Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Dustrunner Buggy

"Welcome to the Highway of Hell!"

-Dustrunner Buggy

The Dustrunner Buggy is a fast attack/raiding vehicle used by the Minutemen. This unit is planned to be voiced by Craig Sechler, using his Butch voice

Tactical analysis

 * Road Warrior: The Dustrunner is a converted dune buggy, capable of cruising around at high speeds, over land and water, and conducting significant harassment against the enemy. With its trusty grenade launcher, it can cripple vital links in the enemy, be it artillery support, support vehicles, or even harvesters.
 * Dust Storm: To complement this harassment capability, when threatened, the Dustrunner can kick up a huge cloud of dust and dirt, obscuring the vision of the enemy and allowing the Dustrunner along with any nearby friendlies, to make their getaway while the enemy is busy cleaning its windscreen.
 * Beyond Thunderdome: Thanks to a few custom modifications, the Dustrunner grenade launcher can fire a rapid salvo of grenades, though they need a few seconds afterward to reload all chambers.
 * Minimum Force: However, the Dustrunner is not a combat-capable vehicle and care must be taken to ensure that these units are not lost. The low caliber of the grenade and lack of a fragmentation casing means that the Dustrunner is ineffective against most combat units, both vehicles and infantry alike, even when flanking.

History
"Canyon Snakes RULE!"

-Hutch DeLorean, leader of the Canyon Snakes

Dustrunner Buggies were not an original part of Minutemen's forces. Instead, these heavily modified All-Terrain Vehicles were owned and operated by the Canyon Snakes motor gang in the Southwestern islands, particularly the winding box canyons of Danielson and New Colace. This gang was never considered more than a nuisance by the Allies, who only interfered with the gang's activities if they involved damaging Allied property or terrorizing innocent civilians. When the Minutemen movement started, a zealous Minutemen commander decided to enlist the support of several small towns in New Colace.

Unfortunately, these towns were under the protection of the Canyon Snakes, and the Minutemen commander's small detachment of Beagle Tanks and Ranger Scout Cars was ambushed in a dead-end box canyon, nicknamed "Blood Gulch". The Canyon Snakes' heavily modified dune buggies were able to outmaneuver even the Beagles and the Minutemen commander's Himmelhammer van was soon surrounded. The Canyon Snakes declared themselves victorious, only to be hailed by an announcement from the unfriendly skies - the ambushers had become the ambushed after the wily Confederate commander sprung his ultimate trap.

A Pair of Hawker Jumpjets and three Longbow Mark I attack choppers appeared out of a PAWI field, and the outgunned Canyon Snakes surrendered. The commander then offered them a bargain - a chance to strike back at the Allied oppressors who were indirectly responsible for destroying their homeland and a hefty sum of money for their services, in exchange for becoming a branch of the Minutemen Army and performing scouting and light strike missions for the restoration of Embry.

The Canyon Snakes wisely took the deal, and have since been reported as raiding various supply depots around Aquila, seemingly striking swiftly and then disappearing in a dust cloud soon after, leaving all witnesses in stunned disbelief, if any survive the attack. Despite their effectiveness, the Snakes are starting to cause guilt by association as they continue their criminal ways, blatantly using their place in the Minutemen as justification to continue their criminal activities under the pretense of, "Aiding the war effort or something.", though the general has managed to contain their worse elements and their leader, Hutch DeLorean, in gratitude for the Minutemen saving his mother, makes efforts to curb his gangs behavior, at least when interacting with allies.