NAVY
Riftling
Swarm Drone
Vodah Collective phase penetrators. Forty-eight expendable craft launch at destroyers, cruisers and larger ships, phase through their shields and penetrate the hull before a contained internal implosion. Each craft is consumed on impact; no radial splash or chain detonation.
Vodah
01 · In the line
Against the other drones
Speed among drones · km/s
Reach among drones
At 16 km/s it takes 0.4 s to close its own reach of 6 km.
02 · Available tech
What a commander can fit
Bought mid-battle with supply. Each one gives something and costs something.
Core upgrades · 3
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.
Riftling signature tech · 8
Coordinates the formation onto one heavy hull and concentrates more energy inside it. The heavier core slows the approach; the implosion remains contained.
Riftling enters a phased sprint while out of combat; firing collapses the protection until it disengages.
Riftling may deploy from either flank strip and accelerates into the opening breach.
Riftling exposes cloaked contacts and marks targets for nearby allied fire.
Riftling concentrates its implosion inside one heavy hull; the heavier containment core slows its approach.
Riftling fields 40% more bodies, trading individual armor and weapon output for saturation.
Riftling recovers its ambush movement system faster between attacks.
Riftling scatters autonomous interceptors that screen its formation from guided ordnance.