diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/HardwarePalette.cs b/OpenRa.Game/HardwarePalette.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..79f89a986c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/HardwarePalette.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+using BluntDirectX.Direct3D;
+using System.Drawing;
+using System.IO;
+using OpenRa.FileFormats;
+
+namespace OpenRa.Game
+{
+	class HardwarePalette
+	{
+		const int maxEntries = 16;			// dont need anything like this many, 
+											// but the hardware likes square textures better
+
+		Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(256, maxEntries);
+		GraphicsDevice device;
+		int allocated = 0;
+
+		Texture paletteTexture;
+
+		public HardwarePalette(GraphicsDevice device)
+		{
+			this.device = device;
+		}
+
+		public void Resolve()
+		{
+			const string filename = "../../../palette-cache.png";
+			bitmap.Save(filename);
+
+			using (Stream s = File.OpenRead(filename))
+				paletteTexture = Texture.Create(s, device);
+		}
+
+		public Texture PaletteTexture
+		{
+			get
+			{
+				if (paletteTexture == null)
+					Resolve();
+
+				return paletteTexture;
+			}
+		}
+
+		public int AddPalette(Palette p)
+		{
+			for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
+				bitmap.SetPixel(i, allocated, p.GetColor(i));
+
+			return allocated++;
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/MainWindow.cs b/OpenRa.Game/MainWindow.cs
index d01aa61933..9f6542433f 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/MainWindow.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/MainWindow.cs
@@ -72,7 +72,13 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 			foreach (TreeReference treeReference in map.Trees)
 				world.Add(new Tree(treeReference, treeCache, map));
 
-			UnitSheetBuilder.AddUnit( "mcv", renderer.Device, playerPal );
+			UnitSheetBuilder.AddUnit( "mcv", playerPal );
+			UnitSheetBuilder.AddUnit("1tnk", playerPal);
+			UnitSheetBuilder.AddUnit("2tnk", playerPal);
+			UnitSheetBuilder.AddUnit("3tnk", playerPal);
+
+			UnitSheetBuilder.Resolve(renderer.Device);
+
 			world.Add( new Mcv( new PointF( 24 * 5, 24 * 5 ) ) );
 		}
 
@@ -217,6 +223,15 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 
 			playerPal = new Palette(pal, new PaletteRemap(File.OpenRead("../../../red.rem")));
 
+			HardwarePalette hardwarePalette = new HardwarePalette(renderer.Device);
+			hardwarePalette.AddPalette(pal);
+
+			foreach (string remap in new string[] { "blue", "red", "orange", "teal", "salmon", "green", "gray" })
+				hardwarePalette.AddPalette(new Palette(pal, new PaletteRemap(
+					File.OpenRead("../../../" + remap + ".rem"))));
+
+			hardwarePalette.Resolve();
+
 			return new TileSet(TileMix, TileSuffix, pal);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj b/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
index 7cb7e69f7b..5ad4281bfe 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/OpenRa.Game.csproj
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="Actor.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Clock.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="HardwarePalette.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MainWindow.cs">
       <SubType>Form</SubType>
     </Compile>
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/UnitSheetBuilder.cs b/OpenRa.Game/UnitSheetBuilder.cs
index 4a5b7defa8..fa8a56a2eb 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/UnitSheetBuilder.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/UnitSheetBuilder.cs
@@ -12,20 +12,30 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 		static readonly Package unitsPackage = new Package( "../../../conquer.mix" );
 		public static readonly List<SheetRectangle<Sheet>> McvSheet = new List<SheetRectangle<Sheet>>();
 
-		public static void AddUnit( string name, GraphicsDevice device, Palette pal )
-		{
-			List<Sheet> sheets = new List<Sheet>();
-			Size pageSize = new Size( 1024, 512 );
+		static TileSheetBuilder<Sheet> builder;
+		static List<Sheet> sheets = new List<Sheet>();
+		static Size pageSize = new Size(1024, 512);
 
+		static UnitSheetBuilder()
+		{
 			Provider<Sheet> sheetProvider = delegate
 			{
-				Sheet sheet = new Sheet( new Bitmap( pageSize.Width, pageSize.Height ) );
-				sheets.Add( sheet );
+				Sheet sheet = new Sheet(new Bitmap(pageSize.Width, pageSize.Height));
+				sheets.Add(sheet);
 				return sheet;
 			};
 
-			TileSheetBuilder<Sheet> builder = new TileSheetBuilder<Sheet>( pageSize, sheetProvider );
+			builder = new TileSheetBuilder<Sheet>(pageSize, sheetProvider);
+		}
 
+		public static void Resolve( GraphicsDevice device )
+		{
+			foreach (Sheet sheet in sheets)
+				sheet.LoadTexture(device);
+		}
+
+		public static void AddUnit( string name, Palette pal )
+		{
 			ShpReader reader = new ShpReader( unitsPackage.GetContent( name + ".shp" ) );
 			foreach( ImageHeader h in reader )
 			{
@@ -37,9 +47,6 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game
 
 				McvSheet.Add( rect );
 			}
-
-			foreach( Sheet sheet in sheets )
-				sheet.LoadTexture( device );
 		}
 	}
 }