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Tank Goodness: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|"''Yea verily, though I charge through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for I am driving a house-sized mass of ''[[Precision F
{{quote|"''Your foe is well-equipped, well-trained, battle-hardened. He believes his gods are on his side. Let him believe what he will. We have the tanks on ours.''"|'''Colonel Joachim Pfeiff, 14th Krieg Panzer Regiment''', ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''}}
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In large modern warfare engagements, infantry may as well be [[Cannon Fodder]]. You want something that can [[Hold the Line]]. Something with a [[BFG]], crawler treads and tons of armor. You want a tank.
[[Real Life]] tanks have large cannons to take on other tanks and fortifications, and (usually) secondary weapons to deal with infantry or aircraft. In fiction, other tanks may use anti-infantry or [[Anti Air|anti-aircraft]] weapons instead of cannons.[[hottip:* : These do exist in [[Real Life]], but they're not called tanks. To make the distinction even more difficult, many of these are based on existing tank chassis, so they look like tanks that have had their turrets swapped out. Cue [[Viewers
Of course, the above paragraph refers to tanks around the size of today's main battle tanks. Sometimes that's not enough. <big>[[Bigger Is Better|They need to be bigger!]] Big enough to crush the ''other tanks''! [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|And carry loads of weapons!]] [[Multi Track Drifting|While racing donuts around them!]] No, we're not compensating for anything!</big>
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If you looked up Mechanized Infantry and expected to see a giant robot with a gun, try looking up [[Real Robot]] instead.
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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** Gundam also uses [[Military Mashup Machine|Land Battleships]] in many continuities.
** Oh, and we can't forget the Magella Attack, a tank with a turret(Magella Top) that can detach and become a flying hovercraft.{{spoiler|that can only fly for less than 5 minutes and often find the Magella Bottom destroyed by enemy fire since it was unprotected and with minimal armament with its 3 barrel 30mm gatlings and crash for running out of fuel}}
*** Or wielded as an [[Armor
*** Zeon also rigged together wrecked Zakus and Magella Botton chassis to form the Zaku Tank. Sometimes just used as a construction machine, sometimes as an actual fighting vehicle.
** Don't forget the good'o Type 61, with its double 150/155mm cannons, got its own [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in MS Igloo 2, King of Ground battles.
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* ''[[Future War 198 X]]'' has an awesome (and fairly accurate) huge tank battles on the North German Plains.
* In later light novels of ''[[Zero no Tsukaima (Light Novel)|Zero no Tsukaima]]'', Saito obtains a King Tiger II tank from second world war.
* In the ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]'' manga, Skuld builds a tank for a [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|rubber band fight.]]
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* The ''Sovremenyy''. the Russian jaggernaut (ice cruiser) rumbling across the south polar plains in Swedish dieselpunk novel ''Iskriget''.
* [[Fyodor Berezin]] is in love with this trope. As an example, the modern Soviet tanks from an alternate reality in his ''Red Stars'' duology (where the USSR dominates the world) are four-tracked monstrocities with huge cannons. This is explained by the fact that USSR struck first in [[World War Two]], destroying ''Germany'''s military-industrial complex instead of the Soviet one, allowing factories to keep building heavier and heavier tanks, like KV-3, and KV-4 (for reference, the [[Real Life]] KV-2 was armed with a howitzer cannon and 5 of these obliterated over 20 German tanks in one battle).
* While this seems to be the case with the [[Lizard Folk|Race]] landcruisers in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[
* ''[[World War Z]]'': HEAVILY Averted at the Battle of Yonkers. Tanks do very little to kill the massive hoard of zombies that start flooding the bridge.
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*** The ''Generals'' equivalent is the Overlord tank, built by the Chinese. Each individual Overlord could have its own secondary system built in; a bunker for soldiers, [[More Dakka|gatling guns]] to deal with infantry and aircraft, or a propaganda tower to boost morale. It can also drive right over top of lesser tanks, destroying them in the process.
** In the ''Tiberium'' universe, the Brotherhood of Nod's Stealth Tank is another staple and mascot, with its trademark [[Invisibility Cloak|cloaking device]] giving it the ability to decloak, spew missiles, and cloak immediately afterward.
*** The Allies of the ''Red Alert'' universe have an analogue in the Mirage Tank, which uses [[Death Ray|Heat Cannons]] in ''RA2'' and [[Frickin' Laser Beams|Prism Cannons]] in ''RA3''--but in both games, it disguises itself as nearby objects (trees in ''RA2'') and can fire even when disguised!
** In the ''Red Alert'' universe, the Soviets have had a Tesla Tank in each of the three major wars (not necessarily in every ''game'', though). Much like their base defenses, they're all about [[Shock and Awe]].
** ''Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge'' has the Mastermind, a giant [[
** The GDI faction Zone Operations Command (ZOCOM) in ''Kane's Wrath'' gets the Mammoth Armed Reclamation Vehicle (MARV), the big mommy of all Mammies--it's a humongous tank with three main sonic cannons, four secondary turrets whose function changes with the unit inside, and a ''fully functional on-board Tiberium refinery''.
* The Landmaster from ''[[Star Fox (Video Game)|Star Fox]]''. In ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'', The Landmaster is available as part of Fox, Wolf, and Falco's Final Smashes.
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** ''[[Valkyria Chronicles II (Video Game)|Valkyria Chronicles II]]'' gives you a fully customizable tank, as all classes get a tank, and you even get to name it. Different kinds of tank and APC chassis, choice from three turret types, various armor, shoulder and back parts and decal and sticker options.
** ''[[Valkyria Chronicles III (Video Game)|Valkyria Chronicles III]]'' uses the same mechanic as ''II'', but further refines it and adds more customization options, as well as making the heavy tank easier to move around.
* ''[[Armored Core (Video Game)|Armored Core]]'' would be the ultimate [[Tank Goodness]] poster child: most games offer the tank legs. Very slow, but usually very heavily armored, has very low energy drain, has built-in boosters, so it actually saves the main body weight, and carry loads like nothing else. With that in mind, most kinds of tanks can fulfill requirements of [[More Dakka]], [[Macross Missile Massacre]], [[Nuke
** Also, ''Armored Core 4'' has regular modern tanks. [[Tanks for Nothing|They might as well be plushies for all the good they do.]]
*** AC 4A allows tank legs to store oversized backup weapons, like, oh, another set of Chain Guns. Or Bazookas. ''Or damn near anything else in the game.'' It's possible to make a mech that has [[More Dakka|6 Chain guns]], two of which are actually 4 rifles attached to each other. Said mech is usually very hard to kill, but can run out of ammo in about 2 minutes of concentrated fire. I've yet to see something stand up to a full 30 seconds though, as most NEXTs only have around 60K HP, tops.
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** Unfortunately, because of high cost, low speed, and for the Megatank low ammunition and fuel, both units [[Awesome but Impractical|aren't worth using]] unless you're already winning or defending a very small area.
** ''[[Battalion Wars]]'' takes it a step further with the Battlestation, a small Land Battleship.
* In ''[[Wing Commander (Video Game)|Wing Commander]] IV'', one of the missions in the Circe mission series puts you in the position of halting an offensive by [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser]]-armed [[Hover Tank|hovertanks]]. For the most part, though, they serve as not much more than cannon fodder for your guns.
* ''[[Prototype (Video Game)|Prototype]]'' has the Thermobaric Tank, armed with two small cannons on its turret and a main gun that fires a missile with a huge explosion. Blackwatch calls for it after their standard APCs and tanks fail to breach some particularly tough hives, and it one-shots all the hives in its way. Unfortunately, you only get it for the one mission, and while there are two more in the game world as part of events, they are despawned the second you destroy a military base or hive, or even if you walk a few feet from it after taking it from the event spot.
* ''[[Mass Effect 1 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' has the M-35 Mako, a futuristic IFV designed for exploring and combating military threats on distant planets. It has firepower and durability only matched by the most powerful on-foot equipment in the game (and you get it much earlier), ridiculous off-road ability, complete protection from [[Negative Space Wedgie|planetary hazards]], and of course makes exploring the game's more open areas much faster. And to clarify "ridiculous off-road ability": it can drive up near-vertical slopes, and if it goes off the edge of a massive cliff, it will suffer ''at worst'' minor damage to the right front wheel. (Yes, the right front wheel. Not the left front wheel. Not any of the other wheels or any of the other parts of the tank. Just ''that wheel''.) It's so durable that, when you visit {{spoiler|the ''Normandy'' SR-1's crash site}} in ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'', you find the Mako ''completely intact''. [[Lampshade Hanging|Stuck in the level geometry]], but still intact.
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* The ''[[Earth 2150|Earth]]'' trilogy with similar, but tighter and more unique [[Faction Calculus]] design mechanics than ''[[Warzone 2100]]''. Tanks are most prevalent in the ''2150'' episode, especially because there's no footsoldiers around to play with. Commonly fielded by the [[The Empire|Eurasian Dynasty]] in flavors of ground-only and [[Military Mashup Machine|amphibious]], although the [[The Federation|United Civilized States]] and the [[The Republic|Lunar Corporation]] aren't paricularly above using tanks. The UCS has a certain token makeshift [[Mighty Glacier|lumbering tracked-vehicle-turned-tank that's good for dishing out as much damage it can take]], while the LC has many designs of [[Hover Tank|the hover kind]].
* Appears in both ''[[Golden Eye 1997 (Video Game)|Golden Eye 1997]]'' and ''[[Golden Eye Wii (Video Game)|Golden Eye Wii]]'', as per the original movie.
* As a [[World War II]] game, ''[[Company of Heroes]]'' quite naturally features a goodly array of armor, tanks and otherwise. For the Germans, the Panther and the Tiger are, respectively, the [[Infinity
** By far the strongest tank is the Tiger Ace, changed in later patches to the King Tiger. Other tanks are paper compared to it, though it's still not invincible, extremely slow, and needs to support. Another super tank was added in the expansion used by the Panzer Elite faction called the Jagpanther. Unlike the other big tanks, this a specialized tank killer, capable of even beating the King Tiger in a head to head fight, but it doesn't have machine guns like the King Tiger.
** A neat (and necessary) feature in the game is the ability of the tanks to drive backwards. After all, you don't want to turn your weakest armor towards the enemy when retreating.
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* ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Bart drove one when he got addicted to ADD meds. Mr Burns used one to lay siege to the Simpson home when he found out that Mona Simpson was back in town.
* ''[[Family Guy]]''. Peter bought Meg a tank instead of a car. Brian and Stewie used it to destroy Superstore USA.
* In ''[[Batman:
{{quote| ''(While driving away)''<br />
'''Veronica''': Wait-what are you doing? That's my father.<br />
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** They had to modify the design; as originally drawn, the wheels would counter-rotate and result in it going nowhere, as well as cannons having to stick through the wheels themselves. It was mentioned on the show that Da Vinci would occasionally do this sort of boobytrapping if someone picked up his notes.
** This design is used in ''[[Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'' as one actually built by Leonardo for Cesare Borgia. It was actually pretty fast, although only firing one cannon at a time. The mission involves destroying all prototypes and the original plans. It can be assumed that Leonardo then made a second set of plans deliberately flawed.
* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34 T-34], the tank that broke the Nazi armies. It was built in 1940, and its appearance completely shocked the Third Reich, who did not think the Russians could design good tanks. The T-34 was cheap, fast, and tough. The [[Mid
** The T-34's advantages were exacerbated during the Winter seasons of the war. The T-34 was built to operate well even in winter - its diesel engine could start easily and keep running in such freezing conditions (diesel fuel had a lower freezing point than petrol which the German tanks ran on) and cold even nullified defects in radiators that earlier tanks suffered from in summer, and its wider tracks were like snowshoes (the German tanks had narrower tracks meaning they bogged down in mud and snow, and outfitting them with "snowshoes" just didn't work).
** Being cheap also goes well with the fact that it was relatively manufacture them by the numbers. Crew compartments were crude, sure, but all that time saved furnishing for comfort could result in more tanks being made and sent straight away to push the front lines nearer to Berlin.
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** The Sherman, despite being outgunned and out-armored by the Panther and Tiger, did have some real advantages. It was the very first tank to have a stabilized main gun, allowing a limited ability to fire on the move. It also was quite agile for a medium tank of its era and relatively compact, allowing it to go places a Panther or especially a [[Mighty Glacier|Tiger]] could never dream of.
* The Slovakian's have a Version of the T-72 that has a pair of 20MM Anti-air guns [http://www.army-technology.com/projects/t72/t726.html attached to the side of the turret.]
* The very first tank battle took place at Villers-Bretonneaux in 1918. It involved a battle between 10 tanks on the British side (1 male Mark IV, 2 female Mark IVs, 7 Whippets){{spoiler|*:In [[World War I]] British parlance, a "female" tank was one armed solely with machine guns, while a "male" tank had cannons as its main armament.}} and 3 German A7V Sturmpanzerwagens. None of them were very good tanks, yet the battle looked awesome, with both sides accquiting themselves quite well: the Germans lost their lead tank, [[I Call Her "Vera"|Nixie]] (whose crew later stole her back), but knocked out 4 Whippets and forced the female Mark IVs to retreat, while the British and their Australian allies ultimately won the battle.
* British Infantry Tank II Matilda. Before late 1941 it completely outclassed anything the Germans and Italians could throw in, and the only weapon which had chances to destroy it was the [[Cool Gun|88 mm anti-aircraft gun]]. It gained the nickname ''Queen of the Desert'' during the Operation Compass in 1940. Obsolete at West by 1942, the surviving Matildas were shipped to Far East - where it proved superior against anything the Japanese had. The Australians dubbed Matilda as ''Queen of the Jungle''. One of the more whimsical modifications was to equip Matilda with Hedgehog ''depth charge'' launcher. [No, it was not used against submarines, but Japanese bunkers.]
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