Stingray Light Tank

[Sabelkatten]

And it exists because a massive cache of parts and complete engines were found.

And IIRC, the only canon deployment of them is under a large house unit (which probably includes a lot of support for fusion engines)?

[Daryk]

Swift Wind Scout Car
MASH
Packrat
J. Edgar Hover Tank
Mobile HQ
Hunter
Drillson
Manticore
Rommel/Patton (NEW designs in 3025, no less)
Von Luckner
Schreck

Sure, fusion engines aren't "common", but they're not exactly rare, either.

[Sabelkatten]

(going by memory here)

Swift Wind Scout Car - often refitted with ICE
MASH - See above, unless used by well-off units
Packrat - See above
J. Edgar Hover Tank - Very rare
Mobile HQ - As MASH
Hunter - You got me here, it doesn't even need the SFE!
Drillson - Originally ICE, retconned to SFE when TPTB noticed it was way illegal
Manticore - Mostly well-off units, rated as valuable as a mech
Rommel/Patton (NEW designs in 3025, no less) - And SFEs was a major problem for production and getting them into the field
Von Luckner - Often sacrificed to keep mechs working (also does perfectly well with an ICE)
Schreck - Very uncommon

Of course units that already have mechs will be necessity have the support to handle fusion engines, so they can have at least some fusion vehicles as well.

[Daryk]

And the support required for 'mechs also argues in favor of fusion not being as rare as some of the fluff makes it out to be.  I really think a lot of the early fluff was intended to be ComStar propaganda.

[Maingunnery]

And the support required for 'mechs also argues in favor of fusion not being as rare as some of the fluff makes it out to be.

Properly supported 'Mech formations tend to be the Front-Line units, which would also be the type of units to have fancy vehicles.
The militias are going to have to make do with less support and cheaper vehicles.

[Daryk]

Militias from worlds that invested in the fuel infrastructure necessary to support ICEs, sure...

[Maingunnery]

Militias from worlds that invested in the fuel infrastructure necessary to support ICEs, sure...

Well ICE is an order of magnitude less technologically demanding (C) than fusion (D), ICE is just so darn easy to work with.

[Daryk]

Aside from the infrastructure issue, sure.  Check the impact of that missile strike a couple of weeks ago.  That's one facility (albeit a large one) on one world. Extraction/manufacture, storage, and distribution is non-trivial, and absolutely not cheap.

[Maingunnery]

Aside from the infrastructure issue, sure.  Check the impact of that missile strike a couple of weeks ago.  That's one facility (albeit a large one) on one world.

very minor impact.

Extraction/manufacture, storage, and distribution is non-trivial, and absolutely not cheap.

Actually it is possible to get fuel from many sources, storage is very easy, and the good energy density combined with easy handling makes distribution relatively trivial. Just some of the many reasons why ICE is still the primary source of power in the world.

[Retry]

Well ICE is an order of magnitude less technologically demanding (C) than fusion (D), ICE is just so darn easy to work with.

I don't think a tech level above or below is an entire order of magnitude more advanced.  I sure don't think that, say, making a Light PPC (tech level E) is something entirely incomprehensible to maintain or build if you're perfectly capable of constructing the regular variety (tech level D).

Though, honestly, the ICE could easily come down to tech level B and no one would bat an eye.  The good ol' otto cycle ain't hard to comprehend, and that'd give some breathing room for an "advanced" ICE engine.  Fuel Cells too, down to level C.  We have one already, while the other is still "only 10 years away", so why do they share the same tech level?

But I don't see how any of this is directly relevant to the Stingray.

[Daryk]

Sorry for the thread derailment.  I'll agree to disagree on that non-relevant topic from here.  :-X