General Purpose Combat Vehicles

[Nahuris]

I have had some ideas, lately, for some general purpose "trooper" vehicles. In canon, we do have some examples, the Po, the Rommel, and the Patton.... but most are heavy tanks.
For that matter, until recently, most vehicles were either light and fast..... usually hover vehicles....... or heavy hitters, like the Manticore, the Shrek, or the Alacorn.
The 3145 TRO's have been giving us a large number of very good vehicles, but I was thinking that we have room for more. I can see each faction having their own general purpose tanks.... Liao has the Po.... and Steiner has the Patton..... but we do not find any other Tanks with a single AC/10 as a prime weapon.... but it would make sense to have a number of tanks in that range...... especially in 3025, as the AC/10 was a great weapon for the time..... and tracked vehicles would have been MUCH easier for the houses to maintain.

I have been surprised that we don't have tanks armed with a PPC, or Large Laser.....etc.
We've gotten them lately, such as the Myrmidon, or the Partisan AA..... but as has been noted in that Vehicle of the Week thread....... we have had to wait until recent TRO's to get these vehicles. Back when TRO 3026 first came out, it was noted that the vehicles listed were a sample of the vehicles available, and it implied that there were many similar vehicles out there. I would love to see some of these implied vehicles, and especially more vehicles in the mid-weight ranges.....  as these would be available to all of the houses, and also would be seen in militias and planetary defense forces.

So, as part of this, I am looking at the usage different vehicles would have, and where they would fit. As part of this, I would also like to start to looking at how different weapons could be used, and how they would relate within Battletech. Also, I am not limiting this to just 3025 era weaponry, because I would like to see a wider selection of weapons used.

So, to start, here is a tank designed to provide long or short range fire - can be called on to provide fire support, or even anti-infantry and anti battle armor. It's inexpensive, but would be versatile and reliable....... basically a trooper design. Discussion and alternate ideas are VERY welcome.

EXP45

Mass: 35 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Dark Ages
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E
Production Year: 3132
Cost: 562,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 510

Power Plant:  140 I.C.E.
Cruise Speed: 43.2 km/h
Flanking Speed: 64.8 km/h
Armor:  Standard Armor
Armament:
    2  MML-7s
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      20 points                3.50
Engine:             I.C.E. Engine                140                      10.00
    Cruise MP:  4
    Flank MP:   6
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             0                         0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         2.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Turret:                                                                    1.00
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV - 104                  6.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     26       
                                          Left/Right   20/20       
                                              Turret     21       
                                                Rear     17       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 MML-7s                                     T         8         2         9.00
@MML-7 (LRM) (34)                            BD        -         0         2.00
@MML-7 (SRM) (14)                            BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      3    Points: 5
4          0       0       0       0      1     2   Structure:  2
Special Abilities: EE

Nahuris

[AldanFerrox]

Well, we got the Bulldog, which was created in the 27th century (or even before). It's one of the oldest tanks still in production besides the Manticore. And they're armed with Large Laser or a PPC respectively.

EDIT: And your vehicle looks like and ICE version of the Hunter. Same tonnage, similiar armor, similiar armaments, although this variant has a nasty close range punch compared to the Hunter.

EDIT 2: The Manticore was also the first ground vehicle ever to carry a PPC. It was build before Mechs even existed.

[Nahuris]

The Bulldog is nice, and I use it often.... although it is very inefficient, especially with 8 tons of Heat Sinks, plus a power amplifier, needed.
Same as I like Galleons, and other tanks. However, the tank rules, and the tanks themselves, were added to the game after the mechs.... and the hit tables pretty much were designed to ignore any armor you bothered with..... as they could be critted regardless of armor. The newer tables, with motive crits are better...... although it still uses metagame limitations to try and keep mechs as superior...... however, you still have some of the other design limitations, such as no double heatsinks allowed in vehicles, along with the double weight required on all engines.

You also have tanks, like the Bulldog, that require 60 tons, to do what I could easily do with a 40 ton mech........ released in an era when games were balanced by tonnage, and vehicles were severely nerfed on top of that...... Plus, again, the Bulldog is 60 tons, as is the Manticore, although the fusion engine in the Manticore more than helps, in that regard.......  so the incentive to "waste" tonnage on tanks was limited.....

I'm looking more for tanks in the 30 to 55 ton range..... general working designs, not flashy... but something you could see in production over a more limited area..... maybe made on one planet, and shipped to a small area of 4 or 5 planetary militias, within a single house region......

With as many mech designs as we have...... it is surprising that we don't have as many tanks... or other vehicles ..... the bean counters in most militaries would love them, as vehicles still tend to be a bit cheaper..... (new stuff notwithstanding)

Anyways, I am off to work......
Nahuris

[Sabelkatten]

If you're interested in intro-tech customs there are quite a few in this thread. :)

[Nahuris]

If you're interested in intro-tech customs there are quite a few in this thread. :)

I've looked at them several times.....even surprised a friend with a couple......

Nahuris