Apologies in advance about the fluff. I just can't find enough info on the Niops Association to make me confident this would fit in with them.
Leatherback picket tank
Mass: 40 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Advanced Rules
Era: Age of War/Star League
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/E-F-D-A
Production Year: 3032
Cost: 1,973,125 C-Bills
Battle Value: 518
Power Plant: 160 Fission Engine
Cruise Speed: 43.2 km/h
Flanking Speed: 64.8 km/h
Armor: Standard Armor
Armament:
1 Medium Laser
2 Machine Guns
1 Remote Sensor Dispenser
1 Cargo, Standard (1.0 tons)
1 Communications Equipment (1.0 tons) (3.0 tons)
1 Beagle Active Probe
Manufacturer:
Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 20 points 4.00
Engine: Fission Engine 160 10.50
Cruise MP: 4
Flank MP: 6
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 5 0.00
Control Equipment: 2.00
Lift Equipment: 0.00
Turret: 0.50
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 104 6.50
Armor
Factor
Front 26
Left/Right 20/20
Turret 21
Rear 17
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Machine Gun FR 0 1 0.50
(R) Remote Sensor Dispenser RR 0 1 0.50
Medium Laser T 3 1 1.00
Machine Gun T 0 1 0.50
Cargo, Standard (1.0 tons) BD 0 1 1.00
Communications Equipment (1.0 tons) (3.0 tons) BD 0 1 3.00
Beagle Active Probe BD 0 1 1.50
@MG (1/2) (100) BD - 0 0.50
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 3 Points: 5
4t 1 1 0 0 2 0 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: PRB, RCN, TUR(1/1/0)
Overview:
The Leatherback Picket Tank is a specialist vehicle manufactured for the Niops
Association Militia to help keep an eye on their under-populated lands. As a
periphery power with a great deal of technical ability but a small population,
the Niops association often finds itself the target of raids by pirates and
other hostile organizations. the Leatherback allows a small group of people
to keep an eye on a very large area.
Capabilities:
The Leatherback is a usual tank with a very specific purpose. It is tended to
be an all-terrain long-range patrol vehicle.it uses its unusual power systems
and full environmental sealing to operate in nearly any environment. It uses
its advanced sensor and communications equipment to keep an eye on its
designated patrol area.
Its speed is slow, limited to a top speed of under 70 Km/H. The Leatherback is
not designed for speed. Doctrine suggests that a Leatherback unit in distress
call for help and flee for difficult terrain when possible. It is, however, possibly the most
capable cross-country vehicle in use short of a Battlemech. The tank's full environmental
sealing, combined with its self-contained fission engine and fully amphibious chassis,
combine to make a vehicle capable of operations in any terrain under nearly any
circumstance.
Nor is the Leatherback particularly well-armed. Its primary payload is the
remote sensor deployment module mounted to the rear of the vehicle. Combined
with 3 tons worth of communications gear, this allows the unit to monitor a
vast stretch of territory.
Defensive capability is disturbingly low. The Leatherback mounts a pitiable
amount of weaponry for a medium tonnage vehicle. A lone medium laser serves as
primary armament against larger opponents. A pair of machineguns, one coaxial
and one front mounted, serve as a defense against infantry.
As the Leatherback is intended to serve long deployments, a great deal of effort
was put into crew accommodation. The standard complement of three crew are given
oversized seating that can double as a bed if necessary. in addition, a full
ton of cargo space is provided for additional mission gear, usually a Niops
Militia Patrol Operations Modular, which includes shelter and rations for a
variety of environments.
Deployment:
The Niops Association is a small stellar nation, but it is also one with a
great deal of empty space to patrol. Leatherback units are deployed on every
inhabitable surface within the Association. Patrol areas vary wildly dependent
on terrain. A dense forest could see as many as a full lance of Leatherbacks
covering an area of a few dozen square kilometers. A vast desert or plain could
see a lone Leatherback monitoring several hundred square kilometers.
As tensions with the Marian Hegemony rise, the Niops Association Militia has
tested the idea of using Leatherbacks as remote pickets in airless
environments, such as small moons or even asteroids. So far they have not
committed to this practice, as Leatherback crews on deployment generally camp
outside the vehicle when possible.
Variants:
A single variant of the Leatherback is known to exist. When a lance of
Leatherbacks is operating close to each other, one of the Leatherbacks in the
unit may be replaced by a variant that replaces the communications gear and
cargo space with an infantry compartment capable of supporting a unit of
Nighthawk-equipped infantry for security purposes. Such formations inevitably
require additional resupply, as 3 tons of support cargo per lance will not
allow the unit to operate alone for extended periods of time.
The Niops militia has reportedly considered a version that removed the
communications gear and expands the cargo compartment to 4 tons to act as a
"tender" unit to other Leatherbacks in the field.
