VST - Combat Frame AI [concept WIP]
And now for something completely different!
I thought about it, and especially after Vale's loooong production time behind the curtains, I decided against doing that again, and instead share progress with all of you along the way. That's why you all pledge to me, to help support my work, so I want to stop simply waiting until it's complete all the time. It makes time between posts much longer, and I remember posting WIPs much more often, so if you miss that, tell me! I hope you'll be happy to know I'd like to get back into it.
I'm sure this probably comes out of nowhere for a lot of you, though I've mentioned it in streams, that I'd been working on VST, the final of the 5 AI Apex Frames in my story, and that he was pretty different in a lot of ways.
VST, whose callsign/common name I don't know yet, is the 'Combat Frame' model prototype from Kaltag. All of the Apex Frames are Kaltag's pride and joy, their showcase of just how versatile their technology can be, and are almost always present at the Katrician capitol city, or aboard their flagship. Each is designed to be a forerunner of tech and a display showcase of sorts to entice clients or foreign sovereigns into doing business with Kaltag. As a brief summary:
ARA is a 'standard frame' model, designed to showcase learning, adaptability, large-bandwidth multitasking and optimization.
Warning is a ' compact frame' model, showcasing sizes suitable for remote work, tight spaces, crew management and maintaining order.
Zeta is also a 'standard frame', but more hardware focused, as she can interface with a huge amount of ships, and displays their knowledge of trade and compatibility with other companies and vessels, as well as being the primary go-to face for crew to 'speak' to the ships.
Vale is their 'agile frame', as you can guess, is capable of flight in a variety of gravitational fields and atmospheres, resistant to several types of radiation and magnetic fields, showing off Kaltag's AI reliability and ability to imitate delicate organic traits (like flight), and emergency recovery.
By this logic, VST is the 'combat frame', as mentioned. VST's head unit can be removed at will and dock into a starship's bridge to manage weaponry and active shielding, but most of the time employs this large quadruped beast of a machine that is fast and packs a hard punch. VST's quad frame can leap extreme distances, especially in microgravity, such as capital-to-capital ship combat, and, too small to often be tracked effectively by large weaponry, perform virus-like infiltration and infection of opposing ships, clawing and gnashing through the interior, or, on large planetary surface battles, close distances fast, boasting a wide range of survival tactics and hardware.
Other VST models don't employ the quadruped concept here, they are mostly production-line combat robots that more closely resemble the standard frame. This VST, like the other Apex Frames, is quite special.
He is also not particularly well suited to social interaction, as does not speak common, and mostly only understandable to other AI. Currently the names in my head for this violent good boy are something like 'Broadside', 'Serpent', or the like...
Ha, look at me, rambling on like some wacky furry scifi fanfic. SORRY! ARA for scale.
Anyway, as the title says.. WIP! I like a good chunk of what I have, but I'll continue to work on his design for a while. I'll be sure to share more as I go. Thank you guys for the patience!