Colonial Spider Attack weapons

The Colonial Spider Attack Weapons, often referred to as Replicators, are a terrifying new weapon developed by the UltraCorp Weapons Company to overcome the most powerful enemy defences.

Construction

The Spiders are small, 4-legged robots which are made of several blocks. Each block is roughly 1cm x 2cm in size and is fitted with a single nanoprocesser and magnetic linkers. Upon creation of numerous blocks, depending upon the Spider to be built, the nanoprocessers can link to form a sort of collective mind. Using this, the magnetic linkers are activated pulling the blocks together in a mass. Once all the blocks are connected, they move around to form the Spider they were programmed to create, essentialy allowing Spiders to replicate on their own as long as certain criteria are met.

The blocks can be made of any metallic material, and can be created either in a factory, by the so-called mating (described later) or by a Queen Spider (described below). During creation, blocks are programmed to create a certain Spider, which when the required number of blocks are made, they will form and their programming will change to that of the Spider created.

Spider Types

There are several different types of Spiders, each with a different role.

Drone

The most basic type of spider, and also the smallest. This type of Spider is the type loaded into the delivering shells and is responsible for clearing an area for a Nest and protecting it at all costs. Has a highly acidic spray for breaking down metals for replication and attacking enemies. Is also armed with poisonous tubes in each of its four legs. The poisons are created by the block in each leg through a complicated process in which the surrounding air is leeched of certain elements. These elements are then corrupted and mutated into a liquid which can render any life-form comatose for a period of up to 36 hours.

Queen

The Queen is the most important part of an Infestation. When an area is cleared for a Nest a single Drone will find an open area and initiate the 'Queen Protocol'. Upon completion of the Protocol, the Spider will have been encased in a solid shell of blocks and have enlarged in size. Queens have their front limbs replaced with moulders. Once fully ready, Drone's will begin to bring broken down metals to the Queen to be turned into blocks. While ALL Spiders are able to reproduce with the exception of the Primarch, the Queen does not need a second Queen to produce blocks and produces them at a rate 10 times as fast as that of a Drone.

Tyrant

The next stage up from a Drone during the Evolution Protocol. The Tyrant is a six-legged monstrosity roughlythe size of a human male. The Tyrant stands upright on its two hind limbs, with its other four acting as weapons. The four upper limbs contain the same knockout poison as a Drone,but with an extra delivery system...a Dart. The Tyrant is capable of spinning its four weapon limbs in any direction and aim at targets in a 360° arc. If the target is close enough,it will attack it with its acidic spray or poisonous talons. If it is too far away for close combat it will fire a Dart to knockout the target.

Primarch

The largest and most powerful Spider is the Priamarch. Primarchs are extremely rare and very powerful. Whereas Tyrants, Drones and Queens concentrate on knocking out enemies, only killing them on the odd occasion with their acidic spray, Primarchs always kill their prey. They are huge six-limbed monsters, roughly the twice the height of a man. Primarchs are capable of several attacks. First, it can use its two foremost limbs (the mandibles), to slash at and crush opponents. Second, within each of the middle limbs, the front legs, is a hydraulic system which can fire forward part of the leg and retract it. Finally, the Primarch can produce an energy beam to burn opponents and cut through materials. But the most horrifying attribute is the Primarch's self-repair ability. Whereas it takes two Drones to make a third, and two Tyrants to make a third, there is very rarely two Primarchs in close proximity. But, due to the sheer number of blocks within a Primarch, it CAN create more, but only to repair all but the most grievous battle damage.

The Delivery

Spiders can be delivered in one of three ways. The first way is the Artillery Shell delivery. A single shell, designed for the purpose of delivering Spiders, is fired from an MMA tank instead of a normal shell. Inside the shell are 50 Spider Delivery Darts. The shell itself is fitted with small nano-processers which detect when it is nearing the target area. Once close enough, the shell will explode while still in the air, releasing the Darts. These Darts rain down upon the are and are guided with small thrusters by the Spider brain within. When a Dart hits the ground it takes only moments for it to explode into blocks which form into a Drone in a matter of seconds. Using this system of Delivery, Spiders can be delivered behind enemy lines and effectively pincer them between Helghast soldiers moving up.

The second form of delivery is the Soldier carryable Dart. Each Light Assault Rifle is capable of delivering this Dart. If a soldier is carrying a Dart and a Light Assault Rifle, he simply loads the Dart into the barrel of the shotgun attachment and fires, giving better targeting compared to the Artillery shell system. Beyond the way the Dart is launched, this method is the same as the Artillery Delivery.

The third and final form of Delivery is the Grenade delivery. Colonial Elite Soldiers are given one Spider Grenade in addition to their frag and smoke grenades. The grenade will, upon hitting the ground, instead of exploding or releasing smoke will reform into a Drone Spider (as it is made of blocks).

The Attack

The Spider Attack pattern is always the same. It goes through several stages: Approach, Infestation, Evolution and Expansion. Once these three protocols are enacted, the Spider Hive will split, with some of the Drones and Tyrants moving to a new location to further spread chaos as well as conserve resources in the original Hive.

Approach

This is simple to understand. The Approach Protocol is enacted as soon as a Spider is released. While running under this program, a Spider will move towards an enemy position adn attmept to kill all enemies. Meanwhile however, other Spiders will be attempting to find an unguarded area, preferably inside a building with lots of metallic materials nearby. Once a suitable area is found, the Spiders which found it move onto the Infestation Protocol.

Infestation

Once the Spiders have found a suitable loaction for a Hive, one Drone will call forth four others. Thes four others pair up and begin producing blocks which attach themselves to the first drone. This Drone increases in size and changes shape, until finally it is a Queen. Then the Queen and other 4 Drones work about creating a protctive shell around the Queen. Once that is done, the Queen, safe inside its shell, will begin to produce more and more blocks using metalls brought to it by drones. The four Drones which helped the Queen evolve are turned into Tyrants using the first hundred or so blocks created. Once this is complete, the Queen will begin to create more Drones and Tyrants. This entire process from the Drones settling into location through to the first 4 Tyrants being created takes 5 minutes.

While the Queen and her 4 helper Drones are working on the evolution, any other Drones are scouting the surrounding area and knocking any enemies comatose. They do not kill for a reason (described in another article). Comatose enemies are dragged back to the Queen's location and encased in cocoons of blocks. If the enemy attempts to escape, the blocks will reshape and crush their occupant into a pulp. Once the surrounding area is secure, the Droes will attempt to hack into any security systems and use them themselves. It may take a while, depending on the technology, but they have never failed. Once the hacking is complete, the Drones will shut down any cameras or defence turrets and try to seal off the area.

Once a secure perimeter is up, the Drones will use thier acidic spray to break down metals and bring them back for consumption by the Queen and transforming into other blocks. Once a Hive has been set up, the Spiders can turn from a handful of no more than 5 into a swarm of hundreds within the hour.

Spiders will protect the Hive at any cost, but will not attack as long as an intruder does not appear as a threat. Once the Intruder makes a move which is deemed threatening to the Hive or is loud and fast, the Spiders will attack and destroy it as soon as possible. But, if the Intruder is too close to the Queen, they will be attacked without mercy. Colonial Soldiers however are fitted with a nano-chip as standard and Spiders are taught to recognise this chip and avoid Colonial soldiers. Any allies are merely advised to avpid the Hive unless they too have some form of identification the Spiders can recognise.

Evolution

Once a Hive is in place, the Queen will work on increasing Spider numbers, but at the same time the Queen may evolve certain Spiders. Some Drones may be turned into Tyrants within the first few minutes of a Hive being in operation. But once the Spiders have determined there is enough Drones and Tyrants, the Queen will work on turning a Tyrant into a Primarch. This is very rare, as it requires a huge amount of resources and time and rarely does a Hive have time to create one. On the odd occasion Drones may sacrifice their blocks to add to the Primarch's construction.

Expansion

UNDER CONSTRUCTION