Getting in some good requests this week- but please, if you do make a request, check the fan article directory thread first and make sure it hasn't been done recently. I had requests for vehicles done in very recent memory- one requested the Destrier even! I'll do my best to cover requests, but if it's been done in the past couple of years I'm not going to rehash an existing article like that. Today, however, is a request that was covered several years ago in 2008, but no longer available on the forums, the DI Morgan.
The tired, overused trope about Steiner is that everything is 100 tons, Zeuses are scout Mechs, we outmaneuver most fortifications, and so on. It's funny (in doses), but it's also got more than just a grain of truth to it. Lyran forces tend to lean towards the chubby side of things- but when you build so many big Mechs and tanks, you get good at it. The results speak for themselves, and few speak with the authority of one of their recent additions to the LAAF/LCAF, the DI Morgan. Based on a captured Blakist design, Defiance has another hit on their hands here- but is it a worthy successor to past heavy armor stalwarts? The answers are a little surprising.
Morgans, named for the great Morgan Hasek-Davion (noted as being the last time the Lyran people looked to a Davion with any pride), are intended to replace the classic and beloved Schrek PPC carrier in service, and it's hard to look at the two and not see a family resemblance... other than the increase in size, up to the 100 ton standard. We start with the engine, as we usually do here, and find that the Lyrans spared no expense here- a 300XL fusion engine powers the massive beast to a 3/5 movement curve. You're going to be slow, but at 100 tons you expect to be. The important thing is that you're not getting left behind, it can keep up with a steady advance. You can't ask much more than that from a big tank- and while that engine is a big investment, it's a worthwhile one here. Making this tank work with a standard fusion just doesn't really pan out. (I tried.)
A surprise is in store for those accustomed to other giant tanks, used to shrugging off fire from Demolisher IIs and Alacorns like it's their hobby. The Morgan's armor is surprisingly thin for its size. It's no tissue-tank, mind you- the AC-20 test is passed with ease. 57 points up front is no laughing matter, the turret and sides can take two shots from the test gun and still hold, at 41 points each. The rear has a worrying 28 points to add on- which really, when you look at it, is pretty light overall. Ten and a half tons of ferro is about half to two-thirds what you see on other tanks this size. This isn't a tank you want in the front lines- it's a support unit, and if it's taking a lot of fire you did something wrong. Don't test that armor if you don't have to.
So where's the beef? We used an XL engine to save weight, we skimped on armor, where the hell is all that weight we saved? Let's look in the turret first. Three Defiance 1001 ER PPCs sit in the turret in a rounded battleship-looking array. The Schrek's famous barrage lives again- and with added range to boot! With good range, impressive punch, and no need for ammunition, a Morgan is a fearsome beast. The twin MGs (sharing a half ton of ammo) are handy as well, keeping dangerous infantry ambushes at bay. That weight we were missing turned up though as part of the show- with a vehicle needing to have a heat sink for each point of heat its energy weapons can produce, and only ten being in that fusion engine, a full thirty-five tons of heat sinks had to be installed. Think about that for a moment- we installed an entire Panther's weight in heat sinks on this to make it work. And that's a problem- because as good as a three- ER PPC barrage is, one can't help but park an Alacorn nearby and look at those three Gauss rifles. When the heat sinks factor in, we get similar range, 50% more firepower per gun, and even less weight overall, at the cost of having to track ammunition. Is it worth it for the Morgan? Honestly... not really, no. Unless you're really worried about supply lines, the Alacorn is just the better bet here.
It appears that concern was shared by others- while the LAAF frantically put Morgans into service during the dark days of the Jihad to replace losses, they could afford to do so. Other units were stymied by the massive price tag, causing Defiance to come up with a financing plan- one that could see a unit making payments on a Morgan they'd lost years before. So unlike the Schrek, the Morgan got a couple of variants to both give new capabilities and to boost sales. With both removing the PPCs, the stack of heat sinks could go as well, and what was left was a cavernous space to install everything short of a naval battery.
Our first variant becomes the LRM battery from hell. Four LRM-20s are parked in the turret, each one with an Artemis IV computer attached. For those keeping score, no LRM-boat vehicle can throw more missiles per turn than this Morgan can, other than the heavy LRM carrier- and this is far more capable, in terms of speed and added tricks like the Artemis. Other tricks include a C3 slave module, begging for a good spotter to rush up and make those missiles hit. The MGs and their ammo are gone, replaced by a pair of ER medium lasers to keep the tank safe from harassing units. CASE was also installed to keep the eight-ton ammo bay from destroying the tank if things went pear-shaped on the Morgan. Overall, this is a fantastic vehicle, far better overall than its PPC-armed cousin. The ammo load is barely adequate, but what it lacks in staying power it makes up for in sheer weight of shot- this is a vehicle that should be in every assault formation one can find room for it in. Combining a couple of them with a fast C3 carrier (I used an Ostscout) and a master/bodyguard (a Morningstar worked well) was just blissfully fun. If you want to use a Morgan, make it this one.
A bit less useful was the third version, in which the three-gun turret of the original returned... with a twist. The PPCs are replaced here with Gauss rifles, which of course is what made the Alacorn a better tank overall for the money than a Morgan in the first place. Defiance learned! The usual two tons per rifle is plenty for most engagements, and the MGs are back as well with their half-ton of ammo. We even kept the C3 slave module of the LRM variant! Everything is awesome, thank you for this- wait, something's weird here. See, now we have a targeting computer, improving the accuracy of those rifles. Sounds great, but... to do that, some serious sacrifices had to be made, and you're not going to like them. The engine dropped to a 200XL, and the speed thus is now 2/3- wholly inadequate for almost any offensive operation and barely enough to get to a firing position when you're on the defensive side of things. One could almost excuse that if the tank were a bit tougher, but when we look at the armor we see that the layer has been cut down by a couple of tons, leaving us with an even less durable tank than before. Combine a tank that has a ridiculously powerful, accurate punch with an inability to get a movement modifier, thin armor, and no ability to escape if overrun, and this Morgan is going to struggle to get more than a couple of turns worth of fire in before massed fire wipes it out- if your enemy lets your Gauss Morgan remain alive longer than that, he deserves to lose. This is, sadly, an idea that just fails in use despite the obvious firepower.
So, there you have it. Three variants- one flawed but useful, one a titan of epic proportions, and one that is little more than throwing money away. Give it a try and see what you think, and tell us how it goes. And of course, if you have ideas how to improve Morgans, please discuss as well- and build your ideas on the Fan Designs area so we can see them! Plasma weapons? Artillery cannons? Thunderbolt missiles? Sound off, let's see what you've got.
