Death Angels – Understudied?
Death Angels have obviously been a common tool at work since the time of the Magistrate, and remain as such now that their design has been put to use by Reven. Yet despite the fact of their commonality, there is a lack of wide-spread counter measures against them. This is a fact I quickly discovered after trying to further investigate our encounter with the Agamemnon. At an off-hand glance one might consider this a by-product of their design. In combat, despite their lack of direct defenses, they are supremely quick and maneuverable to compensate. On top of that, when dispersed, their systems continue to function on an individual basis, making it appear as they have no inherent weakness and must simply be battered through thoroughly.
But I would quickly beg that is not the case. The unfortunate truth of any design is simple – the amount of resources per unit determines the true cap of its potential, and the Death Angel as an individual is a very economically friendly design. A Death Angel is no supernatural entity, no forever-acting zombie despite the pieces you shred it into. A glance into the schematics reveals the larger system. The DA’s calculate off a common hive-minded function that responds accordingly to their remaining pieces. An unharmed DA can function off the notions set about to its entirety, while a piece torn asunder from its torso still carries an embedded chip set that – when separated – carries on its functions in its new form of individuality. This very system is what runs an entire swarm of DA’s under a common set of hive-oriented goals. The design is genius in its level of abstraction and adaptation per unit size.
But the genius behind the design does not compensate for the lack of resources per unit, it simply changes the way you approach the problem. As mentioned, each individual joint-section carries an embedded system responsible for the calculated control of its subset. Therefore, immediate tactics are obvious. Rather than seeking dislocation, a combatant seeks whole destruction. Rather than dismembering a joint, one focuses on blunting bulk pieces altogether. Rather than ripping through minor systems with a flush of heavy-penetration rounds, one can seek to use explosive measures to rip apart larger sections as a whole. But there in lies the problem, no?
The very nature of explosive force, be it through literal blunting or the use of detonation, implies a disadvantage of pace. A missile is slower than a bullet, a mace is bulkier than a blade, etc. And so the design of the DA would seem to counter-act the weakness of its physical vulnerability through its use of speed and avoidance. But in reality this is no counter-action, it is a pure reliance. And there in lies the focus of the real issue. How does one go about ‘slowing down’ a Death Angel, all the while taking as many precautions as possible to keep it in one larger more manageable piece and not overwhelming yourself by separating its sub-systems?
The most versatile method of transportation for almost any offense is the simple bullet. As a matter of fact, my original thought was to test one of Ms. Ravess’ recent addition to our nano-assemblers, the cyro-round. Against most mechanized units, this is a fabulous tactic to try, but the Death Angels specifically make the round’s foothold rather difficult. Due to vibration caused through the sheer number of lesser joints on a DA’s body, points of pressure increase exponentially upon the freeze-forming process and don’t allow it a proper foundation not to shatter under. On top of that, in a spacial setting, such methods have little effect on the heat-intensive repulsor functions which give them their flight capabilities, minimizing their true mobility minimally at best. But the methodology itself is sound.
Thanks to the efforts of Captain Hemmingway we were able to brainstorm up another solution along similar lines. If one cannot settle for a method of complete block aid initially, why not a slow constrictive effect until ceasing operation? The entity in thought becomes a variant of a simple phenol formaldehyde resin. With a few additives, a phenol crystalline and a formaldehyde compound in a setting of heavy heat and pressure form up a very useful sticky resin. In this liquefied state, the resin is able to quickly penetrate even the deepest layers of joints before the introduced crosslinking agent (para formaldehyde, in this case) forms it into its hardened, solid state. Not only does this quickly constrict motions, but the resulting substance carries excellent heat-resistant properties as well as acting as an electrical nonconductor. This in turn can cause heat-sink like build up properties as well as mess with exposed wiring in joint sections to cause stronger malfunction. Even under the heavy heat of a repulsor this remains as a solid clogging agent.
Thanks to Ms. Ravess’ convenient design of the nano-assemblers in accordance with fitting rounds, I was able to scrounge up a test design for this concept. The outer shaft for a shell collapses inwards to the inner, more solidified space containing the reactants that in turn gain increased pressure upon impact, causing the resin to form. This resin will shift to its hardened state gradually as the crosslink settles, and mobility is lost thus. Areas of greatest effect are joints and repulsors themselves, but penetration into bulkier systems don’t cause much disadvantage either. With a DA’s mobility lessened, a combatant is more capable of destroying it in the proper form, through means of easier missile lock-and-follow or however they prefer.
Initial testing footage may be found here.