Terror drone (Red Alert 3)

"Let's take these Terror Drones out for little walk!"

- Moskvin

Terror drones were small, amphibious robots capable of dismantling vehicles from the inside, first seen during the Third World War.

Background
The aptly named terror drone inspires great fear in Allied soldiers, especially vehicle crews. Originally designed as a remote control scout unit (a role at which it still excels), but Soviet commanders soon realized its potential as a weapon platform.

After several attempts to arm it with ranged weapons failed due to limited room for ammunition and recoil issues, it was equipped with iridium-alloy claws capable of slicing through several inches of reinforced steel. These "Dismantler Claws" can be used to burrow into vehicles and destroy it from within, and are even more effective against infantry. In addition, the terror drone was also armed with a Zmeika Electro-Stasis ray, a variable-frequency electro-magnetic beam capable of immobilizing enemy vehicles, preventing them from escaping.

In order to program the vast neural networks needed to locate weak points in enemy armor within seconds, a brilliant young member of the design team, Konstantin Belousov volunteered to program the network by interfacing his own brain with it directly. The experiment was a success, and the newly-programmed terror drone destroyed vehicles 94% faster than its predecessors. However, Belousov quickly fell into dementia after the experiment and was finally arrested in a subway after attacking passers-by with a cattle prod. His condition was officially attributed to stress, and the Bureau of Robotics has refused to comment on whether later versions of the Terror Drone are still controlled via human interface.

Overview
Due to their small size, terror drones are extremely nimble, capable of outrunning most vehicles and infantry. In addition to making it easier to dive into enemy vehicles, this also makes them good scouts. However, this also means that they are very fragile, and can be easily destroyed by anti-infantry fire if they fail to close the distance or escape in time. Their small size allows five of them to fit in a Twinblade or a Bullfrog.

Terror drones are waterproof, so they can attack ships and amphibious vehicles in addition to ground vehicles. They can also instantly kill enemy infantry using their Dismantler Claws, similar to War Bears. The only enemies they are completely helpless against are aircraft, so care should be taken to avoid them.

Since terror drones can be removed by repair drones, one strategy to prevent this is to have one drone paralyze an enemy vehicle using its Stasis Ray, and then have another dive into the vehicle. Terror drones are effective at harassing enemy collectors, though they can be stopped by walls. The Terror Drone Surprise Protocol may cause terror drones to emerge out of destroyed Soviet vehicles.

Removal
In addition to repair drones, repair Multigunner IFVs, and repair Multigunner turrets, terror drone can be removed by the following means:
 * Dolphin's forced attack on the infested unit.
 * Stingray's special ability
 * Natasha's forced attack on the ground behind the unit.
 * Wave-Force Artillery's forced attack on the ground behind the unit (Any charge level)
 * Infested Wave-Force Artillery can clear its own infestation by attacking with any charge level.
 * Future Tank X-1's normal attack.

Changelog

 * Red Alert 3 beta patch 1.3:
 * will now damage aircraft in the air; previously they would stop damaging an aircraft once it became airborne
 * damage against nanocores reduced by 40%.
 * Red Alert 3 beta patch 1.5:
 * can no longer be killed by a unit once the terror drone is inside of it
 * fixed armour set
 * Red Alert 3 patch 1.05:
 * fixed a bug where the terror drone would maintain its stasis ray even though it switched to dismantler claws
 * fixed a bug where the terror drone was receiving a garrison cursor when hovering over civilian buildings in the shroud
 * will now properly grey out the unpack command of an enemy unit affected by the stasis ray
 * fixed a bug where the terror drone would sometimes have difficulty garrisoning inside a Twinblade
 * Twinblades will no longer be damaged when picking up a vehicle infected with a terror drone
 * Red Alert 3 patch 1.11: vision range in stasis ray mode increased