Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Assault Destroyer

"Assault Destroyer, proud to serve!"

-...

The Assault Destroyer is the primary destroyer vessel of the Andoran Republic. This unit will set to be planned by

History
"Taking one for the team."

-Unofficial motto of the ANV Hurricane

As the Voshkod further encroached on its neighbours from every direction, the Andoran Republic sought a versatile solution to coastal threats that could press onto the shore to secure a beachhead.

Years of design conducted in secret, headed by the finest panel of international military vehicle specialists ever assembled by the Andorans, resulted in the Assault Destroyer -- an amphibious warship featuring a highly accurate armour-piercing cannon suitable for land and sea warfare, as well as layers of specially-designed armour that can be activated to draw enemy fire away from otherwise-unprotected targets.

Assault Destroyers are so massive that only Andoran seaports are large enough to manufacture them, even though the vessels themselves are fully as capable on land as they are at sea. In fact, on land, the relative girth of Assault Destroyers is such that they dwarf most other vehicles, including the Voshkod's own main battle tanks. These vessels all are fitted with a swivel-mounted armour-piercing main gun, more powerful and no less accurate than that of virtually any modern tank, and their performance characteristics on land rival all but the Voshkod own Apocalypse tanks.

Of course, unlike Apocalypse tanks, Assault Destroyers can traverse land and sea with equal ease, which recently has come into play throughout numerous combat encounters between Andoran and Voshkod forces near the Strait of Gora as well as near the Voshkod' science facilities in Mykonos.

In spite of the Assault Destroyer's raw power as an amphibious armoured assault vehicle, its greatest strength may be its defensive capability. First and foremost, this vessel's reinforced hull can shrug off all but the most violent of concussive blasts--the Assault Destroyer is probably the single most heavily armoured element of the Andoran military, rivalling even manufacturer Gerhardt-Giraud's own Heartwind-class Drone Carriers from the Aquilan Navy.

Yet while heavy armour is nothing special to the modern battlefield, the "Black Hole Armour" most certainly is. Each Assault Destroyer has the capability to activate a special field, which causes nearby ordnance to gravitate toward the Assault Destroyer instead of its intended target. While purposely drawing enemy fire may seem like lunacy, the Assault Destroyer's extremely durable hull absorbs most enemy fire as a fine sponge soaks up a spilt beverage.

Assault Destroyers' Black Hole Armour makes them probably the single most reassuring sight that other Andoran forces could hope to encounter on the battlefield. Even though activating the Black Hole Armour field means having to avoid the use of their main guns for fear of internal combustion, Assault Destroyers still are extremely powerful when not attacking simply because they can prevent more-vulnerable Andoran forces from coming to harm.

Thankfully at least, Andoran forces tuned to the same encrypted frequencies as Assault Destroyers need not fear damaging their brothers-in-arms and may fire through the Black Hole Armour field as normal, since the Black Hole Armour field's ability to not affect projectiles firing out of the field is just a backup in case the frequencies are messed up. After returning from a successful counterattack against Horde Looted tanks in Galbadia, one Mirage Tank commander famously quipped, "Today I love the Assault Destroyer more than my mother, and I wouldn't be here if not for her."