Alanqa Skystation

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Alanqa Skystation
Unit
Faction	Wings of Coronia
Role	Anti-air Area denial
Armament	Advanced air manipulator
Tier	3
Tech level	9
Properties
Hit points	560
Armor type	Medium Aircraft
Speed	16 (flying)
Turn rate	2
Sight radius	9
Production
Cost	$2200
Estimated build time	1:19
Built at	Foehn War Factory
Requires	Cloud Piercer Expansion
Combat
Ground modifiers	Tornado: 200% vs. Light Aircraft 150% vs. Medium Aircraft, Aerial Fortresses Irkalla, Rocketeers, Gyrocopters, Cosmonauts and Scout Ravens 140% vs. Basic/Animal 120% vs. Flak, Drone and Heavy Aircraft 100% vs. Plate/Cyborg 50% vs. Light 30% vs. Medium/Harvester 20% vs. Heavy 15% vs. all structure armor types Death explosion: 100% vs. all infantry armor types and Drone 85% vs. (Big) Light Structure and ((Very) Big Defensive Structure 70% vs. Light 55% vs. (Big) Heavy Structure 35% vs. Medium/Harvester and Heavy
Air	120-60 * 4 (480-240 total)
Air modifiers	85% vs. Diverbees 80% vs. Light Aircraft 75% vs. Medium Aircraft, Rocketeers, Gyrocopters, Cosmonauts, Scout Ravens, Thor Gunships and Aerial Fortresses Irkalla 65% vs. Heavy Aircraft, Norio, Uragan, Hailjets, Ospreys, Hornet UAVs, Dybbuk-Interceptors, Quetzal drones, Leviathan drones and Shrike drones
Cooldown	75 frames (5 in-game seconds)
Range	9, minimum 1, radius 1.5
Function
Ability	Deploy to create a tornado for 655 frames (43.7 in-game seconds) that causes 10-3 damage every 2.25 frames (0.15 in-game seconds) in a radius of 3.7 around the Alanqa Skystation The tornado is effective against infantry and aircraft but ineffective against vehicles and structures The Alanqa Skystation cannot attack while generating the tornado Has a cooldown of 660 frames (44 in-game seconds)
Veteran bonus	+40% armor
Elite bonus	+40% firepower +25% speed
Notes	Self-repair Causes 30-15 damage in a radius of 2 around where the Alanqa Skystation crashes when shot down
Miscellaneous
Artist(s)	Moder.U (voxel) 心灵终结CG (model) Nooze (cameo)
Voice actor	Jake "The Voice" Parr

“	Falling in style!	”
	—An Alanqa pilot causing "turbulences" on hostile aircraft

The Alanqa Skystation is a bizarre aircraft that serves as the Wings of Coronia's answer to enemy air forces.

Official description

It should not come as surprise, that what the Wings of Coronia aim for is a complete domination of the sky. With advanced techniques of air manipulation, and heavy reliance on powerful flying machines, their soldiers strive to make the clouds theirs alone. The first, and probably the most important step to achieve that, is preventing Coronia's enemies from the effective use of the air force.

The Alanqa Skystation is Coronia's answer to this predicament. With a set of four powerful turbines, this machine has the largest potential, out of all Foehn units, to alter the air currents around itself. This ability allows the Alanqa to forcefully ground the enemy aircraft, usually resulting in their destruction. While this powerful weapon can't be used against ground targets, the Alanqa Skystation can instead manipulate the winds to create strong mini tornadoes under its body. These devastating man-made twisters will last for a short while, killing or at least heavily damaging ground troops and vehicles in its range. While the Alanqa will not be able to fire its anti-aircraft weapons as it is controlling the twister, the strong change in the current will not leave them unaffected: the tornado will damage the flying objects as well.

Despite its terrifying weapons, the Alanqa is not without its weaknesses. The machine is very fragile, due to its advanced and delicate construction, and will not be able to withstand too much anti-aircraft fire on its own. Additionally, the air manipulations it performs both in the sky and on the ground might become threatening for the Alanqa's allies, making it less of a team player, and more of a lone wolf.

Overview

File:AlanqaTornado.png

An Alanqa Skystation shaping a tornado

The Alanqa Skystation is befitting of the designation as the Guardian of Coronia for its very purpose alone: to act as the ultimate anti-aircraft unit for Coronian forces while symbolizing the faction's doctrine as the masters of aerial warfare. It is without doubt one of the strongest Tier 3 anti-aircraft units in the whole game, capable of taking down any aerial unit in small teams from decent ranges, quickly sending them to the ground with its four Windflow Manipulators with amazing accuracy. Unlike many other dedicated Tier 3 anti-aircraft units, they are also capable of limited anti-surface operations by generating a tornado beneath the aircraft while dealing varying damage to anything below it depending on the target in question.

This strange-looking airborne contraption is the only other flying Tier 3 anti-aircraft unit in service, next to the Wolfhound and Vulture. Though it lacks the potent anti-surface weapons of Russia's iconic attack helicopter and the Vulture’s ground support capabilities, Alanqas make up for it with immensely powerful anti-aircraft weapons. Their Windflow Manipulators combine the best features of other dedicated anti-aircraft systems; they have the accuracy of the American Aeroblaze and the potent splash damage of the Chinese Sentinel. A single barrage from these weapons that employ the force of the winds is usually enough to down an entire squadron of four Tier 1 fighters, if they are packed tightly together in formation.

Coronia's dedicated Tier 3 anti-aircraft unit can also generate a massive tornado underneath it via the deploy command. Once this ability is activated, any lightly-protected infantry near the air unit will be killed almost immediately as they will be thrown to their deaths, but heavier infantry units, vehicles, and structures will likely survive with above-average damage dealt at best. Do note that the Windflow Manipulator cannot be used while the tornado is active, but the twister itself is still capable of damaging air units should any fly near the Alanqa Skystation while the winds are raging beneath the unit itself.

As they are air units, they can screen Foehn's naval forces. Complemented by the new Whipray unit, small squadrons of Alanqas can easily protect an allied naval force, as their primary weapon will tear through even the heaviest air units and even Dreadnought ballistic missiles in moments.

Contrary to popular belief, Alanqa's anti-air primary weapon CANNOT be used in conjunction with Zorbfloaters' ability to lift tanks. Their ingame warhead stats disallowed them to engage anything other than naturally airborne units. As such, tanks lifted by Zorbfloaters will not be able to be targeted or damaged by Alanqa's primary weapon. This is likely to go along with its' weapon's lore, which works by creating unstable turbulence on flying units.

Alanqas, just like the Pteranodon, are very specialized machines that should only be reserved for anti-aircraft work. They have no means of attacking ground forces with their primary weapon (it cannot be used while the unit is on the move either), and their tornado ability is rather ineffective against anything beyond weaker infantry and lightly-armored vehicles. Even if the tornado is active, chances are it will still fall to units such as Tigr APCs and Gatling Tanks since their armor will not withstand too much damage. Their tornadoes can also cause friendly fire - only other Alanqa Skystations are immune to the artificially-generated storm, thus limiting them to a pure anti-aircraft role if friendly forces are operating in its vicinity. They are also one of the Foehn Revolt's most expensive war machines, coming in at a grand price of $2400.

Assessment

Pros

Cons

Excellent against aircraft. Can deal splash damage against clustered air units. Tornadoes can hurl groups of infantry or nearby airborne units to their deaths quickly. Automatically repairs itself.

Very expensive. ($2400) Relatively poorly armored and fragile. Very vulnerable to anti-aircraft weapons. Slow-moving. Cannot use its primary anti-air weapon when generating the tornado. Cannot fire its primary weapon while on the move. Tornadoes can only be deployed at close range. Tornadoes deal minor damage to armored vehicles and structures, unless in large groups. Tornadoes may cause friendly fire.

Trivia

• Alanqa is a genus of pterosaurs that once lived in what was now Morocco during the late Cretaceous era. Its name (العنقاء) refers to a legendary bird, either a phoenix or a simurgh, in Arabic.
• The anti-air attack of the Alanqa can target landed aircraft, but unable to damage ground units temporarily in the air (i.e. paradropped from Cargo Plane or lifted by Zorbtrotters).

External links

• Official showcase of the Alanqa Skystation prior to official release of version 3.3, along with other units