History Main / DefenselessTransports

* When tanks need to move any substantial distance outside the battlefield, they're loaded onto wheeled transports to save fuel, plus wear and tear on the tracks. Needless to say, they're vulnerable in that state.[[note]]not completely so: a German Pnz IV, when its towing vehicle was destroyed by unexpected British tanks, still elected to fight from the now static transporter, still destroyed several British tanks, and its crew only surrendered when they realised their position was hopeless. [[/note]]

* Most cargo ships of the world wars were unarmed, making them easy pickings for submarines; during the early years of both wars, German U-boats would more often use their deck guns to take out lone ships. During the latter years of World War II, the armaments of cargo ships improved, though these still meant nothing to an incoming torpedo.

** In C&C Red Alert 2, played straight as the massive amphibious transports have no defence against anything. The Allied mining vehicle has no defence either but the Soviet one gets a LMG and a good deal of armor. The Allied Nighthawk transport helicopter has a small chin-mounted machine gun but it does so little damage it may as well be an EmergencyWeapon.

* Downplayed in ''Videogame/PlanetSide 1''. While none of the logistics vehicles were armed or even had spare seats for a friend, most ground transports had weaponry but were usually pretty helpess; the Harasser dune buggy had a pathetic 12mm machine gun that could hit nothing and did little when it did, and the Sunderer BigBadassRig [[ScrappyWeapon was so bad]] at everything that it was replaced with significantly up-armed and armored empire-specific variants geared more towards combat and breaching than transport, which the airborne and gun-laden Galaxy did ''far'' better. The sequel gives weapons to every vehicle, and the two ground transports - the [[CoolCar Harasser]] and [[BigBadassRig Sunderer]] - can take on tanks with the right weapon and a competent crew.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series: while some APCs have guns, they can all [[CarFu run over (most) infantry]].
** In C&C Red Alert 2, played straight as the massive amphibious transports have no defence against anything. The Allied mining vehicle has no defence either but the Soviet one gets a LMG and a good deal of armor.

* Usually played straight in the [[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]] series, where most transport units simply refuel and move units. A few transport units added later in the series do have attacks.

** Large, fast ocean liners acting as troop transports [[AvertedTrope averted]] this trope by being simply too fast for the rather slow U-boats to catch - and in the case of RMS Olympic, simply running over a hapless U-boat that wandered in front of its bow.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': There are no faction-unique APCs, the only transport options are the mercenary zeppelins/ships, which have no defense but their speed. In ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' both sides could build defenseless transports.

** The Space Marine and Chaos Marine Rhino APC doesn't have guns, but it does have a smoke grenade launcher. Note that in the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} source material]] Rhinos are armed with a Storm Bolter (a twin-barreled SMG with exploding rounds). And even in ''Dawn of War'' there are other, armed [=APCs=] (for example, the Space Marines' Land Raider super-heavy tank doubles as a troop transport).

** The Necrons don't have an APC, as they only have one unit that needs to be stored in a Monolith so as to be teleported onto the battlefield (Flayed Ones). However, if they get a relic, that Monolith becomes a (vaguely) mobile mountain of devastation constantly spewing lightning and new troops, with Flayed Ones teleporting back to it so as to be sent elsewhere.

* When tanks need to move any substantial distance outside the battlefield, they're loaded onto wheeled transports to save fuel, plus wear and tear on the tracks. Needless to say, they're vulnerable in that state.

* In ''TabletopGame/AxisAndAllies'' troop transports have no attack power whatsoever and a pitiful 1 defense.

* Played straight for some armies in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'', but subverted for others. Generally dedicated transport units tend to have less firepower and defenses than combat vehicles, barring the Land Raider (which can be taken as a dedicated transport for Space Marine Terminators but otherwise uses a heavy support slot like a "proper" tank), but how defenseless they are varies. Space Marine Rhinos have low armour and only a single storm bolter (a slightly longer range version a basic infantry gun), while Imperial Guard Chimeras actually mount fairly good mid-strength weaponry. And then you have the Eldar Wave Serpent, which is arguably one of the best battletanks in game, combining medium armour, high speed and good firepower.

* Units in the [[{{WargameEuropeanEscalation}} Wargame]] series are modeled on real world military vehicles and as such run the gamut. Supply transports are near universally unarmed and will surrender if an enemy so much as gets near them. Troop transports on the other hand can be anything from unarmed trucks to [[{{TechnicallyATransport}} Hind attack choppers]] with the firepower to wipe out entire tank columns. It's sometimes worth it to call in infantry reinforcements simply for their transports rather than for the troops themselves.

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* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' Civilian ships and Troop Transports aren't armed. If hostile ships appear in the same system they [[HyperspeedEscape jump out ASAP]]. Though [[SpaceFighters Strikecraft]] carriers are treated like warships with one module dedicated to a hangar bay, the other modules can be [[TheBattlestar armed to the teeth]].

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For reasons of CompetitiveBalance units designed to transport other units in strategy games tend not to be armed. This has the effect of turning them into TheLoad in most scenarios. In other games they might provide the motivation for an EscortMission.

** Every other faction has armed transports, Imperial Guard Chimeras and Dark Eldar Raiders also allow loaded units to shoot while being carried.

* In ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'', the armored personnel carrier is armed with only a pathetic pair of machine guns which are only a threat to [[PoweredArmor battlearmor]] and a [[BulletSparks source of eye glare]] to [[HumongousMecha battlemechs]], and a single laser anti-missile turret.

* Industrial ships in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are designed to transport large amounts of material and are virtually defenseless, having paper-thin armor and poor, if any, weapons. Taken to the extreme with freighters, the capital-class industial ships. While the regular industrials can at least fit some defense modules or weapons, freighters have no fitting slots whatsoever! (Although in practice freighters are actually much harder to destroy than regular industrials, as their much greater size gives them much more effective hit points than even a heavily tanked industrial).

** The Polaris Sprite light freighter and Cambrian heavy freighter in ''EV Nova'' are {{justified}} examples due to the Polaran FantasticCasteSystem. Freight transport is the responsibility of the worker caste, the Tre'pira, while combat is solely the responsibility of the Nil'kemorya, the warrior caste (and they're so good at it that the Tre'pira lacking weapons is a non-issue). The Sprite and Cambrian each have a hardpoint for a turret but no expansion mass to put anything in.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' series: transports, except for Norse longships in AgeOfMythology, have no attacks.

* ''VideoGame/{{Nectaris}}'' has two transport units. The NC-1 Mule truck averts this, being capable of attacking ground ''and'' air units. The C-61 Pelican plane, however, is totally weaponless, and makes easy prey for other airplanes (all of which have greater movement range).

** The Space Marine and Chaos Marine Rhino APC doesn't have guns, but it does have a smoke grenade launcher. Note that in the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} source material]] Rhinos are armed with a Storm Bolter (an SMG with exploding rounds). And even in ''Dawn of War'' there are other, armed [=APCs=] (for example, the Space Marines' Land Raider super-heavy tank doubles as a troop transport).

* Industrial ships in ''EveOnline'' are designed to transport large amounts of material and are virtually defenseless, having paper-thin armor and poor, if any, weapons. Taken to the extreme with freighters, the capital-class industial ships. While the regular industrials can at least fit some defense modules or weapons, freighters have no fitting slots whatsoever! (Although in practice freighters are actually much harder to destroy than regular industrials, as their much greater size gives them much more effective hit points than even a heavily tanked industrial).

* The C-47 Skytrain was completely defenseless while taking Allied paratroops over enemy territory.

* Civilian ships in ''{{Celestus}}'' (freight liners, mining modules, construction modules...) are unarmed. Flying them through enemy territory unescorted is... [[{{TooDumbToLive}} unwise]].