So how are those non-motorized gun units moving?

[jimwinsor]

A discussion on another thread reminded me of this issue. Currently, there are both non-motorized and motorized versions of artillery in the game. So I've oft wondered, for the non-motorized guns moving at foot speed ... what exactly is causing them to move?

It could be they are being manhandled by humans on foot I suppose, although that feels unlikely. Or very slow vehicles? Naw, those would consume fuel.

So the only explanation I can come up with is that they are being towed by pack animals of some sort. But what kind of animals?

Now, what follows is my own personal head canon ... it is in no way Vic approved. But it makes sense, so I've adopted it personally.

The domesticated pack animals that move guns on every planet in the former empire are known as ... Arachnids!

Yes Arachnids. Here's how my own personal version of the lore goes: Early on in the human space exploration of the galaxy, a planet was discovered with a remarkable spider-like life form dominating it. It was silicon based and ate rocks for sustenance. It could live in almost any temperature, was radiation-resistant, and did not have lungs and thus did not breath air ... so it could literally thrive on ANY planet or planetoid. And best of all, it had dolphin level intelligence, so once captured it could be domesticated and trained to do all sorts of useful menial labor. And humans being who we are, we immediately enslaved the entire race, and used them as beasts of burden during our colonization of the galaxy.

And this, by the way, explains why you can encounter Arachnid regions, even on "lifeless" planets ... those are the freedom-loving ones who escaped from the ranch. Naturally, they are usually hostile to humans.

So, next time you move that artillery unit ... picture the team of spiders in front hauling those guns down the road!

[boomboomf22]

I like this idea, and it works a lot better than them being hauled by hand as that would be super slow.

[Shards]

If I remember an old conversation correctly, that's pretty much exactly what the Arachnids are! Essentially domesticated animals that have gone feral, thus why they're everywhere that Humans are!

[boomboomf22]

Must be extremophile domestic animals as I have run into them on worlds where functionally there was no atmosphere. Maybe they are genetically engineered?

[Vic]

ORIGINAL: Shards

If I remember an old conversation correctly, that's pretty much exactly what the Arachnids are! Essentially domesticated animals that have gone feral, thus why they're everywhere that Humans are!

Correct. They were kept in industrial complexes to produce various kinds of complex molecules, however for what reason and how has been lost in the mists of time...

They were not kept as pets!

[Destragon]

Maybe they have some sort of rudimentary exosuit to make pulling them easier.
Or some sort of basic hover vehicle?

[solops]

Huh. Disappointing. I thought it was giant space hamsters.