Raider (RDM)

This article is about the Re-imagined Series Raider. For other versions, see Cylon Raider.

The Raider is the primary aerospace attack craft used by the Cylons against the peoples of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

Cylon War-era Raider

Original Cylon Raider
Race:	Cylon
Type:	Military
FTL:	Yes
Propulsion:
Crew:	Up to 3 Centurions
Capacity:
CO:	{{{co}}}
XO:	{{{xo}}}
Role:	Space superiority fighter
Weapons:	2 guns, missiles
Armaments:	{{{arm}}}
Defenses:	{{{def}}}
Aircraft:	{{{aircraft}}}
Aviation facilities:	{{{facilities}}}
Fate:	{{{status}}}
Emblem:	[[Image:{{{patch}}}|175px|Ship's patch]]
Other Images:	Gallery
Dimensions
Length:
Width:	{{{width}}}
Height:
Weight:	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan:
Other:	{{{otherdi}}}
Game Information
Cost:	{{{construction}}}
Construction Time:	{{{construction}}}
Hull Size:	{{{hull size}}}
Hull:	{{{hull}}}
Mobility
FTL Cooldown:	{{{ftl cooldown}}} turns
Speed:	{{{speed}}} m/s
Turn Rate:	{{{turn rate}}}°/turn
Armor Sum
Armor Total:	{{{armor total}}}
Armor Left:	{{{armor left}}}
Armor Right:	{{{armor right}}}
Armor Front:	{{{armor front}}}
Armor Rear:	{{{armor rear}}}
Armor Top:	{{{armor top}}}
Armor Bottom:	{{{armor bottom}}}
Armament
DRADIS Range:	{{{dradis range}}} m
Processing Power:	{{{processing power}}}
Munition Slots:	{{{munitions}}}
Munition Cooldown Period:	{{{munition cooldown}}} turns
Squadron Slots:	{{{squadrons}}}
Squadron Size:	{{{squadron size}}}
Special Abilities:	{{{special abilities}}}
Additional Information

The original Cylon Raider as seen during the Cylon War resembled a great flying wing.

Deployed en masse by the original basestar, Raiders were used to great effect against battlestars and were nearly a match in manueverabilty against their opponent, the Viper Mark II.

Raiders, in combination with basestar missile salvos, destroyed battlestar Columbia during Operation Raptor Talon (Razor Flashbacks).

Modern Raider

Cylon Raider
Race:	Cylon
Type:	Military
FTL:	Yes
Propulsion:
Crew:	None (biomechanical being)
Capacity:
CO:	{{{co}}}
XO:	{{{xo}}}
Role:	Space superiority fighter
Weapons:	2 Kinetic Energy Weapons, missiles
Armaments:	{{{arm}}}
Defenses:	{{{def}}}
Aircraft:	{{{aircraft}}}
Aviation facilities:	{{{facilities}}}
Fate:	{{{status}}}
Emblem:	[[Image:{{{patch}}}|175px|Ship's patch]]
Other Images:	Gallery
Dimensions
Length:	(approx) 8.94 meters
Width:	{{{width}}}
Height:	(approx) 1.52 meters
Weight:	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan:	(approx) 5.59 meters
Other:	{{{otherdi}}}
Game Information
Cost:	{{{construction}}}
Construction Time:	{{{construction}}}
Hull Size:	{{{hull size}}}
Hull:	{{{hull}}}
Mobility
FTL Cooldown:	{{{ftl cooldown}}} turns
Speed:	{{{speed}}} m/s
Turn Rate:	{{{turn rate}}}°/turn
Armor Sum
Armor Total:	{{{armor total}}}
Armor Left:	{{{armor left}}}
Armor Right:	{{{armor right}}}
Armor Front:	{{{armor front}}}
Armor Rear:	{{{armor rear}}}
Armor Top:	{{{armor top}}}
Armor Bottom:	{{{armor bottom}}}
Armament
DRADIS Range:	{{{dradis range}}} m
Processing Power:	{{{processing power}}}
Munition Slots:	{{{munitions}}}
Munition Cooldown Period:	{{{munition cooldown}}} turns
Squadron Slots:	{{{squadrons}}}
Squadron Size:	{{{squadron size}}}
Special Abilities:	{{{special abilities}}}
Additional Information

The modern Raider, radically redesigned but still resembling its past incarnation as a giant flying wing, is first encountered more than 40 years after the Cylon War, when the Cylons launch their devastating surprise attack on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

The new Raider was initially thought to be wholly mechanical in design, with a high-level AI controlling it. However, following the recovery of a Raider forced down during a firefight and recovered by Lieutenant Kara Thrace (Act of Contrition), the new Raider is found to be, in fact, biomechanical in nature (You Can't Go Home Again), incorporating a number of large organs in its design, including a biomechanical brain. In effect, a modern Raider is a creature in itself.

The Cylon Raider's intelligence level is less than that of a humanoid Cylon; it is more like a trained animal (Six Degrees of Separation). Much like the humanoids, the biomechanical Raider pilot's consciousness can be transferred into new "bodies" if it is destroyed. (Whether this process requires a nearby basestar or Resurrection Ship for the transfer is not known, although it is heavily implied in "Scar" that this is indeed the case.) While this death/rebirth process allows the Raider to "learn" from its mistakes and become a more efficient killing machine, the process can also cause Raiders to fight with deadly, almost human-like tactics (Scar).

Raider weapon configurations include:

• Conventional and/or nuclear missiles carried in internal wing bays (Miniseries)
• Two Kinetic Energy Weapons mounted under the leading edge of the wings

During the Cylon attack, the new Raider could transmit commands to any Colonial vessel utilizing the Command Navigation Program (CNP). The CNP was compromised prior to the attack, and provides a backdoor that allows the Cylons to shut down Colonial vessels with the CNP, rendering the ships defenseless (Miniseries).

As with their predecessors in the Cylon War, Raiders also use wireless transmissions directed at Colonial ships, especially battlestars, to attempt to crack, or infiltrate the ship's computer network. If the cracking is successful, a virus can be transmitted, which can severely damage or disable many battlestar systems (Valley of Darkness).

The Raider is equipped with a small-scale FTL drive system (Miniseries). Following tests on the Raider captured by Galactica, this FTL system is found to be far more efficient in jump calculations than Colonial FTL systems. The drive shows its accuracy when Lt. Thrace takes the Raider from a point somewhere near the vicinity of Kobol back to Caprica in a single jump (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

As with its nemesis, the Viper, the Raider is capable of atmospheric operations, which explains why it has retained an aerodynamic shape (You Can't Go Home Again).

The Raider is known as "sparrow" in Colonial pilot jargon (Maelstrom).

Notes

• Like the Original Series Raider, the weapons fire of the Re-imagined Series Cylon Raiders is bluish-white. The nature of this weapon is, again, more of an homage to the Original Series but, given the series' disuse of "energy weapons", should not suggest that this original Raider used an energy weapon as its Original Series counterpart.

Concept Drawings

• These concept drawings are very close to the fully realized versions of what we have seen in the Re-imagined Series. However, there were, of course, many changes made and these drawings should not be considered completely canon.

• 

  Raider brain cavity

• 

  Internal workings

• 

  Front view

• 

  Starbuck in brain cavity

Re-imagined Series definition: Commanding Officer; e.g. William Adama

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL

Re-imagined Series definition: Artificial Intelligence, research into such technology was deemed illegal by the Colonies after the First Cylon War (TRS: "Miniseries")

Re-imagined Series definition: operating system on military and civilian ships exploited by the Cylons (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")

Re-imagined Series definition: operating system on military and civilian ships exploited by the Cylons (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")

Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

Re-imagined Series definition: slang for Cylon Raider (TRS: "Maelstrom")