Brickade

"There comes a time in everyone's life when you and your extended family needs to freight over 10 tones of delicate merchandise through the heart of a civil war. And when that time comes, there's only one choice. And for all the other times, it's great in traffic."

- Warstock Cache & Carry description.

The HVY Brickade (internally named Avan, likely an abbreviation of "Armored van") is an armored van supposed to be featured in The Ballad of Gay Tony, but it wasn't added to the game. Although it bears no badging, police chatter implies the Brickade is manufactured by HVY. The van was later featured in Grand Theft Auto Online in the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony update.

The Ballad of Gay Tony
The Brickade is depicted as a large, stumpy and generic armored bus-like van, roughly based on the military Navistar and on the RG-12 APC, produced by Land Systems OMC, as well as some inspiration from Prosegur's armored vans.

The Brickade is somewhat similar to the Securicar, but adopts a cab-over design, a beige bodywork and much smaller wheels. In addition to a thick body shell, the Brickade is also equipped with plating that protects the front radiator grill, as well as steel mesh grating covering the front windscreen and wheel wells. The Brickade is implied to be associated with the LCPD or the NOOSE, as it has a police radio and the ability to pass through tollbooths without paying. However, unlike most police vehicles, the Brickade can use a Pay 'n' Spray, similar to the FBI vehicles in the 3D Universe. Despite it having two doors in the front and two doors in the back, like the Securicar and their variants, it can only fit two people in it, as the back doors are not programmed to open and fit people in the back like these vans can. However, they will only open upon heavy impact. This is because the Brickade is an unfinished project, which will make it noticeable for missing a few details.

When exploded after suffering heavy damage, the actual bodywork of the Brickade is only slightly charred (although generic parts, such as its wheels, lights and interior are severely burnt), unlike other vehicles in GTA IV.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The truck appears is redesigned in GTA Online where is now has a large 6-wheeled design with a utility rear. It is now primarily based on the MAN TGS 26.480 6x6 Expedition Truck, as well as taking influences from the MIDS 8815. It features a large bullbar on the front and an overhang of LED lights. Players can be seen hanging on the side of the truck where several small windows are found in the rear of the body. A small towhitch can be seen attached to the bullbar on the front. It holds rugged off-road duty tyres.

It features a unique reversing buzzer.

Current Design Gallery
Second generation (GTA Online)=

First generation (TBOGT)=

The Ballad of Gay Tony
Given its armored construction and subsequently heavy weight, the Brickade's performance is as expected for a vehicle of its class.

The Brickade suffers from poor speed on average due to poor acceleration, but can reach slightly above average top speeds after uninterrupted and prolonged acceleration. Its steering also varies; due to its shorter wheelbase, strong torque and rear wheel drive, the van can execute tight turns in low speeds, but this trait is hampered, as the vehicle travels in higher speeds and increases its inertia. Similarly, its brakes are reliable when the vehicle travels slower, but requires a moderately longer stopping distance when braking in higher speed (although they still fare better than those of the Ripley). Regardless, the Brickade's heavy weight allows it to push smaller and lighter vehicles out of the way with ease.

The Brickade is also considerably hardened to handle selected forms of damage to an extent, to the same degree as the Securicar, Police Stockade and Enforcer. The vehicle can absorb large amounts of gunfire, but will eventually succumb to engine damage, especially when it is shot at the front, where the engine is. The Brickade can also survive six direct hits from Automatic Shotgun's explosive rounds (three times the amount of a regular car, at any part of the vehicle) before its gas tank ignites and results in the vehicle exploding.

The Brickade is the most durable front-engine vehicle in the HD Universe, even more durable than the rear-engine APC.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The vehicle is by far one of the fastest large-sized trucks in the game, having very quick acceleration and a high top speed. Its durability is one of the best for a truck, taking a large amount of ramming and gunfire. It also has great handling, something unique compared to other trucks in the game. The engine seems to be the same as regular trucks, being a medium/high revving 6 cylinder, cab-over engine configuration. The 6 wheel drive layout gives it excellent traction, paired with its rugged heavy duty tyres.

The Ballad of Gay Tony

 * The van is notable in the game for being normally inaccessible in gameplay, and as a result, can only be accessed via trainers or specialized savegames. It is unknown why the Brickade is not used in any mission in the game. Although files exist that completely specify the vehicle's performance, sound, and design, the Brickade cannot be found anywhere in the game.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased from Warstock Cache & Carry for $1,110,000.

Trivia

 * Its name would be derived from the word "Brick", which clearly describes this vehicle as "squared, bulky and heavy".
 * The BradyGames guide features the Brickade despite its unavailability. Even though the vehicle is only obtainable by modifications, the vanilla Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 guides also feature it. This is probably listed earlier before removed during the development.
 * The Brickade shares the same engine sound, performance and interior with the Ripley, another HVY vehicle.
 * Despite featuring a meshed frontal windscreen, the player can still be thrown through the Brickade's windscreen in a high-speed collision.
 * A possible reason Rockstar removed the Brickade from The Ballad of Gay Tony is because in the game files, it says that firemen were spawned to drive it. Then, once it was fixed, it would not spawn at all. Rockstar may have decided it would be better to remove it.

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