Aotrs Shipyards March 2023 Release: Yrgynela Ground Troops

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Aotrs Shipyards March 2023 Release: Yrgynela Ground Troops

Finally, back on the scifi releases! Scifi releases will be back for at least three or four months, and we start this off with the release of the Yrgynela ground forces in 144th as usual.

The Yrgynela are exactly new, since version one was designed several years ago, but at the time I wasn’t terribly happy with them (and the production costs at Shapeways and the sheer effort on the Replicator), so they remained on the drawing board). This year, in keeping with the trek through all the lore and working on finishing off stuff half-completed, I did a major revision, bringing them up to version 2. This has meant an overhaul and more advanced creation techniques.

The thing that makes the Yrgynela special is that they transform! (In varying levels of complexity from just swapping the model, to swapping the turret, to actual proper transforming.)

Updated catalogue here.

The Yrgynela
The Yrgynela are an advanced power that left our universe some four thousand years ago to reside in an extradimensional realm. Due to their goals, methods, advanced technology, abilities and scale, they present such a significant threat to the galaxy as a whole that their coming was foretold millennia before their recent appearance by the seers of numerous powers, including the Shardan and the UCDR, though couched in the vagaries of prophecy as the Great Enemy.

The Yrgynela are an advanced race of technological nonhumanoids; those observed so far are quadrupeds with a spider-like stance. They are physically technically sexless; however, they appear to identify as gendered female (unilaterally as far as observation have been made). The Yrgynela are not a single species (or perhaps configuration would again be a better term), but at least three different configurations – of diverse sizes – have been observed and it seems likely there may many more.

It is somewhat debatable whether we know less about the Yrgynela or about XGA01. On the one hand, the Yrgynela are far more comprehensible as a people and we know something of their goals and motives and have at least some sparse information about their history. On the other, there has been no opportunity for the same level of exploration of their facilities and vessels; unlike XGA01’s constructs, the Yrgynela would not allow passive observations, even if we could locate modern facilities or vessels upon which to do so. And what information we do have gleaned on the Yrgynela’s goals and motives may not be accurate other than in the broadest terms.

 

Sya-Heelene Platoon (9)
“Sigh-a heee-lee-nee.”

(The painted versions are the original version 1 VPN, as I haven’t had time to paint the resin ones (and the flying stance ones need some repair after the prototypes – I’ve since beefed up the flight stands). However, I did take a photo of the unpainted walking resin for good measure so you can compare…!)

Only-Games: £3.29 Link
Shapeways: £13.27 Link

The Sya-Heelene are the smallest of the three configurations. Standing, they are little over a metre tall, with a leg span of about 1.4m. They can “convert” to a flight mode. The dorsal turret and head raise to the vertical, and the legs invert and lock into a x-posture. The Sya-Heelene have an engine mounted directly under their legs, and this propels them vertically upwards when launching from a standing start. However, the Sya-Heelene are highly agile, and have been observed dextrously jumping or bounding and converting mid-leap to horizontal flight with no more effort than a humanoid changing pace from walking to running.

The Sya-Heelene’s legs contain very powerful technological “musculature,” giving them improved strength, but very significant jumping capability, making these leaps to flight even more significant. It is estimated that from a standing jump, a Sya-Heelene could reach about five times that of a humanoid vertically, and three times laterally. Furthermore, the level of precision in these limbs is excellent, allowing the Sya-Heelene to move almost without making a sound. Their sense of balance is also impeccable, and they can easily balance on their rear legs to make use of their forelegs as arms, to gesture or to cast spells.

The Sya-Heelene’s leg armour features a four-part shield generator grid. This appears to be able to function at reduced capacity, even if one or more of the generators on the limbs is disabled. The shield generators contain some additional power supplies, but interestingly, the Yrgynela’s own internal power systems provide much of the power.

A plasma-pulse cannon turret is mounted on the top of the torso in a socket. This weapons is slightly more powerful than a rifle. The shape of the locking points indicates that the socket is designed for multiple functions and likely serves to house a variety of different tools outside of combat usage.

The flight mode engine is a universal feature. Flight speed has been conservatively estimated at least 420 mph, though it could be significantly higher. However, it is not expected that the Sya-Heelene have orbital flight capability, at least not without additional augmentation.

 

Ghyla-Heelene Platoon (3)
“Jeye-la heee-lee-nee”

Direct price: £17.50
Only-Games: £18.48 Link
Shapeways: £50.34 Link

I don’t generally do platoon packs for larger stuff anymore, because it’s not cost-effective for most tanks and starships, since just adding sprues and spacing drives the costs up. However, as the Ghyla-Heelenes are multiple parts, putting three together meant that I could do a much more volume-efficient (and thus more cost-effective) job, since I could pack the denser than they are actually assembled. (And something I couldn’t do before making the legs ball-and-socket joints.)

 

The Ghyla-Heelene seems to serve as the backbone of the ground forces encountered. Once again, the station the Agamemnon band encountered suggests from the proportion of furniture that they are possibly more numerous than the Narya-Melan, something that is at least convergently true of the combat forces.

The Ghyla-Heelene appear most similar to the Sya-Heelene in structure, with the obvious difference that they are over three times the size. They do not have any flight capability and appear rather more ponderous. However, some of this is likely a facet of the Ghyla-Heelenes observed so far have all been in their heavy combat armour. Furthermore, they are still quite agile for a creature of their size, even when so encumbered.

The Ghyla-Heelenes have six weapon mounting points, three either side of the head. These have so far been seen to mount plasma-pulse anti-infantry guns. However, from the analysis of the one corpse recovered indicates that these weapons are not, as initially believed fixed, but can be changed out and potentially replaced with other weapons or even tools.

Situated between each leg is an independently mobile emitter. These produce a long beam of energy which is functionally an energy blade like a large power sword. These “slashing beams” appear to be a “natural” fixture – i.e. not part of the combat armour loadout and seem to function as a way to deal with creatures (like humanoids) which might seek to get underneath the belly of the Ghyla-Heelene where she would be unable to reach them as easily. Due to their inherent sensors, the Ghyla-Heelenes can easily “see” such creatures and slashing beams have sufficient mobility to be able to slice apart anyone underneath them. These systems are powerful enough to be a concern for lighter vehicles.

The combat armour the Ghyla-Heelenes have been seen using consists of heavy armoured legs plates and an upper superstructure which carries shield generators. The armour is shaped such the Ghyla-Heelenes can retract their heads into the torso (not unlike a turtle withdrawing into its shell) pull their legs in and lock the armour plates to form obelisk-like structure, with the dorsal turret left on top, essentially becoming more of a fortification. In this stance, they gain the most protection from the armour and the smaller area also reduces the volume the shields have to cover, which raises their strength.

The top of the torso has a large socket which appears to be capable of mounting a wide variety of devices, the most obvious is which is the mounting of a turret along with the standard armour plate.

The Ghyla-Heelenes have been spotted using two turrets, which also seem to be shared with the Narya-Melans. These have been identified as a family of turrets designated as Doohlahne (“Doohl-ah-nee”) 00. The 00 appears to be a binary number (so is more correctly “Zero Zero” Romanised). Three versions have been observed, labelled Aalya–, Yylya– and Milya– patterns. This appears to be a standard sequence of sorts. It is unclear whether this sequence is numbers, letters or a hold-over from another language, but appears to be analogous to the use of Greek letters (i.e. alpha, beta, gamma).

The Ghyla-Heelenes have been observed using the Aayla- and Yylya- pattern turrets, of which the former is the most common (and pictured here). This consists of two plasma-pulse cannons supplemented by two small omnidirectional particle beams for point-defence.

The Yylya-pattern turret is less commonly seen, seemingly reserved for command units or support sections. This has a single plasma-pulse cannon. At the top, two coaxial anti-infantry plasma-pulse cannons are mounted. Underneath the main gun is a small missile launcher. This holds four Quoolych 10 (that is “qu-ooo-ly-ch One-Zero”, not “qu-oo-litch Ten”) missiles. Finally, there are two point-defence bulbs on either side of the turret. These bulbs act as omnidirectional missile launchers for point-defence.

It is assumed that the Ghyla-Heelenes could mount a Milya-pattern turret, though none have been seen doing so; the larger, bulkier turret would likely further hamper their agility.

 

Narya-Melan
(“Nar-ya mee-lan”)

Direct price: £14.00
Only-Games: £13.47 Link
Shapeways: £19.24 Link

The Narya-Melan (“Nar-ya mee-lan”) are the most divergent of the three configurations observed so far. Rather than a vaguely-spider-like body plan, the Narya-Melan look more insectoid, somewhere between dragonfly and grasshopper – and beetle, when armoured.

The Narya-Melan are larger than the Ghyla-Heelene, but have shorter legs, which places their heads about a half-head-height below the Ghyla-Heelenes. Interestingly, this places their limbs and viewpoint much closer to the Ghyla-Heelene’s proportions. This suggests there is at least one more configuration, since both of the larger configurations are too small to use the middle set of control panels seen in the explored civilian station.

Despite their large size, however, the Narya-Melan seem to be lighter overall; even in the full armour, they only seem to weigh about as much as the Ghyla-Heelenes, and even then the bulk of the weight appears to be from the armour itself. They appear, despite their size, to be largely an aerial configuration.

When shorn of the armour, the multiple vectored thrust engines can be seen; one set just above the legs, two smaller ones along the body (one obscured by the larger engines in the illustration) and three sets on their tail. These appear, however, to be primarily for thrust, or at best to help with lift when encumbered, and the Narya-Heelenes appear to have integral anti-grav drives.

When in flight, the legs are curled up beneath the body, folding back along themselves and tilted up at an angle, keeping them out of the way. Notably, the Narya-Melan have dimorphic legs. The forelimbs have feet which are very similar – though smaller – than the legs of the Ghyla-Heelenes.

The small dome at the rear of the body appears to serve as the mounting point for weapons or other equipment, though unlike the similar circular sockets in the other two configurations, it is designed as the mounting for ball-and-socket joints.

The Narya-Melan’s armour consists of a bulky upper unit, which fits over the main body. This forms a carapace, like the shell of a beetle, which covers their tail and rear body. A short stack on the anterior dome serves to mount a turret. The legs have additional armour plates added, such that when the legs folded up, the plate form an armoured box around the legs. This would leave some gaps, especially around the front and back, but these are covered by a flexible metal skin which appears to inflate from the armour.

When all is closed up, this makes the Narya-Melan into something closer to a conventional grav-tank. The carapace prevents them from true flight in this stance, confining them to performance closer to a low-grav engine, but the armour plating makes them much less vulnerable to attack. Even with their armour, the underside is not completely covered and they are slightly more vulnerable than many proper grav tanks from the underside.

The Narya-Melan’s armour has six fixed light plasma-pulse guns, three either side of the hull. These appear to be identical to those that the Ghyla-Heelenes have. The armour has two point-defence missile bulbs either side of the head (which adds somewhat the dragonfly-like silhouette). These appear to be much the same as the bulbs used on the Aayla-pattern Doolahne 00 turrets and appear to use identical munitions.

The Narya-Melans observed have almost all used the Milya-pattern Doolahne 00 turret, with only a few seen using the Yylya-pattern. The Milya-pattern turret uses a kinetic accelerator cannon. This weapon is similar to a railgun, but unlike a railgun proper, the kinetic accelerator is designed to fire a wider variety of munitions. Two light point-defence particle beams similar to those on the Aalya-pattern turret are mounted on the sides of the turret. The turret sports two coaxial missile launchers, each of which carries four Quoolych 10 missiles.

Finally, the turret also supplies additional shield generators and power, raising the Narya-Melan’s armour shields from a Penetration Resistance from 60 to 65% and the Barrier strength from 36 to 39.

For a more comprehensive look at the Yrgynela, look no further than Bleakbane’s Galaxy Guide here.

_______________________________________________________________

Photos of the Resin versions of Ghyla-Heelene and Narya Melan; Sya-Heelenes as noted above.

Next month we will see the start of the releases for the rest of the XGA01 release, which will dovetail into Partizan in May, where they we will be on the table.

To give you a sneak peak, here’s the painted, resin versions of the three ships already out on the Shipyards, the XGA01-SV01-FRT Spore Freighter, XGA01-SV03-BC Battlecruiser and XGA01-SV06-DD Destroyer. (No, those aren’t the product codes, those are the Aotrs’ internal IFF flags.)

• This topic was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Aotrs Shipyards.

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