Flathead II MBT (50t Gauss Tank)

[Ramblefire]

I'm fairly sure somebody has thought it up before, but I started with the criteria of

• Carries a Gauss Rifle
• Has reasonable speed
• Has reasonable armor
• Can hopefully use a light vee bay

And as it turns out, 50 tons is just about the lightest I can get a tracked vehicle to match all four criteria. It carries only a gauss rifle and a machine gun, but the Gauss rifle works at all ranges so I don't think that would be a problem for general battle line applications.
It has the same movement profile as the Myrmidon.
It has 16 rounds of shooting.
And it has enough armor to face tank its own main cannon twice.

And I mean, yeah it uses a fuel cell engine, but I didn't feel like using a very very expensive XLFE when a Fuel cell would work just fine.

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Flathead II Main Battle Tank

Mass: 50 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 250 Fuel Cell
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
     1 Machine Gun
     1 Gauss Rifle
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2750
Tech Rating/Availability: E/D-F(F*)-D-C
Cost: 1,757,000 C-bills

Type: Flathead II
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 1,052

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                    5
Engine                        250 Fuel Cell          15
Cruising MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks:                   1                       0
Control Equipment:                                  2.5
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             1.5
Armor Factor (Ferro)          143                     8

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   5         30   
     R/L Side               5/5      30/30   
     Rear                    5         23   
     Turret                  5         30   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
Machine Gun                    Front        0.5     
Gauss Rifle                    Turret       15.0   
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     
Gauss Rifle Ammo (16)           Body        2.0     



[ANS Kamas P81]

Cheap, quicker than most medium & heavy tanks, with a gun to be afraid of.  It's what poster the Vedette puts on its wall.  I would field battalions of these...

[Gorgon]

Nice design! I get the aversion to XL engines on a tank, but in this case, it may be worth it. You could improve the speed, drop the weight or get a few more gadgets - like vehicular grenade launchers or switching over to stealth armor. Even a targeting computer would be in the cards, if the armor is lightened a bit.

[Ramblefire]

Nice design! I get the aversion to XL engines on a tank, but in this case, it may be worth it. You could improve the speed, drop the weight or get a few more gadgets - like vehicular grenade launchers or switching over to stealth armor. Even a targeting computer would be in the cards, if the armor is lightened a bit.

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Flathead II Tank

Mass: 50 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 250 XL
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
     1 Small Laser
     1 Medium Laser
     1 Gauss Rifle
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2750
Tech Rating/Availability: E/D-F(F*)-E-D
Cost: 6,074,375 C-bills

Type: Flathead II
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 1,330

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                    5
Engine                        250 XL                 10
Cruising MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks:                   10                      0
Control Equipment:                                  2.5
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             2.0
Armor Factor (Ferro)          215                    12

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   5         45   
     R/L Side               5/5      45/45   
     Rear                    5         35   
     Turret                  5         45   


Weapons
and Ammo                Location    Tonnage   
Medium Laser             Turret       1.0     
Gauss Rifle              Turret       15.0   
Small Laser              Turret       0.5     
Gauss Rifle Ammo (16)     Body        2.0     
Trading in for a 250XL fusion frees up enough tonnage to provide enough armor to tank its own main gun 3 times rather than the original 2. A fusion engine also provides free heat sinks. I take advantage of this by adding a medium laser for low probability shots at light mechs what get too close, and then take a small laser to shoot at infantry. However, despite the added capabilities, I don't feel that it justifies the 345% increase in cost as well as the sheer logistical burden of attempting to source 250XL engines.

While there aren't many manufacturers of 250FC engines, those can still be sourced from most places with B or A tech level planets even if you need to put in custom orders for 250 equivalents.

[Daryk]

I'm pretty sure you could get similar performance from a 45-ton tank with one less crew...  8)

[Ramblefire]

I'm pretty sure you could get similar performance from a 45-ton tank with one less crew...  8)

For the XLFE one yeah, but not on the FCE one. To go down to 45 while keeping a FCE, you need to drop 1.5 tons worth of gear, which unless you want to drop down to 8 Gauss rifle shots, means you need to drop the machine gun, machine gun ammo, and then remove 9 points of armor from somewhere, which would let it tank one gauss rifle shot, but then the second one would go internal.

And the idea of the XLFE one is that it's built on the FCE one.

[Daryk]

I stand corrected!  :thumbsup:

[ANS Kamas P81]

At least it still fits a light vehicle bay!

[Daryk]

This is true!  :thumbsup: