Background
An offshot of the Aithon and Phaeton, the vehicle that would become the Conabus was designed to support its larger bretheren in battle with long to mid-ranged indirect fire, whilst also carrying a large number of Elementals into battle.
Somewhat disparaginly called the 'Aithon lite' the Conabus is a jack of all trades but is seen as an expensive and less effective waste of resources by some Scientists.
Design
Built around the same base chassis as the Aithon but 5 tons lighter the Conabus shares the same armour protection and engine but lacks the larger vehicles armoured motive system. It also retains the 10 ton Infantry bay of the bigger vehicle and the same reliable engine. Despite this though the Conabus is known as a hangar queen.
This is due to its primary armament, a trio of fully automatically loaded Mech Mortar-8's drawing from a massive 10 tons of ammunition give the vehicle its long range punch. But the mounting and loading system for the mortars proved to be prone to jamming in elevation and as all three mortars share a common elevation cradle if one jams then they all do.
The autoloaders also proved finicky and the loading ram system's hydralics need constant maintenance to ensure no faults in the loading cycle.
The bulky and complex turret mounting a pair of LRM-15's, a trio of ER small lasers an AMS and active probe was also problematic when first built but fortunately the venting system for the missile exhausts was an easy fix.
A heavy front mounted bulldozer blade lets the Conabus smash through obstacles or shunt them aside but the addition of this angered the crews who would be assigned to it. They resented the addition of the blade as they saw it as something for civilian vehicles. The support role of the vehicle also made it deeply unpopular with some Trueborn Warriors. Beset by technical delays and a lack of support from the Warriors the initial batch of Conabus' were tested against Lyran opponents and despite being crewed by Freeborns the vehicle performed well. Units supported by one appreciated the long range fire that a Conabus could bring to bare and with the prevalence of AMS defences the mortars were doubly effective against a dug in foe. This fire was maintained until the Conabus' onboard Elementals disembarked and assaulted position
Still the Warrior caste for the most part hated the machine and whilst approved for production, the factory that makes them does so at a reduced rate barely keeping up with losses. Unless something turns the fortune of the Conabus around it is most likely that it will be cancelled and no new vehicles will be manufactured.
Conabus
Mass: 95 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: Dark Ages
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 18,741,938 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,526
Power Plant: 285 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Armor: Ferro-Lamellor
Armament:
2 LRM-15s
3 Mech Mortar 8s
5 ER Small Lasers
1 Bulldozer
1 Active Probe
1 Anti-Missile System
1 Unknown CASE
1 Infantry Bay (10.0 tons)
1 ECM Suite
Manufacturer:
Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
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Internal Structure: Standard 50 points 9.50
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 285 13.00
Cruise MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Control Equipment: 5.00
Lift Equipment: 0.00
Turret: 1.00
Armor: Ferro-Lamellor AV - 175 12.50
Armor
Factor
Front 37
Left/Right 37/37
Turret 30
Rear 34
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Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
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3 Mech Mortar 8s FR 30 3 15.00
Bulldozer FR 0 1 2.00
ER Small Laser LS 2 1 0.50
ER Small Laser RS 2 1 0.50
2 LRM-15s T 10 2 7.00
3 ER Small Lasers T 6 3 1.50
Active Probe T 0 1 1.00
Anti-Missile System T 1 1 0.50
CASE BD - 0 0.00
Infantry Bay (10.0 tons) BD 0 1 10.00
ECM Suite BD 0 1 1.00
@Mortar 8 (Airburst) (40) BD - 0 10.00
@LRM-15 (32) BD - 0 4.00
@Anti-Missile System (24) BD - 0 1.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 15
3t 6 7 5 0 4 0 Structure: 5
Special Abilities: ENG, PRB, RCN, AMS, CASE, ECM, TUR(4/4/2, LRM 2/2/2, IF 2/2/2), LRM 2/2/2, IF 4
As always, thoughts are most welcome.