Tank Robot

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Tank Robot
Tank Robot
Basic Information
Health: Varies

Lowest: 10000
Mannhunt: Wave 6D, 6E, and 6F

Highest: 60000
Caliginous Caper: Sub-wave 8G/Broken Parts: Wave 6D

Speed: 25%
We don't know what this thing is, but it's big as hell, looks unstoppable, and it probably runs on human blood. We're just guessing that last part, because it's usually covered in it.
— Day 1 of the Mann vs. Machine update

Tank Robots (referred just as Tank) are large and extremely durable bomb-carrying machines that arrive with the robots in Mann vs. Machine mode. While they possess no offensive abilities and thus have no direct way of harming the player other than possibly crushing players against objects, they can withstand extreme amounts of damage before they are destroyed, far more so than any robot, with the exception of some boss robots. The Administrator announces the entrance, progress, and destruction of each Tank.

After entering the map, Tanks slowly travel along a set path to the bomb hatch before deploying their bomb and ending the round. This path is unique to each map and may differ from the path of other robots in the wave if any. They have their own bomb, independent of the one carried by the other robots, and in waves with Tank(s) and bomb-carrying robots, both the Tank(s) and the robots must be destroyed to complete the wave.

Tanks are immune to all effects outside of damage and critical hits; they can only be stopped via destruction. They cannot have their movement interrupted or slowed; standing in front of one simply pushes the player away with no damage, while players that cannot be pushed away due to walls or props are crushed to death, and buildings in the way are destroyed. They cannot be burned by fire or soaked by Jarate or Mad Milk, they cannot be sapped or marked for death, they do not give health to players buffed by the Concheror, and they have no heads to shoot or backs to stab. Finally, they resist 75% of Minigun damage, severely reducing a Heavy's damage output against it.

Tanks have a health meter below the "robots remaining" display on the HUD, and as they are damaged, they acquire bullet holes, cracks, and lose parts, like the covering on their treads. The final Tank of a mission has distinctive white stripes; this does not correlate to any of its properties.

Health

Each Tank in a wave has a given amount of health based on its intended difficulty and the length of the path it must travel.
Health Mission Wave
 10,000 
Mannhunt 6C (x5)
 12,000 
Mannslaughter 3B
 13,300 
Cave-in 4 (x3)
 14,000 
Mean Machines 5A-1 (x2)
 15,000 
Disintegration 5
 16,000 
Quarry 6
 17,500 
Cave-in 2B
 18,000 
Disintegration 2D
Machine Massacre 4, 7A
Mech Mutilation 1C
 20,000 
Doe's Drill 3, 8B
Mann-euvers 2
Benign Infiltration 4 (x2)
Doe's Doom 7 (x2)
Mannhunt 3
Village Vanguard 4 (x2), 7 (x4)
Disintegration 4A, 5B
Ctrl+Alt+Destruction 7B
CPU Slaughter 6C, 6E
Machine Massacre 7D
Mech Mutilation 3D
Cataclysm 4A, 7A
Mannslaughter 5C, 5E
 21,000 
Quarry 1
 22,000 
Desperation 4
 22,500 
Mann-euvers 7 (x2)
 24,000 
Doe's Doom 2A-1
 25,000 
Day of Wreckening 2, 6B
Cave-in 6B-1, 6B-2
Mannhunt 5B
Village Vanguard 2B
Disk Deletion 6, 8A-1, 8A-2
Data Demolition 3D, 4A
Ctrl+Alt+Destruction 5
Hamlet Hostility 7A (x2)
 26,000 
Mean Machines 3A-1
 28,000 
Crash Course 3
 30,000 
Crash Course 5
Benign Infiltration 6B
Data Demolition 6B, 6D
Ctrl+Alt+Destruction 2A
CPU Slaughter 6A
Broken Parts 3D
Hamlet Hostility 7A
Bavarian Botbash 6C, 7A
 32,000 
Data Demolition 6A
 33,000 
Crash Course 6B
 35,000 
Quarry 5
Caliginous Caper 4
Ctrl+Alt+Destruction 7D
CPU Slaughter 4
Broken Parts 6B
Bone Shaker 2
Hamlet Hostility 3D, 5A
Bavarian Botbash 2B, 4C
Desperation 7A
Cataclysm 3A
 40,000 
Caliginous Caper 5
Broken Parts 2A
Bone Shaker 4A, 7
 42,000 
Caliginous Caper 7
 45,000 
Broken Parts 2A
Desperation 7C-2
Cataclysm 7F
 46,000 
Bone Shaker 7F
 60,000 
Caliginous Caper 8G
Broken Parts 6D

Elimination

When a Tank is the only robot in the wave (excluding support-class robots like Snipers), it should be focused on by all players until it is destroyed. Kritzkrieg Medics and Canteens are extremely effective when paired with sustained high-damage classes like Pyros and Soldiers, or when used with Demomen using Grenade Launchers and Stickybomb Launchers. Wrangled Sentry Guns also deal massive damage to Tanks, but may have to be relocated once the Tank passes out of their range or if they are in the Tank's path. Pair the Widowmaker with your Sentry Gun for extra damage and no reloading. Also, the hitbox of the Tank is very large, making weapons with "bullet spread", such as the Frontier Justice, effective even at medium-long range. Considering using the Buff Banner to boost everyone's damage output to the tank.

If a Tank arrives with other robots, especially Giant robots, consider killing the robots first, as Tanks do not deal damage and can usually be dealt with after the regular robots if they have not traveled more than halfway. On many missions, it is very beneficial to designate one or two players as "Tank-killers," usually Soldier, Pyros, Demomen to follow the Tank while the rest of the team contains the bomb. The Tank's resistance to Minigun damage encourages team balance by severely punishing teams that rely on an excessive number of Heavies. Sniper is excellent at quickly dealing with tanks, when equipped with the Cleaner's Carbine, and the Bushwacka. This allows the Sniper to quickly charge up 'CRIKEY', and then attack with the Bushwacka for guaranteed crits. The Righteous Bison's penetration also affects the tank.

Scouts can deal large amounts of damage with their primary weapons, such as the Soda Popper or the Shortstop. Pair this with crit canteens for a lot of damage. As Pyro, look up at the tank to do maximum damage. Consider using the Detonator to jump up to the tank while using the Phlogistinator. Taunting at the back of the tank drops you on the ground and cancels the taunt, giving you extra Mmmph and even the ÜberCharge remaining from the taunt.

After arriving at the bomb hatch, the Tank takes a while to deploy its bomb, so the team still has time to destroy it.

Operation in other game modes

If a server has sv_cheats enabled, a tank can be spawned by typing "ent_create tank_boss" into the console.

The tank behaves oddly when spawned in on non-MVM maps. On Payload and Payload Race maps the tank first tries to go directly to the starting point of the cart, although it is unable to go through any walls in the way. Once it reaches the starting point, it follows the route the cart takes. The tank destroys itself if it hits the cart. If the tank somehow reaches the last point without touching the cart, it also explodes, but the game acts as if the BLU team has pushed the cart to the end and the BLU team wins.

On all other modes the tank goes towards non-spawn room doors and attempts to go through them, where they then deploy their bomb (even though the administrator plays one of her voice lines the round is not won by either side).

On non-Payload/Payload Race maps without any non-spawn room doors, the tank simply stays in the same place.

On maps with the path_track entity, the tank goes to the start of the track and goes to the end of the track following all of the path_track entitys connected to it. Once it reaches the end of the track, it deploys its bomb and then idles at the end.

On all maps the tank spawns with a lower amount of health than in any mission in MVM; and, as it is considered part of the BLU team, only members of the RED team can damage it.

Related achievements

Mvm navicon.png Mann vs. Machievements

Balls-E
Balls-E
Destroy the tank during the final seconds of the bomb being deployed.


Clockwork Carnage
Clockwork Carnage
Destroy two tanks within 5 seconds of each other.
Clockwork Conqueror
Clockwork Conqueror
Destroy a tank within 20 seconds of its arrival.


Palace-Aid
Palace-Aid
Kill a tank before it crashes through the barrier in Rottenburg.

Update history

August 15, 2012 Patch (Mann vs. Machine Update)
  • The Tank was added to the game.

August 17, 2012 Patch

  • Fixed a crash related to server plug-ins spawning a Tank before the game is ready.

September 4, 2012 Patch

  • Fixed the looping Tank sound not playing if it was spawned far from the player.
  • Fixed Tank destruction effects playing at the map origin.

December 20, 2012 Patch (Mecha Update)

November 21, 2013 Patch (Two Cities Update)

November 22, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed a server crash related to damaging the Tank with the Medic shield.

Unused content

  • In the game files, there is an unused file called mvm_tank_ping that would play a loud ear-piercing beep. This sound was replaced by the tank horn sound.
  • The Tank has unique destruction animations for the maps Coaltown, Decoy and Mannworks. However, the unique destruction animations for Coaltown and Decoy are not used. The reasons for this is that the tank destruction animations are looked up based on map name, and that the tank destruction animations for these maps still use the map's pre-release names.

Bugs

  • If several Tanks are involved in the wave, the Administrator announces that the Tank is already halfway through, although it just appeared.

Notes

  • The Tank has its own animation of destruction, but it is not visible because of the smoke.

Gallery

External links