Challenger
Talk20on this wiki
 | |
 | |
| Style | Tank |
|---|---|
| Class | Semi Cab |
| Hostage class | Truck |
| Capacity | 2 |
| Speed | 25 |
| Mass | 19000 |
| Torque | 15000 |
| Hit Points | 30000 |
| Road Grip | 0.06 |
| Steering Speed | 15.0 |
| Steering Angle | 50 |
| Appearances | Saints Row: The Third |
| Law Enforcement | Steelport National Guard |
| Randomly Parked? | No |
The Challenger is a vehicle in Saints Row: The Third.[1]
- Not to be confused with the Crusader.
Contents |
Description
Edit
The favored tank of Steelport National Guard, the Challenger is a heavily-armored vehicle boasting phenomenal endurance and excellent firepower. It is armed with a trio of potent weapons - a 120mm Cannon, a coaxial heavy machine gun, and a roof-mounted heavy machine gun used by the passenger. Like all tanks, the Challenger can only be stolen if the gunner manning the roof-mounted gun is killed.
Whilst not as powerful as STAG's Crusader tank, the Challenger is nonetheless a devastating force if used correctly. Heavy armor paired with exceptional firepower means that it has little trouble surviving the worst of what enemy gangs can dish out, and its sheer mass allows it to simply flatten enemy vehicles caught in its path - only heavily-armored vehicles (although the STAG N-Forcer can be crushed) or exceptionally large vehicles (such as the Municipal) cannot be crushed in this fashion.
All of this is mitigated by a few shortcomings, however. The Challenger is painfully slow and easily out-maneuvered and is extremely vulnerable from the air. Additionally, the use of a tank means that enemies will take notice - Gangs will deploy Brutes and enemies with Annihilator RPGs or GL G20s, Police and National Guard units will call for Air Support in the form of Eagles, Tornados, and Vulture, and STAG will deploy F-69 VTOLs, Crusaders, and Soldiers packing RPGs, ensuring that enemies will, in time, wear the Challenger's endurance down. Attack helicopters - especially the Eagle and Vulture - and STAG VTOLs are the Challenger's kryptonite; the roof-mounted HMG has difficulties dealing with these foes.
Also, getting into trouble with the Challenger is almost unavoidable. This is because even if the player calls the Tank Homie and get a Challenger that doesn't automatically warrant a five-star notoriety rating, the sight of the 70 ton vehicle rolling down the street will terrorize the pedestrians and drivers as they panic and try to make a futile escape, which will lead them right in front of the Challenger. This may cause the Challenger to accidentally run them over, crush vehicles, or cause other type of property damage while trying to avoid these situations. This inevitably, leads to police attention.
A Challenger is delivered via the Tank Homie ability. Like most military vehicles, it cannot be painted or customized. Additionally, it cannot make use of Nitrous, even with the "all vehicles have Nitrous" ability. The new activity - Tank Mayhem, gives players a Challenger and demands they rack up as much destruction as possible in a given time limit.
The Challenger features headlights and rear lights that are made up of three triangles that point to the outer edge of the vehicle.
LocationEdit
The easiest way to acquire a Challenger is to simply contact the Tank Homie, who will deliver one. Alternatively, the another way is to simply go out near a Crib and cause some havoc - Challengers begin showing up at maximum Notoriety (level 5). It's important to note that if you plan to highjack a Challenger, make sure you've killed its turret-gunner first. You will not be able to enter it until the gunner is dead.
Challengers will stop showing up once STAG has arrived in Steelport, but will return post-game, after STAG has been driven out.
ModificationsEdit
- The Challenger has a total of 4 Vehicle Customization options. It does not have Kneecappers or Wheel Options available.
- Mods include
- 2 Decal 1s
- 1 Grime 1s
- 1 Grime 2s
- Paints available are
- Body Color
- Trim Color
- Window Tint
TriviaEdit
- The Cheat Code for this vehicle in Saints Row: The Third is "givechallenger".
- The Challenger resembles the real world M1A1 Abrams, specifically, the M1-A1HA (Heavy Armor) version since it does not have the CITV (Commander Independent Thermal Viewer). It has features of the TUSK (Tank Urban Survival Kit) upgrade, specifically, the ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) side skirts. It also includes the additional armour package for the loader's weapon, though this is mounted on the commander's weapon (the loader's being absent) instead of using a Remote Weapon Station.
- The real driver station on the Abrams is located in the center on the lower hull, right under the cannon. There is no hatch here on the Challenger, and the player, as usual with videogame tanks, takes the role of the entire crew by climbing into the turret.
- It is named after the British Challenger Tank series.
- Driving it, while having police notoriety, causes the Steelport National Guard to send Bulldogs and Tornados after the player, as seen in the 8 minute gameplay trailer. This however, only happens when the player achieves notoriety of level 3 or above.
- Challenger notoriety works like this: Homie delivered tank and tanks stored in the garage warrants no notoriety to start off. This means the player can take them out of the garage or call the Tank Homie and vehicle deliver homie to get a tank without any trouble. Challengers that are jacked during a level 5 notoriety frenzy means there is no "complete" way to remove the notoriety. What this means is that even if the player drives the tank to a store or crib owned by the player, enters it to remove the notoriety, the instant they come back out and reenter the tank, it will automatically warrants a 5 star notoriety level. This means the only way to completely clear the wanted level is to enter the store, come back out but never enter the tank again.
- Once the Tank Homie upgrade is purchased, the player can phone to have one delivered to them. And if the player stores it into their garage, they can then call the Tank Delivery Homie to deliver another tank for them, thus having two tanks under their control simutaneously every 24 hours.
- The Challenger is the most durable ground vehicle in Saints Row: The Third, along with the ASP, Bear and Crusader, which all have exactly the same hit points.
- There is a bug affecting the Challenger, which can make the vehicle impossible to enter. This is due to the fact that the cannon barrel is solid. And since a good part of the barrel protrudes over the lower hull, if it struck solid ground, such as going down hill too fast, it may get stuck in it. If the tank is still moving forward, the stuck cannon barrel will act as a pivot and cause the tank to leave the ground permanently. Since the programming does not recognize this, it will cause the tank to shift, spin and "tapdance" wildly out of control. This is impossible to stop. The only thing the player can do is get out and move away from the tank since if they gets too close, they may get run over and get killed. THQ has promised to address this in an upcoming patch.
- The Challenger's treads spin, but its roadwheels do not.
- The police have unique dialogue when you are driving any Tank, for example, some cops can be heard saying: A tank... Are you serious?, Stop wrecking my town! and, You in the tank... Please pull over!
- The Protagonist will also have unique dialouge when fighting enemies in any Tank, such as How are you going to stop a tank?!
- Sometimes when being chased by the National Guard, the tanks chasing you will have flashing headlights like you would see on other police vehicles. The Challenger doesn't have any flashing lights or sirens and can only be triggered by the game's AI. You can also steal a Challenger with these flashing lights but you cannot turn them off and they stop flashing when the vehicle is stored or modified.
- The Challenger can be upgraded and recolored via a Rim Jobs glitch.
- If the Challenger's armor is upgraded to level 4, it makes the vehicle almost indestructible, being able to take constant fire from enemy tanks and helicopters for a long period of time.
- The Challenger, along with the Crusader, is practically the easiest way to "Grind" up the level and get money. This is due to the fact that the tank packs mean firepower and is tough to kill and killing gang members will earn the player a small respect and cash reward. Once reaching max notoriety, gang members will come at the player exceedingly fast. A good player can kill them very quickly with the Challenger's firepower. This means the Challenger can easilly chain combos very very quickly, allowing a steady flow of respect and cash which can quickly add up. This is true especially if the player is using the "bottleneck" tactic of channeling enemies from one direction. An example of which would be the Snatch activity near Kinzie's hideout. This activity is near a wharf with a long, narrow entrance ramp. Since the gang (Deckers) does not appear from the wharf side or the side alley, but only from the main street, the player can litterally park the Challenger deep inside the wharf and guard the entrance only. Once the enemy appears at the entrance, shoot them with either the main cannon or the co-axial machine gun without nary a damage to themselves. All of this means the player can rack up plenty of respect very quickly and the money earned can be used to buy upgrades at the upgrade store. In fact, if the player has the patience, they can easily "grind" all the way up to level 50 in one sitting with this tactic! However, note that this will only work with gangs and STAG, as regular police do not give respect or cash bonus.
- The Challenger, along with the Crusader can be used easily to complete some of the challenges such as kill Brutes, destroy vehicles, run people over, kill specialists, multi-kills etc.
