Prototyped early in YE 42 and produced later that year by Black Wing Enterprises, the Ursarus Heavy Support Drone is a quadrupedal drone appearing like a cybertronic Kodian.
It was independently made by Egwene Tai with a view for a Nepleslian market, though focused more on bounty hunters, mercenaries and solo operatives than the actual military, as they no doubt have access to better gear.
Heavyset and robust, the Ursarus lives up to the name of heavy support. Ironically shaped, given how the Kodians are peaceful creatures, this quadrupedal Ursoid Drone is designed in two major variants. Large and heavyset, it is a good morale weapon against infantry from the start as the form invokes a primal fear of the great Ursa from millennia past. This was the intent and why the “head” is made into such an intimidating snarl rather than being made featureless.
The Ursarus has two variants.
The Mule variant has a specially designed back to be able to hold heavy loads and a secondary storage compartment in the 'stomach' for auxiliary storage. Together, it can shift about five hundred kilos of resources. It has a small seat at the front for a single person to ride along or two people if they get uncomfortably close. A person can be stuffed into the 'stomach' if you really need to smuggle him somewhere, but it is cramped, pitch black, hot, and generally the worst kind of transport.
The Combat Variant has a seat for three people - or five if they get uncomfortably close. It can carry a hundred kilos of resources. The stomach compartment can be filled with auxiliary storage or ammo for the weaponry system that will be attached. This variant has a heavier focus on firepower and passengers, with a lesser focus on storage, carrying rations and ammo and occasionally the wounded soldier to allow for extended deployments without bogging down the soldiers like donkeys or requiring skilled power armour pilots.
While the original intent was anti-tank, the drone is modular and customizable. If the owner already has good anti-tank weaponry, it is easy to load up the Combat Variant with strong anti-infantry cover or even just up-armour it further to act as mobile cover.
For both variants, the Ursarus is made of a rather labour-intensive metal that contributes to the overall bulk and price. Work-hardened manganese steel with layers of depleted Uranium make the Ursarus an incredibly robust and durable beast on the battlefield, perfect for soaking up shots and taking the brunt of all blows.
While the L-3000 Combat Flight Suit is a decent suit of power armour, it is alone and it's weaponry's rate-of-fire is slow and not particularly strong in the grand scale. Plus, the choice of weaponry was limited as the suit didn't have a great deal of space to pack all the support for the weapons that it's frame can support. So Egwene devised something to solve this issue, creating the Ursarus Heavy Support Drone. This would carry the heavy gun to free up her frame, as well as bullets and battery packs for recharging her core in the field should it go dry from heavy energy weapon use. Unlimited energy was all well and good, but if the wiring and power conduits couldn't properly feed the multitude of weaponry required, it was just going to waste.
The prototypical design and concept was smaller than the finished product that is in market, being a Heavy Armour sized creation rather than a Medium Mech sized creation. Its design was simple enough that upscaling the design on demand was a task of only a few hours. Egwene designed the Ursarus as a companion to walk along side her and give ground support, but the request to make it a proper Mech-sized beast was acquiesced to. If there is popular demand for a smaller version she has no problem replicating it into more, but right now her one is unique.
The design of the Ursarus was delivered to an arms manufacturing facility, Egwene getting a singular sum and thirty percent of sales profits each quarter if it breaks a certain margin.
A giant cybernetic bear, the Ursarus stands about five and a half meters tall standing and is as wide as one might expect such a thing to be, but can fold it's legs down and 'sit' on the ground for mounting and loading. It can be painted any colour, though black is the standard for simplicity's sake. It's got a fully armoured core, with no part of the internals exposed, and secondary ablative armour around its joint to give it some staying power should it get hit in these weak spots.
The Combat Variant has more bulk as the recoil compensators and targeting computer take up more room than in the Mule variant, giving it a larger and more fearsome appearance. While the Mule variant is not slim by any measure, it is lighter and more slim than the Combat variant.
The Mule Variant may be armed as Heavy Armour. The Combat Variant may be armed as a Medium Mecha. Both variants count as Medium Mecha for durability.
DRv3 Tier: 8 (Medium Anti-Mecha)
Being a drone, one can not get inside it unless they are extremely small. Passengers sit on top of the drone, and as such it is not advisable transport through active warzones. The only interior is the stomach of the mule and that is a horrible place to be.
A modular design and rail-built mouth gun allows the Ursarus to change its weapon system in as little as a day, given the required workshop for that. If the gun in the mouth is integrated, instead, it is more complex. This requires a dismantling of the head, but the gun is still capable of being taken out and replaced as one might need, should they have the tools and the talent.
The gun in the mouth can either be integrated, which allows it to follow all the standard rules of weaponry, or set on rails and limited to a T5 (Medium Anti-Armour) size for the Mule or T7 (Light Anti-Mecha) size for the Combat Variant.
The Ursarus has a BW-PC-1A Plasma Core in the centre to provide the most protection and a centralized power system allows for easier wiring to all parts of the drone. An automated injection/ejection system is built into the drone's side to replenish the emergency batteries in case the core is damaged or the Ursarus is pushed too hard with a heavy energy load.
The Combat Variant uses a Machine Intelligent Targeting computer to direct its weaponry. Heavy recoil compensators are built into the legs to soak the recoil from blasts of heavy weapon fire. If one wants to use it as a remote drone exclusively, the computer can be removed and replaced with other hardware for no extra cost.
The Mule variant can move about five hundred kilos of resources, four hundred and fifty of which is mounted on the back, with fifty kilos in the stomach compartment.
The Combat Variant can carry a hundred kilos of resources, the stomach component filled with auxiliary storage or ammo for the weaponry system that will be attached should they require it.
The Ursarus does not come with anything standard, though requests can be made for things to be built in. The Ursarus makes for an excellent firefighting mech if one builds a Medium-Mech class Extinguisher into the mouth.
* Both models costs 8,000 KS as production is not different enough to warrant extra cost and does not come with any weaponry as standard. Thus, total pricing is flexible.
| Products & Items Database | |
|---|---|
| Product Categories | robots |
| Product Name | Ursarus Heavy Support Drone |
| Manufacturer | Black Wing Enterprises |
| Year Released | YE 42 |
| Price (KS) | 8 ,000.00 KS |