Military Mashup Machine: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Wot's faster than a warbuggy, more killy than a warbike, and flies through da air like a bird? I got no bleedin' idea, but I'm gonna find out.''|'''[[Funetik Aksent|Kog da Flymek]]''', pioneer of the [[Warhammer ~~40000~~|Deffkopta]].}}

{{quote|''Wot's faster than a warbuggy, more killy than a warbike, and flies through da air like a bird? I got no bleedin' idea, but I'm gonna find out.''|'''[[Funetik Aksent|Kog da Flymek]]''', pioneer of the [[Warhammer 40,000|Deffkopta]].}}

In the military, innovation has driven military conquest as someone found new ways to do something that was better than what came before. However, in [[Speculative Fiction]], it seems that a lot of people have decided [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|combining previous concepts into one über-machine]] is easier than [[Creative Sterility|coming up with something original]].

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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

* The Imperial Baneblade in ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' is a tank the size of a large house and mounts no fewer than 11 separate weapons ranging from high explosive cannon rounds, laser cannons and bolter (fully automatic armoured-piercing RPG) turrets. It should also be noted that the Baneblade chassis is the ''standard'' chassis which Imperial super-heavy tanks are usually based on. Like, for example, the Shadowsword [[Humongous Mecha|Titan]]-killer - a Baneblade chassis housing a [[BFG|Volcano Cannon]], usually found on the Titans that it is designed to destroy. Even larger examples of Imperial land battleships include the Ordinatus (tracked [[Wave Motion Gun]]) Leviathan (mobile command centre, basically a castle on tracks) and Capitol Imperialis (APC ''for tanks''). And let's not get started on the Imperium's [[Humongous Mecha]], the Titans, which are often referred to as "walking battleships."

* The Imperial Baneblade in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is a tank the size of a large house and mounts no fewer than 11 separate weapons ranging from high explosive cannon rounds, laser cannons and bolter (fully automatic armoured-piercing RPG) turrets. It should also be noted that the Baneblade chassis is the ''standard'' chassis which Imperial super-heavy tanks are usually based on. Like, for example, the Shadowsword [[Humongous Mecha|Titan]]-killer - a Baneblade chassis housing a [[BFG|Volcano Cannon]], usually found on the Titans that it is designed to destroy. Even larger examples of Imperial land battleships include the Ordinatus (tracked [[Wave Motion Gun]]) Leviathan (mobile command centre, basically a castle on tracks) and Capitol Imperialis (APC ''for tanks''). And let's not get started on the Imperium's [[Humongous Mecha]], the Titans, which are often referred to as "walking battleships."

** In older versions of the setting, the Baneblade chassis was said to be the size of a ''city block''.

** Though, to a certain extent, anything built by Orks qualifies.

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* In ''Iron Tank'', the screen-filling supertank bosses (called "Think Tanks" in the manual).

* The final stage of ''[[Battle Garegga]]'' has a giant land-based aircraft carrier.

* ''[[~~Starcraft~~ II]]'' has the Odin, a prototype [[Humongous Mecha]] that is practically indestructible and can tear apart entire bases single-handedly. Its impracticality is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Raynor's engineers, who design the scaled-down Thor based on it.

* ''[[StarCraft II]]'' has the Odin, a prototype [[Humongous Mecha]] that is practically indestructible and can tear apart entire bases single-handedly. Its impracticality is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Raynor's engineers, who design the scaled-down Thor based on it.

* ''[[End of Nations]]'' features massive battleship sized tanks armed with more than a [[More Dakka|dozen cannons]].

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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

* See the ''[[~~Warhammer 40000|~~Warhammer 40,000]]'' entries above- at least half of those tanks are capable of functioning underwater. The Land Raider in particular has been used for devastating beach assaults.

* See the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' entries above- at least half of those tanks are capable of functioning underwater. The Land Raider in particular has been used for devastating beach assaults.

** In the latest Codex: Space wolves there is mention of the Space Wolves batteling Tau under 5 miles of oceans, after having driven their Land Raiders there, on the bottom of the sea.

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* ''[[Supreme Commander]]'''s Fatboy is able to construct military units as well. (For those keeping score, that makes the Fatboy a Submersible Land Battleship Carrier (it has a landing pad) that can construct its own support force. ''And'' it mounts heavy-duty shield generators. Though it's so enormous it occupies most of the shielded area, leaving little room for its support force.)

** As well as all of its carriers building aircraft, ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' also has: the Tempest, a Submersible Battleship that constructs smaller ships, although it can't travel on land; the Cybran Megalith, a carrier that can build select Cybran land units, and the Aeon Czar, which is a ''flying'' mobile factory and [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]] armed with a [[Wave Motion Gun]], flak cannons, AAM, and depth charges.

* The Protoss Carrier in ''[[~~Starcraft~~]]'' manufactures and launches its own robotic interceptors. The Reaver similarly builds Scarab drones that are used as self-guided bombs.

* The Protoss Carrier in ''[[StarCraft]]'' manufactures and launches its own robotic interceptors. The Reaver similarly builds Scarab drones that are used as self-guided bombs.

** The Carrier returns in SC2, the Terrans gain the Raven, and the Zerg the Brood Lord. Could also be broadly applied to Terrans as a whole, since their major production buildings can move, although they can't produce units while doing so.

* The GDI and Brotherhood of Nod both possess mobile factory units in the ''Firestorm'' expansion for ''[[Command & Conquer]]: Tiberian Sun''.

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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

* Most ships in ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' of heavy cruiser size and upwards are either battleships with a fighter complement, or carriers with potent weaponry of their own, but some dedicated assault carriers exist, mostly in the Imperial Navy.

* Most ships in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' of heavy cruiser size and upwards are either battleships with a fighter complement, or carriers with potent weaponry of their own, but some dedicated assault carriers exist, mostly in the Imperial Navy.

* Dropships in ''[[BattleTech]]'' are heavily armed atmospheric assault transports; they carry more weapons than anything short of a Warship, anywhere from 4-40 battlemechs, can function as atmospheric craft (Albeit not exceptionally well), and carry fighters of their own to keep the planet's own fighters busy while they land and offload the assault force.

** Speaking of Warships: Biggest guns in the game, anywhere from 2-10 times as powerful as their Aerospace/Battlemech equivilants. Carries more guns than a battalion of battlemechs. ''Often transports Dropships.'' That's right, it's a carrier that carries other carriers. Mercifully rare, as most were lost or destroyed during the Succession Wars.

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*** Some [[Upper Class Twit|upstanding gentlemen]] in the seventeenth century created cutlery pistols - as in a knife-pistol and a ''fork'' pistol.

** The 'gunblade' of Final Fantasy VIII is actually more akin to the [[Vibroweapon|vibroblade]] concept, which is quite popular.

* ''[[~~Starcraft~~]]'s'' Terran siege tank, which switches from main battle tank to artillery platform.

* ''[[StarCraft]]'s'' Terran siege tank, which switches from main battle tank to artillery platform.

** Then there's the Viking in ''[[~~Starcraft~~ II]]'', which switches from mecha to space superiority fighter.

** Then there's the Viking in ''[[StarCraft II]]'', which switches from mecha to space superiority fighter.

* ''[[Command & Conquer]] Red Alert 3'' is pretty much in love with this trope, especially the gadget-heavy Empire. Between the examples listed and others, there are very few units that don't qualify. Even most buildings can be planted in the water, so long as the unit they produce can exist on water. The Empire don't even have an air factory, since every single flier they field transforms from a vehicle, ship, or infantry.

* To a lesser extent, the Sonic the Hedgehog titles. The easiest example being the Egg Carrier, having a runway on the front of it, robot construction rooms in the interior (complete with "training" areas), as well as a couple entire stages within it.

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* Arguably, the original aircraft carrier was a working real-life example of this, attempting to combine an airbase with a ship.

** ...and while we're at it: the [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]] in all its many incarnations.

** British carriers of [[World War ~~One~~]], many of which were conversions of warships already in service, tended towards a different hybrid status. HMS Vindictive, converted from a cruiser, carried five 7.5in guns; the former battleship HMS Furious, meanwhile, witnessed the first successful landing of an aircraft on a moving ship while still mounting a single 18in gun aft. The concept was revived (albeit briefly) in 1940, when lack of carriers and need for airborne protection led to suggestions that battleships under construction should be redesigned to carry ten fighters.

** British carriers of [[World War I]], many of which were conversions of warships already in service, tended towards a different hybrid status. HMS Vindictive, converted from a cruiser, carried five 7.5in guns; the former battleship HMS Furious, meanwhile, witnessed the first successful landing of an aircraft on a moving ship while still mounting a single 18in gun aft. The concept was revived (albeit briefly) in 1940, when lack of carriers and need for airborne protection led to suggestions that battleships under construction should be redesigned to carry ten fighters.

*** Also worthy of mention are the M-class submarines, which began as a project to fit a 12in battleship gun on a submarine, and which ended up in one case as a submarine aircraft carrier.

*** Partly to get around the Second London Naval Treaty and partly because they just did things differently, the Soviet Union built four "aviation cruisers", essentially VTOL aircraft carriers with anti-shipping missiles built in. The VTOL aircraft, the Yak-38 "Forger" was spectacularly poor. The current sole Russian carrier, the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' is also an example, albeit a full-length one with Su-33 fighters on.

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[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Military Mashup Machine]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]

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