Name: Elephander
Alignment: Guylos Empire
Family: Elephant
Registration Number: EZ-038
Crew: 1-2
Height: 10.8 Meters
Length: 21.6 Meters
Weight: 180 Tons
Top Speed: 130 kph
Weapons: Dual AZ60mm Hyper Laser Guns, Twin 45mm Beam Guns, AZ144mm Railgun, Dual AZ105mm Laser Cannons, Twin 45mm Machineguns, 45mm Beam Cannon, AZ115mm Pulse Laser Cannon & AZ105mm Beam Cannon, 8-Shot Missile Launcher Ears, Beam Projector System, Strike Iron Claw, Twin Crasher Tusks.
Special Abilities: Variable Loadout, Frontal E-Shield, Frontal Hyper E-Shield, Communications Unit, Composite Scouting Unit, Metal Detector.
Level: 5
The mighty Elephander. We sure have come a long way since the Elephantus, eh? Anyway, the Elephander was a tough, slow, but highly customizable Zoid originally designed by the Guylos Empire. Though it was used by the empire for every kind of operation imaginable, it has been more recently popularized for its use by the Backdraft Group. With three variable loadouts, or “modes”, the Elephander can adapt to almost any situation.
Technically speaking, the Elephander has a number of other attractive features, including heavy weaponry and armor only slightly lighter than that found on the Gojulas. Also, the Elephander is surprisingly agile for its bulk. Its only weaknesses are poor turning and few rear-facing defenses, but its really meant to fight the opponent in front of it anyway. Most Zoids don’t survive long enough to make their way behind the Elephander. All in all, this is an extremely powerful and generally high-performance Zoid, but amateur pilots may find it a bit difficult to use.
Weapons:
Dual AZ60mm Hyper Laser Guns:
Available only in Assault Mode are the Elephander’s potent Dual AZ60mm Hyper Laser Guns, often referred to as this Zoid’s “signature weapons”. Mounted to either side of the tip of the trunk, these lasers feature a semiautomatic firing rate, and are several times more powerful than their caliber would suggest. (Hence the “hyper”.) Also, though the lasers themselves are fixed to the trunk, they can fire wherever the trunk can point. Since the trunk is extremely flexible, firing arcs are rarely a problem.
Twin 45mm Beam Guns:
Rear facing, and available to the Elephander in all three of its modes, is a pair of 45mm Beam Guns. They’re semiautomatic, but are among the only rear defenses the Elephander possesses, and therefore valuable parts of its arsenal. They can pivot a mere 20 degrees on the horizontal axis, but can incline upwards by up to 45 degrees.
AZ144mm Railgun:
This massive weapon is available to the Elephander only in Assault Mode. Mounted on the undercarriage where would be 45mm Beam Cannon is otherwise, this powerful railgun is fixed forward, and only fires a single shot every 3 seconds. However, the AZ144mm Railgun fires a heavier-than-standard projectile at a higher rate of speed than normal, which shatters armor and deals massive surface damage rather than usual penetration. This weapon is fixed facing forwards.
Dual AZ105mm Laser Cannons:
These two laser cannons are mounted on the Elephander only in Command Mode, located on the trunk just under the cockpit. They’re fixed facing forwards, and are designed to supplement the Missile Ears and EPS as powerful weapons. Unfortunately, their large caliber comes at a cost: they can only fire one volley every two seconds. Still, these weapons have plenty of stopping power, and are not to be taken lightly.
Twin 45mm Machineguns:
Available in both Assault and Scout Modes (the Dual AZ105mm Laser Cannons take up the mount in Command Mode), the Elephander’s twin 45mm Machineguns are top of the line. Sitting beneath the cockpit, on the trunk, these two machineguns put out shells at an impressive 20 shells/second each. This makes them great for both anti-missile defense and attack. However, they can’t pivot.
45mm Beam Cannon:
Instead of the AZ144mm Railgun, the Command and Scout modes have a 45mm Beam Cannon. Like the railgun, its fixed facing forward. However, to compensate for its low caliber, the 45mm Beam Cannon fires 4 rounds per second, a welcome change, perhaps, from the slow-firing railgun.
AZ115mm Pulse Laser Cannon & AZ105mm Beam Cannon
For the last bit of punch, the Assault Mode mounts a semiautomatic AZ115mm Pulse Laser Cannon and an AZ105mm Beam Cannon on its back, both on the same turret. Said turret has the ability to pivot up to 90 degrees upwards, 45 degrees downwards, or 45 degrees to the left or the right. Since these weapons are semiautomatic, they have considerable power and potential to deal damage, and help the Elephander to crack tough armor.
8-Shot Missile Launcher Ears:
In Command Mode, the Elephander’s shield-generator ears are replaced with two 8-shot missile pods (for a total of 16 missiles). Each pod fires standard missiles, with the exception of the fact that they can lock onto terrestrial or aerial targets.
Beam Projector System:
In Command Mode, the Elephander can do one of two things with its trunk. It has the option of erecting the powerful frontal Hyper E-Shield, or it can use the Beam Projector System. The BPS (as its abbreviated), creates a energy blade that extends several meters from the tip of the trunk. The BPS blade is pure energy, and can slice through even the thickest of armor with few or no problems. Note that the BPS draws from the power source as the Hyper E-Shield, and, as such, both systems cannot be used simultaneously.
Strike Iron Claw:
The Strike Iron Claw is the Assault Mode alternative to the BPS. Basically, there are four little grappler claws on the end of the of trunk in Assault Mode which allow the Elephander to grab onto and throw around smaller Zoids. The trunk can lift up to 50 tons on its own, but it can drag basically any weight, making the Strike Iron Claw useful for keeping an opponent still why the Assault Mode’s array of potent weapons destroy it.
Twin Crasher Tusks:
Designed to maul, pierce, and gore, the Elephander has two Crasher Tusks for all of its melee needs. They’re always there -- in all of the modes -- and are really almost unique that respect. Obviously, they’re great of knocking lesser Zoids around, and are quite good at what they were designed for.
Special Abilities:
Variable Loadout:
The Elephander, being designed as a multipurpose platform, has three “modes”, or loadouts with it can use for three very different functions. The Elephander should specify a starting mode, which can only be switched mid-battle by a transport with a CAS (Changing/Conversion Armor System). Note that maneuverability, armor, and overall performance of the Elephander are unaffected by the mode.
Assault Mode: ((Default Mode))
The Assault Mode was designed for head-on confrontation with essentially any kind of enemy ground force, and packs a real offensive punch. The Assault Mode is equipped with Dual AZ60mm Hyper Laser Cannons, Twin 45mm Beam Guns, a AZ144mm Railgun, Twin 45mm Machineguns, AZ115mm Pulse Laser Cannon & AZ105mm Beam Cannon, Strike Iron Claw, Twin Crasher Tusks, and a Frontal E-Shield.
Command Mode:
The Elephander’s Command Mode was originally designed for commanders and officers in the field, attempting to coordinate attacks and give orders. The Command Mode is equipped with Twin 45mm Beam Guns, Dual AZ105mm Laser Cannons, a 45mm Beam Cannon, 8-Shot Missile Launcher Ears, a Beam Projector System, Twin Crasher Tusks, a Hyper E-Shield, and a Communications Unit.
Scout Mode:
The Scout Mode was not intended for head-on combat, but rather for light reconnaissance and sensor support during battle. The Scout Mode is equipped with Twin 45mm Beam Guns, Twin 45mm Machineguns, a 45mm Beam Cannon, Twin Crasher Tusks, the Composite Scouting Unit, and a trunk-mounted Metal Detector.
Frontal E-Shield:
The standard Frontal E-Shield is created by special generators mounted inside the ears, and is therefore only available in Assault Mode. It’s a bit stronger than a Blade Liger’s shield, and like the ‘Liger’s shield, covers the body down to the rear legs, and gets weaker the further from the generators it is. Though it still leaves the Elephander open to attack from behind, its really quite a useful piece of equipment.
Frontal Hyper E-Shield:
The Frontal Hyper E-Shield is generated by a module at the tip of the trunk, and is therefore only available in Command Mode. It is as powerful as a standard Hyper E-Shield, meaning that it can quite literally absorb a full SCPG blast before failing. However, the Hyper E-Shield can only be erected for 6 seconds at a time, and then requires 6 seconds for the capacitors that power it to recharge. Also, it covers the Elephander’s body down to the rear legs, and gets weaker the further from the generators it is. The Hyper E-Shield cannot be used at the same time as the Beam Projector System. Lastly, if the Hyper E-Shield should fail or run out of energy, the Beam Projector System will also be inoperable.
Communications Unit:
The Elephander’s Communications Unit, usable only in Command Mode, replaces the Assault Mode turret. It heavily encrypts messages, making them extremely hard to interpret if intercepted. Also, it extends the communications range of the Elephander and its allies by dozens of kilometers, even in the worst weather imaginable. As a last note, the Communications Unit allows transmissions to breach normal communications jamming, allow the Elephander to communicate with its allies and vice-versa despite the efforts of its enemies.
Composite Scouting Unit:
Available only to Elephander in Scout Mode, the Composite Scouting Unit replaces the back-mounted turret and ears with a plethora of useful sensors and other equipment. This includes: 3D Doppler Radar, IR Sensors, Low-Light Night-Vision, Ultraviolet Sensors, Motion Detectors (out to 200 meters), and a Heartbeat Sensor (also out to 200 meters, short-ranged aboveground sonar based). Also, the Elephander can transmit all of this data to teammates. The Elephander itself gains IR Suppression, Radar Scattering/Suppression, and Footprint Scrubbers.
Metal Detectors:
The module on the end of the Elephander’s trunk in Scout Mode is a metal detector. It uses magnetic resonance to detect an amount of metal as small as a bottlecap at a distance -- but it can be set to be far less sensitive than that. Anyway, in the 30 degree arc in front of the trunk, the Elephander can see all metal for the next 500 meters, although the picture can fuzzy at times. Note that its recommended that the Elephander stand still while scanning, or the vibration from movement will confuse and disrupt the imaging. Also note that this ability is useful for finding burrowing Zoids.
Available Modifications:
