ACU-Toranuel (A1-0)
| ACU-Toranuel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Atmospheric Carrier Unit |
| Place of origin | Confluence of Empires (A1-0) |
| Service history | |
| In service | 7008 BBT — present |
| Used by |  Confluence |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Phirric One Of Firmaments, Class-2 Emissary, Brown Dwarf Princes |
| Produced | 7008 BBT — present |
| No. built | xx |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 315 tonnes |
| Length | 40 m (main body) |
| Width | 40 m (main body) |
| Height | 80 m (main body) |
| Crew | none, automated |
Main armament | 1× LLs-332[UT] Proton Beam Cannon |
Secondary armament |
|
| Engine |
|
| Fuel capacity | Self-sufficient; can gather and disassemble matter from its surroundings to be used as fuel for BBh-557 Reactor |
Operational range | Intercontinental: can refuel autonomously while travelling |
| Maximum speed | 600 km/h |
The ACU-Toranuel is a coempireal military unit operated by the sub-orbital branch of the Coempireal Armed Forces, part of the Ervagen Series designed by the Brown Dwarf Princes. It is one of the main atmospheric carrier units of the branch, with over xx units having been manufactured over a period of twelve millennia with little alterations. Toranuels are designed to carry thousands of smaller military units within their main trunks, making their interiors primarily empty: their weapons systems and 3AD projectors take up very little internal space, and are mostly situated on their exterior. To facilitate the deployment of their carried units, they possess large, extendable ribbon-like structures used to clear up any debris or obstacles in the zone of deployment.
Development
Toranuels were designed as part of the Ervagen Series by the Brown Dwarf Princes, one of the many hyperAI design teams for the nascent armed forces of the newly-established Confluence of Empires. Production subsequently began some real-time months later in 7008 BBT, with around xx of them being kept in storage as part of the Confluence's preventive military buildup. The units were then deployed on sub-orbital battlefields during the many battles and insurgencies of the Establishment Wars, where they proved to be excellent assets thanks to their highly-optimized design. After the wars their usage essentially ceased, like with almost all other units, only being used to fight back the occasional qlippoth outbreak where sapient citizens could still be salvaged: regardless, their production was continued to match the ever-growing size of the Confluence, with xx units currently being in active storage.
Design
The interior of a Toranuel unit is divided into a series of compartments, each made to hold units of a certain size range. The walls of these various compartments are made of diamondoid capable of becoming elastic, which makes them able to fold back into themselves to allow the stored units to be deployed onto the battlefield. Units are released through a series of openings in the hull, made of the same material as the compartment walls albeit in a much thicker layer: the opening for ground units is located on the lowest point of the main trunk, while swarms of offensive fog are released through multiple smaller openings higher up, located in-between the rib-like structures on the carrier's front.
The hull of an ACU-Toranuel consists of multiple layers of diamondoid, with the outernmost layer being the densent and the innermost one being the most elastic to better connect with the internal compartments. Like all military units, Toranuels are not painted, and instead their color derives from the nanostructures of their outer surfaces, reflecting and scattering light in the same way that a paint pigment would. This is both to cut down weight, but also to make the coloration more permanent.
Toranuel units possess twelve "ribbons" protruding from their main trunk, composed of highly-extendable elasticarbon diamondoid: the primary intended use of these ribbons is for the carriers to prepare the deployment area by destroying obstacles and removing debris, or by manipulating them to create shielded advantageous zones (such as large trenches) where the troops can disembark from their interiors and proceed onto the battlefield. The tip of the ribbons also contain distributed forcefield projectors capable of creating small localized kinewalls to melt resistant metal structures or evaporate harmful liquids.
ACU-Toranuels use a 3AD-HOG/7 antigravity levitation projector to achieve aerial capability and movement: by generating a force strong enough to oppose and considerably overcome the local gravity well, the carriers can move with great speed to quickly deliver and relocate troops across battlefields.
To defend themselves and their contents against the enemy's offenses, Toranuel carriers possess a HHX/V6 forcefield projector capable of generating mirrorshields against electromagnetic radiation, as well as antimass walls for mass-based attacks. In addition to its primary defensive purpose, this forcefield projector can also be used for offensive maneuvers: the mirrorshields can be used to reflect and focus ambient light or incoming laser fire against enemy targets, while antimass walls can be rapidly moved and layered to carry out ramming attacks. However, shield layering or shield-based offenses are only done against single large targets or concentrated clusters of small enemy units, as it is very energy intensive and can leave large parts of the carrier uncovered against enemy attacks.
The main armament of a Toranuel unit consists of a LLs-332[UT] proton beam cannon mounted within its "skull", the colloquial term for the mobile turret on its highest point. Protons are accelerated to ultra-relativistic speeds by the the cannon's compact monopole-doped accelerator, and are then guided by magnetic forcefields to the exit port in the center of the skull: before exiting, they cross through a secondary electron beam (also created by the accelerator) that removes their charge, to limit defocusing and prevent manipulation through magnetic fields. Their secondary armament instead consists of nine Mk.14 Optical-Phased//33G laser cannon arrays, and fifty Mk.6 [55K//02] free electron lasers, both primarily used as point-defence. Eight of the optical phased arrays are situated under the unit's frontal ribbons, and the main one on the front of their main trunk: they appear as reflective and holographic surfaces contrasting with the black of the rest of the body. Meanwhile, the free electron lasers are located inside the rib-like structures of the main trunk, which contain the accelerators and alternating magnetic field generators necessary to create them. Their ribbons and forcefield-shield system are also considered part of their secondary armament due to their potential offensive capabilities.
The forcefield projectors, weapons systems and computing network of Toranuels are all powered by a central BBh-557 monopole-catalyzed fusion reactor and its associated sistems situated in the innermost part of their trunk, protected by an additional hull of diamondoid five meters in diameter.
As with all coempireal military units, the carriers possess a decentralized false-sophont computing network distributed in the form of computronium substrates and crystalline nanostructures throughout the entirety of their structure. This means that they can continue operating, albeit at reduced efficiency, even after having suffered considerable structural damage. However, these systems can still be damaged by high-energy ionizing radiation, and the firewalls and anti-hacking algorithms within them can be surpassed with sufficient effort. To avoid enemy takeover, which would be especially bad due to the size of the unit and its role as a carrier, all such units are outfitted with a mechanical self-destruct system: as soon as the system detects that all cyberdefence mechanisms have been broken, it immediately destroys the carrier's communication nodes, lowers it down and opens all compartments and openings to offload all transported units at once, and then flies it up to a sufficient altitude. Here, it will de-activate all safeguards of the central fusion reactor and initiate a chain reactor that will quickly turn the entire reactor into energy, completely destroying the carrier unit.
Specifications
General characteristics
- Length: 40 meters
- Width: 40 meters
- Height: 80 meters
- Ribbon Extension, max: 320 meters
- Weight, full capacity: 580 tonnes
- Weight, empty: 315 tonnes
Armament
- 1× LLs-332[UT] Proton Beam Cannon
- HHX/V6 Forcefield Projector
- 12x Kinewall-tipped Elasticarbon Ribbons
- 9x Mk.14 Opt-Pha//33G Arrays
- 50x Mk.6 [55K//02] Free Electron Lasers
Protection
- Armor: Multi-layered diamondoid hull, HHX/V6 Forcefield Projector
- Armor type: carbon-structure mass-based, forcefield
- CBRN system: Mirrorshields for protection against ionizing radiation, optical phased arrays and kinewall ribbons for evaporating liquids, antimass walls for harmful solid substances.
- Active protection system: Mk.14 Opt-Pha//33G Arrays, Mk.6 [55K//02] Free Electron Lasers
Operators
Current operators
- Confluence of Empires: xx units in active storage.