Containerized Missile Turret

[Ramblefire]

Code: [Select]

Containerized Missile system
<p>
<b>Mass: </b>10 tons<br/>

<b>Movement Type: </b>Wheeled<br/>

<b>Power Plant: </b> ICE<br/>
<b>Cruising Speed: </b>0 kph<br/>
<b>Maximum Speed: </b>0 kph<br/>
<b>Armor: </b>BAR 7</b><br/>
<b>Armament:</b><br/>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 LRM 5<br/>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 SRM 4<br/>


<b>Communication System: </b>Unknown<br/>
<b>Targeting & Tracking System: </b>Unknown<br/>
<b>Introduction Year:</b> 3145<br/>
<b>Tech Rating/Availability:</b> D/X-X-X-C<br/>
<b>Cost:</b> 176,498 C-bills<br/>
</p>

Type: Containerized Missile system
Chassis Type: Wheeled (Medium)
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Mass: 10 tons
Battle Value: 75

Equipment                                         Mass (tons)
Chassis/Controls                                    2.0
Engine/Trans.                                       0.5
    Cruise MP:0
Flank MP:0
Heat Sinks                    0                     0.0
Fuel                                                0.5
Turret                                              0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 7)          11                    0.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   1         2     
     R/L Side               1/1       2/2   
     Rear                    1         2     
     Turret                  1         3     


Weapons
and Ammo              Location    Tonnage   
LRM 5                  Turret       2.0     
SRM 4                  Turret       2.0     
LRM 5 Ammo (24)         Body        1.0     
SRM 4 Ammo (25)         Body        1.0     

Cargo
    None

Notes:
Features Trailer Chassis and Controls Modification
Advanced Fire Control(0.5 tons)


Code: [Select]

Containerized Laser Turret
<p>
<b>Mass: </b>10 tons<br/>

<b>Movement Type: </b>Wheeled<br/>

<b>Power Plant: </b> ICE<br/>
<b>Cruising Speed: </b>0 kph<br/>
<b>Maximum Speed: </b>0 kph<br/>
<b>Armor: </b>BAR 7</b><br/>
<b>Armament:</b><br/>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 Medium Laser<br/>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 Machine Gun<br/>


<b>Communication System: </b>Unknown<br/>
<b>Targeting & Tracking System: </b>Unknown<br/>
<b>Introduction Year:</b> 2900<br/>
<b>Tech Rating/Availability:</b> D/X-D-D-C<br/>
<b>Cost:</b> 96,830 C-bills<br/>
</p>

Type: Containerized Laser Turret
Chassis Type: Wheeled (Medium)
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Mass: 10 tons
Battle Value: 65

Equipment                                         Mass (tons)
Chassis/Controls                                    2.0
Engine/Trans.                                       0.5
    Cruise MP:0
Flank MP:0
Heat Sinks                    3                     3.0
Fuel                                                0.5
Power Amplifier                                     0.5
Turret                                              0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 7)          22                    1.0

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   2         4     
     R/L Side               2/2       4/4   
     Rear                    2         4     
     Turret                  2         6     


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
Medium Laser                   Turret       1.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     

Cargo
    None

Notes:
Features Trailer Chassis and Controls Modification
Advanced Fire Control(0.5 tons)

I'm running with the idea that this would basically be the same shape as the standard 10 ton shipping container that the star league liked to use, and that it would be a way to cheaply and quickly deploy a security system. Any military outfit over a company should have a 10 ton flatbed for logistics, and once you've landed, you could use one of those to deploy these for security neigh instantly and that would allow the logistical personnel to get started on their jobs in peace.

Of course, you could do that by leaving some of your combat power behind to provide security, but if your force margins are tight, that might not be an option.

[idea weenie]

The LRM turret seems a good idea, but the Medium Laser Turret not so much.  The Laser Turret's BAR 7 armor with only 6 pts on the turret and 4 pts on a side mean that it only needs at most 3 Medium Laser hits or 2 Large Laser hits to be destroyed.  Since its max range is limited by the Medium Laser, that means an opponent could sit at range 10 and get the Immobile target modifier to hit the trailer.

For the LRM Turret, possessing only 2 pts of armor on the sides and 3 pts on the Turret it will be popped by nearly anything, even before taking into account the BAR 7 armor limitation.


Recommendation:
Only use the Missile Turret, remove the SRM-4 and the SRM-4 ammo, replacing it with another LRM-5 and another ton of armor.
The extra ton of armor will be split between the Turret and whichever armor facing that will be painted "this side towards enemy".  With two LRM-5 the Missile Trailer will only have 12 salvos of LRM fire, but it is more likely to be able to use that ammunition before it gets picked off and blows up.  By adding half a ton more armor to the Turret and one side, this changes their protection to 14 for the Turret and 13 for the facing.  With these values, an enemy will have to use something serious to destroy it even with the 'Immobile Target' modifier.

Best might be using it with LRM indirect fire.  Park it behind a hill so it can't be seen, and this way an ally can call upon the LRM fire without worrying about their support being picked off.  If there is no convenient hill, find out who has a Bulldozer on their vehicle and bother them.


Another option might be the Mech Mortar/1.  Compared to an LRM-5 the MM/1 is one-quarter the price, has the same ranges, same shots per ton, ammo is one-third the price, but the weapon only does ~half the damage.  If you need a cheap base defense a few of these might be useful.  Even better, if it blows up it is only 1 ton of ammo, aka 24 shots, at 2 pts of damage per, meaning 48 pts of ammo explosion.  Compare that to an LRM-5's 24 shots * 5 missiles/shot, for 120 pts of damage.  Even when it blows up the MM/1 is safer for your troops.

[Maingunnery]

This should be more practical, chassis and armor at tech rating D.
I was trying to use a fuel cell or battery engine, but it kept trying to demand extra fuel.

Code: [Select]

Turret Container (LRM)

Mass: 10 tons

Movement Type: Wheeled

Power Plant:  Fusion
Cruising Speed: 0 kph
Maximum Speed: 0 kph
Armor: BAR 6
Armament:
  1 Machine Gun
  2 LRM 5


Communication System:  Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System:  Unknown
Introduction Year:  2600
Tech Rating/Availability:  D/C-E-D-C
Cost:  126,623 C-bills



 
Type: Turret Container
Chassis Type: Wheeled (Medium)
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Mass: 10 tons
Battle Value: 92

Equipment                                         Mass (tons)
Chassis/Controls                                    2.0
Engine/Trans.                                       0.5
    Cruise MP:0
Flank MP:0
Heat Sinks                    0                     0.0
Fuel                                                0.0
Turret                                              0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 6)          24                    1.0

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   1         5     
     R/L Side               1/1       5/5   
     Rear                    1         4     
     Turret                  1         5     


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
2 LRM 5                        Turret       4.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
LRM 5 Ammo (24)                 Body        1.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     

Cargo
    None

Notes:
Features Trailer Chassis and Controls Modification
Advanced Fire Control(0.5 tons)



[idea weenie]

This should be more practical, chassis and armor at tech rating D.
I was trying to use a fuel cell or battery engine, but it kept trying to demand extra fuel.

Code: [Select]

Turret Container (LRM)

Mass: 10 tons
Movement Type: Wheeled
Power Plant:  Fusion
Cruising Speed: 0 kph
Maximum Speed: 0 kph
Armor: BAR 6
Armament:
  1 Machine Gun
  2 LRM 5

Communication System:  Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System:  Unknown
Introduction Year:  2600
Tech Rating/Availability:  D/C-E-D-C
Cost:  126,623 C-bills

Type: Turret Container
Chassis Type: Wheeled (Medium)
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Mass: 10 tons
Battle Value: 92

Equipment                                         Mass (tons)
Chassis/Controls                                    2.0
Engine/Trans.                                       0.5
    Cruise MP:0
Flank MP:0
Heat Sinks                    0                     0.0
Fuel                                                0.0
Turret                                              0.5
Armor Factor (BAR 6)          24                    1.0

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   1         5     
     R/L Side               1/1       5/5   
     Rear                    1         4     
     Turret                  1         5     


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
2 LRM 5                        Turret       4.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
LRM 5 Ammo (24)                 Body        1.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     

Cargo
    None

Notes:
Features Trailer Chassis and Controls Modification
Advanced Fire Control(0.5 tons)



Drop the Machine Gun and ammo, and use that for more armor.  At 10 tons you shouldn't count on these units surviving for long after they are spotted, so you want to make them relatively harmless and annoying to remove.  Making a second trailer that drops the LRMs and LRM ammo, and replaces it with 4 tons of armor and 2 more Machine Guns will make it very annoying to remove, and very dangerous for enemy infantry.


The other idea might be seeing if you can design them as a building, and use external power.  This would reflect that the trailer is being hooked up to the base's power grid, rather than relying on internal power.

[Maingunnery]

Support vehicles are quite limited in armor, 24 points is the total limit here.

[Red Pins]

Yup, one of my projects does this.  Very effective, specially with drone operations.

[maxcarrion]

So, a quick play around with some numbers and it's hard to justify building this as an immobile support vehicle.

For 20% more cash you can build it as a combat vehicle trailer and gain a ton of space as you do not need the 0.5T drive or 0.5T advanced fire control.

But for the same engine/structure weight as the support you can put an ICE engine in it - a tracked chassis going 2/3 or a wheeled one going 4/6 - which means less logistical support required and no immobile target penalty.  Again this is only about 20% more expensive

You can even put a hitch on the mobile combat vee version and have it tow around immobile combat vee versions.  No reason these cannot still be fluffed/shaped like 10T shipping containers and transported on flat beds too.

1T for structure
1T for Engine
0.5T for Controls
0.5T for Turret

The Support Vee trailer saves .5T on the Engine but costs you that on the fire controls.  So equal war load (split armour and weapon systems how you like).