
The Railway Gun is an extremely large weapon, capable of launching cataclysmically powerful artillery attacks. As the name implies, it is a large turret mounted on a huge "chassis" pulled along by two trains. It engages a large rotation system, that takes a reasonable length of time to maneuver, but attributes reliable accuracy. It houses a crane on the rear of the operating platform that can be used for retrieving ammunition, a charging station, and 2 turning devices to the left and the right of the turret seat. On the turret itself, there's an inscription in an unknown language, with letters similar to Chinese characters.
On terms of ammunition, it can fire three types: Cobalt, Devil Roar and Wrath.
The weakest but most common ammo types are the 'Colbalt's, rising to the more rare 'Devil Roar', and finally the armor-piercing 'Wrath' that can only be loaded by centering the gun, and using the crane at the back when there is an empty space, at the load station (Not the T-ENG charge station). Energized Wraths can rip a fairly large hole, in the sides of the Red Eye (encountered in Episode 3), even exposing the spine.
Smaller cannon turrets are located on the flanks of the chassis, below the turret and turret ring.
It seems to be inspired by the German railway guns from World War II, Schwerer Gustav and Dora, each 800mm in caliber and capable of launching 7 ton shells across great distances. They were the largest artillery pieces ever created and when used, unleashed monstrous amounts of power on whatever object lay in their path. If this railway gun, utilizes the same ammunition... it could be argued that humans have somehow increased in size. When comparing a cartridge, to the player. The two are roughly the same size. However, when comparing a fully grown, real life man to a real 800mm cartridge, it absolutely dwarfs the man. This would suggest that humans in the Lost Planet universe, have somehow tripled in size. But is not a definite confirmation, as the LP2 railway gun could've been chambered in a different caliber.
Sections[]
The Railway Gun has different sections that help the four-player team, to control such a massive weapon:

The Railway Gun firing
Gun Control[]
Basic control for aiming and shooting, it can turn the gun to fine-tune the aim, but it's not very practical to reach the Red Eye's weak points. Every time the player using it hit the reload button, the shell in the charging section is inserted into the weapon.
Charging Station[]
Next to the weapon, there is a section where a player can use T-ENG, to increase the fire power of the shell. It's done by rapid-tapping the action button, when a cartridge is in this section.
It should be kept in mind, that the player should not charge two cartridges at a time. When loading the second cartridge, it will lose it's charge.
Manual Loader[]
This loading section is for the player that carry shells in their hands. The gun can store four shells at a time, one in the loader, as well as one in reserve beside the loader. As well as one, in the T-ENG charging station, and one inside the gun. It's activated by pressing the action button.
Crane Loader[]
Usable only when the cannon is pointing straight forward; This is the only way to load a Wrath shell. It's activated by rapid-tapping the action button.
Turret Turning Device[]
When activated, the gun will turn in one of the two directions. With no gunner at the fire control, the right one will turn the cannon 90° clockwise, while the left one will turn it 90° counter-clockwise. With a gunner in place, they can be used by team-mates to help the gun turn faster. This can prove invaluable sometimes: if the Red Eye emerges from the desert's sands in the opposite direction the gun is pointing to... the gun can otherwise take too much time to turn 180° - especially when a low-health Red Eye tries to eat up the train from behind in its final, desperate attack and you're trying to load up a Wrath shell with the crane at the same time!
They're activated by rapid-tapping the action button. With no gunner ("90° turn" mode), you need to rapid-tap only until the device activates (a yellow-glowing cylinder will stick out). With a gunner ("turn ratio increase" mode) you need to keep tapping the button, until the gun comes near the firing position, at which point the gunner can be left to aim the gun more precisely on their own.
Coolant Panel[]
Two are located inside of the railway gun's base, which is used to cool down and repair the railway gun, when it receives damage. The gun can overheat due to repeated firing or an attack from the Red Eye. Activating the coolant panel when the railway gun's health is at %25 or below, completes one of the GJ awards in the chapter.
Lost Planet 2[]
Episode 2: Harbingers of NEVEC, Chapter 2 & 3[]
The Railway Gun first appeared in Episode 2 in Central City, where Carpetbaggers have built the super weapon, and New-NEVEC are given the mission to seize the weapon. However, when VF Command Center tries to hack the controls, the Cat-G Akrid designated Akrid X appears and destroys the Carpetbagger's GAN-36's, and moves on to the Railway Gun. In an attempt to destroy it, a wounded Carpetbagger uses its first shot - a Wrath - to nearly kill the Akrid. Then the Carpetbaggers are forced to leave the town with the large weapon, with Task Force First Descent trying to stop them. But, they manage to keep Task Force First Descent away from the weapon, and successfully escape. Leaving them to stop the revived Akrid by themselves.
Episode 3: Libera Me, Chapter 3[]
Later, the Carpetbaggers encounters the Waysiders on the train, with the Waysiders managing to fend off against Carpetbaggers until they are forced to abandon their train as a Carpetbagger fires a rocket at the engine, forcing them to jump from their train to the carriages attached to the Railway gun. The Waysiders proceed to commandeer the Railway Gun and wipe out the Carpetbaggers. After said events, they encounter the Red Eye once again, the Akrid who they fled from in Chapter 1 of Episode 3. Red Eye proceeds to wipe out most of the carriages, and the Waysiders proceed to use the Railway Gun to kill it. After the Waysiders discover their homes are destroyed by Over-G, they make their way to the Over-G.
Episode 6: Meltdown, Chapter 3 & 4[]
For chapter 3, a cinematic comes on showing the Waysiders closing in on the over-g on the railway gun, when they are attacked by undeep. You have to press the buttons that appear on the screen. They then realize a large group of undeep are blocking the path. So they fire a shell at the group. This launches the railway gun in the air and the crew sees a wall made of crystallized silver (caused by the over-g) and the EX-NEVEC. They shoot a Cobalt at the wall (in midair), only to see it did not work. The railway gun collides with the wall at high speeds, destroying it, and clearing a path to the city for the Ex-NEVEC troops.
For Chapter 4, the railway gun shoots a round at a black blockade of bubbles and destroys it. After that, the railway gun then randomly fire shells into the air (the gun doesn't fire at anything) with 2 Waysiders (one has a VS EM laser and the other has a VS Plasma Rifle) around the wreckage firing at Akrid that get near it.
Gallery[]
Vital Suits |
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Playable (LP 1)GTT-01 - GTF-11 - GTB-22 - GTF-13M - GTF-13F - GTN-A01 - PTX-140 - PTX-40A - L-P-9999 - GAB-25M - GAN-34 - GAN-37 Playable (LP 2)Battle Armor - GAH-42BS - GAN-3AM - GAH-41BSL - GAN-36 - GAF-14 - GAF-15D - GAN-34W - PTX-140R - GTN-A01N - Dongo Gear - Battle Neegal - Tencale 8 - Railway Gun - Turret Gun - Overland Battleship Non-PlayableGAN-A04SD - GTN-A03M/C - GAB-25DM - PTX-40A-2 - DBS-000XM - Vital Fortress |