Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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MACU-SAD Spider Assault Drone [DONE]

HK-36

The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
star_wars__droideka_mk_ii_by_higherdepths.jpg

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
  • Manufacturer: Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers
  • Model: Mechanized Autonomous Combat Unit- Spider Assault Drones
  • Production: Minor
  • Affiliation: Metal Lords, Closed Market, ARGH, Firemane
  • Modularity: N/A
  • Material: Standard durasteel droid combonents, Bronzium for aesthetics
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
  • Classification: Fourth Degree
  • Weight: 300 kilograms
  • Height: 1.60 meters
  • Movement: Quadrupedal, rolling central wheel
  • Armaments: One main RC-2 gun, two side blaster repeater cannons
  • Misc. Equipment: Military Grade heat sensors and scanners (75 meters)
    HUD with tracking and targeting system (75 meters)
    Build-In Communication Systems
    Abregado Combat Shield with a shield booster
    Density Projector
    Magnetic Sole Anchors
    Internal Coolant Systems
    Self-Destruction Systems
    Tracking Unit
    Kill Switch
    Copper Farraday Cage
SPECIAL FEATURES
  • Armor Plates and Skeleton
  • Combat sensors and scanners
  • Communication systems
  • Abregado Combat Shield with Shield Boosters
  • Density Projectors and magnetic anchors
  • Internal coolants
  • Kill switch, tracking, and self-destruction
  • Vacuum Sealed
  • Copper Farraday Cage
  • Central Wheel and Shifting Plates
  • RC-2 and Side Repeaters
DETAILED SPECIAL FEATURES
  • Armor Plates and Skeleton- Hardy plates and skeleton as in previous light spider droids used by ARGH, they allow these droids to take some punishment in battle although most of their defense is based around the deflector shield, their armor is comparable to that of most light vehicles.
  • Combat sensors and scanners- based on designs found in previous drone models, these combat sensors and scanners allow the drones to target and accurately engage multiple targets.
  • Communication systems- equipped short and long range wireless communication systems the drones can send text, voice, and holo messages to each other and their command, actively coordinating during battle like a swarm to maximize their group cohesion and fight better as a team.
  • Abregado Combat Shield with Shield Boosters- the previous standard issued deflector shield has been replaced with the new Abregado Combat shield, boosting their initial defenses and granting them increased resistance against electrical and ionic attacks, even one time protection against electromagnetic pulses. As opposed to other drones, these assault spider drones have been also equipped with shield boosters, their Combat Shield functions similar to those found in droidekas, conjuring up a protective bubble around them and it can withstand about 10 standard blaster bolts or the equivalent.
  • Density Projectors and magnetic anchors- systems to increase the weight of the drones exponentially and/or anchor themselves to metal surfaces for stabilization or climbing purposes, mostly used as defense against telekinetic manipulation or shock-waves, can be potentially used to crush somebody.
  • Internal coolants- internal cooling systems that minimize damage from overheating, whether caused by malfunction or technical issues, environmental damage for example heat from a lava planet's surface, or enemy fire based attacks like flamethrowers.
  • Kill switch, tracking, and self-destruction- means of keeping the drones under control, a tracker to keep position of every drone connected to the same commander or command unit, kill switch to remotely deactivate it, and a self-destruction feature in case the machine is captured while still activated. Self-destruction overloads its power units, quickly turning them critical and causing an energy-based explosion, this explosion melts and disintegrates most of the droid's components, leaving behind only scorched metal husk of its skeleton and outer armor plates as well as damaging beings around it similar to a standard thermal detonator exploding.
  • Vacuum Sealed- The vital systems of the drone, its droid brain, memory core, processing center, et cetera, have been vacuum sealed within its inner structure, as a result the machine does not receive damage from liquids seeping inside and affecting these systems, for example submerging into water, rain, or napalm.
  • Copper Farraday Cage- a copper based defense against electrical and ionic attacks, however due to being built into walls of inner droid structure it only covers vital inner systems like memory core, power units, processing center, et cetera, the muscles and rotors of the droid can still be affected should other protections against such attacks fail.
  • Central Wheel and Shifting Plates- based on the droideka designs, assault spider drones are able to shift their plates and curl up into a ball, their central plates can act like a wheel then, rolling them along the battlefield quickly, much faster than most infantry or average human being in a sprint. Due to gyroscopic stabilization systems the drones can extend out their side repeaters while they roll and fire off blaster bolts with limited accuracy.
  • RC-2 and Side Repeaters- these drones are equipped with one RC-2 as their main gun piece, extending out like a scorpion's tail above their main body section, and two side-mounted repeater cannons. These guns have a degree of rotation on their axis to allow better aiming against moving targets, the side repeaters are more effective against lightly armored infantry while the RC-2 piece is better dealing with lighter vehicles and more heavily armored soldiers.

Strengths:
  • Shield Booster- as opposed to other drones who use Abregado Combat Shield, the assault drones were outfitted with shield boosters to increase their strength, their shields work much like the older Droideka counterparts, forming a protective bubble around them, however unlike the Droidekas their shields are not as powerful, able to deflect only 10 blaster or equivalent shots instead of undetermined amount Droidekas could.
  • Battlefield Mobility- the wheel configuration allows the drones to move at around 75 km/h, same speed as droidekas, allowing them to quickly travel the battlefield and deploy wherever they are needed the most. The drones have also been equipped with gyroscopic stabilizators in their side-repeaters, which allows them to extend the guns and fire while in wheel formation, however they cannot effectively use their scanners and trackers in this formation, decreasing their accuracy while they do.
  • Anti-Infantry Weaponry- These drones have been outfitted with weaponry designed to make them efficient against infantry, two side repeater blaster cannons to fire fast rate of blaster bolts against lightly armored infantry, and RC-2 minigun mounted overhead its main body section to fire of streams of hypervelocity pellets and tear away at more heavily armored targets.
  • Somewhat Durable- these drones are clad in light vehicle armor, giving them more protection than standard infantry, however they can still be damaged by standard blaster weaponry and enough shots could bring them down.
Weaknesses :
  • Vulnerable to Anti-Armor- Once the machines are deployed they are rather vulnerable to anti-armor fire as they lose their agility and such weaponry would get through their deflector shields relatively easily. After that the machines are clad only in light vehicle armor, nothing that could really stop a mass driver or a rocket launcher hit, in fact enough shots from a blaster would be able to take them down as well.
  • Outmaneuvered- Their stout spider legs have relatively low turning speed, as such one could get around them if their guns are pointing elsewhere or they manage to outrun their fire, however that could prove difficult as the guns do have a degree of turning to the side relatively quickly to track and fire on faster moving targets, after that they have no way to stop someone from flanking them.
  • Lack of Melee- The drones have no way to defend themselves against melee attack once their shields are down and enemy gets around them, relying on other drones for support and protection. As such, if caught alone up close they could be easily defeated.
  • Dumb- One of the biggest problems HK ran into was ethics of advocating droid freedom of will and equality with organics while manufacturing war droids for combat, their whole purpose in existence being servitude to Abregado as soldiers. While he did try to address this by creating army of droid volunteers, this army wasn't as numerous as other enslaved droid forces around the Galaxy. So, he decided to supplement their numbers by creating war droids with extremely low intelligence, so dumb they could barely be qualified as sentient, and therefore being more or less mindless drones rather than droids. Drones compared to droids are more like dogs compared to humans, they can follow their programming and carry out simple instructions, but they are not complex thinkers, the most extensive plan they can follow is run or walk and shoot. As such, they can be seen most often standing out in the open and firing at their target without really worrying about things like taking cover. While this is fine when working as a group in large numbers, when caught alone these drones are not that hard to outsmart and defeat by a properly trained soldier.
  • Electromagnetic Weakness- EMP grenades and the like are still the most effective weapon against them, while their Abregado Combat Shield, can neutralize one such attack, second in a row would deactivate them temporarily, although their redundant systems would get them rebooted soon enough, it would create a window where these drones could be attacked without repercussion.
  • No Survival Instincts- as mentioned before these drones do not worry about things like taking cover while in combat unless they just happen to be standing behind a conveniently sized wall or in a trench while firing at their enemy. They have no problem walking straight at a machine gun nest while firing even though it will probably get them mowed down as long as it is their whole phalanx pushing towards it. While this fearlessness does have its advantage sometime, it also means they have no survival instincts and are individually pretty easy to pick off most of the time.
  • Eyes- just like in HK's Phrik body the weakest point of these droids are their eyes, being made only out of transparisteel they could be blinded with sufficient precise attacks, although doing so will not stop them from attacking as they will either lash out blindly or utilize data from other nearby drones to use them to supplement their loss of accuracy.
DESCRIPTION

Intro: The Iron Legionnaire project were not the only drones who received upgrades and were redesigned for the purpose of serving in Abregado's new age drone forces. The various variants of Mobile Weapon Platforms have been developed as well, expanded into various Spider Drone models, the light models became the basis for Mechanized Autonomous Combat Units- Spider Assault Drones. A combination of previous ARGH accomplishments and the ancient designs of droidekas employed by the Trade Federation these drones became a staple assault unit for ARGH, supporting the march of their drone infantry legions.

History and Technical Detail: A combination of the previous MWP spider drones, the new MACU drones, and ancient droideka designs these drones utilize built-in communication systems, armor grade and layout, various passive protection systems, and built in weaponry of ARGH designs along with the shifting plates, boosted shields, and high speed rolling body of the droidekas.

Shield Booster: The Combat shields of the drones have been boosted to compose the majority of their defenses, just like the droideka shields they now emit a protective bubble around the machines when they are deployed, however the drone shield is weaker, able to take only 10 blaster shots, or the equivalent, and offers no additional protection from the electromagnetic attacks when compared to standard Combat Shields.

Weaponry: The weaponry built into the drones have been designed with the idea of engaging infantry in mind. The weapons, one RC-2 and two side mounted blaster repeaters, are all fast-firing, able to cover an area in suppression fire to help advancing infantry deal with the enemy positions, mounted on swiveling arms to be able to keep up with quickly moving targets. The blasters deal better with lightly armored targets like standard infantry troops while the hyper-velocity pellet firing RC-2 is better at taking out more heavily armored soldiers and light armored vehicles, although it is not as impressive as the original RC-1 models light spider droids before used. The side-blasters have been fitted with gyroscopic stabilizers, this keeps them level while the drones are rolling around, allowing them to extend out from their sides and fire, although doing so cuts down on their accuracy.

Other Strengths: Other strength of these droids comes from their battlefield mobility, able to curl up into balls and zoom around at 75 km/h, same speed as original droidekas, to chase down their targets or quickly deploy wherever they are needed the most. However this mobility disappears as soon as they deploy, being much slower on their stout spider legs. The drones have also minor resistance against flame based weaponry, due to internal coolants, penetrating sonic weapons, due to vacuum within their inner chambers, and electric and ionic weaponry, due to inner Farraday cage, although these various attacks can still damage most of their outer systems like limbs and firing mechanisms.

Low Intelligence: As before when manufacturing the Iron Legionnaire drones the ethical issue HK came across was creating large armies of war droids for the sole purpose of serving him as soldiers while advocating for freedom of will for droid kind. So, just like before the war droids became volunteers while another kind of machine was created to supplement their numbers as the grand army of ARGH. The drones, with their minds controlled by the GaDOS, an operating system designed by Gados researches, a relatively simple programming compared to common artificial intelligence every droid has, it was so simple in fact that the drones are qualified only as semi-sentient beings, more like animals than normal droids. While HK's mind was clear from this cognitive dissonance, their combat prowess did suffer from this lack of intelligence, for starters drones could follow only basic commands, for example standing in one spot and shooting, or moving and shooting, as such there is usually a noticeable pause when their orders are changed, for example when they change their formations or position for a flanking maneuver, when they stop shooting at their current target to carry out the new string of orders. However, this is usually done with support from other phalanxes of drones to rain suppression fire, as they are usually controlled by commanders who could plan for such maneuvers, to protect the phalanx that stopped engaging to reposition. As such their efficiency in combat is based on their numbers, otherwise a lone drone, or a lone phalanx even is considerably weakened as it does not have other drones to support and protect them should they lag in their orders and be caught defenseless. Due to their low intelligence these drones do not carry much for their survival, often marching fearlessly into well defended enemy positions to overrun them and follow their orders, while this is often a boon it also means that individual drones can be picked off fairly easily as they do not really care much for taking cover or evasive maneuvers while under fire.

Light Vehicle Armor: These drones are clad in light vehicle armor, while this does give them enhanced durability when it comes to facing off against most infantry, they are very much vulnerable to anti-armor weaponry as they are both slow on their spider legs and their deflector shields would be quickly drained by such weaponry. Once their shields are down continuous barrages from enemy soldiers should have no problem melting through these droids, damaging them or outright deactivating them especially if proper components are hit.

Other Weaknesses: Other weaknesses of these drones include low agility when it comes to their spider legs, being rather easily outmaneuvered by enemy troops who close in on them and manage to outrun or distract their swiveling guns. This ties to their lack of melee capacity, once they are flanked or outmaneuvered they have no way of fighting back against enemies in melee unless they stand right in front of one of their guns. These drones are also vulnerable to EMP grenades and other electromagnetic attacks, able to protect themselves against only one of them before their deflector shields are deactivated and they are left vulnerable to attacks that could either damage their components or deactivate them entirely. Their last weakness are their vulnerable photoreceptors, also known as droid's eyes, covered only in transparisteel they could be destroyed with strong and precise enough attacks, rendering the drone blind, leaving it to fire blindly, lashing out or relaying on information fed to it by other drones in its vicinity to adjust its aim.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this modernized light variant of Mobile Weapon Platforms previously used by ARGH is a contemporary counterpart of ancient droideka designs, able to roll like them and deploy itself as a support machine for other infantry units, and utilizing similar deflector shield which projects out a bubble like energy layer around them. However, their shields are weaker than that of droidekas but they field stronger weaponry, utilizing one of ARGH's RC-2 miniguns. As such, they are better used against infantry from range, as overwhelming numbers of enemies can outmaneuver them up close.
 

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