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New Overseer Technology


Please note that this article assumes you have read and understand the material presented in Tale of the Comet (TSR 1143).

Following recent setbacks on several worlds, the Overseer made some changes to its forces to cope with changing enemy tactics. It also added two new levels to its command infrastructure, thus facilitating its desire to protect itself. Here's what the Overseer has come up with:

Frigate:
Frigates are designed to escort the larger cruisers into hostile territory. They are considerably faster and more manuverable than the larger ships, albiet lighter armed and armored. A Frigate can keep pace with a Rael Space Superiority Fighter, at least until the Fighter jumps to warp speeds. These ships are commanded by Tertiary Directors.

Boarding Ship:
Rarely encountered with other ships, these dangerous loners look exactly like light cruisers until they open fire. Each can launch 3d4X10 boarding pods that latch onto an enemy's hull, and allow the construct or Doomed inside to board the enemy ship. These ships are actually AIs themselves, and are one step below a tertiary director. The Units which can fit inside a boarding pod are: Firestorm, Spider Drone, Doomed, Crusher, Replicator, and Seeker.

Crusher (Specialty Tank, or "Bunker Buster"):
AC: 4                          Hit Dice: 7
     Intelligence: 7                Hit Points: 35
     XP Value: 4,000/2,000          Movement: 18
This specialty unit was devised by the Overseer following unacceptably heavy losses of Deathstrikes and Firestorms on several arcologies. These units usually travel with three or four Firestorms for protection. They are armed with two light blaster cannons and one grenade launcher with two high-explosive and one stun grenade. The true purpose of these tanks, however, is to get in close to an enemy strongpoint and plant explosives. The typical strategy is for the Firestorms to provide a distraction while the smaller Crusher sneaks in, plants it's bomb, and scurries out of the way. The bombs normally have a two-minute fuse, but this can be modified by the Crusher as needed. The explosion deals 10d6 damage to anything with a "high-tech" AC of worse that -1 (zero to 10), and 5d6 damage to anything with a high-tech AC of -5 to -1. Any target with a high-tech AC of -6 or better is not damaged. To make matters worse for the Rael, about 50% of Crushers are equipped with a cloaking device. See Seeker for more information about cloaking devices.

Tertiary Director:
AC: 8                          Hit Dice: 3
     Intelligence: 17               Hit Points: 10
     XP Value: 2,000/1,000+Special  Movement: 6
These directors command one or two firgates apiece. They are in charge of escort duties for the large members of the Overseer's space navy, and are uncannily good at what they do. When needed, these constructs can defend themselves with one canister each of poisonous and infectious gas. As an absolute last line of defense, each also carries a stun-field generator.

Changes to Existing Units

Drone Fighters:
These constructs are now divied into two types: Interceptors and VTOLs. Interceptors move at 48 (B). VTOLs (Vertical Take-Off/Landing.) move at 40 (A). There has been some trouble upgrading existing units, so there are still many "standard" drone fighters in the field.

Destroyers & Annihilators:
Destroyers are now equipped with an auger for tunneling. This adds BR 2 to their movement statistics. Annihilators have the same upgrade, but can only manage BR 1 due to their bulk.

Spider Drones:
The Overseer's core infantry unit now has retractable legs, which take fully one round to extend or retract. This can be a considerable disadvantage, as the drone cannot attack at the same time. However, this allows two to fit inside one boarding pod. (See Boarding Ship)

Assimilators:
Despite the Oversser's best efforts to afford better protection to it's Assimilators, the Rael are still destroying to many. They now fight back with two blaster rifles. While this is not much, it is still better than nothing.

Seekers:
Seekers have recieved two of the most dangerous upragdes of all. They can cloak themselves, bending all light and radiation except x-rays around them. (Seekers use am x-ray based communicator, and couldn't recieve instructions while cloaked otherwise). The Rael don't know about the x-ray communicator. If they ever found out, the cloak would be made meanigless. To make sure the Rael never find out, the Overseer has equipped Seekers with a self-destruct function. When reduced to zero or less hit points, a seeker explodes. This blast deals 3d6 damage to anyone withing 20 feet and blinds them for 1d4 rounds. Victims are allowed a save versus spell to halve the damage and negate the blindness.

A quick note about Crushers with cloaks: Once a Crusher is moving in to plant it's bomb, it needs no outside instruction. Therefore, a Crusher's cloak bends x-rays as well. If the cloak is used any other time, the Crusher can choose to let x-rays in, thus maintaining communication with it's superiors.

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