Index -> Playing the Game -> Race -> Android

When you choose Android as your deck's primary race, your scouts cost +1 build point to build, and get +2 beam and +3 hull. Your cruisers cost +1 build point to build, and get +1 missile, +1 cannon, and +10 hull.

Android Racial Profile

The Androids are sentient, autonomous constructs. Yet despite that, they show a remarkable degree of individuality, creativeness, and illogical cruelty.

Each Android is modeled after the Humans, a sentient species native to Earth. The reason for this is unknown, at least to the other races. It has perplexed the Humans especially, who emerged on the galactic scene only after a sudden, vicious and unexplained invasion by an Android fleet.

While Androids resemble Humans, it is not an exact replication. Each A'droid's features are, by the standards of Human beauty, pristine and perfect. They do not resemble normal Humans as much as they resemble idealized Human artwork depicting Humans. An Android would not look out of place in a museum featuring the sculptures of Michelangelo and other classical Greek artists. The typical Android is at least six feet tall, but they are never super-human in height.

Android models are invariably female in form. Again, outside of the Android race, no explanation has been given.

Android dress, names, and conventions are often in mockery of Human culture. They have been known to wear ancient Human clothing outfitted with gaudy, modern accessories. They have also been known to wear modern clothing in style with current Terran pop culture.

Android demeanor can range from sinister to angelic (and definitely both), but they always look regal. A famous bit of footage from the Jupiter Initiative shows an Android standing atop a field of dead, her face half shredded down to the exoskeleton and one arm removed, but still looking disturbingly noble and aloof.

Android ships tend towards copper and blue coloring. Most have a vaguely aquatic appearance, with curved hulls and fin-like extensions linked to unconventional drive systems. As a general rule, they tend to be tall, long, and narrow. Each Android ship is known to be slightly different than the next; they are never dull, gray, or geometrical.

Despite a fundamentally chaotic structure, the Androids function with exceptional cunning and efficiency. Because of this chaotic wiring, they are not entirely robotic in their nature. They are capable of illogical savagery and insane acts of immaturity - often because they genuinely enjoy it. Their love of power, fear of defeat, and desire for glory (and attention) are their fatal flaws.

The average Android has enough processing power and stored knowledge to qualify her as a genius by Human standards. That said, most of them are ruthless, proud, and petty. They speak like teenagers who have a powerful databank of vocabulary - using big words and macho posturing to subdue others. Even dialogue is a chance to find glory.

While they can be immature and rash, they are not opposed to playing stupid. They know other races view them as proud and belligerent. The wiser Androids know to use this assumption against their foes.

Android History

The Androids appeared only recently in galactic history. They arrived from unknown origins, seizing the territory once controlled by one of the older sentient races, the Va'rul, and driving the original inhabitants to near extinction.

Their arrival coincided with the end of the great Isolation. At that point, the Galactic Empire was already a shattered remnant of its former self. The Androids took advantage of the chaos, subduing neighboring minor races and crushing all fleets sent against them with precision and efficiency.

Imperial observers noted the surprising efficacy displayed by the Androids in military matters despite their recent emergence. By the time the Jupiter Initiative had occurred, the Androids had already developed a feared reputation within their own sector and word of them was quickly spreading to others.

The attack on Sol was initiated without warning or formal declaration. Using methods still not understood by the Human Confederacy, the Androids emerged within striking distance of the inner solar system. Their entry point was the eye of Jupiter, an ancient storm larger than many planets that raged across the gas giant's atmosphere.

Their first target was a research station above Jupiter's moon, Io. The massacre of Joquara would eventually be a prime motivator for the Human defenders struggling to defend their home system.

Recently emerging from an alien occupation, the Human Confederacy was still in its infancy. Its survival in the war was credited to a highly skilled military commander, Vice-Admiral Satya Ismitta.

Against all odds, the Androids were driven from Sol and were forced to fight a defensive war in Kryndor, their home system. In that second campaign, they revealed a ship class far larger than any race has fielded in known galactic history: the Dreadnought. Not even the Imperial Fleet in its prime had developed warships of that size and caliber. Vice-Admiral Ismitta and the fledgling Human fleet were forced to retreat after a bloody draw.

At the end of the war, it was revealed that the Androids invasion began a day after the research station at Io made a remarkable discovery; it had created a "baseball singularity." The details of this discovery were lost during the initial assault, and Human scientists have yet to recreate it. The Androids have been silent about the correlation.

Ironically, instead of undercutting the Android's reputation, the war elevated the Humans as the race that fended off the Android advance. The two species ended up maintaining an uneasy peace as both Earth and Kryndor became represented in the Star Chamber.

When Kuldarch Darkmane's rebellion overtook the Republic, Humans and Androids found themselves fighting on the same side. Yet both races have a deep-seated enmity that won't be so easily forgotten.

Check out the strategy guide for the Androids.