Strider

The Strider is a category of machine in Horizon Zero Dawn. It is a small Acquisition machine, programmed to sow seeds into the ground for plant life to regrow. A human equipped with the necessary technology can override a Strider for mounted transport.

History
The Strider was originally designed by the AI GAIA as one of the categories of Zero Dawn terraforming machines designed to detoxify the earth as the first step in the reestablishment of life after its eradication by the Faro Plague. Originally, Striders were docile, posing no threat to humans. However, humans began to hunt Striders along with other machines for parts and resources. Due to this, the AI HEPHAESTUS reprogrammed Striders to become increasingly hostile towards humans.

The Nora Brave Aloy discovered that ancient machines known as Corruptors possessed a component that allowed them to control any contemporary machine, in the sense that the machine fought alongside the Corruptor in battle. She was able to harness this component to override any specific herding terraformer unit such as a Strider, Broadhead or Charger. This made the unit docile toward her to the point of being able to ride it as transport. This skill was observed and copied by the wandering maverick researcher Sylens.

Appearance
About the size of a common draft horse, the chassis of a Strider is very equine in appearance, very closely resembling the body of a heavy-built draft horse. It stands on four equine legs with hooves, and has powerful shoulders. The bulk of the chassis is composed of synthetic muscle, with white armour plating over the head, shoulders and legs. A double optical sensor array is on the tip of the snout. Between the haunches is a Blaze canister. The Strider seems to share a nearly identical chassis design with the Broadhead and Charger, with its main difference being the head design.

Behaviour
Striders are invariably found in herds grazing quietly, converting the grass they ingest into blaze. For protection against threats such as hunters, they are accompanied by recon machines such as Watchers and Longlegs, or combat machines such as Sawtooths or Ravagers. Striders are quite skittish, fleeing at the sudden appearance of a human, at any sudden loud noise, or at the alert call of a Watcher. However if a human is very close to the herd, the nearest Striders will attack the human instead of fleeing.