On Garlemald

Ok, so, with the re-introduction of F'lhaminn, I've been watching old 1.0 cut-scenes again.
One thing that struck me was the lack of those cylindrical, bipedal airships that seem to be favoured by the empire. Those were all the rage in 1.0, and yet they're very lacking in 2/3.0.
They can fly, have moving cannons, can walk across terrain... there's no downside, really. Why would the empire simply remove them from their arsenal unless they had a better model? (One that is yet to be seen in 2/3.0).
So, I ask both the players and the devs, where even are these things five years later?

You mean the Dreadnoughts? They haven't been seen probably because, with the exception of Azys Lla and a few Castrum cells, The Garlens don't have a strong military presence in Eorzea at the moment.

They were used in The Battle of Silver Tear Skies and the invasion of the Black Shroud (Likly the capturing of the Castrum sights too), but other than that they don't seem to be used as much as "Conventional Weapons" like the other Magitek. The Colossus sees very limited use as well and seems to be a special Heavy Infantry that's only deployed to high risk areas. (Like Castrums and The Agrius)

He's talking about the juggernaughts, and from what i can tell it seems the magitek gunships have become more popular if there is a lore reason for the juggernaughts absence.

those thing did kinda look unwieldy and more for a seige than anything else. plus they are scattered everywhere which makes retrival a problem. perhaps there just isn't a use for them in smaller scale conflicts.

Well, between that and the fact that it was mentioned how Gaius and the XIVth Legion had effectively turned rogue (remember, Nero said way back that "They (the XIVth) are on their own, and can expect no help from the motherland,") thus their supply lines back to Garlemald had possibly been cut, thus meaning they don't have a supply of replacement juggernauts (they do briefly appear early in ARR during Gaius's introduction scene at Castrum Occidens, landing at the Castrum and towing the Ultima Weapon though, so it means they haven't entirely been abandoned).

But in most cases it seems that the Empire has moved away from the juggernaut as their main frontline heavy weapon/fighter craft and replaced it with reapers (magitek armour), probably due to their smaller size makes them better for Eorzean conditions (as well as being easier to maintain)., as Kallera mentioned.

I'm surprised they didn't have one as a boss at Castrum Meridianum.

If we get Castrum Oriens as a late 3.x dungeon, I really hope there's one as a boss.