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Description

If anyone out there wanted something more "Hero Team meets Ace Combat", well I have the answer for YOU!

BEHOLD, the blueprint for the XS-04 Psychopath. Because it's so hardcore, you'd have to be a psychopath to fly it!

...OR an A.I. which started to take off round this time.

Point is, I really, REALLY wanted that "blueprint" and "technical schematic" vibe when putting this onto digital paper.

I even updated the Hero Team Timeline to account for it:

March 5, 2016 - The blueprints for the XS-04 Psychopath are put to paper, designed at the time specifically for Super Soldier use exclusively (well before A.I. had expanded so drastically, and that the closest thing were humans remotely piloting aircraft, not the aircraft wholesale flying itself). It's not a traditional aircraft, thus it makes sense to not have a traditional visual design. It looks like a cross between a missile and an X-Wing. The design goals for it have been jaw-dropping, even for America's tech level of the time: Repeating Rail Rifles so they can alternate fire to give each one a chance to cool off, thereby allowing for continuous fire; missiles branded as "Ace Killers" to detonate for glancing hits if they're close enough to the target but would otherwise miss; and the very beginning of A.I. starting to creep in through the form of Smart Missiles wholly guided by programs and detection equipment "Digital Eyes" so that, whatever the pilot locks on to, the missile can see that shape and specific identity with algorithms and "Digital Eyes" so it won't be confused by chaff, flares, or weather disruptions. In practice, that would mean Artificial Intelligence would fly a missile much like how a human would fly a plane. The concept of "Digital Eyes" would make heatseekers seem Neanderthal in comparison! The Psychopath was intended to blend a combination of jet, rocket, and nuclear technologies that could theoretically allow it to operate, with capable yet less-than-full combat potential, all the way in outer space! But, at this point in time, the Psychopath was still just on the drawing board, nothing more than an idea in DARPA's collective imagination.

September 14, 2019 - The first A.I. Warrior is prototyped, specifically in the automated variant of the XS-04 Psychopath, named the U-45 Future Machine. The directive was brutally simple: IF aircraft == NOT U.S. IFF, AND IF aircraft == NOT civilian, THEN destroy; IF civilian_threat > 0, THEN destroy. Basically, all enemies are to be annihilated, even the uprising rabble should a non-military force take arms against the robot planes. That simplicity was fair given the context that 1) this was a prototype test run for proof-of-concept to prove absolute automation is viable in the long-term future, and 2) World War 3 was in full swing at the time. It had used flight data from "Mental", who had been quoted with response: "There's one card in a deck that can beat an Ace. That card would be a JOKER!" Which meant the robots had the data from "the greatest fighter pilot who ever lived" to give a baseline frame-of-reference for their performance command; this data was compiled over the course of anywhere from 6 to 12 missions (or "sorties" to use the correct jargon), ranging from the Battle of DC to the Nuking of Tokyo, enough for the robots to detect patterns. The three machines performed without fear or caution, going to precisely the absolute physical limit of the jet, where any normal human would easily fail from G-LOC or be outright squashed like an egg in a tight fist. At first, they flew like "Mental", then, at around halfway into the mission, surpassed even those world records. The target, Russia, had been awestruck to see that "dogfighting is back on the menu" since the range of missiles could be countered by an acceleration and top speed so hilariously ludicrous, it could actually evade modern homing technologies. At that point, the automated 3 jet wing had been "practically just showing off" to quote Adam, Hero 4. In this alternate timeline, Russia's military were competent but still outdated, investing in a "quantity over quality" doctrine as well as weapons of mass destruction - the latter became the main goal of what'd be known as "Droid Wing". It was the first successful mission to be undertaken by a purely zero-man-army. It would still be a while before logistics and maintenance would also be absolutely automated, but the combat prong definitely revealed potential in that seemingly futuristic dream. Naturally, some people started worrying about their jobs, but given the secret nature, the narrow scope, and the highly anti-war mindset of most Millennials, the possibilities and predictions had yet to go mainstream. For the stronger and wiser (including President Trump and his staff of Generals), they could see the Automation Age on the horizon of time, but Trump could not be so open about that for political reasons; as the President's job is to represent The People, and The People were not as keen on this direction, this put him in a tight spot on leading the world.

This drawing was NOT made by an A.I. as it was made by Jay Geis, the Golden Knight.

Description

If anyone out there wanted something more "Hero Team meets Ace Combat", well I have the answer for YOU!

BEHOLD, the blueprint for the XS-04 Psychopath. Because it's so hardcore, you'd have to be a psychopath to fly it!

...OR an A.I. which started to take off round this time.

Point is, I really, REALLY wanted that "blueprint" and "technical schematic" vibe when putting this onto digital paper.

I even updated the Hero Team Timeline to account for it:

March 5, 2016 - The blueprints for the XS-04 Psychopath are put to paper, designed at the time specifically for Super Soldier use exclusively (well before A.I. had expanded so drastically, and that the closest thing were humans remotely piloting aircraft, not the aircraft wholesale flying itself). It's not a traditional aircraft, thus it makes sense to not have a traditional visual design. It looks like a cross between a missile and an X-Wing. The design goals for it have been jaw-dropping, even for America's tech level of the time: Repeating Rail Rifles so they can alternate fire to give each one a chance to cool off, thereby allowing for continuous fire; missiles branded as "Ace Killers" to detonate for glancing hits if they're close enough to the target but would otherwise miss; and the very beginning of A.I. starting to creep in through the form of Smart Missiles wholly guided by programs and detection equipment "Digital Eyes" so that, whatever the pilot locks on to, the missile can see that shape and specific identity with algorithms and "Digital Eyes" so it won't be confused by chaff, flares, or weather disruptions. In practice, that would mean Artificial Intelligence would fly a missile much like how a human would fly a plane. The concept of "Digital Eyes" would make heatseekers seem Neanderthal in comparison! The Psychopath was intended to blend a combination of jet, rocket, and nuclear technologies that could theoretically allow it to operate, with capable yet less-than-full combat potential, all the way in outer space! But, at this point in time, the Psychopath was still just on the drawing board, nothing more than an idea in DARPA's collective imagination.

September 14, 2019 - The first A.I. Warrior is prototyped, specifically in the automated variant of the XS-04 Psychopath, named the U-45 Future Machine. The directive was brutally simple: IF aircraft == NOT U.S. IFF, AND IF aircraft == NOT civilian, THEN destroy; IF civilian_threat > 0, THEN destroy. Basically, all enemies are to be annihilated, even the uprising rabble should a non-military force take arms against the robot planes. That simplicity was fair given the context that 1) this was a prototype test run for proof-of-concept to prove absolute automation is viable in the long-term future, and 2) World War 3 was in full swing at the time. It had used flight data from "Mental", who had been quoted with response: "There's one card in a deck that can beat an Ace. That card would be a JOKER!" Which meant the robots had the data from "the greatest fighter pilot who ever lived" to give a baseline frame-of-reference for their performance command; this data was compiled over the course of anywhere from 6 to 12 missions (or "sorties" to use the correct jargon), ranging from the Battle of DC to the Nuking of Tokyo, enough for the robots to detect patterns. The three machines performed without fear or caution, going to precisely the absolute physical limit of the jet, where any normal human would easily fail from G-LOC or be outright squashed like an egg in a tight fist. At first, they flew like "Mental", then, at around halfway into the mission, surpassed even those world records. The target, Russia, had been awestruck to see that "dogfighting is back on the menu" since the range of missiles could be countered by an acceleration and top speed so hilariously ludicrous, it could actually evade modern homing technologies. At that point, the automated 3 jet wing had been "practically just showing off" to quote Adam, Hero 4. In this alternate timeline, Russia's military were competent but still outdated, investing in a "quantity over quality" doctrine as well as weapons of mass destruction - the latter became the main goal of what'd be known as "Droid Wing". It was the first successful mission to be undertaken by a purely zero-man-army. It would still be a while before logistics and maintenance would also be absolutely automated, but the combat prong definitely revealed potential in that seemingly futuristic dream. Naturally, some people started worrying about their jobs, but given the secret nature, the narrow scope, and the highly anti-war mindset of most Millennials, the possibilities and predictions had yet to go mainstream. For the stronger and wiser (including President Trump and his staff of Generals), they could see the Automation Age on the horizon of time, but Trump could not be so open about that for political reasons; as the President's job is to represent The People, and The People were not as keen on this direction, this put him in a tight spot on leading the world.

This drawing was NOT made by an A.I. as it was made by Jay Geis, the Golden Knight.