- Intent: An indirect fire support vehicle for the NIO.
- Image Source: KaranaK
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Massive Mobility
- Affiliation: New Imperial Order
- Model: MALRAS (Multi-payload Advanced Long-Range Artillery Speeder) - pronounced 'Maalraas'
- Modularity: Can be fitted with treads for operations on planets where repulsorlifts are not desirable.
- Production: Minor
- Material: Doonium, ablative armor
- Classification: Tank
- Role: Artillery
- Size: Average
- Weight: Average
- Armaments: Extreme
- Multi-payload rocket launchers
- Multi-payload mortars
- Antipersonnel/anti-air autoblasters
- Defenses: High
- Ablative armor
- Deflector shields
- Maneuverability Rating: Very Low
- Speed Rating: Average
- Propulsion: Redundant repulsorlifts
- Minimum Crew: 2
- Optimal Crew: 4
- Passenger Capacity: 0
- Cargo Capacity: None
- Multi-payload rocket launchers
- Multi-payload mortars
- Extendable stabilization legs with density projector
- Sloped front/rear armor increases effective thickness and deflection against incoming fire.
- Long-range indirect fire capabilities.
- Guided multi-payload munitions (rockets and mortar shells). Payloads can include concussion, incendiary, fragmentation, mag pulse, baradium, CryoBan, flak airburst, seismic charges, and/or chemical/biological agents as the mission demands.
- Though artillery is a specialized discipline, actually driving the vehicle is extremely straightforward.
- Cannot fire primary weapons at any target closer than 200 meters.
- Relatively flat armor on flanks.
- Best used with target painters/spotters; otherwise targets out of line-of-sight are a matter of guesswork.
- Nasty ammunition means that, if something gets through the shields and doonium hull, everyone inside the tank is probably toast.
The MALRAS is a midsize self-propelled artillery vehicle that can drop guided munitions on targets over the horizon. It is not a front-line combat vehicle, but its indirect fire support capabilities can soften up enemy positions, slow advances, and generally keep NIO stormtroopers alive as a guardian angel of sorts. Average-sized for a tank or mobile artillery vehicle, at least one MALRAS can fit into any standard Imperial shuttle or dropship with a decent amount of room to spare.
Designers named the MALRAS for the maalraas or nighthunter, a malevolent pack hunter with durable hide and unexpectedly powerful crushing jaws. Designers also shamelessly stole the aesthetic from the Technoid TXT HMP artillery platform, a direct competitor in the role - and in the context of the NIO's military procurement processes. Internally, the MALRAAS is a far different vehicle, with different priorities and usage cases, but nobody except an artillery soldier would blame you for mixing them up.
Massive Mobility will tell you that the MALRAS can carry and fire a much greater variety of munitions; that it has better all-around anti-infantry coverage and fewer exposed systems; and that it can hit harder than the TXT HMP unless the latter is in stationary siege mode. Massive Mobility won't tell you that its autoblasters are anemic compared to the Technoid tank's secondary weapons, that the MALRAS is far less maneuverable, that the TXT HMP can actually carry cargo, and that the MALRAS requires a larger crew.
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