The Spectre is the stealth main battle tank of the Cartel.
Gameplay[]
The Spectre is the Cartel's main battle tank and one of their strongest vehicles. It can be considered an improved Scorpio, with integrated stealth and more health. Upgrades further improve its effectiveness, adding the ability to discover enemy stealth units, an autocannon to engage threats its railgun cannot defeat easily and augments its sight range.
The main advantage of Spectres are their utility in ambush tactics. Their cost is in-between the Terminator and Abrams, but takes a little of both resources and isn't very accessible, so it only comes into play in late game. As with all stealth units, it enjoys a brief double damage boost when breaking stealth to attack, able to do incredible damage to enemy vehicles and then run off. Considering many anti-armor units do not have anti-stealth and some of those are static, Spectres can effectively gain a head start in any skirmish. It also comes into use against enemy artillery units, as Spectre is usually able to get close and destroy them in one hit. Their range only makes them better at this, as they tend to strike when unexpected and then run off before the enemy could catch up. Spectres also work as anti-stealth units, as they do in fact have enough firepower to take out those used for recon and, in close matches, even another Spectre.
The Spectre's one crippling weakness are its low stats for a main battle tank, matching with Cartel's approach to stealth. While this usually has its merits, in combat it will almost always fall against enemy equivalents. For reference, the Terminator has 40 health up front and upgrades that vastly improve its versatility, namely anti-armor, projectile interception, anti-infantry and anti-air all in one small package. Meanwhile, the Abrams starts at 30 with just a gun, but can reach up to 50 with three machine guns that shred enemy infantry and helicopters, not to mention being a credit-only unit, it is much easier to produce. A single Spectre can destroy one of these easily, but are unable to win fights when evenly matched in several groups. As soon as they're out in the open, enemy anti-armor weapons will tear through them like butter unless covered heavily by the likes of SuperHind, support units that tanks are supposed to protect. More often than not, it is a heavily tactical unit whose unique strengths are amazing when used well, but doesn't work exactly as well in traditional roles.
Upgrades[]
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Optronic sensor Increases Spectre's sighting and firing range. Costs
 1000. Researched at Prototypes Bay. |
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40mm autocannon Adds an autocannon to Spectre that can engage air and ground. Costs
 1500. Researched at Prototypes Bay. |
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Passive receiver system Allows Spectre to detect enemy stealth units. Costs
750. Researched at Stealth Lab. |
Trivia[]
- The real-life Strv 2000 was a supertank of Swedish origin. Development studies were conducted in the 1980s, to determine a possible design for a Swedish tank for the next millennium the design that was developed the furthest was armed with a 140mm and a 40mm coax. The Cartel design in-game seems to be a continuation of the basic idea but further updated with reduced signature technologies reminiscent of current concept vehicles and with the autocannon being mounted on a RWS.
Gallery[]
