Rr-001 High Roller [Ryder]

The ascendance of the young Queen Asaga di Ryuvia to the throne of Ryuvia marked a drastic increase in the nation's military expenditure, which was often criticized by the Council of Ministers, but widely supported by the people in light of the murder of King Jaylor and PACT's growing conquest of the Neutral Rim. Pivotal to Ryuvia Prime's military program was the cooperation of captured Prototype Lynn in adopting Prototype technology for human use. 

The High Roller fully utilizes stolen Prototype technology to accommodate Asaga's True Awakening and replaced the now obsolete Black Jack as the Queen's personal ryder. With stellar specs in every area, the High Roller, like the Black Jack, is a versatile space superiority ryder with no particular weaknesses. To cut through drastically more powerful shield generators of the Post-Neutral Rim War Era, the Black Jack's quad laser cannons have been upgraded into a single back mounted laser cannon. An additional tail arm installed behind the ryder allows the High Roller to triple wield its weapons. With dual auto-rifles, a convertible switch blade/pulse gun, a rear mounted laser cannon, and anti-ryder missiles, the High Roller is a flexible ryder which can quickly establish control over the battlefield. 

Despite its vast suite of weaponry, the High Roller has a lower tonnage compared to the Black Jack thanks to its miniaturization of all its systems, giving it exceptional manoeuvrability, as well as portability in smaller carrier craft.

As an additional bonus with this being the first specifically tagged lore post of the new tier structure we'd also like to share another set of Sunrider lore snippets that were previously included in an older concept post to promote their visibility as revealed details.

The Lessons of the Neutral Rim War

The Neutral Rim War was a bloody six-year long war between the People's Alliance (PACT) and the Solaris Alliance fought in the Neutral Rim Territories. The first full scale conflict between two military and economic powers since the Alliance-Imperial War, the Neutral Rim War saw the overthrow of previous battlefield doctrine.

The Rise of Shielding, and the Subsequent Rise of Super Laser Weaponry

The widespread availability of Anti-Laser Particle Emitters brought the declining relevance of traditional laser weaponry in large scale military operations. Whereas the Alliance-Imperial War saw battles fought across astronomical distances by laser wielding capital ships, the Neutral Rim War was defined by complicated dances with combatants only a few kilometers apart relying upon ballistic weaponry.

Large scale laser weapons, such as the Cera Prototype Carrier Sunrider's Vanguard Cannon, and the PACT Super Dreadnought Legion's main laser, saw better results. Post-Neutral Rim War starships have followed suit and focused their power onto a singular laser emitter, rather than quantity-over-quality laser banks. Shielding technology has improved to the point of damping even these powerful weapons, but the arms race between laser and shielding now has no clear winner.

Dominance of Ryders

The use of fast Ryders to quickly deliver decisive tactical results proved decisive in the Neutral Rim War and naturally developed alongside the fast-paced battles of the Neutral Rim War. Throughout the conflict, Ryders became increasingly miniaturized as the galactic powers sought to pack in more Ryders into carriers, which similarly became smaller and smaller in response to the new doctrine of knife fight range warfare. Post-Neutral Rim War Ryders generally have been standardized to less than 15 meters in height, approximately 3 meters shorter than when the war began.