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The ACS Behemoth was an Aeropan Navy battleship featured in The Lost Frontier. She was the flagship used by Duke Skyheed himself, and while first introduced as a defenseless research vessel, later served as a boss enemy in the latter parts of the game after equipping or activating her heavy arsenal.

History[]

The ACS Behemoth made her first appearance in the second mission in the game, "Shoot down the pirate raiders", wherein she came under attack by Sky Pirate fighters while the Aeropans were allegedly searching for eco (the Aeropans being self-avowed protectors of the "sacred eco").[2] Jak, Daxter, and Keira noticed the ambush and, after running a quick systems check for their Hellcat, rushed to the Aeropans' aid. Afterwards the Duke offered to take the group to Aeropa so they could repair damages and refuel.

ACS Behemoth's dark eco turret

The Behemoth's dark eco turret.

Later in the game, after Jak, Daxter, and Keira switched alliances from the Aeropans to the Sky Pirates, the Behemoth made her second appearance after following the group to Sector Zero to retrieve the third coordinate sphere. Skyheed was determined to find the eco core first, and thus set the Behemoth's new weapons on the Phantom Blade and Jak.

Although Jak stopped the air campaign, immediately after he boarded the Blade, the Behemoth grappled onto the pirate ship, launching commando boarders to vandalize the upper deck, as well as using hull turrets and Aeropan gunships to further damage the Blade. Jak successfully repelled the attack via the galleon's on-board rapid-fire turrets and lob cannons, using them to take out the Behemoth's turrets and further damaging the battleship's armor plating.

Later, the Aeropans launched a surprise attack on Far Drop, sending in shock troops which Jak managed to defeat. However, soon afterwards, Sky Pirate scouts alerted Phoenix and Keira to the Behemoth's approach to Pirate's Cove. Keira relayed this to Jak, requesting that he take to the air to mobilize their defenses. The Behemoth came equipped with a new powerful weapon, generated by a large dark eco crystal, and also brought in heavy fighters to carry out airstrikes against Far Drop, resulting in many casualties. Jak managed to stop the Behemoth from using her dark eco weapon, however, resulting in the retreat of the Aeropan attack.

Captain Phoenix's Last Ride

The Phantom Blade preparing to intercept the dark eco flow from the Behemoth.

Lastly, the Behemoth appeared in the final mission, "Take down the Behemoth". At this point, Skyheed was using her to draw from the now-exposed eco core, resulting in a massive stream of dark eco funneling toward the Behemoth's hull. This stream charged several large dark eco crystals embedded into the frame of the Behemoth. According to Keira, the more dark eco the crystals consumed, the bigger the reaction the crystals had, which could escalate and destroy the entire planet. While Keira was busy modifying the Hellcat with a new eco laser, Jak worked on destroying the Behemoth's crystals and anti-air defenses. Jak was unsuccessful in defeating the battleship, however, until Phoenix intercepted the flow of eco using the Phantom Blade. The sacrificial act, resulting in the demise of the Captain and the Blade, caused the Behemoth to become vulnerable to the Hellcat's new eco laser weapon. Jak then proceeded to take the Behemoth out, taking Skyheed with her. The dark eco energy then transferred back to the eco core, balancing it once again.

Design[]

ACS Behemoth concept art

Concept art of the Behemoth.

The Behemoth is a large, fortified vessel with a compact profile. She has a mechanical light gray color scheme with purple and yellow accents, primarily covered in metal plating. She has the overall shape of a boat, though the stern of the battleship becomes gradually shorter in height, resulting in a rather bulky front side of the hull. One of her main design features include two considerably large engine bays, jutting out from either side, holding four engines each (one of which is twice the size of the other three). There are also three large engines in the back, though only the thrusters are visible.

The wheelhouse appears to be placed at the very top towards the back, as a criss-cross pattern that appears to be multiple windows are visible in two quarter dome-shaped structures. However, where the captain operates remains unconfirmed. The next few design features include a very large rudder (completing her overall "7" shape), as well as an entrance to the battleship's hangar on either side of the center of the ship, and lastly what appears to be a landing strip on top (though it was never seen in use and its function also remains unconfirmed). The rest of the ship's design specifics depend on a large array of different equipment she wielded in certain missions.

Armament[]

Special equipment[]

ACS Behemoth's shield drones

The shield drones activating their hexagonal shields.

The Behemoth possessed a large array of weapons and equipment, though not all were used in all missions. The first notable weapon types were eight laser drones,[3] which were small "blimp"-shaped drones that affixed themselves to either side of the Behemoth, two towards the back and two on either side of the wheelhouse. They could be seen in all missions except at Far Drop, though they were only activated at Sector Zero and the Aeropan research rig. During activation, they would grow significantly in size, and fly about in prepared formations. In the former location, they would shoot out thick eco lasers to damage their targets, while in the latter location, they were used to form hexagonal shields, which would form a large shield when combined.

ACS Behemoth's laser drones

The laser drones activating their eco lasers.

Furthermore, the Behemoth brandished special weapons packages on three occasions. The first was at Sector Zero, which included a large dark eco laser cannon that would charge floating shipwrecks with dark eco to turn them into "derelict bombs". Partially related is the one-time deployment of a couple Aeropan bombers and the activation of the laser drones. Skyheed referred to this as weapons package "Skyheed Bravo Niner", saying he would have rather saved it for a planned attack at Far Drop but he was forced to use it on the Sky Pirates at Sector Zero.

Generator crystal attack

The dark eco weapon discharging at Far Drop after failing the mission.

Later, during said attack on Far Drop, the Behemoth came equipped with a large dark eco crystal, known as a generator crystal, which helped power a very powerful dark eco weapon that would destroy Far Drop should time run out and the crystal finish generating enough power. This weapon could be seen charging as a large, active cloud of dark eco directly in front of the wheelhouse, and if time expired, would discharge four large arcs of dark eco targeted at the town.

The final weapons package occurred when the Behemoth began pulling power from the eco core. Firstly, it used the dark eco it was streaming directly from the core to form a large shield, though this was continually taken down by the Phantom Blade's anti-shield missiles. Next, there was a second generator crystal present, though this time it would periodically release a huge radial dark eco blast that would trap Jak's ship in a vortex, during which Jak would have to dodge large dark eco blobs lest his ship be destroyed. In the final one, it was successful in destroying Jak's ship, though Keira came to Jak's rescue. Lastly, several large crystals were embedded in the hull and engine bays of the Behemoth, which were the last defense of the Behemoth's before she was taken down by Jak.

Node turrets[]

The next set of weapons are small single-barrel turrets, emplaced usually in trios at certain places along the Behemoth. Identical on each side of the Behemoth and from front to back, the first set is placed toward the front side adjacent to the hangar; the second set closer to the hangar entrance but placed toward the top of the hull; the third set is but a duo, and is placed at the bottom of the engine bay; the fourth set is another trio placed on top of the engine bay; the fifth set is a duo placed on the side of the engine bay; the sixth set is a trio placed toward the back; the seventh set is a trio placed along the rudder; and the eighth and final set is a duo placed next to the thrusters at the back of the ship.

Interestingly the turrets placed along the side of the engine bays, on the rudder, and near the thrusters of the back of the ship never appear in any of the missions, though they do appear in the final cutscene after the final boss at the research rig. Furthermore, the only node turrets that were active and destructible at Far Drop were those on the about-facing engine bay.

During the Sector Zero mission, each of the activated turret trio sets had a dark eco crystal node placed in the center of the set, which acted as a power source for the dark eco beam turret. Jak thus had to destroy both the nodes and the node turrets.

Other turrets[]

The next set of weapons include eight mounted flak cannons, which appear as large single-barrel turrets mounted at certain places along the Behemoth. The first two are mounted at the bottom directly beneath the hangar entrance, the next two are mounted toward the top in front of the engine bays, the next two are mounted at the bottom of the ship near the engine bays, and the last two are mounted at the very back on top, near where the generator crystal is situated. They appeared in all missions except the Brink Island mission, though they were only activated at Sector Zero and the Aeropan research rig.

There were also a few other turrets visible in some missions but they were always unused. Two large barrels appeared in front of the wheelhouse during "Repel the Aeropan boarders"[a] and during the Aeropan research rig mission. These were never seen in use, though interestingly they were in the same place as the dark eco weapon's laser during the Far Drop mission (though the barrels themselves were not present).

There is also a set of four similarly useless barrels placed in the very front of the airship, two of which are larger than the bottom two. Directly behind these along the hull are two additional gun barrel-shaped objects, though they are very small and immobile and are never seen in use thus it remains unknown whether or not these are actual weapons.

Notes[]

Footnotes
  1. The barrels are never actually visible during this mission as it is impossible to see them, though the extracted model does have them present for unknown reasons.
Citations
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