Vechidai
Limbed vechidai; self-aware robotic weapons platform
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VechidaiLimbed vechidai; self-aware robotic weapons platform
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Vechidai; limbed or skirted vehicles or weapons
platforms
Pronunciation: "VEK-kid-eye"
Singular: Vechidus
Plural: Vechidai
Vulgar Ergot: Vechai
Overview
Since even the Renaissance period of Iron Age Old Earth, mankind has
attempted to condense military power into smaller and smaller packages.
On the ocean, man succeeded
in creating powerful ships of war for the relative level of technology.
Although this power is paltry by 14 millennia of
progress, these ships were the height of technological advancement for
their day. Unfortunately, man was unable to do the same level of
power condensation for land-based weaponry. Modern Vechidai can trace
their roots back to the middle Industrial Age of mankind when
the first construction of tanks began but did not reach a form similar
to what we see today until near the end of the First Federation, when
modern Vechidai designs first became possible and popular.
All Vechidai have a similar design philosophy in that they have a main
body in which the nanofacture plant, power plant, main computer and
other critical elements are housed. Locomotion is provided either by
legs either with 2, 4 or more legs, or a variant of nanite based
drive. Lastly, weapons, sensors and manipulators are positioned in
"limbs" of various designs and types that keep weapons away from the
sensitive main workings of the Vechidai itself. Only small Vechidai
utilize 2-leg locomotion. The larger the machine, the more legs that
are used, or a Nanite based drive train is employed. Vechidai never use
wheels, or tracks.
Some Vechidai are actually giant Vecs with no need for a pilot, while
others will have some sort of cockpit built either attached to the
main body based on a head/neck assembly, or built into the main body,
similar to a vehicle cockpit. Self-aware Vechidai are more popular in
ultratech polities, for it offers more variety of maneuvers, durability
and less wasted space for a pilot and life support
systems. Pilot based Vechidai are often 5 to 10 tons heavier than
Self-Aware
Vechidai. Over the millennia, Vechidai have slowly dropped weight till
they have
reached their modern range of up to 100 tons, but are most commonly
found in the 30 to 60 ton range. Their armor often consists of
Diamondoid,
Pandifico, and other super-strong composites. Vechidai can also range
in height from small "battle armor" sized that are
under 10 feet in height to the deliriously high 150 battle platforms
that stalk some of the stranger environments found in known space.
Uses
Having a powered exoskeleton has proven to be quite useful for
mankind's expansion throughout space. Vechidai have taken some steps
to further There are four main uses for Vechidai which then scatter
into hundreds of small sub categories:
Military, Sport, Exploration
and Industrial.
Military is the most commonly known use for Vechidai. They are in
many forms of entertainment, from games to programs and more. These
Vechidai are used as a mobile support base of operations for smaller
units to resupply from as well as fight
independently or in small or large-scale actions with other Vechidai.
These Vechidai carry a
variety of weapons, defense systems and electronic packages. They also
provide fire support for and against orbital, atmospheric and
surface operations. These are usually the largest and most powerful of
the Vechidai.
Sport Vechidai are almost always small, and very common in the
civilized galaxy. Hobbyists build, customize and race these Vechidai
similar to other vehicles that garner the same kind of hobbyist
attraction. Although not commonly used as a daily use vehicle, they
are considered very popular for "off-route" uses and can be found
plying in the most rugged terrain, that is usually very dangerous for
those unprotected. They can be also used for daily transportation use
in hazardous environments that require enhanced movement.
The short statured Clade Sesha cybertweaks of Sesharia have been using
similar
limbed vehicles for many millennia, both for sport and transportation;
these vehicles were developed more or less
independently on that isolated world.
Some sport style Vechidai have been adapted to military usage. Although
made
obsolete for military use in higher tech societies by Borgs and
standard military Vecs, small Vechidai of this variety are excellent
stealth and guerrilla tactics units for those who do not have or cannot
afford such technology.
Exploration Vechidai benefit from their expanded mobility. The leg
and nanite based drive trains allow for a greater variety of
surfaces and environments to be investigated. Although they have
replaced many
strange vehicles used in the past to handle odd environmental
challenges, they have barely scratched the surface of exploratory
surface vehicles. These are often heavily armored and lightly armed as
well. Although they are usually larger than sport
Vechidai, they are still quite small and lightweight. Some types of
exploration style Vechidai are very small, for use in spelunking and
other tight
quarter exploration with features that assist them in getting through
areas considered impossible by many.
Industrial Vechidai are the most commonly seen Vechidai. They are
often employed in heavy lifting, and moving of materials, working on
mega-scale construction projects and hazardous manufacturing
environments. They usually have a combination of nano and normal
manufacturing tools at their disposal, allowing them to perform well in
a variety of environments. Industrial style Vechidai also
replace robots and Vecs for heavy work on worlds with anti-robot or
pro-bioid
beliefs.
Locomotion
Vechidai, being surface vehicles, use 2 main modes for locomotion, legs
or nanite skirts. The decision on which form of locomotion to
use is often based on weight distribution, environment, and mission.
The heaviest Vechidai must rely on nanite skirts to support their bulk,
while smaller Vechidai may choose a legged format of locomotion. The
smallest of Vechidai use exclusively two-legged locomotion, with the
pilot's legs are contained in them, similar to an exoskeleton.
Vechidai that are at least vehicle sized, will use normally 4 to 8 legs, with some very large Vechidai employing up to 100 legs in a caterpillar or centipede style system. Although these latter versions are rare, they are not unheard of. Legs are often of insect, arachnid or crustacean in design, but jumping leg styles are rare, and are confined to low gee worlds.
Nanite drive trains are used almost exclusively for
Vechidai that are
tasked with dealing in extremely difficult terrain, are very heavy,
or both. Nanite drive trains, depending on its refinement and style,
are able to make Vechidai amphibious, by creating a hull out of the
skirt strong enough to provide displacement and buoyancy. The Cascade
Drive, which moves the Vechidai by a combination of gravity,
"hydraulic pressure" and wave action. The Lariat Drive type produces
forward momentum by throwing out "tentacles" of nanites to grab
surfaces in front of the Vechidai, and pull it forward on it's nanite
skirt. Nanite skirts are very fluid and flexible. Appearing as cross
between,
crude oil and powdered sugar. It is glittery like silica but have a
standard color of whatever the nanites would normally be, and
translucent, allowing bright light through similar to that of good
coffee. They can be punctured, scattered or even completely cut in
half, and reattach themselves with minimal effort if the remaining
skirt attached to the controlling main body can touch it to re-power
and regain control. The grip strength of the skirt is also strong
enough to be able to survive extreme environments of wind, pressure and
heat. The Vechidai can hold on to a stable vertical surface or
hang upside down from a strong vehicle or geologic formation as well.
When conformed into a hull for movement on liquid, the skirt commonly
is of shallow draft and flat bottom.
Offensive Weaponry
Weapons on military Vechidai are as varied as that carried on
spacecraft. Vechidai, with ample amounts of matter, and the
installation of picofacture suites tend to favor Muskets, Dusters and
Squirts, since ammunition is quickly replenished regardless of local
materials, and is more efficient than pure energy weapons. Standard
nanofacture outfitted Vechidai, which are more common, rely more on
larger power plants and reactors with energy weapons suites. Although
rockets and missiles are used as well, they are usually tactical
weapons and for larger or special targets.
Nearly all Vechidai carry Nano-warfare suites. In the post swarm age,
it is considered foolish not to have at least a small onboard
Nano-warfare system. Delivery methods can vary greatly, but for
controllability, Squirts and Dusters are preferred. Some use large
Nano-warfare payloads on missiles as well.
Although they are capable of carrying NBC (Nuclear, Chemical,
Biological) weaponry,
Vechidai have rarely been used in such warfare; there are strong taboos
in most
cultures against these weapons (for many reasons).
Vechidai often employ drones, manufactured from their Nanofacture
suites. These can be used for scouting, stealthy attacks, quick
FASCAM minefields, and other various activities. The forms of these
drones varies dramatically by polity, military, mission, unit and
Vechidai.
To help discourage orbital bombardment, often one or more weapons
capable of engaging high orbital targets are installed on
Vechidai. Some are specifically tasked for this mission, while others
will sometimes completely forgo this weaponry.
Weapons are mounted in external limbs rather than inside the main body.
These limbs, often articulated arms or tentacles provide extra
flexibility in the field of fire, plus preventing serious internal
damage if a weapons array is destroyed. Ammunition is often stored
outside the main body and off the hull. Thanks to nanofacture,
destruction of a weapons pod is not a serious injury to the Vechidai.
Often in a few hours, it can reassemble a new pod and be back in action
quickly. Some Vechidai will "holster" their weapon pods in
protected sockets that allow for modification of weapon pods, as well
as carrying a larger array of weapons safely.
Weapons for the most part on Vechidai are scaled to remain in tune with
their combat environment. This means Vechidai do not carry
"planet-busting" devices, or global weapons of mass destruction that
wipe out everything from horizon to horizon. This form of weaponry is
shown to work best from orbit.
Defensive Systems
The most obvious forms of defense shown by Vechidai are Fog Shields.
These bubbles of military grade Utility Fog form around the main
body, sometimes hugging the hull tightly, other times, they create
large, elaborate multi-layered spheres for defense. These can develop
different properties for dealing with various weapon types. Vechidai
also use very powerful Electronic Counter Measure, and
Counter-Counter Measure Suites (ECM, ECCM). These are designed to not
only jam and block electronic signals, but also to hack into attacking
weapon sensors and try to destroy the threat by destroying and
corrupting software. Some packages are designed specifically to usurp
or shut down Nanite, some Picotech, and Synsect attacks. They are
excellent at scrambling, or feeding false readings back to sensors,
creating ghost images, and even fake enemy visual transmissions.
Camouflage is often active in nature, working to cloak the Vechidai's
appearance on most EM scanners. These quite often appear quite
invisible until attacking or attacked, where the active camouflage may
not be able to compensate for rapidly changing light conditions and
patterns. Often the foot will allow damage to pass right through it,
with minimal
disruption, preferring to keep a more fluid form. Since the
Vechidai has a large nanofacture, if not picofacture plant built into
it, the machine is often self-healing, allowing it to recover from
terrific damage. Some even will use spore or seed nanotech to "rise
from the dead" in a matter of hours, days or weeks, causing
incredible damage if the lines of combat have left them deep in enemy
territory.
Due to this fact, total obliteration and "sterilization" of a Vechidai
is extremely important to opposing forces. The employ of "phalanx"
systems and other active defenses, such as
anti-missile rockets, interception beam weapons or other projectiles
are near universal in some form or another. Some use beam weapons of
this sort to spoof or scramble "dumb" munitions such as heat-seekers
or HARM style munitions. Others actively detonate or destroy incoming
threats. On occasions, clouds of `caustic blue goo" is used to
eliminate slower incoming threats like drones. To prevent mines and
other buried threats to the drive train, the
Vechidai can put forth hard "probes" from its nanite drive, causing
enough shock to detonate mines by thin, but powerful and heavy vertical
sheets of nanites slamming into the ground, and then being reabsorbed
by the
foot.
Control/Piloting
Like most autowar style systems, many are controlled by sapient
intelligences similar to that of Vecs. If military variants are
autonomous sophonts, they often live lives similar to that of the
ancient clade from Terra known as "Samurai". Transapient Vecs, also
often adhere to variants of that code as well. Most sentient Vechidai
personalities follow their functionality. Rarely will a mind be
uploaded to a Vechidai, as they are often ill suited for life in that
body. Most often it is a mind originally created for this kind of
life.
If the Vechidai is designed for control by an independent pilot, the
cockpit is usually well protected, deep in the hull. A baseline mind,
cannot pilot without an expert system handling the basic functionality
of its nanite drive train. Often, baseline controlled Vechidai are
viewed as a waste for they cannot take full advantage of the power of
the drive train. To help combat that, most will upgrade the expert
system to a Transavant "co-pilot" that will handle many of the
intricacies of the drive train, movement and defense, leaving the
pilot to handle general piloting, and offense. Sentient Vechidai often
utilize the Godweb to lead a more typical
lifestyle. Often running avatars and other entities from afar while
their main body is in a repair bay or mothballed. This has gone a long
way to prevent madness and potential difficulties with groups of
Vechidai attempting to exert power and prevent the madness boredom can
bring on the hyper-intelligent.
Territory/Travel
Although rarely seen inside the Inner Sphere, Vechidai can be found on
occasion in the Hinterworlds, and more frequently in the more
advanced polities of the Outer Volumes. In the frontier, they are
common in contested space, and on worlds under siege and in war zones.
They most often travel by specially designed Orbital Assault Carriers,
that are specifically designed to handle dropping large vehicles
safely, as well as handle the mental and physical needs of the Vechidai
units. Rarely, do they travel mixed in with mechanized
infantry of any type, since their nature automatically draws heavier
fire due to the level of their threat if identified in descent to a
planet's surface.
When not in a military unit, they will travel with their main body in
cargo storage like any massive vehicle, and use an avatar, or AI
remotes to interact with the rest of the crew and passengers on a ship.
On planet's surface, they often cannot travel in large cities,
due to weight, and size restrictions and will resort on their Avatar as
well, often being stored at the local spaceport or transportation
hub. Some spaceports that see high traffic in these huge machines will
actually have "hotels" or storage bays for them to be stored
while they conduct business in system.
Society
Similar to a Clade, sentient Vechidai, especially military Vechidai,
have a very tight social status and society. They often will prefer
to work with each other if business opportunities permit, and will
remain in touch via the Godweb. Some are artisans, stockbrokers,
scientists,
researchers, explorers, and many other professions. Often, if dealing
with an avatar, one may never know that the main mind is a Vechidai.
Most prefer to keep that a secret, due to the popular opinion of them,
as a terrifying war machine that can control continents by brute
force. Many memes portray them in a less than generous light. Other
transapients rarely feel threatened by them, unless they are an
opposing force, the same way they are rarely threatened by any
physical danger that worries most of their baseline charges.
