Manx Medium Tank (Standard)
Mass: 50 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: Doughty Multifuel 200 ICE
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Armor: Fusile Metals FullPlate
Armament:
2 Machine Gun
1 SRM 4
1 Large Laser
Manufacturer: Berneray Arms
Primary Factory: Innse Gal
Communication System: Sinclair Model 3
Targeting & Tracking System: Sinclair Model 5
Introduction Year: 2910
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-D-C-C
Cost: 802,750 C-bills
As they lacked the capability to build either battlemechs or fusion engines until the late 31st century, Dal Riata was the only one of the Thelos Sector's three major powers to invest significant resources into conventional vehicle production or doctrine, and for more than a century, their flagship combat element was the Manx Medium Tank.
Though the two designs share only the most basic physical similarities and appear to be an example of convergent evolution, an evaluation of the Manx's performance statistics and loadout almost demands comparison to the old Tiger medium tanks of the pre and early Star League era, to the point that some might make the claim that the Manx is simply a slightly more refined version of the earlier Tiger. They share similar overland performance and armor protection, with the Manx only slightly edging out the Tiger in the later category. The weapon load follows a similar pattern as well, with a single large gun (the Manx's laser matching up to the Tiger's autocannon), a four tube short range missile launcher, and additional anti-personnel weapons (though again there is variation, as the Manx locates its twin machine guns in the turret while the Tiger goes for a more distributed layout for its three guns). Arguably the most profound difference between the two vehicles is that the Manx is a critical five tons lighter than the Tiger, a trait that makes the vehicle much easier to transport in large numbers using the standardized vehicle transport bays typically installed on dropships.
The fundamental strength of the Manx is not so much the vehicle itself, though it is generally regarded as an extremely capable combat platform. Instead it was the combat doctrine that Dal Riata built around the vehicle and the rest of their military. Though Dal Riata did not have any mechs of their own, they were still subject to the mystique of the Battlemech, and they were fairly certain that a conflict with their mech equipped neighbors would leave them at a severe disadvantage. This gave the nation not just the impetus to create capable vehicles like the Manx, but also an entire conventional doctrine that placed tanks and infantry at the forefront of their planning by necessity. In essence, their fear of battlemech armed opponents rampaging over their worlds led to Dal Riata creating what is easily the most professional army of the three major powers. This has served them well during conflicts such as the Plymoth Incursion, the Bandit War, or Inis Fail's Independence War.
Of course the Manx has made a mark beyond Dal Riata's borders as well, as it has been exported to those minor states friendly to Dal Riata. The Sydney Free Republic in particular has fielded moderate numbers of Manx tanks in their near perpetual struggle with the Federation of Eureka in the Canberra system. Organizationally, Sydney treats a platoon of three to six tanks as equivalent to a single battlemech, and deploys the Manx accordingly. For the most part, this works well enough in a stand up engagement, though most tank crews fielded by Sydney lack proper training, and even in ideal conditions most of Eureka's battlemechs are mobile enough to simply disengage from a losing battle. The nature of the bloody stalemate on Canberra means that large battles between mech and armored forces are actually quite rare, so such encounters tend to be skirmishes or probes by small detachments along the hundreds of kilometers of trenches, minefields, and other fortifications that make up the front lines, or deep raids into enemy territory mostly intended to sow chaos. With neither side able to field the shear amount of heavy equipment necessary to break this stalemate, it is likely that this state of affairs will continue indefinitely.
Variants:
Berneray Arms initially experimented with a version of the Manx which mounted an autocannon rather than the large laser, making the comparison to the Tiger even more apt. While the autocannon was simpler to produce than the precision machining necessary to produce the laser and thus would have allowed the vehicle to be fielded faster and in larger numbers, Dal Riata's military leadership ultimately rejected this model for large scale service, as they considered its limited ammunition capacity to be too much of a weakness compared to the functionally ammunition independent laser.
Type: Manx Medium Tank
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 548
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 5
Engine 200 ICE 17
Cruising MP: 4
Flank MP: 6
Heat Sinks: 8 8
Control Equipment: 2.5
Power Amplifier: 0.5
Turret: 1.0
Armor Factor 104 6.5
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 5 23
R/L Side 5/5 20/20
Rear 5 20
Turret 5 21
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage
SRM 4 Turret 2.0
2 Machine Gun Turret 1.0
Large Laser Turret 5.0
SRM 4 Ammo (25) Body 1.0
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) Body 0.5
Features the following design quirks: Easy to Maintain
Record sheets for both versions of the Manx can be found in Record Sheets: Beyond the Frontier!, accessible from the link in the first post of this thread:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84454.0Author's note: I swear to Jebus the similarities between the Manx and the Tiger were purely accidental. At least I'm pretty sure. Like I feel like I made the Manx before Historical: Reunification War even came out, but the oldest files I have for the Manx have a date stamp of 2012 and Sarna says H:RW came out in 2011.
