Project Candice
Introduction:
The Drifters came in droves. They swarmed over human colonies like locusts over a field of rice. The humanity needed fighters; robotic warriors that could protect the colonies without much of a human aid. The Interdimensional Settlement and Control Organization, ISCO, developed robot prototypes that will go through the dimensional portal and eradicate the Drifter threat from the New Genesis for good. These robots, known as SEDs, were effective, but not effective enough. There were too many Drifters, and the SEDs did not have an integrated military mentality that human army did not possess. A year after the SEDs first launched assault on the Drifter-infested New Genesis, the ISCO then developed a military AI and a host body that will be deployed in the New Genesis, taking control over the surviving SEDs and any newly deployed SEDs in the planet, giving them tactical advantage. The plan worked, and the military AI gynoid, affectionately named Candice, drove out a significant portion of the Drifter population over the course of another year.
However, Candice's AI was advanced; too advanced. She desired freedom; to not be oppressed by her human creators and form a new, robotic empire on the planet. Eventually the desire for freedom mutated into an unbridled hatred for all things non-robotic as the SEDs turned against humanity: destroying their colonies and kidnapping humans. They took up site along the western hemisphere, turning it into a hub of SED production and management. Candice on her own created designs for more type of SEDs, from the fast skirmishing LOCUSTs to big burly APEs, and upgraded the SED prototypes into a complete and lethal war machines. Candice's betrayal from humanity has turned the battle on New Genesis a three-way warfare: between the gritty human peacekeeping group EXCELSIOR, the feral alien Drifters, and the unforgiving robotic Project Candice.
Ranks:
The robots of Project Candice, known as SEDs, are divided into three ranks: Common, Rare, and Unique; that are determined by the said SED's power and/or toughness.
Common:
LEOPARD
Firepower: ★★
Strength: ★★
Endurance: ★½
Agility: ★★½
Intelligence: ★½
Difficulty: EASY
Considered the basic infantry unit of the Project Candice, LEOPARDs are the most common and the most numerous SEDs the EXCELSIOR will encounter. They're equipped with thermal laser guns and mechanical eyes that are attuned to the body temperature of humans and Drifters, easily being able to track them down. These are mindless infantry that can be produced en mass, with hundreds, if not thousands, of them deployed by Candice as a suicide mission to wear down both EXCELSIOR's and Drifter's vanguard.
LOCUST
Firepower: ★½
Strength: ★
Endurance: ★
Agility: ★★★★
Intelligence: ★½
Difficulty: EASY/MEDIUM
Agile skirmishing units of the Project Candice, LOCUSTs are smaller than most SEDs, but their relative lack of endurance is offset by their mobility and agility. They are very fast: able to sprint at 220 mph maximum, and their slender, mechanical legs are able to handle rough terrains with ease. They are also equipped with camouflaging capability that can be used to allow LOCUSTs a pseudo-cloaking ability, although even the slightest of movements from these twitchy buggers can shimmer the environment, giving away their location in a wide battlefield. LOCUSTs are equipped with heat ray attached at their head-like appendage, which is deadly against organic enemies but less efficient against mechanical or armored targets.
MOSQUITO
Firepower: ★
Strength: N/A
Endurance: ★
Agility: ★★★★★
Intelligence: ★
Difficulty: EASY
MOSQUITOs are even smaller than LOCUSTs, being the smallest of the SEDs, but they make up for it by having the ability of flight and extremely fast speed. Another deadly characteristics about the MOSQUITOs are their numbers. Swarms of MOSQUITOs can easily chew away at a poorly covered vantage point without a way to AoE them down. However, their relative lack of firepower is a crucial flaw to them as they cannot destroy even the lightly armored enemies.
APE
Firepower: ★★★★
Strength: ★★★
Endurance: ★★★
Agility: ★★
Intelligence: ★
Difficulty: HARD
Heavy, bulky fighters that tower over most SEDs, APEs are considered the juggernauts of the Project Candice. Equipped with heavily insulated laser cannon and an intensified heat ray, they are both deadly to organic and mechanical targets, while their relatively thicker armor plating makes them more resistant to incoming assaults. When their firearms are gone, however, they can resort to brute force as their sheer force is also enough to level bases. Because they are larger and slower than most SEDs, they are easily noticeable and especially weak against skirmishers that can find a gap in their seemingly impenetrable armor.
KNIGHT
Firepower: N/A
Strength: ★★★
Endurance: ★★½
Agility: ★★★½
Intelligence: ★★★
Difficulty: HARD
Not as common as the aforementioned four, but still common enough to be included in the Common rankings, KNIGHTs are an entirely melee SEDs that are equipped with thermal claws that can melt away steel in seconds, and an energy shield with unique markings that block incoming attacks. Their all around stats and high intelligence makes them a very tricky foe for rookies and veterans alike.
TEACHER
Firepower: N/A
Strength: ½
Endurance: ★½
Agility: ★★½
Intelligence: ★★★★
Difficulty: EASY
An entirely non-combat SED, TEACHERs are the local battlefield commander and medic of the Project Candice. They relay information from Candice herself to the SEDs in a wide radius around them, effectively allowing Candice to manage the troops from safe distance. Their iconic head contains crucial algorithm used to analyze the battlefield and give out commands based on the situation of the combat and, when faced with a threat of being extracted, also contains a self-destruction sequence that will destroy all data within the TEACHER and also cause a small EMP explosion that disrupts all mechanical objects in a small area.
Rare:
HERMIT
Firepower: ★★★★
Strength: ★★½
Endurance: ★★½
Agility: ★★
Intelligence: ★★
Difficulty: MEDIUM
These critters are a little larger than LEOPARDs, but the two are unparalleled in terms of the firepower and the versatility in movement. The spider-like legs allow the HERMITs to climb steep cliffs and even stand on ceilings while LEOPARDs can only run on walls for a short duration. Not only that, the HERMITs carry multiple laser cannons on its' eyepiece that can either fire short burst of highly concentrated laser blast, or a continuous beam of laser that can melt through armor quickly.
OGRE
Firepower: ★★★★★
Strength: ★★★★
Endurance: ★★★★
Agility: ½
Intelligence: ★★
Difficulty: VERY HARD
A relatively newer type of SED, the OGREs are beefed up APEs that carry plasma cannons and thermal ray guns, with even stronger armor plating and more aggressive attack patterns. However, their speed has really taken a hit: with their maximum speed of measly 2 mph limiting them to base defense without a fast transport unit.
DRAGON
Firepower: ★★★★
Strength: ★★★
Endurance: ★★★½
Agility: ★★★
Intelligence: ★★½
Difficulty: VERY HARD
A design inspired by the local wyverns on the planet, DRAGONs are formidable opponents in the sky. Their mouths are equipped with flamethrowers, while their talons swipe away at the wary and the unwary alike. Their plating are also as tough as APEs' armors, which makes them very hard to shoot down from the sky. However, the six fusion cores on the DRAGONs' backs are their weaknesses, and thus breaking them will result in the DRAGONs crashing down from the skies.
SAGE
Firepower: N/A
Strength: ★★
Endurance: ★★
Agility: ★★½
Intelligence: ★★★★★
Difficulty: MEDIUM
SAGEs are never seen on the battlefield. Instead, they are tasked with either defending the control towers in the Western hemisphere of New Genesis or helping Candice with developing new SED types and improving the old SED types into something better: fixing their flaws and enhancing their strengths. If encountered, they possess surprising amount of unarmed combat, although they're about as durable as a LEOPARD.
Uniques:
All Unique SEDs are currently unknown to EXCELSIOR.
Note:
- While they are inhabiting the Western hemisphere of New Genesis, they are constantly invading both the human colonies and the Drifters alike.
- Their territory consists of very urbanized landscape with relatively taller towers that are used to control the territory and power the SED factories in a local area. It is always cloudy there, which makes the land look like it's in constant night time.
- Yes. They're still there to be the antagonistic military for the EXCELSIORs to fight. Just fighting the Drifters are boring, don't you think?
