It is an important thing to note that the Operation Anchorage sim is canonicly embellished. Things like the quote about it being the best could simply be additions for the simulator intended to increase the tension for the player and further embellish the events of the battle.

I would assume the reason it doesn't use the rockets is because they've run out, you did say their supplies were limited.

The invisibility is a good idea until you realize how much noise those 2 archimedes drills would make

One possibility is that the vehicle itself uses a conventional gas/diesel power plant, but that the turret uses something like scavenged fusion cells or something smaller but nuclear. It would allow justification for the claim that it's mining equipment and that it's scavenged, but still explain the power plant.

Wild that it has screw drive. Its so rare. I imagine the tank is automated via radio control. Like the computer is elsewhere and uses other forms of detection to guide the tank. Maybe...

I interpreted the “outfitted for long range” quote as it has a long operational distance and can run for long periods of time, not range of the weapons mounted on it.

A lot of the things in Operation Anchorage are assumed to be second hand sources at best so I wonder how much of the details from the original might’ve gotten lost in translation when they put it into VR. Also I do like the idea that the giant orange derek frame in the center is already retrofitted into a type of Gauss canon, honestly that’s what I already assumed it was

Could you do the Chinese bomber next?

It's good to see that you're able to make videos at a healthy pace despite your increased workload.

When they say it was fitted for long range, that refers to the distance the vehicle can drive before needing to be resupplied

long range means missions of distance since it is a robot it would be ideal for long range missions

I think the laser weapon's power supply can be explained even without the obvious caveat that the tank might not even be canon because of General Chase's exagerations, and cut content explicitly state it as such. Basically, if youre jerry rigging a tank together, you might take an emplaced (i.e. a big turret) or salvaged weapon (e.g. from a ship or aircraft) with its own power supply or even ammunition (similar to the energy cells smaller energy weapons use) That power source might run the weapon but not be enough for the vehicle.

Long Range means how far it can move, not shoot. Range is also used for how far the tank can move Also, heavy armor and stronger than their arsenal is definitely from the view point of a standard soldier operating without armored They may have missile launchers, but *given it's fallout* they'd have to get in range of the chimera to use them, and we see that it CAN tank a good few missiles Also also, it may have been a refinery, but that doesn't mean they store that much fuel, just the crude oil that you cannot use in the engines I imagined they also designed it in the standard art style with nuclear, only for the story writers decided to make it a standard fueled engine

well hello there fellow curse of oak island enjoyer. But yes making it into a laser Anti Tank unit would be better, though i did always think its rocket capabilities were more in the way of small but high yield rockets or potentially lots of smaller rockers meant to overwhelm an armoured units defensive systems. My head cannon was the rockets arent being used because the attacking infantry was to close.

You can actually see from some angles that the propeller isn't turning on the Far Harbour boat.

It's probably the "alpha predator" in Anchorage because of the lack of, for example, any of 4's heavy vehicles or tanks. Considering it's actually quite powerful in a head-on fight, it'd make sense that a bunch of basic troops, or even sentrybots, would struggle to do much. It's also a pretty good show of why power armor never overtook tanks: Odds are a few Chimeras would more than hold the line against even a massive push of pure T-51 troops.

So I don't usually comment on vids, but I would like to put forward a theory. Well two of them in fact. First You can see little slits in the frame where the Chinese welded the turret to the already existing superstructure. Could those slits be a sort of armored (well armored enough to have sensors not be blinded by various things like the light reflection off of snow) viewport for internal camera's? (you can see them much more clearly on the mining rig that has its rig pivoted up) Secondly, could the Chimera be remote controlled instead of being fully autonomous? Trying to power an AI core off of a regular generator might be a bit difficult, but running essentially an unmanned but still controlled vehicle probably would be a bit easier. (also might explain the lack of sensors, since it would have had a crew with it to handle other tasks like finding pockets of oil to drill) Oh and another theory. Could there have been another variant of the chimera with longer ranged weapons? Something like long barreled rocket racks? Or ones with just overall longer ranged weaponry? Just a thought.

Now I’ve got the head cannon that the reason the Chimera looks the way it does in the Simulation is because the real one really did use stealth tech, so the US forces never actually saw an intact Chimera.

From what I know of IRL laser weaponry and comparing it to the ingame lore regarding lasers as well as the advanced state of power generation technology in the Fallout universe, fossil fueled engines for the chimera, especially to power its laser, isn’t as far fetched as you think. Great example are the laser turrets in FO4 But given the severe shortage of oil in the fallout universe, I agree with you in that the tank should’ve been nuclear powered

How to fix the Chimera: *Slap some era on it!*

9:55 you would not believe how wide i grinned when i heard you mention the Zaku

Also to the point about conventional power sources and energy weapons, I took part in trials and tests for a defense contractor over 15 years ago which involved an anti-air laser system meant for the C-RAM role. It was an outgrowth of the MTHEL and other related projects, but it was a solid-state laser rather than a chemical one and was sufficient to burn into and detonate rockets, artillery shells, and mortars at range off of a conventional power plant mounted in a light armored vehicle. It took time to charge between shots, but again this was some years back. I can only assume that by the 2060s or later, such a system would be far more efficient and capable even if it still ran off of a gas power plant.

Would definitely like to see more vehicles in Fallout. I also always found it funny when they say that the Chimera is more than a match for anything the Americans have fielded in Alaska when the whole boss fight revolves around you, a singular man or squad equipped with power armor and infantry portable weaponry, take it down relatively easily. It definitely proves that the T-51 and maybe even the T-45 power armors can effectively replace light armored vehicles entirely. Also, if the Chimera has no “eyes” and no hatches but can be disabled with the robotics perk, might it be some kind of drone? Controlled by a Chinese specialist somewhere?

During the first part of the DLC, there's a part in a cave where you see the tanks + some inf from a distance, the guy that you are with says something like "...luckily we are out of range".

There are lasers that use a chemical reaction to power them instead of electricity.

Its a Drone - its 'umanned', by controlled by a human off somewhere else. That would explain everything.

It took me a while to watch this video because I've been dealing with health problems and medical red tape, but it was worth the wait! I really like your idea for improvements, a nuclear powered Gauss cannon tank destroyer is pure Fallout, and it makes me giddy just imagining it. Great work!

@Spydingo u question the physics behind the laser-turret that can melt organic life, when they have plasma rifles which aren`t even possible, in the way that the projectile could hold the fourth state of aggregation while traveling through air without a permanent acceleration device on it. Even with one it would simply have a layer of plasma that wouldnt make any difference in destroying the target.

This reminds me of when I wanted to make a mod about the Anchorage battle and modeled a two possible successors to the Chimera, they had 100mm guns in an SU100 like casemate mount and one had a gauss machinegun turret.

Because this is science fiction it isn't improbable that the drill system was based on lasers itself. That would be much easier to manage torque wise and would make the laser weapon system more of re-working of systems than simply an add-on. That would explain why the power system wasn't replaced, although I agree a combustion engine would never provide enough power.

Just remember that canonically the Chimera tanks were likely not real. They were made up by General Chase who was slowly becoming more and more paranoid and deranged.

Could the dish on top just be a really accurate radar used instead of sensors?

"The strongest tank in existence" juryrigged from an old mining vehicle with spare weapons strapped on .

Actually, I think it is possible for a diesel tank to use an energy weapon. The Galting uses its own EC Packs, and the tanks gun looks kinda similar, maybe it's a chinese version attached to the tank, powered by its own supply

About the power plant being ineffective for the weapons system; theres the possibility that the turret add-on has a fusion generator built into the platform, while the hull is still powered via the convention engine system

lots of cheeky lines in this episode. I love it XD, keep it coming man!

So this is essentially a sci-fi Chinese bob semple tank.

I think the tank was light weight due to in needing to be airdropped into Alaska and to get off a boat on to ice sheets to get onland, much like the VDVs BMD-1. Seems like it would be airdropped into the fight and uses sorta like Warhammers 40k eldar suppoirt weapons. Also sensor tech is in the orange dome seen at 1:30 it sorta would match the theme of the stealth suit

The Chimera Tank reminds me of the military equipment that the purple guys in Planetside 2 have

btw in your previous video all flaws might actually be explained/excused with the information stored in the bunker of the simulation since a terminal mentions that the soldiers wich were there said the simulation wasn't anything like the real deal and that the general wanted it despite like that, so the engineers had to change the simulation. One day, maybe one day we get an actually good and logical Anchorage dlc MOD that even make the game feel like a real new game itself.

good video, your production quality is amazing. glad I found your channel.

I always thought the main weapon of the chimera was mounted in that big orange casemate! Figured they didn't or couldn't shoot close range infantry well enough to avoid damaging the fuel depot. Otherwise, I'm not sure what that multi-ton orange platform is used for. Perhaps it's a remnant of its use as a mining rig, but you'd think such components would be removed. The missile pod and laser turret greatly remind me of tow missile pods and coaxial machine guns, respectively.

Haha jokes on you! My life can’t disappear when starfield comes out because I don’t have one!

awh nice, this is a really cool tank design

Me to the Patton Tank using a certain meme format: "You will never be a Mammoth Tank from Command and Conquer nor an Apocalypse or even an Overlord."

Low hanging fruit but I think the main reason the Chimera is so deadly is simply because in the terrain they fight in, its the ONLY vehicle that functions in a capacity to be useful. I mean the tanks would simply sink into the snow and mud, and as we can see in the ground combat IFV would also suffer a similar fate. Really under equiped and half frozen american troops fighting a giant drilling platform that was designed to crush trees underneath it, and by that measure was built to be super rugged would give the chinese a mobile Nearly bullet proof fireing platform that could GO anywhere american troops could. Can you imagine? You hike up half a mountain through a forrest terrain no vehicle save a helicopter could traverse and suddenly this friggen huge Iron behemoth drives over a 100 year old tree as thick as two men and proceedes to launch missiles and lasers at anything that movies, thats terrifying. On the subject of the similuation though, we know for a fact chase deviated from the actual historical accounts so the chimera's in the simulation may have been different then the ones that were actually deployed, heck the rig could have been used to launch theature grade semi ballistic missiles, or some other contraption, god only knows what the chinese were using the dang things for. And as always dingo, great vid always love to watch when you post a new one! Have you considered covering the shuttle from fallout 2? Or perhaps the Virgo lander? The space stuff in fallout is so much fun, I wish we could see more of the military vehicles in fallout.

Regarding some of the gripes about the simulation made after around the 10 minute mark, it's outright said in-universe that the Anchorage simulation took some historical liberties, though whether it was to make the simulation more useful as a training tool or to stroke General Chase's ego is largely up to speculation. One of those diversions from the actual battle, humorously enough, is the Chimera itself. No such vehicle was present at the actual battle in-universe (in fact, if China's fuel situation was so dire, they likely didn't have any armored assets at all), the vehicle was created and added to the simulation purely to give soldiers the opportunity to practice combat against an armored enemy. This begs the question though: why they would go through the effort to make up a technical based on a mining vehicle instead of an actual Chinese tank? Oh, and you did miss one animated vehicle in the 3D Fallout games: the Boomers' B-29 from New Vegas (after being restored, of course).

a very smart workaround indeed!

3:40 I have a theory on this. What if the Patton was a prototype tank that was push into limited production in and around the Commonwealth simply due to the technological base that Boston was, however on the front lines, tanks like the Patton weren't seen or even heard of. Like, if you really look at the Patton, why would a main battle tank have exposed engines, two massive almost unwieldy guns and a strange and experimental track layout without it being some kind of prototype? Maybe the Patton was a response to the Chimera once the Anchorage incursion was delt with.

As the Russians have a Cosmonaut rescue vehicle or screw tank. I am surprised that someone hasn't made an armored anpbiouse screw reconess car/vehicle base on the Russian Cosmonaut rescue vehicle as a chassy, with say a Abrams, or Bradly armored vehicle concept. Admittedly the power source to the screws would have to be extremely fast and the weight to weapons ratio calculated. But it might be a good swamp, lateral water anti drug, or piracy vessel if deployed in sufficient numbers? Think javelin for tanks stinger helicopter mechen guns anti drug dealer. or anti pirates.

Isn't there a holotape where the programmers for the simulation are talking about how they came up with the tank for the simulation and that it's a bit too ridiculous to believe or was that cut content I'm remembering?

New subscriber here, I subbed after your double Dragon bomber video. As it so happens I'm an underground gold miner with over 20 years of experience and I wanted to point out that your assumption about the drill rig needing to be stabilized is correct even with the screw drive. I have worked with a drill called a cubex and it's a smaller tracked self propelled drill rig that has four hydraulic Jacks, one on each corner that must be deployed while drilling for stability despite being tracked so your assumption is correct. I have never seen a drill rig that does not use Jack's or out riggers. Good job on the video overall, I'm glad I subscribed.

China hadn’t mastered portable fusion power or batteries in a way that would have really made sense to be able to cobble together a makeshift tank with. It really drives home why they’re in this war and why they lost it to see how asymmetrical the warfare has become between the US and China. Power armor being the darkest omen to any hope of a Chinese victory. But yes this tank would’ve been ruined by about any standard light vehicle with decent range.

One video and I’m subscribed - time to peruse your backlog

great video as always

Quick note MANPADs are anti air weapons (MAN-Portable Air Defence Systems). Maybe you could design a dual use but no one has. Anti armour is just an AT (Anti Tank) weapon or ATGM (Anti Tank Guided Missile) if it has post launch guidance whether that's manual or automatic.

Isnt there an audio tape literally stating these tanks are in universe fiction?

I'd love to see your take on the Corvega Atomic V8 and how that would work. it seems quite strange to me, suggesting some hind of V8 combustion engine that still requires no gas due to fusion power. Maybe steam or something

A screw propped nuclear powered cargo, troop/ passenger vehicle could be a great repurposed post appoclost buss/ cargo truck adventure. Someone gives you say 50 capes they get 2 M.R.E.s and two gallons of water. And a seat which covers sleeping pallet, electric to recharge power cells, and a ride to where you are going. So for an extra 10 caps cargo say 1 ton. Think merchant food safety,cargo shipping. Much better adventure idea than battle tank, or train. G.M. adjust variables caps cargo capacity, vehicle passenger numbers. Leave speed fast rad resistance high. basic resources think vending machines on bus/ train. Possibly fairy boats.

something about a military grade terrain twister sounds as awesome as it does impractical i love it.

Animated land vehicles... one comes to mind, though I suppose you could rule it not a land vehicle. Liberty Prime.

It would of been neat if the Chimera launched dozens of smoke or flash grenades before using its main weapon.

Alright... First, the sim Chimera doesn't seem to be using its main armament, which appears to have been located in the hull where the drill used to be, just as real tanks don't use their gun against infantry. Now that looks like a port for a damn huge laser. It's just not there in the sim. Second, the US tank is ballistic, the Chimera is energy- based. We don't know how the two compare. Maybe a long range directed energy weapon can kill a ballistic tank from afar? Third, if a Mr Handy floats, so too can a Chimera. It can't be heavy for that type of propulsion, but it has to be as a tank. So it might actually float, at least to a degree. Fourth, the sim is described as altered from realistic on request of the US general. The tank doesn't seem to have a conventional diesel, nor armor. We also don't know its true scale- notice how small and out of place it is. I think that a real one would be at least twice its size. It's also not outlandish to expect a drilling platform to be very large, like a GDI MARV. In conclusion, I think the sim Chimera is a tool of propaganda intended to boost recruit morale. A real one would probably wipe anything short of power armor to cinders.

So as a fall out tech service vehicle just in game add fusion power cells.

Loving the content man

My only issue with a unmanned ground vehicle is what's going to happen if you're controller or whatever controls that equals like disconnects or is damaged those vehicle stop or does it keep driving in that direction

Vehicle that moves on its own animation USS Constitution

Would like to see your take on the presence of sherman tanks in fallout (the original, and tactics).

I can only assume the PLA used the Chimera more as a sort of tank destroyer or SPG, using its weapons to outrange American armor and kill it before it can get close enough to uses its guns. But then why do they complain about the armor being harder than it actually is?

As we see in game the vehical never uses all its weapons at once. Personal in my head cannon that yellow drilling derick was home to a masive fixed minning laser, which would have given it an advantage at long range over the open Ice as any paton 2 nosing out to take a shot would have been chopped in half. and the 2 that you encounter in the deppo have had that laser dismounted and re-fitted turret stile for short range engaments and as a result its much weaker than normalk as it can not draw from the vehicals reactor. Also mottors and drives requre constant lubrication and maintinance to keep working under such low tempritures. Mabie the deppo was a weakness as without it the screw drives would have sezed up and since they didn't have the engineers available the could not have got them running again.

I really want to see non-apocalyptic Fallout. Can someone make a New Vegas mod? HOI4? Robot armies and UGV’s are for forces that need that autonomy lacking professional manpower and training facilities as long as said robots are cheaper than the manned hardware.

Can you cover the jeep seen in Fallout 76? I wanna know more about it

You are forgetting that AO is a simulation. So not all you can see can be taken at face value.

Love the video dude! I actually loved seeing more of the pre war conflict in this dlc even if it was a sim with inaccuracies in the lore. I wonder what else we might see of the American and Chinese war machines Int he future?

isnt this just a playground game blown out of proportion after a few centuries? turns out the tank was a toy jin wei got after seeing his brother wei jin having the same one

Reminds me of the shagohod a lot.

I sure hope so, or else they would't spinn

Is there anyway to edit the Chimera in the files to be spawned in the wasteland? Would the screws even be viable on a rocky and dirty based environment such as the capital wasteland to begin with?

Nice

This video is great! I have always like the chimera, and Fallout Chinese technology in general

3:28 they might be refering to localy, the patton might be in service but its unlikely they were deployed in alaska, at least not in the ankoridge area given the remote and hostile enviroment displayed in the simulation, hell even if they did have them on standby and ready to use that dosnt mean the chinese troops cant take advantage of the mobility of their specalized armor and bring it places the patton cant, then you get localized armored supeority, honestly its loadout reflects this, its more of a heavy fire support vehicle with its armment, its like a weird mix of the BMPTs armment, the Uran 9s autonomy and ZIL-2906s extream mobility in extream low heat environs, it also could still be part of a mineing oporation, for all we know it might be an automated mule for helping transport ore or moving the mineing gear into position to be deployed by on sight personal

What’s the big rail gun looking thing?

It could be remotely activated and used. Giving it a chance to shut down the 5G Ai tractor from ground O

Can you do a video on the Mobile Base Crawler in Fallout 3 Broken Steel DLC?

I really never cared for how the US was said to have fallen into a stalemate upon invading mainland China. The momentum that the Americans developed after routing the PRC from Alaska wouldn't just fizzle out that easily. The Chinese were all but out of fuel and other key resources whereas the US's power armor, weapons, and arguably their vehicles were becoming more and more nuclear-powered by nature. If it did become a war of attrition, eventually that was going to favor the US simply because they could wait out the Communists and their vanishing ability to wage even a defensive war. Maybe the Americans weren't on the verge of charging into Beijing and toppling the government, but they likely knew their days were numbered just the same. In the real world, such a scenario is considered existential for the CCP. They're more than well aware that if they were ever deposed, it would go about as well for any of the surviving Party officials as it would for the KWP in North Korea. Best case is they take Jingwei's way out, or wind up in show trials to be executed later. The long and winding history of human rights abuses and outright genocide against their own people were likely mirrored in the Fallout universe. If America wound up being so totalitarian and horrid to her neighbors and own citizens, just imagine what the Maoists got up to across the Pacific.

I mean... this is a big reach of logic, but considering how sparse fossil fuels were at that point,, a full tank of gas probably costing at least a couple tens of thousand dollars? I could see research going into hybrid, super-efficient gas powerplants being developed to compensate for the cost and maybe being able to power a laser weapon. Compared to some of the tech in Fallout, it's not that implausible.

I prefer "cybertank" to "UGV"! ;)

You mentioned a power plant problem and yet you suggest a stealth upgrade I don't know how those stealth suits work but notice how they only cover a human i think the power requirements would be larger with a stealth system. Secondly on the power plant, maybe unlike America Chinese have not yet been able to miniaturize fusion power systems, thus the power plant being gas or diesel. Look to Battletech for an example where gas powered tanks can use lasers, with power amplifiers. I do think the lack of missiles could be due to supply issues, missiles instead being mostly relegated to anti-armor infantry to combat the T-51B Armor. Thirdly Could the chimera possibly be remotely controlled? then again it kinda lacks equipment for that too, but it would be another option Fourthly:Considering it was a simulation and evidence from the end of the simulation it's possible that it's all fake and that it's only what the US thought they'd be up against, It's possible that they weren't even in the intial planning stages of taking back Alaska by the time the simulation was made, Or going a bit further China had not even taken Anchorage at that point, but they were expecting it and thus, planning ahead.

Well you see America has this thing where we say our weapons suck and everyone else says theirs out great. So you se the Chimera IS better than anything America has and it totally actually exists in massive numbers and wasn't probably a cobbled together one off that was embellished upon like the entire operation anchorage sim is. I mean Operation Anchorage is 100% accurate give us more funding. Also if i was remaking the chimera id integrate the laser into the drill to have a lower profile.

Why is there an engligh "danger" writing on a chinese tank?

I love how you took the time to show a labeled map, but cannot get 4th grade level grammar right.

Discount Shagohod

This made me just realize how many awesome videos this guy will make when starfield comes out.