Nanoswarm hive

The Nanoswarm Hive is the support super weapon of the Empire of the Rising Sun. When activated, it sends billions of nanomachines to the target area and forms an impenetrable barrier, effectively cutting it off.

Background
The Nanoswarm is a defensive Super Weapon, much like the Soviet Iron Curtain. It functioned a little differently, however. The shield that is formed is literally a shield. While it is online, no attack can break through it and no units from the outside can enter the shield area. However, the units inside the Shield cannot fire out or move out of the protected area either, although they are free to attack enemy units which are also trapped inside the Shield.

Reflecting the nature of the Imperial military, the Nanoswarm is a flexible multipurpose tool in the Imperial arsenal. It can be used to defend vital units or structures against enemy attacks, including Superweapon attacks. It can also be used to block choke points, forcing the enemy to make a detour, or isolate enemy units, preventing them momentarily from participating in the battle. It can also defend Imperial units while they're on the offensive. The Nanoswarm can be activated over an area, allowing Imperial troops to deal with the enemy without being overwhelmed by reinforcements. This is quite useful, for instance, if a Sudden Transport managed to sneak into the middle of a base. However, the Allied Chronosphere allows units to warp past the barrier, being the only way to bypass the Nanoswarm and enter or escape it.

If the Nanoswarm is used in this manner, Imperial commanders need to act fast to accomplish whatever they set out to do, as the Shield can only be maintained for a short time. Imperial Commanders are instructed to consider the use of the Superweapon wisely, as the Nanoswarm Hive can only be activated periodically. Such advanced technology also required a lot of power to operate.

The Imperial commander Kenji is known to have developed a new, even more powerful version of the Nanoswarm Hive, which was capable of permanently defending a chosen area, at least as long as the power plants that powered it were active. The only working prototypes of these new Nanoswarm Hives were all destroyed or disabled by Allied forces during the attack on Kenji's base.

Game building
Like all Imperial structures, it must be deployed by a belonging Nanocore. To unfurl, it requires an area with the same size with Soviet Iron Curtain. It is essentially a factory specialized for production of defensive nanobots. Before deployment, the nanobots are stored in a containment structure that is used as their launch platform. The nanobots cannot be ordered as other units. This downside is offset by the larger protection area it provides.

During skirmish battles in Uprising, Japanese enemies will never build a Nanoswarm Hive, probably because it was near too useless or simply because the AI was not programmed to do so.

Usage
Nanoswarm Hive possesses defensive shield which covers most targets in a large area. Neither all units imprisoned inside shield can go throughout nor others outside can penetrate. When deployed, it has an ability to diffuse all enemy projectiles inside the shield, especially ground and naval units, and render them to fire for 30 seconds, making it ideal for dogfight and assassination like using Yuriko Omega against escorting MCV

But remember it doesn't completely cover it, making aerial units immune to be imprisoned. However, using the shield wrongly and some certain conditions will affect the following.
 * Both enemies and allies with air-to-ground attack can still attack from above. Be careful when you face Air Specialist AI
 * Though enemies' fires are eliminated, some attacks can still penetrate the shield e.g. King Oni's Bull Rush
 * Nanoswarm Shield render Superweapons, Support Powers and Ultimate Weapons from positioning but cannot stop weapon effect.
 * Defending own units is double-edged sword; renders most enemies' attacks futile in exchange of delaying assault forces
 * Protecting from Proton Collider is a suicidal idea; billions of Nanobots are counted as reactive units, making Proton Collider inflict horrendous damage which means even a Construction Yard can be destroyed in 1 second!

In the Soviet Campaign, it was once used to protect the Imperial stronghold in Vladivostok Harbor but the Soviet Commander co-worked with Zhana penetrated it and finally destroyed it. The Imperial never used it in future missions.

In the Imperial Campaign, It was first authorized to use for protecting statues and radar towers in Honolulu Island from Allied Naval Assault and it successfully wiped out. Later, it was essentially used to stop Allied's comm interceptors which will terminate battle control if lay them for too long in Yokohama and once again it could stop Allied and Soviet Assaults with Psionic Decimator combination. In the Imperial's final attack in Amsterdam, Nanoswarm was still authorized to protect the Imperial Commander and Shogun Shinzo's bases.