NAVY
Dart
Swarm Drone
Rocket swarm. Volleys of guided rockets corkscrew across the gap and steer in on their mark.
Terran
01 · In the line
Against the other drones
Speed among drones · km/s
Reach among drones
At 6 km/s it takes 5 s to close its own reach of 30 km.
02 · Weapon
Guided rocket battery
Guided rocket battery
Four launcher plates in the rocket pods' faces · 224 bores, a rocket in each
Its four launchers each hold 56 rockets (224 total), and loose them 4 at a time every 1.5 s: 56 volleys, 84 s of fire on a full load. A squad of 18 looses 72 a volley. Each flies at 60 km/s, across its 30 km in 0.5 s, corkscrewing as it goes, and its seeker steers it in on its mark, or on whatever enemy stands nearest if the mark is gone first. Its warhead bursts with 6 MJ, 1.4 kg of TNT, on the shield or the plate it meets.
Fire cycle · one hull over 9.1 s
140 an attack every 1.5s (4×): 93 a second. Six attacks land 840 from one hull, 15,120 from the squad of 18.
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.
Dart signature tech · 8
Every Dart fires a six-round saturation volley, then waits through a longer reload.
Dart enters a phased sprint while out of combat; firing collapses the protection until it disengages.
Dart may deploy from either flank strip and accelerates into the opening breach.
Dart exposes cloaked contacts and marks targets for nearby allied fire.
Dart compresses two more shots into every attack (a 6-shot attack on its own sheet), followed by a longer reload.
Dart fields 40% more bodies, trading individual armor and weapon output for saturation.
Dart projectiles acquire guidance and seek a new victim when their first target dies.
Dart scatters autonomous interceptors that screen its formation from guided ordnance.