The Mobile Trench Brigade is a military force established and commanded by Frank Woodruff. The Brigade was formed in 1926 to combat the growing Monovision menace. Mobile Trench Pilots from around the world have been recruited by the Brigade. The battleship U.S.S. McKinleyserves as the Brigade's mobile command center and base of operations.
Leader
Frank Woodruff is the inventor of the Mobile Trench and the commander of the Mobile Trench Brigade in Trenched. Frank Woodruff served as an American soldier in the Great War until he was run over by an enemy tank and lost his legs. Wanting to continue serving his country, Woodruff was reassigned to a radio listening post in the Pacific, where he met Vladimir Fansworth. During their service at the listening post, Woodruff and Farnsworth were exposed to the Broadcast and were the only known survivors of the phenomenon. Woodruff gained a remarkable technological insight from listening to the Broadcast and applied his new ability to design and construct mechanical walking platforms to allow incapacitated war veterans like himself to walk again. After Farnsworth invented the Monovision and began his campaign for global conquest, Woodruff took action. In 1926 Woodruff created the Mobile Trench Brigade, a military force comprised of Mobile Trenches, weaponized iterations of his walking platforms. Now older and confined to an iron lung aboard the U.S.S. McKinley, Woodruff leads the Brigade as it travels the world to defeat the threat of the Monovision and the Broadcast.
Units
The Mobile Trench is a mechanical walking platform invented by Frank Woodruff after his exposure to the Broadcast. Initially devised as a means of allowing war veterans who lost their legs to walk again, Trenches were weaponized to combat the Monovision menace. The Mobile Trench Brigade, an elite military force composed of Trench pilots and commanded by Woodruff, is based on the U.S.S. McKinley. Mobile Trenches possess several distinct components, each providing the Trench with the means to attack enemies and defend itself and strategic installations. Along with these basic components, all Trenches are equipped with a full bar, cigar humidor, latrine, and many other necessities.
The U.S.S. McKinley is a battleship which serves as the mobile command center and base of operations for the Mobile Trench Brigade. The McKinley contains repair and modification stations for up to four Mobile Trenches, a Mission Briefing center where Commander Frank Woodruff briefs Trench Pilots on missions, and a Radio Room for contacting other players. During missions, the McKinley utilizes Scrap collected by players to make and launch Emplacements onto the battlefield as needed. Additionally, the McKinley was built with four legs, allowing it to leave the sea and travel on land. The ship is vulnerable to Monovisionattacks while on land, however, and in some missions must be defended
Emplacements are turrets that can be deployed by the player's Mobile Trench onto the battlefield to aid in the mission. Emplacements operate independently of the player and attack or perform their functions automatically. While Monovision creatures generally ignore Emplacements, certain creatures like the Burst Transmitter and Knob will actively seek them out and destroy them if they are left unprotected. There are three types of Emplacements, each type serving a different purpose on the battlefield.
The light turrets are the bread and butter of Emplacements. Almost all trenches can carry at least one light turret. The light turrets consist of variations of the Shotgun turret (for ground-based enemies), Flak turret (for Aerials and the Volt Dropper) and the Machine Gun turret (which hits both ground-based and aerial enemies).
Support Turrets
Favored by Engineers, Support turrets come in three flavors meant to help out Trenches. Dampening turrets slow down Monovisions, giving other Emplacements higher DPM. Collection Prongs gather Scrap in hard-to-reach areas, in much the same way as the Trenches' Scrap Magnet. Finally, Repair Cranes refill Trench health.
Heavy turrets are the most powerful Emplacements, but also generally the most expensive. Mine turrets continuously drop mines around them, which damage Monovisions when they walk over them. Mine turrets are invisible to Burst Transmitters, so they are best placed where they can do damage to the turret-killing Monovisions. Mortar turrets fire explosive shells at a long range, thus are quite good for guarding against Breakers. Sniper turrets fire at extremely long range, perfect for taking out Snipe Tuners and Arty.