DEVELOPMENT
The first Chargers, the Charger Mk.I, in March 2833 to fight off organized pirate raiders from what is later identified to be the Skaret Empire. This version was designed and built in less than a year to bolster the Crossroad Republic's outer-territory militias, as the majority of the Republic's primary star league era military forces were busy securing the Republic's inner worlds from potential invaders. These first variants were no more sophisticated than a 22nd century tank: Armed with a heavy rifle and armored with primitive armor plating, the first version was ill-equipped to engage anything larger than a Scorpion Light Tank, but it was cheap, easy to build, and proved to be just enough to act as an obstacle to pirate raiders.
In March 2840, after the fall of the Skaret Empire and the end of their pirate raids, the Charger Mk.I production line began to slow down with the lack of any immediate threats. Combat experience in the Crossroads-Skaret war showed that the new Republic would require its own heavy industry, including a domestic arms industry. The Charger tank, originally produced by militias to reinforce their lines, was chosen for redesign for the Crossroad Armed Forces.
The Mk.II redesign was finished in 2845. With an ever-strengthening industrial base no longer threatened by periodic raids, the new Mk.II was able to make use of standard armor, freeing up enough weight to make use of an autocannon with a SRM pack as backup, and an improved communications suite (Many Mk.Is were deployed without a radio in their haste!). Interestingly, the redesign was also just compact enough to fit in a light vehicle bay of a dropship despite its weight, if not without some difficulty. The improvements brought the Charger up to par with typical tanks to the era, but no improvements to the power-plant were able to be applied. Since the Charger was originally visioned to be a garrison tank, this was not viewed as a significant disadvantage. The Mk.II reached production lines in 2846, and began to phase out the already-obsolete Mk.I.
By 2880, the Crossroad Republic had reached a technology level similar to the Star League at its peak. Another redesign for the Charger is put on the books, but because the Republic was in an era of relative peace since the fall of the Skaret Empire there was no sense of urgency to apply the changes. The Mk.III changes were on the books and remained there for some time until finally coming into production in 3020, by which point the Mk.III had gone through several re-designs to incorporate various technological advancements and incremental improvements to weapon designs, such as lighter UACs and Streak Launchers, and smaller vehicle-scale pulse lasers.
In the 3049, the Clans invade the Inner Sphere. News of the invasion reached the Crossroad Republic in 3050, who hadn't heard from the Pentagon Worlds since communications broke down during the Pentagon Civil War. The Republic's parliament ultimately decides it would be better for the Republic's health if the Inner Sphere were on the triumphant side, and gives some aid in the form of a Volunteer force known as Task Force Buckler.
Task Force Buckler participates in the Battle of Tukkayid. Despite the fight being ultimately a victory, the Crossroad Republic underestimates the Clan invaders and Task Force Buckler takes heavy casualties. Among other things, the fighting revealed that the Republic's Charger MBTs had a significant range and speed disadvantage against many of the Clan Battlemechs, which contributed to losses. The Roadie tank crews that survived the battle scavenged Gauss Rifles from fallen Clan Battlemechs and installed them onto their own tanks by removing the autocannon and a SRM launcher. This field modification is dubbed the Charger Mk.IIISP (Charger Mark Three - Special), for good results.
Since getting into a direct conflict with the Clans was a very real possibility for the Republic, the Republic hastily began to design the next Charger mark. The Mk.IV is based on the Mk.IIISP, but uses Heavy Ferro-Fibrous armor to free enough weight for an electronics suite. More interestingly, the Mk.IV also incorporated a new transmission system allowing full power to be used when reversing, increasing its backwards mobility substantially in comparison to the Mk.II.
Post Clan Invasion (~3060), Task Force Buckler returns to the Republic with their spoils of war and disbands. With the return of the Roadie volunteers and their tales of adventures, glory and mischief, the general Crossroad Republic populace developed a more Hawkish view of their military instead of the near-exclusive defensive purpose that was first envisioned. The increasingly would begin to color the structure of the Crossroadian military - and the design of the Charger.
The Charger Mk.V was redesigned for potential offensive operations in mind. The Mk.VA upgraded to a more powerful XLE from a hydrogen-dependent FCE, which required very little refueling and propelled the tank to a respectable maximum velocity of 24 m/s. The main gun was revised to an ammunition-independent ER PPC, which allowed for enough space to re-introduce the second streak SRM rack, upgraded the anti-infantry array, and tie both those and the ER PPC to an advanced targeting computer to aid in accuracy.
The Mk.V chassis was used on a plethora of subvariants. The Mk.VB replaced the ER PPC with a lighter but still potent ERLL to make room for a six-ton infantry bay, able to hold a squad of medium BA suits. The Mk.VC introduced an artillery piece with a generous ammunition bay. The Mk.VD, an engineering variant, is not designed for direct combat but can perform little miracles on infantry due to its somewhat eclectic mix of weapons. The Mk.VE is an anti-aircraft modification. All of these versions are slowly phasing out older star-league era vehicles from the Crossroad Republic's inventory.
After the Mk.V non-MBT variants made it to the production line, some of these variations were retro-actively applied to the Charger Mk.IVs chasses still in use by Roadie garrisons.
The Mk.VI is rumored to be under development, supposedly featuring an even more powerful XXL engine and a further refinement of Ferro-Fibrous armor, and possibly even an endo-steel frame. However, no physical prototype of any Mk.VI currently exists.
DESCRIPTION
The Charger Mk.I looks as primitive as it actually is, and is little more than an armored box with treads. Since the Mk.II, the design received an overhaul and actually looks like a proper, conventional war-fighting vehicle, vaguely reminiscent of the Ariete MBT.
CAPABILITIES
The Charger Mk.II and, especially, the Mk.I is capable of fighting off light vehicles, but little else. They lacks the speed to take to the offensive in any meaningful way, and the Mk.I particularly lacks the firepower to make use of it.
The speed issue was somewhat rectified in the Mk.III and Mk.IV, with an uprated fuel cell engine. The Mk.III is designed as a mid-range fighter, to out-fight the likes of Patton and Axel tanks, but it lacks the range to take on Clan opponents. The Mk.IV rectifies this with a Gauss Rifle for long-ranged engagements. Both Chargers are more fuel hungry than the Mk.I and Mk.II, but they're still intended for use in defensive operations.
The Mk.V, and all its derivatives, are the most advanced, well-rounded, and expensive Chargers to date. Redesigned for offensive warfare, the Mk.V MBT maintains the firepower and range of the Mk.IV it's derived from on top of a more potent power-plant while slashing logistical costs by utilizing a fuel-sipping 275 XLE powering an ER Particle Cannon.
DEPLOYMENT
The Charger is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle of the Crossroad Armed Forces, with the first use of them dating back to 2833 in the Skaret-Crossroadian War. It was a surprise to the invading pirates, if only because the exceptionally thick Primitive Armor plating resulted in raiders often running out of autocannon ammunition before peeling off the Charger's armor.
Little happened of specific note with respect to the Charger Mk.I during that war. However, a few were involved in the Charge of Hector's hill, where Roadie militia, Shocktroopers, technicals and a few Charger Mk.Is fought their way through a rapid advance through pirate Scorpion tanks, APCs and infantry to surprise and capture a pirate Leopard-class Dropship. The historic scene was the inspiration of a famous painting of the same name, The Charge of Hector's Hill, and is currently presented in the Aleksandria Institute of Art.
After the war, periphery actors acquired some Charger Mk.I wreckages and, due to the simplicity of the machine, began to build their own domestic copies. These copies were produced at high rates, and quickly propagated throughout the Inner Sphere, the Periphery, and (ironically) among pirate gangs. The success rate of the type among these factions, especially when fielded against major houses, is... poor. Since the Charger tank is not up for export, the Mk.I copies are the most commonly seen Charger outside of the Crossoad Republic's borders, which partially explains the extremely low opinion of the Charger tank outside of other Roadies.
The Charger Mk.II was the replacement of the Mk.I shortly thereafter, and remained in service until about 3040. The Mk.II's retirement was particularly quiet; it never fired a shot in anger.
The Charger Mk.III was the next to see combat, with Task Force Buckler during the Clan Invasion. Against Clan Toads, the tank faired well, with the one-two punch of an AC/10 and a swarm of missiles usually perfectly capable of knocking out one or two suits at a time. The design struggled heavily against Clan 'Mechs; the Mk.III was simply outranged and outsped in the majority of situations. After a few engagements, some roadie tankers began to take Clan Gauss Rifles from fallen 'Mechs and retrofit them to their tanks, significantly increasing their effectiveness and threat level against Clan 'Mechs.
The Mk.IV and Mk.V both saw service in the first Jade Falcon-Crossroad Republic war in armored regiments and mechanized regiments. The Mk.IV and, especially, the Mk.V and its variants proved to be competitive and even dangerous to even the heaviest Falcon battlemech. While a single Charger is certainly outgunned by a typical Clan heavy or assault 'Mechs, a standard Roadie armored platoon of 6 Charger MBTs are not. After all, six gauss rifles or particle cannons (plus supporting infantry and artillery) is a daunting prospect for any rational pilot to face.
The first wave of Falcons did not take heed. Whether they were much more used to fighting poorly trained Clan tankers, or whether their own haughtiness blinded them to the idea that any non-mech could possibly pose a threat to a Clanner, the first wave of Battlemechs charged head-long into the Republic's armored forces entrenched in a prepared position... leaving a graveyard of cored and decapitated Timber Wolves, Dire Wolves, and Storm Crows.
The Falcons would never repeat the mistake for the rest of that war (or the Second one), but by then the damage (both to material, manpower, and pride) had already been done.
While the Charger MBTs continued to be effective against Clan Battlemechs, the Roadie tankers were absolutely murderous against their Clan counterparts. The typical result of a Crossroad Republic armored formation meeting a less well-trained and well-equipped Jade Falcon armored cluster were completely trashed Zoryas, Oros, & Ares. The Republic would learn quickly to take advantage of their armored superiority by targeting and destroying the Clan tankers with their own armored units first, and then joining up with Roadie 'Mech and VTOL formations to engage the Jade Falcon Battlemech Clusters with a numerical advantage.
