Dreadfully sorry to keep you all waiting so long. I hope this is worth the wait. I will post a drop box link at the end for those who want to get the full effect of my formatting. I really tried to make it as BT-compliant as possible.
This article offers a lot more than past efforts. I have tried to include a bit of humour and also some house rules for cool things you might like to try. One thing that really got mutilated in posting to the forum is the formatting of Dr. Bull's interjections. So if you find this really hard to read; let me know: I am taking suggestions for how to do this better in the future.
As a brief summary; if you like mechs and tanks that are really big, really weird or fly, then this article is for you!
Gods of Our Fathers
Conversion and Super-Heavy Technology in History and in Practice
Article by Dr. Francis Levy, Professor of Engineering; Sandhurst
Reproduced (with annotations) from the University Technical Journal;
“Everywhere and Everything”
V10 No.4 Aug 3098
*Annotations by Dr. Gerald Bull, SRC Inc. acting as science advisor to Lord Commander Mckenna, circa 11/Jul/3099*
Since the inception of paradigm-shifting military-industrial technology, it has always held a certain fascination for the public. This was never more so than with the advent of first ‘Mech and later; BattleMech technology. Within this category, however; certain examples have often held a special significance; the noble and dramatic lines of the ShadowHawk; for example, or the iconic brutalism of the WarHammer in more contemporaneous times.
The Fall of the Star League and the Succession Wars that followed threatened to make all articles of technic civilization extinct, especially the weapons most visible in the waging of those apocalyptic wars; BattleMechs.
But long before the veil was parted on the full capacity to-date of human conflict, there were some fighting machines so specialized, unusual and capable as to possess a near-mythic significance above and beyond their actual military potential. Units which surpassed even the agency-bestowing BattleMech in their powers. This was most epitomized by the Terran Hegemony’s multi-modal Land-Air Mechs, but the category did not end with these incredible machines.
Since at least the 20th Century, there have been items of military equipment whose existence was shrouded in mystery and rumour. Fighting Machines so secret that they were hidden away and their existence denied by the governments of the day. Some of these; such as the Western Alliance’s F-19 Stealth Fighter, never existed at all. Some, such as Nazi Germany’s Maus Super-Heavy Tank became objects of legends which grew far beyond the truth of their existence; back-lit by contradictory accounts and evidence. Others; like the United States of America’s Aurora Spy plane lived mainly in the minds of conspiracy theorists for decades past the retirement and official acknowledgement of their very-real service.
Machines like these; Super-Heavy combat vehicles, practical stealth technology, artificially-intelligent autonomous combat units, cyborg fighting machines and others acquired a certain cachet in the age of LosTech to rival the prominence of demonstrably real pieces of equipment; such as LAMs. After all; if the Star League could make *that*, then truly what was beyond them? Finding themselves living in a galactic garden of wonders they could neither explain, nor maintain; the populations of the Succession Wars-Era were hard-pressed to credibly gainsay these denizens of the peculiar subgenre of LosTech fiction which were popular before the coming of the Clans.
The dreams of children and LosTech prospectors alike were filled with images of what incredible hyper-capable machines might be out there just waiting to be found.
The Word of Blake brought those dreams to life as nightmares for nearly fourteen years in the unmatched savagery of their Jihad on all human civilization. During this conflict the Word deployed nearly every form of combat unit seemingly dredged from the depths of the most shameless of the speculative-history-techno-thriller genre. And then they had a few ideas of their own.
Besides the never-sufficiently-to-be-damned Manei Domini cyborgs, the most apt to grab the morbid attentions of latter-day historians have proven to be the Word’s own LAMs and Super-Heavy Mechs.
These once near-mythical technologies live on today in the RAF’s own Colossal-series mechs and the SLDF-in-Exile’s LAMs. But new developments; such as the Hell’s Horses’ QuadVees demonstrate that the evolution of the fighting vehicle is not over yet and new research suggests that metal giants may have been hiding, unnoticed in our midst all along.
^^^
It is not the purpose of this work to rehash the now well-known history of Land-Air Mechs. This subject has been covered in great and well-researched detail elsewhere. Rather; our purpose will be to examine more modern developments in conversion technology, provide an overview of past failures and examine a few notable and often-overlooked examples.
More detail will be given to the dubious history of super-heavy combat vehicles; from Amaris’ Follies to the ancient cyclopean mobile weapons platforms and a few fringe, but important Civilian Spin-offs.
Attention will also be granted to the historical and modern deployment and tactics of such machines and their current and recent production status.
^^^
Historically speaking, military and even civilian vehicles with multi-modal capabilities are not new. Leaving aside the more mundane examples of simple amphibians and rail-mobile wheeled vehicles; the oldest must be the various “Wheel-******-Track” designs of the 1920s and 30s and the various examples of Christie Suspension tanks of the same period.
A “Wheel-******-Track” vehicle is one with both wheeled and tracked suspension; as a halftrack but designed to use one or the other at a time. This has theoretical advantages in terms of cross-country mobility, road speed and fuel economy, but in practice, none of these were often realized.
In common with more contemporary multi-modal types; any Wheel-******-Track vehicle needed to bear the burden of the added weight, complexity, cost and maintenance requirements of mounting two modes of transportation on one chassis. In addition; very few were able to make the transition from one mode to other unaided and instead required sometimes lengthy intervention from the vehicle’s own crew and a special set of tools. Obviously, a non-starter in combat.
A few Wheel-******-Track designs made it into limited production as reconnaissance vehicles and special transports, such as the Austrian ADMK and RR7 (later Sd Kfz254), but none prospered in service.
Developed by American Inventor and Tech J. Walter Christie; the suspension system which bears his name used a clever arrangement of mechanical shock absorbers to produce the first tracked vehicles capable of very high speeds; up to 167kph in one test: a record which stood for centuries for tracked vehicles.
But in addition; original Christie suspension vehicles had an additional feature; a “Convertible” Drive that allowed them to be run on their road wheels, minus the tracks. This saved track wear, reduced fuel consumption and increased speed. In practice, however the capability was rarely used; requiring as it did, once again; the crew or a team of techs to dismount the tracks (a lengthy and burdensome process) and few Christie tanks in service retained the capability.
Later in the same century, the pre-second Civil War Russians developed “Hover-******-Track” technology, as manifested in the Object 760 and several other test vehicles.
While none of these made it to production as part of the Soviet drive to produce more mobile vehicles for use in soft ground; they did work much better than either the Wheel-******-Tracks or the Christie Tanks as their dual modes were much more automated and could even operate simultaneously.
Ultimately plans to produce a super-mobile reconnaissance vehicle and a special Siberian supply machine came to naught due to the intimidating maintenance requirements, overall complexity of the system and fuel requirements. Additionally; maturity of hover technology and other forms of rough terrain mobility reduced the requirements for such vehicles.
However, it must be said that the system did work and work well. The Object 760 was highly mobile in nearly any terrain, although it was also a comparatively large and lightly-equipped vehicle for a light tank testbed.
Contrast this with the Condor Trans-Track of more recent vintage. Where the Condor used one mode of transportation at a time with a complex conversion mechanism that never worked right; the Object 760 often used both tracks and the hover system at once, which at least saved the weight and complexity of a system to switch back and forth at need.
As such; nothing stops us building Hover-******-Tracked vehicles today (Hover-******-Wheeled vehicles would gain fewer special advantages), if we are willing to bear the additional cost and tolerate the complexity and maintenance requirements. Whereas the only way to salvage the Trans-Tracks was to lock them in Tracked mode and finally divide the concept ultimately into the traditional Condor and the newer Tracked model, several decades later.
^^^
Rules: Hover-******-Tracked motive system
Maximum 50 tons (No super-heavy version possible)
Calculate engine and movement as per a hover vehicle
Calculate tracked movement as a backup, rounding down to the nearest engine size as
appropriate. The hover engine is the one which is installed.
Lift equipment as per a hovercraft
But calculate control equipment as Hover-******-Tracked at 35% of vehicle weight
May cross terrain as a tracked vehicle, so long as tracks are functional. Simultaneously may cross terrain as a hovercraft, so long as skirts are functional. To be clear; the Hover-******-Track system *combines* the mobility advantaged of *both* Hovercraft and Tracked vehicles.
Hover-******-Tracked control equipment is calculated as the cost of a similar amount of Tracked Equipment, plus that of hover equipment and x1.5
Lift equipment cost is doubled.
Maintenance requirements are calculated as per a Hovercraft x2
Calculate critical hits and use hit tables as per a hovercraft.
Hover-******-Tracked vehicles have four suspension hit boxes; (two sets of +1 and +2).
Hits on the suspension are allocated at random to either the Hover or Track system (1-3 Tracks, 4-6 Hover on a D6) Two hits will destroy either system.
^^^
The concept of the “Flying Car”; a ground vehicle able to be both driven and flown has been around almost as long as man-piloted aircraft have, yet success has always proven elusive.
A distantly related idea to use water-surfaces instead of runways and produce “Flying Boats” and “Sea Planes” instead produced admittedly useful aircraft able to land on water courses (Similar models to those which still serve today); but not watercraft able to fly.
During Terra’s Second World War (Sometimes referred to as the Third World War or WW1; part 2 by historians), the Western Allies managed to produce a marginally flyable version of a common utility vehicle with VTOL capability, known as the Hafner RotoBuggy. However, it required a tow vehicle to get aloft and provide forward thrust, was unwieldy on the ground and delicate in both environments. This was still much more successful and demonstrating of greater agency than earlier efforts at producing tanks which could glide down to earth, but still failed to produce a valid military vehicle.
It’s hard to look at an ungainly rotary-wing glider/utility vehicle that couldn’t get off the ground un-aided, but still needed two pilots to operate and see the first ancestor of the dynamic Land-Air Mech, but the Hafner RotoBuggy is where the land-air concept as a military tool starts, humble as these beginnings may be.
Despite centuries of interceding efforts; the Star League Era Thorizer (Also known as “The Gooney Bird”) can only be considered more successful in terms of progress made towards a useful vehicle and not as a final achievement. A bi-modal “Land-Air-Hovertank”; the Thorizer (Named for a predator native to the world of Thorin) was an overly-complex technical solution to the organizational and logistical problem of not having enough Aerospace Fighters in Terran Hegemony combat units.
Rather than consult on a means to get more fighters to the frontline, build more fighters themselves or branch out into the dropship market with a fighter carrier; Johnston-Aldis Weaponries somehow thought making a light hovertank fly was the better idea. This sounds crazy, at first; but recall that the Thorizer debuted in 2390: the fighter carriers of the day were neither reliable or safe by modern standards and none would arise to stand the test of time until the 2500s. From their point of view; the Thorizer may have seemed like the better gamble.
Historically; the Thorizer represents the very first instance of what we would recognize today as “Conversion Equipment” in a prototype or production combat vehicle. It does not, however represent the first instance of the aircushion-system as a form of undercarriage for an aircraft; that feature was tested as far back as the 1960s, at least.
Sadly; the basic technological limitations of the day and practical limitations of the Thorizer’s small size and minimally powerful propulsion systems militated against it ever developing as an effective vehicle. Perhaps had the original remained as a prototype; a technology demonstrator or proof-of-concept vehicle and the technology pursued further, something better might have been made of it. But this was not the case.
In fairness, it must be noted for clarity that this first example of production or prototype conversion equipment weighed ten and a half tons in a vehicle that only weighed 35 tons to begin with and with a full combat load at that. Anyone who is familiar with combat hovercraft can see from just that tidbit that with such a lodestone around its neck; the “Gooney Bird” was lucky it ever got off the ground at all (pun intended).
Previously; all such vehicles were more akin to the Wheel-******-Tracks; in that they could not convert without outside intervention or the Hover-******-Tracks where both systems operated simultaneously or were designed not to interfere with each other. So; dismal as it is, the lowly, moribund Thorizer still represents progress to us in this field.
Next in terms of development success, but separated by several hundred years and change, was the Irian-built Seabass flying sub.
It’s hard to say exactly what Irian was hoping to accomplish with the Seabass, but it does seem at least to have been a less ambitious product that the Thorizer, in that it does not appear to have been built as an end-product; but rather a modest technology demonstrator. The Seabass was a dual-modal conventional aircraft/submarine.
The dual capability suggests some interesting offensive and defensive options, but in any event; the Seabass never got far enough to prove its value. It could fly (Slowly) and it could move on the surface or underwater; but attempting to submerge from flight proved fatal to the test pilot when the cockpit seals failed.
Meaningfully, however; the Seabass was a failure in execution, not in concept. Unfortunately, after the very public failure of the prototypes and subsequent legal trouble; the powers that be at Irian didn’t see it that way.
So, if it is too difficult to make a submersible aircraft which can surface again, once having submerged from flight; perhaps a more modest goal might be to make a submarine fly? At least on the surface of the water?
Galtor Naval Yard’s Project: HYPER would argue this is not the case.
Galtor’s Neptune “Hyper” Program took the more reasonable operational hurdle of quickly deploying combat-effective subs to far-flung oceans on a given world and attempted to apply the simplest solution. This solution seemed to be to mount a hydrofoil system to a submarine to permit faster movement.
Unforeseen difficulties arose, however when the hydrofoil system was structurally compromised by extreme water pressure at-depth and failed spectacularly during testing. Unable to redesign the system and unwilling to compromise the Neptune’s operational diving limit, the program was cancelled. However, with the return of LosTech materials and manufacturing processes; this concept might bear fruit if explored anew.
^^^
*Dr. Levy does good work, Commander; but I have to interject here.
“Everything and Everywhere” is an RAF “Top Secret”-level publication, distributed among their R&D Community. Condorcet assures me this is unredacted, so due to its lack of mention, he assess---and I agree---That it is unlikely that the RAF is aware of our own modest efforts in this arena, or else; as I stated above: they would make mention of the Sleipnir here.
As you know; the Sleipnir reached operational service with the CAANs four years ago and the needs of other formations began to be met last year. Madam Dwight in Armaments assures me that we are on schedule to meet operational requirements in time for the big day. The early trials were well-concealed and operational trials to work out the bugs were conducted with all due discretion. Troop trials with the pre-production batches have been a lot more open though and since reaching operational status, the Sleipnirs have been treated like any other piece of equipment in the SLDF, as per normal.
To review; the Sleipnir is an effective and stable “tri-phibian” vehicle able to operate on land or at sea as an ocean-going amphibian or as a hydrofoil. We developed the Sleipnir from the standard Kelpie heavy amphibious truck, which as you know was developed, in turn; from the Destrier. As such there is a high degree of parts compatibility as compared with a separate design (mainly in the frame and automotive components such as the transmission, electric motors and wheels, etc.).
The Sleipnir was developed to meet a requirement of the CAANs for a rapid ship-to-shore logistics vehicle able to provide over-the-beach direct supply and operate normally within a “hot” NBC environment. The Kelpie does yeoman service, but at a much slower rate and our larger hover platforms aren’t flexible enough and too vulnerable to enemy action for what the Marines had in mind. In the Kelpie’s favour, however; it must be noted that they are faster and easier to learn to drive, have better cross-country performance (barely), are cheaper to build, easier to maintain and for some reason (I suspect weight distribution) they ride smoother on roads than Destriers do. So, as of now there are many reasons to keep both types in service at the current TO&E 67-variant allocations.
So, what we did to make the Sleipnir was put an XL engine in a Kelpie and use the weight saved to add hydrofoil lift equipment and a few other odds and ends. The Sleipnir is based conceptually on a variant of the same historical conceptual antecedent as of the Kelpie; so, the basic concept came naturally. The difference is that we made it work better due to our higher level of technology and voila! We have a working (if expensive!) “Tri-Phibian” transport vehicle.
As for what the RAF does and doesn’t know, I met with Condorcet and he gave me some notes through his traditional clouds of cigar smoke for me to pass along.
We know the RAF has spies in the Canton Worlds and due to the nature of our operational and training tempo; we can’t possibly keep them away from everything all the time. We do well with disinformation and counter-intelligence, but by their very nature; you just can’t get too close to the inner workings of a CAAN exercise without blatantly incriminating yourself. Or ending up in someone’s beaten zone, I suppose.
Even in high-res; there isn’t much to pick out between a standard Kelpie and a Sleipnir on land (that’s as per your standing orders to SLDF R&D Command on variants) and the Consolidated-Belfast Kelpies use the Sleipnir hull-form due to “Local manufacturing methods”, so that makes it even harder. Beyond that, you’re talking spotting a 10.5cm difference in ground clearance on an amphibious vehicle with central tire-pressure regulation, in an operational environment; making runs back and forth around beaches and adjacent environs all made of soft ground. It can be done, if you know just what to look for and how, but good luck!
Our best guess is that the Stone’s people just can’t get close enough to the action to see either *that* the Sleipnirs run faster on water or *how* they do it. They may not even care enough about our support network to try. We think though; that a real organizational genius might be able to spot the special supply units separate from the normal ones in the tables, along with their added maintenance train, although our own complete orders of battle are compartmentalized, secret information. But in closing I’ll just stoop to one-upping my able, but under-informed college and pointing out that *this* goes *here*, old boy.*
^^^
Coming much closer to a viable combat vehicle was the Banshee dual-environment fighter.
The Lyran Banshee began with much more modest goals than some of its predecessors or subsequent freaks of military engineering. Rather than attempt to combine two vastly different modes of travel, the Banshee was simply intended to make an Aerofighter more efficient in atmosphere.
To the un-initiated and the expert, the merit is obvious; but the Lyran design team needed a few more dabblers.
A layman sees any form of flight as similar and the expert realizes that; in space any shape is the perfect spacecraft. The average dabbler knows that the engines used in aerospacecraft operate on different principles, by their very nature than do even conventional aircraft fusion powerplants.
The dabbler may also have seen how many Aerofighters prove it possible to make any brick fly with sufficient thrust, but it was the former issue which was to handicap the aerodynamic Banshee.
Sadly, in another age; the failure of the Banshee might be ascribed to the design team not having reached far *enough*. Rather than attempt to surmount the daunting obstacle of designing a better dual-modal *propulsion system* that could function more efficiently in atmosphere; Wangker engineers instead mated a conventional fusion powerplant to a very conventional turbine powerplant.
Once again; as a proof-of-concept: The Banshee delivered, but it was too much to ask to expect such a machine; porting more than 30 tons of powerplants (note the plural) in a 50-ton package to perform particularly well.
However, the brutal numbers game militated against anything better and those Wangkers; being proper Lyrans, knew to look out for the bottom line above all else. The inherent advantages of the Banshee in theory and practice would never have been sufficient to justify the expense of a fighting machine with *two different* fusion engines in it, especially in an age still well populated with those who remembered scrapping priceless BattleMechs and advanced tanks for lack of Fusion Engines. Putting two of them in something which was half conventional fighter would have seemed like madness.
It is doubtful anyone even so much as whispered of fitting the Banshee with an Extralite 150 engine, let alone developing an XL engine design for conventional aircraft. Another, more ambitious option would have been scaling-down the engine design used in small craft. But this too would have been well beyond the means of the Wangkers of the day.
But at the end of the day; the Banshee did everything it was supposed to in a motive-sense: it flew very well and quiet efficiently; it could even take off and land vertically with more ease than any other extant AeroFighter. Some reports indicate that it could even fly like a VTOL at will, when in atmosphere. What it couldn’t do was drag around 5-25 tons of dead weight and still win a dogfight.
As a result, every Banshee deployed to the Lyran-Periphery Border was destroyed in the years 3050-3052. Several survived for a time as museum pieces, but it is thought that none exist following the Jihad.
One unexplored dimension of dual-modal flight is the “heliplane”, a concept toyed with in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but not explored in more recent years.
Modern VTOLs, through the refinement of technology; often combine the capabilities of many types of rotary wing, tilt-rotor, gyro-copter and compound-helicopter technologies. Highly-mobile and well understood, these machines remain solid, familiar and well-valued additions to all active militaries today and it is a rare and small Mercenary unit or Militia, which does not boast at least one operational VTOL.
But in the late 20th century, military engineers desired more from combat rotorcraft. Conventional Aircraft able to take off and land vertically, let alone hover were a rare, expensive and difficult to operate proposition. It occurred to some that it might be easier to make a helicopter fly faster than to make an inherently unstable super-sonic fighter float in the air like a Terran hummingbird.
Ultimately the technology of the day was unequal to the task and while some particularly fast compound helicopters (helicopters whose lift and maneuverability was boosted by a set of wings and other flight surfaces, such as the AH-56 Cheyenne) were produced; the results were insufficient to justify the funds and effort needed to take the concept beyond the sound barrier. Inevitably; the offerings and studies of the time offered insufficient advantage over existing airframes to justify their continuance to the clerks and ministers of the day.
But it is this academician’s opinion (one honed by decades in the military R&D world, I might add) that such a machine might be modestly possible in this day and age and further that a modern Heliplane would offer considerable tactical and operational advantages to units so equipped.
^^^
Heliplane rules
Max Tonnage: 50 (not 60)
Build as a VTOL (up to the super-heavy level above 30 tons), but add 10% for dual-modal conversion equipment and allocate space and tonnage for a fuel tank. Each takes up one space.
May not mount chin turrets or mast equipment. Side-mounted weapons cannot target effectively while in CF mode.
A heliplane mounts one engine of a unique type featuring the thrusters of a CF, but also a VTOL gearbox (Where most of the conversion equipment mass comes in), but may not make use of XL or Lite Engine technology (unless playing with house rules that permit XL and Lite engines for CFs). However, it may mount jet boosters and these apply their movement bonus to conventional fighter mode at a cost of 2x fuel consumption when used.
Conversion takes 1 turn and requires a piloting roll to avoid a crash if airborne. +1 for each external store point used. +1 for each point of rotor damage.
Heliplanes are capable of VTOL or Conventional Fighter movement dependant on mode, but not; ironically VTOL movement *while in conventional fighter mode*.
When in CF mode; the Heliplane’s rotors (or equivalent) lock in position or retract into the fuselage (note on design). They may still be damaged, however.
When in CF mode; use a conventional fighter hit-table. The left and right sides become the wings; tail becomes aft and front becomes nose.
For those designs which lock the rotors; on a hit to the wings, roll an additional 1d6. On a 6, the hit damages the rotors. Damaging locked rotors forces a control roll.
On a heliplane which retracts them into the fuselage, a hit to the aft grants an additional 2d6 roll to damage the rotors. On a 10, 11 or 12; the rotors are damaged and will not function.
A heliplane with destroyed or non-functional rotors may still land as a Conventional Fighter.
Calculate conversion equipment cost as 50% of an LAM’s conversion equipment.
Maintenance requirements are as-per a Conventional Fighter plus a VTOL of the same mass.
^^^
Finally; so-called “Sealed” Combat vehicles represent a multi-environmental military capability found in general and successful service all over the Inner Sphere and beyond. Sealed combat vehicles are able to operate in a variety of hostile environments such as the vacuum of space; marginal or abnormally toxic environments and even underwater. Contrary to some opinions; this is not an enhancement of the normal NBC system standard on all modern Combat vehicles, but a new and comprehensive re-engineering of conventional armoured fighting vehicles for operating in these more extreme settings.
Sealed Combat vehicles have been around for many centuries, but the advent of the BattleMech relegated them to niche roles and budgets tight enough to prohibit ‘Mechs, but still flexible enough to allow for non-standard combat vehicles types.
Some additional interest in these machines can be attributed to the multi-spectrum warfare of the Jihad with its increased emphasis on fighting in diverse environments typically avoided in ages past, but in the main it seems to be a reaction to post-war demilitarization and the drawdown of BattleMech forces.
With fewer mechs to go around, but a similar amount of territory to cover (by the RAF, if not by a House Army), Sealed Combat Vehicles, such as the Manticore II are a natural fit. At current, only the Clans seem to lack access to this class of vehicle in the main; but then the Clans haven’t drawn down their ‘Mech forces and wouldn’t see the need. All other extant powers either produce themselves or import Sealed Combat vehicles and keep them on hand for contingencies or as garrison forces where they are likely to be useful.
The SLDF-in-Exile even maintains a vehicle in this class, although it is an unimpressive model with limited utility and combat power. This is their Coelacanth heavy APC, deployed mainly by their CAAN units.
