Ancient Robot Sentries

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 08/09/2008)


Introduction

In the years before the Coming of the Rifts, the golden age ended and world saw the rise of paranoia and increased military spending. NEMA was a huge beneficiary of this increase and one of its missions was to prepare North America for the possibility of nuclear attack and how to survive the attack if it occured. To this end, NEMA began Operaiton Final Saftey, which called for the creation of a huge series of bunkers spread across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. These military bunkers, some small and others huge, could hold large numbers of people in relative comfort for a long period of time. The bunkers were conceived of as having their own, independent source of energy, food, and minor supplies without the aid of the other bunkers or outside resources.

As per the plan detailed in Operation Final Safety, NEMA began construction on these bunkers and many were established to the established specifications, but new leadership in NEMA and new direction saw policies change and the importance of Operation Final Safety began to slip. The initial bunkers were considered important and kept in full operational condition, but the creation of new bunkers slowed considerable and plans to coordinate with local officials and police forces on how and when to use the bunkers were cancelled. In the end, when the Rifts came, few people even knew the bunkers existed, often right beneath the crumbling streets and buildings around them. Some bunkers were destroyed in the cataclysm and turbulant years that followed the Coming of the Rifts, others were used by NEMA during those first desperate years, but most quickly and quietly became buried in the depths of the Earth.

Now, centuries later, these bunkers are a treasure trove for adventurers and fortune seekers. The bunkers hold a world of wonders and many adventurers dream of that lucky find that will allow them to retire with a huge bank account of credits. Unfortunately, the bunkers are not without their defenses. Knowing that the bunkers would be filled mostly with civilians, the planners of Operation Final Safety called for the creation of an army of robots to guard them. These sentries were mostly designed to be the sole protectors of a bunker and operate off of battery power through receptacles located in the bunkers, which are powered through deep geo-thermal power plants. Even now, centuries later, the robots continue to guard the bunkers against any intruder that does not know the bunker's passcode.

Although the planners created three levels of sentries, to be used on bunkers of varying importance, another important aspect of the sentries is the three types of robots used. The first type is a Combat Sentry, designed for combat and produced in the largest numbers. The second type is the Assault Sentry. Slower then the Combat Sentry, the main function of the Assault Sentry is to deal damage to the opponent. Armed with the most powerful weapon, the Assault Sentries are supposed to take more damage and destroy the most dangerous opponents while the Combat Sentries deal with everyone else. The third and last type of robot is the Leader Sentry, designed to lead a group of other robots. The Leader Sentry is equipped with a powerful and advanced computer that interfaces with all nearby robot sentries. The Leader Sentry provides combat instructions and coordination to the nearby robot sentries to boost their combat performance.


Using Ancient Robot Sentries in a Campaign

The Ancient Robot Sentries are designed to be used as guards of military installations. There are three levels of guards for different tiers of adventuring parties. The Basic Level Sentries are designed to be used with characters from levels 1 to 5, but at higher levels, they won't have a high enough bonuses or defenses to provide much of a threat against a typical adventuring party, but they could still be used as cannon fodder for Human guards. The Advanced Level Sentries are designed to be used against characters from levels 6 to 10 in their full squad modes, but they could be encountered in half-squads by lower level characters without too much trouble. The Expert Level Sentries are designed to be used against characters from levels 11 to 15 and are stronger, faster, and more deadly. In even half-squads, they might be too strong for low level characters, but could be encountered as a solitary robot, especially as the last protector for an ancient military bunker.

The robot sentries are typically encountered in three different sized groups, this is true no matter what level of the robot sentries is encountered. The smallest group is called the Half-Squad and consists of 2 Combat Sentries and 1 Assault Sentry. This weaker group would be used for a faster combat encounter, probably as early defenders in a discovered bunker or as robots sent to investigate an unknown disturbance. The typical group is called the Squad and consists of 3 Combat Sentries, 1 Assault Sentry, 1 Assault or Combat Sentry, and 1 Leader Sentry. This group should be the most commmonly encountered group of ancient robot sentries and should provide a nice challenge to characters of the appropriate level. The strongest group is called the Reinforced Squad and consists of 5 Combat Sentries, 3 Assault Sentries, and 1 Leader Sentry. This unit would be used to engage a serious breah in the military bunker and should be used as the final battle for players when they are exploring a military bunker.


Basic Level Sentries

Operation Final Safety was devised with three levels of protection: Basic, Advanced, and Expert. At the lowest level, the basic sentries were designed to protect less important bunkers or to provide cannon fodder for Human soldiers to send in first against an attacking enemy. Now, centuries later, these robotic sentries are usually the first ones encountered by adventures seeking their fortune in lost military bunkers.


Combat Sentry - Basic

This is the most basic combat sentry around. It was used to guard small bunkers and to assist human guards in more important areas. When the unmanned secret bunkers were initially built, the basic combat sentries were used to guard ones intended for civilians and relativelt unimportant government workers. Although fairly basic, the combat sentry is still a combat robot and is programmed to fight as a unit with the other combat sentries, using flanking manuevers and covering fire.


Assault Sentry - Basic

This is the most basic assault sentry around. It is the assualt counterpart for the combat sentry and provides that fairly weak robot with more offensive punch through its dangerous ion cannon. Disabling the Assault Sentry will be one of the top priorities for groups that encounter a squad of robot sentries.


Leader Sentry - Basic

The leader sentry is responsible for providing coordination for other robot sentries and with its advanced battle computer, it provides bonuses to those other sentries. This is the most basic leader sentry available and it provides only minimal improvements to the other sentries compared to the more advanced models. Only one works with each squad of robot sentries and it often resides in the back of the squad, with the other robots providing it with cover. It uses its precise laser cannon to snipe at targets with far better accuracy than the typical combat sentries.


Advanced Level Sentries

The advanced level sentries were designed to protect bunkers with high importance civilians, such as members of Congress or the Canadian Parliament and low importance military bunkers, mostly with advanced weapons supplies, bombs, missiles, and similar military hardware. As the middle level sentries, they could sometimes be found mingling with the basic level and the expert level sentries at large bunkers with multiple levels of security.


Combat Sentry - Advanced

The advanced combat sentry is better than the basic combat sentry in nearly every way. It is stronger, has better armor, and has a more powerful laser cannon. Like their more basic brethren, these combat sentries provided providing the shock troops for the advance level squads.


Assault Sentry - Advanced

The advanced assault sentry had a more powerful ion cannon that could quickly decimate opponents, making it the prime target for anyone fighting a squad of robot sentries. As such, it had better armor than the more basic version.


Leader Sentry - Advanced

The advanced leader had a more sophisticated battle computer to provide coordination to an advanced squad. Not only did it provide an improvement on the other robots' combat performance, it provided real-time calculations to improve the damage output of the other robots' weapons by analyzing the defenses of its opponents.


Expert Level Sentries

The most important bunkers, designed to hold the military leadership and cabinet-level civilian leaders, were protected by the Expert Level Sentries. These robot sentries are powerful and dangerous and are all protected by advanced force fields, a feature unique to the expert level sentries.


Combat Sentry - Expert

The expert combat sentry, the shock troop for the expert level squads, is a tough opponent, with a powerful laser cannon that can quickly cut through even the toughest armor. Opponents will have to be careful when fighting these sentries.


Assault Sentry - Expert

Armed with the most powerful Ion Cannon available at the time, the expert level assault sentry is capable of fighting tanks and other heavily armored targets.


Leader Sentry - Expert

With the most advanced and compact battle computer available to NEMA, the expert Leader Sentry is able to provide extensive assistance to the combat sentries under its direction. This involves not just the standard combat effeciency improvements and the increase in damage, but also an increase in the effeciency of the force field protecting the expert level combat sentries.