Aerial Battleship Musashi

**Key Features** | »» 508mm Plasma-Cutter Cannon (x9)»» Torpedo/Missile Tube (x4)»» *"Stellar Angel"* fighter-bombers (x6)»» *"Hypernova"* Wave-Force Cannon»» Kinetic-Burst Cannon (x8)

*"Hypernova cannon, fire!"*

- Musashi Captain in battle

## Tactical Analysis

* **Seaborne Vessel**: In its default state, the Musashi cruises across the sea, annihilating anything that comes within range with short ranged plasma cutters and longer ranged anti ship torpedoes. Aircraft are shredded by kinetic burst turrets, as are lightly armoured ships that manage to avoid the Musashi's main cannons.

* **Musashi, Lifting Off**: Though a flying battleship may seem absurd at first, the Musashi never the less manages to stay aloft. In this mode it retains all its weapons, save that the torpedo tubes are reconfigured to launch missiles instead. In addition, the Musashi gains access to its most powerful weapon, the *"Hypernova"* Wave-Force Cannon, which can wipe out virtually anything that it hits. In both modes, the Musashi has a complement of Stellar Angel Fighter Bombers providing air cover and scouting.

* **Priceless**: While the Musashi cannot be destroyed by anything other than a equal deployment of brute force, it is so expensive that only two battleships are fully operational. Musashi Battleships are so complex that both a Nanotech Mainframe and an Incredible Mobile Fortress Tatsu are needed to support one of these mighty ships.

* **Protect the flagship:** If the battle lasts long enough the Musashi will release its store of nanites to repair nearby friendly vessels. The captains of such ship will happily return the favor by protecting the Musashi from enemy fire.

## Operational History

 File:EotRS Aerial Battleship Musashi (Naval Mode).jpg
To the late Emperor Yoshiro, there were many measures of a warrior's prowess. His loyalty, his determination, his skill with blades, sidearms, his dedication to following Bushido, and his mastery of the arts of war.

To his son Tatsu, the best measure of a warrior was the number and power of his guns.

Prince Tatsu saw to it that the captains of his Aerial Battleships were the best warriors of all, arming these remarkable (and remarkably expensive) vessels with an inordinate number of guns. Unlike the Shogun, the **Aerial Battleship Musashi** was intended to, as the Americans say, *"get all up"* in the enemy's business, sporting a vast number of short-ranged weapons and capable of directing an extreme amount of firepower at the enemy.

The primary armament are the three main turrets, two on the front and one aft, each turret armed with three massive 460mm plasma-cutter cannons. With the vast internal storage and power generation capacity of the Musashi, these can be used to carve large sections of hulls out of enemy ships, be it ships flying or ships sailing. Supplementing the main guns are banks of kinetic-burst turrets that fill the air with superheated slugs, useful against hostile aircraft or lightly-armoured units that might attempt to overwhelm the Musashi's main turrets by sheer numbers. Bow-mounted missile/torpedo tubes add some long-range punch for opening an engagement, though their position makes them difficult to reload. Finally, a squadron of *"Stellar Angel"* fighter-bombers provide air cover and scouting capabilities.

Musashi battleships are intended to simply plough into enemy formations and defences, as they are well armed enough to take on whole fleets by themselves. With their vast arsenal, they can engage any enemy within reach, so the only way to destroy one of these machines is to overwhelm them with numbers and firepower; every conceivable weakness has been analysed and addressed, turning the Musashi into a brutal warship that cannot be destroyed by anything less than an equal deployment of brute force.

While an impressive achievement in and of itself, the Aerial Battleship Musashi gets its name from the four wave-force engines located on sleek, pivoting nacelles jutting from the hull of the vessel. Expelling vast amounts of energy, the water jets are deactivated in favour of brightly burning Wave-Force engines, which greedily harness and expend the gigajoules of energy produced by the massive Wave-Force furnace at the core of the ship.

These engines lift the vessel airborne, turning it into the largest and heaviest flying machine in human history. Then, when the Wave-force furnace reaches its greatest potential, the nose of the battleship slides open to reveal the Hypernova, the largest Wave-Force cannon in existence, which is said to be wholly capable of levelling a mountain. A single hit from this mighty weapon will obliterate any airship, blasting a massive hole in it and sending it crashing down to earth in a flaming wreck. Tatsu firmly believed that space was the future of the Empire, and took every step to ensure that the solar system would fall firmly under the control of the Empire.

Each Musashi is also equipped with a Nano Recycling System, which allows the battleship to disassemble and collect materials from vehicles, buildings and even soldiers it destroys, then use the materials to produce reconstruction nanites. When there're enough nanites in storage (usually after a long but successful battle), the Musashi will discharge them into its surroundings. These nanites can heal wounds or repair damages for friendly units nearby, and also serve as an improvised shield for them, though such protection is far from perfect and can only block a portion of incoming fire. However, that's usually enough for units benefiting from the discharge to step up and block a few shots for the Musashi, if their commander allows them to return the favor.

Of course, such a machine comes at a steep price. There are only two known Aerial Battleships in existence, the Musashi and its sister ship, the Yamato, and each took almost a decade to build. Such a massive machine generates so much power that its mere presence is dangerous to those around it, with its massive engines capable of flattening cities, or backfiring and causing the ignition of atmosphere if improperly used. Therefore, in order to deploy one of these machines within the atmosphere, a Mobile Fortress Tatsu must be standing by to help coordinate its movement, and the computers of a Nanotech Mainframe are required to assist with the millions of calculations needed to keep the floating behemoth operational.

## Known Ships

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First ever Musashi ever constructed, it is currently unassigned to any division to keep its existence a top secret. She has yet to see a major battle.
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Second (and last) ever Musashi constructed. She is *Musashi's* sister ship. Like its sister, she is currently unassigned and has yet to see a major battle.
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Original launch date was set to be 31 December 1969, however, the defeat of the Empire caused the construction of this ship to be placed indefinitely on hold, partly to divert resources to the reconstruction of Japan, and partly to ensure that the Allies won't discover their secret. However, there are still rumours of continued activity inside the Matsumoto superdocks at the dead of night.
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Originally planned to be Shinano's sister ship, delays and material scarcity problems caused her construction to be prematurely terminated while her keel was still being laid. She was eventually taken apart and the materials used for the construction of the *IJN Sagami*
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Originally planned to be the fifth Musashi class battleship, she never left the drawing board after the war and the defeat of the Empire brought Musashi construction to a halt.

## Behind the Scenes

The Musashi was modelled by AstralXYZ. It is inspired by the RL Yamato class Battleship, and the anime *Space Battleship Yamato*. The model took inspiration from the Nahel Argama assault carrier from *Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam*.