Paladin (vehicle)

Paladin (vehicle)
Vehicle name	Paladin
Background info
Faction	Axon
Game info
Type	Ground
Appears in	Unreal Tournament 2004 Unreal Tournament 3

The Paladin is a vehicle found in Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Tournament 3.

Overview

The Paladin is a defensive-oriented vehicle. Locomotion is provided via eight wheels and is rather slow, but to make up for it, it has a powerful defense attack.

Primary fire makes the Paladin shoot an Ion Blast, which makes considerable damage in a small area of effect. This is an offensive attack.

Secondary fire creates a large energy shield, which protects the Paladin and surrounding units from any attack. Unfortunately, the shield can only protect one area around the Paladin, and the shield also needs a recharge time when it is exhausted. This is a defensive tactic.

Note that the shield will stop attacks - be they projectiles or hitscan - but anything else - Players, other vehicles, etc - will pass through the shield harmlessly. For this case, by pressing Primary fire while the shield is up, the blast will detonate around the shield, and then release the energy in the general area around the tank, commonly called the "Shockwave." This is a very useful ability, and it helps counter the tank's weakness of slow mobility by allowing it the chance to free itself if it gets mobbed.

Unreal Tournament 2004

Paladin (vehicle)
Vehicle name	Paladin
Background info
Faction	Axon
Game info
Type	Ground
Health	800
Seats	1
Seat functions	Fires Ion Blast, Activates Shield

"The Paladin is a prototype forward-attack vehicle recently added to the Tournament for final testing: an all-terrain armored vehicle sporting a single turret with both powerful offensive and defensive capabilities.

On the offensive, the turret throws high-speed plasma cores that detonate on impact, with a large explosive force. It's defensive capability is a directional shield, also controlled via the turret. The shield is strong enough to completely protect a limited area from incoming fire, although it does not stop large objects like personnel or other vehicles. However, the shield's energy matrix is somewhat fragile, and to prevent the projector unit overloading, the energy used to dissipate incoming fire is itself discharged, weakening the shield until the projector has time to recharge."

– Vehicle description

Unreal Tournament 3

Paladin (vehicle)
Vehicle name	Paladin
Background info
Faction	Axon
Game info
Type	Ground
Health	800
Seats	1
Seat functions	Fires Ion Blast, Activates Shield

"This all-terrain vehicle features a signature projection turret with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities that are unique to Axon design. As an offensive measure, the projection turret launches high-speed plasma cores at long range, which discharge on impact with a wide-area explosive force.

While more than capable on the offensive side of a battle, the defensive capabilities of the Paladin are unmatched in modern warfare. The projection turret can also deploy a large energy shield matrix that is strong enough to completely protect the shielded area from any and all incoming fire.

As a last resort measure, the projection turret can even launch plasma cores directly into its own shield matrix discharging them around the entire perimeter of the Paladin with a burst of energy that is deadly to any nearby dismounted infantry."

– Vehicle description

The Cicada appears in UT3 with an improved set of visuals from it's 2004 debut. The shield no longer remains deployed if it goes through buildings or other level geometry, and it will get dimmer with sustained damage to allow visual estimation of how charged the shield is. Furthermore, using the shield combo to knock away nearby infantry is now instantaneous, as well as depleting the shield slightly, taking about six combos before the shield is down. It seems to be slightly faster, as well.

Related Achievements

	Armadillo  10
	Get the "Roadkill" award in 10 matches.

	Jack of All Trades  10
	Kill an enemy with every vehicle (except Hoverboard).

Tips and tricks

• The Paladin is an underused vehicle that most combatants consider a weaker version of a Goliath with a projector shield attached. Effective against infantry and light vehicles but not much else. This is false. What is true is that most people do not have the patience to learn how to use the Paladin.
• The Paladin is perfect for assault on an enemy position because of its shield. However, the shield only protects one way and does not allow the user to shoot outwards. Still, a Paladin can be used as a shield for the ground troops, which will be allowed to shoot outwards.
• The main disadvantage of the Paladin is that it cannot beat a Goliath in combat, and therefore, Paladins should try their best to avoid Goliath encounters whenever possible.
• The vehicle is also unique in the speed for its weight, being able to travel decent distances quickly, given it has enough time to accelerate.
• The plasma attack is not powerful enough to kill a Scorpion, or stagger it very well, making the Paladin only able to avoid an incoming kamikaze is to use the heightened speed Paladins have.
• As a rule of thumb while in combat: shield first, shoot later. When you fire your combo cannon your shield will not come back online until it has reloaded. However upon deactivating your shield you can fire your combo cannon as soon as it disappears, even if you just used the Paladins self-combo ability. The projector shield can take a couple thousand points of damage, so line your shot up and wait until the right time to let loose. If your shield gets overloaded it will have to fully recharge before you can reactivate it. Do not let this happen. Find cover. Also: Make sure your shield does not collide with any solid objects, such as terrain, or else it will deactivate.
• The Paladins combo cannon does about two hundred points of damage and takes about two seconds to reload. The plasma ball is dead accurate and can travel extremely long distances. The Paladins turret can also point in almost any direction in less than a second. Combatants who can lead shots should have no trouble hitting all but the most agile vehicles.
• The Paladin is also surprisingly maneuverable. Although it suffers from a low top speed it is able to muscle up very steep slopes with little loss of traction or momentum, allowing it to reach areas that are impossible to access with any other wheeled vehicle. For example a good Paladin driver on WAR-Islander can bypass the barricades and literally climb up and over the mountain on the left side of the map, dropping themselves right into the enemy base. Creative use of the Paladins immense torque will make you that much more deadly.

• The turret can reach up higher than a Goliath's, but still has the same slow swivel speed. This is good news for skilled Manta pilots, but disables the ability to safely park above the Paladin in Raptors or other Aircraft. Attacking in more than one direction is a perfect strategy, as the Paladin can only protect from one direction.
• Like all heavy vehicles Paladins can be easily overwhelmed if attacked from multiple angles.
• Its primary weakness is that its turret cannot point straight up. Infantry can launch AVRiL's over the Paladin and lock on when the missile is directly above it, bypassing the shield. Paladin drivers can blow it up before it hits by self-comboing when the missile comes within range, but this requires very good timing to consistently work.
• Other strategies include ramming the Paladin with a Goliath or flying above it and shooting it as much as possible before the inevitable swarm of AVRiL's lock onto you.
• If you are on foot DO NOT under any circumstance get within the Paladins self-combo range unless you enjoy painting the Paladin with your spleen.

Gallery

UT2004 Paladin on the map ONS-IslandHop.

UT2004 Concept Art

UT3 Concept Art

UT3 Model

UT3 Model