How to get Wipeout in Battletech.
A compact marvel of engineering on one hand, a veritable adrenaline filled death ride on the other. Named for the near flippant 'abolishment' in recognizing any speed limits which the vehicle regularly ignores, many of its detractors would more readily refer to it as a very expensive means to rapidly 'abolish' an entire generation of bloodnames. And the detractors are many, considering that this, with a massive dosage of irony, is in fact not a Clan Hell's Horses design. But in fact, seemingly in spite of near-universal stereotypes, it comes from the Rasalhague Dominion and Clan Ghost Bear.
Working off three partially concealed turbine engines - one set near vertically in the nose stabilizer, between the canards, and the others on independently pivoting servos at the very back of the craft, the Abolisher is renowned for both its stability and ease at which it can manuever. Or at least, as long as it's driver fights down the temptation to press the small red button on its side-mounted flightstick. Then, using a system working like the demented offspring of a jumpjet mated to a flamer, pressurized lines dump plasma into the compressed airstream just aft of the final compression chamber. The result is somewhat akin to injecting Nitrox into a combustion engine, along with an increase in it's top speed from an incredible 324kph to a truly hair-raising maximum velocity of 432kph, or for those already in shock and needing a more visceral and visual image: dashing across a full kilometer in just a hair over two seconds. The downside to this though is that the ride goes from being almost unnaturally smooth and beautifully responsive at the controls, to being more akin to trying to ride a bucking bronco at full gallop.
Thankfully, if one can say such, the engineers behind such madness took the time to at least attempt to properly armor the craft, quite possibly due to having 'acquired' a team of former Michaelson R&D staff, who promptly noticed how the original prototype was extremely back-heavy, unstable, along with 'paper providing better protection', and promptly did as all successful designs Michaelson releases do - by slapping on enough armor plating in the nose to not only bring the nose down enough to give it stability, but to sneer at even a Clantech particle cannon. They went a step further however, in incorporating software that subtly adjusted the yaw and pitch of the rear turbine pods to account for the belly mounted laser. Placed in a streamlined turret, one that is near invisible to spot if close to to ground, the turbines will slightly tilt off-center whenever the laser is swung around. And it will be moved around, just in order to accurately lock onto a target and fire in the fleeting moments the Abolisher is in range as it makes an attack pass.
Considering the tendency of test pilots to regularly ignore what were considered 'minimum' altitude safety limits, in order to create near complete and total surprise hit-and-fade attack runs from virtually any angle available to them, and in many cases, going as low as some hovertanks can lift off the ground, engineers managed to convince the Khan and Prince to utilize just enough spare endo-steel to allow them to fit in an ejector seat. Considering the Bear's saKhan at the time was a rarity, a Bloodnamed vehicle commander, based off a Vehicle-Elemental phenotype, whom took the 2nd prototype for a test flight and came back smiling ear to ear even though he'd lawndarted at 237kph and with two broken arms? They found themselves receiving permission to use nothing but endo-steel on the sole condition that the cockpit be expanded to fit any crew, from the minimum height requirements of aerospace pilots all the way up to the tallest and widest of Elementals.
Then the Ghost Bears did the unthinkable, and made it openly available to anyone with sufficiently deep enough pockets.
Native Rasahagians have taken to the Abolisher to an even greater degree than their trueborn neighbors. Entire companies of Abolishers are regularly seen decorated in Nordic paintjobs or trailing regimental streamer banners from their radio's whip antenna. There is also somewhat of a disturbing trend among the younger crews. After one such company had the 'luck' to be allowed onto Terra and look into historical archives involving single occupant, high-speed vehicles, to push the very limits of facial hairstyles allowed within the Touman and/or also braided liontails/ponytails, all in order to go modern day 'a Viking'. This company, along with several of their earliest 'adherents' have clashed repeatedly in minor border scuffles with the Draconis Combine, most prominently the 'not Yakuza' ill-thought of 8th Legion of Vega, whom having snapped up several Abolishers of their own, immediately repainted them with various Kabuki masks or samurai kabuto helmets stretched completely around the vehicle's nose and cockpit. Several of these cross-border incidents have come down to incidents more akin to posturing displays, the equivalent of armed street races as other units use the Abolishers as very visible - if highly annoying - distractions from the thrust of their main forces, however a few have turned into true firefights at exceptionally low altitudes yet at blisteringly high speeds. In the former, most Abolishers make it back to their bases or dropships, sporting no more than a few minor laser scored pockmarks across their armor - seen as badges of courage on both sides. In the latter, very few of these high risk craft manage to limp back, with dozens of shallow trenches ending in wreckage filled craters, littering the battlefield behind them.
Abolisher Fast Attack VTOL
Mass: 13 tons
Movement Type: VTOL
Power Plant: 165 XL
Cruising Speed: 216 kph
Maximum Speed: 432 kph
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 ER Medium Laser
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3145
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-D
Cost: 3,496,617 C-bills
Type: Abolisher
Technology Base: Clan (Experimental)
Movement Type: VTOL
Tonnage: 13
Battle Value: 860
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 1.5
Engine 165 XL 4.5
Cruising MP: 20
Flank MP: 30(40)
Heat Sinks: 10 0
Control Equipment: 1.0
Lift Equipment: 1.5
Power Amplifier: 0.0
Turret: 0.5
Armor Factor (Ferro) 48 2.5
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 2 15
R/L Side 2/2 8/8
Rear 2 7
Turret 2 8
Rotor 2 2
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage
ER Medium Laser Turret 1.0
VTOL Jet Booster Body 0.5
