DI Morgan Assault Tank (ELRM)

[A. Lurker]

So the idea of an ELRM-equipped DI Morgan arose on the latest VotW thread and after a bit of thought I decided to give it a shot. I actually ended up with two nigh-identical models intended to work together with either each other or any C3 network of opportunity:

Code: [Select]

DI Morgan Assault Tank ELRM-M

Mass: 100 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 27,085,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,771

Power Plant:  300 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Armor:  Heavy Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
    3  Extended LRM-15s
    2  ER Medium Lasers
    1  Anti-Missile System
    1  Angel ECM
    1  C3 Boosted Computer (Master)
    1 Unknown CASE
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      50 points               10.00
Engine:             XL Fusion Engine             300                      14.50
    Cruise MP:  3
    Flank MP:   5
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             10                        0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         5.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Turret:                                                                    4.00
Armor:              Heavy Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 208                 10.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     57       
                                          Left/Right   41/41       
                                              Turret     41       
                                                Rear     28       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Extended LRM-15s                           T         24        3        36.00
2 ER Medium Lasers                           T         10        2         2.00
Anti-Missile System                          T         1         1         0.50
Angel ECM                                    BD        0         1         2.00
C3 Boosted Computer (Master)                 BD        0         1         6.00
CASE                                         BD        -         1         0.50
@ELRM-15 (48)                                BD        -         0         8.00
@Anti-Missile System (12)                    BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 18
3t         3       4       3       0      4     0   Structure:  5
Special Abilities: AMS, C3BSM, TAG, AECM, CASE, TUR(3/4/3, IF 1/3/3), IF 3

Code: [Select]

DI Morgan Assault Tank ELRM-S

Mass: 100 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 22,085,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,846

Power Plant:  300 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Armor:  Heavy Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
    3  Extended LRM-15s
    2  ER Medium Lasers
    1  Anti-Missile System
    1  Angel ECM
    1  C3 Boosted Computer (Slave)
    1 Unknown CASE
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      50 points               10.00
Engine:             XL Fusion Engine             300                      14.50
    Cruise MP:  3
    Flank MP:   5
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             10                        0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         5.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Turret:                                                                    4.00
Armor:              Heavy Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 208                 10.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     57       
                                          Left/Right   41/41       
                                              Turret     41       
                                                Rear     28       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Extended LRM-15s                           T         24        3        36.00
2 ER Medium Lasers                           T         10        2         2.00
Anti-Missile System                          T         1         1         0.50
Angel ECM                                    BD        0         1         2.00
C3 Boosted Computer (Slave)                  BD        0         1         3.00
CASE                                         BD        -         1         0.50
@ELRM-15 (66)                                BD        -         0        11.00
@Anti-Missile System (12)                    BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 18
3t         3       4       3       0      4     0   Structure:  5
Special Abilities: AMS, AECM, CASE, C3BSS, TUR(3/4/3, IF 1/3/3), IF 3
That's right -- the only difference is which carries the master and which gets the slave plus some extra ammo. Good luck figuring out which is which at a glance just by relying on ye olde Mk I Eyeball. :)

I could have squeezed about five more tubes onto the tank by going with two fifteen- and two ten-racks or just five tens as originally planned. But then I decided I'd rather have reasonably deep ammo bins and the support gear.

C-bill costs are "dry", but should be taken with a grain of salt -- I took them from MegaMekLab because that's generally more accurate than my current version of SAW, but I now noticed something a bit odd with the C-bill cost of ELRM 15s specifically that I may have to check back on on a rules board once I've decided which. The MML price tag for them looks correct by present errata, but I have my doubts about that in turn.

Edited to add: Okay, the errata is in and the ELRM-15 should indeed once again cost 350,000 C-bills a pop, not the post-original-errata 218,750 assumed by MML. With three launchers on a 100-ton tracked vehicle that amounts to an extra 787,500 per tank, which I've simply added by hand.

[Col Toda]

About 100 million for a lance of boosted C 3 tanks  . A hard sell to any militia . The Di Morgan is fortunate in having great financing terms when they went out to sell the original version . It did well in a place with deserts , prairie ,and farmland , and had low enough incidence of attacks to get significant equity before any losses . The Di Morgan tanks have br known to bankrupt planets that lose them in combat too soon from the initial sale. This new version is no different.

[A. Lurker]

Eh, those are just C-bills. As much as I still try to get those numbers "correct" just in case, they never really mean anything, anyway -- not even in universe.

What may give people pause is more the simple battle value for these things. By my reckoning, a full interconnected lance of one master and three slaves will set you back 9,357 points at least (7,309 base plus 7% of that -- another 512 points properly rounded -- added to the cost of each tank for another 2,048 combined), and more if it just so happens to be part of a larger network still.

And as much as BV is supposed to "just" be a tool for balancing games at the tabletop, I'm increasingly starting to think that it may also be a more accurate metric of the considerations that go into building armies in-universe than the pure supposed monetary bill for their production ever was. Purchases and deployments in the fiction certainly seem to play out that way.

[Col Toda]

The battle values given seem correct . For the price I could buy about 3 heavy and 3 Assault mechs and get  as much as 15,000 BV . Mechs are a little more durable than vehicles  .  All combat vehicles do great defending ground that has been prepared for them . In those conditions vehicles weaknesses can be mitigated .

[Colt Ward]

 . . . with boosted C3 and ELRM that is sort of the point.  They would be providing great fire support at lower risk for the mechs and line armor.