Game Info:
Fast and powerful late game unit.
Strategy:
Modern Armor is just like its predecessor, the Tank, only more-so. Modern Armor is much stronger than the Tank unit, although it still suffers the Tank's limited sight range and penalty when attacking cities. Modern Armor can continue to move after combat.
Historical Info:
Modern armor is significantly improved over even the best tanks of World War II. Today's tanks are bigger, faster, have far better armor and weapons, and, perhaps most importantly, are provided with sophisticated computers and communications equipment which greatly improves their power and survivability in the deadly modern battlefield. A modern tank can scream across the battlefield at 40 miles per hour while firing away with pinpoint accuracy at a target hundreds of yards away, a targeting computer minutely adjusting the tank's barrel, compensating for each bump or pothole in the road.
On the modern battlefield, the largest threats to modern armor come from enemy armor and artillery, enemy fighters, and helicopter gunships. Infantry rarely carry weapons strong enough to destroy enemy tanks - except of course, for their radios, which they can use to call in artillery or air power.
Tactics
Modern armor is very powerful and quite versatile. Its massive combat strength makes it very useful when used in city garrisons, and against pretty much any enemy unit. Though it receives a penalty when attacking cities, its overall attack strength against a city is larger than that of mechanized infantry. The fact it can move away from hostile territory after attacking makes it very useful for softening up an enemy city after a successful blitzkrieg campaign without putting it in harm's way. Be careful of helicopter gunships, however, as they can tear open armored units like modern armor easily if they get the chance. Americans have a distinct advantage in armored warfare, as their civilization ability effectively cancels out the limited visibility that modern armor normally has.
Trivia
- The modern armor used in Civilization V is mainly based off of the German Leopard 2A5, which is debatably the world's best tank today, as is the case with the American M1A2 Abrams and Russian T-90MS.
- In past Civilization games, the model for modern armor was the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.