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The Avatar Warmech

  • Designation: AW-30 (Assault Walker)
  • Affiliation: Nod
  • Role: Anti-tank
  • Launch date: 2065
  • Class: Attack
  • Armament: Cannons mounted on the arms and torso
  • Type: Heavy walker
  • Speed: Medium

Background

The legendary leader of Nod, Brother Marcion, designed the first Purifier Warmech during the Second Tiberium War, both to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies and to dominate the battlefield. In preparation for the Third Tiberium War, Nod’s engineers revisited Marcion’s original concept and refined it, creating a far more versatile and adaptable beast – a true manifestation of Nod’s power on the battlefield.

As part of Nod’s ongoing technological enhancement programme, the Avatar Warmech was designed to transmit operational data to Legions in real time. In the aftermath of the Third War, the AI entity had processed, analysed and prioritised the data obtained, revealing significant vulnerabilities and malfunctions in the Avatar Warmech. In several instances, the Avatar Warmech proved to be more deadly to Nod forces than to the GDI; Avatar Warmech pilots had developed the habit of disabling and destroying other Nod vehicles, not to better equip themselves against the GDI, but as a means of self-preservation: thereby leaving behind wrecks that slowed the GDI’s advance. What had been considered a key feature of the original Avatar Warmech – the ability to adapt in real time on the battlefield – proved to be more harmful than helpful.

In response to this, and to other findings from the data, the Nod Engineering Corps designed a new four-armed Avatar Warmech: the Caturhasta Avatara.

This redesign introduced two major changes to the Avatar Warmech. Firstly, the Avatar Warmech is no longer piloted directly by humans, but rather by an advanced remote-control system. Each Avatar Warmech pilot is connected via a direct neural link to the Avatar Warmech, resulting in a vehicle that lives up to its name: a massive, mechanical manifestation of its pilots. Secondly, in order to reduce Nod’s losses, the designers have removed the Avatar Warmech’s heavy reliance on destroying allied units with its four cannon-equipped arms. The results of the first series of battlefield tests were spectacular.

“Now I have felt how much it is like Shiva, the destroyer of worlds.”

Lieutenant Hal Lynch, test pilot, paraphrasing Oppenheimer after conducting his first test with the Avatar Warmech MkII.

These modifications, coupled with a visually terrifying appearance-making its predecessor seem tame by comparison-have led to the Avatar Warmech’s return to the forefront of the battlefield… and to the nightmares of those who would oppose the Nod.

Battlefield Specifications

A weapon in each hand The Avatar Warmech was originally equipped with four anti-tank guns, one on each of its four arms, but the additional cost was deemed unnecessary and two of its arms were removed from production. As conflicts involving TCNs escalated, Nod removed some of the Avatar Warmech’s torso armour to add a third, more effective cannon for additional firepower. Although the three-cannon model is normally used, the Avatar Warmech retains the mounting points for two additional arms, and commanders are known to add two extra cannons to their Warmechs by scavenging enemy weapons on the battlefield.Reincarnation Following the introduction of the GDI’s backup system, which revolutionised battlefield repairs, the Brotherhood began replicating the same technology for use in its own vehicles. Modelled on the systems used in the GDI’s Mastodon, the Avatar Warmech’s Backup Systems will gradually repair an Avatar Warmech to an operational state. Unfortunately, the repair process takes time, and Nod commanders must dispatch engineers to repair the walker if time is against them.Retreat and Rearmament

The Avatar Warmech’s arm cannons are extremely powerful, but their power also has a major flaw. Because the arm cannons are exposed and not particularly well protected, pilots frequently find themselves with cannons that are rendered useless-either because they are damaged beyond repair, unable to fire due to electrical faults, or completely destroyed by the enemy. To help remedy this situation, each arm cannon can effectively be jettisoned and replaced with a new one with the appropriate Tech Support. In heavy combat scenarios, the Pilot thus detaches the damaged cannon and continues firing with the remaining cannons. Most Avatar Warmech pilots disengage from combat once they have lost most of their cannons, taking advantage of the reduced weight to return to base more quickly.