Life leading up to The Sims 2
Tank wants to follow in his father's footsteps and aspires to become a General like him. They have a good relationship, but Tank wants to impress him by getting a Military job. Tank is also part of the feud against the Smith family. He is enemies with Johnny Smith and wants to win a fight against him. If Johnny throws a party while still a teen, Tank will attempt to crash it.
When first played, he is 5 days away from becoming an adult. Either the Grunt household or the computer itself is scripted so that whenever Tank searches for a job, the first result will always be the military career track.
He considers his father, General Buzz, a friend, though the friendship is not mutual. This sort of one sided relationship would not have been possible without the use of hacks such as SimPE.
Surprisingly, Tank doesn't have any body skill points or indeed any skill points at the start of the game. He has exactly the same interests as his father. According to his Sim DNA in SimPE, he has recessive alleles for blond hair and grey eyes.
Strangely, when looking in his family album, Tank appeared to have lighter skin as a child in one of the photos, while his father Buzz had darker skin. Tank also had lighter skin in another photo as a teen.
Life leading up to The Sims 2 (PSP)
Colonel Tank Grunt lives in the Barracks at the military base Division 47 with General Buzz, Corporal Ripp and the Smith family. His youngest brother Buck doesn't appear in this game. Someone has hacked Tank's computer and the player's Sim has to repair it. During this time, he will constantly attack Ripp until his computer is fixed. It is also possible to sell secrets to Tank, but the one he wants to know is why Mister Smith is outside around midnight, snooping by the alien crash site. If you choose not to tell him, he will become very angry with your Sim.
Oddly, Tank's eye colour in the PSP version is brown, but in the PC game, his eyes are blue. This is also the case with his brother, Ripp. Both of them are adults in this game.
Tank's secrets from The Sims 2 (PSP):
- (Personal): Tank wanted to go into ballet, but his father forced him into the military.
- (Intimate): Tank secretly blames Ripp for stealing his first love... an action figure named Missy McBoom.
- (Dark): Tank once got punished by Buzz for being "too creative" with his face paint.
- (Tank's Incompetence): Tank let someone hack into his security computer.
Life leading up to The Sims 2 (Game Boy Advance)
In The Sims 2 (GBA), Tank is a resident of Strangetown. He lives next to the Medical Center and appears in some episodes. His affiliation with the army isn't directly stated, but he seems to deem many things illegal. When questioned about his telescope, he immediately jumps to the conclusion that you are asking because of his otherwise unapparent affiliation with the army. He does, however, speak like the cliché army general. He also keeps action movies on his TV all the time, and he is apparently afraid of ladybugs. He will randomly start to pretend he is aiming a large gun (such as a sniper rifle) at times.
Life leading up to The Sims 2 (Nintendo DS)
In The Sims 2 (Nintendo DS), Tank appears as a hotel guest. His secret is that the camouflage pattern is actually tattooed on his face.