[Red Alert 3 & Uprising] Soviet Ore Collector #cnc #redalert #redalert3
17https://cnc.fandom.com/wiki/Soviet_ore_collector_(Red_Alert_3)
The Soviet Union's nearly unaccountable military spending required the nation to rapidly fill its coffers with resources that could be directly applied to production. Therefore, fleets of vehicles known simply as ore collectors became a common sight in resource-rich areas, transferring ore between mines and nearby refineries.
Each ore collector is dutifully assembled by loyal Soviet men, women, and children from recycled parts taken from other Soviet vehicles expended in battle: Their cockpits are based on the same bubble canopies used in flak cannons and in Kazminov Design Bureau's own Bullfrogs; their collapsible pontoons are taken from Sputnik exploration vehicles; their reactive-armor coats are composed of sheeted alloys smelted from Hammer tanks and Apocalypse tanks; their cargo bins are made from the recycled fuselages of downed MiG fighters, and so on. Each collector's designated driver is given a framed, commemorative list of names and addresses of all the loyal soldiers whose vehicle parts were used to create that particular unit. Ironically, in spite of the rather conservative original design principle behind the ore collector, each one turns out to be fairly costly to manufacture, in part because of all the formality and ceremony around the respectful use of recycled vehicle parts.
Ore collector pilots are civilian drivers who are, for various reasons, unable to fight on the front lines. The Soviet Union created an expensive and elaborate publicity campaign that brought in collector drivers by the thousands, promising that volunteer drivers would not be incarcerated for thought-crimes for not enlisting in military services. These drivers were assured their personal safety as well, due to the ore collector's ability to deploy full-body reactive armor that easily withstood 70mm tank shells during tests. Individuals particularly gifted in mathematics were given the cushiest ore-collection posts, where they could readily apply their skills to tabulating massive sums of the resources they themselves would bring in for the good of their countries. This gave these men some legitimate work to do on the job, in between occasionally having to defend themselves from Allied counteroffensives.