History
Designed as a mobile watchtower, the Strider battleoid was manufactured by Danforth Galactic under contract to the PLIN starting in GSC 925. The design was widely used by Planetary League garrison forces across the galaxy. Striders were fielded by both sides in the Great Reckoning. Production continued through the end of that war and continued well into the Imperial era after Danforth had been subsumed by the Holy Empire of Man.
Striders remained in service throughout Era-2 due to their low production cost. Several variants became popular and helped the longevity of the design.
The Strider was so cheap to produce and so prolifically distributed, that most militaries in the galaxy ended up with at least a few.
Capabilities and Specifications
The Strider was designed to be fast and light, sporting a minimum of armor, its defenses were centered on an advanced sensor suite and exceptional ground speed. The Strider was often deployed to areas with soft terrain, such as swamps, sandy deserts, and snowy polar areas. Because of this, it was designed to be relatively lightweight, with especially wide feet that helped prevent it from sinking in.
The Strider’s load-out was designed for base defense. Its main armament was a pair of anti-aircraft lasers mounted in the torso. It dealt with ground-based threats with an under-slung light railgun turret. In place of arms, the Strider possessed a pair of point-defense laser turrets to deal with drones, guided munitions, and the like.
The Strider was designed to serve the role of a mobile watchtower, and was 16 meters tall with the main sensor array mounted at its apex to serve that purpose.
Options and Variants
Danforth Galactic offered a number of options and variations of the basic Strider design.
The most popular options that most Striders possessed were a Spotlight attachment and a pair of light drone-racks that were highly valuable in increasing the unit’s sensor range and making it more suitable to patrolling deserted areas alone.
The most common variants were a set of specialization options for working in particular environments. Most of these were represented by the Snow-Strider, the Sand-Strider, and the Swamp-Strider.
