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I'll treat them well, really!
—A Drakuv driver promising to treat the brainwashed soldiers well

The Drakuv Prison Vehicle is a unique Soviet vehicle that is summoned through a support power available from the Field Bureau once a Radar Dish is built.

The Drakuv is capable of abducting enemy infantry with its stun rifles to turn them into obedient servants of the Soviet Union (or to be taken in to a Field Bureau so their equipment can be analyzed for "reverse-engineering"), healing nearby friendly infantry and crushing anything else in its way under its frontal grinders.

Official description[]

The Drakuv Prison Vehicle is a unique vehicle, as it is deployed from the Field Bureau and not the War Factory as all the other tanks are. It is a heavy multi-functional carrier designed not only for support, but for specialised tactics as well. A large grinder adorns the front side of this beast of a vehicle, holding any object it comes across in its place, tearing into it until there is nothing left. Enemy tanks will remain unable to move unless the Drakuv stops its attack or is destroyed.

Atop the troop crawler are turrets that fire powerful tranquilizer projectiles. With them, the crawler can capture weakened enemy infantry and brainwash them into service of the Soviet Union, or possibly dropping them at the Field Bureau if needed. Health packs supplied with the Drakuv allows injured infantry to be made combat-ready again, as well as sustain them actively when nearby the unit.[1]

Overview[]

During the development of Mental Omega 3.3 this vehicle has been through many sweet and sour to finally become the ultimate Soviet infantry support unit. It is tough as nails and can be a reliable wall for infantry to cover when they try to break through enemy forces and rest after combat thanks to their healing ability. What makes them extremely good in this version is that they can heal all types of Infantry unlike in 3.0 and their healing effect will stack if any other Drakuvs are stationary nearby.

In the late game, the Drakuv is an excellent defensive unit when using in conjunction with defensive structures or friendly infantry to neutralize any infantry rush tactic and even locking down tanks and other armored units for the Soviet commander's forces to take care of them.

The Drakuv is an excellent vehicle to use in conjunction with mid-game heavy infantry since their grinder attack will ensure tanks will only fire upon the Drakuv while sparing the fragile infantry so that they can do as much damage as possible. They couple extremely well with Pyros and Tesla Troopers, since that combination is strong against everything on the ground and will need constant healing since their close range attacks will definitely cause them to receive some damage.

The Drakuv's usefulness become less so in the late game where enemy anti-armor divisions will chew through Drakuvs with little to no effort, unless the Soviet commander can obtain the blueprints of the Apocalypse Tank, since the healing effect of both of them do stack and a formation of Drakuvs, Apocalypse Tanks and heavy infantry will surely bring destruction upon enemy bases.

Outside of combat, they can be utilized to abduct weakened enemy infantry, and they will become controllable to the Drakuv's commander once they evacuate the Drakuv. At this point the commander can choose to send the converted infantry to war, or to a Field Bureau so that the commander will be able to train that specific infantry.

AI behavior[]

The AI will deploy a Drakuv if there is a task force of 2 Attack Dogs that are guarding the Field Bureau, and if the Drakuv support power is 70% charged, or 2 minutes before it is ready. Only Normal and Hard AI will create Drakuvs. Any created Drakuvs and its Attack Dog "recruiters" will target any nearby enemy infantry.

The AI does not unload abducted infantry. If there are any infantry survivors when the Drakuv is destroyed, the AI does not send them to a Field Bureau.

Appearances[]

When a Field Bureau and a Radar Dish are both present, you can deploy Drakuv Prison Vehicles. Use them to capture enemy infantry and reverse-engineer them at the Field Bureau for new tech.
—Soviet intel during Operation: Firewalking

Act Two[]

  • Two Drakuv Prison Vehicles debut in The Mermaid as enemy unit.
  • The Drakuv Prison Vehicle is introduced as a controllable unit in Firewalking.
  • In Meltdown, where the player is instructed to use Drakuvs to abduct enemy infantry and bring them to the Field Bureau to bolster a limited arsenal, the Drakuv can be deployed without the need for a Soviet lab since the player doesn't have access to any.

Special Ops[]

  • In Noise Severe, three Drakuvs are used by the Russians to transfer and return their Chinese prisoners back home. They must be protected from brainwashed Russians until they can arrive at the Chinese base - if all of them are destroyed, the mission is failed.
  • One of the first objectives of Blood Rage is to take control of a Drakuv (which is revealed to the player when the mission begins), using an Epsilon Elite. Once it and the simultaneous objective (to infiltrate and then defend the Chinese Field Bureau to prepare a sedative for the berserk Libra) are completed, the Drakuv must be used to capture Libra after she has been pacified by the sedative fired by a Virus, then brought to a designated tunnel to be evacuated.

Assessment[]

Pros Cons
  • Extremely durable.
  • Locks down enemy vehicles, structures and walls while destroying them.
  • Periodically heals nearby friendly infantry (Healing effect stacks with other Drakuvs).
  • Abducts enemy infantry and converts them to the commander's side.
  • Can self-repair.
  • Cannot be crushed and depiloted.
  • Immune to abduction since Chrono Prison doesn't have enough slot to abduct it.
  • Grinder can destroy walls.
  • Can safely dismantle and destroy non-turreted unit if attacked from the rear.
  • Can only be produced in limited numbers using its own support power.
  • Support power unlocks only after building a Field Bureau and a Radar Dish, and has a long cooldown.
  • Short attack range.
  • Vulnerable against aircraft and heavy anti-armor threats.
  • Still vulnerable to anti-tank infantry swarm.
  • Will not one shot abduct any infantry (they need to take some damage first).
  • Slow stun rifle fire rate.
  • Takes 12 slots in transports.

Behind the scenes[]

  • In version, 3.0 the Drakuv Troop Crawler was a regular T3 vehicle buildable from the Soviet War Factory exclusive to the Latin Confederation. It could heal T1 infantry only but served as a troop transport vehicle for friendly infantry.
  • Drakuvhealthpackswip
    During development for 3.3 the Drakuv was supposed to receive the Drakuv Healthpacks support power instead of the current passive healing ability (see Gallery). This support power would have required a Prison Facility (which was the initial name of the Field Bureau) and healed much quicker than the present area of effect healing to infantry. Friendly Drakuvs from fellow Soviet generals would also be affected by this support power.[2]
    • The cut Drakuv Healthpacks cameo is still present in the current game files.

References[]

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