Hammer tank

"Who's looking for a good pounding?"

- Hammer Tank

The Hammer tank is the main battle tank of the USSR in Red Alert 3.

History
The Hammer tank was created in the gray, monolithic Building 19 of the Arkhangelsk Tank Plant. Its development was generally uneventful, except for one, major incident, which nearly caused the entire building to collapse. While researching the magnetic harpoon technology for the Apocalypse tank, it was discovered that a properly calibrated beam can literally tear apart metal. After a few modifications, the TS-1 Tsarsky leech beam was born.

Design
The Hammer is unmistakably Soviet. It has a blocky, angular chassis with exposed threads, complimented by a bulky cockpit. The tank has an integral steel-cavity armour plating, protecting the crew and its most delicate mechanisms, including the TS-1 leech beam.

Each Hammer comes standard with an 85mm autoloading cannon with air cooled ammunition storage, with an excellent rate of fire and reduced chance of ammunition accidents. In order to stabilize the offset cannon, Soviet scientists used technology from Sickles and terror drones that keeps them upright and operational. The cannon's position seems odd, but only until one considers the functionality of the leech beam.

The leech beam, apart from being able to draw metal from enemy vehicles and melding it into its own armour (effectively "healing" itself), can also scavenge weapons from destroyed enemy vehicles, by increasing the amplitude at the moment of the target's destriction. The weapon is then attached to an universal One-Size-Fits-All weapon mount on the left side of the turret.

Deployment history
Being the main armor of Soviet firepower, the Hammer Tanks were usually the front-line units in the Soviet offensive into Western Europe, backed up by their more powerful cousins the Apocalypses. Hammer Tanks were notable for engaging in tank battles with the Allied Guardian Tanks such as in Operation: The Shark and the Lure and The Famous Liberation. More often however Hammer Tanks fall victim to Allied bombers.

In the Soviet campaign, Hammer Tanks were largely responsible for the Soviet capture of Geneva, mostly used by Oleg Vodnik in land battles. In the Empire campaign Hammer Tanks fell victim to Imperial technology in the latter's surprise assault on the Soviet Union.

In-game
The Hammer Tank deals somewhat less damage and is slower than the Guardian, it's Allied equivalent, but makes up for this with better armour, a somewhat higher rate of fire and much greater versatility thanks to the Leech Beam, which can grant it anti-aircraft or anti-infantry capabilities; something the Guardian lacks. Of course, such capabilities come with some cost and the Hammer is a little more expensive than the Guardian.

TS-1 Tsarsky Leech-Beam

 * Main Article: Leech Beam

"Hold Still!"

- Hammer Tank

The TS-1 Tsarsky Leech-Beam is the Hammer Tank's secondary attack. It uses a magnetic beam to steal armor and weapons off enemy tanks, allowing the tank to effectively repair itself and gain a secondary weapon. This gives the Hammer a unique versatility that no other weapon has. In addition, the range of the Leech-Beam is considerable, longer than the 85mm cannon itself. The Leech-Beam can also steal armour from buildings but does not have any effect on infantry.

Note that the Hammer Tank that is leeching an enemy vehicle does not have to destroy the vehicle itself in order to gain it's secondary weapon, it just has to have the Leech Beam locked on the target when it is destroyed. This is useful when leeching tougher enemies such as Assualt Destroyers, Apocalypse Tanks, King Onis, Giga Fortresses, etc, which Hammer Tanks are largely in effective against. For example, a commander can start leeching an Assualt Destroyer and then finish it off quickly with Twinblades or something powerful. Though they admit it is tempting, the Soviet leadership has announced that no commander has ever used the leech gun on their own units.



Trivia

 * This unit has its gun on the right side like the Scorpion Tank of the Brotherhood. The design of the 85mm gun and it's placement also bears much resemblance to the Scorpion. Also, in the blueprints, the gun is placed on the wrong side. The generally curvy and bulky layout of the tank is something it shares with the Bullfrog and is a generally Soviet design feature.


 * The Leech Beam is similar to the Nod's Avatars' Commandeer Technology ability in Tiberium War III, except that the Hammer Tank can rip weapons off the tanks of all sides, not just their own side, which was the case for the Avatar. The Hammer Tank can also do it at a distance, whereas the Avatar had to walk right up to the vehicle in question. This makes it a bit similar to GLA tanks as well, because they also upgrade their weapons from scavenged parts of vehicles.


 * A Hammer Tank is one of the 3 tanks that leads you through the tutorial missions.