Unit | Old version(s) | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
“ | Together we shall destroy them! | ” |
—A Battle Tortoise |
The Battle Tortoise is a heavy assault armored personnel carrier used by the Pacific Front classified as their monster tank.
Official description[]
Another massive contribution made by the Pacific Front to the Allied cause came in the form of the Battle Tortoise. This moving citadel is capable of carrying several infantry units and allowing them to lead fire from its many operable gun ports along with its heavy machine gun to combat infantry and missile launcher against armored and airborne targets. Due to the heavy layers of armor, the Battle Tortoise is not only capable of soaking up tons of damage, it can also simply crush smaller vehicles with its weight.
Of course, the Tortoise has its drawbacks; the immense weight of the vehicle makes it quite cumbersome. Combined with the cost of outfitting the Tortoise with infantry to provide extra firepower and the unit's susceptibility to mind control, the Battle Tortoise can prove to be very costly if destroyed or captured.[1]
Overview[]
For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.
The Battle Tortoise has received two significant change from the vanilla Battle Fortress; namely, its 5th slot is replaced by a rocket launcher that gives the Battle Tortoise anti-vehicle and anti-air capability and significantly improved armor.
The Battle Tortoise may not have the speed of the Abrams Tank or the instant kill weapon of the Charon Tank, but it has one advantage that its other equivalents don't have: its customization options. This mobile citadel can be mixed and matched with various infantry loadouts in order to suit the combat situation at hand; for instance, 2 Guardian GIs and 2 Siege Cadres for maximum building effectiveness while still having defense against mechanical units. Even the Pacific Front-exclusive Suppressor is allowed to enter the vehicle, giving the Battle Tortoise and the rest of a Pacific Front armada longer survivability than usual while substituting the need for repair vehicles.
However, the immense cost of equipping even just one Battle Tortoise with infantry (especially Chrono Legionnaires and Suppressors) prevents mass production of these behemoths, so a commander must not sacrifice them needlessly as they would do with the Battle Tortoise's counterparts. They also must be loaded with the appropriate infantry units to exploit their full potential, as their standard weapons that come with it are insufficient to fight other threats on its own, namely other monster tanks.
AI behavior[]
Battle Tortoises controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
All difficulties[]
- 1x loaded with 4 Siege Cadres, then proceed to target structures
- This task force may be accompanied by 1 additional Battle Tortoise with the same passengers
Medium/Hard[]
- 1x loaded with 2 Guardian GIs, 1 Navy SEAL and 1 Suppressor, then proceed to guard Patriot Missiles and Prism Towers
- This task force may be accompanied by 1 additional Battle Tortoise with the same passengers
- 1x loaded with 2 Guardian GIs, 1 Navy SEAL and 1 Chrono Legionnaire
- 4x targeting structures
- The AI may use Chronoboost on this task force
- If possible, Shadow Ring may also be applied
- Battle Tortoises already present in the battlefield are recruited to form this task force, so infantry composition will vary
Appearances[]
“ | This complex is where the Battle Tortoises were designed. Try capturing a few. | ” |
—Epsilon intel during Operation: Think Different |
Act One[]
- The Battle Tortoise makes its first appearance on the battlefield in Think Different as part of the enemy Pacific Front forces. Notably, the complex in this mission is for producing Battle Tortoises, the enemy can produce them but the player cannot with capturing Pacific Front base. However, the player can capture some empty Tortoises on the map.
- A Battle Tortoise serves as the destination of the K.I. Scientists in The Gardener. The objective of the mission is to locate all of them and load them into the Tortoise, at which point it will be chronoshifted to the Black Forest.
- Continued from the end of The Gardener, the same Battle Tortoise appears in Panic Cycle. The Chronoshift didn't go as well as expected, and it must be escorted, through Russian and Chinese forces, to the SteinsTech Laboratory to deposit the scientists.
Special Ops[]
- Four Battle Tortoises will be sent as reinforcements for the attacking Chinese forces in Eclipse, but they cannot be built for this mission even if the appropriate buildings required for their construction are captured.
- Battle Tortoise is first buildable in Digital Demon, if the player owns a Tech Center.
- An abandoned, damaged (at yellow health) Battle Tortoise can be found, captured and used by the player's Russian forces in Noise Severe. The Soviet General remarks that it must have been left behind by Pacific Front forces when they evacuated the area.
Assessment[]
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Behind the scenes[]
- Prior to version 3.3, the Battle Tortoise was originally called Battle Fortress and it used the original Battle Fortress voiceset from Yuri's Revenge. This was later changed because a Scottish accent is not suitable for a Pacific Front unit.[2]
Trivia[]
- The Battle Tortoise's rocket launcher firing sound uses the Nod Militant rocket squad's from Tiberium Wars.
- Some of the Battle Tortoise's quotes are borrowed from various Empire of the Rising Sun units from Red Alert 3.