Author Topic: Deacon mech destroyer  (Read 1089 times)

Wereling

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Deacon mech destroyer
« on: 22 February 2019, 15:56:03 »
Deacon Mech Destroyer

Mass: 35 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Wheeled
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Age of War/Star League
Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/C-D-C-A
Production Year: 2465
Cost: 374,727 C-Bills
Battle Value: 411

Power Plant: VOX 155 I.C.E.
Cruise Speed: 54.0 km/h
Flanking Speed: 86.4 km/h
Armor: EWHV (BAR 6) Standard Armor
Armament:
    1  Large Laser
Manufacturer: Earthwerks
    Primary Factory: Keystone
Communications System: Exeter SimpleComm
Targeting and Tracking System: EW Direct-Fire

Overview:

The Deacon "mech destroyer" was a combat vehicle built at the express
instruction of Simone Marik as a response to the invasion of the Free Worlds
League by the Lyran Commonwealth during the Long March Offenseive of 2463-2468.
It was built during a time when the Free Worlds League was still rebuilding its
forces and economy following the death of Simone's father Geralk.


The Lyran Commonwealth had obtained Battlemech technology before any other
non-Hegemony state, and had shown the power of that technology upon the
introduction of the BWP-2B Ymir in 2462. While the Free Worlds League had
managed to obtain the ability to manufacture Battlemechs, Simone saw that the
Lyran Commonwealth was unlikely to allow the League the space to deploy it
before invading.


She oversaw a crash armament program that sought to put weapons in the field to
counter the Battlemech in any way that they could. These weapons were to be
effective, but inexpensive and simple enough to deploy quickly. One of those
weapons was the Deacon, a lightweight weapons platform that mounted a gun with
enough range and punch to be a danger to a Battlemech.


Ultimately Simone's foresight paid off, as the Lyrans launched a second front
to the Long March offensive into the League in 2465. The armament and
technology programs helped limit the damage that the Lyran invasion could do
before the League could bring its own Battlemech-equipped forces to bear.
Post-war, most Deacons were surplussed, with their weapons removed and
re-mounted on Marik Hector Battlemechs.



Capabilities:

The Deacon is a simple weapons platform. It is little more than an armored 6x6
heavy truck with a turret mounted above the dual read axles. In that turret was
the largest direct-fire weapon that the Free Worlds League could produce at the
time, a single Diverse Optics heavy laser.


Getting this laser to work on the Deacon was a surprisingly difficult task.
Cost control was a major concern when producing the Deacon, and it had been
decided to use as its basis an existing heavy truck design that used a commonly
available diesel power plant.  This power plant was not intended for the levels
of power draw that the laser would require, and early examples could stall
under fire if the power amplifiers were not properly maintained.


Though the actual laser core was not all that big, the Deacon’s turret was
large and boxy. This was necessitated because of the large amount of heat sinks
and power amplifiers that had to be connected to the weapon. A single gunnery
position for the vehicle commander is also within the turret. This meant that
Deacon crews needed to be exceptionally careful when choosing a firing
position, as the turret could make the vehicle difficult to conceal.


Mobility was quite good. Earthwerks had used the chassis of a heavy 6x6 cargo
truck marketed for use on worlds with lower levels of infrastructure. The
multi-link suspension had good off-road performance, and an upgrade to the
power plant to support the power needs of the laser had the knock-on effect of
giving the Deacon a top speed in excess of 80 KpH. In combat this often gave
Deacon crews the option of simply out-running pursuing Battlemechs in clear
terrain.


Armor was kept quite light. The Earthwerks team that designed the Deacon knew
it would be unable to stand up under the fire of the Battlemechs, so they did
not try to armor it to do so. The 4.5 tons of armor that they equipped it with
did not share the same ability to withstand fire that a Battlemech’s armor
would, so they armored it against primarily area effect weapons. This would
prove to be largely adequate against support forces, but a Deacon crew that
found itself the target of a Battlemech typically did not last long.



Battle History:

The Deacon saw its test of fire early in the conflict with the Lyran
Commonwealth. The vehicle was simple and inexpensive enough to be produced in
large quantities quickly. Most worlds along the border had them in significant
numbers by June of 2466.


They particularly distinguished themselves during the defense of Alula
Australis. In that conflict the local commander was able to use Deacons and
other defensive forces in conjunction with the few Battlemechs that the League
possessed to stymie the Lyran assault. One platoon of Deacons distinguished
themselves in particular, accounting for the destruction of 3 Lyran Ymirs while
firing from concealed positions.


Post-war Simone Marik elected to push the League away from a conscription-based
military and re-organize around mechwarriors as the core of a professional
military. While some Deacons were seconded to planetary militia, most were
retired soon after the end of the Long March offensive. Most found their
turrets removed and were pressed into use as cargo carriers.


Code: [Select]
================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      20 points                3.50
Engine:             I.C.E. Engine                155                      11.00
    Cruise MP:  5
    Flank MP:   8
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             8                         8.00
Control Equipment:                                                         2.00
Lift Equipment:                                                            0.00
Power Amplifiers:                                                          0.50
Turret:                                                                    0.50
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV -  72                  4.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     18       
                                          Left/Right   14/14       
                                              Turret     14       
                                                Rear     12       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Laser                                  T         8         1         5.00

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

kaliban

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Re: Deacon mech destroyer
« Reply #1 on: 22 February 2019, 16:41:06 »
I use something similar but with a AC/10 instead of the LL. You save weight for more damage as long you are using a ICE driven vehicle.

Wereling

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Re: Deacon mech destroyer
« Reply #2 on: 22 February 2019, 16:52:48 »
I use something similar but with a AC/10 instead of the LL. You save weight for more damage as long you are using a ICE driven vehicle.


That was my original intention, but believe it or not the weapon probably wasn't available yet! The AC-10 was developed about 20 years earlier in the Terran Hegemony, and the earliest I can find it in use in the FWL was on the Icarus, which wasn't available until 2518.