| Unit | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
| “ | A sign of luck. | ” |
| —A confident Qilin Tank driver |
The Qilin Assault Tank is the main battle tank of China.
Official description
After the Russians had created the Rhino Tank, they no longer had any use for the old Heavy Tank from the previous war and sold the remaining units to their Chinese allies. The Chinese fervently began improving the vehicles, though many problems plagued the development, due to the tank being too heavy to transport properly. After several years of tinkering and redesigning, a balance between speed and durability could not be found. Thus the Chinese decided to sacrifice the tank's mobility and pack as much firepower and armor into it as possible, creating the Qilin Tank.
Its slick design is aimed to decrease drag due to the slow speed of the machine. Some might expect the Qilin to follow the stereotype of a cheap knock-off of a tank. The Chinese however, have not skirted any expenses with it, making it a rather pricey purchase. The addition of EMP countermeasure systems and an unusually Iron Curtain-compatible material for its coating prove it is an advanced piece of technology, difficult to stop dead in its tracks.[1]
Overview
Though slow and rather expensive, the Qilin Tank is the heaviest main battle tank of the entire war and possesses heavy-duty firepower in the form of dual cannons. Symbolizing China's tactics of using immense armor and overwhelming force to crush its enemies, this unit retains its usefulness even in the late game stages against Tier 3 monster tanks (for starters, it has one tactical advantage over the Nuwa Cannon by being able to fire while moving). It also has a special trait that allows it to shorten the effects of EMP weaponry used against it.
Despite its formidable stats, it should avoid infantry and aircraft as it can't do much to respond against them. It is also very vulnerable to units such as Speeder Trikes as the latter can kite them while staying outside of their attack range.
AI behavior
Qilin Tanks controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
All difficulties
- 2x guarding Iron Guard, accompanied by 2 Nuwa Cannons and 2 Terror Drones
- 4x targeting vehicles
- This task force will only be constructed if a Atomheart is not present
- 6x targeting vehicles
- 6x targeting structures
- The AI will use Nuclear Path on this task force
Medium/Hard
- 3x targeting structures, accompanied by 2 Nuwa Cannons
- The AI will use Nuclear Path on this task force
Hard
- 2x targeting anything, accompanied by 2 Terror Drones and 2 Dragonflies
- This task force may be accompanied by 1 additional Dragonfly
Appearances
| “ | Looks like trouble, Commander. It appears there are Chinese tanks coming our way. | ” |
| —Allied intel during Operation: Zero Signal |
Act One
- Qilin Tanks first appear alongside most other China-specific units in Think Different.
- In The Gardener, Qilin Tanks patrols the region, and the player's Tsurugi prototype must avoid them. However, after finding the Guardian GI, his missile launcher can make short work of the Qilins way before suffering lethal damage.
Assessment
| + |
|
| - |
|
Behind the scenes
The Qilin Tank's Nuclear Reactor speed boost attribute that existed in v3.0.
- In 3.0, the Qilin Tank, along with the Nuwa Cannon, benefited from a speed boost when close to a friendly Nuclear Reactor. This was removed in later patches.
Trivia
- The qilin (麒麟) is a hooved, chimerical creature in Chinese mythology who is commonly associated as a good omen and thought to bring luck, prosperity and serenity (all are referenced in the Qilin Tank's quotes). The literal translation of Qilin is "the deer-like creature who's name's pronunciation is qílín". "鹿" means the deer, "其" pronounced qí (tsí), "粦" pronounced lín.[2]
- The Qilin Tank’s firing sound is identical to the Predator Tank from Tiberium Wars, but overlapped.
