Tesla tank (Red Alert 2)



"Where did you get these Tesla Tanks from anyway?"

- Moskvin

The Tesla tank was one of the most interesting units developed by the Soviets in Great World War II. Essentially, it was a mobile Tesla coil mounted on a mobile command center chassis, used as a support unit for main battle tanks such as the T-80 Heavy Tank.

The tank was reasonably fast (owing to its half-track design) and its weapon was effective against all targets. However, its advantages come at the price of high costs of manufacturing and maintenance as well as low resiliency under direct fire. Additionally, the weapon also had a long cooldown time required to recharge the capacitors, making it vulnerable in a combat situation with several opponents.

The Tesla tank briefly made its appearance again in Great World War III, albeit with a different design. Instead of having the half-track design, the Tesla tank used in GWWIII resembles a tank more, it has the same tracks that were used by tanks and has a turret. Mounted on the turret are two small Tesla Coils that can deliver deadly electrical shocks that can arc over walls at a short range, though the damage and range is a lot smaller compared to the immobile Tesla Coil, it still proves useful because of its ability to deal damage to the enemy without having the need to deal with the wall.

World War III
"Tesla Tanks! They're going to torture us!!"

- Peacekeeper witnessing incoming Tesla Tanks

The Tesla Tank proved costly, but also deadly and its upgraded version is used in World War III in 1985-1987. Its shape is smaller than before, but the effectiveness is undeniably equal to, or greater than, the earlier designs of the Great World War II and Great World War III. Reports confirmed that the uncommon third generation tesla tank took part in a number of Soviet missions. The naval equivalent of the new Tesla tank is the amphibious Stingray Nasad, although its attack power is less than the Tesla Tank. Like Tesla Troopers they can use EMP Disruptors to disable enemies. Somewhat fortunately for the Union's enemies, the new Tesla Tank are very costly and were only approved for use in the battlefield on rare occasions.

Confirmation on the Tesla tank in the conflict can be found here.

History
"Like my new Threads?"

- Tesla Tank

In the Soviet Campaign, it was first seen in combat when Premier Cherdenko turned on his favored commander and tries to annihilate him using his "new toy". Apparently, Cherdenko's War Factories are equipped to produce Tesla Tanks instead of Hammer Tanks, and if a commander manages to commandeer one of these factories, he/she gains access to produce these rare tanks. The Tesla Tank was then deployed in combat duty as a platoon of 4 Tesla Tanks each for the two commanders who perpetrated the attack on Fort Bradley in New York during the Siege of New York.

In the First Imperial Campaign mission, there were several Tesla Tanks in Oleg's battalion during the Siege of Vorkuta to halt the Imperial assault, but met their end at the receiving side of the Final Squadron Secret Protocol. Another use of this tank is in the last mission of the Imperial Campaign, which after a superweapon hit Amsterdam, Dr. Zelinsky deployed a Tesla Tank against Yoshiro's Elite and Honored Warriors but that one ended up being destroyed by Rocket Angels.

In the Allied Campaign, near the end of WWIII, the Tesla Tanks were sent to prevent the Allies from capturing Cherdenko in the Battle of Leningrad, but all of them ended up destroyed.

Tesla Tanks are not available for use in the Multiplayer simulator modes, as the Stingray is an amphibious unit, and leeching a Stingray, friendly or hostile, with a Hammer Tank will give the Hammer a Tesla Coil, thus making the chances of deploying this unit practically nil.