| “ | Tactical lasers online. - Avenger |
” |
The Avenger is America's basic anti-air vehicle, exclusive to General Thorn in 2.0.
Lore
First fielded in the early 1990s, the M1097 Avenger was conceived as a light-weight, short-range anti-air system based on a modified Humvee. However, the missiles that acted as the vehicle's primary armament for almost three decades started to show their age in the later stages of the Global War on Terror, often proving wholly inadequate when it came to defeating the infamous Scud missiles launched by the GLA.
It was at this time when General Gregory 'Pinpoint' Townes, the head of the Army's R&D branch for laser technologies, came up with a quick and efficient solution in the form of the 'Avenger-L', which replaced the aging missile system with a powerful high-energy laser, supported by a rangefinder and protected by a more powerful version of the same point-defense lasers that were successfully introduced by the M1A4 Paladin tank. The new platform proved to be effective in combat and what was initially meant to be an interim solution until the full-scale deployment of dedicated tactical lasers quickly became a mainstay weapon system of the US military which received further performance upgrades as the years went by.
Add-ons
| Add-on | Description |
|---|---|
 Battle Drone |
Build a Battle Drone that follows the vehicle, engaging enemies with its machine gun and repairs the vehicle when damaged. Costs $200 and takes 5 seconds to complete. Incompatible with Targeteer Drone. |
 Targeteer Drone |
Build a Targeteer Drone that follows the vehicle, extending its sight radius and increases the vehicle's rate of fire by 25% (except for Avengers, WASP Hives and Microwave Tanks). Costs $150 and takes 5 seconds to complete. Incompatible with Battle Drone. |
Overview
Unlike its counterpart in other factions the Avenger is only capable of damaging aircraft, a job it completes with much more efficiency compared to its counterparts thanks to its powerful high energy laser armament.
Additionally, it can "paint" targets with a non-lethal targeting laser, which boosts the rate of fire of any units targeting the same target. It has no other attacks against enemy ground units, but it is large enough to crush infantry. Finally when upgraded with Point Defence Lasers, the Avenger can also defend against enemy rockets and missiles with its PDL system. It is capable of neutralizing artillery missiles like that of the GLA Grad. Its PDL makes it an effective and essential escort for US armored columns.
Like all manned US vehicles, each Avenger can be individually upgraded with either a Battle Drone or a Targeteer Drone. The Advanced Training upgrade increases the rate at which it gains veterancy.
Tactics
Avengers are useful for mixing in with Crusaders and Paladins especially because of their point defence lasers which protect the Crusaders. They are decent air defence.
Counters
Since the Avenger, unlike most anti-air units, are unable to attack ground units, they are sitting ducks in most combat situations. They do, however, stand a good chance against missile units, and infantry can, more often than not, be run over. Other than that, the Avenger should ALWAYS be escorted.
Quotes
The Avenger reuses their original voiceset in the vanilla Zero Hour.
Gallery
Trivia
- The current real-world "Avenger" in military service mounts stinger missiles instead of lasers; however the US military has successfully tested directed energy weapons mounted on the Avenger.
