Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Mirage Tank

"You called for the Mirage?"

-Mirage Tank leaving the War Factory

The Mirage Tank is the Tank Hunter for Athel Loren, one of the members of the Alliance of Hawke, replacing the Tank Destroyer for their respective sub-faction. This unit is planned to be voiced by Tabitha St. Germain

Tactical analysis

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Overview
Mirage Tanks are some of the most advanced anti-armor units in the Alliance of Hawke. Developed in the Athel Defense Technologies laboratories in Athel Loren, the tank has the unique ability to camouflage itself as a tree as long as the tank is stationary, with the latest model just going invisible entirely. In addition to being undetectable on radar, this allows the Mirage Tank to remain hidden in plain view. With its Kinetic Energy Penetrator Cannon, the tank is more than a match for enemy armor, especially during ambushes. The battlefield is a dangerous place, but when even the trees of the Wood Elves are gunning for you, you know there is nowhere you can hide.

History
Arguably the most powerful weapon in the Alliance arsenal, the Mirage Tank combines great firepower with a high-tech camouflaging system--the perfect combination for ambushing Voshkod armor divisions attempting to cross international borders without a permit. Although this vehicle is based on a Wood Elf tank chassis and original weapon design, it was military research firm AseliaTech Corporation that honed its distinguishing features and managed to mold them together in a successful, cost-effective way. An ongoing partnership with the Alliance soon led to the Mirage Tank's mass production, in spite of the Voshkod bitter protests and threats of wide-scale retaliation.

The name of the Mirage Tank is in reference to the effect caused by its onboard reactive camoscanner technology, which envelops the vehicle in a special camouflage field.

To the naked eye, this makes the normally muscular Mirage Tank resemble something common and mundane to its surroundings, be it a tree or a milk truck, or even a smaller object such as a lamp post. Even when under the scrutiny of a sophisticated scanning array, this makes the Mirage Tank altogether invisible. Consequently, the camoscanners enable Mirage Tank operators to blend into their environment, elude enemy forces or stage an ambush... Provided that they remain motionless and do not fire the main gun.

These limitations are necessary to reduce heat signatures and conserve energy, as otherwise, enemy forces would be able to pick up the disguised Mirage Tank on short-range scan. The number of times camouflaged Mirage Tanks have successfully routed Voshkod armor divisions continues to climb, to that point at which it no longer seems possible to keep an accurate count of their successes (in part because Voshkod ministers have now taken to blaming any accidents resulting in the destruction of their forces on Mirage Tank ambushes).

The camoscanners would be of limited value if not for the Mirage Tank's main weapon, the KEP (Kinetic Energy Penetrator) cannon. Originally it was to be equipped with a Spectrum Cannon but the increased cost, and the size of the equipment to power it forcing them to remove about fifty percent of the tank's already thin armor and causing its speed to dramatically drop due to the weight meant that they had to switch to a more conventional cannon, instead giving the Spectrum Cannon a dedicated platform that would become the Prism Tank.

As if all this weren't sufficient, Mirage Tanks possess one other remarkable trick in the GAP generator device, which creates a field that is impervious to light, sound, and the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum. While Mirage Tanks cannot disguise themselves or use their weapon while the GAP generator is active, they are able to conceal small armies in this fashion, causing enemy forces to grossly underestimate their numbers.

The sophisticated systems on the Mirage Tank demand years of training to master, and only the most experienced tank commanders are allowed to man these unique tanks. As one Mirage gunner put it after the Battle of Flanders: You cannot kill what you cannot see...

Trivia

 * The Mirage tank in Gaiaterra is the Mental Omega version, while the ability is from Red Alert 3