Chimera

The Chimera is a mining rig with a mounted laser cannon, acting as a Chinese battle tank, that was included in the Anchorage Reclamation simulation created by VSS at the behest of General Constantine Chase. Its actual deployment in Alaska is dubious, as unimplemented voice clips of VSS technicians in the add-on suggest that their presence is an outright fabrication by General Chase.

The Chimera is basically a low chassis propelled by screws, with a laser cannon jury-rigged to the drill tower. Originally, it was used for drilling in the Alaskan tundra.

This tank is one of the enemies added by the Operation: Anchorage add-on.

Characteristics
Chimera tanks are roughly on par with sentry bots and deathclaws in terms of durability and combat threat, although they are significantly larger and more imposing in appearance. They are equipped with a unique laser weapon similar to Liberty Prime's eye laser. Chimeras take slightly increased damage when shot in the screws, and noticeably increased damage when shot in the cannon or radar antenna.

Unlike standard armored fighting vehicles, the Chimera can be damaged with infantry weapons such as fragmentation grenades. This is presumably because the Chimera is built on a non-military, unarmored chassis.

Behind the scenes

 * The Russian and German militaries did toy with the idea of using screws for treads. The Russian vehicle, named ZIL-29061, was designed to rescue cosmonauts in extreme off-road conditions.
 * The name "Chimera" comes from Greek Myth. The Chimera is a monster with the body of a lion, along with the heads of a goat and lion, with a snake for a tail. In biology, the name has also been taken for any organism that appears to have a combination of traits of other organisms. For the vehicle, the name is appropriate, as it is a combination of various pieces of civilian mining equipment and military hardware.

Appearances
The Chimera tank appears only in the Fallout 3 add-on Operation: Anchorage.

Bugs

 * Sometimes when a grenade is thrown beneath the Chimera, it causes the vehicle to float several yards above the ground.