Titanfall Tech

Pilots

Titan Pilots are rated by “certifications”, most of which apply to civilian applications such as construction, shipping, and heavy salvage industries. The most prestigious of these is the Full Combat Certification—a widely published series of tests that grade a Titan Pilot’s abilities. Because of the extreme physical and mental challenges of mastering both Titan combat and dismounted parkour movement, a fully combat-certified Titan Pilot is a rare find, and the combat skills of active Pilots in the field varies widely throughout the Frontier.

Some are formally trained by the IMC or Militia’s dedicated programs, while the vast majority are trained by independent mercenary or pirate groups. A large black market surrounding the technology used by Pilots is rumored to have developed across the Frontier, covering areas such as weapons modifications, physical alterations and strengthening, stolen training simulation pods, and Titan-Pilot combat interface abilities.

Jump Kits

Jump Kits are small jetpacks that are worn around the waist. They originated in the ship salvage industry—workers needed a way to quickly navigate through complex geometries with deadly drops and sheer vertical faces. Jump Kits provide a brief burst of thrust that is used to leap to higher locations. They also have a function that adjusts the deceleration on potentially fatal descents to safe levels, allowing Pilots to fall from great heights without injury. Combat Titan Pilots have informally adapted Jump Kits to their own purposes for many years. The Jump Kit enables sustained wall running, improving Pilot maneuverability in combat situations against regular infantry and other Titans.

Titans

Titans are descendants of today’s fledgling military exoskeletons. In addition to the obvious combat applications, unarmed forms of Titans are used in heavy industries like cargo transport and salvage. They are also used in special applications such as deep space search and rescue, and are very effective in inhospitable environments. The use of Titans is widespread throughout the Frontier in both combat and in civilian life.

Data Knife

This is a special knife designed to infiltrate and reprogram enemy computer systems by plugging into a data port. A circular, backlit screen in the handle indicates progress. The “business end” of the device is a plug that works with many different types of hardware ports like a skeleton key. When used against Marvins and Spectres, the Data Knife will reprogram the robot to fight on the attacker’s side. It also works as a knife.

Grunts

Standard infantry deployed by both the IMC and Militia are most commonly referred to as Grunts. Participating in battles dominated by Pilots and Titans, Grunts often serve in a supporting role, securing and defending objectives. Grunts are equipped with a variety of ballistic-based weapons ranging from carbines to shotguns. But some Grunts also carry shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons designed to damage Titans.

Marvins

Subsidiaries of the IMC developed the MRVN (Mobile Robotic Versatile eNtity), commonly referred to as the Marvin. A Marvin is an anthropomorphic helper robot used in industrial and civilian applications. They are not designed for combat and they have a relatively primitive locomotion system compared to their Spectre counterparts. Marvins are used throughout the Core Systems and the Frontier, performing sanitation, construction, maintenance, and hazardous environment duties in both industrial and civilian markets.

Spectres

Defense contractor subsidiaries of the IMC developed the Spectre—a robotic anthropomorphic combat system derived from the MRVN project. The Spectre is officially classified in IMC manifests as a form of Automated Infantry. Their main use is urban pacification and occupation. Due to the corporate and military politics that plagued their development, Spectres inherited a data port vulnerability from their Marvin predecessors. When a Pilot reprograms a Spectre, the Spectre immediately begins to seek out and engage friendly combatants, both human and artificial, with extreme prejudice.

Drop Pods

Drop Pods are used to deploy automated and human infantry to the ground from orbit with high precision. Drop Pods can be pressurized for the deployment of human occupants. The pods may also be internally reconfigured in many ways to deliver a wide variety of payloads. Distortion Braking Technology allows Drop Pods to streak in but decelerate to a survivable speed prior to hitting the ground. The braking results in a visible donut-like distortion effect in the sky, and a bowel-shaking, low-frequency sound that is hard to miss.

Heavy Turrets

Heavy turrets are designed for killing everything—including Titans. When used out in the field, they are often braced into position in urban environments atop buildings, and have a considerable range of motion and excellent target tracking systems. Multiple Titans are usually required to disable a single heavy turret by focusing their fire on it. They operate autonomously and, in most cases, can be “flipped” (to fight for the other team) when a nearby console is compromised, often with a Data Knife.

Dropships

The Goblin dropship is the current generation of IMC troop and light cargo transport. It is manufactured in a variety of formats, each with different drive, shielding, and weapons systems. The Crow is an older generation of dropship based on the battle-forged and proven designs from the Titan Wars. Although it was superseded by the IMC’s Goblin design several years ago, it is still seen everywhere throughout the Frontier. Many Crow-class dropships still remain in service with the Militia, either salvaged from the battlefield or stolen outright from the IMC.

The Dropship Combat Search and Rescue (D-CSAR) System is a collection of modifications that allows small dropships such as the Crow and Goblin to carry several Titan-grade bodyshield generators onboard. Dropships carrying the D-CSAR System are so heavily shielded that they are almost invulnerable to enemy fire, making them ideal for medical evacuation, even when under heavy fire from enemy Titans. However, the amount of power required to operate the system limits how often the ship can operate its jump drive (usually one jump for arrival and one jump for departure before requiring refueling) and disables all of the dropship’s built-in weapons.