Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide an AT-PT equivalent in Lucerne Labs product line up
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Silver Jedi, Directorate, Closed Market
- Model: Varactyl-class Light Walker
- Modularity: Side Weapon Mounts
Production: Mass-Produced.
- Material: Argentum-series Matrix Armor Plating, Beskar frame, ceraglass viewport, standard vehicle components
- Classification: Light Walker
- Role: Patrol / Strike
- Size: Small
- Weight: Average
- Minimum Crew: 1
- Optimal Crew: 1
- Propulsion: Bipedal
- Speed: Fast
- Maneuverability: Very High
- Armaments: Average
4 chin-mounted Firebolt Blasters - 1 Right Lateral Turret mount capable of taking one of the following options:
1 Repeating Laser Cannon - 1 Heavy Ion Cannon
- 1 Reaper Mag Cannon
- 2 Stormflash Ion Encumbrance Systems
- 1 Heavy Stun Cannon
- 1 MAST with associated module
[*]1 Left Lateral Turret mount capable of taking one of the following options:
- 1 LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launcher
- 1 Rocket Pod (19 Pulverizer light rockets or other equivalent)
- 1 MM-s3 Grenade Launcher with 100 grenades
- 1 Sunfire 1000 Flamethrower
- 1 MAST with associated module
[*]Defenses: Low
[*]Passenger Capacity: 0
[*]Cargo Capacity: Very Small
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Environmentally Sealed: Varactyls have environmental sealing and full internal life-support for two days of continual operation, allowing the walkers to be deployed in hazardous environments such as vacuum or toxic atmospheres and to enable limited submersion in water.
- Bipedal: The Varactyl is a bipedal walker, which gives it excellent mobility in difficult terrain as well as the ability to crouch down in to operate in more vertically limited areas.
- Modular Weapons: The Varactyl's side weapon mounts are designed to be modular, allowing it to be adapted to variety of mission roles and foes.
- Universal Transceiver Package
- 2 chin-mounted 2om-cp Strobe/C Beam Lamps (headlights)
Strengths:
- Modular: The Varactyl's modular weapons mounts allow it to be adapted for different situations. A Varactyl could be equipped with an autocannon and flamethrower for intense urban fighting one day, while the next day it could act as an artillery observer by equipping MAST-based Sensor Jammer and Enhanced Targeting Package.
- Agile: The Varactyl is a small and agile vehicle, which allows it to go many places that other vehicles cannot go, such as into buildings, large starships, and other confined terrains.
- Limited Defense: The Varactyl's armor is fairly thin, making vulnerable to almost any anti-vehicle weapon or even some heavy small arms. It also notably does not have a shield generator.
- Weak Weaponry: The Varactyl's weaponry is relatively weak compared to that most other combat vehicles.
The Varactyl is a single-man, all terrain light walker in the mode of the earlier AT-PT. While it does not possess the firepower or durability of many other combat vehicles, its small size and agility allow it to fill the gap traditionally found between armored and infantry formations: the Varactyl's small size allows it to go many places where other vehicles cannot follow, yet it has more firepower than many small infantry teams. This often lends the Varactyl to patrol and recon duties, as the walker can cover a lot of ground quickly, fit into confined areas, and still has more hardware than most foot soldiers could ever hope to carry. Some more daring formations use the walkers as raiding vehicles for the similar reasons. In this strike role, users are aided by the Varactyl's ability to switch out weapons and equipment, allowing the vehicle to be tailored for certain missions and foes. It's not unheard of for users to experiment with different loadout combinations, making Varactyls one of the harder vehicles to predict in terms of their combat capabilities. In general though, individual Varactyls are best employed against enemy infantry while large groups of Varactyls can defeat larger and otherwise more superior vehicles through pack-hunter tactics.
Technical Explanations:
Crew: The Varactyl is a single-man walker much like the earlier AT-PT or Espo 101 walkers. Lucerne Labs based the controls mostly on modern speeder bikes to ease in the transition of troop training, though the manipulating the walker's legs in different gaits takes some time to get used to. Much like the AT-ST, the Varactyl uses external sensors to form a composite holo projection of the walker's surroundings into the crew cabin overlayed with a HUD in order to present the user with a clear understanding of their surroundings. In case the external sensors are damaged, the Varactyl does have a narrow but thick ceraglass viewport in the front as a backup in case the HUD fails. A pair of headlights on the Varactyl's chin can be activated to allow the walker to be piloted in the dark in this mode, or to briefly blind opponents.
Engine System/ Locomotion: The Varactyl moves about on two articulated legs, which are both powered by a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell engine derived from the Lab's previous Myrmidon-class APC. The legs themselves are somewhat innovative, using a three jointed design not unsimilar to the AT-PTs which allow the walker to crouch down and operate in confined spaces like tunnels or the corridors of capital warships. Because the walker can lower its center of gravity this way, it also is more capable of climbing up slopes than many other walkers, allowing it to scale inclines slightly greater than 45 degrees. The feet also support a retractable arch, allowing for rapid movements on hard surfaces with a minimum of friction when retracted or allowing the plantar surface of the foot to double in surface area in order to provide better stability in soft terrain.
Defensive Systems: The Varactyl's most basic defense its reinforced beskar frame, which is then covered in a layer of Argentum Matrix Armor plating. This provides it with sufficient protection against most handheld weaponry, though it is still vulnerable to anti-armor weapons like missiles and many vehicle weapons. Against such weapons and most vehicles, the Varactyl relies on its relatively small silhouette and speed to simply avoid such enemy fire. Additional defensive systems can be fitted to the Varactyl through its ability to mount the MAST system in place of its weapons, allowing the Varactyl to carry a small projectable particle shield or a sensor jammer.
Hull: The Varactyl's hull follows fairly closely to that of its direct conceptual predecessor, the AT-PT. The vehicle's crew cabin is at the front, accessable with a right-sided hatch that can be internally locked. Most users keep the vehicle locked externally via a code cylinder socket or a keypad. Directly behind the cockpit is the Varactyl's motor drive unit, which is flanked on either side by the Varactyl's turreted weapons mounts. The drive unit in turn is followed by the Varactyl's rechargeable fusion battery.
Weapons Systems: By the far the biggest improvement over the AT-PT is the Varactyl's ability to change its primary weapon systems, allowing it to be tailor outfitted for certain missions or opponents. The right turreted weapon's mount is calibrated primarily for guns, using precisely calibrated servo-motors with recoil-dampeners to allow it use to a variety of guns. Conversely, the left side was built somewhat larger and sturdier to support heavier equipment at the loss of fine motor control to better enable it to carry munitions and other specialty weapons. Either side can also carry a MAST Turret module instead, though none of these are direct damage dealing weapons. Lastly, the Varactyl carries a quartet of Firebolt Blasters located in its chin. These are extremely light weapons for a vehicle that are really only effective against infantry and incoming projectiles. By trading brute force power here, Lucerne Labs was able to precision tracking and rate of fire. These weapons are most often used to precisely eliminate enemy infantry with a minimum of collateral damage. The blaster settings can also be changed from the cockpit, allowing the user to adapt those weapons for certain situations, such as using the blaster cannon mode for use against armored battle droids or a light repeating stun bolts for riot control.