Vehicle of the Week: Skulker Wheeled Scout TankThe Skulker Wheeled Scout Tank is described as the Draconis Combine's primary light scout vehicle and while it might not have the speed of a hovercraft or VTOL, the Skulker is a fairly workmanlike reconnaissance design from Joint Equipment Systems. Very widespread in the DCMS, with at least one in nearly every conventional DCMS unit, the Skulker is popular on the second hand market and had brisk sales when the Combine permitted exports; after the Fourth Succession War, the Free Worlds League and the remains of the Confederation were snapping them up. Then the Clans came and Clan Ghost Bear took possession of Alshain, where the primary (and perhaps only) factory was. The design isn't going extinct by any means judging from the MUL but exactly what's going on is a little hard to tell from the outside. We do know that JES hasn't started any additional plants up in the Combine or the Federated Suns as of 3079 but what happened to the original plant is a giant question mark; hopefully, we'll get an
Objectives: The Clans or the like to clarify the situation. Whatever the case with the original, the refitting has gone on and JES's plant on Panpour has started turning out a brand new model, the Skulker Mk. II, itself based on their Jihad era X-5 prototype.
The original Skulker set a lot of the pattern for the design. At 20 tons, it's in the middle of the pack for light vehicles, larger than the Centipede or Darter used by the Combine's neighbors and the same size as the Packrat, and uses a wheeled frame that's going to annoy some players by reducing the design's mobility options in ways that a scout vehicle might not be able to afford. Either way, it's got a fair turn of speed for an introductory vehicle design with a 120-rated ICE that drives it up to 118 kph. Four and a half tons of standard armor wraps the 'tank', layered on 18/18/18. That's really not bad for the size, honestly, but pay attention to AC/20s - one of those lands a hit anywhere and you're just plain gone. The only armament is a Standard Systems Meidum Laser fixed forward, lacking the infantry bay that a Darter, Packrat, or shanghaied APC could employ. At the dawning of the Republic Era, the old Skulker has more competition in its field than ever with designs like the GAL-102 Galleon available and a new generation of faster, harder-hitting 'Mechs that make light scouts lives much more interesting, but it's still cheap, it's still widely available, and odds are a lot of second- and third-tier forces are still using it to do the same old job as ever.
Several variants have emerged over time even before you talk about the X-5 prototype and the Mk. II. We'll start with the Introductory models. Unfortunately, both of the ones in RS3039U are a half-ton underweight; I've submitted errata but we need to see what comes back down the pipe. One of them opts to get 2 tons of that missing cargo space by replacing the medium laser with a pair of machine guns fed by a ton of ammunition. The other invests it all in an SRM 4 with two tons of ammo.
The strangest Skulker variant emerged during the Jihad, removing the laser and replacing the armor with four tons of ferro-fibrous plate arranged 18/18/17 to get a total of five tons free. Then they stuffed a C3 master in there. I'm not really sold on the validity of that idea. Sure, it's fast. No doubt about that and that sort of speed does offer you some opportunities. But the only other vehicular C3 master in that speed range is a Maxim that's actually slightly faster
and more heavily armored. It's not that heavily armed but at least the Maxim (C3M) can at least do something other than paint a red dot on someone and hope they're so intimidated that they run. That's right, the Skulker (C3M)'s only organic offensive capability is to light someone up using the C3M's TAG capability and
hope there's something in range. I've referred you to Monty Python's classic sketch on not being seen before. Make sure your crews have seen it before you send them out in a Skulker (C3M). It's a very accurate prediction of what the enemy is going to be trying to do if they spot it, so keep Skulker (C3M)s under cover and leave them with a clear line of retreat. Their speed can make them hard to maintain ECM coverage on so the enemy isn't going to ignore one, they're going to go for 'disabled' or 'destroyed' to keep it from slipping free if they have the opportunity.
Also during the Jihad came the Skulker X-5, Joint Equipment Systems of Panpour's bid to fix their reputation after making a laughingstock of themselves with the JES I. This one is a little closer to type but the devil is definitely in the details. The engine was replaced by a 140-rated fusion plant, sufficient to drive the design to an 8/12 speed curve - matching the classic
Locust or
Cicada designs (or the C3M Maxim I just mentioned, for that matter). It also offered the heat sinks to replace the laser with an ER version while saving a considerable amount of tonnage. All four tons left were invested directly into then-prototype electronics, a Bloodhound active probe and Angel ECM suite, refined, more sensitive versions of the mainstream Beagle and Guardian systems. Overall, looking at the basic specs in hindsight (or at least with TRO: Prototypes' commentary on the two systems entering production), in my opinion, this is one of the most practical, pragmatic designs in the XTRO series, standing in contrast to boondoggles like the Partisan Hull Defense (personally, I subscribe to the theory that one had a fatal case of gravity poisoning from orbit).
The production model, known as the Skulker Mk. II and only available to the Federated Suns and a handful of mercenary units, trades capability for a lower price tag. I'm not really of the opinion that the Republic's analysis that the fusion engine made the X-5 too pricy is correct but I'll save that argument for another venue. Trading the fusion reactor for the new hotness of a 120-rated fuel cell, freeing up tonnage that went directly to the difference in weight to mount a standard medium laser on a fuel cell's single heat sink and power amplifier requirement. Deployment of this design has been fairly prolific inside the AFFS to date. A variant with mission-swappable equipment and another that are environmentally sealed exist but little information is available to date since we still lack an Unabridged record sheet volume for TRO: Prototypes.
Skulkers can be used as light (
very light) raiders as they were against Spicher's Strikers on Dieron but their primary role is reconnaissance, figuring out where the enemy is and, in turn, denying that information to the enemy by keeping you one step ahead of his own scouts. The advanced models bring their own quirks; I covered the C3M above but the others deserve a little forethought as to how you're going to use the sensors and jamming capability. If you're using ghost targets, I suggest pumping them out as well as a standard jamming field if you can. The Bloodhound's main use is springing ambushes. Make sure there's something else there to deal with whatever you find, though!
Fighting Skulkers is simple. Bring accuracy-enhancing weapons and hopefully something with at least a prayer of bringing them to bear on the target. Cluster cannons (LB-Xs or an SB Gauss in particular) will help slow them down. Failing that, you can always apply an AC/20 to anywhere on the Skulker. One hit from one of those and it's going to be slowed down
forever.
Reference: The
Skulker and
Skulker Mk. II have different root URLs on the MUL. Appropriately for the design's origins, the only Skulker on CamoSpecs is in the colors of the
1st Genyosha.