tank

The tank is a player-operated armored vehicle that serves as a durable, front-line combat platform and mobile repair/utility base. It appears as a craftable vehicle and integrates with the player’s inventory, equipment grid and bots, making it a hybrid between a heavy weapon platform and a self-sustaining support vehicle. The tank is slower and less maneuverable than the car, but compensates with a very large health pool and extremely powerful main weapons, allowing it to engage bases and worms effectively and to survive significant incoming fire.

The tank’s signature weapon is the cannon. Cannon shells have piercing behavior that allows a projectile to travel through and damage multiple targets along its path; explosive cannon shells add area damage useful against dense enemy groups. Uranium variants of both standard and explosive shells increase damage further. The tank also has a unique flamethrower weapon that functions at short range and consumes flamethrower ammo; unlike other flamethrower sources, the tank’s flamethrower does not set entities on fire. While the player is inside the tank they cannot fire handheld weapons, but they can use inventory items such as grenades, poison capsules and combat robots to supplement the tank’s armament.

Movement and survivability are defining traits. The tank can drive through and destroy trees without taking damage and deals contact damage simply by driving into entities. This allows it to be used as an improvised battering ram against enemy structures and groups, though nests and certain enemies deal high damage in return and will often require repairs. The tank can rotate in place without moving forward or backward. Its base speed is slower than the car and terrain speed bonuses (for example from concrete) are substantially reduced. Reverse top speed is approximately 70.6% of forward top speed. Fuel quality affects top speed and acceleration: solid fuel, rocket fuel and nuclear fuel grant increasing top speed and large acceleration bonuses compared with wood or coal. Installing exoskeleton equipment in the tank’s equipment grid raises its top speed as if the tank were the player; three exoskeletons allow the tank to outrun a car on natural terrain, and five exceed the car’s maximum possible speed, though acceleration and deceleration remain unaffected by exoskeletons.

The tank integrates with personal equipment, capsules and construction/logistic systems. The player’s equipment modules remain active while driving, and personal roboport equipment allows the player’s construction robots to operate and repair the tank using repair packs from the player’s inventory. If both the player and the tank have personal laser defenses installed, both can operate simultaneously. Researching the logistic system permits the tank to make logistic requests like a player.

Practical usage and tips:

• Use the cannon (and uranium shells when available) to punch through defenses and to engage worms: the tank’s high health makes it resilient to worm attacks. Explosive shells are effective against clustered enemies.
• Supplement the tank’s firepower with inventory capsules and combat robots while inside the vehicle; personal roboports provide on-the-go repairs.
• Be cautious when ramming nests or heavy turrets: contact damage taken from some structures and enemies can rapidly deplete the tank’s health.
• Improve responsiveness by using higher-grade fuel for big acceleration and speed gains; equip exoskeletons to increase top speed but remember acceleration stays the same.
• Avoid close-quarter melees or very nimble swarms where dodging is required; the tank is less maneuverable than a player on foot and can be overwhelmed by short-range, fast attackers.
• Use the tank to clear trees and create safe corridors; its ability to destroy trees without self-damage makes it useful for base approach and escape routes.

The tank’s prominent role in Factorio’s combat progression and its integration with equipment and logistic features make it a versatile asset for offensive operations and mobile base support.