User:Etzan/New French Equipment for sale!

Hey guys! I've been working on and off on Spore for the past few weeks, tweaking vehicles and filling in ones that were missing from the French military. Now it's time to drop them all on to the wiki, and the best part is that each of these pieces of equipment are for sale! France is very active in the arms trade and makes some high-quality equipment. Their specialty is fighters, but the rest of their home-grown materiel is in the average-good range. Without further ado, let's get started!

Tanks
French tank doctrine places emphasis on maneuver warfare, and their tanks are designed to match: they possess high mobility, very hard-hitting and accurate guns, and excellent stabilizers. Their major drawback is that they lack in armor when compared to other tanks. Made out of sensor-resistant material and possessing systems that baffle enemy detection systems, they are difficult to track from a high altitude and cannot be targeted from orbit. This forces enemies to spot the tank directly in order to fire upon it.

A French tank's shielding is normally turned off, even in combat, though advanced motion detection systems activate it immediately before an impact before disabling it again. Not only does this conserve energy, this makes the tank harder to detect, as an energy shield is a conspicuous target for enemy sensors. In the past, these systems have been less than reliable, especially in the early C-39 era, but recent advances have made it a near-foolproof technology.

C-41 Ulysse A2
The fruit of a Franco-Roreinian collaboration, the C-41 combines the best of French and Roreinian tank design. It is a strong main battle tank with decent armor, extreme mobility, advanced fire and control systems, and the mother of all French tank guns: the ERTA-2000. At a range, it is equipped to launch anti-tank guided missiles, and can defend itself against missile attacks with limited point-defense capability. The Roreinian Uoi-2778 autocannon makes it deadly in close range. While the Roreinian version--stripped of most of its armor--achieves an astounding 155 kilometers per hour, the French C-41 clocks in at a respectable 120 kilometers per hour at top speed. This makes it the king of maneuver warfare.

However, for all of its advantages, the Ulysse suffers from two weaknesses: low armor and high price. Firstly, while it is by no means a glass canon, it fields less armor than other tanks of comparable price while still being able to take a respectable amount of punishment. Secondly, it is costly to manufacture given the materials and technology involved, driving up its price-per-unit. It can be modified and stripped of some technology to be made more affordable, though that would reduce its overall effectiveness. Once built, its operating cost is about average.

The French field the C-41 Ulysse A3 variant of the chassis while the C-41 Ulysse A2 variant is up for sale. See complete list of variants.

C-40
The C-40 is a nearly-unarmored, exceptionally fast, and cheap counterpart to the C-41. Like the Ulysse, it fields the ERTA-2000 and Uoi-2778 autocannon, though the similarities stop there. Its chassis is completely different: light and low to the ground, lending to the craft a degree of mobility that would be impossible to achieve with the C-41. However, its hull and shields are easy to penetrate, meaning it cannot last long under direct fire.

The general idea behind the tank was that the C-41 would act as the main line in a tank battle while the C-40 raced around, plugged up holes, exploited weaknesses, and performed flanking attacks before darting back to safety.

C-39B3
The C-39B3 is the descendant of a long and proud line of French tanks from the 2750's. It has evolved out of its role as a main battle tank to serve as what France calls a "paratrooper tank." In French doctrine, it is essentially a cheap and compact compromise between the C-41's strength and C-40's maneuverability, perfect for accompanying and supporting landing parties in specialized transports. Its gun is respectable and autocannon are respectable, though are starting to show their age. Much to the frustration of French technicians, the chassis is too old to support modern French guns like the ERTA-2000, falling back instead on the fast-firing ROL-5 which fires a medium caliber cartridge.

Like all French tanks, it lacks armor, but its main advantages are its low price and ease of transport and maintenance. It is still used as a light tank, colonial tank, and expeditionary tank in the armies of many nations. See complete list of variants.

Gunships
French gunships are typically built to act as intermediaries between forces in orbit and forces on the ground. As a result, all French gunships have the ability to descend from and ascend into orbit of medium-density planets without help from other craft. They all field light shield generators, though these serve more to protect them from damage during reentry than from enemy fire.