Ezekiel's Wheel

Ezekiel's Wheel Stealth Tank
An Ezekiel's Wheel Stealth Tank, with the cloaking generator deactivated.
Minor Faction	Cult of the Black Hand
Other Faction(s)	None
Unit Type	Light Tank
Designation	Anti-Ground
Production Building	Cult Shrine
Secondary Ability	Switch Cloak/Mirage Mode Gains stealth/Creates fake units around it
Cost	Unknown
Production Time	Unknown
Heroic Upgrade	Serrated Wheels
Dev. Status	Textured

Country of Origin	Yugoslavia
Produced by/ Recovered from	Temples of the Black Hand
Key Features	» 6-metre diameter wheel (x2)  » Quad 25mm autocannons  » Gyroscope balancer  » "Lazarus" electromagnetic stealth generator  » Very uncomfortable seat (without protection)

"Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

- Macbeth

Tactical Analysis

• Optic Camouflage: The Ezekiel's Wheel is a fast, deadly vehicle used by the Cult. Among its greatest assets is its stealth; it is invisible to the naked eye, and only sophisticated sensors or keen senses will detect its presence.

• Smoke and Mirrors: This is not the only purpose of the vehicle's stealth generator, however; the generator is fully capable of running in an alternate mode, which sacrifices stealth to cause confusion, generating illusory men and vehicles in the area surrounding the tank.

• Death on a Wheel: The Ezekiel's Wheel is also armed. With two pairs of 25mm autocannons, it can tear into light vehicle armour easily. When combined with its invisibility, it makes for an excellent flanker. In addition, it can crush infantry and walls as it rolls along; it doesn't even need to decloak to do so.

• Delicate Balance: The Ezekiel's Wheel is among the most expensive vehicles in the Cult's arsenal; aside from that, it is forced to decloak itself before it can fire its autocannons.

Background

When the Ezekiel's Wheel first appeared in the Cult's arsenal, several Talon units sent from their Crawler cells mysteriously vanished. Eventually, as scouting forces proved ineffective, the Order sent some of their best troops, led by several Templars to find out what had happened. When they returned, the sizeable force had been reduced to less than half and were visibly shaken.

The knights told their superiors of a mysterious one-wheeled track that appeared out of nowhere and attacked them, then slipped back and disappeared before the knights could put up an effective resistance. From this newly acquired information, the Order quickly determined that their arch-nemesis had gained a new weapon and had a clear guess of its capabilities.

How the Cult managed to attain the technology needed to construct these vehicles is a mystery. The vehicle is a mishmash of advanced military technologies that often hasn't been publicly unveiled, though rumours of it being designed by Ezekiel Clark are going about.

While the stealth shield itself is thought to based on the design of the modified GAP Generator called the "Lazarus", any attempt to replicate its capabilities by the Allies, Confederates, and even the Soviet Union have been met with failure. The near perfect invisibility attained by their version is only barely imitated by an experimental troop transport lost under mysterious circumstances in the Second World War.

In combat, the Ezekiel's Wheel is known to ram into targets with high speed and is armed with twin anti-armour autocannons. They are extremely fast and are well known for their flanking manoeuvres. Unsubstantiated claims of Ezekiel's Wheels armed with railguns, rocket launchers, and gyrojets have yet to be confirmed.

Behind the Scenes

• Monowheels are awesome, especially when they have a stealth generator.
• The Ezekiel's Wheel was the name for the Tiberium Dawn Nod Stealth Tank, and is quite obviously based on it.
• The wheel was created by SighNapse who insisted that it take the form of a Stargate but with extra cool thrown on.