Skorp Landshaper
| Skorp Landshaper | |
|---|---|
 Hi-tech bulldozer with a grav tail | |
| Tech Level | TL–13 |
| Mass | 5.5 tons |
| Cost | Cr304,000 |
| Mode | Ground (Legged) |
| Type | Construction Vehicle |
| Speed | 150 kph |
| Cargo | 0 |
| Crew | 0 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Another everyday wonder from LSP | |
A Skorp Landshaper is a four-legged industrial vehicle designed to clear and shape land, and assist in construction.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Skorp Landshaper is a high end bulldozer, intended for projects that need more capability and can not afford multiple vehicles. Its four legs are designed to handle offroad and even rough terrain.
In front is a curved metal panel with a superdense blade along the bottom, to scoop and level dirt. This panel is attached to the main chassis at either end, on mounts to keep it level and on the ground as the rest of the vehicle undulates during walking. This panel can be raised and tilted in all three dimensions, for instance to dump to the side (or into a narrow hopper) a load of dirt and rock it has picked up.
In back is a scorpion-like tail, for which the class is named. Along one side are three retractable superdense blades to break up rock, stumps, and any especially strong debris. These are aided by a weak artificial gravity generator, pushing apart molecules along the blades' edges. This generator is concentrated in the orb-like tip of the tail, where the gravity can be reversed in order to crush matter, strong enough to collapse almost anything into points (or lines, if the tip is moved across a surface) of superdense. This is sometimes used to create reinforced plascrete. The tail can rotate a full 360 degrees, to let the blades face in any direction. The blades are normally retracted and facing upward, for safety and to avoid wearing them down needlessly; they can be extended together or individually. While a Skorp normally presents its rear to any surface it intends to use its tailtip on, the tail can curve overhead or to the side to let the tailtip work on a surface in front of the Skorp (or to take up less floor space when docked), and some operators claim it is more stable in this position.
A Skorp is not quite autonomous, though it can seem like it. It has no internal crew compartment, instead designed to be remotely operated - primarily for construction safety, but also a nod to the battlefield conditions the prototypes were used under. It has an extensive sensor suite, particularly in its densitometers, which allow it to map out potential mineral nodes and caves underground for several kilometers (exact depth depending on local geological conditions and if it is allowed to walk a broad sensor pattern to see underground from multiple angles). The computer is fully capable of walking a preset pattern, flattening the ground or digging trenches and constructing hills, all while scanning the terrain it is traversing, running engineering or sensor assistance software in the background. However, it tends to halt work if it encounters an anomaly - a safety feature to make sure it does not flatten someone's stray pet or child. Likewise, the blades retract and the tailtip gravity generator shuts off if it seems likely to hit a living being. (Touching the tailtip and turning the gravity generator to full power would be a gruesome but quick demise.)
There is some evidence to suggest the computer was overengineered, to allow people with enough skill (or enough money to hire enough skill, such as certain LSP project managers involved in the Skorp's design) to detune the security software and upgrade the skill software, resulting in a Skorp that is more suitable to prospecting or closer to a good foreman's construction skill. There are several cases where this adjustment has happened - always custom jobs, that void the warranty if a Skorp was purchased with one. True robot brain (but still sub-sophont) refits are available, though the best ones available more than double the cost, and lesser ones are rarely considered.
It is a dedicated construction vehicle, not intended for long distance cruises. It runs off of small internal batteries, greatly limiting its range. This is sold as a feature: a thief can not get as far as with some other vehicle. In practice, heavy construction activity will run out a Skorp's charge in about 4 hours; fortunately, it can completely recharge in half an hour, just enough for a lunch break or a crew shift change. A grav vehicle might overcome the speed and range limits, but these do not significantly help in this role - and besides being less expensive, it is easier to make sure a legged vehicle does not leave the ground, which would present difficulties in shaping it.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
The design is a refinement of TL-13 combat engineering vehicles hastily designed and constructed during the First Frontier War. While that war and the ensuing Civil War were decided by naval action, making the groundshaping vehicles a footnote at best, Ling-Standard Products technology scouts saw civilian potential in the design and purchased it for a tidy sum from its inventors, a patriotic (according to the historical documentation) family who had lost much of their holdings to ground fighting.
Once LSP put the design into production, it saw modest success, showing up on construction sites throughout the Third Imperium and beyond. The Dee Six class Downport includes a Skorp as standard equipment. By 1105 Skorps have been sighted in all major polities, even the Two Thousand Worlds (being used by K'kree who had never heard of the predator the vehicle was modeled after). It is far more often used in civilian conditions; military use is hampered by its relative lack of armor.
Naturally, Virus disabled the safeties of every Skorp it took over, resulting in the aforementioned gruesome but quick deaths once it worked out how to use the tailtip. However, the security software foiled many takeovers - in some cases, by slowing Virus down enough that people nearby could shut down or destroy the Skorp.
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
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- Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes