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Somebody managed to get hold of some bits of as-yet-unreleased notes for the next major patch to Planetside. Don't ask me who did it, or how, 'cos I'm not telling. The patch seems to be a the one that will contain the new variation vehicles and, big news, there are new tanks. Read on for the full skinny on the Empire Specific Heavy Tanks...

The Devastator (TR Heavy Tank)

The massive TR Devastator Tank stands an impressive 15 meters high, its huge and ominous silhouette will strike fear into its enemies as it lumbers over the horizon at an impressive top speed of 20 kph. The decoration is almost entirely black, with a 5 meter across bright red circular TR logo pasted on the front, back and side armor plates.

In true TR fashion, the Devastator kicks out a helluva lot of lead. The main weaponary of the Devastator are fourteen coaxial pairs of double-barrel 75mm light tank guns. Individually they don't pack as much punch as the NC's main gun, but they fire very rapidly and can unleash huge salvos of arching 75mm shells. Each ring-mounted tank gun pair has two internal seats connected to it, one for a Gun Controller player who'll steer the gun, the other for the Gunner who'll actually press the fire button. The 75mm turrets have a maximum elevation angle of 10 degrees and a max depression of 5 degrees, meaning they're not particularly useful as anti-aircraft weapons.

The Devastator also has a rapid fire double-barrel 20mm recoilless mini-turret on the roof, which should provide excellent anti-aircraft protection for the vast slow moving target that is the TR Heavy Tank. The mini-turret seats one additional gunner.

With the driver in the forward seat, this means the Devastator requires an entire platoon to operate effectively.

We think the huge firepower, excellent anti-aircraft capability, the massive and impressive size and decoration and the ability to carry an entire platoon (1 driver, 14 gun controllers, 14 main gunners and 1 AA gunner) will make the new Devastator an instant favorite with TR players!

The Cyclops (NC Heavy Tank)

The new NC Heavy Tank, the Cyclops, adheres to the classic NC maxim of "one big punch!". The Cyclops seats only a single driver who also has control of the weapons. Its side profile is only 1 meter high although it is 25m front to back and side to side. Obviously, maneuvering the Cyclops through facility gates may be a little awkward, but its other abilities will more than make up for its lack of nimbleness.

The main weapon (controlled by the driver), is a turreted, direct fire 500 barrel anti-vehicular shotgun loaded with 12 guage armor peircing ammo of the same type that players will already be familiar with from the existing Planetside shotgun handweapons. Although the shotgun type main weapon obviously will have slightly limited range, its been calculated that at around 10m distances or less it'll do exactly 1-bjillion points of damage, making it a very serious force to be reckoned with! The main turret is controlled much like on the Lightning scout tank.

The secondary weapon, also mounted on the main turret and controlled in the same way, is a single 20mm machine gun - very effective for anti-aircraft work.

We feel that the enormous "one-punch" firepower of the Cyclops will make it a sure fire hit with NC players!

The Scorcher (VS Heavy Tank)

In keeping with traditional Vanu Sovreignty versatility, the Scorcher has a bit of everything. Its large, but it can hover over water. It has the fastest accelleration of any vehicle in the game, hitting its top speed of 25 kph in under a second from a standing start (although it has no brakes). The driver controls the main weapon, a fixed-aim, forward-mounted plasma-energy-rail-beam-laser-gun that shoots a single crackling ball of laser-plasma-energy-beam-ball-bolt out at a respectable 30 kph. The bolt doesn't do a great deal of damage, but has no damage degradation whatsoever which therefore gives the Scorcher the unique ability to accurately hit targets at extreme distance and still pack a decent punch!

The Scorcher seats two gunners who each control a top-mounted turret containing the new "Vehicular Lasher" weapon that fires relatively slow-moving, but sparkly, large-bore lasher bolts. The very large cone of fire will make it difficult to score direct hits on aircraft and infantry with the Vehicular Lasher but it repeat-fires fast, lashes for 2 points of damage on anything that passes within 1 meter of the orbs and has a generous six round clip.

We believe the classic purple elegance of the floating Scorcher will mean the Vanu don't even notice they can't hit anything with it, so who cares!?