Well-Known Member
ARCHER
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To create a high-performance, all-terrain speeder bike for future submissions and role-playing.
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Canon Link: N/A
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Primary Source(s):
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: VisTech Diversified Industries, LLC
Affiliation: Closed-Market
Model: UT-75-SRP “Archer” Speeder Bike
Popular Nickname: “Snake-Charmer(s)”, due to their exceptional mobility and ease of handling, allowing users to wind through narrow courses at high speeds.
Modularity: None
Production: Limited
Material(s):
Skeleton:
- Hybrid Plexisteel
- Alusteel
- Ultrachrome Coating
- Alusteel
- Rubber
- Friction Grip
- Ultrachrome Coating
- Agrinium-Ultrachrome Wiring
- Gel-filled Form Chair with Spacers Leather upholstery – this gel compound, similar to gel-foam had the included ability of not only conforming to the contours and shape of those sitting on it, but also to warming to match their body temperature, thus ensuring a more comfortable riding experience.
Cargo Rack:
Component(s):
- DZ-28 Shield Emitter
- LANA System
- Woodhouse Comm-Set
- 20m-cp Floodlight (Adjustable-beam)
- Terrain-following Sensors
- Sonic Dampers
- Inertial Compensators
- Holographic HUD, projected on blast-tinted ballistic glasteel.
- Beckon Call
- Biometric Security
Classification: Speeder Bike
Role: Scouting, Reconnaissance, and Patrolling
Size: Average (3m)
Weight: Average (300kg)
Armaments: None
Defenses: High
Maneuverability Rating: Very High
Speed Rating: Very High
- Maximum Speed: 480 km/h
- Maximum Height: 25m
Minimum Crew: 1
Optimal Crew: 1
Passenger Capacity*: 1 (Up to 113.5kg)
Cargo Capacity*: Average (Up 113.5kg; Divided 45.40kg per either pannier, 22.7kg on rear cargo rack.)
Consumables: 2 Standard Days
*NOTE: Passenger and cargo capacity are an ‘either/or’ scenario, and one cannot carry a passenger and the maximum capacity cargo. Passengers and/or cargo cannot exceed 113.5kg combined.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Like the 614-AvA platform on which it was based, the “Archer” can collapse itself into roughly 1 square meter’s size, making it easy to stow and transport aboard starships and other vehicles.
- Archer’s panniers were designed to hold full-sized and fully-loaded backpacks, such as the Selkirk Survival Pack, making them easy to pack for long trips. Additionally, the durable hard-sided panniers are resistant against blaster fire, hardened against EMP/Ion threats, and insulated to maintain temperatures inside – ideal for transporting temperature-sensitive items.
- Ergonomic seating, borrowed from the FC-20 Speeder Bike allows for a more comfortable position for riders, making longer trips less stressful and reducing back, neck, and shoulder pain.
- All-Terrain Repulsorlift engines allow travel over land, snow, and water with ease, and higher ceiling permits riders to easily over-pass obstacles and dense ground vegetation. Terrain-following sensors and intuitive controls allow riders to travel confidently, even at high speeds, over a planet’s surface.
- A multi-directional adjustable-beam floodlamp in the front of the bike provides excellent forward-facing lighting and can be directed to act a searchlight. When needed, a ‘low-power’ mode could be engaged, helping the bike to avoid detection by sentients and non-sentients as it passed, i.e. “Don’t spook the hyenas!”
- Lowered center of gravity improves turning and corning maneuverability whilst simultaneously keeping a low-profile by decreasing the target profile for the fast-moving bike, making it much harder to land even a single direct shot against it.
- Repulsorlift and powerful rear-thrust engines designed to enable fast acceleration, making it possible to attain open-ground maximum speeds in mere seconds and modified handling system – an evolution beyond the previous bikes which inspired it – gave it the ability to execute complex and precision maneuvers at high speeds as well, utilizing a specially-designed heat waste dispersal and redistribution system that both kept the rider(s) warm in cold climates but also lowered the heat signature and prevented overheating.
- Special filtration systems enable the bike to work amid inclement weather (e.g. sand storms, dust clouds, intense rain/snow, etc.), making it reliable in all but the very worst conditions.
- Onboard sensor and communications provide riders with terrific awareness and information, ensuring that even in the most austere and harsh conditions, connectivity almost always remains constant.
- Obscenely fast and maneuverable, the Archer is capable of performing precision maneuvers and nimbly navigating around, over, and past obstacles at break-neck speeds safely and fluidly.
- Able to operate amid hostile environments, the Archer was designed to go where most other speeder bikes could not – surmounting snow and ice, sand, water, through intense weather, and rough terrain just as easily as whipping through the narrow and congested streets of the galaxy’s most urban worlds.
- Ergonomic seating and controls allow for intense comfort and long-term travel, easing physical strain on riders.
- Surprisingly quiet and able to assume a low-profile, enabling riders to move serenely and unassumingly when needed.
- Highly portable, the Archer can be collapsed into much smaller dimensions, allowing it to be stowed away and transported on starships and inside other vehicles easily, safely, and without consuming much space.
- Riders must choose, passenger or cargo. There is limited carrying capacity here, and 113.5kg isn’t much more than the average fully-grown male humanoid, so there becomes a choice – to take the person or the cargo. This can mean abandoning or casting off valuable equipment in the field or being forced to leave a team member behind if the cargo must be taken, and no matter how one draws it, that’s never a pretty picture.
- Bikes are not equipped for carrying wounded personnel. The most they might be able to do is to tow a repulsorlift gurney, and even then that would be a strain on the bike, as they’re not really designed for towing.
- Bikes are unarmed, lacking any offensive capabilities in a fight whatsoever and causing riders to rely on their personal weapons for any combat use, because the only guns you’re gonna have are the ones you had on when you climbed aboard.
- Although the shields on these bikes are very tough, if they should fail, be lost, destroyed, or damaged, the rider is left with very little else between them and a blaster bolt. A good sniper with a good enough rifle can, and likely will, send them flying into the ground. In fact, for the un-armored rider, the bike has more protection than they will have.
- No matter how powerful the communications and sensors are, they are still subject to being disrupted or jammed, especially by potent systems purpose-made to do that, or else by exceptionally nasty natural conditions such as very, very intense storms, ionic conditions, etc.
- Low-profile, yes, but stealth they are not. Archer bikes are able to be monitored, tracked, and detected by electronic means fairly easily, and on the ground, though able to run silently and shut down lights to pass by ‘quietly’, they’re still not actual stealth and can be visually spotted.
Inspired by three different earlier models, the FC-20 from Razalon, and the 74-Z and 614-AvA, both from Aratech, Vis sought to create her own model of speeder bike. Light and fast, with exceptional agility, all-terrain travel-enabled, able to carry cargo or a single passenger and pilot, and tough enough to handle even the harshest environment. That was the concept, simple and straightforward at that.
Drawing heavily on the 614-AvA for inspiration, Vis decided to use this model as the template, making adjustments, changes, and improvements as she went. For starters, she opted to use lightweight yet durable materials such as alusteel and hybrid plexisteel for the construction of the craft’s skeleton. Control vanes, frame, all of these were intended to take incredible amounts of strain and punishment without making the bike too heavy or cumbersome. An ultrachrome coating was added to enhance the durability and resistance to various damage types, including corrosion and metal-eating fungi. Agrinium-ultrachrome wiring was used, safeguarding the bike from EMP/ion damage. Handlebars were given rubber grips, with friction grip threading to enhance a secure hold.
From the FC-20, a curved seat was added, using a gel-filled chair upholstered in the notoriously tough spacers leather, giving the bike an evolved, more ergonomic position for its pilot and enabling longer, more comfortable travel times. A holographic HUD was used for controls, projected onto a blast-tinted glasteel windshield. Next came an incredibly powerful rear-thrust engine and repulsorlift system, fitted with inertial compensators and vectrals for increased maneuverability that when combined with the curved seat’s lowered center of gravity lent the bike a superb aptitude for precision movement, even at very high speeds. Sound dampers were added, making for a whisper-quiet ride.
Specially-constructed panniers and a rear cargo rack were used, while up in the front, an adjustable-beam floodlamp was installed, able to sweep back and forth for it to act as a searchlight if needed. A special heat-waste redistribution and dispersal system was included, preventing the engine from overheating when operating at highest levels for periods of time and using the diverted heat to warm pilot and passenger in cold temperatures. Next, the removable DZ-28 shield emitter system was mounted onto the bike, granting extraordinary protection against both a broad range of weapons damage and a number of hostile environmental threats as well. Able to be temporarily removed to lend that same protection to locations such as blinds, campsites, or observation posts, the effectiveness of this shield system coupled with its versatility proved an unparalleled addition.
Entirely unarmed, and low-profile but not stealth, the “Archer” was meant to be a solid utilitarian vehicle, useful to scouts, explorers, and those often operating on the fringes of known space and amid hostile worlds. Terrain-following sensors were included now, further improving maneuverability and optimizing speeds even in unfamiliar landscapes. The Archer could traverse across the mud of Mimban, the swamps of Dagobah, the sand of Tatooine, and the snow and ice of Hoth with the same confidence, speed, and nimble performance as it could over the open water of Naboo or Kamino and through the crowded streets of Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa, or Coronet City.
LANA survey systems and Woodhouse Comm-Sets came standard, and Vis noted how with each iteration she was one-upping the appeal to scouts and explorers. Yet, it wasn’t without its drawbacks. First, the bike had only limited carrying capacity, so the choice was always going to be cargo or a passenger. Normally, that’s a coin flip, but under the right circumstances it could mean throwing off and abandoning equipment and cargo, or else leaving a comrade back to get the package through. No matter how you slice that one, it’s gonna be rough. Likewise, it wouldn’t do for evacuating the wounded or towing much, and neither could it be too useful in a fight. Sure, the shields were good, but if they went down, rider and passenger were quite exposed to enemy snipers and quick-draw artists with a knack for hitting what they aimed at. It had no weapons save those the pilot, and his or her passenger if they had one, were carrying when they climbed on.
A built-in ‘wait mode’ was introduced, allowing the pilot and their passenger to leap from the bike and having the vehicle automatically slow itself down and wait on standby for them reboard. Biometric security was added too, ensuring that only the designated pilot could operate it, greatly lowering the chances of some random Ewok taking off with your bike. Next, like the 614-AvA, the bike could be ‘folded’ away into an easy to stow, portable size making it perfect for inclusion aboard starships and other larger vehicles. Finally, a beckon call system was installed, enabling the owner to summon their bike from up to 8km away with a simple push of a button or a password-activated voice command, causing the bike to home in on them and make a hasty return. In the end, Vis found the Archer to be everything she set out to make of it, and much, much more.
