Knight Tank

**Key Features** | »160mm wz. 1970 ZbWF tank gun»*Stront* wz. 1967 40mm coaxial automatic grenade launcher»*Beyonder* Gen-3 chronoskip device»Layered steel/hardened plastic armor plating»Large turret houses whole crew

## Tactical Analysis

* **A knight to Remember:** Made purely for firepower, Knight Tank is a combat vehicle which even Soviet Hammer Tanks should be wary off, as its 160mm gun delivers an incredible amount of pounding, and the coaxial grenade launcher makes short work of the enemy infantry that stands in the path of Unification.

* **On to Connecticut:** After recovering the original Knight Tank, Concordiat made many changes and improvements to this template, including the installation of Beyonder chronoskip device, enabling the crew to instantly teleport a set distance before the tank, bypassing all enemies and striking them from behind. However, the activation drains power from the engine, making Knight motionless and exposed to rear attack from the enemies it bypassed.

* **Accuracy is for Archers:** Despite its powerful gun, Knight Tank needs more time to aim it properly, and the range is not so great either for its caliber. While the infantry should be wary of engaging this tank, the grenade launcher can only aim in one direction making ambushing an ideal solution. And of course, for helicopters and aircraft, it is a sitting duck for their weapons.

* **Get with the times:** Amazed by the rapid fire of the Japanese Tsunami and Soviet Hammer Tanks of the Paradoxbranch, Concordiat started producing new autoloaders to be fitted on the Knight Tanks to increase their rate of fire, combined with a new secondary engine that kicks in whenever the Knight blinks, giving it some mobility after teleporting. However, the priority goes to the combat units in their own timeline, making only the most experienced aces in this timeline acquire these powerful weapons.

## Background

The development of warfare in Concordiatbranch was much slower than in the Paradoxbranch, due to the nature of the world it was in. With most of the world being in control of the traditional monarchies there wasn't a desire for change in the thinking. The trench warfare of World War I stuck in for decades, with the Directorate and its enemies more or less staying in their fortified positions, making a couple of breakthroughs into enemy territory only to be pushed back sooner or later. The discovery of the planes and tanks changed this situation only minimally.

It was only in the last stages of the global war when the Chinese weaponmakers with one general came up with the concept of military attacks where the tanks takes on the primary role instead of only supporting infantry attacks. Within a few months, the first new-generation tank was made and used in India, breaking through the Directorate defense line in the Manipur region and starting a massive offensive. Quickly all other world powers began their own tank projects, advancing to gain the needed upper hand after decades of stalemate. In Directorate it was the Germans and Poles who were the most successful in this field.

While Germans were constantly trying to make bigger and heavier tanks for the Eight Nations, the Poles focused on lighter tanks that can maneuver around the enemy and hit them hard with powerful guns. Both designs see their use in Directorate forces, used by different divisions for different operations. Right before the arrival of Harbosi, Cannei, Tendriculous, Vorgaxa, and Meglarak the Polish company Zbiornik Władysława Fabryki began the development of the most advanced tank yet, 54TP attack tank. The vehicle was radical in many features. The first and major one was that the whole crew was seated inside the armored shell in the turret, the driver receiving a specially designed periscope with a gyroscope that was constantly aiming at the front of the tank. Without the need of extra space for the driver, the silhouette of the tank was decreased, making it a smaller target to hit. The armament was upped to have a 100mm gun, the largest gun caliber used on the tanks of this class only surpassed by German moving forts and Russian siege tanks.

The Alien War fortunately hasn't hit the factory where 54TP was developed, and three prototype tanks have even seen action in the ruins of Warsaw against Meglarak tanks. The departure of the three extraterrestrial armies gave humanity a time of relief and many changes. The Directorate collapsed from within and the new factions rose from its ranks. It was Concordiat that secured the Zbiornik Władysława Fabryki and the 54TP project and began their own modifications and customizations to standardize it for their armed forces.

Among many upgrades, such as upping the caliber to 140mm, the 54TP received an experimental "chronoskip" device Beyonder of the third generation, developed by Swiss EnigmeCorp for the Directorate but not finalizing it before the aliens were gone. Mounting it on the top of the tank's turret along with a sufficient power source gained from the Chinese. Beyonder makes the tank able to jump dozens of meters forward instantaneously, bypassing any defense lines or enemy formations. When behind the enemy the tank crew can rotate the turret and commence firing on the weakspots, but this comes with a price. Not only the tank exposes its own rear, but also the chronojump drains out all power to the Beyonder-III and the engine, immobilizing it, though newer auxiliary engines are being retrofitted onto the Knights to somewhat remedy the issue. Thus the timing and precision of the jump must be perfect, in sync with the rest of the friendly forces to strike the enemy at the same time, breaking through to quickly secure the jumped tanks.

After the final trials, the Polish tank gained a new name, given by Great Admiral Kranich himself, the **Knight Tank**. Becoming the workhorse of the armed forces of the Unification Concordiat, Knight Tank is winning the battles in their timeline as well as in the new, Paradox timeline. Being on equal terms with the Soviet Hammer Tanks, Knight Tank only suffers from a higher price tag due to the chronoskip ability, requiring more money and unique resources to produce. Nevertheless, Knight Tank have started gaining a reputation in the Paradoxbranch, as one of a strong adversary to other MBTs. After the encounters with the Japanese Samurai and Tsunami Tanks in the Swedish fjords, Krupp gun company in Concordiatbranch began the production of new autoloaders that increased the firing rate of the tank, making it able to shoot down other armored targets first. So far these versions are mostly given to the Concordiat legions in their timeline to finally unite their Earth. Only a couple of these guns are given to the Legion Basilisk, and those are only mounted to the tanks of the best crews who can put them to good use.