Desolator

Template:PSD Infantry Header

*"..."*

- ...

## Tactical Analysis

* **It all melts:** The two "death hose" splatter cannons the Desolator makes use of are some of the nastiest chemical agents in all of warfare. What they lack in Desolator Defoilant spread they make up for in sheer corrosive virulence and the noxiousness of their fumes. Targets struck by it are also slowed somewhat, and the Desolator has very high-pressure hoses to get some impressive range, They also have a Detergent Splasher to wash away most forms of hazards such as toxins, radioactive materials, acid pools, mines, and other dangers that could threaten the PSD advance. The Desolator is also encased in a heavy battlesuit that can resist virtually the strongest of poundings while providing more than enough strength to simply smash most enemies that somehow get close, even being able to trample infantry due to their size and power. They are also uncrushable.

* **Tough crowd? No problem:** Desolators also have means of dealing with armored vehicles. The larger, more concentrated, splattershot fired from the Desolator's corrodes and weaken armour, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks by either themselves or other units, turning even the strongest targets into victims waiting for the slaughter, serving as a catalyst for the spray. In essence, once a vehicle is "splattered", it becomes as vulnerable to the deathspray as a portly fellow at the beach.

* **A costly experiment:** After its requisition, the PSD desperately spent most of its funding redeveloping the Desolator Trooper's armor and weaponry, and though the results proved effective, if profane, the costs associated with these forces make them quite uncommon. And they don't have the range to make adequate attacks against aircraft and shouldn't even try to deal with them without support. Artillery is a particular problem due to their range, and autocannon-type weapons are quite useful against them. Additionally, as battlesuits they are vulnerable to EMP and magnetic effects and as was rather famously found in Paris; have no resistance to mind control despite being so expensive.

* **Nearly immune to injury:** Certain Desolators are given modifications to their battlesuits that vent out puffs of devastation gas that will instantly kill nearly any unprotected infantry unit close enough to get a whiff, letting a Desolator squad simply walk through an enemy infantry force without even having to pick and choose a target. Having such power requires a considerable deal of trust, however, and only those who have earned that trust can be given such lethality.

## Background

In Russia is it often said that mistakes are made only when they are admitted; and for once, Trofim Lysenko made a mistake when he introduced the idea of the Desolator Troopers.

The idea of the Desolator Troopers is nearly as wretched as they would have been themselves. As the hour grew ever-darker for the Soviet Union and its leadership, Lysenko entertained several options and cared little for consensus, as some of his fellow scientists chose to flee the nation, or attempted to do so in vain. Others surrendered to Allied forces; their whereabouts are unknown. He, however, steadfastly continued his research, even in the face of imminent defeat. After all, with many of his colleagues gone, several layers of bureaucracy had vanished, allowing him to rapidly continue with whatever it was cooking up in the Ministry's secret halls. The only known product of this desperate time is the Desolator Trooper Idea (DTI), which was to breed a front-line soldier so terrible that their very existence would have flown in the face of an astonishing 71 different International Provisions of Appropriate Military Conduct.

Although he was responsible for the DTI, he was not imprisoned for it. The Desolator Troopers of course would have taken their name from the poisonous fluids they would have used as weapons. The poisons would evaporate quickly and leave little residue behind so it is impossible to know what exactly they consist of, though they are believed to be the chemical by-product of poorly maintained Soviet super-reactors. That is, the discovery of the Desolator Trooper is linked to a series of terrible accidents, though the ever-resourceful Lysenko soon found the silver lining in this. Desolator-based airstrikes have been vogue for Soviet frontline offensives for years, yet only recently did the Ministry find a way to transport these fluids in a more-portable fashion.

Seeing the basic idea, the Ministry was interested at first, but upon reading Trofim Lysenko having written on his formal suggestion that inmates from insane asylums should be put in the armoured life support suits armed with the hoses full of Desolator Defoliants (for use in clearing underbrush ahead of tanks), his proposal was returned with [REJECTED] stamped on every available spot. At least one good thing, however, came out of the hideous proposal - the Vodyanoy battlesuits. Armoured, capable of storing great amounts of liquid, and capable of surviving in hazardous environments, such suits have instead been incorporated into Soviet society... as firemen outfits.

## Reintroduction

But as the PSD started gathering more reports about their forces being taken down by sudden R.U.N., HAF, and similar resistance in eastern Europe they started requisitioning anything to help fight against these rebels. That was when they came on a surplus of Vodyanoy battlesuits.

Remembering the Desolator project, the PSD began to requisition and modify all Vodyanoy battlesuits they could get their hands on into combat-capable models. But, as more of an urban combat force and simply the danger of Desolator Defoliant, they have swapped out to easier to clean but more toxic chemical cocktails (composition classified), used volunteers to undergo the cybernetics to pilot it (rather than mental patients) and chose to use its name for the rejected project. And the results have been good, as the new Desolator has managed to cut down HAF and R.U.N. infantry, particularly those in garrisons, while its heavier splattershot cannon lets it handle tanks and vehicles.

And further analysis of the Desolator unit performance in combat showed that the unit was surprisingly good when used in urban combat. This has led to a modification of the usage of Desolators that was proposed by Lysenko before the denied order came in. It was also found that while the suit technically could trample other infantry to death, doing so was generally less than a practical way of dealing with close-by infantry targets; especially the kinds of infantry who'd even try to get anywhere near a Desolator. So the exterminator vents were created in an effort to improve their CQC lethality, and initial tests in China have proven nothing short of devastating, as a handful of Desolators walked straight through more than ten thousand atomic Chinese clones who all fell over dead before even touching the armoured juggernauts before melting their command center and bringing Chinese operations in western Kashmir to a temporary halt.

However, the Soviets are weary of this turn of events, since it could easily lead to the Desolator project they rejected coming to fruition.

## Behind the Scenes

The Desolator, as with any Uprising Unit, will be re-implemented into other PEQAN PIES factions, mainly the more grey/evil counterpart of the original three.

Template:PSD