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Railgun Tank Formation - Earth Defense Force

Forged in the fever dreams of Christmas and finally polished enough for release - claim Earth's destiny with this formation of AI-assisted tanks, equipped with formation AI, autoloading projectile guns, coordinated fire control, GPS-locking stabilized turret, automatic neutral steering transmission, and engine smoke screen system.

Can operate with one driven by the player leading three driven by AIs, or be split into teams of two for multiplayer, via toggle buttons on the gantry

Operating Procedure:

1. Climb from the front and enter any tank
   
2. Control with WASD, engine starts automatically upon receiving control input
   
3. Arrow keys control turret rotation and gun elevation
   
4. Press 2 to lock the GPS coordinates under crosshair and direct all tanks in the formation to aim there
   
5. Tank needs to be stopped to fire, press 1 to fire gun
   
6. Enable formation by pressing "6" once all tanks are out of the hangar( only Line Abreast Formation implemented at the moment)

Features:

• 8 round autoloader with armor piercing incendiary ammo
  
• GPS locking two axis stabilized turret with radar reticule
  
• Neutral-steering 4 speed automatic transmission with engine autostart system
  
• Formation keeping AI and datalink fire control
  
• Radio Jammer/Signal Camouflage System
  
• Smoke screen system as well as smoke grenade launchers

**Note, radio jammer is meant to counter radio-controlled cannons and missiles, causing ordinance to prematurely fire, as well as act as signal decoys for the command tank.

Additional Notes:

• Pressing the Blue Team/Red Team Button on the gantry splits the tanks into two teams and is meant for multiplayer
  
• Clicking on the main monitor inside the tank toggles zoom for better aiming
  
• Clicking on the side monitors toggles HUD overlay for better visibility
  
• Press 3 to switch radar to 360 degree scan mode for better situation awareness
  
• While engine is running, tank stores exhaust smoke to deploy as smoke screen, with the keyboard hotkey "5"
  
• The support gantry is refuels the tanks and provide a standby battery reserve, but more importantly it flashes the tanks' formation slot number and radio channel into memory. If you spawn a tank without the gantry it will not be able to operate in formation, but can still be driven manually.

Cannon Performance

• 0 - 200 meters : Accurate and penetrates composite armor
  
• 200 - 250 meters : Deals collision damage and occasionally penetrates hull
  
• 250+ meters : Inaccurate, knocks target around slightly, often does no damage

Limitations:

• Will explode if fired while moving, due to Stormworks physics. Safety Checks have been put in to brake before firing
  
• Only holds 8 rounds due to the size of blocks
  
• The formation AI has no obstacle avoidance, so when crossing complex terrain such as forests and bridges, turn off the datalink(instrument panel switch to the right of cockpit) to stop the formation from following you.

Known Issues

• If the game lags when it is spawned in, start a new game with AI helicopters and AI boats disabled, or spawn fewer tanks by using the workbench's cutting tool.
  
• The Stabilizer's math is slightly off for when the turret is rolled
  
• The target lock sometimes likes to jump up when locked onto the sky
  
• When firing rapidly with target lock, sometimes the turret likes to spins, this can be fixed by giving the turret a control input. I am currently looking into this issue.
  
• When driving around in third person view, the camera may start shaking, the solution is to tab to first person view, then change back.

Future Upgrades

• Radar Assisted Auto Aim
  
• Two Way Datalink that shows formation member status
  
• Integrating Map and Radar
  
• More Formation Types

Concerns
The gun can only fire from a stationary ground vehicle due to physics limitations and are effective only in a tank vs tank engagement due to short range and limited ammo. More than likely it will see action in pre-arranged battles where players agreed to fight in advance.

Lore
The Epsilon Armored Railgun that fought the Alien Invasion of 2025. This particular version features the paint scheme from the game Earth Defense Force 5.

Credits:

• Ghost Corpse - Damage dealing cannon with autoloader
  
• Stormworks Radar and Guidances Discord Channel - Radar to XYZ maths
  
• Sergo585 - advice on various features of cockpit HUD and ammo design
  
• NaviTato - for pestering me to do a vehicle formation system
  
• MauveTheWolf - Shinano Town Used in a screenshot
  
• BANDIT - for volunteering Thunderquack as aerial test target