rudimentary understanding of basic starship mechanics, allowing them to assist stranded spacers, sabotage enemy starships, and maintain their hyperspace beacons. This last function is perhaps one of its most important duties, as by maintaining the beacons, they maintain well-charted and stable routes that are constantly updated in real-time. This makes routes blazed and maintained by Excursors some of the fastest and reliable routes available.
Chassis: Excursor uses the same basic chassis as the famous Viper Probe Droid with a handful of modifications to make it more suitable for its use in space. The most obvious change is the central compartment in order to attach an ion thruster, which allows the droid to slowly but efficiently coast through space as it catalogs its findings. The second change was to rework the servo-motors of four of its appendages, making them interchangeable with those of the WED treadwell. This allows the droids to be customized at will to better suited for particular types of repairs. For example, a droid sent out to catalogue and explore a battlefield might trade out welding arm for an additional fusion cutter to allow it to better explore a wreck. Alternatively, a droid on a well-established route frequented by drone barges might carry deionizer appendage to help restore barges hit by errant ion storms.
Locomotion: Excursor has both an ion drive and repulsorlifts. But neither is particularly power, making the droid slow and bulky in space and inside gravity wells. The one benefit of these otherwise lackluster drives is their fuel economy, which allow the probe droids to operate for days at a time without needing recharging stations or fuel.
Sensors: Excursor's greatest asset is its sensors. While the basic sensor package is only as powerful as an average starfighter's, it is more than ample enough for the probot to map its immediate surroundings(or lack of them) as it coasts through space. And while these sensors themselves are unimpressive, Lucerne Labs upgraded the original analysis programming found on the classic Viper to make something much more unique. Not only can the Excursor interpret its own sensors in fine detail, but it can extrapolate various trends and data from multiple sensor feeds to extrapolate and form composite ideas about what it's seeing. As example of this, an excursor may detect an unknown mass through its gravatational mass and compare it with a full spectrum transceiver signature to deduce its ship class. This extrapolation process is not perfect, and becomes more and more reliable as it gains more sensory input, but it allows Excursors to be more efficient explorers and guardians of their routes. While Excursors use basic and common starship and droid sensors formost of their work, they do include one special sensor: a Hyperwave Signal Interceptor. This is typically used to record and monitor ships using the routes established by the Excursor, and to pick up communications like distress calls or holo-transceiver messages transmitted along its route. Excursors can potentially intercept enemy communications sent along its route, but they do not have any decryption software of their own to decode the messages.
Defenses: Excursor has a durasteel hull and basic low-grade particle shielding, which allows it to successfully travel through space. This allows it to withstand minor physical impacts from debris, micrometeorites, and other small objects in space, but it rarely can withstand more than a few blaster bolts. Likewise, it also basic ion shielding to protect it from ion storms, but this it is too weak to protect it from direct fire ion/emp weapons. Like most military droids, Excursors are unaffected by restraining bolts and feature basic firewalls and other security measures to protect against hackers. These are generally enough to delay low-level script kiddies and commercial hacking products, but they are not enough to stop talented slicers and military grade hacking programs from taking over the droids in a matter of seconds in the right situations.
Route Custodian: Once an Excursor establishes (part of) a hyperlane route, it is frequently used to maintain the route. Part of this is by deploying and maintaining hyperspace beacons on the route itself. As these beacon's information are constantly updated by the droid making its rounds, users being fed data by an Excursor-maintained route is exceptionally up to date, allowing exceptionally low safety margins to be used, which can speed up the travel rate and fuel consumption by travelling the least amount of distance. Aside from updating and maintaining the route, Excursors also keep an eye out on the ships traveling the routes as well. While they lack sophisticated anti-stealth sensors, they can usually detect multiple or large ship(s) travelling through their routes, allowing them to be used as basic surveillance assets much like the Viper Probe Droids before them.