Good morning, everyone. We hope you've all been well.
This is a bit of a shorter update this week, covering some updated models and another forgotten render.
Let's get into it:
The Chinese People's Liberation Army has experimented with flamethrower-armed tanks since the mid-20th century, such as by attaching numerous heavy flame projectors to T-34 tanks. By the early 21st century, a more refined successor to these early testbeds had entered service as the original Dragon Tank, which saw extensive use during the GLA War.
Against dug-in insurgents in urban and mountainous environments, the Dragon proved a terrifying and effective weapon. However, the crews reported numerous shortcomings, from a lack of proper air conditioning and cooling that provided much discomfort to safety issues in regard to the protection of fuel tanks and ease of escape in the event of a fire. Another critical problem was the lack of controllability of the flamethrower itself, as crews found themselves unable to effectively adjust the duration, pressure, and dispersion of a flame burst.
Many of these issues were addressed with the successor model developed in the 2030s. Most notably, the new Dragon Tank features an improved fire control system and a much more sophisticated flamethrower, allowing for fine adjustment of fire output. In addition to the standard "stream" and sweeping "wall of fire" attack patterns, the weapon can be set to release highly controlled bursts, producing a kind of "fire ball" that can reach targets at significantly longer distances, disperse on impact to cover a larger area and even induce a localized firestorm when several Dragon Tanks saturate the same area. Predictably, the new tank was used with distinction against GLA-affiliated forces in Africa, and it saw some success on the export market with sales to North Korea, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
Render Description:
MARS2588
The Dragon Tank has been an integral part of the faction since its inclusion in the original game. However, its design was very... we'll be nice and say... "Unique"... Yeah, that'll do.
So we have decided to create a new Dragon Tank model that feels a little more grounded and more accurately reflects the fact that these are rather tanky units built to survive against lots of sustained infantry attacks - and to live up to the 'Dragon' moniker in the name.
There are some special things of note with this new model, the first being that much like the 1.87 Dragon Tank, the turret does change to reflect the fire mode of the Dragon Tank, may it be the 'Fire-Stream' attack or the 'Fireball' attack. Also, we have taken this opportunity to add variants to the model in line with other Chinese units, so keep an eye out on the streams to see if you can identify all of them and what makes them all different.
Ever since the devastating GLA attacks of 2019, Speaker Towers have become a universal feature of Chinese military facilities, factories, and public spaces. They are used for a variety of purposes, such as public announcements and warnings in the event of attacks or natural disasters. Outside these situations, their primary day-to-day use is in broadcasting propaganda, typically in the form of patriotic songs or uplifting messages from the local party committee. In a military context, such motivational propaganda serves to maintain and restore the strength of Chinese forces. Having become permanent fixtures in the environment over the years, the towers are often outfitted with additional equipment.
The Sensor Tower features a distinctive array of antennas capable of intercepting a variety of signals, from radar emissions to military radio traffic to common phone and wi-fi signals. These towers act as the omnipresent ears of the Chinese security services in cities and military bases, where they detect stealthy trespassers and seditious elements in the surrounding area.
(The second already known variant is the Jammer Tower, which acts as a stationary ECM missile deflector. It has not been changed and remains in the game, but it deserves a tangential mention here for the sake of completeness and clarity)
Render Description:
MARS2588
A third variant is particularly widespread throughout central and eastern China, where reconstruction of cities and industrial centers has been ongoing since the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam and subsequent flooding of the Yangtze River. These so-called Repair Towers are equipped with utility cranes to aid in repairing damaged buildings and infrastructure around them.
Render Description:
MARS2588
Finally, we have a new version of the Speaker Tower. The new Repair Tower is part of a new universal change where all factions will have some passive way of healing structures beyond their construction unit. This change is aimed at our PvE audience to help take some of the busy work out of defense lines and to reduce the frustration of having Dozers and Workers run off and die on the front lines. You have already seen another one of these repair structures with the recently revealed GLA Crane Tunnel.
We also realized we never uploaded a render of the Sensor Tower. This mistake has now been rectified. Though, of special note, Tier-2 Detectors like the Sensor Tower, Predator Drones, or Mobile Sensor Arrays are now the only way to detect Disguised units like Observation Vans or Bomb Trucks, so when fighting GLA, we advise teching to get this level of detection ASAP or have your fingers ready on that Control Key to force fire and destroy them before they close ranks and cause carnage.
That's all for this week. We hope you enjoyed it, and we shall see you at the next one!
Flameo-my-hotmans.
