Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide an underground combat vehicle for the Silver Jedi Concord and its allies
- Image Source: here modified by yours truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Silver Jedi Concord, Directorate, Lucerne Labs customers
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Clodhopper-class Subterranean Crawler
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Argentum-series Matrix Armor plating, reinforced Beskar Frame, ceraglass viewports, standard vehicle components
- Classification: Subterranean Groundcrawler
- Role: Assault Tank
- Size: Small
- Weight: Heavy
- Armaments: Extreme
- 2 chin-mounted Firestorm-class Plasma Turbolasers
- 2 front Tri-Beam Lasers
- 2 front Vaapad-class Laser Cannons
- 2 "Pop-up" LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launchers
- Defenses: Very High
- Maneuverability Rating: Low
- Speed Rating: Low
- Propulsion: Tracks (primary) / wheels (on the end)
- Minimum Crew: 1
- Optimal Crew: 3 (1 driver + 2 gunners)
- Passenger Capacity: 10
- Cargo Capacity: Small
- Environmentally Sealed: The Clodhopper uses environmentally sealed crew cabin and an environmentally sealed passenger/cargo bay, allowing the crawler to operate in vacuum and up to Type IV atmospheres or the frequently toxic underground atmospheres common deep in a world's crust. Consequently, the Clodhopper sports a miniaturized life support system commonly found on starfighters. It also enables limited submersion in water at depths typical of a continental sea shelf.People and cargo exit the Clodhopper through a pair of doors located on either side of the vehicle.
- Partially Automated: Clodhoppers have a droid brain used to process sensor and targeting information, communicate with (partially) automated units, and provide diagnostic information to the vehicle’s crew.
- Groundsweeper-3: Clodhoppers primarily use a Groundsweeper-3 as their primary sensor, as it allows them to effectively see objects around them even while tunneling under the ground.
- Tunneler: Clodhoppers are designed to tunnel through different types of material through the use of a tri-beam laser array to bore through and vitrify materials and extensive shielding systems designed to help it hold under high pressure from terrain and other forces pressing against it.
- Heavy Firepower: The Clodhopper has exceptionally heavy firepower, with the exception of the general purpose warhead launchers, is all in the front of the vehicle. This allows the Clodhopper to focus extremely heavy firepower on nearby targets and often outright disintegrate them.
- Heavy Defenses: The Clodhopper possesses a very thick armor hull and a very durable shielding unit. These characteristics allow the Clodhopper to survive cave-ins during its work or endure the brunt of heavy enemy attacks.
- Tunneler: The Clodhopper is a tunneling vehicle using its lasers to bore through a variety of hard materials like rock or to vitrify soft materials like sand and dirt. The vehicle’s shield systems provide it with further tunneling abilities by allowing it to withstand high, crushing pressures placed against the vehicle in certain situations such as on high gravity worlds or working underneath kilometers of solid bedrock.
- Low Speed: Speed was not a significant concern when designing the Clodhopper, as this limitation was decided more or less by the vehicle's tri-beam laser to cut through earth. However, even on the surface without any obstacles, the Clodhopper is a fairly slow due to its heavy build.
- Poor Maneuverability: The heavy duty tracks of the Clodhopper are built for durability, not high performance, making it relatively sluggish to maneuver.
- Vulnerable Flanks: The Clodhopper does not have any weapons which can engage targets on either side, making it especially vulnerable to flanking attacks.
The Clodhopper is an evolution of the earlier Sarlacc-class Special Purpose Vehicle into a simpler, direct fire assault vehicle. To that end, much of the original chassis was highly simplified in order to speed up production, and users note that the suspension is much less smooth now than on its parent vehicle and the interior of the vehicle is rougher and simpler. However, the Clodhopper makes up for these utilitarian changes with exceptional improvements in durability from a newly reinforced frame and a drive train that is much easier to repair in the field. Perhaps its most obvious and greatest change is its pair of massive, chin-mounted Firestorm-class Plasma Turbolasers (technically actually railguns) which can easily disintegrate many tanks, fatally poison groups of lifeforms with high doses of radiation, or disable electronics depending on the type of plasma found in its magazine. A number of smaller weapons back these heavy guns up, including general purpose warhead launchers (which typically are equipped with mission-specific ordnance), variable laser cannons, and short-range by highly powerful tri-beam lasers. The sharply industrial feel of the Clodhopper compared to Lucerne Labs traditionally, highly refined vehicles has raised some eyebrows in the military field, but they have become surprisingly popular among their crews for their simple upkeep and ease of operation. It remains to be seen if they will actually be successful in combat.
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