The following came about as I was working on a planetary militia force and got thinking about the idea of a planetary government making locally produced knockoff versions of some of the more common/generic low tech tanks like the Scorpion or Vedette - think along the lines of unlicensed homebrew versions that the local industry of a lower tech level backwater world could potentially produce on its own in order to avoid paying a small fortune in transport fees and/or wait times that would be required when requisitioning such equipment from off-world sources.
I was playing around with potential knockoff variants in MegaMekLab and in the process discovered that all the three introductory level variants of the Vedette tank (standard, AC2 and Liao) can be effectively rebuilt at 40 tons instead, and the lower tonnage version is superior to the 50 ton version in many ways.
For starters, the pros of the 40t vedette:
Despite losing 10 tons of weight, all variants were able to retain the same speed, armour and weapons profiles as their 50t versions. For the Liao version, I allowed one slight change - it was the only one that came out at half a ton over the limit after conversion, so to resolve this issue the overly excessive second ton of MG ammo was dropped and replaced with a second MG added instead.
Logistical cost wise, it's a solid improvement across the board. Initial costs for all 3 variants are roughly 25% cheaper in C-Bills than their 50 ton versions. 1 less crewman is required to man the vehicle (3 crew at 40 tons instead of 4 at 50 tons) so that drops crew salary costs down by 25% as well.
As per IO beta (I don't have the full IO book yet), the spare parts costs are 20% cheaper and the peacetime monthly fuel usage/costs are 30% less/cheaper. No change to ammo costs except for the Liao version, which gets slightly cheaper with only one ton of MG ammo
As for the cons, the one and only downside I can see thus far is that the 40t version of the vehicle naturally carries slightly less internal structure on each location than the 50 ton version, for a total of 20 points of structure rather than 25. But at the end of the day, for a cheap cannon fodder vehicle like the Vedette that slight loss of structure is an almost negligible factor, and a more than acceptable trade off for the significant cost reductions elsewhere.
I know there are plenty of mechs out there you can improve simply by altering their total tonnage by 5 tons, but I haven't seen it all that often for vehicles, and I'm honestly quite pleasantly surprised at how nicely the Vedette came out after simple conversion.
Here are the breakdown specs of the three succession wars Vedette variants at 40 tons
40t Vedette (Standard AC5 version)
Mass: 40 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 200 ICE
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
1 AC/5
1 Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2943
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-C-D-D
Cost: 550,667 C-bills
Type: 40t Vedette
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 40
Battle Value: 459
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 4
Engine 200 ICE 17
Cruising MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks: 0 0
Control Equipment: 2.0
Power Amplifier: 0.0
Turret: 1.0
Armor Factor 96 6
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 4 20
R/L Side 4/4 18/18
Rear 4 20
Turret 4 20
Weapons and Ammo Location Tonnage
Trailer Hitch Rear 0.0
Machine Gun Front 0.5
AC/5 Turret 8.0
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) Body 0.5
AC/5 Ammo (20) Body 1.0
40t Vedette (Ac2)
Mass: 40 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 200 ICE
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament: 1 Machine Gun 1 SRM 2 1 AC/2
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2962
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-D-D-D
Cost: 527,567 C-bills
Type: 40t Vedette
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 40
Battle Value: 441
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 4
Engine 200 ICE 17
Cruising MP: 5
Flanking MP: 8
Heat Sinks: 0
Control Equipment: 2
Power Amplifier: 0
Turret: 1
Armor Factor: 96 6
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 4 20
R/L Side 4/4 18/18
Rear 4 20
Turret 4 20
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
Trailer Hitch Rear 0 0
Machine Gun Front 1 0.5
AC/2 Turret 1 6
SRM 2 Turret 1 1
AC/2 Ammo (45) Body 1 1
Half Machine Gun Body 1 0.5
Ammo (100)
SRM 2 Ammo (50) Body 1 1
40t Vedette (Liao)
Mass: 40 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 200 ICE
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament: 1 Machine Gun 1 SRM 2 1 AC/2
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2962
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-D-D-D
Cost: 527,567 C-bills
Type: 40t Vedette
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 40
Battle Value: 441
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 4
Engine 200 ICE 17
Cruising MP: 5
Flanking MP: 8
Heat Sinks: 8 8
Control Equipment: 2
Power Amplifier: 0
Turret: 1
Armor Factor: 96 6
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 4 20
R/L Side 4/4 18/18
Rear 4 20
Turret 4 20
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
Trailer Hitch Rear 0 0
Machine Gun Front 1 0.5
2 Medium Lasers Turret 2 2
Machine Gun Turret 1 0.5
Machine Gun Ammo (200) Body 1 1
Again, this one was the only variant that came out at 40.5 tons after direct conversion, so to drop it back under the weight limit that infamous excessive second ton of MG ammo was removed and replaced with a second MG instead.
PS: I also did a quick run over some of the more advanced 3050+ variants of the Vedette. I can't manage 40 ton versions of those but 45 tons seems to work well for most of them, and it was enough to drop them down to only needing 3 crewmen. Not a fan of any of these later variants though, they all ditch the usual idea of the Vedette being cheap and expendable.
