Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Battlemaster Tank

"Elsword's Tank Division."

-Battlemaster Tank

The ZTZ-88B Battlemaster Tank has served the Elsword Empire for over 30 years, and its presence in the battlefield is almost symbolic. This Empire tank is planned to be voiced by Stephen Fu, emulating the personality of the Battlemaster driver from Generals.

Tactical analysis

 * Build more tanks!: Cheap, armed with a 76.2mm main gun, and with tough frontal armor, the Battlemaster acts as the Empires main battle tank, and can easily punch holes in the armor of their counterparts.
 * Bah, infantry: Battlemasters are issued with a supply of canister shells, and are also equipped with machine guns. The shells act like oversized shotgun shells, raining steel pellets on the enemy, and are most effective against large groups of infantry and light structures.
 * We will prevail!: Like almost every Empire unit, the Battlemasters fight better in groups of five, as the allies around them embolden them to fire much faster.
 * I think we need more tanks: Note that Battlemasters are completely at the mercy of aircraft, and won't last long if attacked by one.

Overview
The refurbished ZTZ-88A tank, better known as the Battlemaster, is the backbone of the Imperial tank corps. Being cheap and easy to produce, it usually shows up in vast numbers. It is very well rounded, and have greater firepower when under the influence of the horde. The design may look old, but many new features modernize it, including built in reactive armor and a new generation of upgradable, compact Nuclear Engines that can be stabilized with Isotopic Stabilizers. It's lethality can be increased further with time tested Depleted Uranium Shells and upgradable Autoloader.

History
"I think the problem was that we didn't have enough tanks."

-In hindsight to a previous battle.

Life in cities held by Luresia under the Voshkod was a constant, horrid press to provide war materials and even precious living goods from the factories and workshops that never closed. The war only got more and more intense; the supplies and equipment needed were critical so that the Alliance couldn't win. The people of Luresia cared little and wished only for peace, but that didn't stop anyone from being starved or beaten for not doing their "duty" to the Party (or worse, sent into the country.)

At a war's height, an Elsword citizen could expect to work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, welding together vehicles or assembling bullets, before shuffling to their work barracks for a few hours of exhausted, fitful sleep.

One of the most worked-on machines was the ZTZ-88A tank. The Empire knew from the beginning that men and rifles alone would not win the war; after all, the Voshkod and their allies had them, too, and trenches as well. However, in the Elsword of old, when bandits hid from the Imperial Army in ditches, one did not send men after them; they ground them into the dirt with war chariots (or so the Elsword people figured).

The design and manufacture of a completely indigenous tank were given the highest priority (after all prior to this, Elsword's tanks are, for the most part, derived from Voshkod tanks), for in this war columns of tanks would serve the same function as cavalry had in earlier wars. Every factory in the areas of the Empire controlled was seized and was soon put to work equipping the entire Army with ZTZ-88A tanks, for the main attribute to this tank was not speed or firepower or protection, but merely cheapness.

The ZTZ-88A is a box of crudely-welded metal plates with various makes of engines propelling them. The armor is usually made from various pieces of scrap metal and often is not of the correct size or thickness, meaning modifications and improvisations had to be made on the fly at the factories that made them. The only thing that is not skimped on is the main gun.

The 76.2mm armor-piercing main gun is nothing special, but it gets the job done well enough, and enough shells will destroy anything. All this shortcutting pays off, for it was estimated that three ZTZ-88A were built for every one destroyed. Indeed, destroying ZTZ-88A only made it easier for the Empire to build new ones, as salvaged parts from the battlefield were quickly used for new tanks. Countless ZTZ-88A were built, destroyed, and rebuilt over and over again. Due to the entire war being based on them, they were dubbed Battlemaster Tanks.

Even when Luresia had split off from the Voshkod their latest iteration of the Battlemaster, the ZTZ-88B, had barely changed from its predecessor, as the only noticeable changes were its proper armor and canisters shells.

Trivia

 * It's appearance is based on this rendition of the Battlemaster tank from the C&C Generals Zero Hour Enhanced

Guardians of the Tacitus

 * Crusader (Aquila)
 * Coyote
 * Laser Crusader
 * Grizzly Tank (Alliance)
 * Cavalier Tank
 * Liberty Tank
 * M1 Predator (ADI)
 * Type 74 MBT (Protectorate)
 * Tsunami Tank
 * Leopard 3 (Andora)
 * Guardian Tank
 * Panther
 * Battlemaster Tank (Empire)
 * Nuclearmaster
 * Cadillac Stingray (Community)
 * Bushmaster Tank (Wolf Clan)

Destroyers of Balthazar

 * Kodiak Tank (Voshkod)
 * T-64 Rhino
 * Ursa II Tank
 * Tick Tank (Brotherhood)
 * T-62 (Black Hand)
 * Type 59 (Horde)
 * T-72 "Scarab" (MLA)
 * Lasher Tank (Collective)
 * T-55 (Encantadia)
 * M15/42 (Lireo)
 * Ch'onma-Ho (Hathoria)
 * Devourer Tank (Scrin)

Neutrals

 * Predator Annihilator (Coalition)
 * Sicaran Tank (Heralds)
 * Cleric Track (Order)
 * M48 Patton "Mastiff" (Survivors)
 * Talos AFV (Syndicate)
 * BMPT Terminator (Conglomerate)
 * Lemia Russ Tank (Legion)

DLC

 * Bison (Federation)
 * Qilin Tank (Corona)
 * ... (Party)
 * ... (Skynet)
 * Predator Walker (Dominion)
 * Sd. KS 78 "Isegrim" (Elemental)
 * 2-M (Autocracy)
 * 59-Patton (League)
 * ... (Swarm)
 * AAV-7 (Pirates)
 * PT-76
 * Rama Tank (Elona)
 * Lion of Babylon
 * KPz T-62 "Hammer" (Ascalia)
 * TAM MBT (Confederation)
 * Oaxaca Tank
 * Tyrian Leopard 1
 * Strv 103B (Kingdom)
 * Strider (Goo)
 * M60 Sabra (Security)
 * Panzerwagen (Imperium)
 * ... (Dynasty)
 * T-44 (Warlords)
 * Abomination (Cult)
 * Bison Combat Tank (Raiders)
 * Mark V (Theocracy)
 * Panzer IV (Reiksgard)
 * MBT-52 Kuma (ASA)
 * T-55AMV (Insurgents)
 * OF-40 (Bastion)
 * Conqueror (Guardians)
 * Phase Tank (Hierarchy)
 * ... (Sundered)
 * T-62M (Ecumene)
 * Centurion (Concordat)
 * Cromwell (Brotherhood of the Tofu)
 * M60-2000 (Contingent)
 * ... (Rangers)
 * Eden Crusader (Eden)
 * ... (InGen)
 * ... (Hallows)
 * M4A1E8 Sherman (Commune)
 * Vickers (Clique)
 * Chi-Ha (Guild)
 * ... (Threat)
 * Gallagher Outlaw Mk. II (Traders)