ARMY
Anzu
Twin-Blaster Strike Craft
Anu'Aki Guild drone fighter, flown in squadrons of twelve for the Guild's navy and its army alike. A disc of a hull ringed with thruster grilles in a groove round its rim, it hovers, dashes and fights at 160 m/s; its twin plasma blasters sit in the slot between its two nose prongs and fire together at 60 km/s, at aircraft and ground alike. Full damage holds to 30 km in space, followed by inverse-square plasma spreading to a 60 km maximum (3 km optimal and 6 km maximum in ground engagements). At maximum range, one quarter of the attack damage remains.
01 · Speed
Cruise, dash and thrusters
It cruises at 160 m/s, and dashes to the battle's 450 m/s ceiling while its target is far.
02 · Combat
One drone, and the squad of 12
One drone at base rank, from the battle sheet; ranks strengthen hull, shield and damage.
03 · Weapon
Twin plasma blasters
Twin plasma blasters
Nose slot between its two prongs · two barrels fired together
Two plasma blasters lie side by side in the slot between its nose prongs and fire together, one shot: a bolt from each, 14 MJ apiece and 27 MJ on the mark. A bolt is a ring of plasma held by its own field, thrown at 60 km/s: across its 6 km in 100 ms. Bolts fly unguided along their launch bearing. In fleet combat they retain full damage to 30 km, then spread with inverse-square falloff to 60 km, where 25% remains. Ground combat scales those distances to 3 km optimal and 6 km maximum. Atmospheric attenuation is additional.
Fire cycle · one drone over 8.4 s
160 an attack every 1.4s: 114 a second. Six attacks land 960 from one drone, 11,520 from the squad of 12.
What lands · by distance as its jet spreads
Its jet spreads as it flies, in air as in vacuum: whole to 3 km, then less by the square of the distance.
Reach against the other units
04 · Available tech
What a commander can fit
Bought mid-battle with supply, for the squad of 12. Each one gives something and costs something.
Core upgrades · 4
Adds a +50% outer targeting band. Attacks, repairs, and boarding channels operate at 55% output beyond native range, and armed squads hold that safer line.
Converts the squad into a breacher: it closes to 45% range and deals +60% damage there, but deals 15% less outside the breach band.
No single hit can strip more than 30% of maximum hull after shields. Mobile units lose 12% thrust; static emplacements lose 18% maximum integrity. Strong into alpha strikes, weak into rapid fire.
Burns at +65% speed while marching or closing on its chosen standoff, then disengages in combat; turn authority is halved during the burn.
Anzu signature tech · 8
The Guild builds photonic shields for others, and knows the note each one rings at. Anzu bolts are tuned to it: a shield takes 272 of a shot, twice the bolt, and plate 136, 15% less than a plain shot's 160.
Between passes the rim vanes throw each Anzu into a jinking sprint: it takes 40% less damage, flies 1.4 times as fast and slips through a formation without touching it. A shot breaks the jink, and it takes 3 s without firing or being hit to jink again.
The core of each Anzu carries a Cyclops, folded in its bay. It drops when a hostile comes within 2 km or when the drone is destroyed: the Cyclops falls from the drone's height and fights on beside the squadron, one for every drone.
The sensor shells above and below each Anzu read the air and the ground at once. Cloaks within 4 km are stripped, and what is revealed is marked for allied fire at 8% more damage.
Anzu fusion cores are run past their rating for a pass: the blasters cycle every 0.84 s for 4 s, then lock for 3 s while the core cools. Five shots where there would have been three, and a tenth more fire across the fight.
Aki engineers put the reserve in the air with the Anzu squadron: sixteen drones where there were twelve, each with three tenths less plate and shield, and 136 a shot where it was 160. An eighth more fire in the sky, and the squadron's protection spread thinner.
Anzu bolts carry the charge the Guild's support craft use to throw a hostile drive out of true: a struck unit moves at three quarters of its pace for 3 s, so a flyer it catches cannot break off. The squadron hunts squads of eight or more first, for 144 a shot where it was 160.
Each Anzu carries a photonic shield of the Guild's own make across the front of its disc, from prong to rim. It takes 130 points of fire across the forward 120°; fire from the flank or from behind goes past it.