My younger brother made his own take on the tripods and lore
My younger brother made these artworks and gave them some lore.
The legs are mounted on top of the heads to give then a more spider-like walk.
Three is the magic number: three legs, three arms (the death ray is the third arm), three eyes.
The Martians are barely a generational tech level above humanity. Hence exposed cabling, mechanical joints and two-fingered "crab" style claws.
The death ray is invisible. It's a pure, science-based microwave beam. Meaning victims get cooked from the inside out until their fluids boil and melt them internally, or their fluids convert to gas trying to escape their bodies and the victims organs burst. Unlike traditional Martian death rays which are sometimes depicted as instant death, the microwave beam is much slower and agonizing. Hellish...
These Martians are genuine sadistic monsters. They could set their death rays to be stronger and insta-kill their victims, but some of them get genuine enjoyment out of watching humans "pop" in the same way the more unstable among us enjoy stomping on insects. So they set their death ray power levels to low power to prolong the kill.
These Martians are weird because the tripod is based on a Martian body. These Martians are three-legged arachnids. Some are soldiers, some are scientists, some are farmers brought along to spread martian flora, some are genuine civilians that were brought along to tend to their masters or family units, some are engineers that construct martian megastructures and some are like commanders, or bare some kind of rank or authority over the others.
There is no "black smoke". Instead the martian chemical weapon is "Martian rain". The Martians use a specialized form of cloud seeding to release a nerve agent into the clouds above, making them rain a blood red rain that when in contact with a human, shuts their organs down, killing them slowly and painfully within hours. One drop of Martian rain can kill you within seven hours.
There is hope for humanity, these tripods have no shields. They can be killed with enough guns and artillery, its just really hard. The United States is coming to aod the European coalition. One Martian pod veered off course and landed in Grovers Mill New Jersey when the rest landed in Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Europe, it was killed by the state militia after a two hour rampage and the USA is on its way to aid in the war knowing the Martians will invade the U.S once Europe and the surrounding territories are is obliterated.
The Martians are infighting for moral, militar, and colonial reasons. Remember that civilians and other non-combatent Martians were brought along too. These Martians are slowly turning against their masters, believing this invasion was wrong. A Martian who is a mother might not gel well with the idea of killing other mothers and their children. Different species or not. A scientists wants to learn of this world and its people, not burn it all down for petty conquest. Martian servitors who were enslaved would see being brought to earth as a chance to escape or fight back. Martian soldiers who lost their comrades only to be told "every sacrifice is worth it" might start to feel betrayed, or like a pawn in their masters game. Martian elders, who bore witness to the destruction of Mars and the near extinction of the Martians, may see this invasion as a continuation of that destruction and extinction on yet another world.
While not confirmed, it is 100% possible a rebellious faction of Martians might side with humanity. They would find some way to break the language barrier. Humans would get a technology boost, and the Martian rebels, if mankind was victorious, would be allowed to colonize unpopulated parts of the earth, kind of like "Martian reservations".