250/3 Funkpanzerwagen

The 250/3 Funkpanzerwagen is a DAK vehicle unit. In skirmishes, it is exclusively available to the Battlefield Espionage Battlegroup.

Once the appropriate battlefield perk is unlocked, the ability to deploy the unit via call-in becomes available. Alternatively, the unit can also be created as an upgrade conversion for the 250 Light Carrier.

The Funkpanzerwagen is a unique utility and support unit, similar to the 254 Reconnaissance Tractor. It has no weapons of its own and thus cannot contribute to fights directly, nor does it have a means of defending itself.

Instead, it has various abilities that provide support to the DAK army. Its signature ability is the Coordinate Ambush Operations toggle ability. When toggled on, this unit will camouflage all of the player's nearby infantry units, though the Funkpanzerwagen itself will not be camouflaged and has reduced movement speed during this. Infantry camouflaged this way will gain ambush bonuses when attacking to break their invisibility.

This unit also uniquely has the ability to produce the Goliath Demolition Vehicle for an expensive Munitions cost. Once deployed, the Goliath is essentially a potent 'demolition charge on wheels'. It is a mobile unit that can camouflage in cover and has very low mobility and durability, but if set up properly can be used to great effect in destroying enemies that go near it.

The Funkpanzerwagen also is able to by default capture territory without requiring an upgrade and also benefits from the Support Veterancy passive.

At veterancy level 1 it gains the Munitions Delivery passive, allowing it to passively contribute Munitions income to the player so long as it lives. This passive, alongside other abilities, improves at higher veterancy levels.

Like any other light vehicle it has fairly low durability and thus is vulnerable to quick destruction from many weapons if care is not taken.

Overall, this unit serves as a cornerstone of the DAK Battlefield Espionage Battlegroup through its Coordinate Ambush Operations toggle ability. By being able to essentially cloak the player's army, it enables camouflage and ambush tactics that would normally only be restricted to the Panzerjäger Squad. This can be quite powerful especially when one considers that normally camouflage requires cover - the Funkpanzerwagen instead allows all of the player's infantry units to freely move around while cloaked, so long as they stay within the area of effect. Even then, this is not too difficult to maintain since the Funkpanzerwagen can still move, albeit at a lower movement speed, while the ability is toggled on. Just as importantly, units camouflaged from the Funkpanzerwagen will benefit from ambush bonuses, which can allow for substantial advantages in surprise attacks.

By being able to cloak all infantry units, it makes defensive tactics quite powerful. It also has a strong psychological and gameplay effect on opponents, as now they need to be wary of potential ambushes lurking around various areas, and are forced into investing into detection methods which can still be unreliable compared to the ease of camouflaging.

While expensive, being able to produce Goliaths can also provide yet another sneaky and potentially devastating weapon to the DAK player's arsenal. Beware that Goliaths have low mobility and durability, and will explode when destroyed, potentially damaging friendly units if caught out at a bad time.

While it can be risky to level up the Funkpanzerwagen (as it means keeping it close to units in combat) it can be very rewarding to do so. Its various abilities improve at higher veterancy levels, as for example it begins generating Munitions income at level 1 (which improves at level 2 and 3), reduces the Goliath cost at level 2, and improves the range of its camouflage aura at level 3.