BMP APC

"The go-anywhere APC."

- Merchant of Menace store caption

The BMP APC is a North Korean armoured vehicle that is featured in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

Overview
"In service since 1967, the BMP-1 sports a 73mm cannon and can traverse nearly any terrain. Carries up to four additional passengers."

- Merchant of menace store description

The BMP APC is a tracked vehicle with a tank grade cannon mounted on its turret and also features an area to transport infantry, using two back doors for rapid deployment. It can be seen supporting NK forces in the field with great effect. With its cannon, armour, speed, and troop capacity, it makes a great transport in lieu of a tank.

It becomes available for purchase on the Merchant of Menace for $60,000-$84,000 after completing the contract 'Persuasion'.

Tactics
The BMP is an excellent vehicle for small skirmishes. Its cannon can easily dispatch light vehicles, although it does struggle against heavy vehicles like the T-62. Its armour is also some of the best early in the game, allowing the BMP APC to stand up to considerable enemy fire. If the player cannot find (or afford) any heavier armour, the BMP is a more than suitable substitute.

The BMP APC is an excellent multi-purpose workhorse armored fighting vehicle, particularly early in the game. It can be used to fight in a "tank" role, and can also handle transportation duties- something that comes in very handy in more than one contract. It is NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) shielded and can thus pass through areas contaminated by nuclear radiation with no harm to its crew or passengers. The lack of any mounted machine gun means the BMP must use shells from its main gun to fight infantry, hindered by the reduced splash damage of the shells in comparison to the larger cannons mounted in tanks.

Able to hold its own very well in the Southern Province early in the game, the BMP APC finds itself becoming outclassed later on in the Northern Province. BMP APCs show up numerous times in the hands of their original owners, the Korean People's Army, but perform rather poorly against the powerful modern heavy APCs and main battle tanks fielded by other nations. The BMP's armor cannot stand up to most infantry-carried or vehicle-mounted guided anti-tank missiles or the main gun of the M1 tank; either of these will cause the BMP APC to explode instantly. A BMP is more easily dealt with if encountered on foot than one of North Korea's tanks; with no machine gunner position featured, it can be hijacked as soon as the player can get close enough to it to do so.

When using the BMP, if its health reaches critical and is about to blow up, you will not take damage from the explosion if you exit as it is exploding.

Real life
The BMP APC is based on the Soviet BMP series, specifically the BMP-1.

Trivia

 * The real BMP is an amphibious vehicle, meaning it can travel on water. The in-game version does not have this ability, since every vehicle in the game sinks into the water and then explodes.
 * The BMP has an anti-tank missile (AT-3 Sagger) mounted above the main gun, but it is unusable.

Related pages

 * North Korean vehicles in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
 * K200 APC
 * M3 APC
 * Type 89 APC