Paladin II-class Assault Droid
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Name/Type: Paladin Mk II-class Assault Droid
Designer/Manufacturer: Metalorn Defence Department
Designation: Battle Droid
Height: 2.5 Meters
Propulsion: Legs / Repulsorlift / Thrusters
Speed: 90 Kph / 35 Kph / 11 MGLT
Altitude: 1000 meters(repulsorlift)
Shield Rating: 50 SBD (ionic only)
Armor Rating: 25 RU
Weapons: 1 KDI Storm Assault Rifle (360 Plasma Shells), 1 Left Gauntlet Light Repeating Blaster, 4 Backpack Hardpoints (1 Aratech 315 missile or Gas Canister or rocket booster each, etc), 1 Plasma Torch(left gauntlet).
Other: Powerlamp, Novaless Soni-Optics Target Imager.
Description: The Paladin I was Metalorn’s ambitious attempt to enter the battle droid market eight years after the destruction of the second Death Star. While the frame and servos of the droid were impressive from Metalorn’s high experience with droids, the lack of Metalorian experience with battle droids made the Paladin I ineffective due to primitive combat programming a weak weapons loadout. Thus, the Mk II was undertaken, with better armor and heavier weapons. In order to keep up with the times, the Metalorians designed the Mk II to be easy to upgrade, leaving extra space inside the droid for new components when necessary. This proved to be insightful, as when the planet joined the Coalition, it promptly received access to Contegorian technology, which was then rushed to be used in the first actual production run of the battle droid. Unlike many Contegorian products, the Paladin Mk II does not Ultrachrome plating, mostly because not enough would be available for the large amount of droids planned by the Metalorian government. The Paladin Mk II is expected to be stationed heavily on Metalorn itself as well as around key facilities and ships of the Contegorian Confederation. Most droids bear the Black and Maroon colour scheme of the Metalorn Droid Legions.
R&D Explanations:
Intelligence/Droid Brain: The Paladin Mk II uses an Industrial Automation Intellex X processor, which is comparable in performance to the one used on the R7 astromech droid, equipped with Kashan Automation-Uffel programming. Like most of Kashan automation, the droid brain has been programmed with data collected from actual soldiers who ran the simulations as if they were the droids. There are many “automation personalities” available for each droid, making them unpredictable to the enemy. For further improved performance and unpredictability, the droid brain have been allowed to learn, eventually making the droid as sentinent as a human. The brain is located in the very centre of the droids torso, and is protected by an additional layer of Cermaoid-Quandranium Carbide armor (discussed below). The droid brain can be overridden by a command code from the officer in charge supervising the droids combat.
Servomotors & Movement: One of the Paladin II’s greatest strengths is mobility and speed. The droid contains larger, more powerful servomotors than most droids of its size, hence the “bodybuilder” look of the droid. It is as fast as an AT-ST on its feet. Unlike many droids, the Paladin II also incorporates a small repulsorlift unit based in its feet, which allows the droid to hover and simply rise over objects, negating some terrain and fortification advantages possessed by enemy forces. Lastly, for use in space, it has been equipped with thrusters, mostly located underneath the “back-pack” but the main maneuvering thrusters are located in the “epaulettes” of the droid.
Armor: The Paladin Mk II, including its armor, for the most part was designed before its induction into the Confederation. It is just as well too, because the shear amount of Paladins planned for production, it was deemed that it would be too expensive and strenuous on the Kashan industry to use the said armor.
Instead, the Paladin II uses a Ceramoid-Quadranium Carbide compound plating which is in turn laminated with carbon fibers. The resulting armor is capable of enduring searing heat from a multitude of hand-held blasters or the effects of pyrotechnic weapons. Ceramoid was developed during the last decades of the Old Republic. It is useful in the formation of fire-fighting gear, exploration and scouting bins, or in survival armor, for it has an incredibly high melting point (CUSWE). Quadranium Carbide, hard refractory ceramics, has an extremely high melting temperature due to its strong interatomic bonding between molecules. As with other materials of similar nature, it is rather hard and has a high tensile strength, meaning that solid projectiles such as bullets or slugs do not inflict much damaged to the droid. Penetration by such weapons is hampered and reduced because of this layer. A side benefit of this is that it does not conduct electrical energy at all, making it effective in stopping or at the very least impeding the effects of most ion weapons.
Weapons: The Paladin II carries a variety of weapons. It mounts a light repeating blaster (for use against personnel) on its left arm coupled with a plasma torch, which allows the droid to cut through armor plating used on warships, space stations, and other enemy facilities. On its back, the droid has a pack-back style rack that typically carries four missiles, but it can also be used to carry cargo, gas canisters, and rocket boosters for improved performance among other things. The droid’s main weapon is the KDI Storm Assault Rifle.
KDI Storm Assault Rifle: Another weapon based on the Storm Assault Cannon used on the S10 Stormfire and on the more recent KDI J-L7.3 DDC. It bears more resemblance to the DDC in terms of length and firepower.
This weapon is an advanced railgun that utilizes three equally spaced Ultrachrome (a superconductor) rails reinforced and braced with Ferrocarbon rings (to handle the recoil force and keep the rails together). The Ultrachrome construction allows the weapon to be able to continuously transfer more energy than normal to the rails, in essence allowing the weapon to “supercharge” the shells for extreme velocity(3 km/s) and range. At this velocity, the shells by themselves can pierce most starfighter and medium vehicle grade armor. However, the supercharging limits the rate of fire. Typically, the SAR has a slightly lower rate of fire and velocity than an ordinary laser cannon bolt, but the projectile’s mass compensates for this, making the weapon’s normal shells(without the payload) equivalent to that of a medium laser cannon bolt as well as a theoretically endless range. However, the SAR is unlikely to hit anything at very high ranges unless the target is a moving very slow or is stationary.
The SAR fires 6 kilogram shells filled with hydrogen molecules about to start the fusion process. When the shell hits the target, the impact provides the energy necessary to start the fusing, creating a relatively large amount of energy which damages the opposing ship’s hull or shields. The nature of the reaction also causes relatively heavy blast, heat, and radiation damage to the target.
Novaless Soni-Optics Target Imager: A computerized targeting sensor, the Soni-Optics Imager uses ultra-sonic beam emitters to sight on the target, which return information in the form of different wave patterns that create a composite sonic image. This form of sighting allows the droid to ignore certain types of cover and concealment, making it effective in detecting most concealed or stealth opponents (adapted from Star Wars Heroes Supplement)
Powerlamp: The droid includes a powerful lamp able to create a beam of light up to 100 meters long and 50 meters wide (adapted from Star Wars Heroes). It is clearly visible on the Paladin as being the unit’s “head”. Destroying the powerlamp does not impede the droid’s ability to fight. The powerlamp lense is made of up a 0.5 meter of Transparisteel, making it resilient against small-arms fire.