This is the page for my Mordavian faction addon to Ishmaru's Annex mod. I'll be posting up the techtree and screenshot links as I go along.
Backstory:Prior to the discovery of crystals that proved to re-instigate warfare around the globe, the Mordavians lived in a barren area, stuck even further out of reach then the Neo-Republic. Nonetheless, with large access to oil and other natural resources, as well as control of large swathes of empty land, the population of the nation boomed. Unfortunately, success led to discontent and the various ruling families within the empire broke down into squabbling feudalistic holdings. These engaged in mass armored warfare across the vast plains of their native land, leaving millions of dead in years of bloody civil war. To add insult to injury, the Neo Republic, in need of resources to fund its war against the Alliance, struck into Mordavian territory, wiping out the civilian population or utilizing them as slave labor. It was this threat that finally provided the Mordavians with unity. A charismatic leader, Janos Mrazensky, succeeded in uniting the Mordavian populace behind him by appealing to the common citizens, resulting in mass social upheaval and final unity. With all that remained of Mordavia backing him Mrazensky revitalized the industrial might of the nation and sought to modernize its military. Attacking south, his soldiers marched into occupied Mordavia as liberating heroes. Striking back at their hated foes in the Neo-Republic, the Mordavian drive soon reached Alliance territories, as well as enclaves heavily influenced by the subversive Shadow Organization. Outpacing all competition in land warfare, the Mordavians were not above utilizing treachery and often used captured vehicles and infiltration forces to aid their advance. Unfortunately, despite having fought over empty lands promoting aerial warfare, it was an ideal that was unpopular with high-command and due to this, the Mordavian airforce consisted of small piston engined AOP's, not the jet fighters and other cutting edge weapons of the other nations. With the largest population of all warring nations, and with the least internal fragmentation, much fear is already reaching the Neo-Republic and Alliance troops as they realize that when the main Mordavian force arrives, the fighting will become brutal, defensive and nearly hopeless.
"If someone stands up to you, try to talk and bribe, if they still stand, grind them under your tank treads"-Janos Mrazensky
A written tech tree, hopefully a visual one soon to follow
Buildings:
HQ-Produces Buildozers, the "Last Sight", and does some of the research, like getting to new tech levels
Barracks-Infantry training ground, produces soldiers, shocktroopers, tank busters, engineers and scouts, as well as HMG's, Cannons and Spider RCL cannon.
Factory-Builds Reaver/Tiny Tim light tanks, Excavator infantry support vehicles, Drak tanks, "arty can" assault guns, Silent Death tank destroyers and Gilgamesh heavy tanks.(Might later build a flak tank)
Supply depot-same or similar to the current alliance faction storage building.
Field Workshop: researches upgrades(to be decided)
Forward Airfield-Builds AOP
Defences:
Tank Turret-tank turret emplacement based on the Drak tank.
Several support weapons can dig in for added defense.
Units:
Buildozer-Builds and harvests.
Infantry:
Soldier-sort of like Grunt, but weaker weapon and HP can be upgraded to carry a single shot short range rocket longer on a slow EP recharge.
Shocktrooper-better then soldier in many ways but more expensive.
Engineer-Armed with SMG that is great at short range, good armor(for infantry) and a flamethrower.
Scout-Sniper unit with long range weapon and good speed, doesn't have one shot kills but can do great long range damage over time.
Flak Gunner-armed with a pistol and SAM launcher, reasonably weak but does good damage to aircraft, can be used against tanks for lower range and damage.
Infantry Support Weapons:
HMG-like minigun, but slower firing and moving in base form, when dug in, has great HP and better ROF(rate of fire) can also shoot against aircraft.
Cannon-Slower moving howitzer, gives infantry a better chance against tanks, can dig into a gun pit to be placed in a cruciform mount
Vehicles:
Tiny Tim light tank-Powerful light tank tank that surpasses the capabilities of all other early game vehicles roughly equal to IFV, It has good armor, an autoloader, good speed and good view range at the expense of slow reload after the first volley and sub-par HP.
Based upon the design specifications of NT3401 for a new light recon tank the Reaver, jokingly called the Tiny Tim, came into existence. The specifications were unlike any previously seen in Mordavian military history, an autoloader was demanded, as was a speed in excess of 100kmh. The armor was to be well sloped and the tank was to be fully amphibious. As if this was not enough, it was to pack a massive range of countermeasures, from smoke grenade launchers to chaff launchers they were to have it all. Despite a basic unit formation of 14 tanks per recce company, 2 command tanks and 3x4tank platoons, most of the time the tanks operated in two tank teams. Nonetheless, when they participated in mass actions, they often proved devastating. Despite a design flaw making ammunition liable to detonation if hit, the tanks were hard targets and against missiles, the chaff would often be adequate. Possibly the Reavers greatest moment came at airfield 244, a large well guarded airfield south of the village of Tyr. Amongst its defenses were numerous rocket sites two IFV squadrons and numerouss machine gun posts, not to mention a whole infantry regiment with all its mortars and RPG's. Housed in this complex were 2 dozen gunships of the 305th and 306th Aerial Support Squadrons as well as a section of 4 unidentified bombers of the 43rd Bomber Wing and their 12 Harrier escorts from the 18th Fighter Group. This was a very viable threat to the Mordavian buildup in the area and had to be eliminated. The newly arrived 1st Recce Company, equipped with fresh from the factories Tiny Tim's was chosen for the task along with the "Lucky" 13th Shock Regiment. On one cold midnight, the shock sappers and assault troops moved out, following closely behind the regiments two captured IFV's. The enemy sentries recognized the silhouettes and let them get close. It was a mistake they wouldn't get to repeat. The two IFV's blasted their way through the bunkers of the frontline, wiping out the lone, sleepy company that stood in their way and opening a slight salient for the 1st. Not a second was wasted as the 14 tanks raced through the gaps, hurtling towards the airfield. A pair of patrolling IFV's tried to make contact and upon getting no reply but the acceleration of the Tiny Tim's in their direction they sounded the alarm. There was no going back now, as the two lead Tiny Tim's shot apart the patrol hurtling past the burnt out hulks into the barb wire fencing and past the machine gun nests. The rocket launchers started a crescendo of flame as their projectiles leapt into the air at the little 25 ton tanks. In a heart beat, all 14 fired off 140 chaff shots into the air, bouncing the remaining shots off their front and side armor. The last tank wasn't as lucky, and a rocket penetrated its magazine destroying the small vehicle in a blinding flash. The remaining 13 barreled past the barracks and vehicle garages, each emptying a full magazine in the process. A few of the IFV's got under way to interfere, but there were too few against too many shots and too much armor. Less then 10 minutes since the alarm and virtually all of the defences were silent, or unable to engage the light tanks that raced amongst the rows of gunships, blowing them up before heading for the hangars, destroying the aircraft hidden there. 20 minutes into the assault, and nothing was left of the once sizable air strength. As final attacks were made against the fuel and bomb dumps there was already a slow trickle of enemy survivors trying to stop the escape. Yet there was nothing the few infantry and IFV's could do without heavier help and after a short skirmish, the remaining 13 tanks disappeared as swiftly as they had come, battered, damaged, low on ammo, but victorious. And as 1 o'clock neared, they crossed back across the lines with the shock troops in the rearguard, having completed a total slaughter without anyone putting up proper resistance. The Tiny Tim, or Reaver light tank is the cutting edge of tank technology in any nation, the most modern Mordavian tank, it packs a massive punch in the form of the 115mm cannon, its only other weapon is a coaxial 23mm cannon. However, its greatest advantage lies in its 5 round Autoloader, this allows a massive amount of damage to be delivered in seconds, but suffers in a long firefight. Good sloped armor and a lack of flat surfaces ensures that it has a decent armor rating, it also has reasonable speed, though still slower then the IFV's used by the alliance. Compared to the clanking Drak tank and even the Gilgamesh, it possesses a far superior system of optics, allowing greater view range. After expending its autoloader, it must reload single rounds, or wait for the magazine to be fully refilled. Hopefully, once or if Megaglest introduces directional armor or amphibious capabilities, this could be implemented to represent this tanks technological superiority. Despite its mobility, weapons capability and reasonable armor, the Reaver still suffers some disadvantages, such as slow reload, low HP and an inability to combat aircraft on its deep penetrations, a problem exacerbated by my decision to remove all air support from this faction short of the AOP
Spider SPRCL-reccoilless gun on underarmored chassis, poor armor, HP, ROF, and speed but great range and damage for early game, can deploy for better health and ROF.
Drak Tank-good medium tank with good armor, gun and health but low speed, also more expensive.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/40/z7xk.png/ Throughout Mordavias war filled history, tanks had remained at the forefront of military thinking and technology. However, as the ages progressed, the tank designs became more and more showy, eccentric and impractical, often implementing unreliable experimental technology and unneccesary conveniences. With the ascension of Janos to the leadership of the nation, he put his own engineers to work designing a tank that would be devastating in combat and yet reliable and efficient while becoming the hull base for any future designs. Thus, the T-194 Drak(Dragon) tank was designed and pushed into production. Despite being relatively small and unassuming, the tank packed the tried and battle proven L40 118mm cannon, it also recieved a bevy of equipment from snorkels to smoke launchers and a twin AAMG mount and sideskirts. As the wars progressed, it proved to be all that had been hoped for and more, but new improvements were still made, with ERA upgrades, IR lights and burst autoloaders being equipped in the designs newer reincarnations. By the time Mordavia stood poised on the Neo-Republics borders, clamoring for vengeance and victory, the T-194 was proven, lethal, and available to every single division in the army. Despite its many advantages, the tank still suffered from some issues, such as a lack of thick side and rear armor and poor speed resulting from a rather outdated engine that albeit reliable, was no longer at the pinnacle of its class.
Excavator support vehicle-
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/bhhs.png/ Early in their sudden wave of conquests the Mordavians realized that their engineering capabilities were poor. Many times, their advance would be stalled purely due to the lack of available vehicles or inability to cross relatively minor obstacles, although combat engineers were available, they'd often be pinned or killed by even the lightest enemy fire. Thus came a revolution in military organization for the engineering corps, within 2 months the industry had responded to the call for improvements under the guise of Order 225 with a brand new Engineering vehicle and suits of body armor for engineers. Soon, dozens of the new "Excavators" rolled off the production lines, equipped with machine guns for self defense and all the equipment necessary to conduct repairs and rapid construction, truly revolutionary when compared to the second rate engineering capacity that mired most of the other warring factions.
"Arty Can"-SP gun on Drak chassis, great gun, devastating against everything and outranges everything conventional with the rocket assisted shells upgrade, however, does not have as much damage per shot as rockets, is expensive and not particularly mobile, while lacking heavy real close range and AA survivability despite the cupola mounted MG for air and ground defense.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/cxmc.png/ Within 2 months of the release of the Drak MBT the Mordavian High Command demanded that to keep their tank battlegroups supported adequately in all conditions they would need mobile artillery, TD's and Breakthrough tanks as well as new engineering vehicles(something that led to Order 225 and the excavator). Less than 3 months after that, the prototype of the AT-807 SPG rolled off the assembly line floors, truly revolutionary in nearly every way. Turreted and equipped with an autoloading 160mm main gun, it was mobile enough to keep up with the tanks and armored enough to survive counter battery fire, light aerial strafing and potentially even encounters with enemy forces. 2 years later, with war raging throughout the north, a new call has gone out and the Futur-vojsko upgrade package was designed for virtually every vehicle in the army, besides the brand new tiny tim. In this series of upgrades the affectionately named "Arty Can" received a new Reactive Armor package alongside a Burst Autoloader for laying down a quick barrage in the opening seconds of an engagement. Through this progressive series of upgrades, it has successfully remained at the fore-front of SPG design and a terror on the battlefield to this day.
Silent Death TD-Also based on Drak Chassis, long gun and AAMG for self defense, horribly weak against infantry but eats tanks for breakfast.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/q6sr.png/Despite the technological superiority the Mordavians initially enjoyed in the field of armored warfare. It soon became obvious that their opponents were pushing some of their best designs into the fight, and many of these were a tough mark for the old L40's of the Drak's. Thus, the T-85 Silent Death was rapidly pressed into service as a stop gap. Equipped with a 145mm L42, it was plagued by problems and complaints ranging from the fact that it was overweight, lacked a roof and was extremely clumsy. Fortunately, the Mk2 resolved most of these issues with an assisted loader, fully enclosed fighting compartment and uprated engine, making it a dangerous adversary for any tank. With the ability to punch through any tank while remaining nigh invisible, it soon earned its nickname and remained in service at the ratio of 1 for every 4 Drak's in an armored division
Gilgamesh heavy tank-(hopefully) best tank in game, very expensive and slow but great gun and armor, as well as self defense light cannons to mow down infantry, vaguely looks like Tiger (P) model.
AOP-obseration plane, can fight and do light bombing but mostly just for scouting, otherwise crappy.
"Last Sight II"-Lieutnant Ostrovich's personal modified Gilgamesh tank, very expensive with two special EP base attacks, a charge attack to crush infantry by running them over and a sniping attack that one shot KO's most vehicles, however, he is only one tank and extremely expensive so not a game changer on his own, just like the air/orbital strike isn't.
Ostrovich's tank is nearly identical to a normal Gilgamesh other then the double barreled hull 23mm cannon, single roof hatch and "Arty Can" style range finders on the turret. He also utilizes APDSHE ammunition to ensure that no matter how poor the penetration is, it will always wipe out the enemy tank and its crew. Lastly, he has a modified engine that lets his tank go from horribly slow, to just slow
. My backstory for him is basically that he joined the army as a common infantryman but due to a great competence in leadership, he swiftly rose in the ranks and when he requested a transfer to tank command, it was immediately accepted. He commanded the 5 man Drak medium tank, which he called the "Last Sight", due to the crews joke that it would be the last thing the enemy will ever see. This joke soon became reality, as the crew proved to be one of the most capable in the whole Mordovian Army. It came as a shock however, when he was ambushed, and his tank shot out from him by Alliance rocket troopers in an ambush around a large deposit of tall crystals providing perfect concealment. The next time, he wouldn't make such a mistake. Within a week, he was back in a new Gilgamesh tank, fresh off the assembly lines, and he named it the "Last Sight II" in respect to his last tank. He also added the "Death's Tankers" emblem to represent which squadron he was now part of. In a week, he had wiped out 20 enemy vehicles, including several from the newly arrived astro marines troops, who had just recently begun landing their equipment. His finest moment arrived when he turned the battle of three companies into the slaughter of three companies. One of the Alliance's villages was critically situated near a rich crystal deposit and the Mordovians knew that, if they were to advance, it had to be captured. The village was poorly defended, but already, armored columns from all other factions in the area, even the in-experienced shadow troops had struck out to secure the village for themselves. Without waiting for anyone else, Ostrovich warmed up his tank, and drove off into the nights chill, even as the stars above seemed to wink out one by one. As he crossed a hill, he saw the shadow detachment ahead, fighting the astro marines and scattered alliance tanks throughout the village, driving them back and pushing their inexorable advance onward. Like a bolt of Steel, the "Last Sight" ploughed into the assembling Shadow troops blasting apart the tanks and gunning down the infantry, leaving no survivors in its wake. A scorpion tried to deploy, but it was too late, as the 60 ton Gilgamesh smashed into it head on, grinding it under squealing treads, up ahead, the beleaguered astro marines gave a cheer, seconds before one of their Ram tanks was torn asunder by a 130mm round from the Last Sights cannons, now the situation was desperate and the astro marines broke, their famous will to fight to the last blown away by the onslaught of the heavy tank, a lone RPG trooper fired, but the round had no effect, seconds later, he was cut in half by a 23mm shell. Less then 30minutes after ploughing into the Shadow Organizations rearguard, Ostrovich had vanished, having destroyed nearly 20 vehicles and killing dozens of infantry men. A defense against this threat was swiftly organized, as, in great desperation, the remaining Shadow, Marine and Alliance troops banded together to stop this menace, their pleas for air support were turned down, since no commander would risk his planes at night, they would have to last until morning against a shadowy and merciless opponent in an incomparably superior vehicle. The defense was badly coordinated and the first reports of Ostrovich's reappearance came when he smashed through an abandoned house to blast apart some patrolling rattlesnakes. Before help could arrive, the 60 ton beast had dissappeared, leaving a mess behind it. The next report came when an infantry patrol, walking along a side road, suddenly heard a creaking sound coming from an uncertain location. They spun around, looking down the road for the tank they knew must come, but they didn't look over the 4meter hill the road was on. The Last Sight burst over the top, deflecting rifle rounds from its floor armor as it smashed into the desperate infantrymen, running them down in seconds. So, the night wore on, until morning came, and Ostrovich was finally out of ammo, so, in a last act of contempt, he steamrollered the barricade out of the village, ran down two more scorpions and an IFV in his path before heading off down the road. One hour later, the village was in Mordavian hands, the defenders had all scattered, leaving behind nearly 50 vehicles and having suffered nearly 50% casualties to the lone tank.
Flak tank-I'm looking at this as a possible replacement for my factions lack of aircraft and adequate anti air defense.
