One of the fun things about doing these articles is not only giving a rundown of tried and true favorites like the Manticore and Epona, but in exploring the stuff no one ever really has used. Sometimes it's because a unit fills a role that the game doesn't really allow for all that well, like the Pack Rat. Sometimes it's because it's very obscure and so rarely gets used even in-universe. And sometimes it's because it's from a recent product, and may not have had a chance to really get a fair shakedown from players. By request of Redshirt, we'll test one of that group today- the Vector, from Historicals: Liberation Of Terra Vol. II
Vectors come from a set of requirements laid down by SLDF General Rebecca Fetladral, a last name quite familiar to those who know the history of the Wolf Clan. With approval from Gen. Kerensky, she made a request for a next-gen VTOL for the SLDF, which- after much trial and error, with less of the trial part than the SLDF would have preferred- resulted in a pretty interesting aircraft. Produced in several versions, the aircraft was common, but didn't end up being the 'one airframe fits all needs' aircraft it was intended to be, probably in no small part due to the conflicts in the Periphery and the cataclysms that followed. Few of these birds survived into the Succession War era, and it's unlikely any are still flying today. (Translation: We need a reason why this wasn't around in the 3025 days, so let's say it went extinct. ;) )
Like the Warrior we covered a few weeks ago, the Vector again goes with a non-standard tonnage of 22 tons, because the SLDF rolls like that. A 125 fusion powerplant was a luxury the Star League was fine with throwing down money on, important when one looks at the payload (we'll do that shortly, don't push me!). This gives the 22-ton bird a 12/18 profile, which you'll note is pretty blisteringly fast. Since VTOLs tend to survive better by avoiding enemy fire rather than absorbing it, that's a good thing. (The aviation buff in me notes the NOTAR tail and intricately-drawn landing gear with approval as well, and can't help but for some reason note a passing resemblance to the Clans' Asshur hovercraft for some reason- maybe it's the chines on the sides of the cockpit?)
VTOL armor is always a tricky thing to quantify- no matter how tough your helicopter (see: Yellow Jacket), a couple of light hits to the rotor and you're on the ground- the hard way. That said, this is a stunningly well-armored craft. Eighteen points of ferro-fibrous armor coat the front and sides, meaning even the mighty Gauss rifle couldn't break through. Our usual VotW AC-20 test breaks it, but barely. This thing is ROUGH. A mere six points cover the rear, so beware what direction you point the derriere when operating, but again your job should be to avoid fire when possible and minimize the amount of work the skin has to do anyway. The rotor, naturally, has the standard two points. Don't take rotor hits- a public service announcement.
It's always nice when a fusion-powered vehicle takes advantage of its heat sinks to mount energy weapons, isn't it? The Vector's main flavor is the transport variant, which utilizes those heat sinks to the maximum. A medium laser sits in each stub-wing, giving the ability to wound a light Battlemech or other smaller combat units. A small pulse laser in the nose (connected to a helmet-sight for the gunner, like on the modern AH-64 Apache) tells enemy infantry to leave the LZ immediately. And a three-ton infantry bay drops a platoon of whatever flavor of troops you prefer off at that LZ, while protected by a flying wad of armor and guns. Remember my usual rule? "Speed, armor, firpower, pick two"? Those cheaters at SLDF procurement managed to get ALL THREE. (Granted, they could also afford a unit with a fusion engine, ferro, etc...) Well done, guys.
The Vector was intended to come in several configurations, replacing more specialized airframes like the Cyrano and Nighthawk as the standard VTOL of the army and making maintenance and parts procurement much easier. With that in mind, a scout configuration was developed that removed the infantry bay for a Beagle active probe, a small laser mounted coaxially with the pulse laser, and a TAG in a rotor mast-mount. A fast, tough little scout like this is never a bad thing- if you find yourself somehow with a Vector Scout to use, be smiling about that. Almost as useful is the ECM version, identical to the scout with the exception of removing the Beagle for a Guardian ECM. While this would be a VERY handy bird in the Jihad era to deal with WoB C3i units, in the SLDF's heyday this one isn't quite as handy.
Finally, the gunship. Hard to believe that the heavily armed Vector needed a version identified as 'the gunship' of the lot, but here we are. I'm not as big of a fan of this version, but a medium laser sits in the nose now in place of the pulse laser. A pair of SRM-4s replace the stub-wing mounts, sharing one ton of ammunition (and also removing the infantry bay). One ton of ammo feeds the missile racks. This one just... eh, it doesn't do it for me, but a load of inferno SRMs could be entertaining as a tank-hunter I suppose.
With a helo like this, it's no wonder the SLDF was happy with their Vectors. What about you? Give this new addition to the game's past a try and see what you think, but for my money I'm very impressed. Next week we're going to go a little more modern and explore a 3145 brute of a tank, so see you then!
