Mark II Wheeled Support Tank
Mass: 50 tons
Movement Type: Wheeled
Power Plant: 180 ICE
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
1 PPC
2 Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2490
Tech Rating/Availability: E/C-C-C-C
Cost: 700,625 C-bills
The prosaically named Wheeled Support Tank Mark II was developed by the Terran Hegemony as a successor to the equally uninspired Mark I PPC carrier. A medium vehicle best known nowadays for its ruggedness and simplicity (and it forgetable nature), the Mark II was both widely exported across the Inner Sphere and produced (with and without a license) by every state with the capacity to do so. While nothing special today, this frenzy of export and production was originally fueled by the advanced technology it featured, particularly its particle projection cannon, and the Mark II was one of the first vehicles so armed to become widely available to nations outside of the Hegemony's borders.
Beyond the PPC, however, the Mark II was a fairly mundane and unimpressive machine, notable only for its status as a fully modernized design in a time when the other houses had yet to fully retire their earlier generation of combat vehicles. Solidly midweight, with decent mobility and respectable armor protection, the vehicle offers few surprises, aside from maybe just how unsurprising it was. The main gun gave it extra hitting power (especially against the weaker armor of those primitive combat vehicles still in service) though it perhaps compromised the design more than it helped due to the use of a petrochemical engine and the need for a tremendous amount of cooling systems needed to make the weapon useable.
The twenty-sixth century was the heyday for the Mark II, with the vehicle spreading across the Inner Sphere and seeing heavy action during the many conflicts of that century. The Davion Civil War and the Reunification War in particular saw Mark IIs fighting each other on both sides of the conflict and revealed many of the vehicle's weaknesses, particularly increased vulnerability at close range which could quickly result in an isolated Mark II being destroyed. Though on an open field this could be mitigated by pack tactics and proper support, in the confused house to house fighting that often occurred during the Davion Civil War or the Taurian and Rim Worlds fronts of the Reunification War, many Mark IIs found themselves cut off and disabled or destroyed in detail.
Following the end of the Reunification War, the standard Mark II was gradually retired from front line service and passed on to second line and planetary defense troops. It was largely extinct by the fall of the Star League, however it underwent something of a rebirth during the late Succession Wars, alongside similar fairly unsophisticated, easy to build designs, and even today it can be found among planetary militia units across the Inner Sphere (with the exception of the Free Worlds League).
Variants:
The original Mark I was built to more primitive design standards and on a whole was not particularly impressive, aside from its use as a propaganda tool (as one of the first dedicated PPC carrying platforms). Only a few hundred of these vehicles were built, and while they got a significant amount of screen time with the Hegemony's movie industry and propaganda aparatus, they saw little actual action and were never offered for export.
A heavier Mark III version was developed thirteen years after the Mark II, gaining an extra ten tons of mass in exchange for additonal armor protection. Ultimately, this version failed to catch on, and never saw production.
Once the luster of the PPC armed Mark II wore off, many states quickly realized that removing the PPC freed up a tremendous amount of space, and produced a whole family of variants. Two of the most notable were the LRM version (which replaced the PPC with twin fifteen tube missile racks) and the autocannon model, a version developed by the Lyrans that fielded a massive Tamar Arms cannon originally tested on the Sturmblitz.
The Terran Hegemony likewise turned to the Mark II in testing several new technologies developed during the Reunification War. Stripping out all the weapons and installing a new, more robust turret ring, Hegemony engineers produced variants mounting both the new Arrow missile system and the Gauss Rifle. Though the Arrow equipped variant proved unsatisfactory due to jamming problems with both the launcher and the turret, the Gauss variant turned out to be particularly effective and would go on to see widespread service with the SLDF, until eventually being retired in favor of the Demon Tank. Thousands of surplus Gauss equipped Mark IIs would eventually find their way into the hands of Stephan Amaris and would be distributed to both his own troops and the secret forces assembled for the periphery uprising. Few would survive the conflicts that followed, and those few that did would be scrapped by SLDF forces.
Type: Mark II Wheeled Support Tank
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Wheeled
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 580
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 5
Engine 180 ICE 14
Cruising MP: 4
Flank MP: 6
Heat Sinks: 10 10
Control Equipment: 2.5
Power Amplifier: 1.0
Turret: 1.0
Armor Factor 128 8
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 5 30
R/L Side 5/5 26/26
Rear 5 20
Turret 5 26
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage
PPC Turret 7.0
2 Machine Guns Turret 1.0
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) Body 0.5
