Fan Art/Explorer Craft (Anthropalyptic Creations)

The Explorer Craft is a fan imagined mechanical creature part of the Anthropalyptic Creations collection. They are original modified counterparts based off of the Explorer Probes from the speculative evolution franchise Expedition, and the first Counterpart Creatures written by Almultimavenger.

They are creatures for the upcoming/planned DLC Darwinia, portrayed as free roaming probes that study the ecosystem and environment. They can be destroyed and rebuilt for taming and have their own personalities to resemble actual animals.

Dossier
The dossier written is currently from the perspective of the creator as a survivor in game.

Wild)

"I wouldn't say that they're a do or die necessity or the Darwinian landscape but these mechanical crafts are nonetheless beneficial. I am confused as to why the rebellious faction chose to spawn them, perhaps simply as a gift to the noble folk. They're an easy method of exploration and surveillance. They're essentially free roaming scouts on the endless landscape."

Domesticated)

"Behaving like gentle and docile animals, these crafts must be destroyed to unlock the secret blueprint they stow within them. Using these and by equipping the crafts with weapons, humans take advantage of their weight capacity for mass gathering and transportation. They also conveniently come with deployable high speed surveillance drones to get a closer view of the field of battle or exploration, making them a perfect companion so long as you tolerate their helplessness."

Behavior
Explorer Crafts are a mystery in how they populate the landscape naturally, as such they spawn using the ARK's technology. They spend their days in the wild roaming the landscape slowly and gently, looking upon and observing the wildlife while self powered and operated. They may be seen foraging for plant resources with their mechanical tendrils. When they are struck or attacked, they will flee as they possess little capability to put up a fight. The probes are said to have the intelligence capacity and curiosity of toddlers or children and may otherwise watch the interactions of animal life on the arid surface.

Appearance
Explorer Crafts heavily resemble their Explorer Probe counterparts with a handful of design variations. They have a whale like body with a thin tail in contrast to a rounded or ellipse body that is partially armored, and the space is mostly taken up by rubber sacs that can be filled with helium to inflate in order for them to fly. Their flukes resemble those of whales and have fan like propellers just like their fins. The fins are also armed with rudders and tendrils used for holding tools and picking at resources. Their head is also very much bird like and rests close to the bottom of their form. Their neck is retractable in the wild and can hypothetically scope beyond 90 degrees in each direction for viewing the landscape.

General
Explorer Crafts are simply meant for safe travel and gathering without the risk of casualties or life. But with that being said they are almost pitifully weak and defenseless. Their flying speed is comparable to the running of an Allosaurus, and they'll flee upon being attacked.

Strategy
There will be no need to subdue one unless in need of parts, as they are passive. Since Explorer Crafts are preprogrammed to study the environment's biology, they spend their days collecting samples of resources and organic material for analytical purposes, and as such are seen roaming the open environment. A decent flyer of any kind can tackle and destroy them, and a land mount can work as effectively if they don't venture too far from the surface.

Weaponry
Metal arrows and firearms will suffice best to bring them down. Aim for the sacs as there is a damage multiplier for 5* when struck at them.

Dangers
Explorer Crafts are targeted by every other predator as they are viewed as some kind of prey, so fighting one in a dangerous area can lead to disaster if unprepared.

Weaknesses
Explorer Crafts without weapons in their inventory slots are defenseless and have no means of profound attack power.

Taming
Explorer Crafts must be destroyed to collect the blueprints inside of their inventories. They can be crafted with 135 polymers, 35 electronics, 56 silica pearls, 10 element dust, 40 rubber, 5 helium gas, and 25 gold plates. They can be repaired from damage using the inventory in the Stationary Cockpit.

Roles

 * Hyper Gathering- Explorer Crafts can be equipped with metal tools on their tendril hands, enabling them to deal damage and collect from trees and rocks, as it is their primary function with their weight.
 * Safe Travel- Explorer Crafts are decent flyers that can get out of harm's way and be an effective method of active surveillance around the landscape. Their only vulnerability would be dangerous flyers such as Spearbills.
 * Surveillance- Crafts can deploy built Surveillance Disks to fly at high speeds and view the landscape with cameras viewing. These disks are an excellent method to lure dangerous animals away from the vicinity as they'll be targeted by all predators.

Trivia

 * Explorer Crafts share identical appearance to the Darwin 4 Explorer Probes, but have some varying features including a narrower head, whale like flukes and far more plated and armored fins.
 * They're larger than what the dossiers portray.
 * They're the first Counterpart Creatures in Anthropalyptic Creations.