Fictional 3: Battlestation (Battalion Wars)

Fictional 3 : Battlestation (Battalion Wars)

“Qa-Len's pathetic assault was no match for the immortal fury of my Iron Legion! Now I shall deal my cruellest blow! Stoke the furnaces, fire up the engines, arm all batteries! Release the BATTLESTATION!” - Lord Ferrok, on the first Battlestation to be used in battle, during Incursion.

From: Battalion Wars (Nintendo Gamecube, 2005)
Number built: 25+. In use by 4 armies.
Weight: Unknown.
Length: Unknown.
Width: Unknown.
Height: Unknown.
Crew: 6
Engine: Varies between diesel and steam-electric, depending on army.
Armament: 2x artillery (88 mm) or naval guns (12 inch), 2x or 4x anti-vehicle turrets, 3x .50 cal machine guns.

Background: Right, at some point whenever I do the next fictional one, I'll see if I can actually find some specs on it, instead of this vague 'Unknown' stuff.

So, the Lightning Wars, 200 years before the events of Battalion Wars 2, where the Iron Legion, having conquered the rest of the world, marched on the Solar Empire, and their empress, Qa-Len.

Slowly, the Iron Legion was beaten back to Old Xylvania, and trapped there by anti-air frigates, as the Solar Empire began to try to gain a foothold.

Lord Ferrok, the Iron Legion's leader, responded by designing, and penning the name of Battlestation, himself, which was promptly deployed after his forces fought off 7 attack waves of Solar Empire troops. When it's unleashed, things go badly for the Sols, as they get quickly crushed, losing a number of gunships and heavy tanks in the process.

The Solars, fearing losing the war, respond by deploying a superweapon, a big damn killer satellite, which creates a freaking big crater which resembles an asteroid impact, and the Iron Legion loses by virtue of being annihilated, dinosaur-style.

The Battlestation turns up in a variety of battles, mainly used by the Xylvanians throughout the two Battalion Wars games, and each time if you don't have your own heavy firepower, you get to play the fun game of hit and run away like a little girl before it blows you back to your country.

Even if it is under the control of the AI, which can be kinda useless.

In other words, think of it this way. The original design is 200 years old. It has remained unchanged since then, or with only minor modifications.

What does it do? And why should I be afraid of it?

“Unleash the Tundran Battlestation!” - Marshal Nova, on the Mammothka Battlestation, being deployed in the snowy wastes of Tundra as part of Day of Reckoning.

It's a super-tank. It's big, it rattles, it shrieks, it clunks, and it probably drinks enough fuel to drain about 4 large oil fields, or get rid of 6 forests, and that's not mentioning the amount of smoke it generates when moving. It does not give a damn about ecology, or about solar panels, mostly because it's a tank. Tanks aren't known for political viewpoints.

Hearing it engage the enemy is beautiful, from the mechanical coughing of the main cannon, to the noises from the other two turrets, to the crackle of machine gun fire, as it sets about blowing up light tanks, annihilating infantry and any poor aircraft that is in range and hasn't taken off yet.

Of course it has counters, like an air strike, from helicopters or bombers. Or a naval bombardment, maybe. Or your own Battlestation.

If you don't have that, maybe you could lure it off a cliff or crack away at it with your lighter units (which is everything else on the ground.), or harsh propaganda.

It was impressive in the first game, even though the aiming system was average, but the Western Frontier smashed through Xylvanian defenses with it, first on the Coral Atolls, and second, while marching towards Xylvania itself.

The Iron Legion would have reconquered the world with theirs, if it wasn't for the superweapon being deployed.

Tundra used theirs to put an end to the events of the second game, in impressive fashion, taking out the heavily defended Mining Spider which would have given Kaiser Vlad, the leader of Xylvania, the Solar Empire's superweapon, which had been sealed away.

None of this may make much sense to those that haven't played it. But think of it this way. Heavily-armoured tank that cannot effectively be engaged in a ground war, that spews smoke, shells and death, and is nearly immune to your bazookas.

Sources:
Battalion Wars
Battalion Wars 2
Battlestation – Battalion Wars Wiki
Battlestation – Wars Wiki