Cylon (reimagining) - Cylon Raiders

The later form of Cylon Raiders are biomechanical Cylons in the form of small fighter spacecraft, and are also resurrected when they die. Raiders are subservient, and have been compared to trained animals by the humanoid Cylons. A Cylon Raider nicknamed "Scar" was shown to have developed a personality, in the episode of the same name. Scar was the Cylons' top gun, driven by a bitter hatred of humans after having been killed and reborn many times. Raiders do not use any form of vocal communication, instead appearing to communicate through electronic signals relayed to each other and to their Basestars through an unknown mechanism. These modern Raiders, unlike their predecessors in the First Cylon War, are actually alive inside, possessing a complex system of veins, organs and biological fluids contained within their main body. The Raiders are programmed, being part machine, and as such, they cannot think for themselves, despite being able to develop personalities. The only occasion in which the Raiders have overstepped the bounds of their programming was when they saw one of the Final Five Cylons in the human fleet during an attack. This revelation caused the Raider that saw the Cylon to instantly retreat, the remainder of the Raiders following it back to the Basestar, where they promptly jumped away. The Raiders then refused to fight the humans, for fear of harming their Cylon kin, which sparked a disagreement between the humanoid Cylon models; the Ones, Fours and Fives were in favor of lobotomizing the Raiders, cutting their neural processing and fixing their programming at the cost of "dumbing them down", while the Sixes, Twos and Eights strongly opposed this action, believing that the Raiders had developed free will, and that removing that was a sin against the Cylon God. This disagreement eventually sparked the Cylon Civil War between the two groups of models.

It has been established that a well-trained, Colonial pilot, even a nugget, can stand up to a Raider and win in most situations. The Raider's primary advantage seem to be in their massive numbers; while the Galactica carries around 40 Vipers, Cylon Basestars can support anywhere from 300 to 600 Raiders. The Raiders are also adept at maneuverability, once described by Kara Thrace as a "squirmy son of a bitch", and most pilots being unable to keep them in sight for more than a few seconds. The Raiders primary weapons are two kinetic energy guns mounted on the underside of their wings, close to the main body. They have also been seen to carry conventional missiles and tactical nuclear weapons. Raiders, by revealing their red "eye", can transmit deadly computer viruses or signals to enemy ships, which strike with brutal efficiency and have been seen to "shut down" Colonial vessels, turning off their power and making them useless and easy prey for the Raiders. If all else fails, Raiders will sometimes attempt suicide attacks against larger vessels, which have deadly consequences if allowed to hit, as seen when a single Raider spun out of control, hit and destroyed a sizeable civilian transport.

The original Cylon Raiders from the First Cylon War were larger spacecraft driven by Centurion pilots, and not alive themselves; these are used by the remaining First War Centurions guarding the Original Hybrid and the Cylon Colony, and are considered an obsolete design by current Cylons.

The modern Cylon Raiders are fighter craft and are not to be confused with Cylon Heavy Raiders. Like the raiders of the First Cylon War, the Heavy Raiders are transports and attack bombers, and are primarily piloted by Sixes and Eights, if not other models.