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2017 Mothership

The Mothership from 2017.

The Mothership is a powerful warship deployed by the Ravagers in most of the EDF games, sometimes acting as the final boss.

As seen in 2017, the Motherships appear to be biomechanical lifeforms themselves, as the one hunted during this war was stated to be breathing and its shutdown analogised to falling asleep.

Monster Attack[]

MA Mothership

The Monster Attack Mothership with a pair of Carriers.

The Mothership of Monster Attack appears in the introduction to the first mission. It is a massive grey flying saucer with a yellowish underside, purple domes on the edges of the upper surface, and a series of spikes on its underside surrounded by a purple band, which are the vanes of its main weapon. The Mothership is destroyed in the last mission of the game, mission 25: Judgment.

Global Defence Force[]

GDF Mothership

The Mothership in Global Defence Force prepares to attack London, causing millions of pounds' worth of improvements.

The Global Defence Force Mothership is similar in appearance to the Monster Attack version, but is all-over grey. It first appears in the seventh mission, Invaders! and is destroyed in mission 34: Judgment Day. However, the war is far from over, as shortly after the defeat of the Mothership the vastly larger and more powerful Floating City Adan materialises and commences its own assault on the Earth.

Earth Defense Force 2017[]

The Mothership, now an enormous silver sphere, appears in the very first mission of the game, though it stays out of reach to the player for the vast majority of the game.

It is eventually destroyed during the game's final mission.

Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon[]

Insect Armageddon's Mothership turns up during the last mission and is more or less just a set of guns Strike Force Lightning cannot do anything about as they try to escape from it. The IE Mothership is not spherical or saucer-shaped like the others, instead looking to be roughly triangular, and has a black exterior with a "biomechanical" look and glowing red highlights. It has spread guns and giant lasers, and routinely deploys both types of Hector from its underside.

Since Insect Armageddon's campaign appears to have been cut short for either budget or time reasons, there is no actual battle with the Mothership and it is never made clear what happens to it. If closure to the story is required, it could be assumed that it was destroyed when the "package" detonated.

EDF 2025 / 4.1[]

Mother

The Mothership hovers over wherever 2025 takes place.

In Earth Defense Force 2025 and Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, Motherships are first mentioned in mission 8: Retaliation. As the EDF focuses on exterminating Spiders that have emerged from the new giant insect nest, a fleet of ten Motherships is detected lifting off from the surface of the moon. In the next mission, Beach Fear, the EDF engages the approaching Ravagers with their increased space defenses, opening fire with the "Equator Linear Cannon" and Tempest ballistic missiles fired from warships and submarines. With the sensors of the Ravager fleet blinded by the heat flare of their atmospheric reentry, two Motherships are destroyed and two more crippled before they realise they are under attack and erect Shield Screens to ward off the remaining strikes.

The first Mothership makes planetfall over Japan in mission 10, The Return, escorted by six Transport Ships. The EDF focuses on eliminating remaining Ants first, until the Mothership unveils its Genocide Gun and opens fire. After this show of force it retreats, leaving Storm Team to fight a force of Flying Drones and more Ants deployed from its escorts.

The Motherships have soon deployed a substantial force of their own ground units as part of a new campaign to destroy the human race, including Drones and Hectors, and soon after their mighty Quadruped Fortresses. In mission 18: Artillery it is established they are also dropping a new type of support unit, the Shield Bearer, to support their ground units.

20161012085541 1

The EDF was ready for the Mothership's powerful Mixmaster attachments this time.

A first attempt to destroy the Mothership over Japan using ground forces in mission 32 (33 in 4.1) Thunder proves hopeless as the Mothership endlessly fires the Genocide Gun and its cannon panels at the city below, giving no chance to engage it. The EDF get their chance to destroy the Mothership menacing Japan (probably) in mission 36 (37 in 4.1) Starship. Here Storm Team must first destroy the Genocide Gun, then attack the Mothership's core while dealing with fire from first its cannon panels (a total of 62 panels, 40 firing lasers and 22 firing explosive plasma bolts) and Drones, and then a series of massive energy weapons it deploys from its underside as the situation becomes desperate. The Mothership finally falls and in the next mission it is revealed that three Motherships, in Japan, North America and Europe, were destroyed by the coordinated worldwide assault. However, the invasion is far from over.

In missions leading up to 41 (43 in 4.1) Annihilation there is talk of some new Ravager weapon appearing across the world and destroying EDF bases, and it soon becomes clear that the Mothership fleet was only a prelude to the true might of the Ravagers as they deploy their trump card, the Earth Eaters. Motherships are not mentioned again until the final mission.

A last Mothership is mentioned in the final mission, Star Eaters, if the mission goes on for long enough. It is said to be approaching the area where the EDF is having their final showdown with the Ravager Brain, and HQ states that there's no way for Storm Team to fight the Brain and a Mothership at the same time. Luckily, some forces remaining in the destroyed EDF field headquarters succeed in activating the satellite cannon Nothung, destroying the approaching Mothership with an overload shot that also permanently disables the satellite.

Another Mothership which was said to be in orbit before (and therefore is presumably one of the two not destroyed or damaged during the normal campaign, or a damaged one that repaired itself) is encountered in the mission Ship of Dragons at the end of DLC 2 in 2025 and the end of DLC 1 in 4.1. This Mothership carries Dragons in its hangar bays, but otherwise is fought in the same way as the one encountered in Starship.

The Air Raider's ultimate artillery strike, the level 95 "Rule of God," is a top-secret project to hack into a Mothership's systems, forcing it to fire the Genocide Gun at a designated target.

Earth Defense Force 5[]

Screenshot (42)

Ravager wedding cakes are serious business.

Screenshot (48)

Disguising their invasions as giant six-packs of beer is among the most dastardly of Ravager tricks.

The Mothership of EDF 5 ( not to be confused with the Outpost Base ) is a green-gold vessel resembling a smaller version of the Floating City Adan from Global Defence Force. These vessels, of which there are said to be at least ten, are referred to as the "Immigrant Ships" in Japanese PR materials (expect this name to change in translation) and have been shown deploying Landing Ships over a city the EDF is defending. The mothership carries it's own Genocide Gun equivalent, however it is not called that; The most common name is "the cannon". It can deploy drones and other small enemies from the 4 auxilliary hatches on the flanks, and is stated to deploy Teleportation Anchors, likely from the center hatch, but this is not seen. When fired, the cannon will shoot 1-5 balls of green energy, which create massive explosions which will deal significant damage to vehicles and likely kill low-level players. The gun has 4 extended points; 3 charging 'towers', and the gun itself. When destroyed, the number of energy balls decreases, making the gun less effective. The true extent of Primer Technology is also shown once again, considering that the gun is physically unable to fit in the ship. How they actually store the gun is a mystery, since the interior of the ship is not shown during the weapon's deployment.

There are (technically) two motherships in the game, though an actual mothership is only shown in DLC 2's Last Stand 3, which has you facing off against an actual mothership; No. 11 has you facing off against the Primer's Command Ship, which is apparently different thanks to the main capsule being egg-shaped; It also holds the Nameless.

There is no Genocide Gun that can be harnessed by the player, however.

EDF5 Genocide Gun

The tech of the Primers continues to surprise me everyday; That thing is taller than the ship is wide.

Trivia[]

  • In EDF 2025, while the Mothership itself is indestructible before Starship, the Genocide Gun is not and can be destroyed any time it is deployed, having its normal health for the current difficulty. If it is, the Mothership will instead deploy its core any time the Genocide Gun is supposed to come out, but like Transport Ships in early missions, the core will show damage effects but not take damage. In 4.1 the Genocide Gun is indestructible before Starship, though the cannon panels can still be destroyed in Thunder when they are deployed.
  • The Mothership's main weapon seems to always have been called the Genocide Gun in Japanese versions of the games, but the term was first used in an English translation in Global Defence Force, which called the Floating City Adan's main weapon the "Genocide Cannon" in the briefing for mission 68. The first time it was called such in a game released in North America was in EDF 2025: in 2017 it was just "the cannon."
Enemies in the EDF Series
Monster Attack AntsCrimson AntsQueen AntSaurousDarogaUFOCarriersMothership
Global Defence Force Giant AntCrimson AntsQueen AntFlying AntBauKing SpiderEggAnthillsDragon CentipedeSaurousUFOElite SaucerShield BearerImperial GuardBomberSuper BomberDarogaDeroyGilioMothershipFloating City Adan
Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space Giant AntCrimson AntsQueen AntFlying AntBauKing SpiderEggAnthillsDragon CentipedeSolasUFOElite SaucerShield BearerImperial GuardBomberSuper BomberDarogaDeroyGilioMothershipFloating City Adan
Earth Defense Force 2017 Terror AntsCrimson Terror AntsQueen AntAssault SpidersKing SpiderHolesVallakGunshipHectorCarriersQuadruped FortressMothership
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon AntsAnthillsSpidersTickersWaspsBomber SpiderGunshipHectorCarriersDaddy Long LegsRobotic Praying MantisMothership
Earth Defense Force 2025 AntsCrimson AntsQueen AntSpidersKing SpiderRetiariusHornetDeath QueenTunnel ExitDragonsGreater Wild DragonMutantsFlying DroneRed DroneFlight VehicleShield BearerTransport ShipLarge Transport ShipHectorDeroyArgoQuadruped FortressMothershipEarth EaterBrain
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair AntsCrimson AntsQueen AntSpidersKing SpiderRetiariusHornetDeath QueenTunnel ExitDragonsGreater Wild DragonMutantsErginusFlying DroneRed DroneFlight VehicleRed Flight VehicleShield BearerTransport ShipLarge Transport ShipHectorDeroyArgoQuadruped FortressMothershipEarth EaterBrain
Earth Defense Force 5 AntsCrimson AntsQueen AntEggSpidersKing SpiderAraneaRollerHornetQueenHiveTadpoleColonistCosmonautErginusArchelusBattle DroneType 2 DroneBomber DroneLanding ShipTeleportation ShipTeleport AnchorShield BearerDeroyOutpost BaseMothershipNameless
Earth Defense Force:
Iron Rain
Storm AntsStorm Ant ScoutZombie AntsImperial AntsCrazy AntsWinged AntsQueen AntEmpress AntBomb BeetleGreen Bomb BeetleWolf SpidersBaby SpidersDeathstalkerSiderosBeizalRaznidScourgerScourger BeastAttack PodHarvesterGargantHivecraftRaidshipPillar
Earth Defense Force:
World Brothers
AntsSpidersCarriersHornetDarogaGunshipHectorErginusSiderosBeizalSaurousRobotic Praying MantisShield BearerVallakDragon CentipedeQuadruped FortressDark Tyrant
Earth Defense Force 6 AntsCrimson Ants Green, Golden AntsAggressive Alien Species α PlusMother Monster PlusAggressive Alien Species Beta PlusQueen AntSpidersKing PlusAraneaRollersTeleportation ShipsKrull CapsulesTeleportation AnchorsTail AnchorsDeath BlossomsBeesRed BeesDeath Queen Red Death QueenColonistsCosmonautsErginusArchelusSirenScyllasKrullElder KrullKrakensDark DemonsRingTime ShipsMothershipGiant AndroidsHigh Mobility AndroidsRed AndroidsAndroid ArtilleristsAndroid GrenadiersSuicide AndroidsBattle DronesType 2 DronesType 3 Drone
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