The Pneumatic Prospector is a large unmanned resource finder and excavator used to shatter rock to look for natural resources. It is found in the Western Frontier in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and a common outpost site to be destroyed in the game.[1]
Specifications / Overview[]
Pneumatic Prospectors are large ground vehicles that is supported on two large tank tracks for maneuverability with an additional two smaller tacks at the front of the vehicle.[1] They are very similar to their sister vehicles, the Pneumatic Tower, as they are both nothing more than a giant tower which is used to shatter the earth to search for resources with their giant pneumatic jackhammers.[1] The key difference is that the Prospector has an additional role in locating resource-rich veins of minerals thanks due to their enhanced sensors.[1]
The vehicle has four decks, compared to the Tower's two, with the top most deck (Where the critical safety control system is) reaching quite high up on the tower.[1] Once a resource deposit is found, four stabilizer legs would unfurl at the base of the vehicle's superstructure and be put in place for the process extraction.[1] After which, the vehicle will activate its giant jackhammer which will pound the earth every ten seconds, causing miniature earthquakes, flinging a cloud of sediment and leaving the ground a glowing blue.[1]. The extraction of resources would be mechanical, causing seismic shocks which fractures the terrain and releasing the trapped resources for collection.[2]
Whilst the Prospector has a lot of similarities with the Tower, there is a key difference, specifically their vulnerabilities. A Prospector's safety system relies on two lower-pressure valves.[3] Shutting both of them off will make the machine vulnerable if the safety control system at the highest deck is compromised.[3] On the other hand, the safety systems of a Tower relies on a cooling unit and a generator.[3] The cooling unit is vulnerable to hacking or sabotage and once this unit is destroyed, the Tower's generator would vent excess heat to avoid a meltdown.[3] This makes the generator vulnerable to being destroyed causing a cascading failure event.[3]
RDA Mining Installations[]
There are three pneumatic prospector mining installations located across the Western Frontier.
Guide: IGN.com - Pneumatic Prospectors
| Installation | Subregion | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Pneumatic Prospector Alpha | The Stone Hold | Upper Plains |
| Pneumatic Prospector Bravo | Cradling Pines | Clouded Forest |
| Pneumatic Prospector Charlie | Mother of Rivers | Upper Plains |
Trivia[]
- It shares the same structural profile as the Pneumatic Tower, the Gas Collector and the Seismic Scanner, being both large, mobile towers.
- Given that it is pneumatic and it causes a loud, noticeable miniature earthquake every several seconds, it is highly likely that this vehicle is a giant, mobile jackhammer used to shatter and soften up the earth for other vehicles to safely excavate and extract.
- Likewise, the blue glow on the ground after the hammer strikes strongly indicates that the jackhammer uses plasma as its cutting power.
- A prospector is a person that searches for mineral deposits for mining. In this case, the vehicle has sensors equipped to search for mineral deposits, something the Pneumatic Tower lacks.
- The Pneumatic Prospector would have had a completely different design, with the name being originally called the Seismic Tower. By the base game, the name would have been transferred to the Seismic Scanner and its tower design would have been restructured.[4][2]
- Likewise, there would have originally been a riverbed version, which never made it into the game.[2]
Gallery[]
References[]