The Limulus is a strange Zoid in every sense. In fact, the name Limulus itself means “odd” and this Zoid is very odd. It has no actual head, and upon first glance it appears to have no legs, but if you look underneath the shell, which covers everything except the tail, which is actually a lance, it actually has 7 pairs of legs. Very odd indeed, and many of the feature of the Limulus are odd as well. The Limulus wasn’t actually discovered until after the war had already started. The Eastern Continental Alliance’s navy was more than a bit desperate for more naval forces, so took to hunting the sea for old sleeper Zoids or parts from wrecks. They really didn’t find too much though. What they did find though helped them more than any sleepers or old parts they possibly could; what they found was an old undersea Ancient Zoidian ruin. The ruin was guarded by wild Limulus’s and most of the sleeper hunting team was destroyed by them, but they did manage to capture several Limulus’s. ECA scientists found that the Limulus design was surprisingly easy to reverse engineer, even the odd regeneration system. So, with the help of the Neo Backdraft Group, the Alliance had its own signature naval Zoid.

The Limulus initially only had the lance on its tail as a weapon, but the ECA engineers equipped the Limulus with one of the few weapons they could afford in larger quantities. The armament isn’t what makes the Limulus a great Zoid, and neither is the speed really. Where the Limulus shines is its armor and maneuverability. The shell armor, which covers everything except for the legs, easily matches that of the Hammerhead. The legs themselves are unarmored and will quickly be put out of commission by enemy attack of virtually any kind. The Limulus has great mobility in the water and on land, but for different reasons. In the water, the Limulus has maneuverability on par with the Warshark thanks to the lance, which it uses as a rudder along with its legs to a far lesser extent. On land, the layout of the legs, with the back legs dragging behind and pushing the Zoid forward while the fore legs can be extended and placed at nearly any angle, allows the Limulus to retain its great maneuverability by manipulating where each of its legs are placed. When the Limulus is on land the shell actually hugs the ground, so the legs are inaccessible for attack without literally flipping the Zoid, which is rather difficult to do considering how low-slung it is.

The legs of the Limulus are odd enough that they warrant some explanation as well. The Limulus has 6 pairs of legs that have small two-pronged toes or claws at the end, which allow the Limulus quite a bit of stability when on its feet. There is an additional pair of legs at the end of all of the other pairs. These legs have a shovel-esque design and are used to push the Zoid forward, they account for nearly all of the speed and force the Zoid has when moving along the ground. They also significantly help it burrow. Without those back legs, the Limulus can’t burrow and speed is reduced to 55 kph.

Weapons:

Quad 20mm Laser Cannons:
There are two 20mm Laser Cannon located on either side of the Limulus’s shell, within small indents. They fire 4 rounds a second and are fixed facing forward. They aren’t the strongest weapons by far, but the Limulus wasn’t exactly designed for ranged combat anyway, so these weapons are generally only used as the Limulus is closing distances or needs a particular portion of armor weakened. While these guns can be fired underground, doing so would be silly and only damage the Limulus. No one is going to stop you if you really want to though.

Hardened Alloy Lance:
The Limulus’s tail is the only other actual weapon in the Limulus’s possession. The lance is 5m long and in undersea battle is deadly. The tip of the lance is sharpened to a point and the lance is able to easily pierce through armor as tough as the Warshark’s almost like there was nothing there. Stronger armor can be gotten through but it takes a bit more effort and potentially multiple stabs. The joint that attaches the lance to the rest of the body isn’t fixed, which means that the lance can be moved about and is actually the reason the Limulus is so maneuverable. The lance can be turned 45 degrees in any direction, which means that a Zoid doesn’t have to be directly behind the Limulus to be stabbed, though that is the best way to stab another Zoid. The lance is also able excrete a lubricant that is housed in the center of the lance and extends along the lances entirety. This lubricant greatly aids the Limulus because it helps prevent the lance from getting stuck in an enemy.

If it does get stuck though, all is not lost because the Limulus has a rather unique aspect to it. The main body of the Limulus actually houses another lance within itself that can be deployed should the other lance get stuck or broken. Deploying the new lance will eject the old lance though and takes 3 seconds to deploy. During this deployment time the Limulus is fairly weak to attack as the lance isn’t secured in place yet and may be susceptible to hard shoves and the like. It could even be pushed back into the Limulus causing some serious damage, but to do so would require the enemy Zoid to basically ram itself into the pointy end of the lance. Should both lances be lost, the Limulus’s maneuverability would easily be the worst of any Zoid ever created as the Limulus would virtually only have fixed forward engines at that point.

Special Abilities:
Limb Regeneration:
You may be saying to yourself, sure, the Limulus has an odd look and an uncommon weapon, but it really isn’t all that odd or different. Well, the Limulus has a very odd feature where it actually has an extra lance and set of limbs stored within body of the Zoid that can be deploy at any time. The system is somewhat like that of the animal, known as a starfish, but unlike a starfish the Limulus only has one back-up for each leg. So, if the same leg is destroyed twice, you’re out of luck.

Clawed Legs:
The first 6 pairs of legs of the Limulus are clawed and when the Zoid walks these actually dig into almost every form of terrain imaginable, which is why the ECA banned the Limulus from paved roads. They also provide the Limulus with enough grip to climb nearly any surface that is under a 90 degree angle. At higher angles, the Limulus’s final pair of legs can’t grip because they lack the same clawed design. Without the back legs, the Limulus loses most of the force it previously had, meaning that burrowing isn’t possible, and ramming another Zoid is inadvisable, but what other Zoids are you going to run into at those angles? The Limulus’s speed is also reduced to 55 kph when the back legs are lost, though if you want to scale neigh sheer cliffs, the Limulus is for you.

Slanted Armor:
The shape of the Limulus’s shell provides it with a completely accidental benefit. The slant of the armor reduces the momentum of physical shells as they impact by deflecting them in a sense. This reduces the damage that physical shells do to the Limulus. The damage reduction is roughly equal to taking the caliber of the weapon and reducing it by 20mm, but 20mm guns, if fired enough at the same spot, will still do some damage. The armor is angled to some degree everywhere except for directly above the center of the Zoid, so the only plausible way for a shell not to be reduced in power is for it to hit that spot. Though that spot is so insignificantly small, it is virtually impossible to hit unless you are standing on the Limulus, the Limulus isn’t moving, and you have a gun that can point straight down. Doing so would be illegal in a sanctioned battle though because that spot leads directly to the cockpit and is actually how the pilot enters the Zoid.

360 Vision:
While the Limulus has no sensors beyond the inherent sonar that is equipped to every aquatic Zoid, the shell of the Limulus is covered in microscopic cameras that feed to the cockpit. So, the pilot can actually see everything around the Limulus, including above it, while sitting comfortably, or uncomfortably, depending on how tall the pilot is, in the cockpit, which is in the center of the Zoid, right by the Zoid Core. The cameras can’t see through smoke, stealth shields, or other devices that hide a Zoid. They are simple, standard cameras that are everywhere.

Swimming:
The Limulus can swim as any good aquatic should be able to, but it isn’t particularly fast. It is quite maneuverable though because it uses a combination of its legs and lance to guide itself into quick turns. Note that the Limulus fully compartmentalized, and, if its hull is breached, can usually seal a nearby bulkhead and stop the breach from sinking the ship. The Limulus has a crush depth of 700 meters, which is why the ruins and the Zoid itself went undiscovered for so long.

Burrowing:
The Limulus can burrow because of the streamline design of the shell and the rear pair of legs. It can’t burrow without those back legs though, so if they and their replacements are destroyed or if the Limulus is climbing at a fairly high angle, it simply can’t burrow. The Limulus isn’t designed to burrow though, so it can really only push itself under sand or loosely packed ocean sediment. Sanctioned battling regulations limit the Limulus to staying burrowed for no longer than 12 seconds total in any one battle, but all’s still fair in war and because it has the oxygen supply it can stay underground indefinately.