Flame tank (Tiberium Wars)

"I see the glow!"

- Flame Tank

The third-generation Flame Tank was a Nod anti-infantry and anti-structure vehicle introduced after the Firestorm Crisis, used until the Incursion War.

Design
This generation of the tank is a return to the roots, featuring a four-treaded chassis with a turreted main canopy. The vehicle boasts substantial armour plating, as well as an improved version of the napalm launchers. The tanks are also hardened and plated, limiting the risk of additional discharge.

The Flame tank can incinerate infantry with ease and clear out garrisoned buildings effortlessly. Its weakness include the lack of an effective weapon against enemy armour and aircrafts, but its flames are intense enough to be a significant threat to lightly armoured vehicles, such as the Guardian APC or Pitbull.

Deployment history
The Black Hand deployed the new tank far and wide, often upgraded with their exclusive purifying flame technology and trained their pilots to the veteran level. The Marked of Kane did not utilize the Flame Tank. Avatar pilots noticed how effective the flamethrowers were and often took the liberty of upgrading themselves with the flamethrower, often without kindly asking first.

The Flame Tank's first use was with the Black Hand, as part of Brother Marcion's guards. Following the reabsorption of the Black Hand into the Brotherhood, the Flame Tank has seen service in every battle since 2034. It was used to great effect during the Battle of Washington DC, where these tanks proved invaluable at clearing GDI soldiers out of garrisoned buildings.

After the end of the Third Tiberium War, GDI developed a new type of Zone Armor for its infantry that can withstand the scorching flames. To counter this, the design was modified by the Nod Separatists during the Incursion War, after which this class of flame tank was retired with a new one, the AT-6 Flame Tank.

In-game unit
Flame Tanks are highly effective as anti-infantry and anti-structure units. They also do decent damage to lightly armored vehicles, enough to be efficient at countering them. They are among the fastest vehicles on the field, being able to quickly get within firing range of a target, which helps negate their disadvantage of having less than average attack range. Their flamethrowers allow them to clear garrisoned structures. This, combined with their speed, makes them good at fighting in close range urban combat.

If a group of flame tanks gets into the core of a base, they will likely cause severe damage in a very short period of time. Groups of them attacking in tandem are effective at overwhelming base defenses. They can be deadly at ambushes and hit-and-run attacks if the Cloaking Field power is used on them.

The key disadvantage to flame tanks are their very high vulnerability to anti-vehicle fire from base defense turrets and other vehicles; anti-tank infantry do some damage to them, but not as noticeably or efficiently as units such as standard cannon equipped enemy tanks, with the exception of Zone Troopers, which are vulnerable to their flamethrowers but not as vulnerable as most other infantry.

In Kane's Wrath, Flame Tanks can get the Purifying Flame upgrade which gives a generous boost to damage.

Pros

 * Extremely useful against (garrisoned) infantry.
 * Devastating against structures.
 * Purifying flame upgrade increases its damage even further, burning down structures in seconds.
 * Decent speed.
 * Decent protection against missiles.
 * Relatively cheap and available at tier 2.
 * Flamethrower can be used by Avatar warmechs.
 * Explodes violently when destroyed.
 * Black Hand have access to veteran status flame tanks immediately.
 * Dangerous against all but the most heavily armored vehicles and aircrafts.
 * Can destroy base defenses easily if in range.
 * Gains veterancy quickly, especially when destroying buildings.

Cons

 * Vulnerable to cannons, railguns and lasers, as well as air raids.
 * Short weapon range.
 * Very weak backside.
 * Weak against most vehicles unless upgraded with the Purifying flame upgrade.
 * Purifying flame upgrade is available only to the Black Hand sub-faction.
 * Tier 3 base defense make short work of them.
 * No air defence.

Quotes
Ashes will fall!

Our enemies will be vanquished!

The flames will rise!

Burn! Burn!

Trivia
It resembles the old TWI Flame tank - the only difference is it can burn enemy infantry out of buildings, has heavier armour and a fully rotating turret.