NPC Storyteller
Shrike-class Drop Pod
"Since time immemorial the Imperial Army has been a projectile,
fired by the cannon that is the Imperial Navy."
- Vice Admiral
Remus AdairOUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a drop pod for the Galactic Empire for its attack on Atrisia.
- Image Source: TheGamer.com
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Imperial Troop Drop Pod
- Manufacturer: The Galactic Empire
- Affiliation: The Galactic Empire
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Shrike-class Drop Pod
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material:
- Durasteel
- Bistate Gel
- Electrical Components
- Classification: Drop Pod
- Length: 2 Meters
- Width: 2 Meters
- Height: 4 Meters
- Armament: None
- Defenses: Low
- Durasteel armor plating
- Bistate Gel thermal coating
- Squadron Count: Very High (20)
- Maneuverability Rating: Very Low
- Speed Rating: Very High
- Hyperdrive: No
STANDARD FEATURES
- Built-in weapon locker
- Explosive bolts on exit hatch
- Maneuvering Jets
- Lateral Stabilizers
- Climate Control Unit
- Acceleration Compensator
- Bistate Gel coating
- Repulsorlift Braking Engine
STRENGTHS
- Small, Fast, Cheap: Shrike-class drop pods are a weapon to be deployed en-masse. Unlike the drop pods often employed by special forces, with rare materials, advanced subsystems, and powerful defenses installed at great cost, Shrikes are cheap to mass-produce and take up very little space aboard a capital ship. They can be fired off into orbit at high speed, like bullets from a slugthrower. They are intended to be single-use; rather than starship-grade reinforced hulls, they use a Bistate Gel coating to enable them to survive the heat of reentry, making them vastly cheaper than landing craft.
- Shield-Penetrator: Shrikes do mount one advanced system - an Individual Field Disruptor to help them slip through planetary shields.
WEAKNESSES
- Cheap: Shrike-class drop pods were not made with the comfort or safety of individual occupants in mind. They have a typically Imperial design principle: rather than protecting each soldier exceptionally well, deploy such a large number of soldiers that enough will get through any enemy defenses to carry the day. Although they move very fast and are quite small, making them difficult to individually target, their maneuverability is poor; the occupant has only very limited control of the pod's trajectory once it has been fired, with its maneuvering jets struggling to adjust course at high speed.
DESCRIPTION
In the days of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, elite squads of Storm Commandos were sometimes deployed from orbit in Imperial Troop Drop Pods. These pods were sized for two squads, and designed for stealth, able to be disguised as meteors. Centuries later, when
Darth Solipsis
's Galactic Empire began plotting its attack on Atrisia, its strategists looked back at the design of these drop pods as a possible way to reach the surface of Atrisia III. The capital world of the Atrisian Commonwealth was exceptionally well defended, with shield gates, siege platforms, vast walls, and surface guns.Standard landing craft were out of the question; they would never survive the gauntlet of the Anshin dual shield gate, studded with weapons and defensive craft. Troops would have to be deployed exceptionally quickly to the streets of Jar'Kai in order to have any chance of reaching the surface alive - and they would have to somehow still arrive in sufficient numbers to carry out the Emperor's will in the city. In order to penetrate the Commonwealth's borders and carry out this attack, Governor
Odria Kaelthron
- a longtime expert on planetary security - devised Operation: Durasteel Shrike.A key element of this operation was devising the Shrike-class Drop Pod, based only loosely on the old Imperial Troop Drop Pods. Rather than carrying an entire squad, each pod would carry only a single trooper and their equipment. This allowed the pods to be very small, making them difficult targets - especially when moving at high speed. Rather than disguising them as meteorites, the pods' designers practically made them into meteorites, launching them like slugs from a slugthrower. Moving in a high-speed swarm, the pods relied on being fast and many to ensure some would get through. Then it rapidly brakes with a repulsorlift as it approaches the surface.
Mostly intended to be cheap and easily mass-produced, with no concern for reuse, the Shrikes do mount one relatively advanced system: an individual field disruptor. Since the surface of Atrisia III is protected by multiple layers of shields, preventing any close orbital support until brought down, the pods needed a way to ensure they didn't simply shatter on these energy barriers. The disruptor units are single-use, working only briefly while the pod streaks down from the ship that deployed it, but allow the pod to penetrate barriers that would keep out larger landing craft.
Once devised for Operation: Durasteel Shrike, the pods became a standard part of the Imperial arsenal.
Out Of Character Info
Intent:
To create a drop pod for the Galactic Empire for its attack on Atrisia.
Canon Link:
N/A
Primary Source(s):
Technical Information
Affiliation:
The Galactic Empire
Model:
Shrike-class Drop Pod
Starship Class:
Small Craft (1-50m)
Starship Role:
Transport
Modular:
No
Material:
Durasteel, Bistate Gel, Electrical Components
Armaments:
N/A
Defense Rating:
Low
Speed Rating:
Very High
Maneuverability Rating::
Very Low
Energy Resist:
Average
Kinetic Resist:
Average
Radiation Resist:
Average
Minimum Crew:
1
Optimal Crew:
1
Passenger Capacity:
0
Cargo Capacity:
Very Small
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