“Alert! Alert! Depth Charge Gang has been spotted on Scylla! Equip and send a Hero Team immediately!”
Hero Briefing:
The Depth Chargers are a notorious collection of deep sea raiders. Stripping every water-borne planet bare of life and material. They will use every means to plunder Scylla of its Oxidium and gut its inhabitants for the black market. Please review each of their profiles carefully and stop them before it’s too late.
Captain Dogger
“The sea and all in it belongs to me. And I shall fillet whatever I please.”
The size of a freighter, Captain Dogger is a vicious angler and leader of this motely crew. He wades through oceans, using his many nets and hooks to steal every life caught in them, no matter how deep they may hide. He has no mercy, frequently punishes his crew for mistakes, and takes joy in cleaning his catch.
Recommendation: Avoid getting snagged by his nets or crushed by his anchor. Use a battleship and trawler cutters.
Sunkwrecker
“Drowning’s not so bad. Look at me, I turned out great! And I’m sure you will too.”
Once a dockworker drone, Sunkwrecker was tangled up and tossed to the ocean’s floor by Dogger. Between his circuits getting wet and the irradiated water, he was transformed into the bottom-dweller Sunkwrecker. Now he trudges along the ocean floors, collecting sponges, pearls, coral, and whatever salvage or other materials his captain desires. Currently serves as the captain’s right hand and uses a drill with laser attachment for tougher materials.
Recommendation: Armor that resists crushing depths and radiation. Might only be held in the deep by his weights, blast those off to disorientate.
Shockray
“Look at how many crawled out of this one! Time to sink the little boats too.”
A strange creature, Shockray is some mix between a submarine and an electric ray. He patrols the oceans, sinking all ships that enter the gang’s raiding area. Known to deploy mines around the perimeter. Blends in well with the ocean floor, rarely surfaces, and their fastest swimmer. Armed with a number of torpedoes and his Torpedo Trident, which appears capable of firing an infinite number of explosives. He is able to charge his body with electricity and zap those who touch him.
Recommendation: Employ sonar to locate Shockray, perhaps use a submarine. Use energy weaponry to detonate his mines and torpedoes early. Use electric-resistant cuffs.
Cagehead
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh hawmp! Yes, yummy.”
Identification, uncertain. Cagehead appears to be a hybrid between a jellyfish and octopus, possibly with some muscle species as well. He travels around the oceans, setting up traps to capture crustaceans and other creatures that escape Dogger’s nets. Has a bad habit of eating the catch himself. While not placing traps or catching fish in his mouth, Cagehead uses his drill to help Sunkwrecker in strip mining.
Recommendation: Cagehead is a fast swimmer with multiple tentacle arms, keep a safe distance. Equip tough armor incase grabbed to resist drill and bites. Harden circuits as well, Cagehead can deliver EMP venom through his arms to paralyze machines.
Snip-Snash
“It’s the same every time. Find all the cables, cut the city’s power and comms. Just scuttle around for days to find a single stupid wire. I don’t get paid enough for this.”
A lobster-like villain, Snip-Snash is Captain Dogger’s unreluctant minion. He came to serve the captain years ago when his world was raided. To survive, he gave up the others holding out and pledged service. Ever since, he has been crawling around, world after world, searching for other survivors to hand them over to Dogger. Or to cut communications, power, whatever dumb pipe happens to be down there.
Recommendation: Snip-Snash has tough claws and can easily crush a Hero in two. Claws are also equipped with laser cutters. Avoid being grabbed, get crush resistant armor, and take a shield to defend against laser blasts. It is not advised to try and convince him to betray Captain Dogger, he’s too paranoid of the consequences. Which is fair, I wouldn’t want to be eaten either.
Stripod
“These waters are my web and you’ve tangled into my sights.”
Stripod is a fish-like villain, resembling the spiderfish and tripod fish. He is possibly blind, using feelers and sonar to detect intruders and prey. Serves as Dogger’s guard dog, protecting their loot. Sometimes sent to hunt down troublesome prey.
Recommendation: Stripod is a poor swimmer, often remains in one spot for a long time. Once found, avoid detection if possible. Overload senses with excessive sound and disarm before he can target you.
And I think that’s it. This is my Hero February build for this year! I didn’t intend to do an entire villain wave when I started, but felt like trying out a few other ideas while I waited for parts. The only one I intended to build was Captain Dogger, a trawler/trolling fishing style villain, with Shockray as my backup plan.
Still figuring out the lighting situation, but at this point I believe the issue has more to do with my camera. Hopefully I’ll be upgrade that in near future.
Please let me know which ones were your favorites, which ones sucked, and any other thoughts.
I’m also considering a short story involving these fiends, but don’t have any Heroes set for it. So if you’ve built an underwater Hero for this year’s Hero February, send them my way if you would like them to be in the story. Or, if you haven’t built anything yet, feel free to build some Hero prepped to take down this gang. Happy to work with you on a short to make sure I’ve got your characters right.
#herofebruary
