Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide the Silver Jedi and Directorate with a repulsorlift APC
- Image Source: Larata Medium Transport Tank, modified by your's truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Model: Wavecrest-class Skimmer
- Affiliation: Directorate / Silver Jedi
- Modularity: Passengers / Cargo
- Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: Ferrocarbon frame, Argentum-series Matrix Armor, ceraglass viewports, standard vehicle components
- Classification: Landspeeder
- Role: Armoured Personel Carrier
- Size: Average
- Weight: Heavy
- Minimum Crew: 1
- Optimal Crew: 2
- Propulsion: Repulsorlift
- Speed: 300 km/h (Fast)
- Maneuverability: Low
- Armaments: Very Low
1 Spitfire Rapidfire Laser Cannon
[*]Defenses: Very High
-Argentum-series Matrix Armor
-HU-OC Deflector Shield
- Squadron Count: Low: 8
- Passenger Capacity: 24
- Cargo Capacity: Very Small
Strengths:
- Fast: The Wavecrest is exceptionally fast over a variety of terrains.
- Well-Protected: The Wavecrest sports exceptionally strong shielding and thick armor plating. These defenses are further augmented by situational use of its 4x-Phantom Sensor Jammer.
- Weak Firepower: The Wavecrest only as a single laser cannon for its armament, which generally makes it ill-suited to fighting anything more than a light speeder.
- Clumsy: The Wavecrest is not very maneuverable, and generally has to dramatically slow down to make most of its turns.
The Wavecrest-class Armored Skimmer is a basic armored personnel carrier based on traditional Calamari Water Skimmer designs. While originally designed to operate over the turbid seas of water worlds like Dac, the Wavecrest's robust repulsorlifts have been adapted to operate in any number of environments, including land, making it the most widespread personnel transport within the Directorate. Mechanized infantry are the primary users of the Wavecrest, but they also see use as generic cargo transports in other units. It is an exceptionally fast and durable craft capable of transport several squads of troopers onto the battlefield. However, because it is also woefully underarmed, most Wavecrests are typically escorted by much more heavily armed vehicles in intense engagements.
Technical Explanations
Crew: Like most other landspeeders, Wavecrest can be driven by a single person. For optimum combat performance, a Wavecrest has two other crewmen. A commander who doubles as the laser cannon's gunner, and a mechanic who also operate the sensor/communication's array as needed. The crew are all located in a chamber just ahead of the turbofan engine bank and just behind the vehicle's laser cannon. A cupola just behind the laser cannon turret serves as their main entryway into and out of the vehicle. The cupola also has small ceraglass viewports, normally covered by retractable plating, which are used to pilot the vehicle when it doesn't have access to its sensors: Miniature photoreceptors located across the hull provide the visual feed for driving the vehicle and firing its weapon.
Engine Systems: Wavecrest is kept aloft by a pair of KD57 3-chamber repulsorlift engines, which allow the Wavecrest to reliably hover up to 4 meters over a variety of terrain types, from simple dirt roads to shifting sands and shimmering seas. A quad bank of rear-mounted turbofans provide ample thrust to the skimmer, making it one of the faster vehicles around for its size.
Defensive Systems: Wavecrest is protected by a starfighter-grade HU-OC Deflector Shield, whose ample protection allows Wavecrests to safely deliver their troops onto the battlefield. Wavecrest crews typically use the shield's overcharge function to cross through vulnerable terrain with little cover or if plowing through defenses during an assault. Wavecrests are also additionally protected by a 4x-Phantom Short Range Sensor Jammer, which Wavecrests use to disguise their exact locations as they approach the battlefield and interfere with homing warheads.
Hull: While Wavecrests share similar aesthetics with other mon calamari vehicles, its hull shares more functionally with the older CIS Multi-Troop Transport. Like that vehicle, it has a reactor core positioned in front of a passenger compartment. Unlike the MTT, it has six separately contained passenger compartments, three on each side of the vehicle, each with their own clamshell-like hatch that opens to the outside. This allows passengers and cargo to quickly enter and exit the craft. From a structural standpoint, Wavecrest borrows much from Lucerne Labs' experience with starship, using a hefty ferrocarbon frame covered in a thick carapace of Argentum-class Matrix Armor. This makes the vehicle exceptionally durable.
Weapons Systems: Wavecrests are extremely lightly armed in their stock versions, only carrying a single Spitfire Rapid Fire Laser Cannon mounted in a top turret. While it produces individual weak bolts, the sheer rate of fire makes this weapon useful for providing covering fire to its occupants or intercepting warheads and other projectiles. Each passenger compartment frame has a secondary circular hatch which can be opened to allow personal and infantry crew-served weapons to be mounted on a pintle mount. The field of fire from these vantage points is very narrow, and provides direct access into the vehicle itself for enemy weapon's fire, which means that this is only selectively used. Pintle mounted weapons are typically used when fighting less technologically advanced foes or if the vehicle is being utilized as an impromptu pillbox.
Carrying Capacity: The six passenger compartments on either side of the vehicle comfortably seat 4 passengers each. This is typically a single individual fire team of four soldiers with their basic fighting loads. There is no dedicated space for cargo on the Wavecrest, aside for an small storage bin with spare parts. For extended missions, it's not unusual to see Wavecrests only carrying two squads of eight individuals, with the spare two compartments being used to hold extra supplies and gear instead.