T-20 & T-200 Series

Production Date:  Prior 2016

The T-20 was the first anthropomorphic HK (hunter killer) design used by Skynet.  The first wave of T-20s were actually NORAD maintenance droids built under contract by CRS (Cyberdyne) that Skynet refit with new components and instruction sets. The later waves (T-200s) were mass produced at Skynet's manufacturing plants in order to quickly secure particular areas of strategic importance. Skynet did not waste T-70s for this purpose as it could not yet replace them. T-1s were not mobile enough to navigate the urban ruins to route human survivors, only squads of T-20s, which later evolved into the T-200 (known as "bug patrols" or "stickmen"), were capable of this at the onset of the conflict.  At this time Skynet had vague blue prints for what would become the T-800 Series Hunter Killer, but did not have the means to develop, test, nor produce them yet. T-400s and T-500s (a creative stopgap measure) had also not yet been innovated.

The T-20 evolved into the more humanoid hunter killer series, the T-200.  Both models utilize the same CPU and programming. The difference is that the T-200s were more hastily constructed and more humanoid in appearance. T-20s & T-200s actually served two purposes: maintenance, which they were originally designed for, and routing human populations away from sensitive areas. They came in many different designs but utilized the same basic uniframe and the same CPU.  Maintanence T-20's tended to be treaded, while the Terminator variants had legs so that they could navigate the urban ruins.  HK T-20s that acted as Sentries were also treaded, and armored as well.

The real purpose of the T-200 HKs was not actually to exterminate humans, but to get the humans "out of Skynet's backyard" so-to-speak. It isn't that Skynet didn't want to exterminate humans at the time, it is just that Skynet understood that the T-200s were not up to the task. Skynet wanted humans as far away from its manufacturing plants, testing grounds, fuel sources, or any other areas of vital strategic importance as soon as possible. It didn't care if the humans survived, it just wanted them to leave immediately. Large numbers of T-200s were intended to route them away and that is exactly what they did.

There is a more sophisticated variant, the T-202, that possesses vastly superior ariticial intelligence for maintanence, but it is not a combat unit and possesses not combat programming. The T-202 is designed strictly for advanced maintanence within Skynet facilities.

T-20
(Retrofitted Service Droid)

T-200
(Early Hunter Killer - "Stickman")





FUNCTION: Human Population Relocation. Maintenance.
Note: Highly customized models were also used as Sentries.

INTELLIGENCE- The T-20 possesses a similar ILP (integrated logic package) to the T-70, known as the Beta ILP. However, the Beta ILP instruction sets are mostly geared toward maintenance tasks and do not have very accurate targeting, nor could they store very many GPS map systems in their memory banks. They were designed to navigate garages and factories, not streets. Consequently it was not unusual for entire squads of T-20s to become lost and wonder around until their batteries died. Even so, their large numbers made them a threat.

The T-20 is more intelligent than the T-1 by a considerable margin (roughly five times the computational power). It has amazing tactile dexterity, can understand many commands, has accurate targetting at close range, can follow instructions (via radio transmission or spoken command), and has the same balance system as the T-70, enabling it to walk and navigate civilized ruins. However, it was not capable of reasoning and in the heat of combat tended to shoot humans, inanimate objects, and other T-20s. The maintenance variant of the T-20 could be continually upgraded with more sophisticated components or even an entirely new CPU (like the 600-B prototype CPU). The mass produced HK T-20s were not as flexibly designed and became obsolete quickly.

The T-20 AI programming is not suitable for combat. Though good at machining and maintanence, on the battlefield It was only capable of reacting automatically to variety of conditions, though the programming it possessed allowed for some of these automatic reactions to be fairly complex. The autonomous mode of the T-20 is fairly useless.

COMBAT-
2 modes of operation:
  • direct (directed by Skynet defense computers like soldiers in a war game); and
  • automatic (individual units acting automatically to a variety of preprogrammed conditions).
Technically, an autonomous mode exists, but was not used as this resulted in a missing T-20 that other units would need to locate and recover via the RFID chip installed in each T-20. Worse, if a T-20 falls off a cliff and other T-20s go to retrieve it, they will all march off of the cliff.

CONCEALMENT- The "Stickman" or "Scarecrow" variant of the T-20 was vaguely human in shape and, in the dark, could pass for a human when wearing its crude ballistic clothe. This enabled it to get close enough to human encampments to mount an attack.

CONSTRUCTION- The T-20 was built of ordinary materials and ceramic plating. They were not resistant to small arms fire, aluminum baseball bats, or large rocks. The later waves of T-20s were so hastily assembled that some of them inexplicably caught on fire, which actually aided in their ability to instill fear in the human populations they were routing away from Skynet facilities. T-20s operating as sentries were armored with steel reinforced plating and traveled on tank treads like T-1s instead of legs. Although the T-20 Sentries and T-20 Bug Patrols looked considerably different, their ILP, sensors (sentries imply had the sensors in different positions), basic frame, and software was identical.

CAPABILITIES- In addition to the above listed capabilities, the T-20 had excellent hand-eye coordination and could easily disassemble their weapons, which they often did for no apparent reason (this was possibly their original core programming re-asserting itself). Later models of T-20s had weapons permanently fused to their arm assemblies. Originally being maintenance droids, T-20s had excellent optical sensors and good depth perception.

WEAPONRY- The greatest weapon the T-20 had in its arsonel was shear numbers. They carried conventional firearms. Some T-20s had their weapons permanently fused to their arm assemblies.

WEAK POINTS-

  • Maintenance programming sometimes interfered with Skynet objectives.
  • Could easily be reprogrammed by the early human resistance.
  • Primitive AI.
  • No self-preservation programming.
  • Low endurance.
  • Primitive targeting systems.
  • Tendency to shoot randomly in a fire fight (destroying each other).

THREAT LEVEL- Negligible.

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