Conabus Support tank

[marauder648]

Background

An offshot of the Aithon and Phaeton, the vehicle that would become the Conabus was designed to support its larger bretheren in battle with long to mid-ranged indirect fire, whilst also carrying a large number of Elementals into battle.
Somewhat disparaginly called the 'Aithon lite' the Conabus is a jack of all trades but is seen as an expensive and less effective waste of resources by some Scientists.

Design

Built around the same base chassis as the Aithon but 5 tons lighter the Conabus shares the same armour protection and engine but lacks the larger vehicles armoured motive system.  It also retains the 10 ton Infantry bay of the bigger vehicle and the same reliable engine.  Despite this though the Conabus is known as a hangar queen.
This is due to its primary armament, a trio of fully automatically loaded Mech Mortar-8's drawing from a massive 10 tons of ammunition give the vehicle its long range punch.  But the mounting and loading system for the mortars proved to be prone to jamming in elevation and as all three mortars share a common elevation cradle if one jams then they all do.
The autoloaders also proved finicky and the loading ram system's hydralics need constant maintenance to ensure no faults in the loading cycle.

The bulky and complex turret mounting a pair of LRM-15's, a trio of ER small lasers an AMS and active probe was also problematic when first built but fortunately the venting system for the missile exhausts was an easy fix. 

A heavy front mounted bulldozer blade lets the Conabus smash through obstacles or shunt them aside but the addition of this angered the crews who would be assigned to it.  They resented the addition of the blade as they saw it as something for civilian vehicles.  The support role of the vehicle also made it deeply unpopular with some Trueborn Warriors.  Beset by technical delays and a lack of support from the Warriors the initial batch of Conabus' were tested against Lyran opponents and despite being crewed by Freeborns the vehicle performed well.  Units supported by one appreciated the long range fire that a Conabus could bring to bare and with the prevalence of AMS defences the mortars were doubly effective against a dug in foe.  This fire was maintained until the Conabus' onboard Elementals disembarked and assaulted position

Still the Warrior caste for the most part hated the machine and whilst approved for production, the factory that makes them does so at a reduced rate barely keeping up with losses.  Unless something turns the fortune of the Conabus around it is most likely that it will be cancelled and no new vehicles will be manufactured.

Code: [Select]

Conabus

Mass: 95 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: Dark Ages
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 18,741,938 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,526

Power Plant:  285 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Armor:  Ferro-Lamellor
Armament:
    2  LRM-15s
    3  Mech Mortar 8s
    5  ER Small Lasers
    1  Bulldozer
    1  Active Probe
    1  Anti-Missile System
    1 Unknown CASE
    1  Infantry Bay (10.0 tons)
    1  ECM Suite
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      50 points                9.50
Engine:             XL Fusion Engine             285                      13.00
    Cruise MP:  3
    Flank MP:   5
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             10                        0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         5.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Turret:                                                                    1.00
Armor:              Ferro-Lamellor               AV - 175                 12.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     37       
                                          Left/Right   37/37       
                                              Turret     30       
                                                Rear     34       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Mech Mortar 8s                             FR        30        3        15.00
Bulldozer                                    FR        0         1         2.00
ER Small Laser                               LS        2         1         0.50
ER Small Laser                               RS        2         1         0.50
2 LRM-15s                                    T         10        2         7.00
3 ER Small Lasers                            T         6         3         1.50
Active Probe                                 T         0         1         1.00
Anti-Missile System                          T         1         1         0.50
CASE                                         BD        -         0         0.00
Infantry Bay (10.0 tons)                     BD        0         1        10.00
ECM Suite                                    BD        0         1         1.00
@Mortar 8 (Airburst) (40)                    BD        -         0        10.00
@LRM-15 (32)                                 BD        -         0         4.00
@Anti-Missile System (24)                    BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 15
3t         6       7       5       0      4     0   Structure:  5
Special Abilities: ENG, PRB, RCN, AMS, CASE, ECM, TUR(4/4/2, LRM 2/2/2, IF 2/2/2), LRM 2/2/2, IF 4



As always, thoughts are most welcome.

[Col Toda]

Nice but the Ferro Laminar Armor seems out of place in any non-mech unit. Even in the Dark Age that armor is rare and only the Jade Falcon's made enough of it to put in in a production model

[Cryhavok101]

I'm not sure that the ER Small lasers really add much to the design. They look tacked on or out of place to me. Let me explain:

With the vehicle as slow as it is, and them being so short range, I am not so sure they would see much use. Most of the time I include such a short range weapon, it is for anti-infantry work. Flamers, machine guns, etc. Have you considered vehicle flamers, or AP gauss instead of the er small lasers? Either way, I'm curious about that design choice.

[marauder648]

I thought of APGRs first but they are probably a bit too much really especially when in big numbers.  I chose the ER small more to take use of the onboard heatsinks as well as a kind of eye to how I think the Clan mindset might be.  Obviously by this time the Clans know folks are going to be throwing infantry at them, but that's what the Mortars are for, they can commit absolute murder on infantry in the open or burn them out of pillboxes etc.  The ER smalls are there to deal with hostle BA that might try its luck against the tank.  The ER small outranges most Clan BA weapons and able to bring 3 or 4 to bare can wear down a BA squad before they get in range if you don't just sit there and move to avoid them getting close.  its fast enough to outrun even jumping elementals after all. 

Also sure its not optimised but I don't like designing something thats perfection, its boring, and giving a vehicle a flaw or a quirk its a bit more characterful than Tarcom LPL spam :D

[Cryhavok101]

The ER smalls are there to deal with hostile BA that might try its luck against the tank.  The ER small outranges most Clan BA weapons and able to bring 3 or 4 to bare can wear down a BA squad before they get in range if you don't just sit there and move to avoid them getting close.  its fast enough to outrun even jumping elementals after all. 

That honestly hadn't occurred to me when i looked at it. They make a lot more sense that way. Whenever I think anti-battle armor my mind jumps right to Medium Lasers, or SRM Infernos. Clan ER Smalls could work well that way too. Have you play tested it much? I am curious if it works as well in practice as it does in theory?

Also sure its not optimised but I don't like designing something thats perfection, its boring, and giving a vehicle a flaw or a quirk its a bit more characterful than Tarcom LPL spam :D

Of course, as is expected!  O0

[marauder648]

I've not tested the practice but in theory it sounds good, a fast skimmer with a battery of ER smalls would probably make a nasty little BA hunter