Mirage tank (Red Alert 3)

"You now have access to mirage tanks. Our mirage tank strike force has been here all along. They are now under your control."

- Eva on the Mirage Tanks

The Mirage tank was an advanced Allied battle tank first seen during the Third World War.

Background
Created by the FutureTech Corporation based on a French tank chassis and weapon design, the Mirage tank combines great firepower with an advanced camouflage system, making it ideal for ambushing Soviet armor divisions. The sophisticated systems on the Mirage Tank demand years of training to master.

The name of the Mirage is a reference to its reactive camoscanner technology, which envelops the vehicle in a camouflage field that causes it to resemble a nearby mundane object, such as a tree or a truck. The camouflage is capable of fooling both naked eyes and most scanners. However, Mirage tanks can only remain concealed when they do not fire and remain motionless, to reduce heat signatures and conserve energy. Using its gap generator device, it can invert its camoprojector field onto nearby Allied forces with the appropriate transmitters. While Mirage tanks cannot disguise themselves or use their weapon while the gap generator is active, they are able to conceal small armies in this fashion.

The Mirage is armed with a spectrum dispersion cannon that focuses and amplifies light waves to form an extremely destructive (though short-ranged) burst of high-energy photons, which can cut through any known substance easily. The spectrum beam's energy disperses from its targets, reflecting onto nearby forces, and making it easier to engage multiple hostiles. The spectrum cannon must be firmly mounted into the chassis of the Mirage tank. Though they are maneuverable enough to be able to quickly turn to face most armored forces.

In-game
The Mirage tank is the most advanced land vehicle available to the Allies. It has significant firepower and is effective against all surface targets. This, combined with its ability to camouflage itself while stationary, or not using its secondary ability, makes it perfect for ambushing enemy forces. It does, however, have very weak armour and the spectrum cannon has a relatively short range. In order to construct Mirage tanks, an Armor Facility with access to Max Clearance is required.

The Mirage tank's secondary ability allows it to project a stealth field in a limited radius around itself, cloaking any allied units within that radius. The Mirage tank itself is fully visible and unable to use its weapon, making it highly vulnerable. It is however unable to cloak each other using its secondary ability.

Both the disguise and the cloaking field can be neutralized by attack dogs, war bears, and burst drones.

Note that critically damaged Mirage tanks loses the ability to cloak themselves when idle.

Changelog

 * Red Alert 3 beta patch 1.3:
 * gap generator radius decreased to 175 from 200
 * gap generator toggle reload time decreased to 2 seconds from 10
 * Red Alert 3 patch 1.11: fixed a bug that allowed the Mirage tank's gap generator ability to still function when under the effect of an aircraft carrier's blackout missile

Upon exiting an Armor Facility

 * You call for the mirage?

Select

 * Mirage Tank!
 * We await your direction!
 * Camouflage, standing by!
 * Bonjour, Commander!
 * What should it be?
 * Mirage tank, operational!
 * Mirage field, standing by!

Select when using gap generator

 * Do they suspect we're here?
 * Is it time?
 * Wait for the right moment!
 * Keep still!
 * Shhh!
 * Blending in!
 * Nothing here but trees!

Moving

 * Place to place!
 * On the prowl!
 * To the next mirage!
 * Proceed!
 * Into the background!
 * Understood!
 * Prepare to blend!

Moving when use gap generator

 * Maintain cloaking field!
 * Careful now!
 * We're out in the open!
 * Take it steady!
 * They may see us now!

Attacking

 * Ambush them!
 * Commence attack!
 * Now, now!
 * Fire at will!
 * Now is the time!
 * AHA!
 * C'était fatal!
 * Attack!

Move to Attack

 * Don't let them see us coming!
 * Approaching the target!
 * Track them down!
 * It's time to play our hand!
 * Now's our chance! 

In combat

 * Firing Spectrum Cannon!
 * End it quickly!
 * Au Revoir!
 * Again, AGAIN!
 * Don't let them leave!

Under attack

 * How bad are we hit?
 * They found us!
 * We're taking damage!

Trivia

 * When there is nothing around to mimic, the Mirage tank will turn invisible, and on rare occasions, the Mirage Tank will copy a unit.
 * When under the effects of Iron Curtain, the Mirage tank retains the Iron Curtain visual effects even when disguised, making them easy to spot.
 * Strangely, one of the select quotes when using the gap generator has the Mirage say "Nothing here but trees!", even though Mirage tanks cannot disguise themselves when the gap generator is active.