Harvester Tripod

I'm coming for you, food.

One of the more insidious machines of the Martian invaders, the Harvester Tripod is a mobile nutrient processor/gatherer which has begun to appear more and more as the Great Martian War drags into the 1910s.

Of the many challenges faced by the Martians on the target world was how to efficiently collect and process the prey creatures. Herding the prey to the hold fasts with warning heat ray blasts, warning horns and manipulator tendrils proved to be agonizingly slow as the war machines guiding the prey creatures were limited to however fast the prey could stagger on their stubby legs and often had to stop to give them a chance to rest when moving long distances. Simply carrying the prey did allow for a faster overall movement speed, but was almost hilariously inefficient. The Assault Tripods could only carry a few prey in their tendrils, while the retrofitted Harvester Tripods exposed cage would sometimes cause the prey to die of exposure en route which would result in a poor nutrient collection.

It wasn't until the clan assigned to the Northern part of Continent 4 (America to us prey creatures) came to the realization that if only they could make a machine that could process the prey creatures on the site of their capture, not only would they negate all the previous problems with dealing with the prey, but they would also boost efficiency as the nutrient fluid was far more easily transportable than the annoying creatures. The only down side is that the fluid would break down over time so some living creatures would still have to be kept as livestock.

In All Quiet on Martian Front

Somewhat slower and smaller than the traditional fighting machines, the effect the Harvester has on the prey creatures is no less impressive.

With the traditional Defense and Armor of Tripods at 6 and 11 respectively, the only major difference in the base stats is its slower movement of only 6 inches. All in all a pretty standard Tripod, but its in the weaponry where things get interesting.

For dealing with distant enemies, the Harvester carries one Medium Heat Ray which is slightly less powerful than the standard Heavy Heat ray on the Assault Tripods. It only has a 10 inch range +2 power sweep a +3 Power 20 inch focused beam. The true beauty of this tripod is not found at range though, the true beauty is found in assault. The Harvester has a grand total of 4 reaper tentacles, which means that you have 4 melee attacks against the prey creatures with +2 power, perfect for tearing through the foot warrior formations and even dealing with their light vehicles. If the prey are hiding in their fortifications or inside one of the larger machines the Reaper Claw is perfectly designed to dig them out. Instead of 4 attacks with the reaper tentacles, you may make one attack with +5 power. Yes you did read that right.

At 150 points the Harvester is a very good machine to add to your Martian force.