Tanks

The Edelweiss, the first player-controlled tank in the series, with crew members Welkin Gunther and Isara.

Tanks are armored fighting vehicles encountered in many missions over the course of Valkyria Chronicles. While they are formidable against ill-prepared infantry, properly equipped Lancers can make short work of them.

In-Game

"Tanks" are a special unit type in Valkyria Chronicles, defined by specific properties:

• Controlling a tank unit uses one to three Command Point(s) depending on the type of the tank.
• Tanks use AP when turning, not just when moving.
• Tanks cannot capture bases but can retreat and/or be called from reserves, except in the first and fourth Valkyria Chronicles. They also cannot perform special scenery actions like climbing ladders or hiding in tall grass.
• Tanks have multiple hit locations and, in the first game only, multiple health bars; the main body (with different armor values for each facing from the second and third game), the treads (first game only, massively reduces AP if destroyed), and a glowing radiator which is vulnerable to all forms of attack and functions like a normal infantryman's head for purposes of critical damage.
• Tanks do not regenerate HP every turn like infantry unless they are inside a base area. Their HP can only be restored using the Engineer Tool. Tanks cannot be healed with Ragnaid.
• Most of a tank's hit locations are completely immune to standard gunfire.
• Tanks are the only unit that can trigger anti-tank mines in the first Valkyria Chronicles. Tanks take no damage from anti-personnel mines.

The player controlled tanks in Valkyria Chronicles are the Edelweiss and Shamrock. During the Selvaria's Mission: Behind Her Blue Flame DLC, a Light Imperial Tank is also available for control.

History

Interior of a tank

At the turn of the 20th Century, a time when trench combat was the primary form of warfare, these armored vehicles were created to break across defensive lines.

Their design employs a ragnoline fuel combustion engine in which energy is harnessed from the explosive ignition of liquid ragnite. Byproducts include a distinctive blue light and extreme heat, requiring the addition of a radiator at the tank's rear to prevent overheating. Originally used to cross trenches and as foot soldier support, economic and technological advances have seen tanks grow to fill a number of combat roles.

After the Empire employed highly mobile attack tanks in EW1, all of Europa began to develop new vehicles, leading to the diverse array of models seen today.

Gallian Tanks

A Gallian light tank, circa 1935

As part of a defensive force, Gallian tank designs favor small, highly mobile units suited to Gallia's topography over heavy tanks focused on firepower.In EW1, the Gallian force used light tanks and foot soldiers to stop the Empire's invasion rather than squaring off against the attack-heavy Imperial tanks. After witnessing the Empire's fearsome armored corps, a group of Gallian engineers led by Professor Theimer came together to develop a new kind of tank that could be mass produced to check the Imperial force. Theimer proposed the necessity of a line of tanks specialized in offensive power, but Gallian Army leaders dismissed his ideas. Consequently, most of Gallia's tanks remain primarily defensive units.

After the Gallian-Imperial war, the Edelweiss had made an impact on tank development. A modular tank called the Type 36 (presumably developed in 1936-7 EC) was produced, including Medium and Heavy variants which had sloped frontal armor akin to the Edelweiss.

Mass produced tanks

• Gallian Light Tank
• Type 36 (Circa 1936-7)

Notable Gallian tanks

• Edelweiss
• Shamrock
• Narcissus
• Nameless Tank

Gallian Revolutionary Army Tanks

A heavier model GRA Tank

By 1937, the Gallian army had commissioned new medium and heavy tanks in addition to updated versions of its pre-existing light tank units. Some of these tanks were appropriated by the GRA and put to use during the civil war. The tanks fielded by the GRA Armoured Division, under the command of Audrey Gassenarl, feature a much smaller radiator and a more modern design, including reduced armor around the treads and slightly more sloped armor around the turret. The length of the barrel was also increased for the heavier designs.

All GRA tanks belong to the Type 36 series of modular tanks.

Notable GRA tanks

• Geirolul

Imperial Tanks

Imperial Light Tank

Born in the late 19th Century as a means to break the stalemate of trench combat, Europa's first tanks were Imperial in design and manufacture. The Empire's armored corps took to the field shortly after EW1 began as a force of extremely powerful, highly mobile tanks, easily tearing apart the Federation's defenses. In the medieval military philosophy of the Empire, the tank represented the new knight, and stood at the army's core as it marched across the continent.

Unable to stand up to the Empire's tank force directly, neighboring countries were left to develop small ambush tanks, which in turn led to Imperial designers to build bigger and tougher juggernauts. In the tank technology race, the Empire has long remained one step ahead.

During EWII, the Empire fielded six types of mass produced tanks in addition to numerous prototypes:

Mass produced tanks

• Light Imperial Tank
• Medium Imperial Tank
• Heavy Imperial Tank
• Imperial Tank Destroyer
• Imperial Assault Tank
• Ultimate Tank

Unique tanks

• Batomys
• Lupus
• Dromedarius
• Marmota
• Echidna
• Vulcan
• Lophius

Federation Tanks

The Hafen operated by Squad E

Partially due to barrel arsenals and a lack of infrastructure in the Federation prior to EW1, the war saw the Empire secure a broad head start in the field of tank technology. To Federation forces centered around foot soldier tactics, the Imperial armored corps represented a new and terrifying form of warfare. By the end of EW1, the Federation military knew well the necessity for heavy tanks with large cannons, and the development of armored vehicles began in earnest.

Unable to rival the Empire in technology or military prowess, they instead chose to exercise their economic superiority, building a force of tanks with middling capabilities large enough to combat the Imperial force by sheer numbers.

Mass Produced Tanks

• Federation Tank (aka "Minute")

Unique Tanks

• Hafen
• Cactus
• Glory

Trivia

• The single "normal" Gallian light tank seen in-game in Valkyria Chronicles is in Chapter 13: The Clash at Naggiar (Pt.1), and is shown to have 100 HP. This tank only appears on the map on Selvaria's turn, probably to stop it being seen as a real unit. This is obviously a gameplay conceit to make it impossible for Selvaria Bles to not destroy it, but it is rather amusing that a twelve year old girl is at least twice and potentially almost four times tougher than a tank. However, the Selvaria's Mission: Behind Her Blue Flame DLC campaign features Gallian light tanks with more normal health levels as part of the opposing Gallian forces.
• Gallia's ideas for tanks heavily resemble those of early-World War II Germany; mobility over armor. The major flaw in Gallia's war plan is that the German fast tanks were part of a combined arms system which included heavy use of close air support from attack aircraft like the infamous Stuka; it's not entirely clear how far developed fixed-wing aircraft are in the Valkyria Chronicles world.
• None of the tanks have muzzle brakes which is strange as in the real world most tanks with guns 75mm or larger have it, but in game none except for the Ultimate tank have it.
• The call for offensive tanks and the subsequent rejection for defensive units in Gallian doctrine bears a vague similarity the U.S. Army doctrine during the Second World War concerning the role of the tank as not being meant to fight enemy armour and that role being left to towed AT-guns and specialist tank destroyers.
• The Empire is a mix of early and late war German doctrines. They attempt a Blitzkrieg like Germany did to Poland and France during the real WWII; like Germany, at the start of the war much of their armour is on the verge of being obsolete. When the Gallian war shifts into a defensive one, heavier machines appear, similar to how Nazi Germany shifted gears from lightweight, mobile tanks like the Panzer III and IV to heavier, slower tanks like the Tiger and King Tiger, if on a smaller scale and for a different reason. In Germany's case, they had encountered superior foreign tanks, the British Matildas being all but immune to anything short of divisional 88mm guns in France and the Soviet KV-series in particular causing massive problems for their tanks in the USSR.
• The Federation uses what is basically a renamed and distorted Sherman tank and have a "quantity over quality" approach similar to that of the US early in the Second World War.
• Tanks in the game are armed with machine guns, their main cannon and a "mortar." Most real life tanks during World War 2 had mortars, but they only shot smoke rounds, as was in the M4 Sherman turret however, the "mortar" in game is actually a specialised low-velocity high explosive round rather than a separate weapon. Realistically, such a round would induce spalling on a target vehicle and easily smash open vehicles with riveted armor, but presumably for balance reasons, no damage is done by Mortar rounds against enemy vehicles.
• Very few of the tanks in the first game have particularly long barrels for their main guns (with a few exceptions, chiefly the Edelweiss and Lupus). This is fairly typical of early WW2 tanks, which were primary designed to support infantry and did not have to focus on penetration as few tanks at the time had heavy armor and most used relatively weak riveted armor. The tanks in the second game mirror real-life development, mounting long-barrel, high-velocity guns to match developments in armor technology.
• Tank guns, like field artillery pieces, are measured in calibres. For example, the Krimm N-324 24/76.2mm; 76.2mm indicates the bore diameter, also known as the calibre, while 24 indicates its barrel length, measured in the number of times the diameter fits side by side along the entire length. The gun barrel is therefore 1.83 metres long.
• Valkyria Chronicles 2 added directional armor as a game mechanic (ie, a tank's side and rear armor value is different to the front), though it also removed the ability to damage a tank's treads.

Gallery

Audrey Gassenarl's personal tank, the Geirolul

A Type 36 Light Tank, B-Model

A Type 36 Medium Tank, A-Model (and the Geirolul's base tank)