HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: to create a heavy starfighter counterpart for Metal Lords and an equivalent to Basilisk War Droids
- Image Source: Google Image search for "Mechanical Dragon" link here
- Canon Link: Basilisk War Droids
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: Sourcefyre Crystals, Flamer, RC-2, Abregado Combat Shields
- Manufacturer: Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers
- Model: The Mechanical Dragon Droid Vessels
- Affiliation: Closed Market, The Metal Lords, ARGH, Firemane
- Production: Minor
- Material: Durasteel Hull with Duranium armor plating, Sourcefyre core with Quadranium casing, transparisteel if it contains a cockpit, wing-shaped armored s-foils and stabilizers
- Classification: Heavy Droid Starfighter
- Length: 16 meters
- Width: 5 meters
- Height: 8.27 meters
- Armament: High Sourcefyre Emitter on the tail, proton torpedo launcher and Flamer in the maw, proton bomb bay on the belly, 2 RC-2 miniguns on the shoulders, 2 standard laser cannons mounted on the wing s-foils, duranium claws and fangs
- Defenses: High (Average with the Combat Shields deactivated)
- Squadron Count: 3 droids
- Maneuverability Rating: Moderate (Very Low with S-foil Wings damaged or destroyed)
- Speed Rating: Average
- Hyperdrive Class: Average
- AE-CM 1
- S-foil and stabilization wings
- Modular cockpit
- Standard Abregado starfighter sensors and trackers suite
- Build-in Communication
- Magnetic Anchors
- Combat Shield- equipped with Abregado Combat shield the droids can take an equivalent to 6 shots from standard starfighter weaponry before being deactivated, it also protects them against electrical and ionic damage.
- Potent Weaponry- equipped with a proton torpedo launcher, proton bomb bay, two armor-piercing RC-2 miniguns, and lighter support armaments, these droid starfighters are meant to take on heavily armored and bigger targets, for example providing heavy air support or bombing runs against capital ships.
- Sourcefyre Emitter- just like their lighter counterparts, the Wyvern Drone-Fighters, the Mechanical Dragons have a Sourcefyre based weapon mounted on their tail to act as a reargun. Their Sourcefyre contraption is an Emitter, a structure firing continuous beams of pure colorful energy that leave incendiary effect in their wake. The beam itself burns as hot as a standard starfighter laser bolt although obviously the longer one stays in its path the deeper it will burn through. The prehensile tail that holds it could be wrapped around to face the front of the Dragon, arching like a scorpion's tail.
- Magnetic Anchors- these droids have magnetic anchors in their claws and tips of their wings, allowing them to stay attached to the hull of other ships or vertical metal surfaces.
- Tough Armor- These heavy Droid Starfighters have been clad in outer Duranium armor plates sitting on Durasteel hull, they can take more damage to their body than a standard starfighter before being crippled, allowing them to have greater presence on the land as well when they touch down. These armor plates are as thick as durable as those in other armored vehicles fielded by ARGH, although ligthsabers can pierce them and cut them, the blades will slow down greatly while doing so because of the metal's thickness and density.
- Moderate Maneuverability- the droids have a moderate maneuverability, while better than most average starfighters, there are still more agile models out there, including the lighter Wyvern Drones. This is achieved, contrary to their lower overall speed and weight, due to the advanced S-foil wings, shifting and changing their angles and positions during flight to allow slightly better turning.
- Chaff- fitted with AE-CM1 rear-facing chaff launcher on their under-belly the droids have a degree of protection against missiles and energy bolts the chaff provides, however that is limited as anything bigger than a standard laser bolt would be less affected by the chaff.
- Modularity- the droids could be outfitted with a cockpit and flight controls, turning him more into a mechanized starfighter rather than purely autonomous droid-fighter
- Expensive- as opposed to the expendable Wyvern drones, due to the use of duranium armor plates and a variety of rather high tech weaponry these droids are somewhat expensive to manufacture, besides they utilize minds of droids willing to upload themselves into these starfighters to use them as droids rather than simple mass-copied drone operating systems. As such they are deployed in smaller squadrons, only three droids per squadron, usually with only a handful of squadrons in engagement unless in case of great emergency like siege of the Metal Lords' home space station. These droids are not deployed unless there is a certain need of them, guarded by the Metal Lords carefully.
- S-Foil Weakness- the S-foil wings are a rather large and rather vulnerable part of the machine, with majority of its maneuverability relaying on them, they could be damaged or destroy with only one or two standard starfighter laser bolts.
- Explosive- the Sourcefyre crystal at the droid's core and its tail is very explosive once damage, the explosion would be similar to a starfighter reactor exploding and destroy the droid in the process, its tail crystal going critical will only do damage to its rear and destroy its prehensile tail due to the armor.
- Variable Mind- because these starfighters use minds of droid volunteers who upload themselves to control them as vessels, their combat efficiency and skill are often varied, depending on what kind of droid uploads their mind into them. For example a droid who was originally a droid-starfighter as well would control the body with greater skill than a programming that came originally from an astromech. Some of these machines are uploaded with a simple drone mind in case they are used only as mere mounts.
- Electromagnetic Weakness- while the Combat Shields systems absorb electrical and ionic attacks, they cannot hold out against more than just one Electromagnetic attack like EMP pulses as counter-acting takes too much energy. As such, more than one EMP pulse will deactivate them.
- Heavy- the plates weight down the machine, cutting down its maximum speed to that of an average starfighter, they could also have trouble moving around in softer terrains like swamps should they land in them.
- Moderate Maneuverability- while their wing S-foils keep them somewhat agile, interceptors and dedicated dog-fighting starfighters should have no issue outmanouvering the droid in combat.
Introduction: The rise of the Metal Lords did not brought only another market for HK to supply his fellow star-faring droids and access to resources but a new wave of technology as well as the machine was allowed copies of droids and weapons found on Mechanus, database previously kept with him due to his outcast status among them hidden droid society. One of the new droid bodies born out of this were the designs for Mechanical Dragons, an upgraded contemporary version of Mechanical Drakes used by Mechanus droids as their starfighter forces, which in turn were heavily based upon the ancient Basilisk War Droids used by Mandalorians.
General Description: Mechanical Dragons are large beasts covered in thick armor, much like the ancient Basilisk War Droids, sitting on four stout legs adorned with duranium claws, bodies that hold a magnetic saddle or cockpit for a passenger, two large stabilizer wings that function like S-foils, heads with multitudes of electronic photoreceptors, sensors, and trackers, and a plethora of weaponry covering them. They are usually employed as heavy starfighters, gunships, or bombers, sent in to conduct quick and deadly bombing runs or hunt down and tear apart heavily armored targets. For this purpose the droids are equipped with a standard proton bomb bay in their belly, a proton torpedo launcher in their maws, two armor-piercing RC-2 miniguns, and a Sourcefyre emitter tail gun, along with two standard laser cannons, their claws and fangs, and a flamer to act as support and secondary weapons.
Special Features: Some of the droid's special features include a rear facing AE-CM 1 chaff launcher, while meant specifically to be a defense against missiles and homing plasma bolts, this special chaff also provides a temporary layer of protection against low energy bolts, a welcomed addition. The wings of the droid are loaded with stabilizators, functioning as mobile S-Wings to adjust and change position during the droid's flight, granting them a great boost to mobility while active. The droids could also be outfitted with a cockpit on their back and flight controls, able to carry a single passenger, and most importantly, allowing other beings to control them as pilots. The droid's head is covered in Abregado's standard sensor and tracking package, while this is good enough to allow the machines to keep track and accurately engage high speed targets, it's not the most powerful or well developed sensor suite out there. Just like their ground counterparts, the Drone Infantry, the Droid Dragons are equipped with build-in communication, allowing them to send instant messages between the units of their squadrons and other squadrons, increasing their effectiveness when fighting as a team. Finally, there are magnetic anchors in their claws to allow them to latch onto metal surfaces, for example hulls of larger ships, so that they could stay attached to them even while the other vessels are moving.
Weaponry: These heavy starfighter droids are outfitted with a proton bomb bay and a proton torpedo launcher mounted within their throat and maw for bombardment purposes. These weapons behave like their common standard counterparts do, nothing special, and they are used mostly against heavily armored targets, capital ships, or ground targets. On the back of these Droid Dragons there are two RC-2 miniguns, firing streams of hyper velocity pellets they have the power of a shattergun, tearing away continuously at the armor of enemy starfighters and ships. Just like their lighter counterparts the Wyvern drones these droids also have a Sourcefyre based rear tail gun, an Emitter in this case, it excites the crystal into firing a continuous beam of energy, this beam burns as hot as a standard starfighter laser bolt does but since it's a beam the longer it is in contact with the target the further it will burn through. Outside of those main gun pieces the droids also have their fangs, claws, and a Flamer mounted within their jaws, all of which are meant to be used on the ground and in close range combat. They are also equipped with two standard laser cannons mounted on swiveling light turrets on their wings, they are meant to be used as secondary dogfighting weapon against lightly armored targets and should their RC-2 pieces be destroyed or run out of ammunition.
Defenses: The defenses of the Droid Dragons consist of a starfighter-proper Abregado Combat Shield and durable Duranium armor plates mounted over their Durasteel hull. This composition is similar to the one previously used by ARGH in their MACU Armored Transport Drones, as the Dragons are meant not only for starfighter duty but as ground support war machines as well, able to land and support infantry should it be needed. While the plates are strong they do have their limits and high energy weaponry would be able to punch through them, although they would still somewhat dampen the effects, for example a lightsaber could burn through the Duranium but it would do so slower than through other metal plates and perhaps even get somewhat stuck due to the sheer thickness and density of the armor.
Other Strengths: Other strengths of these droids include its ability to use Magnetic Anchors to stay attached to vertical metal surfaces and hulls of ships while they are moving, being loaded with Chaff for additional degree of protection, moderate degree of maneuverability as long as its wings are activate, allowing it to be more agile than a standard starfighter, and option for a cockpit and flight controls to be installed on its back, allowing non-droids to use these starfighters as vehicles or removing the need for a droid programming to control it.
Vulnerable Wings: One of the weaknesses of the droid is in its large wings. Since they function as S-foils and stabilization center, they are the key to its agility and maneuverability in combat, however there are still much more agile starfighters out there than these dragons, for example more dedicated interceptors, dogfighters, and its lighters Wyvern drone counterpart, who would be able to get behind it in the position to have a shot at the wings. While the armor covering these wings is hardier than the ones on Wyvern drones, ARGH still couldn't put too much weight on the appendages, as such it is thinner than on the most of the dragon's body and still vulnerable.
Low Numbers: As opposed to the semi-sentient Wyvern drones, most of these droid vessels are controlled by an actual droid programming, making them sentient intelligent machines, it is only when the vessels are bought specifically for mount purposes by other droids that they are outfitted with a barebone droid mind. Metal Lords and ARGH therefore do not send them out as willingly into combat in swarms as they do with the Wyvern drones, after all other droids are precious to them and seen as their equals, there are no more than 3 of these machines in a squadron and usually only around 3 to 5 squadrons are deployed at the same time during battle unless it is some sort of great emergency like siege of their homeworld, a very valuable world, or the Metal Lords' home station. Besides, due to the use of Duranium and more complex weapon systems, it would be actually expensive for ARGH to manufacture swarm of these beasts just to send them out on suicide missions.
Other Weaknesses: Other weaknesses of these droids include only Moderate Maneuverability, while it could be considered a strength against average starfighters, it's also a weakness against dedicated interceptors who could outmaneuver these machines fairly easily, not to mention it is heavily based around their wings and once those are destroyed or damaged enough their flight agility will drop significantly. Since the machines use two Sourcefyre crystals, one for power one for weapon system, they are also explosive when struck in the right places. The lesser crystal is fairly visible on their tail, however it also produces a smaller explosion which would merely destroy the machine's tail and damage its rear rather than destroying the whole droid outright due to stronger armor which could contain the blast. However, the bigger crystal would be able to destroy the machine right away, leaving behind only smouldering remains of its thickest armor, this crystal is hidden within the droid's belly, behind duranium plates and durasteel hull, encased in Quadranium, so while it would cause more damage it is also harder to destroy than the tail crystal. Another weakness comes from the mind of the droid, or at least depends on which programming was uploaded into it, since these vessels are made dead and mindless and are brought to life by a droid's mind moving into them to take control, their skills and flight capabilities depend on the efficiency of the programming, for example a droid programming that was originally meant to be a starfighter droid would be better at controlling these vessels than a mind of a medical droid, this further limits how many of these machines ARGH could field since not all of their volunteers will have a proper droid programming and usually one or two dragons will make expensive mistakes during battle. Another weakness comes from the droid's vulnerability to Electromagnetic attacks. While the Abregado Combat Shield can block ionic and electrical attacks against it, the harsh Electromagnetic energy, like EMP pulses, are too much for it to dampen, the shield can provide resistance against one such attack and afterwards the machine would be vulnerable to magnets which could deactivate it fairly quickly. Finally, the droid is rather heavy, due to its size and the duranium armor it uses, as such it only has average top speed, making it hardly the fastest starfighter out there, and it would have trouble moving on the soft ground once it lands, for example marshes.
Conclusion: In conclusion, this is slower, less agile, but much more armed and armored counterpart of the Wyvern Drone Fighters, based on the previous ancient Basilisk War Droid designs. It is meant to attack heavily armored targets, for example conducting bombing runs on capital ships, and as direct combat deployment, bringing its rider right into the heat of the battle. However, as opposed to Wyverns, it is deployed in much lesser numbers, with only 3 droids per squadron and usually only a handful of squadrons in an engagement unless it is some sort of emergency of great importance to the machines.
