Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Big Five Part 5


Panthera Pardus - Leopard

The role of the Leopard consists of stealth, light recon, and as a force multiplier. Leopards are very lightly armored consisting mostly of exposed artificial muscles and the canvas covering them. Their greatest asset is the active camouflage system. The spots on the Leopard are evenly spaced and staggered with one full spot and a ring. Through visually sampling its surroundings the rosettes adjust their color to match. The information is passed on to the next rosette over which blends with the others. Perfect invisibility still has yet to be achieved, but when working in the bush the Leopards ability to blend has proven to be incredibly useful. (See chroma sub-sampling, thermo-optic camo from GITS, and active camo from MGS4)

Hunting and tracking behavior is more or less the same as it's real life counterpart. In most cases Leopards are deployed as solitary units consisting of the Leopard and ranger to provide tactical support to the other animal squads in the area. Perching and ambushing from tree's is a popular tactic. Since it is lightly armored Leopard models can move quickly and quietly, able to maneuver and reposition with ease without giving away it's location. The paws are padded to help lower noise signature. Like the Lions, the claws and teeth are made of tungsten carbide and are retractable. The eye covers provide different viewing spectrum's and wide angle fields of vision. The daytime operations model has the tan/white covering while the night version resembles a Black Panther with deep blue/black coverings.

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Wooo hooo! Done with the Big Five.... or am I. Will update you guys soon with more info.

Thanks so much for sticking around and watching my work progress. Your support has meant a lot to me. I've read all your comments and tried to respond to all of them. Your feedback has been invaluable and knowing that I'm doing something you guys can appreciate has helped push this series along. Stay tuned for updates about this project and where I, hopefully, can take it.

Thanks again
Rob