Lynx Tank

File:Lynx tank A.png
 File:Lynx tank B.png
The **Lynx Tank**, known as **Type 54 *Xiezhi*** in Eastasia, is the MBT of the Asian Alliance in *Red Alert 2: New World Order*. It is almost a direct copy of Yuri's Lasher Tank in unmodded *Yuri's Revenge*. Of all sides' basic tanks, it is the lightest, and *kaizen* has been carefully applied to engineer it mainly along two dimensions - ease of production, and reliability in the terrain conditions of the Asian continent. The streamlining of the production process however came at the price of great simplification of the design. From a crude copy of soviet *Red Alert 2*-era tanks, the Lynx developed into a sophisticated marvel of engineering with surprisingly high technology under its beltbuckle. The tank uses a unique tricycle wheel set and can automatically transform to ford bodies of water. It can be upgraded with Transform. Unlike other Eastasian vehicles, it does not have any other methods of transformation.

Different graphical models exist for this tank, one of which looks like the Winterwolf Tank, although both vehicles are vastly different in weight, size and combat role. Although its size, speed and armor would make it a great infantry hunter, the Lynx is actually armed to combat enemy armor, and its technology upgrade reflects this. The basic Lynx is armed with a 75mm gun. After researching "Anti-Tank Warfare", the Lynx comes with a turret-mounted anti-tank gun of higher penetrative power. This weapon gets upgraded when the tank is promoted to Elite level. A second upgrade can be purchased to increase the tank's gun to 90mm. Again, this weapon is subject to another upgrade upon promotion.

Other than that, the Lynx is in no way special. Using it head-on against an equal amount of enemy armor, even when upgraded, will propably lead to high casualties and it is equally unrecommended to use it against enemy infantry or buildings, where it will inflict only negligible damage.

## Stats

* Type: Vehicle
* Class: Tankette
* Cost: 700$

## Abilities

### Tracked Gears

Rapid tracked movement on ground; tricycle track set.

### Amphibious

Crosses water by means of magnetic propulsion. Only used while transformed on water.
ast upon entering water; transforms into amphibious mode, changing its movement type.

### 30mm Electronic Trigger Gun

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Light tank gun; fires an AP shell.

### Stacked Ammo

Because of the Lynx' ETG system, it can load a "stack" of cartridges into its gun and fire them in a burst, without the need for a magazine and a rapid autoloader. This allows the Lynx to fire up to 3 shots upon initiating an attack, provided it had a brief reload period since the last firefight. In battle, the Lynx will fire as soon as a cartridge is loaded instead of reloading to maximum capacity, taking shorter to reload than three cartridges, but consequently also only firing one shell per reload.

### Adaptive Reactive Armor

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## Strategy

In a head-on battle, the Lynx is one of the weakest vehicles fielded by any faction of the war. Fortunately, it also has more tricks up its sleeve than any other basic combat vehicle, and also comes at the cheapest of any true military unit (discounting the improvised salvaged vehicles of the Brotherhood).

While its weapon has a high rate of fire and is effective against infantry and light vehicles, it lacks the penetration and sheer firepower to take on enemy heavies (a recurring drawback of Eastasian units). The Lynx should thus always be kept in reserve when facing enemy armor, and heavier units, such as the Jin Ren, should take the first line.

## Notes

* The Lynx has a targeting laser. This laser can also track air targets, however as the gun cannot be elevated to fire at them, it has no effect on them.
* Multiple Lynx tanks firing on a target get an increasing accuracy bonus (expressed in higher damage) from the cumulative effect of their targeting laser. This accuracy effect also effects all other units firing upon the same target. This includes aerial targets painted with the laser, even if the tank cannot directly fire at them.
* The laser also works to dazzle incoming missiles.
* An unupgraded Lynx is practically worthless. While it is cheap, the gun does negligible damage and the range is so short that only a few tanks can engage their target at a time, allowing the enemy to dispatch entire platoons one by one.
* However, when fully upgraded, the Lynx has the highest damage rating of all basic tanks - the 90mm gun ironically inflicts more damage than even the 105mm of the Allied tanks, while firing twice as fast. Per-shot, the 120mm gun inflicts more damage, but fires much slower. On the other hand, technologies are available to the other sides to bring their firepower to an equal level.
* Merged with Pixiu/Nian concept in *January 2013 Revision*.
* The Asian Alliance is not focused on breakthrough warfare, and the Lynx is consequently very mobile to perform rapid maneuvers in battle, but it is neither armed nor armored for breaking through fortified lines. The "Always Attack" philosophy of the Alliance will find itself impaired when facing fortified defenders, but the tank is well-suited to combatting enemy mobile forces out in the open, especially infantry, or for counter-attacking against an enemy's flanks or rear.