Unit | Old version(s) | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
“ | Athena SatNet, how may I assist you? | ” |
—Athena Cannon |
The Athena Cannon is an artillery unit unique to the United States, which relays a target for the Mercury satellite to strike with a powerful laser attack.
Official description[]
One of the more interesting concepts to be fleshed out in the United States arsenal is the Athena Cannon. A large, but fragile vehicle that uses its communication devices to connect with the Mercury Satellite network and give it information about the enemy location so that the weapon can adjust to the new coordinates and perform a powerful orbital laser strike with one of its units.
In comparison to the Mercury Strike controlled through the primary Uplink structure, the more precise coordinates set thanks to the use of mobile units in the field make the attacks requested by the Athena Cannon more focused and allow the satellite to deal more damage to enemy structures. However, the radius of such attack is smaller than the one the Allied commanders can order with the main control building itself. Nevertheless, while the power of an Athena-controlled Mercury attack is great, it might be tricky to use against moving objects due to the activation lag.
The Athena Cannon's attack has a short pre-delay due to the need to recalibrate the satellite's location and angle. However, if a Mercury Strike has previously been used in the vicinity of Athena Cannons' current position, their attack power will further be increased for a short while. Moreover, due to the advanced communication technologies utilized in the unit and a unique method of activating the weapon, the Athena does not reveal itself to its enemies when firing and remains invisible on their radars.[1]
Overview[]
Being the middle-of-the-road of the three Allied siege vehicles, the Athena Cannon possesses moderate durability, health and attack range for a siege unit. It attacks by pinpointing an enemy using its equipment, marking it for a Mercury satellite strike. Compared to the support power, the strike called by the Athena Cannon is more focused - dealing more damage, but in a smaller area. As expected of a siege vehicle, the strike is particularly effective against buildings, outranging most base defenses, but it can damage or outright kill small numbers of lightly armored, slower targets like infantry or light vehicles from afar as well, especially in groups.
The Athena Cannon has a few quirks and features that can be convenient or helpful in certain situations. One such feature is the damage buff they receive if the Mercury Strike power is used in their vicinity. This buff lasts around 16 seconds, and can be very useful in destroying structures even more effectively. Another feature stems from the nature of the Athena Cannon's attacks - since it doesn't attack the target directly, it doesn't reveal its exact position to the enemy when it paints its target for an orbital strike. This can be exploited against less attentive commanders for surprise strikes from the fog-of-war, or as a form of unexpected retaliation against attackers if the Athena Cannons can strike while shrouded by a Gap Generator. It is also invisible on enemy radar.
Despite all this, there are many drawbacks to the Athena Cannon. As a siege unit, it's not designed to stand its ground against targets that can get close to it. Its weapon suffers from an activation delay between the pinpoint and the strike, further reducing its effectiveness against faster enemies. Since it suffers from a slow rate of fire, it is defenseless against targets which can withstand or outright evade its strikes. Its movement and turn speed are very slow (equal to the much bulkier Hailstorm). While its armor and health are somewhat better than the paper-thin Prism Tank, it's still fragile enough to be of little trouble to units with anti-armor capabilities or swarms of weaker enemies - aircraft in particular is a very effective and clean counter to the Athena Cannon unless escorted by other units for protection.
AI behavior[]
Athena Cannons controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
All difficulties[]
- 2x targeting structures, accompanied by 6 Siege Cadres
- 2x targeting base defenses
- This task force may be accompanied by 2 additional Athena Cannons
Medium/Hard[]
- 2x targeting infantry, accompanied by 2 Robot Tanks
- This task force may be accompanied by 2 additional Athena Cannons
- 2x targeting structures, accompanied by 2 Abrams Tanks and 2 Bulldog Tanks (target painter mode)
- The AI may use Chronoboost on this task force
- If possible, Shadow Ring may also be applied
- 2x guarding friendly base
- This task force may be accompanied by 2 additional Athena Cannons
- 4x targeting structures
- The AI may use Chronoboost on this task force
- If possible, Shadow Ring may also be applied
The AI is not programmed to switch between Athena Cannon modes.
Appearances[]
“ | Commander, we've found data on a prototype mobile Mercury controller codenamed Athena Cannon. With this experimental unit we can improve our control of the Mercury and use it against Scorpion Cell. | ” |
—Allied intel during Operation: Ghost Hunt |
“ | Scanning for reception. Sat link initialized. Space cannons online too, sir! | ” |
—Athena Cannon during Operation: Ghost Hunt |
In the campaign, non-Allied forces that own a Mercury Network Uplink will not get access to the Athena Cannon.
Cooperative[]
- Four Athena Cannons first appear in Money Source. They are unarmed and will be evacuated later.
Act Two[]
- Fully functional Athena Cannons first appear in Ghost Hunt. They're granted to the player once the Research Dome held by Scorpion Cell forces is recaptured. During the mission, the Research Dome serves as the unit's prerequisite - meaning that if the building is destroyed, the Athena Cannon will be unavailable for production.
Origins[]
- Due to the Allied failure of the Antarctic campaign and the subsequent loss of connection to the Mercury system, all Mercury-related tech including the Athena Cannon has been locked in The Remnant.
Cooperative[]
- In Monochromatic, intel will advise players not to let enemy Athena Cannons get near the Psychic Dominator prototype.
Challenges[]
- In Freedom Challenge, all Athena Cannons have their firepower buffed permanently.
Assessment[]
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Trivia[]
- The name and design of the unit are based heavily on the Athena Cannon from Red Alert 3, down to using the same quotes as the aforementioned unit.