The Saga of SteelTread:Character Profile

Name: SteelTread
Faction: Predacon
Function: Heavy Assault/Siege
Affiliation: Predacon Training Academy Instructor Corps
Rank: Sergeant
Type: Transmetal
Beast Mode: Gila Monster
Robot Mode: Siege Tank
Third Mode: Hover Tank
Size classification: Large
Transformer Sex: Male
Age: 160 years
Theme Song: Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"

Appearance
Beast Mode - Covered with orange and black bead-like armor, SteelTread has a large, stocky body, a broad, flat head with a blunt nose, and a large, heavy tail. He moves rather slowly, low to the ground, and carries the aspect of the proverbial "irresistable force" when advancing on the enemy.

Robot mode - SteelTread's tail folds forward, his head folds back, and his feet become treads. The overall appearance is that of a large orange and black siege tank with beaded "Chobham" armor. A missile impacting on an individual bead of armor causes the bead to explode, destroying the missile or causing early detonation. On top of the tank is a turret with two guns in front - the siege cannon and the rocket launcher. Just below the two guns and still in the front of the turret is the flame thrower, and on either side of the turret are mounted the antipersonnel lasers, with a 180 degree field of fire. SteelTread in robot mode is a truly menacing sight.

Third mode - In third mode, SteelTread's treads retract into his body, armored panels flip down and around to cover the treads, and the antigrav units are activated to convert him into a Hover Tank. In this mode, he is able to fly at low level at a speed about twice as fast as in robot mode. He can still fire his guns with fair accuracy, but he becomes vulnerable to enemy gunfire that can turn him around and disrupt his slow-moving gun turret. SteelTread uses this mode primarily to transit to the field of battle. Upon arrival, he transforms back to robot mode and becomes a stable gun platform.

Statistics
Strength: 10
Speed: 3
Skill: 8
Aim: 4
Stamina: 10
Discipline: 9
Intelligence: 4
Firepower: 10
Luck: 5

Skills
Autofire Weapons
Firearms
Heavy Weapons

Endurance
Flight: assisted
Gunnery

Abilities
Low level flight in Hover Tank mode

Armament
Plasma siege cannon - A chrome steel barrel approximately four feet in length, with four superconducting magnetic rings around it. Fires approximately once per minute, up to 100 "rounds." Vaporizes rocks and fortifications to a distance of 100 yards, causes violent explosions to a distance of 1000 yards.

Laser-guided rocket launcher - A black steel barrel approximately three feet in length. Fires approximately 20 rounds per minute, up to 200 rounds. Inaccurate closer than 200 yards, but missiles have a range of two and a half miles with pinpoint laser-targeted accuracy. Causes violent explosions over its entire range.

Two independently-targeted antipersonnel lasers - Black steel barrel approximately two feet in length, with a 180-degree field of fire on either side. Capable of independent fire, approximately 10 times per minute per laser. Causes ablative melting of Transmetal material to a distance of 200 yards.

Front-mounted flame thrower - A steel barrel covered with soot, two feet in length. Capable of three minutes of continuous "fire." Accurate to a distance of 50 yards. Causes thermal damage to Transformer internal electronics and immediate shutdown of Transformer optic sensors.

Equipment
Laser range finder - A "black box" with a coated glass face plate, this doubles as a missile targeting laser. Accurate within one to two inches, out to five miles.

Personality
SteelTread is grouchy and generally bad-tempered. Not the smartest needle in the haystack, he grumbles constantly when it's time to go out on a mission, preferring to bask in the sunlight and generally indulge his lethargic lifestyle. Once the attack begins, however, his bad temper turns to pure white-hot primitive rage against the enemy, and the amount of offensive damage he can cause is truly incredible. If "kill the enemy" is his Prime Directive, then his secondary directive is surely "protect my troops." SteelTread is one of the most loyal Transformers ever. Even with his low intelligence rating, he is somehow able to keep track of all friendly units on the field, and often directs firepower where needed to protect his troops, even at the expense of his own safety. His single-minded determination to destroy the enemy, however, often proves to be his undoing, as the opposing forces usually try to take him out first in order to protect their fortifications. SteelTread spends lots of time in the CR Chamber.

History
SteelTread was a distinguished fighter in several early Predacon battle campaigns. He was promoted to Sergeant, and became the leader of a small squad of Predacons who called themselves "Steel Death." The Steel Death squad became almost legendary at one time, because they operated so efficiently that they were thought by their enemies to be in telepathic contact with each other. This was untrue, of course - they had just been together for so long that each one knew what the other was likely to do at any moment. But all good things, as they say, come to an end. During the campaign on Meniscus 4, SteelTread's Corporal and best friend, MetalClaw, was destroyed in a freak energon explosion, and everything changed. SteelTread and the rest of the Steel Death squad began to understand that their unit had taken the majority of the damage in every battle in the area for the past 40 years. They were always the lead units in any attack plan, and spent more time in CR chambers than most of the other Predacons in their attack force. The squad realized, collectively, that it was time for a vacation. Steel Death disbanded and its members went their separate ways. SteelTread returned to the Predacon Training Academy on Bakela Prime and joined the Instructor Corps. The life of an Academy Instructor suited him well, and he was finally able to relax and enjoy life for the first time in many years. But after 35 years as an Instructor, training green recruits and watching them ship out to exotic locations, the leisure time and lack of a challenge was starting to make him uncomfortable. Finally, he saw a notice on the bulletin board that a Security Officer was needed for a new ship in Exploration Team 12, looking for colony worlds on the Galactic Rim, so he signed on and was off into space once more. For twenty years, the Questor investigated world after world, finding few suitable for Predacon habitation. Then, while charting a small red planet with two moons and a thin atmosphere, the Questor was attacked by a band of renegade Maximals marooned on the planet. The crash landing caused heavy damage to the ship. Between Maximal attacks, while the scientists and soldiers try to repair the ship to escape the planet, SteelTread stands watch, dozing in the sunlight with one eye open, contented to the core.

Quote: "What do YOU want?"
Quote: "Here's your Steel Death!!!" (the battle cry of the old Steel Death squad)

SteelTread sunning himself at his watch station
[photo of a gila monster as viewed from overhead]

"SteelTread! Terrorize!"
[photo of a gila monster's head with the tongue extended]

Edited by Tarantulas at: 8/25/00 8:39:28 pm