Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Yari mini-sub

"Yari submerging!"

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The Yari mini-sub is an light attack sub of the Katsuragi Protectorate alongside the larger Yumi. Planned to be voiced by *TBA*

Tactical analysis

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History
"We do not allow foreign submarines to enter our territory!"

-Yari Mini-Subs, after sinking a Corona Kun Ballistic Sub

The Katsuragi Protectorate struck at the Voshkod without warning, and with a seemingly uncanny knowledge of the Voshkod few coastal vulnerabilities. This foresight must have been partly due to the Protectorates Shinobi network, for its hooded assassins have gained a fearsome reputation for procuring sensitive information brutally and reliably. Another theory growing in popularity is that the Protectorate managed to thoroughly scout northern Eorzea and Cantha from undersea, avoiding detection while relaying essential tactical data back to the Shogunate.

These underwater scouting missions were conducted by young sailors operating the Katsuragi Protectorate Yari Mini-Subs, the smallest submersible combat vessel ever invented. Although these mini-subs initially appear rather non-threatening due to their size and relatively benign shape, the consequences of their successful scouting reveal them to be a huge threat. It also turns out that Yari mini-subs have a fairly significant attack power (though not as the Yumi), and moreover, that the sailors piloting these vessels are prepared to lay down their lives for the Protectorate's ambitions.

Although it is rather late for this information to be surfacing from the Voshkod's perspective, much has been gleaned from the collected remains of multiple Yari Mini-Subs found destroyed off the coast of northern Eorzea. Having carefully studied the Voshkod submarine program and the capabilities of their enemies' navies, the Emperor's chief naval technicians must have developed the Yari as an inexpensive miniature submarine suitable for reconnaissance and light skirmishing with the Yumi used for something larger.

Each of these vessels is fitted with a pair of mini-torpedo launchers, which, while far less powerful than the torpedoes of a Voshkod Typhoon-class, nevertheless can eventually puncture and sink even the largest vessel (as the Voshkod unwittingly discovered). Mini-Subs are also virtually undetectable when submerged, which is part of what makes them so dangerous. Also, because they are cheap to manufacture, they can quickly be deployed to support Imperial blockades.

While ill-equipped to fend off a complete naval strike group, the Yari mini-sub does have a secret weapon that can make it deadly even to vessels many times its size: Its pilot, loyally bound to his Emperor, is prepared to use his craft in a battering maneuver known as the "Last Voyage", which can severely damage even the sturdiest hull. This destroys the Yari Mini-Sub in the process since the canopy of the Yari has a fail-deadly feature that detonates all the shaped charge torpedoes and the entire mini-sub itself when certain circumstances are met (Editor's Note: This information is outdated. Yari Mini-Subs are no longer used in suicide attacks.)

Voshkod forces were completely caught off guard in their first encounters against this maneuver, which led to the shocking defeat of one of the Union's most notorious Typhoon wolf packs. The psychology that leads Protectorate sailors to be willing to use such a strategy is still being studied carefully, and diametrically-opposing theories abound, with some pundits insisting that mini-sub sailors must be extremely brave while others claim they are driven by fear.

But due to the sheer volume of experienced Yari operators lost as a result of kamikaze attacks on enemy ships in the War of the Beard and the GVAW, the Shogunate has now banned Yaris from ramming enemy ships in an attempt to sink them and has removed the fail-deadly feature from all subs to discourage unauthorized attempts to do so. Instead, they are now equipped with high-grade sonar equipment, which is capable of releasing powerful pings that reveal stealthed enemy units in the vicinity. After all, the Yari was meant to be a scout, not a front-line combatant, as the Yumi excels on that role--or, as sailors of the Coalition Navy might call them, "Human Operated Suicide Torpedoes", "Crazy Idiots" or simply a stream of expletives in increasing order of regularity.