Moving to the opposite end of the Inner Sphere this week from the heavily Lyran Drillson hovertank, the Morningstar City Command Vehicle is almost as different as it is possible to be from the speedy hovertank. Beginning production in 3065 in the heat of the FedCom Civil War, the Morningstar is produced locally to the Federated Suns portion, specifically by General Motors on Kathil and Ceres Metal Industries on Tikonov. Because of the time of its production, the vehicle is almost exclusively a Davion vehicle, although some production models have found their way into Capellan Confederation hands, and Ceres Metals on Warlock in the CapCon has been considered for a production line.
Weighing in at an even 60 tons on a wheeled vehicle chassis, the Morningstar falls squarely into the heavy vehicle category. Its mobility is pretty much average for a wheeled vehicle of this size, scooting along at a cruising speed of 54 kph with a flanking top speed of 86 kph. In a city, that jumps up another few kph for an effective flanking speed of 97 kph on pavement. This speed stems from the VOX 280 Extra Light fusion engine, which though it manages to keep a lot of open tonnage for equipment makes this particular vehicle pretty expensive. To protect such an expensive investment, the standard chassis is armored with a substantial nine tons of Durallex Standard armor, giving it a hair over 57% armor coverage. The distribution of that armor, however, might leave a few people scratching their heads. The front of the vehicle receives the lion's share of the protection, able to stop a pair of AC/20 hits without even flinching with armor left over to take a Small Laser hit before any damage is transferred to the internals. The rest of the armoring isn't so impressive. A pair of Gauss Rifle slugs will tear through the side armor with enough energy left to damage the structure, if only barely, and the rear armor can't even handle one AC/20 hit, much less two, without breaching straight to the internals. Capping it all off is the turret, which mounts enough armor that a close range Heavy Gauss Rifle slug will only barely be able to scratch the insides (Armor layout: 43/29/19/24).
Interesting armor layouts aside, the Morningstar is still quite a capable vehicle. In a deliberate attempt to cash in on the resurgence of specialty types of autocannon ammunition, the primary weapon for the standard variant is your bog-standard Mydron Excel AC/10, mounted in the turret. I'm sure many will hotly contest the utility of such a weapon on such a modern vehicle, but with two tons of ammo hidden away in the body it's at least possible to mix and match the kinds of ammo the autocannon can actually use. Backing up the autocannon in an anti-infantry capacity, the Morningstar mounts three Slingshot Machine Guns, one in each of the front and side facings, but not the turret. All three of these weapons are fed by a single ton of ammo located in the body. To assist the AC/10 primary weapon in making those tough shots, a Brightstar 17 Mk. II Targeting Computer nestled deep in the body comes into play. The combination of targeting computer and precision ammo can be very helpful for removing those pesky fast movers, and the computer can also negate the accuracy penalty when using armor-piercing ammunition, which is always a plus. A four-ton infantry bay also mounted in the body allows the Morningstar to carry its own infantry support around with it, whether it's a conventional infantry platoon or a squad of battle armor for that extra punch. Finally, the entire reason for the Morningstar's existence, and why it calls itself a Command vehicle, a C3 Master computer rests alongside the targeting computer in the body. Capable of coordinating up to three C3 Slave computers at once, the Morningstar can easily anchor a lance in a city fight, contributing decent anti-infantry firepower and versatility of the main gun AC/10 while also making shots easier for everything in the same network, as well.
Only two variants of the Morningstar are known to exist. The first to arrive on scene the very same year as the parent variant, the Morningstar (Laser) rips out the C3 Master computer and the machine guns and replaces them with a Large Laser, mounted in the front section of the vehicle, and also tied into the targeting computer. The extra half ton left over goes into armor. In what can only be described as colossal lapse in judgment on the side of the manufacturer, the half ton of armor is split between the sides, bringing them up to being able to withstand a pair of Gauss Rifle slugs with enough armor left over to at least claim there's still armor there, if not much else; bringing the rear armor up to the ability to survive an AC/20 hit without breaching with nothing left; and bringing the turret up high enough to survive a close range Heavy Gauss Rifle hit without actually breaching, again with nothing else left. (Armor layout: 43/31/20/25) How is that a colossal lapse? For whatever reason, the manufacturer left over a hundred kilograms of possible armor off of the design, functionally wasting 1/8th of a ton of armor on a design that doesn't even approach maximum armor. Regardless of manufacturing mistakes, nine and a half tons of armor is still significant, and the total armor protection with missing pieces is almost exactly 60% of the chassis maximum. For whatever reason, neither the Capellan Confederation or the Federated Suns has shown much interest in this variant.
The second and final production variant keeps the armor profile of the original chassis. The AC/10 is dropped in favor of a smaller AC/5 still tied into a proportionally smaller targeting computer, and the ammo is dropped as well, leaving the same duration of fire but less flexibility in ammunition choices while also slightly increasing range. The machine guns stay as they were, one in each of the front and side facings, still fed by the same solitary ton of ammunition. The fruits of the main armament downgrade are immediate and readily apparent. A second C3 Master computer sits alongside the first, allowing this variant, appropriately called the Morningstar (Company Command) to coordinate an entire company's C3 net. Finding an extra ton and a half of space left over, the designers also saw fit to add a Guardian ECM unit. Overall, while less damaging than the original variant, the Morningstar (Company Command) is head and shoulders more useful on the battlefield with the combination of built-in ECCM to keep the C3 nets working and ability to link even more units on the field.
Using a Morningstar is fairly simple. It's a C3 Master design, which means it's always going to be a priority target, and also a wheeled vehicle, which are prone to being disabled easily. This thing should not be on the front lines slugging it out with enemies at knife-fight range; the weapons on this are for self-defense, not headhunting. With that in mind, mounting a ton of precision ammunition for the autocannon is always going to be a good idea, even on the AC/5 model. With the targeting computer available on all versions, fast movers are going to be in for a nasty shock when you start taking shots at them as if they aren't even moving. The Morningstar (Laser) is less important, all things considered, and mixing in one or two of these on the same field you have a standard or (Company Command) variant can go a long way toward keeping your enemy guessing. The (Laser) is actually about hurting things, even if it's not especially good at it. With just an AC/10 and a large laser, it's incapable of forcing an enemy 'Mech to the ground by weight of fire, but it can still be useful. Fast movers aren't going to like precision ammunition coming out of the (Laser) variant any more than they are any other.
Fighting a Morningstar is just as simple. Kill it dead and kill it fast. Every minute it's still active is another minute it's still coordinating at least a lance of enemy units. If you can tell from a distance if it's a (Laser) or not, good for you, but it's still fast enough in a city to be a nuisance if you try to ignore it. The normal vehicle killers still work well, at least. LBX ACs to immobilize it, and heavy weapons to pound at a vulnerable spot until it gives in. Your best bet is to try for the rear, where it mounts less than half the armor of the front. A single close range Heavy Gauss Rifle that hits a non-(Laser) Morningstar in the rear is going to wreck the vehicle right then and there. Against the (Laser), ignore it until you know there aren't any more important Morningstars on the field, and then kill it if it's the most dangerous thing left. If it gives you a good shot, though, don't be afraid to take it. An AC/10 and a Large Laser may not be much damage, but with precision ammunition and a targeting computer, it's going to be annoyingly accurate until it's put down.
As usual
Camospecs has the mini, and the
MUL has additional information not covered in this write-up.
As usual, feedback is welcome. I've added a small blip for each distinct armor layout that should make a bit more sense in terms of the game than just the fluff description, and I'm pretty sure it fits well enough with the article. Posting this early because I'm going to be out for most of tomorrow and i don't want to miss it.
