| “ | USA armor division - Crusader tank rolling out of the War Factory |
” |
The Crusader tank was the American main battle tank during the War against the GLA.
Background[]
Relatively inexpensive and easy to obtain, the Crusader mounts a 125mm[1] cannon, which is effective against tanks and other vehicles.
The Crusader's chief advantage over foreign competitors is its high tech armor protection that can be further upgraded as desired, as well as its main cannon which offers a punch equal to the Battlemaster Tank (without uranium shells). Like most US vehicles, drones can be assigned to serve a particular vehicle.
Upgrades[]
Drones[]
 |
Scout Drone | The Scout Drone increases the vehicle's sight range and reveals nearby stealth units. Costs $100. |
 |
Battle Drone | The Battle Drone is armed with a small machine gun, and could also repair its parent vehicle. Costs $300. |
 |
Hellfire Drone | The Hellfire Drone, available in Zero Hour, fires a small but surprisingly powerful missile against enemy ground units. Costs $500. |
Drones can be further upgraded with Drone Armor.
Unit[]
 |
Composite Armour | This upgrade improves the armor of each Crusader. | Purchasable at any Strategy Center for $2000 |
 |
Advanced Training | Allowed Crusader, along with all other USA units gain veteran status twice as fast. | Purchasable at any Strategy Center for $1500 |
Game unit[]
The Crusader has an edge over most other tanks due to its superior armor. This tank retains its usefulness even in late-game matches, being able to go head-on with all other vehicles in its same class.
However it is easily countered by anti-tank infantry and aircraft, as well as long-range units such as the GLA's Rocket Buggy, against which it has little defense.
Quotes[]
| “ | Crusader Tank responding - When selected |
” |
| “ | Heavy armour, ready for action - When selected |
” |
| “ | How 'bout a show of force? - When selected |
” |
| “ | Armour detail reporting - When selected |
” |
| “ | On your command - When selected |
” |
| “ | USA armor division - Leaving the factory |
” |
| “ | Proceeding to target zone - When moving |
” |
| “ | Anywhere you say, sir - When moving |
” |
| “ | Moving in - When moving |
” |
| “ | Clearing terrain - When moving |
” |
| “ | Taking new ground - When moving |
” |
| “ | This'll wake 'em up - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | Delivering ordnance - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | Blow 'em wide open! - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | Let's grease them - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | In my field of fire - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | Lighting them up - When ordered to attack |
” |
| “ | Crush them - When ordered to run over |
” |
| “ | Clear a path - When ordered to run over |
” |
| “ | Out of the way - When ordered to run over |
” |
| “ | Constructing Battle Drone - When deploy Battle Drone (unused) |
” |
| “ | Assembling Battle Drone - When deploy Battle Drone (unused) |
” |
| “ | Composite armor installed, sir - Receiving the Composite armor upgrade |
” |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- None of the American generals utilize the Crusader. Therefore, it does not appear in the Generals Challenge outside of several cutscenes.
- Interestingly, this tank combines the resemblance of a real life Leopard 2 & M1 Abrams main battle tanks (further reinforced by the fact that the model's name is 'AVLeopard').
- The Crusader was originally going to be armed with a coaxial machine gun in addition to its main cannon. Coding of the machine gun is still present in the game codes, being merely commented out instead of removed. It was likely removed for balancing reasons.
- Much like the Raptor's early design, the Crusader also used a gold skin and completely different tread design. In some ways, the early design's chassis slightly resembled the Siege tank from the StarCraft series. Its model and its texture can still be accessed by browsing through the game's files.
- The early design of crusader resembles the design of the Chinese Overlord tank. The large Chinese tanks were originally intended for a US faction that would have emphasized armor, but this was changed by the final game, which gave China its own tank general and the Crusader to the United States base faction.
Citations[]
 Tanks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||