ADVENT: Unit

Mechanized Defense Unit

"The future of warfare is here, and there is little the aliens can do to stop it."

- Chief of ADVENT Engineering and Development Feng Mercado

Madam President,

Progress on the White Knight Project has been proceeding well and we are currently on schedule to begin full field tests within the next few months. However, there are some issues that will need to be solved in the long term, well before we begin deploying these machines in combat, much less revealing them to the public and inserting them in the military branches.

First, this is where we are at now: The chassis is essentially complete, and it is functionally able to perform the full range of motions required such as walking, jumping, holding appropriate weaponry, and basic melee defense. It has the capability to fire upon specific audible commands, as well as perform a limited number of additional actions.

So at best we now have a functional robot, albeit one with no independent intelligence. There is a certain 'jank' to its movements, but that can be ironed out in future iterations. The next step will be integrating the friend-foe identification and reaction time intelligence. While we are confident that it is possible, it is difficult to know how quickly we will be able to bring it up to a level that is both safe and effective.

Due to this transition, I believe the team should reflect the current goal. It largely consists of engineers and robotics designers, all of whom were exceptionally useful, but now our goal is creating the intelligence of this machine. We simply do not have enough experts in AI, Machine Learning, or simple coding to solve this problem in a respectable amount of time.

I do not mean to say that we cannot solve this without additional relevant experts, but I do believe that time is a luxury that we no longer possess. The attack on New York soberly underscores this fact, and this project could mean the difference between victory and defeat. While this facility is not under immediate threat, a full war will doubly increase the stress here, both to the personnel and our resources.

The other option is to bring another independent company into this project, one who has their own resources and personnel, and it would not be a drain on United States resources. To date, there are a few companies that would have such qualifications, the largest being Solaris Industries, who have an impressive track record even if they primarily focus on weapon development.

Another who might be better at the AI portion would be a larger tech company like Google or IBM. While large, and potentially questionable as far as trust goes, I am positive that they would be willing to work on a project, as the aliens are a subject that will certainly have ramifications for them.

In the meantime, we will continue as scheduled, but I encourage you to keep this in mind, Madam President.

- Jackie Gillian, "White Knight" Project Lead

ADVENT Engineering Report 7762

Subject: Mechanized Defense Unit

Author: Chief of ADVENT Engineering and Development Feng Mercado

The Americans were certainly on the right track with this unit, although looking over some of their somewhat…impractical designs shows that there was too much time spent on variations without mastering the core concept. No doubt they intended to apply differing units for the various branches, but in doing so, they wasted precious development time on concepts that would never materialize.

That being said, the concept of such variations offers valuable ideas for the future.

ADVENT will, at some point, begin running into a numbers problem. This understandably has caused some panic, or mild trepidation within higher circles, but I do not believe it is a large issue simply because the way war is being fought is changing. The future of Human warfare is not in soldiers, but machines.

I am surprised this realization has not been recognized by the aliens. They seem stuck in the old ways where organic infantry is the primary driving force of their military, which strikes me as odd. I could understand if they were cybernetically or genetically enhanced, but the aliens seem to limit that to the Floaters and Muton Elites.

Andromedons are an interesting evolution, yet they still rely on an organic pilot. Furthermore, these Floaters do not appear to take advantage of the cybernetic components, and instead they act like raving creatures. Poor design and programming. Sloppy for aliens. I would have expected better.

Yet what is more baffling is that they have mechanical units and seem to not want to use them. The Sectopods, Cyberdisks, and even their drones all have proven to be effective against Human soldiers. Unsurprising since they are mechanical and their computer systems are currently more robust than ours. But they seem hesitant in actually using them in any way other than support, with the possible exception of the Sectopods.

Why?

Returning to the topic at hand, humanity has no need to rely on inefficient soldiers. While genetic modification takes steps to correct this, the fact is that a machine will always be superior to a human. Hybrid systems come close, such as the impressive MEC project from XCOM, but even a MEC simply cannot have the reaction time and processing power of a fully automated intelligence.

Thus, the Mechanized Defense Unit is the solution to both the dwindling numbers of humanity and the largely organic forces of the aliens. The MDUs have reached the point in their development where they can calculate the weak points of an enemy and fire within the span of milliseconds. Their laser weapons allow them to react instantaneously and not waste superfluous energy. Why XCOM bothers to give such energy-draining weapons as simple rifles to their soldiers is a colossal waste of resources, and their method of sustaining the laser is a gross waste of energy.

I am especially impressed with my team in developing the intelligence. It is effective, brutal and adaptable to the situation, both against alien and human forces. Autopsies and video footage have shown an ability for the MDU intelligence to adapt to known tactics and develop counters.

Truly, the age of mechanized warfare has finally come.

There was preliminary discussion on if the intelligence should be linked to a centralized network or remain an autonomous intelligence, with the former idea scrapped due to the many security concerns. While this limits the amount of data they have access to at any given time, it also ensures that a network hack, breach, or shutdown will not adversely affect the MDU, and it will mean each individual MDU will be, in some way, unique from each other.

Now that their effectiveness has been proven, the time has come to expand on the concept and apply it to other areas of this war. In terms of harnessing artificial intelligence, we are only scratching the surface.

Battlemaster,

At your request, I have undertaken the task of analyzing and identifying the tactics and weaknesses of the newly deployed ADVENT mechanical unit. I fully admit that the deployment and effectiveness of these Mechanized Defense Units, known commonly as MDUs, caught me by surprise and it was a threat I failed to adapt to in time.

Nevertheless, it is a lesson to learn from.

Due to the MDUs being a relatively new addition to the ADVENT military, resources and information on these machines are limited, and the primary sources of knowledge I am drawing upon are the recordings from the Middle Eastern conflict, the attack on Portland, and scattered Zararch intelligence reports on similar subjects.

I will start with the intelligence reports. It appears that this was originally an American project, directly authorized by President Nicole Treduant as a way to develop superior mechanized soldiers that could be mass produced. It is unknown if the current design is reflective of the original American project, but it was certainly based on such.

It is unclear when ADVENT formally took control of the project, but the Zararch have confirmed that the Chief Engineer Feng Mercado (Note that he is from the same Mercado family involved in EXALT) personally directed the project, and was the primary architect of the final product. While this is not a report on Engineer Mercado himself, it is known that he is a genius-level human who believed fully in mechanized warfare, and thus it should be no surprise that he took a direct interest in the project.

The first reported sightings of MDUs were during the Middle Eastern Conflict, specifically the ADVENT conquest of Tehran. Low-quality footage exists of these machines decimating hostile human forces, as well as targeting all non-ADVENT personnel, including civilians. If I were to speculate, I believe this was the equivalent of a field test for ADVENT, as footage of MDUs used in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan do not seem to have the same lack of discrimination.

ADVENT did utilize MDUs in their final conquest of the Middle East, but there is little relevant data to draw from, as the Human forces they were placed against were easily wiped out. We can extrapolate more date from the two conflicts against our own forces, specifically in Portland and Japan.

Both conflicts revealed that the MDUs are highly accurate and durable. All of them are armed with a type of heavy laser weapon, although the barrel can be modified depending on the size of the target, which the MDU has been recorded to be able to alter within seconds. The energy regulation is superb, and the MDU does not waste more energy against a target than is needed.

Furthermore, and this is the most dangerous aspect of the MDUs, the reaction time and precision of these machines is far superior to the majority of our forces deployed. Even the most genetically enhanced Mutons can only react within seconds. MDUs have the ability to adapt to differing circumstances and targets in milliseconds, a reaction time that is equivalent to Cyberdisks and faster than Sectopods.

The laser weapon it wields eliminates any delay it might otherwise have, and can quite literally kill multiple soldiers within seconds of each other, and in theory, there is no delay to this capability. I highly suspect that every MDU has a complete autopsy report and weak points of every unit known to them in their memory banks, as well as commonly used tactics.

To provide an example of their adaptability, during the Portland attack, one MDU was disarmed and the instant it detected its weapon was no longer functional, it discarded it and engaged the Mutons in melee combat with only its fists. With assistance from an XCOM telekinetic, it killed a Berserker by beating it to death in the face, and then moved on to other Muton soldiers who were unable to adapt in time to stop it.

Machines do not tire or lose focus, and furthermore, they can be easily produced, repaired and replaced. Our own soldiers are fallible against these machines and in a war of attrition, I do not believe we could win against them without making changes. There are few weak points in the MDU, and while the joints are obvious targets, I do not know the effect it will have due to their adaptability.

The armor covering it appears to be made out of a mixture of Earth and alloy metals, which allows it to withstand multiple plasma blasts, although sustained fire will destroy it. However, this is not as effective due to it being able to target and remove threats near-instantly. Long-range combat is preferable, as well as liberal usage of plasma explosives.

I am unaware if they are susceptible to EMP weapons, but I would be surprised if they had such an obvious weakness. An important note is that the head of the MDU is not a weakness, nor is it the central control center. It appears to be a trick, as footage from Portland shows several MDUs fighting without heads with nearly as much effectiveness as before. Due to this, I suspect the main processors are within the central torso, which just happens to be the part that is most heavily armored.

These MDUs are a threat, Battlemaster, and as it stands, we need to develop a solution before ADVENT learns just how dangerous they are to us.

- Disciple-7, Sargon of the Battlemaster