UAVs/Remote Drones

[Jame]

Otherwise known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, with a variant called the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. Used as reconnaisance and, to a lesser extent, recon-in-force. How often are these used in the Imperium, or in YTU?


Inspired by posts in the Fleet topic US WW2/Imperial Marines.

 

[tjoneslo]

OTU: It depends upon how far into the design sequences you read. Striker, for example, has support for building drone vehicles and missiles. Using Book 8 you could always build these things.

From the general feeling, Hivers use them all the time, having entire assault units consisting of robotic vehicles with their drones. Zhodani use them frequently, and everyone else seems to use them only on occasion.

IMTU: I tend toward the GT tech, so I have a variant of the Sunburst missile sled from Ground Forces which holds about 2000 grav powered sensor missiles with warheads. Gives in depth coverage over a scary area.

 

[Zutroi]

OTU's '101 Robots' had a handy little spherical 'bot. It was actually remote controlled, had a simple camera/microphone setup for sensors, and a light tentacle. Best damn recon device in canon, and my players habitually welded low recoil weapons with spotting lasers to 'em for use as UCAV's.

Per the K'Kree thread, their 'warbots' are actually more like our current UAV's. There is some fine tactical analysis of the limitations of this type of unit there by YT.

 

[Jame]

Alright. So:

Call for Drone Designs! Call for Drone Designs!
Give me recon bots, war bots, research bots, any kind of 'bot you can think of! Give my any tl, but primarily 10-15! Winner gets an extra star!

 

[Tobias]

Originally posted by Jame:
Call for Drone Designs! Call for Drone Designs!
Give me recon bots, war bots, research bots, any kind of 'bot you can think of! Give my any tl, but primarily 10-15! Winner gets an extra star! [/QB]

Which rule system?

Regards,

Tobias

 

[Jame]

Three wrods: ANY!

 

[Tobias]

Okay. This one is a hybrid of Striker and Book 8 rules. I used Striker rules for everything except the Brain.

##################################################
The Zhodani Zhdoq-4 recon and combat drone has received the designation ZD-12 by the Imperial military. It is used as a hunter/killer against infantry and light vehicles, or as a point defense escort guarding a high-value vehicle, such as a nuclear damper unit.
The Zhdoq-4 can be directed via radio, laser or wire communcations, as well as psionics. Its own intelligence is limited, but it has an extensive target recognition memory and can conduct basic defense and evasion independently.
The Zhdoq-4's boxy, wedge-shaped hull has radical sloping on the front and vertical sloping on all other sides. There is no turret.

Dimensions (LxWxH): 4m x 2m x 1m (SizeDM +1)
Mass: 31.3 tons unloaded, 32.9 tons combat
Power Plant: Fusion, 6 Mw output
Fuel: 108 liters, sufficient for 12 hours
Armor: Front 56, all other sides 48
NOE Speed: 180 kph
Cruise Speed: 720 kph
Maximum Speed: 960 kph
Armament: One 32mm, five-barrel, electric-operated Hypervelocity autocannon with 2000 rounds of KEAP ammunition.

ROF-800, 16 Targets, Signature +1, Autoloader, TL 14 direct and PD targetting, fully stabilized.
Ranges(Pen)Bonus:
Effective-3000m(30)+6, Long-4000m(27)+5, Extreme-5500m(24)+2

Defense: 4x Prismatic Aerosol, Basic ECM
Electronics: Image Enhancement, Thermal Imaging, 5-pwr-TF Ladar, 100km-MaserComm, 500-pwr-RadioComm, Slave Unit, Brain Interface, Acoustical Speaker
Brain: Basic Command, High Data, ECP, Int=5, Edu=3, Autocannon-2, Grav Vehicle-1, Recon-1, Forward Observer-1, Tactics-1, Infantry Combat-1, Armor Combat-1
Price: MCr 2.59
##################################################

If you use a Striker Drone Brain instead of a Book 8 Brain, it will cost MCr 3.23 and be considerably less capable. Your call.

Regards,

Tobias

 

[Jame]

Ooooh, I like it! Thanks, Tobias! Anyone else!

 

[tjoneslo]

TL12 60mm microdrone

The smallest semi-autonomous drones used by the Imperium are the 60mm microdrones. With their relatively small warheads, they are mostly suited to attacking infantry or support vehicles, but within that limited role they are quite effective for their cost.

Crew: Robotic controlled

Subassemblies: Vehicle -4, Body -4.

P&P: rechargeable C cell, 40 lbs. thrust super thruster (vectored thrust; no access space).

Armor F RL B T U
Body 4/50 4/20 4/20 4/20 4/20

Weaponry Malf Type Damage SS Acc 1/2D ft Max ft RoF TL
bomb Crit Exp 6dx15(10) - 6 0 0 - 12

Equipment
Vehicle: basic emission cloaking (-8 spotting modifier); basic stealth (-8 spotting modifier); instant chameleon (-6 spotting modifier).

Body: short range radio communicator (500-mile range; scrambler); short range laser communicator (1,000-mile range; receive only); LLTV (magnification x2); radscanner (scan 9, 0.5-mile range); tiny computer (complexity 5; robot brain); 60mm bomb (small HEAT warhead; self destruct).

Statistics
Size: [LxWxH] 1.7 x 0.19 x 0.19 Payload: 0 lbs. Lwt: 5.17 lbs.
Volume: 0.061 cf Maint: 425 Hrs (0.226 man-hrs./day) Price: $2,211

HT: 12 HP: 1 [Body].

Air Performance: Motive Thrust 40 lbs., Stall Speed 0 mph, Top Speed 1,795 mph, Terminal Velocity 645 mph, Glide Speed 258 mph, Glide Ratio 4.7:1, aAccel 155 mph/s, aMR 8.5, aSR 3, aDecel 34 mph/s.

Space Performance: sAccel: 7.73 G / 7.73 G (empty), sDecel: 7.73 G, sMR: 7.73.

Design Notes:
TL12 Robotic Medium Frame Standard Materials [Vehicle].
T TL12 DR 20 Expensive Laminate, U TL12 DR 20 Expensive Laminate, L TL12 DR 20 Expensive Laminate, R TL12 DR 20 Expensive Laminate, F TL12 DR 50 Expensive Laminate, B TL12 DR 20 Expensive Laminate [Vehicle].
Operating Duration: 44 M 57 S.
Payload Cost: $6.6
Vehicle Features: computerized controls, sealed, superior streamlining.
Volume: 0.061 cf [Body].
Area: 0.933 sf [Body].

 

[Hecateus]

RPers would prefer more mundae additions, are there not any floaty mobile Holovid cameras for our Traveller Reporters?

How might a merchant make use of various drones? ...perhaps 'smart' cargo containers.

 

[Antares Administration]

Great feedback so far!

You'll be interested to know that one of the city-states on Starfall uses drone tech to a large extent, in both civil and military applications. We're about to start work on a aerospace drone prototype to include in the upcoming Starfall Conspiracy adventure.

I'll post some stats when I've got them.

Paul Nemeth
AA

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by Hecateus:
RPers would prefer more mundae additions, are there not any floaty mobile Holovid cameras for our Traveller Reporters?

You can take the bomb out of the microdrone above. the LLTV is a tv camera with a low light attachment. The whole thing is two inches by two feet, small enough to fit down most duct work. It's silent, practically immune to sensor detection, and can turn invsible (like Predator, only not quite as good).

 

[Liam Devlin]

How about a medical SAR, recovery drone, say grav powered, capable of carrying two wounded personnel, and extricating them on a hi tech world (TL-D+) to nearby emergency facility or vehicle they are deployed from.
Military and civilian software options please!
Capable of removing say, two folks from a Scarab grav car crash..
In Milspec, armored, and speedy with NOE flight capability, armored versus small arms fire.

--inspired by ideas from my gamers.
System preferred T20. Any takers?

 

[Jame]

Nice design, Liam! An excellent support bot.