 SdKfz 250 Funkwagen "Vampire" Halftrack | |||
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 A Vampire Halftrack | |||
| Army | Panzer Elite | ||
| Role | Unarmed Counter-Logistics vehicle | ||
| Unit Cost |
 220 2 | ||
| Upkeep per Minute |
−4.03 | ||
| Prereq. | None | ||
| Produced By | Logistik Kompanie | ||
| Primary armament | None | ||
| Health |
 285 | ||
| Armor | Light | ||
| Max. Speed | 6.5 m/s | ||
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The SdKfz 250/3 Funkwagen "Vampire" Halftrack is a light electronics-warfare vehicle fielded by the Panzer Elite in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Although unarmed, this fast vehicle's primary function is to drive into an enemy's sector and steal resources from it. This puts a dent in the enemy's resource production, as long as the Funkwagen can remain stationary and undetected. As a bonus, the Funkwagen "Vampire" Halftrack can spot enemy infantry and camouflaged units at surprising ranges, and can drop Goliath Tracked Mines to attack enemy positions.
Overview
Panzer Elite tactics revolve greatly around harassing the enemy, whether by brute force or through subversive actions. They also rely on producing a large amount of resources for fueling their abilities and purchasing many units and upgrades. The Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack, also known as the Funkwagen (lit. "Radio Car") marries these two tactics into a single unit.
The Funkwagen is produced by the Logistik Kompanie for the cost of 220, 2, making it one of the cheapest Panzer Elite vehicles. The halftrack is a short, narrow flatbed truck with two front wheels, a set of treads, and a small open-top storage area at the rear. It is outfitted with a "bedstead" aerial antenna mounted on top of the chasis. The vehicle is completely unarmed, and is only lightly armored.
To fulfill its primary function, the Funkwagen drives straight into an unprotected enemy sector, preferably one producing a large amount of Munitions or Fuel, and/or connected to many other enemy-controlled sectors. The halftrack then sets itself up, and begins monitoring enemy transmissions, "injecting" its own commands into the enemy's radio chatter. As a result, supplies being delivered to the enemy end up being delivered straight into Panzer Elite hands, or being lost altogether.
As a result, part of the resources produced by the targeted sector are added to the Panzer Elite's income, rather than the enemy's income. In addition, the enemy only receives partial income from all sectors connected back to their headquarters through the sector subverted by the Funkwagen. This can easily amount to a serious dent in the enemy's resource income, potentially crippling his combat economy. On top of this, the Population Cap of both the Panzer Elite and the enemy will change accordingly.
Furthermore, while it is entrenched in an enemy sector the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack receives several important bonuses to reduce the risk to itself. Firstly, it has 50% higher Maximum Health, so it is more likely to survive attacks made on it while it tries to escape. It can also detect any enemy infantry within 70 meters of its position, including inside the Fog-of-War (this is twice the normal sight-range!). Finally, the halftrack can detect camouflaged enemy units (but not mines, unfortunately) within 30 meters.
The Funkwagen also has one last, very important ability unconnected to its siphoning skill: it can produce a Goliath Tracked Mine, an extremely powerful mobile bomb, which can be sent towards enemy units and positions to blow them up. This ability can be exercised in self-defense (to kill enemy units coming to destroy the Funkwagen while it's diverting resources) or as the first wave of an offensive to take out a key enemy emplacement or large group of foes.
Early production of this halftrack, or judicial use even in later stages, can change the entire course of the battle.
Weapons
The Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack is a completely unarmed vehicle. No upgrade or ability will add a weapon to this vehicle either.
Nonetheless, for the price of 
125, the Funkwagen can deploy a Goliath Tracked Mine to attack enemy units or positions. This is explained later in this article.
Abilities
The Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack's primary ability is to set itself up in an enemy sector and Divert Resources from the enemy's income into yours. This ability also grants it some interesting bonuses that can be used defensively, outside enemy territory.
Additionally, the Funkwagen can deploy a Goliath Tracked Mine, a very powerful bomb that moves on its own power.
Divert Supplies
- Costs nothing.
- Activation: Immediate
- Duration: Permanent until deactivated
- Cooldown: 3 seconds (activate/deactivate)
When this ability is activated, the Funkwagen will immediately entrench itself and begin monitoring enemy radio transmissions. The effect of this action depends largely on the position of the halftrack when it is activated.
If the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack is inside an enemy sector, about 50% of that sector's production will go to the Panzer Elite's income, while the other 50% goes to the owner of the sector. Additionally, about 50% of the income from other enemy sectors may be lost as well, depending on supply lines: If a sector is linked to the enemy's Headquarters through the sector where the Funkwagen has been set up, its income is cut by 50%. The other 50% is lost - it does not go to the Panzer Elite. Finally, the Panzer Elite gains a few Population Cap points while the effect is in place, while the enemy loses a certain significant percentage of their total Population Cap.
When totaled together, the above effects can be have a serious impact on the enemy's economy, especially if many sectors lie on the same supply route being scrambled by the Funkwagen. Early on, disrupting production in three or four sectors can cause a major delay in the enemy's production of units, structures and upgrades, providing the Panzer Elite with the time necessary to build up a power force to overwhelm the enemy. If the affected sector is also a high Munitions/Fuel point, the Panzer Elite also receive a sizeable boost to their own income in the process. This is especially true if the enemy places an Observation Post or other resource-increasing effect in the sector.
You do not have to place the Funkwagen on top of the enemy's sector point to divert resources. It only needs to be within the boundaries of the targeted sector. Therefore, it's best to place the truck in some out-of-the-way position where enemies are unlikely to come looking for it, such as an enclosed yard or behind a line of trees. Make sure to keep an escape route open so the truck can evacuate when necessary. If the sector shares an edge with a friendly sector, you can put the truck right on that edge to allow it to retreat to friendly territory quickly. Remember that the enemy gets no notification about its resources being stolen - at best he might notice that income doesn't match the number of sectors he's holding, but rarely do players know exactly how many resources they're supposed to be making at all. If the enemy doesn't stumble on to the Funkwagen, it might be able to operate in enemy territory for quite some time!
Regardless of where it is placed, a set-up Funkwagen is completely immobile. However, it does receive the following bonuses while in this state, to help protect it from enemies that might come to dislodge it:
- +50% Maximum Health
- Camouflage.
- All camouflaged enemy units within 30 meters of the Funkwagen become visible.
- All enemy infantry units within 70 meters of the Funkwagen are shown on the Mini-Map and Tactical Map.
With these abilities, the Funkwagen is more survivable, and can detect approaching enemy units. Again, since these bonuses are applied regardless of the position of the halftrack, it can be used as an early-warning system inside your own territory to warn you against encroaching enemy infantry coming to take your sectors.
To end resource diversion, click the ability button again. Although there's a 3-second cooldown, the truck can immediately begin moving once the button is pressed, so it can evacuate straight away.
Goliath Drop
- Costs 125
- Activation: Select Ground
- Takes 6 seconds to complete
- Cooldown: 90 seconds
When this ability is activated, select a ground point anywhere on the map. The Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack will drive to that spot, and begin deploying a Goliath Tracked Mine. This process takes 6 seconds to complete.
The Goliath is an autonomous unit - a large explosive device with two treads and a complex remote-controlled radio system that enables you to drive it around the map as you please. The idea is to drive it into a target, such as an enemy emplacement or a large group of enemy units, and then detonate on command. The Goliath will also detonate if it is destroyed by enemy fire.
The explosion of the Goliath is pretty massive, inflicting 375 damage within 4 meters, and anywhere down to 168 damage within 8 meters. This is easily enough to kill any infantry within the blast radius, and may seriously damage or destroy vehicles and emplacements. The explosion also has enough Penetration to get through any armor - including the heavy armor on enemy M26 Pershings.
The Goliath can be used to protect the Funkwagen from attackers, though that may be too much of an expensive measure, depending on what units the enemy has sent. Most of the time, a Goliath is used to surprise enemies before or during an attack, by hitting a sensitive position or unit with enough force to destroy it. It can be used as the first wave of an attack to demolish an enemy emplacement. During battles, the Goliath has more chance to survive its charge into the enemy, since they are all busy fighting your other units. There are many similar possibilities that are only limited your own tactical imagination.
Note that the Goliath tends to attract fire from enemy units. If it is killed, it will explode with full force. Therefore, keep it away from your own units at all times, to avoid premature detonation. If using Goliaths during combat, flank the enemy instead of driving the bomb through your other units.
Due to the 90-second cooldown period and high Munitions cost on this ability, Goliaths cannot be deployed too often. However, a Munitions Halftrack parked next to the Funkwagen will reduce the cooldown to 9 seconds - almost as long as it takes to deploy the mobile bomb. If you have plenty of munitions, you can spam these at the enemy!
Veterancy
Like all other Panzer Elite units, the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack can attain 3 levels of Veterancy, by accumulating experience points from the killing of enemy units. As it gains levels, its performance will increase proportionally.
Due to having no offensive weaponry, the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack's Veterancy Accumulation and Veternacy Bonuses work a little differently from other units.
Accumulation
Like all other Panzer Elite units, the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack uses the Panzer Elite Shared Veterancy system to accumulate Veterancy points. In this system, units share experience from their kills with each other, within a certain radius.
Since the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack does not have any offensive weaponry of its own, it cannot actually kill any enemy units to get Veterancy. Therefore, it must rely solely on Veterancy shared by other units.
This system will award 50% of the experience value of any enemy unit killed by a Panzer Elite unit within 35 meters of the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack. This gives the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack a slow progression of Veterancy, and requires it to stay close to attacking units to get the experience off their kills.
Bonuses
For each level of Veterancy it acquires, the Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack will automatically receive the appropriate Vehicle Defensive Bonus corresponding with that level. You do not get to choose whether you want to apply an Offensive bonus (since the vehicle has no offensive weapons), and do not need to upgrade the vehicle manually at each level.
The bonuses described below are specific to each level. Due to the way they are applied on top of each other, when computed together (see below) they may or may not add up as you may expect.
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When these bonuses are computed together with each other as well as the unit's basic statistics, the results at each level are as follows:
| Veterancy Level | Selected Upgrades | Harder to hit by | Damage Reduction | Maximum Health | Maximum Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | -- | -- | 285
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6.5 m/s | |
| 1 | 
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10% | 10% | 327
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7.4 m/s |
| 2 |
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15% | 15% | 344
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8.5 m/s |
| 3 |
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19% | 19% | 361
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9.8 m/s |
Tactics
The use of a Funkwagen Vampire Halftrack requires very finely-tuned tactical skills, but presents the potential for very large profits. Stealing resources and Population Cap points from the enemy can totally shift the balance of a battle from one faction to the other, potentially allowing the Panzer Elites to dominate the battlefield with ease.
Funkwagens are at their prime in the earliest stages of the game, when enemy defenses are too sparse to protect their entire territory simultaneously. As such, you can easily slip a Funkwagen or two deep inside their territory, and begin siphoning their much-needed early resource production, boosting your own. Not only will this slow down the enemy's production of units, structures, defenses and upgrades, but it also allows you to more quickly develop your own army.
Later on, when enemy defenses are thicker, it may become impossible to put a Funkwagen deep inside their territory - unless you can find some undefended backdoor or use a distraction on one side of the map to open a way on the other side. In any case, you'll more likely be able to place Funkwagens just on the edge of the enemy's sectors (i.e. just a few meters inside their territory), which is enough to activate this effect (though it may not have as much impact overall).
Always remember to place the Funkwagen in an area that the enemy are unlikely to pass through, such as an alcove behind some trees or behind a wall, to minimize the chance of enemies stumbling onto the halftrack and destroying it. Remember that the Funkwagen only needs to be inside the sector boundaries to have an effect on that sector. Sometimes, even when enemies pass close enough to spot the halftrack, it may go unnoticed by the enemy player if his units don't actually open fire on it. That's why it's best to put the halftrack in a position where units simply passing by won't have direct line-of-sight to it, and so won't open fire as they pass. Once they're gone, the enemy won't be any wiser to the location of the halftrack in his territory.
Finally, remember the Goliath Tracked Mines. These can be used in a variety of different ways. First though, you'll want to locate a good target, such as a high-value enemy structure or emplacement. Then, produce the Goliath and drive it straight into the enemy. Don't forget to push the "detonate" button at the right time. You can also blow up a group of enemy units if you spot one. This is usually best done during a battle, when enemy units are clearly visible and are busy engaging your own units. The Goliath can then flank the enemy position and drive into it, detonating and killing (or at least heavily-damaging) all enemies within the explosion radius. You can also use the Goliath defensively, to protect the Funkwagen from enemy units coming to dislodge it.
Weaknesses
Being completely unarmed and having thin armor, it is advisable to keep the Funkwagen under guard or well-hidden at all times. The Funkwagen's driver may say the halftrack "is ready for combat", but you should not overestimate the vehicle's chances of survival on an active sector of the battlefield. Though possessing high Maximum Health (especially with Veterancy bonuses), a few shots from a tank cannon or anti-tank weapon will destroy it easily, as will an artillery barrage on its position.
Remember that when a Funkwagen locks down in an area, it becomes immobile and defenseless. It only takes about 2 seconds to pack up and get mobile, but even just a few AT hits will ruin any Funkwagen's day. The trick is, when discovered, to flee immediately or at least move to a different position. Even infantry pose a threat to the Funkwagen.
Quotes
On unit creation :
On unit selection :
On repetitive unit selection :
On halt order :
On move order :
On move order under damage :
On under attack report :
On resource diversion order :
Gallery
