Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Tank Destroyer

"Tank Destroyer reporting!"

-Tank Destroyer leaving War Factory

The "Paladin" Tank Destroyer is the main Tank Hunter (or Tank Destroyer) of the Alliance of Hawke as the successor to the old Bulldog, Jagdpanther, Kanonenjagdpanzer and Tortoise tank destroyers from the past. This unit is planned to be voiced by Jorge Diaz

Overview
A follow-up to the very aging Bulldog (Athel Loren), Jagdpanther (Ironforge and Aselia), Kanonenjagdpanzer (Ironforge) and Tortoise (Ferelden) tank destroyers from the Voshkod-Aquilan War,

(lore incomplete)

History
When Ironforge lost in the initial invasion, it was forced to work for the Voshkod. Among other things, the Voshkod placed numerous restrictions on Dwarves to prevent an uprising while they work, limiting the Dwarf army to 100 reservists, dissolving the navy, and banning such weapons as armed aircraft, armored cars, and tanks.

With such restrictions in place, and the Voshkod making sure to confiscate any weapons/vehicles they make, the Dwarves struggled with breaking free from their tyrant. However, though Ironforge could not break the treaty restrictions imposed on it, they could try to find workarounds, by exploiting loopholes in the restrictions. One such workaround was with regards to the restrictions on tanks; though Ironforge could not have tanks, there were no restrictions prohibiting it from using tank destroyers. This line of reasoning led directly to the development of the Jagdpanther Tank Destroyer, a tank destroyer based on Panther chassis, considered one of the most successful tank destroyer designs employed during the Great Voshkod-Aquilan War.

When the Jagdpanther was first introduced in 1944 V.C., it was only one of several different designs then in service with Ironforge at the time. Its 88mm gun, though impressive for a period when most tanks had guns of 50mm caliber or less, was considered by some to be unnecessarily powerful, while it was lacking in other areas such as speed or armor in comparison to other designs. But the Voshkod, in all of their love for excessive firepower, gladly approved, even cutting the SU-100 funding and giving it to the Dwarves who began making countless Jadgpanthers, half of them were tofu-dreg projects given to the Voshkod while the real Jadgpanthers were kept for their eventual uprising.

And as the Second World War continued. In the first few weeks of the war, it was quickly and conclusively proved that most guns the Allied couldn't hope to penetrate the armor of the formidable Voshkod Ursa tanks; 50mm guns could at best make a few dents, while anti-tank rifles wouldn't even leave a scratch; during which the Voshkod began to notice that their Jagdpanther seeming suffering from constant mechanical issues, especially since it was dwarven made, and by the time they realized they've been duped it was too late.

Soon news reached that Ironforge, and surrounding Dwarven settlements, began to rebel, and were succeeding. As they had been secretly arming and training themselves within the secret passages of their mountain home, by stealing equipment and secret Alliance airdrops. But the most shocking news, and the main reason why their uprising was succeeding, was that they had been using the Jagdpanther they commissioned, whose long 88mm gun was able to deal real harm to their tanks. And with the battalion now trapped in a pincer, the Voshkod quickly retreat and reinforce their frontline. With the now liberated Dwarves giving their tank destroyer to help in the war effort.

Though the 90mm armed Patton tanks were even more powerfully gunned than the Jagdpanther or even the Ursa, they were too few in number at the time; only the Jagdpanther were available in any bulk. Ironforge forces soon turned to employing these tank destroyers in ambush scenarios; a platoon of Jadgpanthers could lie in wait for an unsuspecting Anvil column, before springing the trap and opening fire on the vulnerable rears of the Voshkod heavy tanks, which were considerably less well armored. Such tactics helped to slow the Voshkod counterattack throughout Ironforge, giving time for other countries to mobilize their forces.

The Jagdpanther continued to be employed extensively by the combined Allied forces even after the Allies had gotten Patton production up to full speed; indeed, several steps were taken to improve the effectiveness of the tank destroyers, such as the development of high-velocity armor-piercing ammunition that boasted greatly increased armor penetration. The most game-changing of the improvements made to the Jagdpanther, however, was the development of fiber-optic camouflage.

Even before this, Voshkod Ursa crews already had difficulties spotting well-concealed Jagdpanther; now, it was nearly impossible for them to do so, particularly when taking into account the poor conditions of visibility that Anvil crews already suffered from. Even infantrymen unhampered by the limitation of being inside a tank would have a hard time picking out a fiber-optic camouflaged Bulldog from a distance.

Fortunately for the Voshkods, the expense of fiber optic camouflage meant that, even by the end of the war, only a fraction of Jagdpanthers were ever equipped with such systems. Despite this, the Allies had a tank destroyer that was powerful and effectively invisible. For Voshkod tank crews, the war had become a nightmare, with the ever-present fear that a Bulldog tank destroyer might be lying in wait somewhere nearby. By the end of the war, Various Hawke tank destroyer designs were accounting for a significant portion of T-34, T-44, T-55, EG-2, EG-7 and Ursa kills, and had even claimed a few Mammoth tanks.

The success of the Jagdpanther had also firmly put Ironforge as the premier tank destroyer manufacturer of the Alliance, taking pride with their creation of a vehicle built to kill the Voshkod armored beasts. With their latest "Paladin" Tank Destroyer being an advanced version of the Jagdpanther, trading its 88mm cannon for a more advanced SABOT cannon, improved fiber-optic camouflage equipment, and advanced training for the crew, allowing them to precisely fire at the enemy's weakpoints as they lie in ambush.

Trivia

 * A Tank Destroyer firing their cannon can be seen in the victory banner for the Alliance, a nod to Red Alert 2's victory logo.