'Standard' Heavy WIGE APC

[Dapper Apples]

A generic WIGE based APC to go with the standard APC trio of hover, wheel, or tracked.  It is mainly modeled after the hover variant, with the same armor config of 3.5 tons, and the same forward mounted machine guns.  The infantry bay couldn't be matched, so it was reduced to a cozy-but-useful 4 tons, still good enough for IS battle armor or a full jump platoon.  It goes slightly faster than the hover flavor, 9/14 instead of 8/12.

Code: [Select]

Heavy WIGE APC (Standard)

Mass: 20 tons
Movement Type: Wing in Ground Effect
Power Plant: 100 ICE
Cruising Speed: 97.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 151.2 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     2 Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2470
Tech Rating/Availability: E/C-C-C-C
Cost: 267,900 C-bills

Type: Heavy WIGE APC
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Wing in Ground Effect
Tonnage: 20
Battle Value: 204

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                    2
Engine                        100 ICE                 6
Cruising MP: 9
Flank MP: 14
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Control Equipment:                                  1.0
Lift Equipment:                                     2.0
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Armor Factor                  56                    3.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   2         20   
     R/L Side               2/2      13/13   
     Rear                    2         10   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
2 Machine Gun                  Front        1.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     
Infantry                        Body        4.0     


Could drop a ton of bay space and the machine guns to mount an SRM 2 and an extra half ton of armor.

Fun Fact: I also fiddled with a light 10 ton WIGE APC, it ended up basically the same stats as the hover 10 ton APC.

[Daryk]

At 10 tons, you could drop the turret.  That might get you enough for a speed boost over the hover.

[Dapper Apples]

The mg turret weighs only .5 tons, while bumping up the ICE engine to 11/17 costs a whole ton.

You also save the five points of turret armor by cutting the turret, and you could drop a half ton of armor anyway from that.  But that leaves the armor below 5 on at least two sides, which I doubt is worth the extra move pip.  The standard APCs can take at least one med laser on all but the rear.

Or, you could drop a machine gun and just have one mg on the fore.

[Daryk]

If you're only looking to keep out a Medium Laser, Commercial Armor is probably the way to go.  1.5 tons of that would be 36 points.

[CVB]

Commercial Armor is probably the way to go.  1.5 tons of that would be 36 points.

Can Commercial Armor officially be used on Combat Vehicles? TW and TM only mention it in connection with Industrial Mechs, AFAICS.

[Daryk]

I don't see why not.

[CVB]

I'm not sure. It's not listed in the Combat Vehicle Armor Table (TM, p. 105), and BT often goes by "what's not explicitely allowed is verboten".

[Daryk]

I've used it before, and no one pointed to it being prohibited.  At the very least, it's a custom design anyway.

[DevianID]

While I hate WiGE as implemented in btech, this is an actually useful WIGE despite my complaints.  4 tons let you disembark jump infantry without landing, which you dont want to do.
My issue is that a 20 ton vtol, also 9/14, same armor, same weapons, same infantry bay, has an extra ton left over for even more infantry.  It is 3 BV more at 207, and only 29k cbills more.  The VTOL also doesnt suffer a massive +4 to motive rolls--indeed it has no motive rolls.  It is almost impossible for a VTOL to get immobilized on the first shot and crash, while a WIGE is, well, a death trap.  Cause WiGE are silly, both in btech and real life.

Kudos for making a WiGE I can see actually existing though.

[maxcarrion]

While I hate WiGE as implemented in btech, this is an actually useful WIGE despite my complaints.  4 tons let you disembark jump infantry without landing, which you dont want to do.
My issue is that a 20 ton vtol, also 9/14, same armor, same weapons, same infantry bay, has an extra ton left over for even more infantry.  It is 3 BV more at 207, and only 29k cbills more.  The VTOL also doesnt suffer a massive +4 to motive rolls--indeed it has no motive rolls.  It is almost impossible for a VTOL to get immobilized on the first shot and crash, while a WIGE is, well, a death trap.  Cause WiGE are silly, both in btech and real life.

Kudos for making a WiGE I can see actually existing though.

I somewhat disagree - but only somewhat.  I would say a WIGE is more niche than a VTOL but it does have certain advantages.  I'd take the VTOL 4 times out of 5 but a WIGE can orbital drop from a combat vehicle bay, can follow terrain without paying for level changes, can weigh up to 80T (combat vehicle), can launch straight from a vehicle bay without need for a helipad and is more operational when on the ground.  A VTOL losing rotor is generally a lot more catastrophic too.  Sure, I'd make sure I had VTOL options first but there's spots for a few WIGE in a OOB

[DevianID]

Combat launching WiGE is interesting, as a weird alternative to conventional fighters using spammed light vehicle bays to clear dropzones.  As for VTOL rotor armor, mathematically the rotor armor is much, much more defensive than the same hit chart on WIGE with massive +4 motive damage.  So while yes 5 1 point hits to the rotor will kill a vtol, less than 5 1 point hits to the motive (which there are more of) will wreck the WiGE.

I kind of assumed the only use of WiGE was the real life use--namely sea skimming naval vessels used as transport or packing anti shipping missiles.  Atmosphere drop zone landing/clearing craft mass launched from something like a Triumph is a niche but useful role--sadly the canon versions dont mention this in the WiGE fluff i skimmed.

[Simon Landmine]

I kind of assumed the only use of WiGE was the real life use--namely sea skimming naval vessels used as transport or packing anti shipping missiles.  Atmosphere drop zone landing/clearing craft mass launched from something like a Triumph is a niche but useful role--sadly the canon versions dont mention this in the WiGE fluff i skimmed.

Yeah, not mentioned in the fluff, but covered in the rules.

WiGE in BT also have better terrain-crossing than in reality, so you can use them much like hovers that don't have to worry about shallow inclines, so they're useful if the terrain is clear, but with lots of little elevation changes.