Terror drone (Red Alert 2)

"Comrade, I have just received a demonstration brief of our new anti-armour weapon. They are affectionately referred to as 'Terror drones'. Do you like it, Comrade? I thought you might like to play rough in battle."

- Zofia 'Terror drones are small, robotic units, about half the height of a normal Soviet Conscript, used as a terror weapon by the Union in Red Alert 2.

Background
Designed to be small, fast, and above all, cheap, the Terror Drone is custom made to seek out and destroy Allied vehicles and destroy them before they  enter combat, essentially making an Allied commander's  spending go to waste. In this way, the Red Army can weaken Allied armor forces before their own vehicles ever arrive, giving their stronger and more heavily designed tanks the edge.

For their time, Terror Drones are on the cutting edge of the worlds robotic technology, being even more advanced then their Allied counterpart, the Robot Tank, due to their individual, self sufficient AI systems (Robot tanks require an outside signal to function) and complex motion controls (Robot Tanks merely hovered about, while Terror Drones could quickly coordinate on multiple limbs.)

In terms of design Terror Drones are a large sphere with cutting and ripping tools attached to four legs, capable of latching onto, and eventually destroying, land vehicles. Although they have little in the way of armour, they are insanely quick, easily able to outrun almost any vehicle at full speed. Once a drone latches onto a vehicle, it burrows inside and slowly tear it apart from the inside out, eventually destroying it unless the drone is somehow neutralized. They are are also highly lethal against infantry, which they saw apart in one lunge.

In-game
Terror Drones are a constant thorn in the side of Allied commanders and even Yuri, as they can't be mind-controlled and were very cheap, costing only $500 per unit or, if an Industrial Plant is built, a mere $375. They can be used to attack ore miners, including the defenceless Chrono Miners, the only downside being that they exited it when it chronoshifted back to the ore refinery.

Due to the terror drone's extremely fast speed it is very difficult to catch them before they reached their targets, but their lack of armor made them easy to destroy. Small-arms fire, Tesla bolts, prism beams and Mirage tank guns are sufficiently accurate to quickly destroy terror drones, tank shells and missiles are somewhat less so. Air units are ideal for scouting the map for terror drones and destroying them since they were immune to their attacks.

The only way to safely remove a drone from an infected vehicle is for the unit to be repaired at a service depot or a similar structure (for example, a tech outpost). The drone will also be destroyed if the vehicle it infects is destroyed by an outside attack, so in desparate situations deliberately destroying one's own infected vehicles by force-firing on them will prevent other units from being attacked. Last ,but not least, applying the Iron Curtain on an infected vehicle will make the Terror Drone completely disappear.

Aftermath
After the Soviet time travel, the new Terror drones in the War of the Three Powers now have the ability to travel through water and can therefore attack ships.

Pros

 * Kills infantry like Attack Dog
 * Cannot be destroyed when inside vehicles, unless the vehicle is repaired or destroyed by another unit
 * Extremely fast speed
 * Powerful in numbers
 * Cheap ($500)
 * Can attack grounded aircraft

Cons

 * Cannot attack aerial units
 * Very weak armor
 * If infected unit is repaired or destroyed by another unit, the drone will be destroyed
 * Cannot damage structures
 * Small-arms fire, Tesla bolts, Prism beams and Mirage Tank guns are sufficiently accurate to quickly destroy them