Trailers - or, how to add firepower to your infantry.

[Nahuris]

This is a simple trailer that I field in support of my infantry.

Trailer, Missile Type 1

Mass: 20 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Wheeled
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E
Production Year: 0
Cost: 627,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 336

Power Plant:  0 No Engine
Cruise Speed: 0.0 km/h
Flanking Speed: 0.0 km/h
Armor:  Heavy Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
    1  LRM-20
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      10 points                2.00
Engine:             No Engine                      0                       0.00
    Cruise MP:  0
    Flank MP:   0
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             0                         0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         0.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Turret:                                                                    0.00
Armor:              Heavy Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 110                  6.00

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     27       
                                          Left/Right   22/22       
                                              Turret     22       
                                                Rear     17       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-20                                       FR        6         1        10.00
@LRM-20 (12)                                 BD        -         0         2.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      4    Points: 3
0j         0       0       0       0      1     2   Structure:  1
Special Abilities: CASE

Nahuris

[Red Pins]

Nice.  It kinda stuns me more people don't realize just how useful trailers can be.

[Nahuris]

One that I have used, several times, is a pair of LBX2's, a ton of slugs, and enough armor to give the guy in the gunnery seat time to run.....
I'll have my tanks tow out several, and drop them near my infantry lines..... basically using them as fixed, armored, field guns......

I'll combine these with home designed IFV's using light, or similar weaponry, and suddenly, my infantry are ruling a portion of the field. It gets better when you mount Mech Mortars on trailers, and put them in position. You can even decide that the tow vehicles are already gone.... but it does let you have missile, mortar, and even beam weapon support, for your infantry..... getting around the limitations of field guns.

Mixed with field guns, it's even nastier.

Nahuris

[gomiville]

I use trailers a lot, especially in support of infantry.

However, by the rules, the tractor supplies power to the trailer. If you want the trailer to function independently, you need to include an engine. A 10-class engine is sufficient, by the rules, though with support vehicles I've calculated an engine with 0 MP as the generator.

[A. Lurker]

However, by the rules, the tractor supplies power to the trailer. If you want the trailer to function independently, you need to include an engine. A 10-class engine is sufficient, by the rules, though with support vehicles I've calculated an engine with 0 MP as the generator.

I'm not sure that's actually the case, although it may be that I just can't find the reference on short notice.

What is true is that a trailer without tractor is an immobile target -- -4 to be hit, aimed shots possible, the whole nine yards. Such a thing is going to need all the armor it can get.

[gomiville]

I'm not sure that's actually the case, although it may be that I just can't find the reference on short notice.

I could have sworn that was the rule, somewhere. And I thought I remembered an Ask the Writers that clarified the size of engine needed (10-class, rather than 1 MP).

I could be wrong though. Further research is needed.

[Nahuris]

Thing is, no one expects an LRM 20 to be hidden in the woods ....

I haven't done a Rocket 10 trailer..... yet, but having a light trailer with 10 Rocket 10's would be a bit scary.

Nahuris

[idea weenie]

Thing is, no one expects an LRM 20 to be hidden in the woods ....

I haven't done a Rocket 10 trailer..... yet, but having a light trailer with 10 Rocket 10's would be a bit scary.

Nahuris

Best is if you place as many as you can as Hidden units.  Once you volley off all RL/10 in a single turn, the trailer is effectively unarmed, and you should retreat/abandon it.  So the enemy force is carefully walking through terrain, trying to spot enemy RL trailers, and knowing that if the RL trailer fires first it will do a lot of damage, but be a distraction/initiative sink afterward.

[maxcarrion]

My question is this, what advantage does this have over towed infantry field guns?  Sure, it has rather more firepower than an LB5X but it's immobile and easy to hit and destroy at long ranges with heavy weapons, infantry with an LB5X pretty much require you to wipe out the infantry.  For 600k c-bills I can get a scorpion, an APC and 2 field guns and still have a fair amount of change :p

Maybe my rules knowledge isn't perfect but when deployed this thing can't even turn can it? So a fixed fire arc with a hefty minimum range that's easy to destroy at any range... I don't understand the appeal.  Also, wheeled vehicle, no woods for you

[A. Lurker]

Okay, apparently trailers do need an engine if they want to use heavy weapons on their own while detached, with the minimum rating being a 10. TM p. 101 says so, mostly by stating when they don't need an engine (or crew) at all.

That means that as written this particular trailer is actually kind of useless. On its own it apparently can't fire its LRM rack, and when it's being towed the tractor gets in the way of its fixed forward firing arc.

[Nightgaun7]

Also, wheeled vehicle, no woods for you

I wonder if you can drag a wheeled trailer into woods with a tracked vee?

[RABIDFOX50]

I wonder if you can drag a wheeled trailer into woods with a tracked vee?

Sure but the question as to what condition it will be in afterward is up to much debate.  :D ;D

Seriously though, the use of trailers is a fantastic idea. I may try it out in a future game. Another idea would be train car mounted weapons. Hmmmmm.  :)

[Red Pins]

I wonder if you can drag a wheeled trailer into woods with a tracked vee?

I'd say you were stuck with the least favourable movement restrictions, at least until you unhitched the trailer.  That's how I've been playing it, anyway.

[gomiville]

Another idea would be train car mounted weapons. Hmmmmm.  :)

I have long desired a proper armed train, but, honestly, by the rules, it's actually kind of rough.

Thing is, trains are support vehicles, and the space/mass equation on SVs sucks, when you start stacking on weapons. 

You need a pretty massive car in order to have the room for even a light artillery piece, for example.  A medium rail car (up to 300 tons) has space of 5+mass/10.  A Thumper requires 15 spaces on a support vee.  So, you need at least a 100 ton rail car to fit it. 

Code: [Select]

Medium Rail Car, Tech D, 120 tons (17 spaces)
Chassis (Armored, Trailer): 29t
Generator (Fuel Cell): 2t
Fuel ("1600km"): 0.5t
Armor* (63pts BAR 10, 1/20/2/20): 4 tons
Advanced Fire Control (15t capy): 1.5t
Turret (15t capy): 1.5t
Gun Crew (5): 0.5t, 1 space
Thumper (turret, 100rnds): 20t, 15 spaces
Cargo: 65t, 1 space

* That's maximum armor for the car mass.  It's weak forward (1pt) and back (2pts) because other rail cars will block fire from those directions.
That's 65 tons of wasted mass, just in order to have enough room to fit the gun.  It gets worse with larger guns.

Smaller weapons work a little better, though there's still wasted mass, but given the vulnerabilities of a train, the range of artillery is really the way to go.  Which really sucks when you want to make WWI/II style railway guns, or even a planetary defense train with capital missiles.

(I have created little "bandit protection" cars in the past, with infantry compartments and sponson mounted machine guns, for a Wild West kind of feel, but any heavier weapons than that and it starts to go bad.)

[Nahuris]

Okay, apparently trailers do need an engine if they want to use heavy weapons on their own while detached, with the minimum rating being a 10. TM p. 101 says so, mostly by stating when they don't need an engine (or crew) at all.

That means that as written this particular trailer is actually kind of useless. On its own it apparently can't fire its LRM rack, and when it's being towed the tractor gets in the way of its fixed forward firing arc.

Build a power trailer --- one trailer with engine and extra heat sinks (in case there are energy weapon trailers around. Park it with a trailer, and then connect the weapon trailers to it --- you can also rig up rocket trailers to provide one shot punches, along with mines and vehicles like the Pike to provide cover support .... total area denial, while supporting the infantry.

Nahuris

[A. Lurker]

Build a power trailer --- one trailer with engine and extra heat sinks (in case there are energy weapon trailers around. Park it with a trailer, and then connect the weapon trailers to it --- you can also rig up rocket trailers to provide one shot punches, along with mines and vehicles like the Pike to provide cover support .... total area denial, while supporting the infantry.

Nahuris

Hm. While the idea sounds a bit dodgy, it does look technically legit.

That said, at this point I think we're basically starting to fish for excuses just to have trailers for their own sake. The obvious big downside to a purposefully arranged "trailer parking lot" is that they're all immobile targets and correspondingly more likely to be hit than actually score hits of their own in return -- I'm not yet convinced that that "total area denial" won't simply turn into "target practice for the OpFor on an as-convenient basis" in actual practice.

[gomiville]

While I agree about the "trailer parking lot", I could see it under certain, very specific circumstances.

For example, in real life, Patriot missile batteries are essentially trailer parking lots.  The missiles themselves, a generator, a radar, etc.  All wired up together.

I could see something like that in a BT game, but more as part of the scenario than just part of one side's forces.

Something like a firebase that the attacker needs to overrun.  Maybe the defender needs to hook up and pull them out.  (Can a mech use a hand to drag a trailer in an emergency?)

Overall, more a fluff or (at best) strategic asset, rather than a tactical force on the field.

Instead, I'd opt for smaller, self-powered trailers.  Either semi-disposable ambush trailers with rockets, or "artillery lite" trailers with LRMs (or mech mortars) firing indirectly from behind cover.

Trailers are static targets.  "Pillbox" style, over-armored trailers might have a place, but generally trailers are just way too vulnerable for direct combat.  Instead, use them as if they're about to be blown up (ambush) or keep them out of direct combat (artillery).

(It's worth nothing that LRMs and mech mortars, firing on map, are exempt from counter-battery fire.  So they don't necessarily need the mobility of conventional artillery, even.  Unless, of course, the enemy crests the proverbial hill and gets a bead on them.  Then they're screwed.)

[Nightgaun7]

It really helps if you play with vehicles not being immobilized. Then the trailers will have a much better chance of earning back their BV.

[Scotty]

I very much like the idea of a trailer node network forming the basis of a firebase.  Imagine, if you will, the following set up:

A single trailer, filled to the gills with hardened armor, communications equipment, ECM, etc, and one trailer hitch forward and backward.  Maybe a C3 Master unit for kicks and giggles.

Two trailers, each with a Thumper or Sniper or Arrow in a turret and a good deal of ammunition, that hitch up to the "master" trailer and feed off its engine and heatsinks (if necessary).  This group of three trailers is strategically immobile, but represents a very cheap way to put a semi-mobile artillery on the field, pulled by something like a flatbed truck or APC with a trailer hitch.

For extra kicks and giggles, slave the trailers to the master trailer, swap Thumpers for Gauss Rifles, and then add a fast scout to the mix.

Certainly not the most effective thing in the world, but if you're short on funds that's an easy way to get some heavy artillery to the field without needing more of those expensive engines.

[RunandFindOut]

One thing I do which admittedly isn't supported by the rules, is use the Train rules for towing so long as the vehicles and trailers are on a road.  Because really, the existing towing rules make no sense at all and I'm only willing to accept them as a "pulling trailer through unmodified wild terrain" rules.  Otherwise you wouldn't have fifteen thousand tractor units pulling sixty thousand pound trailers, roads even poor ones do a lot of good.

[Red Pins]

...I use a C3 computer to link four tractor vehicles, each pulling four mech mortar/8s.  Together, they fire 128 single-point damage rolls.  With the air burst option, it usually takes one round to kill anything by critting it to death, whatever system of crits you use.

The only real option for dealing with them that I've found is stealth armor, being fast enough to close the range in a single round, aerospace strafing or bombing, and a couple of home brew tech items like ER-TAG/ELRM combinations.  And mines, but that just forces them to clear lanes through the mines and doesn't do much to kill them outright.

[Nahuris]

The idea for the LRM trailers is for some cheap local artillery, from indirect fire. Yeah, they die quick, if the enemy targets them... but here's a choice,  go in between a pair of Awesomes, just to get the LRM trailer,  or fire on the Awesomes, and hope that those LRM's don't hit that often...... Do I put them on every field? No... but, hiding a trailer, like the one above, in a city, or forest, and using it to lob missiles gives me some cheap localized fire support..... it's cheaper than artillery, and I don't have to worry about how many turns of flight time are needed to hit a target in PPC, or standard LRM range..... Elrm's would just make it better..... I can get the same kind of range as real artillery, but without worrying about the new Locust outrunning my shells...... or, Arrow IV missiles. Because, let's face it.... when my Gabriel, or any of the other 13/20 hovers, can move more hexes in one turn than my Arrow IV missiles..... then something is really screwed up.

Personally, I'd rather have a couple of Karnov's or Support VtoL's fly these in, and have a tracked truck with nothing but power cables and heat exchange pumps..... set up the battle line, and then if necessary, abandon the launchers, while the tracked unit with the expensive fusion engine retreats for another day.
Really, this is no different than an turret.... just making moveable turrets, and using them as needed.

Nahuris

[Nahuris]

Okay, apparently trailers do need an engine if they want to use heavy weapons on their own while detached, with the minimum rating being a 10. TM p. 101 says so, mostly by stating when they don't need an engine (or crew) at all.

That means that as written this particular trailer is actually kind of useless. On its own it apparently can't fire its LRM rack, and when it's being towed the tractor gets in the way of its fixed forward firing arc.

LRM20 is on a turret, not fixed.....

Nahuris

[Scotty]

...I use a C3 computer to link four tractor vehicles, each pulling four mech mortar/8s.  Together, they fire 128 single-point damage rolls.  With the air burst option, it usually takes one round to kill anything by critting it to death, whatever system of crits you use.

The only real option for dealing with them that I've found is stealth armor, being fast enough to close the range in a single round, aerospace strafing or bombing, and a couple of home brew tech items like ER-TAG/ELRM combinations.  And mines, but that just forces them to clear lanes through the mines and doesn't do much to kill them outright.

'Mech mortars firing AP shells are two-point damage rolls.  That said, C3 doesn't really help them out a whole lot, what with the indirect fire being more accurate than direct fire.

[Red Pins]

'Mech mortars firing AP shells are two-point damage rolls.  That said, C3 doesn't really help them out a whole lot, what with the indirect fire being more accurate than direct fire.

Yeah.

[Scotty]

If you really want to be evil, combine the mortars with a VTOL that has a mast mounted Recon Camera.  Full cover indirect fire with a spotter. >:D

[A. Lurker]

LRM20 is on a turret, not fixed.....

Nahuris

Not on the design as posted. There the LRM 20's location is clearly listed as "FR".

[Nahuris]

Not on the design as posted. There the LRM 20's location is clearly listed as "FR".

My bad, it was supposed to be turret, which is why the design HAS a turret....LOL

Probably why I shouldn't try and post after 8 hours of work..... since I work as a councilor.

Nahuris

[Red Pins]

If you really want to be evil, combine the mortars with a VTOL that has a mast mounted Recon Camera.  Full cover indirect fire with a spotter. >:D

I'll try that if I ever find another opponent.