AW-12 Mastodon

"Bureaucratic doves, 'bout damn time!"

- Havoc's alleged response to production of the Mastodon at the reopened San Pedro war factory in 2069

The AW-12 Mastodon is a large GDI Offense quadrupedal walker first introduced in 2069 and saw service during the Fourth Tiberium War. The Mastodon is an evolution of the Mammoth Mk. II walker and is designed to crush hostile forces.

History
Though the Mammoth Mk. II was undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in GDI's arsenal during the Second Tiberium War, capable of laying waste just about anything above and below, it was decommissioned after the war, as it proved to be far too unreliable and expensive. However, after the Third Tiberium War, many pro military elements of the GDI council stated that had the Mammoth Mk. II still been still in service, GDI would have been able to stop the Scrin harvesting force with more success. They argued for a new Mammoth Mk. II, but by this point funding had been diverted to Tiberium containment, and funding for the Mastodon would only be granted years later, when TCN construction was well underway.

Increased military funding was finally granted once construction of the Tiberium Control Network was well under way. However an argument arose. Should the new Mammoth be like the Mammoth Mk. I or Mk. III, or like the Mk. II. The GDI Council of Directors ended the heated argument by authorizing the production of both a more traditional Mammoth tank and a Mk. II style walker. The walker was to become the Mastodon.

The Mastodon is a redesign of the Mammoth Mk. II. The development of technology as well the replacement of expensive high maintenance systems with cheaper systems make it less expensive to produce a Mastodon than a Mk. II. Some of the these new systems were based on innovations Kane derived from the Tacitus. The first Mastodon came out of the renovated San Pedro war factory in 2069, the same factory where the last Mammoth Mk. II had emerged 30 years earlier.

Battlefield Specifications
The Mastodon has been outfitted with a number of new systems and weapons and retains advanced versions of a number of systems used on the Mammoth Mk. II.

The Mastodon eschews its predecessor's experimental railguns for the less powerful but inexpensive chin-mounted "Tusk" Artillery Battery. The battery could fire four shells in rapid succession, and could damage all targets in its line of fire, producing a similar effect to a railgun. However, the battery has a limited firing arc, and as such Mastodons are deployed in groups so as to provide overlapping fields of fire. It is possible to deploy Mastodons in groups due to the reduced cost of the "Tusk" artillery battery along with the development of cheaper and more streamlined production techniques. Groups of Mastodons are often referred to as "herds".

Secondary armament includes a pair of dorsal mounted missile launchers, which are similar to the Mk. II's. However, they can engage both vehicles and aircraft. The Mastodon can be upgraded with the "Depth Charge" Emergency Ejection System, a brand new system. The "Depth Charge" Emergency Ejection System, when activated, drops a number of powerful explosive charges from the walker's flanks which would heavily damage all units in the area. This was introduced to compensate for the artillery battery's limited firing arc, but is only available as standard for the latest models, which is why commanders must request a retrofit for their older models. The Mastodon's legs are heavily armored, and the flechette shrapnel were light enough to simply bounce off the armour plating.

The Mastodon has been outfitted with nanotech powered Backup Systems, adopted from from the Nod derived nanotech repair module. The module activates in the event that the walker suffers a catastrophic system failure and will slowly repair the Mastodon's damaged systems; the module would eventually bring a Mastodon back online even if an Engineer is unavailable.