Fanon:War Machine IV

War Machine Mk. IV
"We put War Machines on your War Machine so you can War Machine while you War Machine!" - Oculus
Conception Author	Diepmon
Boss Details
HP	Each Sub-Component (25): 21,000 Each Sub-Core Mounted Weapon (5): 32,000 Each Sub-Core (5): 47,000 Each Core Mounted Weapon (4): 42,000 The Quintessence: 72,000 Total: 1,160,000
HP	Each Sub-Component (25): 21,000 Each Sub-Core Mounted Weapon (5): 32,000 Each Sub-Core (5): 47,000 Each Core Mounted Weapon (4): 42,000 The Quintessence: 72,000 Total: 1,160,000
Game mode(s)	Lord Sassafras's Palace as the second boss.
Game mode(s)	Lord Sassafras's Palace as the second boss.
Game ends when killed?	Not quite. You've got Lord Sassafras to go through, and he's a gamemode himself.
Game ends when killed?	Not quite. You've got Lord Sassafras to go through, and he's a gamemode himself.

I lied when I said I was done with War Machines. The War Machine IV is a Legendary Boss in the Extended Tale of Diep and could be borderline Era Boss-scale. Idea by... guess who?

Backstory

Unlike the other three War Machines and their prototypes, the War Machine IV is not of Dr. Lacus's handiwork. Rather, it was created by Hesperian engineers under Trinovia on the philosophy that "more is better." If there was a War Machine inside of a War Machine, why not make a War Machine with War Machines for weapons? The brilliance of Trinovia was responsible for presenting this idea to the High Council. Sassafrexen thought this idea was illogically inefficient, even for Hesperians. Oculus argued that he could lick his eye(s) (and that it might actually be useful.) Derpii and Spicyfras agreed with Sassafrexen, but Hatappy sided with Oculus on the grounds that such a magnificent machine might actually be useful. Lauraceae, who just so happened to be invited that day, eagerly vocalized her opinion (read: boisterously wrecked the meeting table in her excitement by slamming her helmet horns into it while singing so loud that the microphone blew out two seconds in) to have the then-named Hesperian Glory to be built.

The final vote came down to Sassaprophet... who was nowhere to be found, as usual. Since the Council was tied three to three (Trinovia, being the suggesting party, didn't get to vote) and one member was absent, the matter was yielded to Lord Sassafras for the final verdict. Surprisingly, Lord Sassafras sponsored the creation of the machine, with only one stipulation that it be allowed to wander around his palace as a massive guard machine on occasion (meaning always.) The Lord's will was followed, and since the War Machine IV is powered by IE Energy, it is much more powerful that it would be without its exotic power source.

Overview

The fourth War Machine could be yet another instrument of death, but its creation by the Hesperian League and their philosophy of "quantity, not quality" when it comes to creating these sorts of things means that it is actually weaker than the War Machine III, only having five phases and a combination-recombination gimmick. It is the second boss of Lord Sassafras's Palace, and despite having a crap ton of health, is relatively easy to defeat with such a large group of players (in excess of one hundred.)

Technical

The War Machine IV has FORTY components. Luckily, 25 of these components are weak compared to the big ones. The layout is as follows:

There is one big middle core, with 4 mounted weapons arranged in a triangle formation, with one in the middle. Said core is about the size of the War Machine III's Nucleus (the outer ring).

There are 5 smaller cores orbiting this thing (not touching it), each about 0.85x the size of the War Machine's core. These smaller cores have one mounted weapon each on them, and five MORE weapons rotating around them. Yes. It's War Machine-ception. The sub-cores rotate clockwise by default, and the sub-core weapons rotate counterclockwise.

The War Machine IV is many times larger than its predecessors - it even dwarfs the War Machine III, as its sub-cores are the same size as the original War Machine's core.

Components

Main Core Components

• The Quintessence: The big central core of this thing, described above. It has 3 mounted weapons on it, described below. It has six laser pods, two in between each set of weapons forming the triangle. It has one Auto Dominator Turret in front of each set of laser pods, for a total of 3.

• The Cataclysm: A big Bomber mounted weapon with Voltage Gun spikes jutting out of the barrel. It fires EMP bombs that deal low damage but stun tanks for 15 seconds, and do splash damage. It is the mounted weapon at the top point of the triangle formed by the other mounted weapons.

• The Bulkhead: A tank with four Auto Vacuum weapons arranged like a Quad Tank. It rotates like an Auto 5, spinning slowly and aiming its Auto Turrets at things to suck them up and expel them for damage, or sucking up a load of ammunition and releasing it as a spread attack. It forms the lower-left point of the mounted weapon triangle.

• The Eradicator: A tank with a reverse-Ranger barrel, atop which is mounted a wider-than-tank body barrel with two thin trapezoids on the sides. It fires off absurdly huge bullets that travel pretty fast. It forms the lower-right point of the mounted weapon triangle. It also gives positive buffs to other weapons randomly on 15 second intervals while active.

• The Boomburst: A weapon with 3 Dominator Turrets sharing the same circular base, 120 degrees apart. They each have 2 smaller barrels in them like a Predator, and fire off either sonic waves that travel far and spread out, dealing less damage as it travels but hitting more objects, or they fire off thick lasers that do high damage on contact, sweeping left and right. This weapon is significantly bigger than the other weapons and is in the center of the mounted weapon triangle.

The first piece of art for the WMIV, made by Pickaxe24.

Sub-Cores

• The Prima: The first sub-core rotating around the Quintessence. It has four laser pods on it with 4 Auto Turrets, alternating to form a regular octagon shape. Five sub-components orbit it, described in said section.

• The Bloodhound: An Auto Overlord Turret mounted in the center of the Prima. It spawns drones at the rate of a Fallen Overlord, with a drone limit of 160. Four groups of drones are used, each having 40 drones. 2 orbit The Prima and protect it, while 2 are on the offensive and attack players.

• The Deux: The second sub-core rotating around the Quintessence. It has eight Machine Gun Auto Turrets on it, forming a regular octagon shape. Five sub-components orbit it, described in said section.

• The Barrette: An Auto Ranger weapon that is mounted on the Deux. It fires off high-speed shots that deal 3-second medium stun damage on impact. Reload is the same as a 7 reload Sniper. Occasionally, it rapid-fires off 3 groups of 10 shots like a Streamliner.

• The Triad: The third sub-core rotating around the Quintessence. It has eight laser pods arranged in an octagon shape as well. Five sub-components orbit it, described in said section.

• The Subliminator: A tank orbiting around the Triad, with a default form as a ram Booster. It chases down tanks but will never stray too far from the Triad. It can swap between Fighter and Booster forms, with different AI for each.

• The Quaternary: The fourth sub-core rotating around the Quintessence. It has 4 Dominator Auto Turrets and 4 normal Auto Turrets, arranged alternating in a regular octagon. Five sub-components orbit it, described in said section.

• The Carrier: A Factory weapon that is mounted on top of the Quaternary. It creates tank minions to fight for it, and has a maximum of 50 minions, controlled in one group of 25 offensive minions and 25 defensive minions behaving like the Bloodhound's drones.

• The Citadel: The fifth and last sub-core rotating around the Quintessence. It has 2 laser pods, 2 Auto Turrets, 1 Dominator Auto Turret, and 2 Machine Gun Auto Turrets. These also form an octagon, with each set forming one side. It also has five sub-components that orbit it, described in said section.

• The Hurricane: An Octo Tank weapon mounted on top of the Citadel. It sprays bullets everywhere. And did I mention that it can switch between four-sided focused fire and normal spray-everywhere behavior?

Sub-Components

Orbiting The Prima

• The Cyclotron: A weapon with six Predator barrels arranged evenly in a hexagon formation. It either spams bullets or snipes all at once for critically high damage.

• The Sheath: A weapon similar to the WMI's Slayer weapon, but longer and with six barrels instead of 4. Functions as both a ranged and melee weapon.

• The Clawizter: A weapon with a crab-claw-like weapon. It grabs things and crunches things for high damage. The grabbing mechanic is like a Griever's.

• The Ricochet: A Wrecker weapon that bounces around randomly, whacking random targets and flying all over the place in general. Things hit receive medium damage and are inflicted with Dazed and Confused for 10 seconds on hit, as well as receiving incredible knockback.

• The Stripe: A long Ranger-like weapon, with two trapezoid bases instead of one and a spike inside the barrel sticking out slightly. It fires off OHKO shots, but with a very slow reload rate and almost zero penetration. If its shots hit a bullet or other ammunition, it is destroyed, but if it hits a tank or polygon, said entity is destroyed in one hit. Polygon bosses take 5 hits to kill.

Orbiting The Deux

• The Eagle: A railgun-like weapon that looks like a tank with a barrel-gray hexagon sticking out of the front slightly, with a Ranger barrel setup on said hexagon. It fires bullets that pull tanks that get too close to it in, and if touched they deal medium damage and inflicting Paralyzed and Dazed for 7 seconds.

• The Sheller: A weapon with a Bomber setup on the front, and two Skimmer barrels, one larger one beneath it and one small one on top of it. The Bomber weapon's bombs have a larger splash radius than usual, and the Sheller has 4 shields orbiting it at a distance like the Multitool VII's Tortoise component.

• The Trapius: A weapon with 5 Trapper barrels, evenly spaced. In between said Trapper barrels are Machine Gun Auto Turrets.

• The Pendulum: A weapon with 1 drone spawner like a Manager, with a Battleship spawner sticking out of it. It spawns Battleship drones at the rate of a Streamliner with 10 points in Reload, and the drones have a lifetime of 15 seconds.

• The Assaultation: A weapon with 10 Gunner barrels in pyramid formation, all facing towards the front. It also has a Quad Tank Auto Turret up top. Fires focused on a target or sprinkles bullets back and forth.

Orbiting The Triad

• The Minelayer: A weapon with 6 Thorn Trapper barrels, and on top an Auto Turret with 3 more Thorn Trapper barrels. This weapon fires out Thorn Mines that for the most part behave like traps, but explode when a tank gets too close, sending out spikes that do medium-low damage.

• The Grinder: A weapon that summons random Crashers from its huge Theurgent-like spawner, with the spikes more wicked-looking. Crashers summoned from this thing have electric fields around them that grant them 10% more movement speed, health, and body damage.

• The Bombardier: A weapon with 5 Twin barrels and a Triplet Auto Turret up top. It fires ONLY focused shots with its barrels, no sprinkling back and forth with this weapon. However, its Auto Turret can pursue a different target than that of the main weapon's barrels.

• The Slingshot: A Fighter-like tank, with a Booster setup on the back and two front barrels like a Twin. It flies around in the vicinity of the Triad, shooting at tanks that get too close and sometimes chasing after them for a short distance.

• The Kiosk: A tank that has 8 Compound Auto Turrets (like those on the Auto 6), arranged in an octagon formation. Very dangerous, as it can pursue up to 16 different targets at once. Luckily, bullets are weak but still fast.

Orbiting The Quaternary

• The Apex: A tank with a Predator setup, and one more barrel sticking out of the smallest one. It has an insane view range, 2x that of a Ranger's. Bullets fired off can either be stacked or in a standard line formation.

• The Orbital: A tank with 4 Orbiter barrel things, rotating around it. It has another two-sided Auto Turret up top.

• The Gatling: A Vulcan tank. Nothing else. It sprinkles bullets back and forth or fires focused.

• The Necrolith: A Summoner-like tank, that spawns squares to fight for it. Behaves a lot like a Summoner, but stationary. Maximum of 50 squares per spawner.

• The X-Auto: A tank that looks like an Auto 5, but with spikes instead of barrels on each Auto Turret. It fires the spikes out randomly to deal damage.

Orbiting The Citadel

• The Stronghold: A Blaster tank with barrel gray armor around it. Fires at short range, but with heavy damage.

• The Whip: A tank with three Smasher shells, rotating at 1x, 2x and 3x speed in opposite directions to each other. It swings out and attacks tanks for low damage, but deals insane knockback and inflicts a random debuff.

• The Chrome: A tank with a Cyclone setup. It spins to pull in targets within a small vortex range, dealing damage as they touch its lances.

• The Dante: A tank with a Skimmer barrel stacked over an Annihilator barrel. It fires off powerful bullets from both barrels.

• The Girder: A tank that has 4 Twin barrel setups, arranged in 90 degree increments.

The Fight

Phase 1

Lord Sassafras's Courtyard is the name of the arena where the WMIV is fought. It is a very large outdoor area, and the WMIV is split into five War Machines, as the central core is not yet present on the arena. Players must fight and defeat each individual War Machine to progress. Once the last War Machine has been disabled, Phase 2 will begin.

The components of each War Machine (including the mounted ones) have 10,500 health each, and the Cores have 23,000 each. Mounted weapons can only be damaged (with the exception of the Sublimnator) once the rotating weapons have been disabled (when their health reaches zero, they stop firing and attacking, but keep rotating.)

Phase 2

When Phase 2 begins, the Quintessence is summoned from a portal and the War Machine IV takes its full form. Three weapons from each mini-War Machine retract into the Quintessence, and the remaining ten break off to chase players individually. As the WMIV starts powering up, it is Invincible and slowly its mounted weapons will come online and the other weapons return to their cores (but not attack.) Players must survive for 5 minutes until Phase 3 occurs.

Phase 3

In this phase, the weapons are not damageable, but they do attack. Instead, players must attack the Cores themselves. Once a Core is destroyed, its weapons stick to the WMIV, including any top-mounted ones. When all Cores are destroyed, the War Machine IV starts rotating its weapons around, entering Phase 4.

Phase 4

In Phase 4, the War Machine IV has 30 weapons rotating around it total, and they cycle through a buff duration clockwise, three at a time. Each weapon will triple its fire rate (or movement speed) for 8 seconds, while also doubling damage and penetration and increasing ammunition speed by 25%. The core is still invincible until Phase 5. Destroy all 30 orbiting weapons to continue to Phase 5.

Phase 5

In Phase 5, the War Machine IV breaks down and stops moving, having depleted itself of IE Energy. However, its large top-mounted weapons remain functional and can be destroyed. Once these are destroyed, the core can be damaged to finish the battle off.

Trivia

• I left this page unfinished for the longest time. The first prototype of this page was very underwhelming. A battle renovation will be underway when the Lord Sassafras's Palace page is created.