Sentinel Automated Combat Droids
Sentinels are advanced robots constructed by the Kingdom of Edolas for the purpose of combat, construction, maintenance, and mining. They possess mostly limited Artificial Intelligence, and are combat programmed to suppress enemies and protect Edolas infantry. There are many forms of Sentinels as seen below.
Contents
Introduction
Built contemporaneously with the construction of the Exsphere Factory Moon, Sentinels are utilized as all-purpose workers, guards, and active combat personel in the Edolas military. The mechanical nature of the Sentinels make them ideal combat units against an enemy that could possibly adapt to Ventus tactics; changing the battle completely while aiding the Ventus in breaking enemy lines. Controlled by their own basic AI functions, as well as Saix himself at times, Sentinels do their many duties tirelessly and attack as their protocol demands.
Despite this, most Sentinels are in fact for non-combat purposes; Constructor Sentinels and Strato-Sentinels making up most of the Sentinels in Edolas due to their incredible construction and mining abilities. The technology for these Sentinels was one of the main technologies gained from Ancient data storages, and was improved further to create the many variants of Sentinels that exist today. Currently, these Sentinels number in the low billions; and are increasing every day.
When not in combat most Sentinels serve as basic repair, maintenance and security drones for Edolas installations, ships, and facilities; working in conjunction with Constructor Sentinels to ensure that everything remains in working order. All Sentinels have automatic override systems built into both their software and their hardware for the Sky King and Saix to use, in the unlikely case that a Sentinel turns on Edolas.
Design
Sentinels are generally grayish white in color, and have robotic appendages or simply anti-gravity FLOAT rings, along with a central "head"; this are the basic traits of each Sentinel, as the form of the Sentinels differ greatly depending on their combat or non-combat purpose. Their powerful offensive weapons and defensive energy shields make them very effective in combat against intruders or foreign objects that present themselves as threats, and many have smaller lasers which are used for both repairing damaged Edolas constructs, and self-repair should the Sentinel be damaged in combat. Sentinels are usually propelled by both an anti-gravity unit located on the undercarriage which are capable of traveling at high speeds but cannot sustain long range travel, but more recent models of Sentinel use both bipedal and Air Treck-assisted movement to get around.
Sentinels are created at Sentinel Production Facilities, massive factories that are located all around Edolas. These Facilities produce all types of Sentinels constantly. These massive assembly lines at maximum performance can produce Sentinels at a very fast rate to either supplement existing defenses or to replace those Sentinels destroyed for whatever reasons. Sentinel Production Facilities are not limited to just the Factory Moons and construction areas of planets, Production Facilities are located on every area of Edolas that requires guarding, although these facilities are different in appearance and may be either ground or mobile based platforms.
Combat
The Sentinels are the first automated defense systems employed to assist with a situation and generate a proper response protocol. While Sentinels are strong enough to handle a situation, they are usually more of a supplement rather then a reliable combat system; this has changed in recent months, with more powerful Sentinels being created on Exsphere, but their role is still mainly played by regular Ventus. The Sentinels' weapons system are on mostly limited due to power constraints and other functions, with only the Knight and Promethean Sentinels being given truly powerful weaponry.
Because of the limited A.I most Sentinels have, they are only able to handle situations on a basic scale; which makes them vulnerable to strategic attacks. Because of their limited intelligence they are not often able to perform evasive maneuvers when facing imminent attack and are usually destroyed. In large overwhelming numbers Sentinels are more than capable of handling a situation until more permanent measures can be applied. This does not apply when superior intelligences, such as Prometheans or Saix himself, guide them; greatly increasing their combat potential until they could handle entire battles on their own.
The Sentinel's energy shield is its primary defense mechanism - once taken down, Sentinels are usually susceptible to any type of small arms fire. When a Sentinel has been damaged beyond repair, the Sentinel explodes violently and releases a powerful EMP blast. This is a strategic last resort, as the blast will disable any nearby electronics, including any weapons the enemy may be using. Other Sentinels can steer clear of this blast, being given advance priority warnings that allow them to evade both the explosion and the EMP.
Variants
Different variants of the Sentinel have been utilized for different combat roles, and can vary from area to area; the following is a list of all combat and non-combat Edolas-created variants of the Sentinel:
Aggressor Sentinel
The Aggressor, the most basic form of the Sentinel, is an artificial levitating construct originally designed by the Ancients. They are grayish white in color, and have two arm-like appendages with two grapple fixtures at the end of each arm, along with a central "head" and a curved undercarriage containing an offensive Sentinel Beam. The Sentinel Beam is a directed energy weapon which projects a yellow-orange beam of energy which is capable of effectively cutting through organic matter and light armor with ease, especially with the aid of multiple Sentinels to further weaken enemy shielding. The Sentinels are also equipped with smaller lasers for repair, but this takes a secondary role to the offensive Sentinel Beam.
Individually, even with their 'Dumb' A.Is, their relatively low energy shielding (As compared to an Ventus soldier, for instance) is made up by their maneuverability. They can easily slice through the air, evading slow-moving projectiles and coercing the combatant to concentrate on one at a time. Sentinels always travel in groups, and can take out any shielding in seconds with bursts of concentrated fire; making them a dangerous opponent.
Enforcer Sentinel
The Enforcer is a massive robotic automaton that is designed to prevent enemy armored movements as well as to devastate large groups of enemy infantry. Enforcers have three Energy Shields; the larger two are split in half (for their guns to fire through), and the small upper shield protects the 'eye' of the Enforcer. The shields only protect the front and sides of the machine, due to the tank-like durability stable energy shields give in comparison to wrap-around shields, but this can easily be circumvented by the Enforcer's ability to quickly turn around in under a second. Enforcers are armed with Pulse Beams and Missiles, and are also equipped with large claw-like arms equipped with gravity lifts which are able to pick up and rip apart most vehicles; resulting in death of all occupants riding in the vehicle.
The Enforcer's Energy Shields can absorb more damage than normal Radient Wave Shielding. The shields, which only guard the front and sides of the machine, are immune to most ballistic weapons. However, they can be depleted by plasma weapons. The Enforcer is very strong, capable of withstanding even tank shells with it's shielding and armor. But if an Enforcer has taken enough damage, its shields will drop and it will explode. After exploding, large pieces of the former Enforcer will come crashing to the ground. These pieces can hurt or even kill the enemies around them, to say nothing of the EMP blast created by the explosion.
Its main weapon is the Pulse Beam, which fires large red blasts of shaped energy towards enemies with the force of a tank shell. It is extremely devastating to most armored vehicles, but is not as much of a threat to infantry. Its secondary weapon is a missile launcher, which fires missiles that look similar to a flare when fired due to their yellow/gold bright appearance. These missiles, which can fire four at a time, land on or near vehicles at a distance and cause devastating damage; similarly destroying groups of infantry with the large blast radius of the Sakuradite Missile Warheads. Its third weapon is similar to a Sentinel Beam but on a larger scale, it has a larger blast, increased range, and cause more damage; this is mainly an anti-infantry weapon, due to it's ineffectiveness against larger vehicles such as tanks.
Constructor Sentinel
The Constructor Sentinel is a non-combat small flying machine built by Edolas, whose only function is to repair Edolas machinery that appear to be damaged. It can be found in masse on Edolas worlds and constructs. Sentinels will come to their aid if it is attacked, as it has no weapon systems of its own to defend itself other than its weak constructing beams. Constructors are devices similar to the regular Sentinels in design, that mainly repair damage to any Edolas structure they can find, using weak energy beams similar to Sentinel Beams. The beams are small and blue, and are harmful if they come into contact with an organism. It is the main construction aid in Edolas, and greatly assists in creating ships and other machinery on Ventus factories.
Its able to compact itself into a smaller form, for easier transportation and storage, and can on occasion be used in times of desperation to lower enemy numbers via combined attacks; but this is discouraged due to both their non-combat role and their lack of both energy shielding and armor. They can arrive seemingly from nowhere on all Edolas ships and facilities, working on maintenance daily without tire. They are truly an essentially part of Edolas society, and are the most numerous type of Sentinel.
Strato Sentinel
The Strato Sentinel is designed to perform terraforming projects and is capable of strip mining moons, asteroids, or other planetary bodies with ease. It is used in masse to allow for the complete resource stripping of entire moons within months, and planets in years, to allow for the seemingly limitless resources afforded to Edolas construction. The Strato Sentinel also has it's use in construction, aiding in putting the basic touches on larger Edolas ships, but it's main use is as a mining and terraformation instrument. The Strato Sentinel can be assumed to be among the main reasons for Ventus overproduction, and as such almost collapsed the Edolas economy were it not for the Crescanian Confederacy's appearance on the galactic economy.
On occasion, they can be used as modified weapon barges; taking out enemy fortifications with huge assortments of weaponry ranging from twin Plasma Torpedoes to small railguns. But this is rarely utilized, due to the Edolas emphasis on speed during battles.
Stalker Sentinel
The Stalker is a small, quadrupedal Sentinel capable of both ranged and close-quarters combat, using a head-mounted energy beam as its primary weapon. Unlike the majority of Sentinels, it lacks anti-gravity capabilities of any kind. Stalkers are ferociously aggressive, having been specifically designed to hunt down and eliminate any foreign threats. They travel in large packs and work together to destroy enemies by overwhelming them from every conceivable angle, relying on skirmishing tactics.
Stalkers are often directed by Promethean Sentinels, who regard them as cannon fodder. They are protected by Watcher Sentinels, which protect them using their gravitational abilities and create Hardlight shields for them. In addition to the basic type of Stalker, a more heavily armed unit and a long-range unit are also employed at times. They have a length of seven feet and eight inches (234.7 cm) and weigh 144.3kg. In masse, they can fire their energy weapons at full charge to disintegrate enemies; or can simply jump at them and whittle them down to scraps with their powerful claws. Their running speed is as a cheetah's, using their four legs to traverse terrain faster than most enemies can keep up with.
Its among the newest class of Sentinels, developed to slowly replace Ventus in certain areas to prevent combat losses.
Watcher Sentinel
The Watcher is typically deployed from the armored carapace of a Promethean Knight, assisting them with aerial combat screening and often forcing opponents to engage the Sentinel first. It's capable of healing and augmenting damaged Sentinel allies, providing them with Hardlight shields, and can catch and return enemy ordnance, such as grenades, with a gravity-displacement field. They are armed with a small energy beam, slightly less powerful than the Stalkers' due to their primary function being repair.
Unlike the angular, blue-lit appearance of most flying Sentinels, Watchers have curving carapaces with orange lights. They have a number of appendages, including what appear to be legs hanging below the midsection and two large disks on both sides. Most of these segments lack physical joints and are held together by energy fields. Above the midsection there appears to be a head with stylized facial features. This appearance is seemingly to intimidate enemies, startling them while firing at them and repairing allies at the same time. Their existence serves to frustrate all opposition, often forcing enemies to engage them directly before dealing with other more immediate Edolas units while repairing them at the same time.
They weigh 134.2kg, stand at 128.6cm, and are among the newest class of Sentinels similar to the Stalker, Knight, and Promethean Sentinels.
Knight Sentinel
The Knight Sentinel is a bipedal, autonomous Edolas construct. The Knights are fully weaponized, heavily armored bipedal warriors, easily capable of engaging and terminating perceived threats in almost all environments. They are known to use Directed Energy Weapons as their ranged armament, in addition to a Plasma Blade on one hand. They are able to deploy Watcher drones, carried in the back of their armored carapace, for combat support. The Watcher sentinel can greatly improve the Knight's combat capabilities, raising hard light shields or healing the Knight, or flinging back enemy grenades or other ordnance.
They have two sets of arms; two large, artificial arms at each shoulder in which the weapons are mounted and two smaller arms below the shoulders. The larger arms are composed of separate segments held in formation through an energy field. Knights also have a comparatively smaller set with small, five-fingered hands. These smaller arms are more "organic" in shape and are physically attached to the Knight's body. Knights are covered in patterns of light and have a fire-like glow around their heads. The head features an armored helmet with glowing eyes and what appear to be grimacing jaws with rows of teeth. This helmet assembly can be retracted in two sections, revealing a glowing humanoid skull underneath for the purpose of intimidating enemies.
A Legion of Knights is usually more than capable of accomplishing any given task on their own provided that strategies are given, as their A.I, while not nearing a truly Advanced A.I, is sophisticated in comparison to the previous Sentinels. They weigh 395.7kg, stand at 308cm, and are equipped with ATs similar to regular Ventus infantry in order to move around quickly.
Promethean Sentinel
The Promethean Sentinel is an bipedal Sentinel, and is one of the most advanced combat technologies ever developed by Edolas. Unlike all other Sentinels, the Promethean is equipped with a fully advanced Class II A.I; surpassing the quality of even regular advanced A.Is. They're fully weaponized, heavily armored and shielded, supersoldiers; capable of feats almost equalling that of a Brain Charger. Equipped with the most advanced weapons in the Edolas arsenal, and the most advanced shielding that could possibly be given, they're truly an asset in any battlefield.
The technology for the A.I-Sentinel integration was taken mainly from Bridgend, but Edolas, Ancient, Unani, Croiz, and Caelum technology played a large part as well. The Prometheans are equipped with Absolute Defense Fields, in the first attempt to miniaturize the technology for infantry use due to the many constant calculations necessary to operate the extremely powerful shielding. They would even be equipped with Sub-Regalia Class ATs, in order to keep up with the Ventus forces. Their main weapon is a High Energy Plasma Blade, whereas their secondary weapon is their own pick; having a choice of every infantry weapon based on their choices.
Their strength easily equals that of a Brain Charger, their intelligence and decision-making skills surpasses that of almost all organic beings, and their armor -even without their powerful shielding- is several times more resilient than regular infantry armor; alloyed with the same starship-class metal used in the Septentrion Superdreadnought's hull. With all these enhancements, the Promethean is truly a weapon to be feared by all who encounter it; be they biological, or machine.
