Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-226878-20140806000834/@comment-9090085-20140807072553

Well this conversation has rapidly traveled down a path I never intended it to.

What I meant when I said the switch to hand-held armaments seemed like a downgrade to me was because AK-130s can switch between their integral machine guns to their blades near instantaneously; while the new models would have spend about a second to put away their guns, and perhaps another second to bring out whatever melee weapon they have. a few seconds may not sound like much, but that's all the time a Creature of Grimm needs to take a swipe at you - which would probably destroy an android in one hit, seeing as they don't have Aura.

My best guess as to android battle doctrine against the Grimm is that they are expected to hold off lesser Grimm while the Hunters handle the Big Grimm. Basically, I think they are supposed to pump out as much lead as possible in the shortest time possible, and any time spent switching weapons is giving the Grimm a more time to bum rush you.

That's also why their combat endurance doesn't factor into my equation - I imagine most androids are smashed before they run out of ammo(and on another note, hand-held armaments are generally inferior in the ammo department).

However, the rifles could be much more powerful then the integral machine guns, possibly giving them a means of hurting bigger Grimm. That would then mean these new models are expected to be able to operate completely independently of Hunters and "Big Droids", a least for a little while.

Well, that's what I think at any rate.