Imperator Bavarium Tank

This article has been evaluated to be at quality level 6. Bolo finds this pleasing, but she would like more.

Quality Level: (click here to learn more)

Imperator Bavarium Tank
Vehicle in Just Cause 3
Type	Armored fighting vehicle
Weapons	2 coaxial cannons and 1 machine gun
Rarity	Very rare
List of owners	Medici Military The Rebellion
Top speed (km/h)	111 (possibly even higher)
Top speed (mph)	68

The Imperator Bavarium Tank is a military armored vehicle in Just Cause 3.

Appearance

It's an 8-wheeled armored vehicle with a tank-like turret. The vehicle has a forcefield powered by Bavarium.

It closely resembles the real world B1 Centauro, Patria AMOS (Link two for Patria), Puma IFV, and Leopard 2. The turret and main cannon also resemble the gun of the PL-01.

The Rebel drop description reads: "The Imperator Bavarium tank is equipped with a powerful Bavarium Shield, which can deflect most projectiles and explosive weapons."

According to Rico in An Act of Piracy, it has many buttons.

The red 'glass' panels glowing across the vehicle's exterior are probably Bavarium based scanning technology, essential for visibility while deploying the force field.

It also shares a striking resemblance to the CS Odjur, what many believe to be its basis. According to the game files, it is made by Capstone, making this theory only more plausible.

Performance

Almost exactly the same as CS Odjur. The suspension is so soft that aiming the main guns while in motion is very difficult. Visually, it is equipped with 2 coaxial main guns despite firing one shell per shot. The vehicle is not completely bullet proof, as it begins to smoke and eventually explodes from very prolonged small arms fire. The tank is not too slow on flat ground, reaching 111 kp/h with nitrous equipped, but going uphill is painstakingly slow. The tank seems to be slightly less armored than the CS Odjur. When continuously shooting the Imperator Bavarium Tank and the CS Odjur with a minigun (likely the most powerful small-arms weapon in JC3) for over a minute, the bavarium tank seems to blow up before the Odjur does.

Despite the tank seemingly being slightly weaker than the CS Odjur, the Imperator Bavarium Tank is equipped with Bavarium shield technology similar to the Urga Mstitel, making it superior to all other tanks. The shield, once activated, lasts 4 seconds, and takes about 4.5 seconds to recharge. While activated, almost all weapons damage is deflected, rendering the vehicle invincible to almost any projectile. Certain weapons such as the eDEN Spark can deal damage to the tank even when the shield is enabled, even though damage on the tank is greatly reduced. The shield does NOT, however, protect against the tank running into walls, other vehicles, or explosives, therefore ramming into any enemy (besides infantry) is not advised. Additionally, the tank's shield can be disabled by an EMP weapon (like The Thunderbird or the Power Core).

According to speculation by Teo (in the mission An Act of Piracy), the shield can only be activated for a limited amount of time to let some coils cool. The activation time is noticeably shorter than its helicopter counterpart, the Urga Mstitel.

Versions and locations

Rebellion

• Unlocked for Rebel drop after liberating Cava Montana.

Medici Military

• Used by the Base Commander at the following two bases and can be hijacked at both:
  • Cava Geminos Nord.
  • Vulture.
• Two can spawn as enemy tank reinforcements while attacking Porto Coclea.
• Always patrolling Falco Maxime: Centcom. If the base is under Medici Military control, the tank will obviously retaliate against you and you'll have to hijack it. If the base is under Rebellion control, the vehicle is still in Medici Military livery (which could be a development oversight), but this one is now driven by a Rebellion soldier and will attack Medici Military.
• Appears in the missions:
  • An Act of Piracy - Is driven.
  • Three's Company - Is seen disassembled. See also: Vehicle wrecks.
  • A Long and Dangerous Road - 4 get blown up. They can still be operated however (before the EMP is activated).
  • Abandon Ship - Two show up during the second wave, but are promptly destroyed by the EMP.

Trivia

• One of the people involved in its designing, or at least very familiar with its design is Zeno Antithikara. In Dimah's lab at Grotta Contrabandero there are multiple books with the title: "Zeno and the art of Bavarium tank maintenance", which suggests that Zeno wrote this book and probably worked at the factory where they were built.
  • Dimah even mentions in the beginning of Three's Company that Zeno worked on this tank before "defecting".
  • The title of this book is a reference to the real life philosophical book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance written by Robert M. Pirsig, and published in 1974.
• The Bavarium that is mined by Di Ravello is the key to the vehicle's force field technology.
• Sometimes when Rico is close to a Rebellion soldier, he may say: "I've heard Di Ravello has invincible tanks up north. That can't be real."
• This tank was originally one of only two vehicles in the game with a Bavarium force field, the other being the Urga Mstitel. A third vehicle (with 3 variants), the Anvil omni directional industrial mech, was added by the Mech Land Assault DLC.
• "Imperator" is a Latin word that was synonymous with "emperor" in the days of the Roman Empire. Presumably the name was chosen to show the power and strength of the vehicle.
• This vehicle's coaxial main gun configuration is similar to the unusual Neubaufahrzeug, a Nazi heavy tank from early World War II. The Neubaufahrzeug, however, only has one larger, 75 mm, cannon, and its coaxial cannon is much smaller, a mere 37 mm.
• It's impractical and pointless to have coaxial main guns, because:
  • Coaxial main guns is a concept that was first tested during World War II by the Russians. Tests showed that it is a terrible idea, because firing one gun would off-set the aim. At very close range that would not make a difference, but at realistic battle distances it is completely useless.
  • Large warships, like cruisers and battleships, had multiple large guns in each turret, but those turrets were up to around 1000 tons each and could not be off-set that easily.
  • In the time needed to aim at the next target a single gun could already be reloaded.
  • There is nothing that two smaller guns could do better than a single bigger one could not.
  • The mortar it is based on produces a lot less recoil than a high velocity tank gun.
• The Rebel drop lists it as a tank, despite it actually being an armored car / infantry fighting vehicle.
• The vehicle is an upgraded and modified version of the CS Odjur. The main changes are that there is no extra pieces on the turret and no hull-mounted machine guns and headlights. The engine's exhausts are relocated on the back instead of the left (as the CS Odjur does) and has extra shielding on the back wheels.
  • It was most likely built by the Medici Military using existing CS Odjur tanks.
• In a gameplay trailer there was an antenna on the vehicle. This was then removed from the vehicle. See also: Cut game content from Just Cause 3.
• Depending on the lighting, the Medici Military one can appear brown, or black. It was believed that these were two different vehicle versions, but has been investigated and disproved. See for yourself in the gallery below, or go here for the discussion regarding this investigation.
• Sometimes the Rebellion driver at Falco Maxime: Centcom, may accidentally bump into his own jets preparing to take off, as his patrol route crosses the entrance to the hangar.
• The tank is the driving force behind at least three major storyline missions, An Act of Piracy, Three's Company, and A Long and Dangerous Road. The tank also plays a small role as part of Di Ravello's army in the mission Abandon Ship, but this is the last mission in which it appears.
• The IBT suffers from a glitch, that when using Boost Jump and landing on the front or rear wheels, the tank will accelerate uncontrollably in the opposite direction of its tilted direction. Because of this, the tank can accelerate to speeds in excess of 170km/h when tilted backwards with boost applied. A similar (if not the same) glitch has been seen on the CS Odjur.
• It's texture is saved in the folder \editor\entities\jc_vehicles\01_land\v0202_car_capstone_bavariumtank, which suggests, that it was (at least partially) build by the fictional company Capstone.
• There seems to be only 13 of this vehicle, if the above locations are counted correctly and rebel drop isn't included.

Gallery

Medici Military

The glow of the red glass, as seen at night.

The stolen tank driven by Rico toward the end of An Act of Piracy.

The tank from An Act of Piracy, now partially disassembled at the beginning of Three's Company.

Parked between a CS Odjur and a CS Baltdjur.

Being chased by an Urga Postolka in a pre-release promotional screenshot.

With a visible forcefield. Note the antenna. In a pre-release promotional screenshot.

Chasing a couple of army cars. Note the antenna. In a pre-release promotional screenshot.

Towing two SAMs, attached with grappler cables.

The friendly Medici Military-marked Imperator Bavarium Tank patrolling Falco Maxime: Centcom.

The Rebellion driver colliding with his own jets preparing to take off.

Alongside a (damaged) Medici Military CS Odjur at Vulture.

Another closer view of the glowing lights at Refugio Umbra.

A military Imperator Bavarium Tank driven to Refugio Umbra by the player.

The Rebellion

Towing a Squalo X7 from the Litore Torto lake.

The shield does not work under water.

Towing the biggest possible "SAM train".

One in the Mech Land Assault DLC. This one was ordered from Rebel drop because there are no Rebellion vehicles on Insula Lacrima.

A destroyed one on Falco Maxime: Centcom. Note the two Medici Military versions nearby and the destroyed Golden Urga Mstitel. The Mstitel can be considered a glitch because that vehicle is not supposed to exist in normal gameplay.

Color investigation

The pair of tanks that spawn at Porto Coclea.

The same pair of tanks, but now one appears brown.

The brown one, driven back to the location of the first picture, has now magically turned black again.

The tank that patrols Falco Maxime: Centcom.

This tank is used by the Base Commander at Vulture.

You will find this tank being used by the Base Commander at Cava Geminos Nord.

Under a white light, the tank appears dark grey with a hint of blue, similar to the above pictures.

Under an orange light, it very much looks brown.

A yellow light makes it appear green. Notice that the brown construction material (on the left) looks partially yellow and partially brown.

At Grotta Contrabandero, under some light.

Miscellaneous

The unlock screen, seen upon liberating Cava Montana.

As seen in the Rebel Drop menu.

The shield effect appears stronger when you just turn the shield on.

When the shield is on, it seems to glow less than when you just turn it on.

Both variants.

Would you rather be shielded, or invisible? See also: Just Cause 3 Bugs and glitches.

It's sturdy enough to be driven from Falco Maxime: Centcom to Porto Coclea.

Military variant at Grotta Contrabandero.

At Grotta Contrabandero. This was the one that was during Abandon Ship.