Kalran: Tales of the four nations/Iron dome forcefield

Tactical Analysis

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History
"They activated the iron dome! All forces pull back!"

The first thing to be known about the Iron Dome is that it results from what was formerly considered a failed project. A team of top Volksgard scientists consisting of Dietrich Rhys, Olga Edelgard, and a few others worked on a top-secret project in the outskirts of Nulnberg. They were told to find a method that effectively strengthens and hardens steel to make it at least four times more durable at relatively low costs. After trying some chemical, mechanical, and magical methods they very quickly came to magnets. Basically, they tried to power up magnets with lightning magic and then compress steel with it. As they found out, it wasn't THAT easy. The solution came one evening.

Rhys was sitting in the main lab after a day of wasted and frustrating work. He had tried all day to clean a pair of high-voltage contacts with a spoon, ending up with the spoon bent and stuck between the contacts (When later asked why he did so he replied he had no idea). They still had an endless series of experiments to find out if slight modifications to the alloy of the tank steel would make it more cooperative. So the frustrated scientist took the biggest beer barrel he could find and went on testing. At the third test, something interesting happened. When Rhys activated the big contraction magnets, the alloy sample began to glow a dark red and a thin beam of red light emerged through a weak point of the magnetic field. The beam hit the spoon, making it glow in the same color as the alloy. Due to his drunkenness by now he threw away all safety protocols and tried to touch them with bare hands. He burnt his fingers in the attempt. As a result he tried it with a pair of raw iron pliers. The glow spread on the pliers and he got his fingers burnt again, fortunately it took little time for it to regenerate. In sudden drunk anger he went to the tool room and to the surprise of the technician busy sorting out some nuts and bolts there, took a big sledgehammer with a wooden handle to "show the damn spoon the might of the people's hammer". He returned to his lab and put himself up in front of the glowing corpus delicti, ready to slay it with 7 kilograms of antimagnetic steel.

He ended up with the hammer pinned on the spoon, which consisted of aluminum and thus should not have been nearly as hard as it was. Even in his dazed condition, he realized he found a way to make metal indestructible (or at least close to that) albeit not in the way he thought. In a cheerful mood he called his colleagues to look at his sudden success. To celebrate they took several barrels, emptying them in a short time, and made some very foolish decisions. The first was to get even more beer, second they had a Bloodhound tank driven next to the wall of the lab, and third they made a hole into the said wall with the sledgehammer to radiate the tank. While the tank glowed brightly in the dark night the scientists fell into deep sleep. The next morning with a minor hangover they deactivated the magnets and noticed that the tank had heated up to 250°C, which was a good temperature for an oven, but a bad one for a tank. They decided to fix that later, for first they had to show the important people what they created.

In the evening a VIP bunker had been set up, the Bloodhound tank put on the testing field, and a dive bomber already circling overhead by the time the convoy carrying the members of the Volksgard council of defense arrived. Olga promised them a wonder, and what they got were fireworks. The Bloodhound exploded in a bright ball of fire, which did not amuse the observers. If the scientists wouldn't have been so worthy they would have been dropped out. As it was, they should just have immediately ceased working on the project. Finally it was Edelgard who saved the day, or rather week. She reminded her comrades of something quite obvious. "The device did make the spoon indestructible, didn't it? As long as the beam had contact with the metal, right? So why didn't we just let it stay activated?"

"Because the tank was turned into an oven," she received in reply.

"But that took 10 hours. One of us could wrap themself into one of the suits we use for miners near lava veins and sit in there for the demonstration." Rhys then made a step forward and said, "I will deal with that. I already know how to get the council right back here, too." His colleagues admired his bravery.

"You are sure on this?"

"Yes, of course."

While the others prepared another Bloodhound tank, transported their device out of the lab, and put it up 500 meters away from the tank, Rhys called the defense council. He talked directly to General Hugh Steiner, and told him to bring his command tank. "You sit in your command tank and I will be in a modified Bloodhound tank. You will be unable to defeat me, but if you do, you don't need to think about punishing me for my incompetence. You will get your will anyway!"

Steiner, after an intense argument with Rhysobjecting him to take such risk, ordered his aides to ready his command tank and started driving to the lab, at full speed. When the rest of the council heard about the outrageous challenge for a duel, they hurried to get to the site of the event. The duel took place at the testing field which was still partially scorched by the explosion of the other Bloodhound tank. Rhys's much smaller tank stood in front of Steiner’s mighty Doberman, and the generals had no doubt about the outcome of the fight/test, though he hoped he'll be proven wrong. Then Olga activated the device and as the smaller tank began to glow the spectators let out a gasp of astonishment. Steiner ordered both cannons and all rocket launchers to be fired, but shells and rockets smashed into the tank without even causing a scratch. Everyone just gazed at the unaffected Anvil for a moment. General Steiner himself broke the silence, telling his gunner to unleash everything onto the Bloodhound. But still there was no effect. And so Steiner ordered the driver to crush Rhys's tank under the weight of the command tank. The Doberman advanced, crushing the Bloodhound into the ground. By the time the Doberman had driven over the Bloodhound had created a deep depression in the ground, and yet the Bloodhound was still completely intact. Rhys wanted to make the demonstration perfect and managed to turn the turret and fire one HEAT round into the tracks forcing Steiner's tank to an undignified halt. After Steiner had processed it (it took twenty barrels of beer for him to understand what had just happened), he began to realize the power he just had experienced.

In the next months the phenomenon Rhys discovered came to be researched and better understood. It was found out that the effect was caused by a special enchantment cast on the armor. And afterward work began on how to harness this magic.

Trivia

 * The Iron dome is based off the iron curtain from red alert