Normally when I get requests in, I put them in one of the post-it notes you can get on your Windows desktop, and I'll review them early in the week to see what I want to work on- if nothing on that list strikes me, I'll find something else, but I do prefer request vehicles (and keep them coming, please!). But I do like to try to vary things when I can, so I'm not in a rut of covering the same thing over and over. After several weeks of large, slow vehicles- and much of that time being spent on Capellan armor, no less!- I'm bumping a request from JPArbiter to the front of the line because it's the opposite- a fast hovercraft built by the Davions. That should help even things out, right? (Also, the name is fun to say. Zibler. Zibler. Zib-ler. Zibllllllllller...)
Anyway. Zibler. The Federated Suns has a love of three things- autocannons, illiteracy, and cavalry tactics. So it was actually surprising that the Davions went with an assault tank as their primary way to bring pod-mounted technology to their armored forces in the famed Ajax. It took until the post-Jihad 3090s for a fast strike unit to gain this ability, courtesy of StarCorps seeing an obvious niche to fill as the AFFS rebuilt. While rebuilding, the military was also slimming down, as so many others were doing, and StarCorps no doubt plugged the modular nature of the Zibler as a very important thing- if you have less units overall in the postwar era, make sure they can cover more roles. One can't help but wonder, looking at the Zibler, whether StarCorps has a dusty old Clan-built Epona hidden under tarps in a secret hangar somewhere- the similarities in terms of stats and loadouts are striking at times, even if the looks (and tech difference) lean away from it.
If you're going to call something a 'fast strike tank', it had better be able to move. While 8/12 isn't as impressive now as it was in 3039, the Zibler can kick up its heels to that point and justify use as a quick strike unit. A standard fusion engine provides the 50-ton hovertank with this speed, an interesting choice as the XL and even XXL motors become more common on vehicles- perhaps a nod towards affordability, though that's merely a guess. The speed means the Zibler works well as a flanking unit, able to outmaneuver opposing forces, as well as provide quick directed attacks at targets both along the line and in the enemy's backfield. It also works remarkably well as a lineholder, able to quickly redeploy and plug holes in the lines where needed.
Hovercraft tend not to be particularly well-armored oftentimes- after all, it's the motive hits that kill them usually, not being skewered through. The Zibler makes a good attempt at toughness, all things considered, with seven tons of heavy ferro-fibrous plating, but this is certainly not an MBT- slugging it out with the enemy won't go well, speed is the real armor here. Still, thirty points cover the sides and front, showing the tanks' intent to be in amongst the heaviest fighting. Twenty points cover the rear, while the odd rear-quarter mounted turret gets 28 points as well. CASE is hardwired into the body as well, just in case. Ziblers won't be easily brought down, but they're not particularly durable either- use it wisely.
As an Omni, the Zibler comes with several canonized versions to choose from to fill its 18-ton pod bay. The prime shows that the engineers were paying close attention to that Epona under the tarps- a quartet of standard medium lasers apes the pulse array on the Epona Prime, while the Streak rack of the Clan tank is matched by a full trio of Streak SRM-4s, fed by a ton of ammunition. While the old medium laser won't hold a candle to the Epona's pulse lasers, a targeting computer helps make up for the accuracy loss, and a C3 slave module means the Zibler can feed targeting info to its friends- a trick the Epona can't match. Surprisingly, the two are an intriguing match for each other- in tests, a Zibler Prime beat an Epona Prime in three of four tests (with me running the Zibler twice and the Epona twice)- the added SRM barrage proving the difference. This is a great little strike tank, and just as good at hunting down enemy scouts and raiders- as long as you note the lack of any ranged weapons and act accordingly.
The A configuration takes a unique approach, with four LAC-2s in the turret fed by two tons of ammunition. FedSun forces can use alternate ammunition types to make this far-reaching unit an excellent harasser and support unit, hunting enemy hovercraft and VTOLs with precision ammo and switching to armor piercing to hopefully get lucky hits on tougher targets. While it lacks the punch of the Prime, in support of other units the A is an intriguing option.
Configuration B reminds me of some of the configs I've put together for Omnimechs for urban fighting over the years. An LB-10X provides excellent anti-vehicle power, as well as the ability to tell aircraft to get the hell away, with two tons of ammo providing the ability to switch ammo types if desired. A pair of ER medium lasers ride coaxially with the cannon to add extra muscle. Infantry who so far haven't been concerned about advancing Ziblers will find dismay at the quartet of LMGs tied together in an array, a truly rude thing to do to enemy PBIs. As a bodyguard for other Ziblers and such, this is superb.
The C starts the show with the excellent snub-nose PPC, never a bad thing to put on a fast tank. And yet, here it's the backup gun, buried under the pair of MML-7 racks. Two tons of ammo provide the ability to switch between long and short range weaponry, while supported by the mighty cannon. If the idea of an 8/12 tank lighting you with 14 LRMs and switching to short-range barrages backed by a PPC doesn't frighten you, you need an education from an Zibler-C. I pegged this as a decent one, but it quickly became a favorite in testing- the only version that never lost any of its test runs, including defeating a Black Hawk-KU Prime.
And finally we reach the D. If you ever used the Epona D, with its magnificent ER PPC and Streak rack, this will feel familiar- mostly. The D uses the mighty heavy PPC to make life miserable on its enemy, punching massive holes in even the most heavily-armored targets. Where the Clan tank has the Streak rack to exploit those holes, the Zibler D is forced to rely on its friends (like the Prime and B models) to do that part- however, a boosted C3 module means that it can help its mates in that job nicely, without worrying about things like the all-too-frequent Guardian systems on modern battlefields. (Everyone point at the Capellans, let's be honest here)
In fact, speaking of Capellans, let's talk about that. Stealth armor units are ridiculously hard to deal with sometimes- the best tactic is to get in their face quickly and get rid of their advantage at range. A fast tank can do that very easily- so the Zibler may be more important to the AFFS than any other armored unit in the Davion nation's history now, with the Capellans advancing as they are. A group of assorted Ziblers can make life hell on a Capellan force, zipping in quickly and hammering the Liao lines- and forcing tough choices as to whether to shut the armor off and deal with the Ziblers with the full heat sink array, or keep it on in case other Davion units are firing as well. It's no less of a powerful strike unit against Kurita either, of course. The Republic also uses the Zibler against their myriad of opponents, where it serves with distinction in the seemingly endless brush fires as that nation atrophies on itself.
Great tank- not a dud version among the configs. I very much recommend these, and thank JPArbiter for his suggestion. Want your idea covered? Send me a PM and let me know, and in the meantime let's talk Ziblers!
Zibler... Ziiiiibler... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzibler...
