History Main / Hovertank

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow4'' has an alien Hover Tank that can be acquired early in the game.

Powered by AppliedPhlebotinum, Hover Tanks are the go-to RuleOfCool war machine. They usually hover inexplicably only a few feet off the ground, often [[MidairBobbing bobbing slightly]]. Many may have a variety of AntiGravity drive, rather than air-powered thrust like real-world hovercraft. They may also [[TransformingVehicles turn from a hover tank to a normal tank and back again]], possibly in a similar way to HubcapHovercraft. Oddly enough, even when a Hover Tank ''can'' float/fly high off the ground, it's usually still built like a ground tank, with its turret and weapons all only covering the top of the vehicle.

Powered by AppliedPhlebotinum, Hover Tanks are the go-to RuleOfCool war machine. They usually hover inexplicably only a few feet off the ground, often [[MidairBobbing bobbing slightly]]. Many may have a variety of AntiGravity drive, rather than air-powered thrust like real-world hovercraft. Oddly enough, even when a Hover Tank ''can'' float/fly high off the ground, it's usually still built like a ground tank, with its turret and weapons all only covering the top of the vehicle.

Hover Tanks would be utterly [[AwesomeButImpractical impractical]] using real world technology, as they would burn a lot of fuel just to stay up and yet wouldn't clear most terrain obstacles. They would burn more fuel just counteracting recoil. The amount of armor and equipment they could carry would also be severely limited. Of course, all that usually [[HandWave doesn't matter]] in fiction, though some settings do restrict hovertanks to lighter designs. Though that still leaves the tank [[MissingBackblast ramming itself into the ground]] every time it fires.

* The "Air Balleles" (probably a corruption of Barrel, from the AlternateHistory name for tanks used in the works of Creator/HarryTurtledove) of ''TheFiveStarStories''. They are actually capable of genuine flight, but prefer to stay close to the ground and generally behave like real tanks to avoid enemy anti-air fire.

* The N64 game ''BattleTanx'' had hover tanks called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hover Tanks]], which were basically Abrams with turbines and a flat bottom. Though a bit squirrely to control, they could strafe sideways while firing, float over mines without problems, and pick up an impressive amount of speed for ramming other players.

* The hovercraft from ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', which are unique in that they actually use air-cushion based lift, like real-world hovercraft. True to form, they're fast and zip over water with ease; on the other hand, they're lightweights compared to many conventional tanks, limited to fairly open terrain, can only safely move at full speed while traveling in a fairly straight line, and can be easily and rudely grounded by a single lucky shot. That said, their speed gives them a decent chance against Mechs in open combat, while other tanks usually need an ambush. While most hovercraft do have air skirts, some use vectored thrust to stay afloat rather than using skirts, making them look much more like a regular hover tank, such as the Hephaestus or the Epona.

* In VideoGame/{{Halo}}, the Covenant have the Wraith, a large, bulbous mortar tank that hovers close to the ground and fires massive blasts of plasma. While they have the ability to strafe and are well-armored, they have low clearance and move slowly due to the weight of their armor.
** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' features the Revenant, similar in design to the Wraith except that it moves much faster at the cost of power and armor.
** ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'' features the Marauder, which is sort of a Brute version of the Revenant.

* ''VideoGame/{{XCom}}'' has Hovertank (in variants with Plasma and Fusion Launcher) like this. Of course, they are a crossbred of your basic [[AttackDrone tank drone]] with enough of scavenged FlyingSaucer tech [[http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Research_Popular_Sequences_and_Tips#Firestorm to build your own]].

** Halo: Reach features the Revenant, similar in design to the Wraith except that it moves much faster at the cost of power and armor.

** The Pan-Asian Coalition of ''Battlefield 2142'' fields Type 32 Nekomata hover tanks. They were no less durable than the more traditional European Union A-8 Tiger tanks, but they traded the turret in for the very useful ability to strafe.

* ''Tanarus'' has a hovertank in it, similar to the one from ''Battlefield 2142''. Fast, maneuverable, packed a decent punch, but no traversable gun turret.

* The vehicle trope is played with in ''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross''/''Anime/{{Robotech}} : Southern Cross/The Robotech Masters'', where the VHT-1 Spartas is a hovertank, but only in its tank mode for the purposes of transportation. To use its maximum firepower, it must go into [[WalkingTank Guardian Mode]] to engage its heavy cannon, but at the cost of being highly restricted in movement. Finally, Battleloid Mode, which is more a [[RealRobot humanoid robot]] configuration is used when the pilot needs more maneuverability for combat.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': The Hammerhead, a replacement for the first game's Mako.

* The obscure polygonal arcade[=/=]PlayStation game ''Cyber Sled'' is ''VideoGame/VirtualOn'' with hover tanks. The vehicles in the game (some of which take more generosity than others to call a 'tank') are extremely agile and can move in any direction (save vertically) with ease, and in spite of a reasonable array of textures on the vehicles, caterpillar treads are conspicuous with their absence.

* In the ''SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' episode "Pearly" the alien Chigs have floating tanks. Of course,it's no match for the eponymous Pearly, [[TankGoodness who is a tank of the good, old-fashioned tread kind.]]

* ''{{Earth 2150}}''. The [[TheRepublic Lunar Corporation]]. Seriously, just take control of its forces and trust us, its army's ''nothing'' but hover tanks.

* ''{{Juathuur}}'': The title race use Fluur rings to power their sleds and boats.

* The SwatKats have the [=HoverKat=], which they only used once against a rogue AI named Zed; it was explicitly a jet-powered hovercraft.

** You mean an [[InsistentTerminology APC]], right?

* ''{{X-Com}}'' has Hovertank (in variants with Plasma and Fusion Launcher) like this. Of course, they are a crossbred of your basic [[AttackDrone tank drone]] with enough of scavenged FlyingSaucer tech [[http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Research_Popular_Sequences_and_Tips#Firestorm to build your own]].
* ''AceOnline'': The [[ReportingNames Anima Mortar]], or A-Gear is a fully flight-capable Hover Tank, armed with an awesome [[MoreDakka Siege Mode]] for its main gun.

* ''EmpireEarth'': The first game has a hovertank unit that, for some bizzare reason, traverses ''underwater'', probably because of engine limitations. It cannot be built outside custom maps, either.

* ''TotalAnnihilation'' featured Hovercraft in it's Core Contingency Expansion, to the point that they were essentially merely hovering versions of the normal ground vehicles. Useful on the wide variety of swamp maps however.

* ''TwentyThreeHundredAD'' makes extensive use of air cushion hovertanks, with all the major nations (and the alien Kafer) fielding their own. They're hydrogen-fueled but indeed use giant lawnmower fans for lift.

* The Grav Tank in ''[[{{GURPS}} GURPS: Ultra-Tech]]'' can travel at the speed of sound and is nearly invisible to sensors until it starts shooting.

* Both sides in ''DarkReign'' used hovertanks for their heavy tanks, with the Imperium using hover technology for ''all'' their vehicles.

* If TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and [[TheFuture beyond]] in ''VideoGame/Battlefield'' were of any accurate prediction of what armor we'd bring to a fight in the future, the bets are on hover tanks.

* ''StarWars'': Any repulsorlift vehicle from the franchise, such as the Trade Federation's [=AAT=]s. Oddly enough, hover tanks don't make all that many appearances in ''Star Wars'' films or games, considering that they look a whole lot more practical than those walkers we see all the time. This is justified in the ExpandedUniverse where it's said that terrain effects and enemy countermeasures can easily knock out repulsortanks and leave them vulnerable, hence the Empire's emphasis on walkers.