Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Manta Ekranoplan

"Anti-Submarine Ekranoplan is on your company!"

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The Manta Ekranoplan is an Voshkod combat vessel based on Ground effect (or Ekranoplan) technology. Planned to be voiced by Kristian Phillips.

Tactical analysis

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History
"The Voshkod, in response to the Katsuragi Protectorate and the Aquilans, have made an anti-submarine capable weapons system. Truly, the Protectorate is a greater threat than anyone could have anticipated."

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The Voshkod used to be the masters of underwater. Typhoon subs hunted Allied ships with competition from rivaling subs like the Alliance's Hailsfire or Aquila's SSNs. However, when the Katsuragi Protectorate joined the war, they deployed Yari mini-subs, Yumi submarines, P-2J ASW aircraft and Sea Wings to the water which outmaneuvered entire Voshkod ships, baiting them into the guns of the Shogun Battleships, Maya cruisers and the deadly Naginata close-up encounters, often with overwhelming casualties on the Voshkod side.

Voshkod High Command quickly addressed the issue, and the engineers came up with the Manta Ekranoplan. The original model was armed with a depth charge launcher and twin torpedo tubes to combat enemy submarines and ships. However, their first encounter with the Protectorate Navy at the Battle of (insert Eorzea location) was a disaster. Manta Ekranoplans steamed ahead to meet with the Naginata cruisers intercepting to defend their Shogun Battleship. As the two navies traded torpedoes, Sea-Wings burst out of the sea into Sky-Wings, raining down kinetic-burst fire on the Mantas, using attrition against their heavy armor which allowed the Naginata cruisers to prevail. The Mantas were defenseless against enemy aircraft, and the Garlean Aionysus Fleet was almost completely annihilated when the rest of the invasion force arrived. Viper Zeroes rained missiles on the Udaloy, Mantas, Stingrays, Reapers, Slavas, Kirov Battle Cruisers, Dreadnoughts and Potemkins, Naginata cruisers sped forth to point-blank range firing their Type-S torpedo tubes, and the Battle of (insert Eorzea location) was over as soon as a Shogun Battleship rammed into the last two Dreadnoughts who were side-by-side.

After the end of the war, the engineers at (insert Eorzea location) were given one more chance to improve on the Manta Ekranoplan, or they would be sent to the gulag for life. Reading a copy of "The Battle of (insert Eorzea location)", the engineers designed the Manta Ekranoplan anew, arming it with a pair of 37mm flak cannons taken from old inter-war destroyers upgraded with modern rapid-fire autoloading systems, for dealing with pesky transforming units, and a depth charge launcher to use against submarines. Mantas were also relegated to proper anti-aircraft duty in the Voshkod Navy, since the Tigr APC was designed to transport infantry and not be thin-skinned anti-aircraft cars. The new model has completely replaced the older one and has seen successful service against the Voshkod 'enemies', radio-piloted Yak fighters used for combat trials.

After this redesign, Manta Ekranoplans will typically have diverse crews. Captains of Mantas are usually plucked (sometimes literally) from the bridge of the Typhoon or Akula sub they previously commanded, since they would have the best experience of how to counter submarines lurking underwater, having been on the receiving end of such tactics themselves. However, Akula and Typhoon Subs were never meant to sacrifice themselves by going kamikaze on enemy vessels, something which usually spells doom for the Manta. The anti-air gunners of the Manta Ekranoplan are new Flak Troopers, or those transferred from their Convict Battalion to naval duties. 'Community service' as part of a Manta crew is widely considered to be an enormously cushy posting compared to normal Flak Trooper duties, and, as a result, competition for transfers can be fierce (indeed, sometimes lethal). It's easy to see why the post would be attractive: no forced marches, no mine-clearance duties, better food, and, best of all, flak cannons that are not shoulder-mounted! The Flak Troopers are more than happy to sit down in a comfy chair with a gunsight, only holding down a button on their trigger then happily hearing the sounds of the flak cannons firing. As a result the anti-air gunners on Manta Ekranoplans are greatly indebted to the captains of their ships, even willing to go as far as sharing their vodka even if they are stranded in the seas, alone without any other Voshkod vessel around.

Trivia

 * The Manta in Gaiaterra is much resembles a real-world Lun-class Ekranoplan than the one from Paradox