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Smoking has health risks, you know?
—A Dustdevil pilot warning the hazards of his smoke bombs

The Dustdevil is a Soviet support bomber that can weaken enemies through its smoke bombing runs.

Official description[]

With the reintroduction of the Soviet jet fighters, an interesting twist was made to the airforce they have strived so long to rebuild. While it is widely known that the Latin Confederation has bought most of its weapons from Russia, the Dustdevil is one of the very few weapon concepts originating from their Battle Labs that the Russians and even the Chinese had an interest in.

Proving how effective the smoke screens deployed from their Sandstorms are, the Latin Confederation designed another plane, around one of the unused MiG fuselage prototype, that is also able to quickly deliver large loads of smoke screen at the designated area. This smoke will decrease the combat effectiveness of any unit that is not equipped with advanced targeting control system, which by current standards is most of the infantry and human-piloted vehicles. Compared to the Sandstorm, however, the Dustdevil's cheaper construction turned to be much more vulnerable to enemy fire.[1]

Overview[]

Once a Soviet faction has Field Bureau and Airbase, the commander can produce a support fighter called Dustdevil, which role is to continue throwing smoke bombs over the target area and reduce the attack power of enemy units within the range, similar to Latin Confederation's Smoke Bombs. Due to the simple construction requirements, the Dustdevil harassment tactics can be used at an earlier time, although the cost of Dustdevil is slightly higher than that of its peers. In addition, as the same support aircraft, Dustdevil's hit points is higher than the Allied Hummingbird, meaning Dustdevil can survive more times in the air attack.

AI behavior[]

Dustdevils controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:

Medium/Hard[]

  • 1x targeting infantry or vehicles

Appearances[]

Dustdevil is a lighter mass-produced version of the Sandstorm smoke bomber.
—Soviet intel during Operation: Firewalking

Act Two[]

  • The Dustdevil makes its first appearance as a buildable unit in Firewalking.

Assessment[]

Pros Cons
  • Smoke bomb run applies debuff to a large target area.
  • Debuff greatly reduces the firepower of targeted units by 50%.
  • Can perform up to 4 bombing runs before rearming.
  • Good durability and speed.
  • Can also distract and draw anti-aircraft fire.
  • Debuff lasts for a short duration.
  • Cannot kill units.
  • Cannot affect structures.
  • Weak against heavy anti-air threats.

Behind the scenes[]

The Dustdevil's voxel is a public asset and can be used by other modders. The link can be found here (note that the link leads to a voxel pack, where several voxels including the Dustdevil's are downloaded in a single pack).

Trivia[]

See also[]

References[]

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