Quickscell had, at the latter end of the Third Succession War, found a market niche it did not have significant penetration in, as difficult to believe such a thought may seem to many.
That segment of course being Assault weight tanks, a portion of the market that was considered to be potentially exceedingly lucrative, especially in the Lyran Commonwealth.
Naturally this situation could not stand, at least in the eyes of shareholders and executives alike.
The idea of licensing an existing chassis was dismissed out of hand as too expensive, while intellectual property infringement was deemed slightly too risky.
Mostly due to the fact that the company was at the time already dealing with a convoluted joint lawsuit by several of their competitors regarding the Quickscell version of the Manticore tank.
Of course, due to unfortunate reputational issues stemming from what internal company memos referred to as 'Reasonable production optimizations to maximize product value', any Quickscell product would need to be cheaper than the competition and preferably have some other advantage while doing so. Otherwise, no one would even consider buying them, not in numbers envisioned.
And thus the engineering team serving in the Lyran branch of the company was tasked with producing a cheaper, more 'capable' version of a Demolisher. Without producing a new, custom chassis and the associated tooling. Preferably yesterday.
Needless to say, these conflicting requirements created some moderate consternation for the nominal engineers working for Quickscell. In sheer desperation, they tasked their juniors to go over every non-combat vehicle being produced by the company, while the more senior members tried to design a chassis using existing stock of Scorpion tank parts.
While the latter attempt(s) produced little more than exploded scrap metal (Arguably, not that different a state from usual), it was one of the unpaid interns who had been further delegated to trawl through the disorganized archival rooms, that struck the proverbial Germanium.
An 80-ton wheeled, environmentally sealed cargo carrier that was already designed to be fitted with heavy industrial armor. Of course, the company had stopped producing the vehicle due to low demand but the tooling had been accidentally preserved due to a bureaucratic error instead of converted for other uses. Rapidly, the tooling was shipped to Gallery where a crude, open tent production line was set up for building test vehicles. An equally crude blueprint was rushed through, featuring a turret mounting two autocannons used in the company's existing Hetzer line of vehicles with several missile launchers of unspecified type, and named Experimental Model 699 Heavy Tank.
Problems began as soon as the first test turret was fired with military grade ammunition.
Half a dozen unfortunate nearby workers died as the turret rapidly disassembled itself when firing both cannons, flinging one of the massive Class-20 autocannons into a nearby worksite barrack, crushing all inside.
Various issues with the initial dual cannon housing included, but were not limited to; 'severe electric motor fires', 'explosive gas seal rupture' ,'partial structural collapse', 'missile double feeding' and an 'unexpected severe ammunition ignition event'. Unable to make a functional turret, the senior engineering team decided to drop the dual cannon concept for the time being, and focus on making a functional vehicle instead.
The result of this process would be the Model 700 Heavy Tank (somewhat unfortunately) named the Disassembler by the presumably oblivious Quickscell marketing team, a clear knock-off of the Demolisher brand.
The initial model would mount a single Class-20 autocannon on the right side of the turret, fed by two tons of ammunition. This was complimented by triple mounted SRM6 launchers on the left side fed by two tons of ammo. Suprisingly, while less effective at punching holes through 'Mech armor, this "choice" did provide near equal overall firepower and the ability to exploit any compromised armor sections. For mostly marketing purposes, two LRM5 launchers are also mounted in the turret sides, in ear-like boxes.
Unfortunately the right side LRM box suffers from a production flaw that occasionally causes the missile launcher to jam if the Class-20 is fired while the launcher is mid-loading, as the reloading mechanism can literally break apart due to welding-errors. Three machineguns sourced from the Scorpion tank are mounted to deter infantry, a genuine upgrade, along with a single ton of ammunition to feed them. Instead of a sophisticated (and more expensive) remote weapon control system, each machine gun requires a gunner to man them in poorly sound proofed compartments.
Ten and half-tons of standard armor plate allow Quickscell company to legally claim that the Disassembler has 'Superior protection'. In practice, there is little difference in actual defence provided, outside of frontal arc, where a single additional medium laser hit can be survived.
One downside of the wheeled chassis is a compromised cross-country performance, though this is theoretically somewhat offset by the improved road march ability.
What would prove worse for the reputation of the vehicle was that the first three production blocks of the Disassembler had one in a six chance of being true namesakes.
That is to say, they literally had the chassis fall apart after firing around six to eight tons of autocannon ammunition due to vibration and poor-quality metals used in the hull segments.
The jokes that would circulate through the military community effectively wrote themselves.
While this was corrected, eventually, it would take nearly decades before anyone actually paid for their vehicles before they had fired at least a dozen tons of Class-20 ammunition. Often potential-buyers would bill Quickscell for this testing, and after an humiliating court-judgement turned stand-up comedy session in 2991, were actually legally required to pay in the Free Worlds League.
Four years of development work would enable the Disassembler to mount twin cannons as originally intended, though all of the missile launchers had to be omitted as not to compromise protection. The Model 750, as according to internal company designation system, retains the machine guns and provides the second autocannon with another two tons of ammunition.
Overall, the Model 700 and Model 750 are mostly used by various militia and second-line units as a cheaper, less desirable alternative to the Demolisher. Some smaller (desperate) mercenary commands also make use of the Disassembler.
Disassembler Heavy Tank
Model 700 Disassembler
Base Tech Level: Introductory (IS)
Level Era
-------------------
Experimental -
Advanced -
Standard 2983+
Tech Rating: E/X-E-D-D
Weight: 80 tons
BV: 1,026
Cost: 1,754,667 C-bills
Source: The Succession Wars
Movement: 3/5 (Wheeled)
Engine: 220 ICE
Internal: 40
Armor: 168
Internal Armor
---------------------------
Front 8 45
Right 8 31
Left 8 31
Rear 8 21
Turret 8 40
Weapons Loc Heat
------------------------
AC/20 TU 7
SRM 6 TU 4
SRM 6 TU 4
SRM 6 TU 4
Machine Gun FR 0
Machine Gun LS 0
LRM 5 TU 2
LRM 5 TU 2
Machine Gun RS 0
Ammo Loc Shots
------------------------------
AC/20 Ammo BD 5
AC/20 Ammo BD 5
SRM 6 Ammo BD 15
SRM 6 Ammo BD 15
Machine Gun Ammo BD 200
LRM 5 Ammo BD 24
Because what could go wrong when Quicksell decides to make a heavy tank?
