| Armoured Car | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Strength Land/Sea |
1.2 / 0.4 |
|
Speed Land/Sea |
72 / 21 km/h |
|
Production time: |
2 days divided by workshop level |
|
Cost: |
7,000£, 2,000 iron ore, 1,500 oil |
|
Requirements: |
Workshop Level 1 |
|
Daily needs: |
5 tons of oil per unit |
|
Gold-Feature: |
No |
The Armoured car (also called the "AC") is the fastest unit in the game reaching a speed of 72 km/h on land. It is also the first mechanical unit to be available to build (Day 2) and the only unit that can be built in a workshop. With a level 2 workshop it takes 1 day to produce an AC. Upgrading the workshop to a factory will not reduce the production time anymore.
Even though armoured cars are the fastest unit in the game this rarely comes in use. An army of armoured cars will easily take quite alot of losses when facing the same amount of infantry, and considering the cost of them (which is considerable in comparison to infantry in early game) it makes them a bad investment. On top of that, armoured cars are slower on enemy land than the enemy's infantry is, so taking advantages of holes in enemy fronts and causing havoc behind lines isn't really a practical idea either.
Armoured cars are most efficient as early "mini-tanks". When stacking 1-2 armoured cars with an army of around 50-100 infantry, the strength of the army group will increase and the infantry will take less losses. This is essentially what tanks do as well. Armoured cars are a great support for infantry when attacking forts in early game and artillery doesn't become available before day 8. Armoured cars are well suited for playing aggressively early in the game.
However, as cheap as the armoured cars may be in comparison to other mech units, they still make a difference in your economy in early stages of a game. Building too many armoured cars is a waste of resources, since you can put your resources to better use by increasing your country's infrastructure (ports/railroads/forts). Especially for countries which have little oil and iron excessive construction of armoured cars will prolong the construction of factories and artillery.