Warfront-type Medium Tank

The is a Hammerforge Industries-created medium tank, designed to serve the Col'nesian Army and replace the Stormpulse-type Medium Tank.

Design History
After the war, one of the priorities for Hammerforge technicians was replacing the old Stormpulse-type Medium Tanks, which had a very poor track record for Medium tanks, especially considering the use of chemical weaponry on the older tank - veteran teams would be provided with corrosive gas shells that would burn away the victim's lungs before killing them. As the head of Hammerforge Industries, Ronan had direct input in the design of the tank, and even developed the unique defensive mechanism himself from a concept security system he read about - a temporal stasis generator that would pull the tank just outside the universal plane, making it indestructible but unable to interact with the environment, be it through weapons fire or even moving.

In comparison to the predecessor, the Warfront is shorter but wider, with a larger main gun but lighter armor. This change is due to a move away from the heavier Col'nesian steel defensive shell to a lighter alloy with less overall protection. This allowed the tank to move at up to 48kph, eight kph faster than the previous, heavy-armored tank. With the cannon nearly twice the size of the primary weapon on the Stormpulse, the anti-infantry gun carries the same amount of ammunition and uses the same make of machine gun, although only a single O-73 is used compared to the three mounted to the elder tank.

Features
With the standard Mega Coal-based engine, the Warfront is faster and carries heavier weaponry than the Stormpulse-type Medium Tank it replaced, but at the trade-off of armor equal to a light tank - steel laminate rather than true Col'nesian steel plating. This is not a true weakening aspect to the tank, thanks to the defensive systems mounted to it. With an 80mm autocannon mounted in a turret capable of rotating the entire way around the tank and an independently-rotating machine gun position up the top of the turret to help fend off infantry, the Warfront can easily defeat most moderate-armored units, although other light vehicles are superior to it in that aspect. Indeed, a Warfront should never be alone in the battlefield, although when that does occur it doesn't mean that the tank is going to be destroyed.

The strangest feature of the tank is also the most notable - the phase generator. In order to prevent the vehicle from being destroyed in-combat, the driver can activate the phase generator, a rare piece of ancient Technomage technology used in the Demon-Celestial War to create blades that could pass through armor and kill the person within, although a vastly larger unit. Once activated, the tank is partially removed from the universe, and exists only as a mirage-like ethereal image that flickers in the air, as if taunting the enemy to attack it. However, if they do, their bullets simply pass through the image, often accidentally hitting allies and causing friendly-fire incidents. The system is normally used by Hammerforge as a final layer to lock experimental weapons facilities, so that anyone that breaks in is trapped - they get locked out of reality by the energy field. In the tank's case, major damage or solo odds prompt the activation of the unit, where only a few different things can reach the crew - light, as they can still see what goes on around them, as well as low-powered radios, prompting most tanks to carry these to communicate while shifted. However, while outside reality, the tank cannot move or attack, leaving it essentially useless. However, as this means that the unit hasn't been destroyed, it increases the experience gain of the crews so that they reach a veteran-status faster, and gain upgrades to their tank sooner. However, the generator cannot hold the tank in-phase indefinitely, although it can hold it for roughly twenty-four hours before forcibly pushing the tank back into reality.

When the tank crew reaches a certain experience point, their assigned unit is taken aside and upgraded. A new frame, engine and Col'nesian Steel armor brings the overall defences of the tank up to equal with the predecessor while still retaining the speed and firepower that it had in the first place. This results in the addition of two tonnes to the total weight, but in turn increases survivability and makes it less likely that the phase generator has to be used.

However, despite the advantages to the tank, a number of factors keep it from being common amongst Col'nesian forces. The main reason is the sheer cost attached to the tank, with each unit in it's basic form setting the army back around $200 000 a unit, mostly due to the phase generator. Another flaw is the vulnerability to commando attacks from infantry - if undetected, a single commando can plant explosives against the tank and detonate them before it enters phase. Another major one is the inability to defend against aircraft, although the phase generator can protect the tank from bombardment and strafing.

Variants
None have been released due to the expense connected to the unit - experimentation is restricted due to that.