One of the new front line vehicles designed under Project Zhukov, the Neiro was built to engage targets at all ranges whilst being fast enough to keep pace with Clan Mechs whilst also replacing the quite inadequate Ares. The Ares, whilst well armed was horribly fragile and in their current state the Horses simply couldn't allow for large numbers of losses.
With their Mech production lines damaged the Horses were able to use technology that normally wasn't seen on Clan tanks, including an XL engine and Ferro-Fibrous armour, and a 240 rated XL engine would let the Neiro hit a maximum speed of 96kph, more than enough to keep up with friendly Mech forces despite it massing as much as the Ares (40 tons).
Mounting three weapons, two in the turret, one in the bow, the Nerio was also designed to be quite low profile and harder to hit than the overly tall Ares, but this did have its own problems. The SRM-6, split into two groups either side of the cockpit was poorly sighted, the gunner and driver/commander didn't like the heat, noise and vision obscuring smoke when it was fired either and as it had little elevation and no traverse, the launcher could be blocked by obstacles and terrain.
The large pulse laser and artemis equipped LRM-20 were far more capable and were hard hitting weapons, allowing the Neiro to cause significant damage at long to mid range. But, the different range brackets of the weapons were felt to be somewhat less than ideal, but there wasn't room to change the weapons and the Neiro was not a modular design.
Still, it gave the Horses a fast cavalry tank that was more survivable than the Ares and could engage targets with a high degree of success. Lessons from the construction of the Neiro and its design were also incorperated into its successor, the Enyo, but both tanks would serve alongside one another with the smaller Neiro and its LRM acting as a support platform before joining the battle.
Nerio Strike Tank.
Base Tech Level: Standard (Clan)
Level Era
-------------------
Experimental -
Advanced -
Standard 3145+
Tech Rating: F/X-X-X-D
Weight: 40 tons
BV: 1,446
Cost: 5,235,300 C-bills
Movement: 6/9 (Tracked)
Engine: 240 XL
Internal: 20
Armor: 115 (Ferro-Fibrous)
Internal Armor
---------------------------
Front 4 28
Right 4 22
Left 4 22
Rear 4 20
Turret 4 23
Weapons Loc Heat
------------------------------
Large Pulse Laser TU 10
LRM 20 TU 6
SRM 6 FR 4
Ammo Loc Shots
-------------------------
LRM 20 Ammo TU 6
LRM 20 Ammo TU 6
SRM 6 Ammo FR 15
Equipment Loc
-----------------------
Artemis IV FCS TU
ECM Suite [Clan] BD
As always, thoughts and comments are most welcome!
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