"Cybrid Aerial Transport 2"

At the time of this little sketch, there was no existing Cybrid transport that I was aware of for the 2845 project. One day while drawing in my notes in math class, I accidentally created a little doodle of this vehicle. I later decided to flesh it out, and made the side thumbnail you see here. I did not have enough room to do a real concept, nor was the shape simple enough to do so, so I decided to just do a series of thumbnails.

The pods labeled "0" are, as noted, modules used by the infantry for transport. The human vehicle has a literal room with two heavy weapons mounted on either side for the infantry to ride in, much like a modern helicopter might have. I decided that method might be obvious and was very unCybridesque, so I decided that storing the infantry somewhere would be more fitting. The pods originally just hung from the undercarriage, and made the whole thing look like a big grape vine. Simply adding an angle to them made it look a lot more natural, somehow. The idea here is that the player approaches the general area beneathe the pods and hits "E" or whatever to enter. You wouldn't actually have to leap up in the air and open the things. As far as how it would work in real life, who knows. I suppose the pods would lower slightly on a sort of hydrolic press and the warform would just enter that way. I designed the pods to look like the pods used by the Adjudicators in the human finale in Starsiege.

Since these are all thumbnails, there are no textures or real details to speak of. I was forced to add some lines here and there to make sure it was obvious how everything curved. Originally, the definitive look of the flyer was going to be five large plates on the head that formed a sort of trowel, meant to spread away fire and wind, whatever, away from the body. As these are thumbnails, the look didn't really get across, however. Before I draw an actual concept, this is typically what designs look like in my head: just bulbous, generic shapes that form a larger shape. I rarely imagine details first unless I want them to define the overall shape or look of the machine.

Now, if you asked me if this thing would ever actually fly, I'd laugh. Video game vehicles never actually look like they'd work, most of the time. Thank goodness for psuedo-science. This vehicle works primarily off anti-gravity engines, so it never has to land. The generic looking engines I placed on the wingtips are mainly just placeholders. When I was drawing the overall shape, that's just the shape I gave them to balance out the design's body.

I'll note that when flying, I imagine this flyer tilting with its nose pointing a good deal towards the ground, like a helicopter would. This ends up making the tail turret the turret responsible for overhead attacks, and the undercarriage turret capable of defending the rear. When moving at a slower pace, the vehicle tilts back to a normal position. This means that it's more vulnerable at certain angles while moving faster, and that while a little more heavily armed than the human version, each turret has to make more compensations in their aim as the pilot speeds up. The pilot's ATCs also won't be able to fire straight forward if he's moving very fast, either. I imagine the twin turrets are the "main guns" as far as the infantry is concerned, with the other two existing as extras to give the other players something to do. All the turrets wouldn't be that powerful, just enough to possibly ward off the occassional aircraft, especially if they fire at the same one.