Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Aerial Battleship Aenarion

"We're here."

-Aerial Battleship Aenarion

The Aerial Battleship Aenarion is the epic unit of Prince Tyrion, the legendary general of The Protectorate's Asur Command. This epic unit is planned to be voiced by Mark Noble.

Tactical analysis

 * Seaborne Vessel: In its default state, the Aenarion cruises across the sea, annihilating anything that comes within range with short ranged plasma cutters and longer ranged anti-ship torpedoes. Aircraft are shredded by kinetic burst turrets, as are lightly armored ships that manage to avoid the Aenarion's main cannons.
 * Aenarion, Lifting Off: Though a flying battleship may seem absurd at first, the Aenarion never the less manages to stay aloft. In this mode it retains all its weapons, save that the torpedo tubes are reconfigured to launch missiles instead. In addition, the Aenarion gains access to its most powerful weapon, the "Hypernova" Wave-Force Cannon, which can wipe out virtually anything that it hits. In both modes, the Aenarion has a complement of Stellar Angel Fighter Bombers providing air cover and scouting.
 * Priceless: While the Aenarion cannot be destroyed by anything other than an equal deployment of brute force, it is so expensive that only two battleships are fully operational, like every epic unit. Aenarion Battleships are so complex that both a Nanotech Mainframe and an Incredible Mobile Fortress Tatsu are needed to support one of these mighty ships.
 * Condescending help: Each Aenarion is also equipped with a Nano Recycling System, which allows the battleship to disassemble and collect materials from vehicles, buildings, and even soldiers it destroys, then use the materials to produce reconstruction nanites. When there're enough nanites in storage (usually after a long but successful battle), the Aenarion will discharge them into its surroundings. These nanites can heal wounds or repair damages for friendly units nearby, and also serve as an improvised shield for them, though such protection is far from perfect and can only block a portion of incoming fire. However, that's usually enough for units benefiting from the discharge to step up and block a few shots for the Aenarion, if their commander allows them to return the favor.

History
"Sunfang cannon, fire!"

-Aenarion Captain in battle

To the late Emperor Yoshiro, there were many measures of a warrior's prowess. His loyalty, his determination, his skill with blades, sidearms, his dedication to following Bushido, and his mastery of the arts of war.

To his son Tatsu, the best measure of a warrior was the number and power of his guns.

Prince Tatsu saw to it that the captains of his Aerial Battleships were the best warriors of all, arming these remarkable (and remarkably expensive) vessels with an inordinate number of guns. Unlike the Shogun or the GVAW predecessor, the Yamato, the Aerial Battleship Aenarion, named after the first Phoenix King, was intended to, as the Aquilans say, "get all up" in the enemy's business, sporting a vast number of short-ranged weapons and capable of directing an extreme amount of firepower at the enemy.

The primary armament is the three main turrets, two on the front and one aft, each turret armed with three massive 460mm plasma-cutter cannons. With the vast internal storage and power generation capacity of the Aenarion, these can be used to carve large sections of hulls out of enemy ships, be they ships flying or ships sailing. Supplementing the main guns are banks of kinetic-burst turrets that fill the air with superheated slugs, useful against hostile aircraft or lightly-armored units that might attempt to overwhelm the Aenarion's main turrets by sheer numbers. Bow-mounted missile/torpedo tubes add some long-range punch for opening an engagement, though their position makes them difficult to reload. Finally, a squadron of "Aliathra" fighter-bombers provide air cover and scouting capabilities.

Aenarion battleships are intended to simply plow into enemy formations and defenses, as they are well-armed enough to take on whole fleets by themselves. With their vast arsenal, they can engage any enemy within reach, so the only way to destroy one of these machines is to overwhelm them with numbers and firepower; every conceivable weakness has been analyzed and addressed, turning the Aenarion into a brutal warship that cannot be destroyed by anything less than an equal deployment of brute force.

While an impressive achievement in and of itself, the Aerial Battleship Aenarion gets its name from the four wave-force engines located on sleek, pivoting nacelles jutting from the hull of the vessel. Expelling vast amounts of energy, the water jets are deactivated in favor of brightly burning Wave-Force engines, which greedily harness and expend the gigajoules of energy produced by the massive Wave-Force furnace at the core of the ship.

These engines lift the vessel airborne, turning it into the largest and heaviest flying machine in human history. Then, when the Wave-force furnace reaches its greatest potential, the nose of the battleship slides open to reveal the Sunfang, the largest Wave-Force cannon in existence, which is said to be wholly capable of leveling a mountain. A single hit from this mighty weapon will obliterate any airship, blasting a massive hole in it and sending it crashing down to earth in a flaming wreck. Tatsu firmly believed that space was the future of the Protectorate, and took every step to ensure that the solar system would fall firmly under the control of the Protectorate.

Of course, such a machine comes at a steep price. There are only two known Aerial Battleships in existence, the Aenarion and its sister ship, the Musashi, and each took almost a decade to build. Such a massive machine generates so much power that its mere presence is dangerous to those around it, with its massive engines capable of flattening cities, or backfiring and causing the ignition of the atmosphere if improperly used. Therefore, in order to deploy one of these machines within the atmosphere, a Mobile Fortress Tatsu must be standing by to help coordinate its movement, and the computers of a Nanotech Mainframe are required to assist with the millions of calculations needed to keep the floating behemoth operational.

Nano Discharge:
Nearby friendly units at the same altitude as the Musashi take reduced damage, gain health regeneration, and Fire Magnet tag.

Guardians of the Tacitus

 * Widow/Seraph (Aquila)
 * B-3 Wyvern/Atlas Gunship
 * Leonidas/Omega Cannon
 * SATURN/MARP
 * Falcon Command Helicopter (Alliance)
 * Enforcer Mobile Barracks
 * Vortex Tank
 * Paradox Engine
 * MARV (ADI)
 * Mammoth Walker MKII
 * Kodiak II
 * Steel Behemoth
 * Shogun Executioner (Protectorate)
 * Aerial Battleship Aenarion
 * Sentai Command Mecha
 * Giga Fortress
 * Manticore (Andora)
 * Chione
 * Odin
 * Pandora
 * Guan Yu (Empire)
 * Yan Wang
 * Death Hand
 * Zhu Rong
 * Dong Feng 9000
 * Suan Ni
 * Shin Tsurugi Decimator (Community)
 * Sunstorm
 * Super X
 * "Serenity" Class UAC

Destroyers of Balthazar

 * Elephant Tank (Voshkod)
 * Cataclysm
 * Centurion Siege Walker
 * Airfortress Bastion
 * Montauk (Brotherhood)
 * Redeemer
 * Core Defender
 * Leviathan
 * Gargantuan Squiggoth (Horde)
 * Great Gargant
 * Great Battlefortress
 * Hazael (MLA)
 * Karkadann
 * Karakurt
 * Efreet
 * Desert Cruiser
 * Ganzir Defender (Collective)
 * Hand of Auring
 * Irkalia
 * Eshkigal Hands
 * Akatsubaki (Encantadia)
 * Byakushiki
 * Schwarzer Regen
 * Seventh Princess
 * Eradicator Hexapod (Scrin)
 * Conqueror Quadropod
 * Mothership

Neutrals

 * Mastodon Transport (Coalition)
 * Astraeus Superheavy Tank
 * Colossus Warmachine
 * Archaon The Everchosen (Heralds)
 * Eliphas The Inheritor
 * Magna The Red
 * Wulfrik The Wanderer
 * Be'lakor
 * Ku'gath Plaguefather
 * N'kari
 * Kairos Fateweaver
 * Skarbrand
 * Eden Superheavy Track (Order)
 * Rogue Squadron
 * Dies Irae Sea-Crawler
 * Himmelhammer Van (Survivors)
 * Liberty Prime
 * Reclamator
 * Prydwen
 * Classics Limo (Syndicate)
 * Manta
 * Ta'Unar Supremancy Armour
 * ... (Conglomerate)
 * Emperor Battle Titan (Legion)
 * Ordinatus
 * Bolo

Bonus Factions

 * ... (ASA)
 * Cataphract (Bastion)
 * Void of Telogrus
 * Windrunner Aerial Devastator
 * Anansi War Derrick
 * Megazord (Rangers)
 * Skybase
 * Admire
 * Vogel Sumera (Pirates)
 * Dual Crater
 * Habakkuk
 * Hannover
 * Behemoth Super Artillery (Ascalia)
 * Regalia's Pride
 * Solace War Destroyer
 * Iron Sky
 * Behemoth SHT (Elona)
 * Daitya
 * Motorcade
 * Xanthos (Dominion)
 * Hand of Ruk
 * Alpha
 * The Handler (Security)
 * King Kong (Ascendency)
 * Alpha
 * The Handler (Security)
 * King Kong (Ascendency)
 * King Kong (Ascendency)
 * King Kong (Ascendency)
 * King Kong (Ascendency)

DLC

 * Boidmachine (Federation)
 * Gundam A
 * Enterprise Starship
 * Alkaid Suborbital Defense System (Corona)
 * Eclipse Heavy Gunship
 * Qinglong Combat Core Ship
 * Sea Lung Naval Fortress
 * ... (Party)
 * Krogoth (Skynet)
 * Fatboy
 * Monkeylord
 * Ahwassa
 * Brunhilde (Elemental)
 * Benedict-class flying battleship
 * Grigor II (Autocracy)
 * Dien Bien Fortress (League)
 * Apocalisk (Swarm)
 * Hierophant
 * Bolivar Command Tower (Confederation)
 * Marteau Howitzer
 * Minotaur Earthshaker (Kingdom)
 * Purger (Goo)
 * Landkruezer P.1000 Ratte (Imperium)
 * Vengerberg Monitor
 * Ciri's Hammer
 * Colossal Titan
 * Seraptek Heavy Construct (Dynasty)
 * KV-VI (Warlords)
 * ... (Cult)
 * Tormentor Titan (Raiders)
 * Sky-scourge Destroyer
 * Karl Franz Land Destroyer (Theocracy)
 * Anumidium
 * Sand Barge (Insurgents)
 * Omega Supreme (Guardians)
 * Trypticon (Hierarchy)
 * Doomlord Dreadnought
 * Mechagodzilla
 * Dirge
 * ... (Sundered)
 * Storm Tyrant Walker (Ecumene)
 * Revenge Landship (Concordat)
 * Die Glocke SPG
 * Evolved One (Contingent)
 * ... (Eden)
 * Megatitan (InGen)
 * Rodan
 * Godzilla
 * ... (Society)
 * ... (Conclave)
 * ... (Commune)
 * ... (Lordships)
 * ... (Directorate)
 * ... (Sanctum)
 * ... (Hallows)
 * Kuun-Lan (Clique)
 * Chouto (Guild)
 * Mothra (Threat)
 * Brain Bug (Threat)
 * Megaguirus (Threat)
 * Schwere Gustav (Traders)
 * ... (Entente)
 * Cyberdemon (Oblivion)
 * Spider Mastermind
 * Uroboros Wesker (Corporation)
 * Dragon Dimitrescu
 * Mercer Critical Mass
 * Wheel Of Fate
 * Scarab Fortress Breaker (Covenant)
 * Exploration Walker (Institute)
 * ... (Eremite)
 * Sky Whale (Nimbus)
 * ... (Carnival)
 * ... (Wraiths)
 * ... (Chronophage)
 * Federation of Aquila-class Aircraft Carrier (Privateers)
 * Wirbelwind
 * Trollslegur
 * Druna Skass
 * MFS-3 Kiryu (Foundation)
 * MOGUERA (Foundation)
 * Armored Core (Spartacus)