Kalran: Tales of the four nations/Guillotine

"We'll rip them apart master!"

-A group of Gullotines teleporting into battle

The Guillotine is the Anti-Infantry/Anti-Tank vehicle of Bahlgram, the superweapons commander of the Reclaimers. Planned to be voiced by.

Tactical analysis

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History
At the start of the war with the Tuatha Empire, the back then technological inferiority of the Kevros Federation was made clear. Within half a month, the Federation Army was decimated and its remnants were forced to use delaying tactics, and hunkering down in their mountain vaults, to prolong the war. It was necessary to produce a new weapon that could fight the Empires overwhelming numbers.

By the end of the first year of war, the Federation completed their development of a new vehicle based on technology recovered from Empire wreckage, combined with their research in AI, and quickly started production. However, the new drone tank, given the placeholder of spider, was a rushed design, resulting in it being inferior in many aspects to the Empires tanks, save for its prototype laser cannon. Despite its flaws, the lack of a better machine made the spider an acceptable stopgap weapon of the Federation, and later on against the Reclaimers under Bahlgram, until they got the first functional battesuit, and scrapped the remaining spiders there after.

Due to their quick and cheap production, many of the spiders, and it's blueprints, were also given and used by the Reclaimer revolutionaries. Desmond, with his pacifist ideals, had replaced their spiders cannon with an EMP/MDP cannon.

And after the war the new Reclaimers were able to salvage and reuse these old tanks. But to cheapen its cost the new spider, now christened as Guillotines, have their steel armor replaced with a crude iron and polymer composite, its laser cannon changed to a cheaper 40mm cannon, with scything blades and HMGs for infantry, and its engine replaced with the reusable, but highly volatile and toxic, solarion engine.

Unfortunately, at least for the clones, the Reclaimers original base was glassed at the end of the war, destroying countless data, including how to make the spider AI. And since they lost the knowledge and technology to develop a combat AI equal to that of the Federation they turned the storage space for the AI into a cockpit.

But, since it was an unmanned vehicle, the Guillotines lack both a life support and escape system, and installing them was considered a waste of resources. Combined with its "armor" means that the pilots are literally piloting coffins with guns, as once their armor is breached death soon follows. And even if the pilots survive countless battles the bleed-off radiation from their engine will eventually kill them, again due to the Trueborn seeing no reason to fully shield the engine unless it kills its pilots too quickly, and is replaced once done.

But, for the Trueborn, they don't see an issue in having these clones pilot and die in these glorified coffins, since the clones are considered as ammunition, not people.

The Guillotines now became the cavalry "tank" for the Beast cell, its pilots using its speed to quickly exploit gaps in the enemy's defenses and to flank the enemies as they tend to the larger swarm. Despite taking high casualties their numbers, and the number of eager pilots, are never short, thanks to the Guillotine's ease of manufacture and the clones being indoctrinated to see the Guillotine as unstoppable juggernauts.

Trivia

 * The Guillotine is a fusion of the Mantis from supreme commander and its design, and story, is based on the juggernaut from 86.