The sea trembled and thousands cheered along the coastline as the USS Spirit of Independence Mobile Offshore Base, the Pacific sister ship of the Atlantic-based Spirit of Freedom, slowly left the bay of Manila under the rising sun of a tranquil thursday morning. The surface area of this unfathomable leviathan with its complement of over 10.000 sailors, aviators and Marines spanned across several football fields and included three advanced catapult runways that matched the capabilities of any ground-based airfield. Independence's naval air wing consisted of nearly 500 aircraft, including F-22C 'Sea Raptor' fighter jets, transports, helicopters and even a number strategic bombers from the US Air Force. Now, the ship was about to head north together with a fleet of other American vessels - towards Russian territorial waters. Even though the United States had been formally at war with the Russian Federation since the last summer, the Pacific had been deceptively quiet until now. President Bradford hoped that the increased activity in the region would prompt the Russian leadership to redeploy some of its elite combat units away from Europe or, at the very least, provide a credible deterrent against any miscalculated military adventures on the Kremlin's part in a very literal example of gunboat diplomacy.



Meanwhile on the other side of the globe, the Spirit of Freedom was making its own contribution to America's involvement in the Third World War, launching coordinated air and missile strikes across the Scandinavian peninsula and into the Russian homeland. The fact that their gargantuan appearance made the two swimming fortresses a large, seemingly easy target was not an error of their design; it was the very intention. The mere notion that the United States deployed the Freedom and its task force of two dozen support vessels, including drone carriers, arsenal ships, submarines and destroyers, into the most heavily contested waters of the northern Atlantic served as a two-fold statement: That America would stand firm by the side of its former European allies and that Russia's military ambitions would be terminated. The Spirit of Independence was now ready to do the same in the Pacfic in the event that tense standoff between Chinese assault forces and Russian reserve divisions along the ancient Mongolian plain would erupt into an entirely new war by itself. If the ongoing series of ethnic clashes in the Russian Far-East and the ever-escalating rhetorics of the Chinese leadership were any indication of what to expect, the United States wanted to be prepared for the worst as they moved their most powerful pieces into position, for Freedom and Independence were not merely designed to sink other ships or even fleets - they were designed to end entire wars through the sheer gravity of their presence alone or, failing that, simply bombard the enemy into utter submission.



After the crisis years of the late 2020s and the drastic changes within the US military in the early 2030s, the troops stationed onboard this unparalleled class of capital ships often likened them to a 'Death Star': Thousands upon thousands of missiles, including surface-to-air, anti-ship, anti-satellite and high-capacity cruise missiles that carried everything from standard high-explosives over precision-guided intelligent submunitions to tactical nuclear warheads, multiple high-calibre railgun turrets and an entire deck filled with laser defence systems allowed the ship to engage and destroy any type of target multiple times over while its internal storages and housing quarters contained the amphibious vanguard of an invasion force. The sheer size of the flat vessel would help maintain sufficient buoyancy in the event of a hull breach, while the ship itself was constantly protected by a swarm of underwater drones that detected and intercepted enemy submarines and torpedos. With a multi-layered defence like this, the Americans were certain that their new flag ships would not suffer the same tragic fate as the USS Ronald Reagan, which was cut in half by a GLA-hijacked Particle Cannon 2027. As a matter of fact, the Freedom had already survived its own baptism of fire back in October 2048, when its deck withstood a solar burst from an ECA satellite that had been temporarily hacked by Russian commandos.



Now, the Spirit of Independence would be tested as well, for what laid ahead were the home waters of the Russian Pacific Fleet, outnumbered but unharmed by the fighting in Europe - and determined to sink every invading vessel to the bottom of the unforgiving sea...

I like idea of buildable Heavy AA,if I remember correctly,it can take down Hind in one shot,right ? Cool design though.
Also about this GP plane,what is actually its purpose ? To circle around and cut missiles ?

Gotta love that Guardian Angel. Serves as a nice choice between that (defense) and the Spectre (offense). I wonder how long would be its loiter time (60 seconds?).

2 Shots to be exact but it beeing hitscan obviously makes it a very powerful tool


Yes and it also drops alot of flares which will act kinda like anti air smoke grenades and durring the whole circling process (which takes quite abit) the plane cannot be actively targeted.
This basicly creates a (fairly) safe fly zone for you and your allies since all anti air in the area will not be able to target your aircraft effectively.



Nothing set in stone yet its still beeing tested but its pretty long. (long enough to do serious damage with aircraft)

Just a bit of something to bring up with the Cyclops lore. You would never completely replace physical defenses with an optical based system on the ocean. A Laser/Gun or Laser/Missile combo is much more potent and enhance each others strengths while reducing their weaknesses.

That is really serious thing,turtlers dream come true



Sound like a lot of fun,but as for those flares,are they gonna trick gattlings and skyshields etc ? I mean it would be lot more useful if would.
I like idea of those ranks 5 GPs being included that are not about blowing whole opponents base up,rather having certain tactical value.

One more question about this G. Angel,is it based on some RL design ?

Spirit of Independence, yeah! Taste freedom! I haven't watched the streams, just how big will the Cyclops be? Also, is this the start of the "countdown" updates until release?

Democracy is coming XD

I think the Guardian Angel model has room for improvement as it looks a bit silly, and like a bottlenose dolphin.

Certainly the USA will no longer be the second strongest faction anymore. It will be the strongest one!

About Russia and ECA, is everything done?

I'm hoping for more units.

Check the airborne laser one and you will see that is not that silly

*dreams about having huge US megaships as map assets at some time in the future*

This update basically served as a setup to that kind of scenario in the future. We'll definitely explore that possibility.

so we can assume one US ship will have a smaller less powerful cyclops when nations navies roll around do we?
also the ciclops looks like its making a face

The G.A. would be Russia's living nightmare. G.A. + Raptors + Nighthawks = "Victory through Air Power" achievement

Just a little tidbit that I had to ask; would there be a three-way war between the U.S., Russia and China in the Far East, or a two-way war with U.S. allying with China?

The suspense is gripping.

This came to my mind:

The Hunter posted this on ModDB:

Really cool update, both those units/structures are quite potent, as anyone who's played the internal betas can tell you!



The Cyclops replaces the Phalanx, but that doesn't mean that the Rolling Airframe Missile and Standard missile haven't been replaced by it. In fact, you can have both on the ground in game with the Cyclops and Protector Missile System.

So the Guardian Angel can destroy Topols and missiles which are launched by Russian Silos?

By the way, nice models.

No it can't, Topols, Silo missiles and superweapons are exempt from this due to design reasons (no faction should have a total counter to something that special), but the Cyclops can take out regular ballistic missiles such as the Tomahawk.

But Tomahawk i-

Besides Tomahawk and the SCUD, are there even artillery units whose munitions can be shot down?

Rocket Buggy, Grad, Buratino...

As far as I know they aren't considered ballistic missiles. Regular AA can fire on ballistic missiles and not just point defense, that's the difference.

how is that related to "what artillery ammo can be shot down"?

Sorata mentioned the other three rocket equipped artillery units as ballistic missile users which isn't the case.

Since USA does have some kind of "better" Flare Drop, will China get some improvement on their ECM Flare Bomb?

Pretty cool new U.S. toys. I look forward to using them.

And also Doomguy (that Doom lover on this forums will love 1.85)

The LASER and the Phalanx both occupy the same terminal range defense zone. You can't risk losing defense potency due to water spray or rough seas, that's why the USN is combing them onto the same platform.

Tis a game Tornado! Lasers are cool!

USA super battle bases, well, is a war. Really only like this if some sunken. Russia not need a war in two (or three) fronts. GLA vengance?, SAP help to soviets? can be a good idea, but is your history. The WW 3 have a temporary stand by, well work.

How will the Guardian angel fare against the Wotan and Twin Fang? On another note, can the SICLOPS shoot down an entire grad barrage?

EDIT:

I think Salvation war has an answer that works fairly well.


ALSO EDIT:

If a Cyclops shot a Wotan which was firing back, which would win?

The Angel TMD creates a missile/targeting dead zone. It cannot be targeted and anything flying inside the zone it creates cannot be targeted.

absolutely awesome ^^ update

I think the Guardian Angel TMD is meant to replace cruise-missile Tomahawks when it comes to airstrike support, and it's also meant to support any assault.

And the Cyclops Tactical Laser, is it true that it is meant to replace the Chaparral (for Tier 2 Anti-Aircraft) when 2.0 come out in earnest?

Somewhat off-topic question:

Is it me, or is the USA meant to have a weak point with China, on the defense in particular?

Nope, the Cyclops Tactical Laser is new addition Tier-2 AA defense Structure for all USA Generals(maybe).

Maybe I misheard, I think I heard that the Chaparral was going to be a Tier-2 Anti-Aircraft exclusive for one general. Is this true?

General Bradley have one, but I'm not quiet sure about that.

IIRC all USA will get the Cyclops. while the Chappy will be exclusive to Bradley.

Seeing how the Cyclops operates in-game, this is actually quite possible. First you see a 'weak' beam pointing at the target, followed by a quick, high-intensity burst that does the damage.

Cool, I didn't even know myself I said that.

Problem is, you're tracking a moving target, which means if it moves fast enough across the Cyclops's field of fire, the LASER will bleed power very quickly as you're forced to slew it through moist air you can't "pre-clear" like you can with the Particle Cannon shooting at a Geo Sync Sat. You'd have to shoot in very quick pulses which would reduce time the LASER is on target. A very smart way to reduce the effectiveness of LASERs on your projectiles is a very simple three steps : Speed, Rotation, Insulation.

So the USA built the Spirit of Independence too - cool - in fact platforms with capacity for laser weapons, railgun, cruise missiles, hundreds of aircraft and drones is the latest weapon in terms of capacity to destruction. But surely Russia should have a weapon against all this, or China that should not be interested in seeing one of these fortrees as close to your coast.

I loved the Guardian Angel - especially the skin. I imagine a deadly combination between this aircraft and a group of Starlifters in the middle of an enemy base.

The Cyclops was also very beautiful with all its details, is an interesting defense to be combined with an Russia's Tesla in team games.

They have. Nukes.

Yes, however the deliberate use of a nuclear weapon against one of the largest aircraft carriers of the United States - cause unimaginable military prejudice to the Pentagon - could open dangerous precedents for an nuclear escalation. I believe more in high-precision weapons, large-scale invasion or sabotage to sink one thing like this.

Sort of a moot point as a realistic laser weapon would be an extremely short burst anyway. Sort of like those on the Laser Crusader.

Of course it's not as epic of a sight as a laser cutter tracking a plane, so it depends on how they're portrayed in RotR I suppose.

But I just except a big frickin laser beam.

I remember a certain RA3 mission regarding sabotaging a Japanese floating fortress AHEM.

Well, since I haven't seen China's navy yet, I expect sub spam. Either that, or macross missile shell massacre if they try to storm the Freedom.

However, I think that we are to see a US-China team-up, rather than a three-way slugfest.

the problem is you are assuming a short range combat, while the cyclops seems to be designed for long range combat outside of the game where speed and rotation will be of minimal impact

Man I really love how BF4 addresses the question of the "Central Pacific Command" where the USS Titan and an entire fleet is bombarded by a lightning missile strike, the crew of the USS Valkyrie try to discover what actually happened while are attacked by Chinese navy at sea.

In the ROTR context is possible that China re-ally with the USA against Russia, since the situation of the main allies of the USA in the region - Japan and Korea - seems to be less confrontational with China than in RL.

The only thing that the MOBs could realistically be taken out by, would be orbital laser weapons in large volumes, as a Cruise missile would simply be hit by lasers, torpedoes have it better being underwater, but underwater drones are there to take them out.

That's the thing, the MOB has essentially won the arms race for now, and the countermeasures to it will take some time to actually start existing. Right now, China's only recourse will be to either Zerg it, or hack it, with Russia having neither option and more or less just gonna get wailed on in anywhere not under a blackout node.

The same could be said for the node itself, which will be rendered obsolete with more advanced sensors start existing.

Over the horizon, sea top height is an extremely short range engagment zone when the missiles are coming in at Mach 3+ and doing pre programmed flight path dodges. You have a very short time to heat up the missile's explosive before even if it's completely blinded it's momentum will carry it directly into your hull. Hence why the USN is combining the Phalanx with the LASER, the LASER can quickly stupidify the incoming missile and then the Phalanx can impart physical impacts to knock it away from the ship.