Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Colossus Combat Walker

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The Colossus is an experimental heavy walker developed by the ADI, only available via a ADI-controlled Tacitus Archive. Voiced by

Appearance
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Overview
Essentially a refitted Titan, the Colossus is a smaller, faster and cheaper alternative to the massive Mammoth Mk II.

History
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In the months preceding the end of the Mental Omega War, fiscal reports indicated that the immensely powerful and expensive Mammoth Mk II superheavy assault walker would be financially unsustainable in a time of relative peace. But letting go of the walker's raw firepower and sheer intimidation factor was too tall an order for the forces that had fought alongside it in combat, and numerous unhappy complaints flooded Central Command's servers. Thus a smaller and cheaper but equally capable walker was ordered into development.

From 2017 V.C., the vehicle design was refined and put through rigorous simulations to find and work out bugs. In 2021 V.C., the first test unit was constructed and put through its paces at the Parm Test Range in Zemuria. The external telescopic visual navigation and target acquisition system functioned perfectly, and the locomotion systems also worked without a hitch.

Next the weapon systems were fitted. First the chin-mounted dual 25mm miniguns were tested and recorded at 15,000 rounds per minute and a jamming probability of approximately 10%, which was eventually refined with a safeguard system that would eject damaged or misshapen shells from the chamber, increasing the rate of fire to 20,000 rounds per minute and reducing the jamming probability to less than 3%. It wasn't perfect, but it was better.

Second the twin dual 120mm cannon assemblies were attached to the vertical elevation mounts and tested against bunkers and decommissioned Mammoth Mk I heavy tanks. Muzzle velocity was nearly 8,000 feet per second, almost twice that of the Mammoth's cannons, and enabled ordinary kinetic rounds to punch craters into the front armor of the turret. Tungsten-core HEAT rounds struck with such force that the armor was left cracked and dented. Rocket-assisted sabot drill rounds bored through unaffected armor and detonated inside with enough explosive force to blow the turret off and nearly tear the chassis in two.

Finally the missile pod was mounted to the top swivel and tested against remote-controlled early-model Orca attack aircraft. The guidance system was tested against mobile targets and recorded to have an initial error probability of less than 10%, giving a striking area of approximately 40 feet. Given that an aerial target has a head-on profile of 9 to 16 feet, this error probability equated to a 1-in-3 chance of hitting, meaning that one target required three missiles to hit. This was refined and reworked over the following months, reducing the error probability to less than 1%.