NAVY
Claw SR-9
Swarm Drone
Executive Order strike drone, flown in wings of twelve. It fights at 160 m/s and fires tight-beam pulses from its power core out to 50 km in space or 5 km in ground engagements, at aircraft and ground alike. Each attack delivers up to 270 damage over 3 seconds of contact with the same target; lost tracking time reduces damage. Cloaking, countermeasures and flank insertion are available through Claw technologies.
Order
01 · In the line
Against the other drones
Speed among drones · km/s
Reach among drones
At 16 km/s it takes 3.1 s to close its own reach of 50 km.
02 · Weapon
Tight-beam pulse laser
Tight-beam pulse laser
Power-core emitter between the claws · one tight beam, in pulses
One power-core lens between the claws holds a tight beam on one target: 270 total damage (46 MJ) delivered gradually over 3 s of tracked contact. Attacks start at most once every 3 s and cannot overlap. Lost aim, range or line of sight loses damage; the remaining exposure cannot transfer to another target. Light-speed propagation causes no projectile travel delay. Air attenuates the delivered energy.
Fire cycle · one hull over 18 s
270 an attack every 3s: 90 a second. Six attacks land 1,620 from one hull, 19,440 from the squad of 12.
03 · Available tech
What a commander can fit
Bought mid-battle with supply. 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.
Claw SR-9 signature tech · 8
Links the wing’s power-core lasers so every drone concentrates fire on one legal target.
Extends core-laser reach by 25% and cuts a 0.18 km beam lane through aligned enemies, at a 20% longer firing cycle. Allies are spared.
Core pulses deal double damage to shields, trading away 10% of their hull damage.
Conceals the wing until it fires or hostile sensors reveal it, at 15% lower hull HP.
Scrambles guided ordnance within 6 km at strength 60, at 10% lower cruise speed.
Adds a 180-strength forward shield across a 100° arc. Flanking fire bypasses it; cruise speed falls by 10%.
Fields 30 drones per wing, sacrificing 15% individual hull HP and 10% pulse damage.
Unlocks flank-strip deployment for an off-axis core-laser attack, at 10% lower cruise speed.