The “Harvester” is the United Empire of EarthNavy (UEEN) designation for the specialized machinery utilized by the Vanduul to strip-mine conquered worlds. In general, Harvesters are several stories tall and typically transported on a carrier before being deployed onto the surface of a planet, asteroid, or other body from orbit. It then digs into the ground and begins to take in resources, automatically moving as it completes strip mining an area. Once a Harvester is full, they have been known to send out self-propelled pods full of processed materials to an orbiting ship, return to space themselves to be redeployed, or can possibly convert themselves into manufacturing centers. Harvesters on Tomb (Tiber II) have been observed using the resources they mine to manufacture additional Harvesters. The mechanism by which this is done is not yet understood or has not been revealed to the public.
