WIP: This article is a work in progress and is not yet approved for usage in the RP.

The Answer is an unmanned quasi-humanoid aero-spacy combat drone designed and produced by the Greater Cluster.

The LAZ-Ge501 'ANSWER' is an unmanned drone designed with performance parameters similar to that of a high mobility 5th generation powered-armour or Knight-System.

Despite possessing incredible mobility and reflex response times, the generator of the ANSWER is quite weak and as such cannot power most energy weapons without additional equipment. As such, it primarily relies on a loadout of missiles, shaped explosives, and conventional weapons - making it comparatively very cheap to operate and run in large numbers, especially when the low maintenance requirements and low manufacturing cost of the ANSWER are also factored in.

Designed to function essentially as a low-cost drone. The answer unit is best described as an approximation of humanoid shape. Primarily it exists to harass armour and mobile targets using attrition of numbers to its advantage. Thanks to very light construction and due to its collapsible nature, it can be brought in by powered-armour to operate alongside them or loaded up into a starship grade torpedo to be launched to a planet as the vanguard of a ground-assault and to preform scouting operations.

Able to operate in an aircraft-like configuration, as a VTOL quasi-humanoid form, as a quadcycle form (ideal for covering ground quickly) or to be configured in a flat storage mode.

The Answer is capable of combat in atmosphere and in a vacuum. Importantly, it can be adapted for a given situation by swapping out its payload.

In addition, the unit can also be folded into a compact form about the size of a brief-case which can be carried by ships or fighters and even launched through torpedo tubes - either as a disposable defensive response or to better coordinate an attack.

Finally, the Answer is able to operate for months or even years at a time undetected amongst wreckage, buried underground or even locked in sentry-position without being detected - making it ideal for defensive outposts (not unlike a minefield) or even ambushes.

The ANSWER unmanned armour weapon is a defensive craft for large automated vessels, stations or outposts - whose mobility and cheap cost allow it to also be fielded in massive numbers as part of an attack in combined arms with other units - with its cheapness and numbers being its key strength.

The ANSWER particularly excels in interception, assault and mass-defense tactics - where the units speed, coordination, potent load-out and sheer numbers play to its advantage.

In addition, the ANSWER also makes an excellent scout and is able to enter a planets atmosphere to provide reconnaissance and close air support - excelling on a networked battlefield.

Unfortunately, it lacks in staying power, physical armour and raw output to drive energy weapons - relying primarily on missiles and conventional weapons to get the job done.

A very thin knife like aerospace focused design, the ANSWERs torso is a thin flat T-shape - with FADEC fins upon its leading edge and ailerons along its rear, which also serve as air-breaks when split.

The unit has no head to speak of and a very broad skeletal torso - with the underlying rod of the T holding up the upper torso being an opposable segmented spine - joining to very visible hip-bones not unlike those of a human being which wrap and cusp about the bottom in two halves. Mounted upon these are long thin blade like legs (which are used when maneuvering in atmosphere and serve a similar purpose to the electro-gravitic assemblies used by gravitic centrifuges).
These legs contain no conventional feet. Hanging from the ANSWERS hip are a pair of fins either side which can extend outward into thin segmented arms with simplified hands at their tips - and also a curved rail which serves as the bicep and shoulder to an arm branching from the hip assembly itself - which are able to carry a rifle in each half. The thigh of the ANSWER contains a gun-port for a low calibre high-ammunition weapon.
The ANSWER has no conventional arms as such - possessing by default an array of three storm-tubes on each side and a set of broad flat panels - though it can accept a wide variety of different weapons (such as anti-material rifles and rotary cannons). This gives the ANSWER the appearance of a legged tank, floating effortlessly in the air.

The ANSWER also has no head as such - simply an eyeball recessed into the central meeting point of the T assembly which is usually recessed into the body and extended when in use. Transformed, the ANSWER shifts its central torso-rod down and back, with its hips forward and its legs dangling as air control surfaces, akin to angled ruddervators. The TIE-panels about its shoulders extend outward and the nose assembly is extended. Any weapons held 'in hand' are then pointed forward and tucked against those control surfaces. The ANSWER has been described by its designers as “an origami man”.

• Devshots I
• Devshots II

Created as a cheap mass-attack drone designed to be mounted to a railgun or mass-compression driver weapon, an ANSWER is an easy way to put a large force onto a battlefield that is affordable and unmanned.

The ANSWER as a result was many things fold: low cost, low-mass, low armour and low reactor. Despite the obvious handicap this should have served, the Greater Cluster worked through these issues and turned them into advantages wherever possible.

For example, the low-cost nature of the ANSWER makes it easily produced in massive numbers from relatively standardized parts. Its simplicity meant it was extremely reliable and could be manufactured quickly. Its low mass (and low armour) were also turned into advantages - by adding an asymmetrically powerful booster system that gave the ANSWER AI-assisted lightning reflexes - evading shots rather than absorbing them since Lazarus believes prevention is always better than any cure.

Finally, the low reactor output - while rendering the machine unable to drive the majority of weapons-systems without additional equipment (meaning no shields either) meant that it didn't produce a massive sensor signature - and that it could essentially sit almost unpowered for months or even years on end in defensive roles - silently waiting and reporting everything it saw back to base similar to mines.

This lack of defense was made up for with smart predictive programming, wickedly sharp reaction times, group swarm automation (to overwhelm targets with swarms of ANSWERs acting as a single decentralized unit, thinking as one) and a laser-based defense which focuses on detonating rounds before they strike the ANSWER - or blinding enemy targeting systems.

Finally, the fact that the ANSWER could be folded up into a small form-factor means essentially any ship can carry legions of them - or even stock them onto missiles and launch them in huge numbers to a planetoid as the first step of an attack – or even to powered-armour as intelligent remote-weapons working alongside it similar to weapons-pods.

Type: Drone
Designers: lazarus
Nomenclature: LAZ-G3501
Manufacturer: lazarus
Production: Mass Production

A spherical ball mounted in the front of the torso. Essentially an augmented version of the scout-sphere found on Lorath armour. Able to peer around corners on cabling.

Mounted into the hips. Consists primarily of adjustable reflex-arms (essentially telescopic segmented fins strung together with structol wire) with boosters. A set of fingers are fitted into the end of the reflex-arms for propulsive aid (centrifuge-less flight) which can also double as a rudimentary plasma-saber for close combat defense.

Three Legs are thin knife like structures, used to alter air-flow over the machine for balance also also serve as counter-balance during hovering or as a lift-system during conventional flight (akin to a wing).

Able to lock into a surface with a third leg (usually curled up) able to act as a tripod for stabilized sniping and defensive sentry roles. In addition, their sharp leading edge can also be used as an anti-personnel weapon.

Big electromagnetic capture systems? Power the Turkey - so it doesn't need to fall back on its nucleonic systems (usually used to heat propulsive plasma alone without fuel expendature)?

Sort of like a solar-panel and sensor system - like an electromagnetic radar. Gives it that quasi-tiefighter look in the transformation, methinks. Store water as propellant.

CBTs are mounted to the back of the machine. Contain centrifuge array and

The basis of the ANSWER's construction is a light-weight hollow skeleton of structol with woven Toledorium-C plating throughout. The majority of this hollow space is filled with the core systems of the ANSWER - with only the core skeleton, generator, engines and sensors being well shielded by Toledorium-B.

The machines hollow legs are usually filled with water, which serves as a primary propellant in space - relying on nucleonic heating to crack it into hydrogen and oxygen.

The ANSWER uses the Psyalius Euralis in its main body to act as a reciever for communications - with a multiband EM Radio system serving as a means for the units to communicate ergo refferential encryption - though this is primarily for tactical communications. In addition, a quantum transciever is fitted behind the main computer which is used in the distribution of executive information and instructions from a starship or primary source. A matching transciever is usually issued to the starship carrying the unit.

The entire assembly is laminated in cheap Toledorium-F and Psyalius Euralis - an electromagnetically absorbant material which acts as both the machines stealth-systems and also as its primary sensors - in conjunction with the single gravimetric centrifuge, which also serves as a gravitational sighting and spotting system.

Since the machine is not blinded by its own sensor systems, the range of electromagnetic and gravitic detection systems is quite impressive for a unit of its size. Combined with coordinated group awareness, hiding from ANSWERs is very hard.

The plasma released by the ANSWER expands incredibly quickly - confusing infared based detection systems and absorbing radar-style active/passive wave signals - actually making the ANSWER quite hard to find - since its plasma emission is setup especially never to release visible light - producing a very very small flash when BURST maneuvering. This aids the units low-observability.

This same plasma can be used via ACTIVE to produce a multitude of false positives, especially when paired with the centrifuge - allowing the ANSWER to trick other units into thining it is a ship or armour of a completely different classification.

At the heart of the ANSWER is a two-stage cyclic variable output Thorium Nucleonic Reactor, paired with a Psyialus Gamora pickup assembly.

This same reactor can be dialed up or down in output - optimized between output and observability of the ANSWER. In addition, it serves as the primary heating mechanism for the machines extensive plasma based propulsion systems.

Instead of using BURST/BLAST antimatter thrust-stream enhancement for 'quick boosts', the ANSWER uses plasma lungs in its legs to produce high-pressure plasma in its hollow components delivering similar performance without the massive sensor visibility.

The ANSWER uses a single centrifuge in place of a mass assembly - with a number of prong systems (inspired by the Maras) in its skinny body which improve the ANSWER's responsiveness.

In interception mode, the nucleonic heating systems essentially become an SCRAM jet - allowing the ANSWER to move very quickly at speeds upward of mach 9 in an atmosphere without expending fuel - making violent maneuvers which conventionally would crush living pilots - without the need for expensive inertial compensation equipment - since the whole body is designed to flex and bend under stress rather than crack and warp.

The Answer sports a wide variety of armaments for multiple different scenarios - though it must be tailored to specific missions on a per-case basis. In its conventional configuration, it only posesses very basic combat capacity with its gunpods, reflex-guns, LAC-RAMMS and CIWSX systems.

The main weapon of the Answer, Storm-tubes are systems which stack munitions end on end - firing up to four rounds to each tube via magnetic acceleration, with three total each side. Optionally, subspace assistance can be used - allowing the storm-tubes to act as a sort artillery or cannon system.

By default, all pods are mounted with the Lazarus ARM-EX9 anti-armour missile, which can be used against a wide variety of highly mobile armored targets - making up for the Answer's poor aim with guidance.

Commonly, each tube is loaded with a different mission specific round for a specific type of target - or the Storm-Tubes can be removed and exchanged with a dedicated weapon.

When emptied, the tubes are usually purged. Alternatively, the tubes can be detached for use by infantry or planted into terrain to be used in ambush from all sides.

Essentially a stabilized SMG with a large ammunition drum and high-velocity rounds.

Default munitions types:

• Leftside: Armour Piercing
• Rightside: High-Explosive

Eye-mounted lacramms system is used to provide defence against projectile, and missile weapons.

Close-in weapon system Type 31 is simply a set of basic plasma blade projectors which double as a 'shotgun' style scatter-shot when used as a projectile. With not in use as a weapon, it serves to enhance the manoeuvrability of the Answer as a plasma booster.

Usually the best weapons to be used on the Answer are specifically fitted to it and tailored per mission.

A pair of clamps able to move along the CBT rails of the Answer - usually used to mount mission specific equipment, rifles, etcetera. The clamps themselves are on a small shield-style assembly which tucks over the hips when not in use.

Example uses include delivering supplies, reconnaissance equipment, ECM equipment, etc.

Usually left empty.

Stabilized mount, designed for a sniper-cannon - allowing the Answer to assume a long-range sentry or (with a smart-round) an offensive airborne mortar.