ARMY
Red Locust Platoon
Forge-Made Jetborne Swarm
A platoon of 120 the Forge remade, 2.2–3 m in black plate and worn ivory, salvage strapped on with its markings ground off, each row its own lineage. A double assault row floods close range: frail, fast and short of reach, it is spent to get there.
01 · Speed
Skimming on its jets
Jetborne: its troopers skim on their jets just above the ground, jinking as they go.
02 · Combat
One trooper, and the squad of 120
One trooper at base rank, from the battle sheet; ranks strengthen hull, shield and damage.
03 · Rows
5 rows, each its own trooper and weapon
Front row first, as the platoon draws up. Each row's weapon at base rank: one volley's damage, the seconds between volleys and how far it reaches.
04 · Weapon
Pulse laser
Pulse laser
Rapid pulses, each landing the instant it fires.
Fire cycle · one trooper over 1.6 s
4 an attack every 0.26s: 15 a second. Six attacks land 24 from one trooper, 2,880 from the squad of 120.
Reach against the other units
05 · Available tech
What a commander can fit
Bought mid-battle with supply, for the squad of 120. 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.
Red Locust Platoon signature tech · 8
Links all five rows through the jetpack telemetry mesh, improving protection and formation velocity without changing the six-stack staffing limit.
Mobile Infantry enters a phased sprint while out of combat; firing collapses the protection until it disengages.
Mobile Infantry may deploy from either flank strip and accelerates into the opening breach.
Mobile Infantry exposes cloaked contacts and marks targets for nearby allied fire.
Mobile Infantry compresses two more shots into every attack (a 3-shot attack on its own sheet), followed by a longer reload.
Mobile Infantry fields 40% more bodies, trading individual armor and weapon output for saturation.
Mobile Infantry prioritizes capital targets and overcharges each strike against heavy hulls.
Mobile Infantry scatters autonomous interceptors that screen its formation from guided ordnance.