Archivist's Note:
- "Mk II" is used to indicate major changes from preceding iterations of a unit with the same name.
- "MPSG" is an acronym that stands for "Modular Personal Shield Generator;" this component, now a standard upgrade for all UEF ground and air forces, was derived from the production model of the Titan Mk I.
- AAA is an acronym that stands for "Anti-Aircraft Artillery," and indicates any system that responds to aerial threats with ballistic unguided projectiles
- SAM is an acronym that stands for "Surface to Air Missile;" it refers to any self-propelled guided projectile used for anti-aircraft purposes.
- ASF is an acronym that stands for "Air-Superiority Fighter."
- Experimental units are listed in bold.
- "The Armistice" refers to the 25-year cease-fire between the three major galactic powers in the wake of the War in Heaven, known otherwise as the Human-Seraphim War. Historians are uncertain as to whether or not the Armistice represented an END to the Infinite War, or merely a brief hiatus before a recurrence of hostilities. Time, as always, will tell.
- Project MIMIC (Mini-Missile Construction): A UEF research-and-development project designed to reverse-engineer captured Cybran nano-dart missile launchers such as those found on the Sky-Slammer and the Siren-class cruisers. Though UEF nanoengineering is primitive by comparison to that of the Cybran Nation, UEF engineers recognize the efficiency of nano weapons and are trying to close the gap. The results of Project MIMIC include the Archanist, the Sharp Shooter, the Wasp Mk II, and the Mega Fortress.
UEF:
The Rock Head: Derived from the aging but successful Pillar chassis, the Rock Head Main Battle Tank was designed with versatility and durability in mind. Using the Pillar as a baseline, the Rock Head was constructed with modular parts designed to accept a variety of field upgrades, including a modular version of the Flayer SAM, the MPSG, and an additional Gauss Cannon to bring the Rock Head's damage up to par with that of the Titan Mk II. This makes the Rock Head a robust, adaptable platform that can be specialized to deal with a variety of situations, from urban warfare to open battle. Its primary weakness is speed.
The Titan Mk II: The Titan Mk I was a robust design that saw action throughout the Infinite War, serving as both raider and linebreaker. UEF engineers took advantage of the Armistice to overhaul the Titan for more specialized operations. The Rock Head was intended as an all-around combat unit suitable for mass production and specialized as necessary; the Titan became a commando, designed for raiding, mobile combat, and supplemental damage until the Rock Head has been brought up to par with the Titan Mk II. To keep the Titan Mk II cheap enough for high-risk operations, it is deployed without the shield generator that characterized the Titan Mk I production model. Like all UEF ground units, the Titan Mk II may be upgraded with both the MPSG and the Flayer SAM launcher.
Ironically, the prototype Titan Mk I fielded an equally prototypical modular version of the Flayer SAM launcher; when the Mk I went into full production, the missile launcher was dropped in favor of the prototype personal shield generator that eventually led to the development of the MPSG. The Titan Mk I was essentially the proving ground for technology that is now standard for the UEF military.
The Archanist: The Archer mobile AAA platform utilized a fast-tracking twin-linked rail gun system to bring down enemy aircraft. During the Armistice, however, both Cybran and Aeon engineers developed evasion algorithms for their air forces that allowed them to easily dodge unguided projectiles, rendering the Archer and similar weapons obsolete. Though UEF engineers considered responding by housing the Flayer SAM launcher within a dedicated platform, they were overruled from on-high: projects were already underway to adapt the Flayer into a modular platform for use on mobile units primarily concerned with ground-based threats. For their dedicated anti-aircraft platform, UEF commanders wanted something more specialized. What they got was the Archanist, which uses twin-linked quad-barreled rail guns on a fast-tracking turret to launch volleys of guided micro-missiles developed by Project MIMIC. The micro-missiles are so small that only their thruster trails are visible as they swarm from the Archanist to its target. The Archanist's turret quickly became standard on dedicated UEF anti-aircraft units and structures.
The Sharp Shooter: It could be considered an understatement that the UEF tends to favor projectile weapons over the more exotic quantum weapons of the Aeon Illuminate or the precision lasers, particle beams, electron bolters, and nano-weapons of the Cybran Nation. Nowhere is this more evident than their historical reliance on the Buzzkill anti-missile system, a sophisticated "gatling" rail gun used as a Close-In Weapons System to defend their structures and ships from incoming missile attack. What this weapon lacked in power and sophistication, it more than made up for in sheer volume of fire, its six barrels spitting thousands of hyper-sonic rounds a second. But with the advent of QAI Labs during the Armistace, plans for the extraordinarily successful Zapper Anti-Missile System, formerly proprietary Cybran technology, became available on the open market. Now, the Zapper has replaced the Buzzkill as standard equipment on the UEF Sharp Shooter, and it makes its presence felt on the battlefield, knocking down missiles with an efficiency the Buzzkill couldn't hope to match.
The Meteor: The Meteor Mobile Missile Launcher is a direct descendant of the Spearhead Mobile Missile Platform that found use as a bombardment weapon in the Human-Seraphim War. The Spearhead was an advanced weapon for its time, capable of firing volleys of three tactical missiles -- even small numbers of Spearheads could saturate and overwhelm tactical missile defenses of the time, particularly the slow-firing Seraphim Ythisatha. But with the proliferation of the Cybran Zapper Anti-Missile System, three missiles per volley became wholly insufficient. The fruits of Project MIMIC were applied to the Meteor, yielding a platform that can launch not three but twelve missiles in a single volley: a dramatic 400% increase in firepower. Even a single Meteor can give modern anti-missile systems headaches; a large group of Meteors spells doom for stationary targets.
The Demolisher Mk II: With the advent of the Meteor, the Demolisher's role as a siege unit has been eclipsed in favor of its role as a close support unit. In this, the Demolisher has more in common with the now-vanished Lobo light mobile artillery platform, including the Lobo's characteristic cluster munitions and ability to fire on the move. In a way, the Lobo lives on in the Demolisher, the two units serving much the same purpose. Even the Demolisher's characteristic recoil braces have been replaced by the Lobo's quadruple caterpillar tracks. The Lobo's shell camera technology was handed to far more mobile Eagle Eye.
The Fatboy II: The original Fatboy presented an unique problem for UEF field commanders. Intended as a mobile fortress capable of bombarding an enemy outpost, building and protecting an escort under its tachyon shield envelope, and facilitating the construction of forward bases, the Fatboy did not achieve any of its goals efficiently enough to justify its expense. It was hideously vulnerable to air attacks, artillery, and tactical missiles, it lacked the firepower to destroy other experimental units, and its internal factories could not be assisted by local engineers. In fact, the Fatboy would probably have faded into disuse and obscurity if not for the development of the Noah Unit Cannon. The Noah made use of the Fatboy's state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, but unlike the lumbering Fatboy, the Noah could deploy its progeny anywhere, en masse, on a continental scale. By rendering the Fatboy's role as a mobile factory categorically obsolete, the Noah freed UEF engineers to rebuild the Fatboy for a single purpose: combat. By removing the manufacturing systems and tachyon shield array (which primarily served to protect the Fatboy's progeny) from the Fatboy chassis, UEF engineers were able to increase the Fatboy's mobility and significantly reduce its operating cost to the point that UEF commanders could field the Fatboy II with confidence that it will provide a return on its investment. The Fatboy II still requires an escort to deal with close-range threats and air units, but overall, the Fatboy II represents a specialization of the original, rather than a downgrade.
The Jackhammer: With the Demolisher functioning primarily as a replacement for the Lobo, UEF commanders were left with an interesting, if sentimental, problem: the lack of a very large mobile cannon. The redesigned Fatboy II, though capable of making things explode on a regular basis, was perhaps TOO reliable, delivering results with such consistency that it lacked the "shock and awe" that only a single, large cannon can deliver. Fortunately, UEF engineers responded to the reignition of the Infinite War by providing UEF commanders with a mobile platform that delivers "shock and awe" on an unprecedented scale, its single anti-matter cannon dealing as much damage as a PAIR of AC-1000 Terror gunships. Its primary weakness is that it cannot move once it has been deployed, and safety regulations force UEF commanders to manually order the unit to deploy and redeploy. Additionally, the Jackhammer is quite vulnerable from the air. Consequently, the Jackhammer represents a finnicky but satisfying addition to the UEF arsenal, useful both as a mobile siege weapon and as a defensive emplacement.
The Wasp Mk II: At the time of the War in Heaven, the Wasp Mk I was a cutting-edge UEF design, literally slicing other aircraft to pieces with its pulsed plasma cannons. Unfortunately, advances in Aeon and Cybran evasion algorithms rendered even these unguided weapons obsolete, so UEF scientists were forced to turn to other methods. The Archanist's guided micro-missiles are launched from a Gauss Cannon at extremely high velocities: though they have time to alter their course slightly during flight, they move so quickly that their maneuverability is limited. For a projectile launched from a fast-tracking turret this is wholly sufficient, but turrets are not aerodynamically sound, particularly for a high-performance air frame like that of the Wasp Mk I. So the UEF established a third branch for Project MIMIC, eventually yielding a functional mini-missile for use in air-to-air combat. This weapon was integrated into low-power linked rail guns built into the Wasp Mk II's air frame. Though UEF engineers had to extend the Wasp's wings to accommodate the new weapon, the result was a powerful interceptor capable of holding its own against the latest Cybran and Aeon fighter-bombers, at the cost of being unable to target anything but other aircraft.
The Eagle Eye: During the Armistice, UEF High Command authorized the Air Power Consolidation doctrine, designed to limit field designs based on battlefield role. The Scorcher, the Janus, the Stork, and the Ambassador all served an ultimately similar purchase: to deliver their payload on a single pass and then circle around, if necessary, for another try. This stands in stark contrast to a gunship, which is designed to deliver continuous fire support from the air at close range. In consequence, the UEF consolidated their bomber designs within a single, sleek package: the Eagle Eye. The Eagle Eye combines the guided munitions of the Ambassador with the slow-burning plasma of the Scorcher and the Janus; it also incorporates the shellcam technology of the Lobo, allowing it to serve as a spy plane. Lastly, the Eagle Eye can be modified to field a torpedo bay, allowing it to target submarines from the safety of the air and do increased damage to surface ships.
The Broadsword Mk II: The Broadsword has a long and distinguished service history with the UEF. Its chassis is robust and heavily armored, capable of mounting a variety of weapons. During the Infinite War, the most common weapon fielded by the Broadsword was a pair of heavy plasma cannons similar to those used by the Titan. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned Air Power Consolidation doctrine, the UEF was forced to choose between the Broadsword and the Stinger; they chose both. UEF engineers retained the Broadsword's durable air frame; to keep construction costs down, they replaced the twin plasma cannon with the popular and less-expensive Hell's Fury Riot Gun that characterized the Stinger. The resultant fusion of Broadsword and Stinger went on meet the UEF's needs for close air support.
The AC-1000 Terror: The AC-1000 is actually based on a pre-Imperial North American ground-attack aircraft with an impeccable service record: of 43 individual aircraft constructed, only seven were lost to enemy fire, in exchange for countless enemy casualties over thousands of hours of combat. Both the concept and the design appealed to present day UEF engineers, who took advantage of the Armistice to develop something the UEF arsenal lacked: a super-gunship. The AC-1000 follows the example of its ancient predecessor: it circles its target in an endless loop, unleashing continuous volleys of weapons fire. To this end, its right flank bristles with weaponry, including twin-linked heavy Hell's Fury Riot Guns and a Gauss Cannon that would not be out of place on a UEF battleship. Indeed, the single Gauss Cannon mounted on the AC-1000 surpasses the firepower of an entire turret's worth of such cannons on a Poseidon-class battleship. How the UEF managed to feed the hungry weapon's power and recoil compensation needs without making the AC-1000 too heavy to fly is a mystery: the AC-1000 is designed to destroy proprietary UEF technology in the event of critical damage, leaving little to reverse-engineer.
The Mega Fortress: During the Armistice, a schism in the ranks of UEF commanders became apparent. Some UEF commanders felt that ground forces (and, where necessary, transports and the newly developed Noah Unit Cannon) were all that was necessary to get a job done, and that the application of air power was a sign of weakness. Other UEF commanders expressed the opinion that ground forces were a mere blunt instrument compared to the precision and control provided by air forces. The argument raged endlessly in war academies, training simulators, and class reunions. Scholars of ancient military history were fond of a particular argument: that aircraft carriers had changed the face of warfare during one of the pre-Imperial global conflicts on Earth by allowing military forces of the day to strike targets over the horizon. Though no one could deny the validity of this argument, some cited technological limitations: guided or self-propelled projectiles make the horizon irrelevant. Regardless: one day, a UEF commander with some degree of influence over High Command heard the historical argument, and took action. Investigations were made into the application of the air manufacturing equipment that characterized the Atlantis and the Atlantis II into an airborne chassis. The result was a dream come true for every commander who favored air power: the Mega Fortress, a floating factory armed to the teeth and capable of rapidly manufacturing and deploying air forces. In addition to its formidable aircraft production capabilities, the Mega Fortress represents the fruits of Project MIMIC: its primary anti-aircraft weapons systems are fully-functional reverse engineered nano-dart launchers. Though many generations behind their Cybran counterparts, the Mega Fortress' nano-dart launchers are nevertheless quite capable of shredding incoming fighters, and eight Hell's Fury Riot Guns neutralize ground-based threats with alacrity.
More to come when I have the chance!|||Cybran:
The Loyalist Mk II: The Loyalist is emblematic of the Cybran struggle for independence on a number of levels. The original design is nearly a thousand years old; some suggest that Dr. Brackman himself invented it. Certainly, the lopsided silhouette of the Loyalist Mk I, with its array of weapons and utilities (including an anachronistic tactical missile redirection system) is characteristic of Cybran military design. The "Loyalist" designation is a stroke of genius for a mobile weapon designed to facilitate a rebellion. After all: if the Cybrans are not loyal to the Empire and the UEF, to what are they loyal? To principle? To humanity? To posthumanity, perhaps?
The Armistice saw a number of dramatic realignments in the Cybran military. The success and versatility of the Mantis platform led Dr. Brackman to modify the design, producing the Adaptor Mobile Support Platform. The popularity of the Adaptor and its distinguished predecessor led Cybran commanders to favor bots for land combat, retiring tanks and forcing the Loyalist to serve as a primary combat unit rather than a raider. Attempts to modify the Loyalist Mk I chassis for heavy combat resulted in unacceptable performance losses: the Loyalist chassis was antiquated and a number of its design features were undocumented. Consequently, Cybran engineers turned to the Adaptor. Stripping out the support systems in favor of additional armor and a pair of pulse lasers produced a fast, reliable combat unit that retained the Adaptor's modular capabilities, providing numerous opportunities for field modifications and the deployment of experimental technology. The Loyalist Mk II is as quirky as its namesake: it can incorporate jump jets, advanced reactive armor, and an unprecedented production model of the emergency defense module typically found only in ACUs. This allows the Loyalist to hunker beneath a shield whilst awaiting reinforcements or when challenged by something it cannot defeat. This makes the Loyalist Mk II an extraordinarily versatile assault unit capable of taking on a variety of missions.
The Adaptor: Developed by Dr. Brackman himself from the highly successful Mantis light assault bot, the Adaptor Mobile Support Unit is, as its name suggests, a multirole unit par excellance. Capable of traversing almost any terrain, projecting tachyon shields around friendly units, shooting down incoming tactical missiles with its Zapper Anti-Missile System, and doing severe damage to air forces with its next-generation nano-dart launchers, the Adaptor is a quintessential addition to any Cybran army and is likely to be seen in force on almost any battlefield.
The Cobra: The Cobra is actually an early prototype of the Adaptor, representing an intermediate step between the Adaptor's final form and the Mantis assault bot from which the Adaptor was derived. Instead of the nano-dart missile launchers and Zapper AMS utilized by the Adaptor, each of the Cobra's arms contains five LOA tactical missile pods. The LOA nanite missile system is an old Cybran design that splits into multiple submunitions prior to impact or in the event of damage from anti-missile fire, giving anti-missile systems headaches and increasing the probability of a successful hit. Cobra performs well as a short-range missile platform, in part due to the LOA's reliability, but also in part due to the versatility of the Adaptor platform: even though the Cobra is based on a prototype, Dr. Brackman's latest creation performs admirably.
The Brackman: With the retirement of tanks in general and the Trebuchet mobile artillery platform in particular, Cybran engineers were forced to do what they do best: improvise. They turned for inspiration to Suthanus, the Seraphim's quadrupedal heavy artillery unit. Though unable to master the Suthanus' dark matter cannon, the Cybrans were able to reverse-engineer the Suthanus' chassis to provide a stable firing platform for the Trebuchet's proton accelerator cannon. Now, the Brackman stalks the battlefield alongside its quadrupedal brethren, raining subatomic death from above on its unfortunate targets. Most alarmingly, the Brackman can also jump, providing it with unsurpassed tactical maneuverability.
The Megalith II: Like the Fatboy, the original Megalith found itself hampered by a multitude of operational goals. The Megalith was designed to act as a mobile factory, an underwater fortress, and a short-ranged siege unit, but it performed only one of these goals well enough to justify its expense. Its twelve torpedo tubes allowed the Megalith to engage and defeat entire fleets on its own before emerging to stalk the land. Though it could produce small fabrication shells from which emerged Bricks assault bots and Banger AAA flak track escorts, only the Bricks could accompany the Megalith underwater. Likewise, the fabrication process was slower than that of a factory complex due to the need to individually place each "egg;" and the Megalith's slow land speed prevented it from deploying these forces anywhere a transport could not.
In an example of independent parallel evolution, Cybran engineers followed the same route taken by the UEF concerning the Fatboy. With the successful deployment of both functional jump jets on land units and the experiment Giant Transport, mobile manufacturing became redundant. By stripping the expensive manufacturing facilities from the Megalith chassis, the unit became much less expensive; likewise, the Kraken rendered the Megalith's role as a naval fortress similarly obsolete, reducing the Megalith II to a land bombardment platform. In this role, the Megalith II more than justifies its expense, its single proton artillery cannon and its pair of scaled down microwave lasers performing admirably.
The Monkeylord: With the first prototypes available for combat just prior to the War in Heaven, the Monkeylord is a relatively recent design that has become synonymous with Cybran engineering prowess. Its primary weapon is starship-scale microwave laser generator that quite simply incinerates anything that has the misfortune to enter its line of fire. This weapon is so potent that it can reduce a Fatboy II to molten slag in a little over four seconds. By comparison, the two electron bolter point defense weapons mounted on the front of the Monkeylord's chassis, though significantly more powerful than the proton cannons found on a Cybran battleship, are almost trivial. Somehow, the Monkeylord's six powerful legs support both the microwave laser itself and a reactor large enough to feed it.
Initial Monkeylord variants were coated with a seething layer of radar-absorbent nanites that rendered the mountainous monstrosity nearly invisible to radar, punishing commanders who relied too much on sensors and did not keep a weather eye on their surroundings with spy planes and satellites. Though equipped with a token pair of nanite missile launchers much like those found on the Gemini fighter and Myrmidon SAM launcher, the Monkeylord is ultimately much more vulnerable from above than it is from the ground: ground forces may wear it down eventually, but not without grievous losses.
The Gemini Mk II: During both the Infinite War and the War in Heaven, the Gemini was the primary air-superiority fighter of the Cybran Nation. Its effectiveness derived from the pair of nanite missile launchers and its unprecedented integral stealth systems, which allowed the fighter to disappear from radar altogether. Since the Armistace, the Gemini has lost its stealth system in favor of a neutron cluster bomb array that originally belonged to the Zeus attack bomber. This allows the Gemini Mk II to defend Cybran installations against both air and ground attacks.
The Renegade Mk III: The Renegade has gone through countless variations during its long service history. The air frame of the Mk I was based loosely on primitive pre-Imperial flying devices called "helicopters" (Archivist's Note: see data file C/H/A/23495871263459, sections A-D), but the advent of the War in Heaven provided the Cybran Nation with the opportunity to modernize. Though the Renegade Mk I and Mk II were both missile boats sporting iridium rocket packs, the Mk I housed its rockets in a pod under each wing, spraying iridium death at targets in a wide barrage. The Mk II was built around a more advanced spinal launcher integrated directly into the air frame, delivering its payload in a much tighter cluster.
The Renegade Mk III is an altogether different matter, sporting a four-engine air frame and a long, sinuous tail, at the end of which is a pair of pulsed laser weapons similar to those mounted on the Loyalist Mk II. It uses its tail as a turret, giving the Renegade Mk III nearly omnidirectional firepower. And its firepower is significant: according to field observations, the two most common field upgrade kits allow the Renegade Mk III to outperform the UEF Broadsword Mk II by almost 100%.|||Reserved|||meh|||Different strokes for different folks, FunkOff. I enjoy the game on multiple levels.
|||Coolness, I can't wait to read them all.|||So far so good. Looking forward to more.|||Cool. I was actually considering doing the same thing at some point but never got around to doing it. Good stuff Last Stand. Looking forward to reading more.|||Lovin it 
.|||I have an interest in history, thus backstory is something I like for anything. Good job!|||Last Stand|||I was referring to the Buzzkill, which had six barrels IIRC.I will, however, edit the OP to indicate more clearly that the Zapper REPLACED the Buzzkill.
|||Last Stand|||LayZboy|||FunkOff|||Nephylim|||Last Stand|||Yeah, the weapon on the Wasp does not track enemies. The missiles track, but missiles are controlled by their own scripts and blueprints, not those of the unit firing them.|||*pauses typing*Can anyone confirm whether or not the Archanist projectiles track their targets? I swear, I see them change course on occasion. Then again, that could be just a randomized accuracy variable at work.|||Last Stand|||Archanist AA is the same as AA tower AA, and that tracks its targets. In fact, it's the best at doing so.|||Sexy work|||The AA in SupCom2 tracks, but only to a degree. Which is why the fast flying cybran scout aircraft can out run aa turrets at times. But they normally hit like 95% of the time as their tracking is very high.|||I've been tempted to work on the Illuminate background info. Thoughts?|||During the last days of fighting, the guys responsible for coming up with unit names and designs such as ascension, restorer, salvation, ect. died. Desperate for the crucial dude-that-names-all-that-can-fight, they asked their UEF allies for help. UEF, thinking that those religious aeon guys were off their rocker, sent them a truckload of 5 year old color-guard trainees.
Result: the morbidly obese, fragile will-find-ja that has little stars prancing around it, among others.
...and it has at least FOURRR flags
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