Vehicle of the Week: Pike Support VehicleDesigned by Canopus Industries Alpha on Canopus at the behest of the Magestrix in a bid to make money on the Successor States' woes during the Third Succession War, the Pike is a reliable unit and has been since its introduction in 2987. Deployed to smaller HPG garrisons around the Periphery, the design first attracted the Robes' attention with a win against Helmar Valasek's pirate forces “near Santander V”. So while sales weren't as much as the Magestrix had hoped due to the shortage of JumpShips, it has made a solid go of it and was picked up in large numbers by ComStar during the initial public revelation of the ComGuards, frequently using five of them in a Level I with a Demolisher attached to deal with anything the rest of the formation had already softened up. Since Pikes that are backing off a bit while a Demolisher is charging in to say “Hi there!” with the sort of violent panache only a class 20 autocannon can pull off are in the perfect range to pump AC/2s into weakened armor, that's a
nasty decision on ComStar's part and one I somehow doubt the Word has forgotten about.
The Pike, despite the name, is definitely a combat vehicle, a 60 ton tracked vehicle that you wouldn't be completely out of line mistaking for a tank. Powered by a Jones 180 ICE with something intriguing called “EmissionKill” - probably a stealth measure, although it has no game impact - the Pike can manage 54 kph at flank speed. Their armor isn't bad at all considering the design's role, 9 tons of StarSlab/9 arranged 33/25/25/36 - it's not the Manticore, no, but it's quite sufficient. The turret holds the real star of the show, a trio of ZeusBolt Autocannon 2s fed by a prodigious five tons of ammunition. Let's do some math for a second here. At 45 rounds per ton, you've got 225 rounds of ammo. That's 75 rounds of fire
per autocannon. Since flak and AC/2s go together like peanut butter and jelly, it'd be a real shame not to toss some in there, wouldn't it? Two tons of it would give you thirty rounds of fire and
still a full ton of AC/2 ammo per gun. A pair of Marklin Mini Missile SRM 2s are fixed forward to cover the AC/2s' range minimums. Since they've got about as much firepower as the main guns do, that's not a bad choice at all.
Two variants, both unofficial but in service with the Canopians at a minimum and possibly as one-offs in pretty much anyone's forces, surfaced during the Succession Wars. The first one trades the AC/2s for a pair of AC/5s with seven tons of ammo - increasing damage by 2/3 at the cost of a significant chunk of your range. At the time, considering the ICE, it's arguably not a bad idea, but if you want firepower, go for the LRM model. Two LRM 20s replace the autocannons but because of the size of the launchers, you only have three tons of ammunition. Since ammo endurance is one of the Pike's usual strong points, this requires a change in thinking; handle it like a properly turreted Rhino or Sturmfeur with less armor and you should be okay.
Exactly why the Clans built their own, I don't know, but they did. This isn't a simple refit, either - with the Clans' integral CASE and a fusion engine, it's a serious bit of work. The best way to describe this one is “half a
Bane” - five Ultra/2s in the turret fed by four tons of ammunition. I'd have gone with LB 2-Xs for cluster ammo (for the accuracy more than anything else) but overall, not too shabby as long as you watch your temptation to go to Ultra mode. An ERSL replaced the SRMs; considering the gain in damage from the increased AC mounts alone, without considering potential Ultra hits, that's not a bad trade. The Clanners even managed to boost the armor to 45/26/26/40 while saving a half-ton by using ferro-fibrous. I might have gone for an ERML instead of a half-ton of the armor but by and large, for the role of sniping at a distance, this one is a very solid contender.
The RAC “Assault Pike” went the other direction. 9.5 tons of ferro-fibrous plate provides a 42/30/28/40 armor spread, with a single small laser on the front bumper. The real firepower is provided by three RAC/2s fed by four tons of ammo. I'm... not really that impressed, honestly, although the storm of 2 point hits should keep people on their toes.
Other than the Assault Pike, which is a mid-range slugger in its time period, Pikes are all well-advised to find a spot with a clear arc of fire, good defenses, and start poking someone and wearing them down. Better yet, have a meaner, nastier friend getting in their face while you do it. Flak is sort of a round for all seasons here - one to two tons in either variant will make very certain aircraft keep their distance. In later years, either of the standard AC Pike variants will do well with precision ammo. Both of them have extraordinarily deep bins and can easily pack a substantial load of precision rounds while still carrying some flak rounds to keep airborne or aerospace units on their toes. There's not really a lot of tricks here.
If you want to counter a Pike, you've got two options. Either have the speed to get close (and hope there's not enough of them that massed fire brings you down) or have something that has the standoff range and firepower to punch back hard enough to break through their armor. They're not bricks, sure, but they're not the one-hit wonder that is the SRM carrier, either. Artillery might be useful to roust them out of a particularly annoying hiding spot. Airpower can certainly do the same thing but you want to be careful - all of them have the range to be relatively effective AA platforms, with the classic autocannon variants potentially bringing flak to bear as well.
References: The
Master Unit List is always a good starting point. CamoSpecs only has one example, a unit from the
2nd McCarron's Armored Cavalry.
