Rusty
Purveyor of Fine Weaponry
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a heavy tank for the discerning tank jockey
- Image Source
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Oxidation Industries
- Affiliation: Oxidation Industries
- Market Status: Open Market
- Model: HT Mk1
- Modularity: Customer may select which main gun they wish to install.
- Production: Minor
- Material: Iridium, Durasteel, Alusteel, Duraplast, Tank Components
- Classification: Tank
- Role: Heavy Tank
- Size: Very Large
- Weight: Extremely Heavy
- Armaments: Extreme
- LTC-1 Light Turbolaser Cannon (main gun), OR
- XLC-1 X-ray Laser Cannon (main gun)
- GRTD (Coaxial Machinegun)
- AA-3 Tribarrel (Cupola mounted)
- Defenses: Very High
- Maneuverability Rating: Very Low
- Speed Rating: Average
- Propulsion: Air cushion (hovercraft)
- Minimum Crew: 1
- Optimal Crew: 3
- Passenger Capacity: None
- Cargo Capacity: Small
- Iridium armor
- Choice of cannon
- Decent speed, if not maneuverability
- Electric Kettle (10 liter capacity)
- Thicc Armor- Iridium is known primarily for its luster and use in industrial applications. However, it makes for hellaciously effective armor if used correctly. It's heavy as hell, and anything that seriously breaches it basically field losses the vehicle, but in return, you get excellent resistance to everything from kinetic penetrators to energy weapons, and is notoriously difficult to corrode. In short, if the HT Mk1 doesn't use shields, that's because it doesn't need them.
- Tormentum Giganticus- Iridium armor wasn't chosen on a lark. It was a necessary addition if the HT Mk1 was going to stand up to the firing stresses of the weapons it's designed to mount. Both cannon use a miniaturized nuclear weapon for ammunition, and anything less refractory was likely to get blown to bits. But since iridium is fairly easy to come by if you're into asteroid mining, it was chosen, and that means the HT Mk1 can mount a massive cannon for its size. Both weapons come with a plethora of drawbacks, but that's small consolation for anything that winds up in its sights.
- Air Cushion- The use of air cushion technology might seem like an odd one on the surface. Compared to the more common repulsorlift, it's so antiquated that it might as well belong in a museum. But, unlike a repulsorlift, the air cushion is reliable, easy to maintain, and extremely resilient. It affords the massive vehicle decent straightline speed and a smooth ride as well, and there's enough redundancy built into the system to allow it to take hits that would otherwise cripple a repulsorlift powered vehicle.
- Analog- With either model of cannon, the HT Mk1 eschews modern computer assistance for things like targeting. Since both weapons fire in a straight line and have near enough to instantaneous impact at operational range, there's no need to overcomplicate manual gunnery. While this requires an extremely talented crew to make the most of, it shaves critical milliseconds from the OODA loop. What's more, it makes slicing the vehicle pretty much useless, since the only thing that's really autonomous is the kettle.
- Handling? What's that?- The HT Mk1 is reasonably fast in a straight line, though not exactly quick. However, it's not meant to turn on a dime, or even in the same grid square. Since the air cushion effectively provides a frictionless bearing and there's not a rudder in the galaxy large enough to fight the inertia of 200 tonnes of armor and hate in atmosphere, turns are best contemplated well in advance. The smart driver chooses their path before they ever fire up the fans. The not so smart driver totals the blower by driving it facefirst into a cliff because they waited until they were within 500 meters to make the turn.
- Heavy- Although the air cushion that supports the vehicle is great for ignoring bumps in the road, it doesn't negate the HT Mk1's massive weight. This poses a number of logistical and operational restrictions that have to be taken into consideration before deployment, and the crew has to constantly be alert for potential terrain hazards. Simply going over a bridge can pose a tremendous risk, and the less said about the HT Mk1's abysmal fording characteristics, the better.
- Myopic- Without the usual suite of advanced sensors, the HT Mk1 is fairly shortsighted. It falls to the crew to make up the difference with skill and experience to get in close and brawl, or pick a good ambush point well beforehand. Getting caught out in the HT Mk1 is extremely ill advised.
- Catastrophic Failure Potential- Since both models of cannon use miniature nuclear weapons for ammunition, it goes to reason that a direct hit to the ammo rack will leave a smoking crater measuring hundreds of meters in diameter. Getting through the armor to the ammo rack isn't easy, but it's not impossible either, and if a hit sets it off, there is no escape.
The HT Mk1 is a further development of Oxidation Industry's philosophy of catering to excellence. On paper, the vehicle is positively antiquated, lacking many features that have been considered standard for centuries in the world of armored fighting vehicle design and development. What separates it from the competition is the fact that many of these "common sense" additions get in the way of a skilled crew getting the job done. Absolutely everything that isn't absolutely necessary has been stripped away, leaving the tank equivalent of a podracer preying on a pack of minivans.
The entire vehicle was developed around the gun. In this case, the tank comes with two varieties of primary boom-boom: the LTC-1, and the XLC-1 cannon.
The LTC-1 is a relatively small and lightweight turbolaser that replaces the standard capacitor banks with a small nuclear fusion device. Though it suffers in comparison to an equivalent sized conventional turbolaser, it allows for some serious hardware to be mounted on a normal vehicle. The XLC-1, meanwhile, is an X-ray laser cannon. Although it too suffers in power compared to traditional weapons of equivalent bore, it fires an invisible blast of energy that can smash armor plating into dust at close range, and at longer ranges can do everything to vaporize troops in the open to, at the very edge of its effective range, give them a lethal dose of radiation poisoning. Both cannon are 30cm in bore.
Of course, both cannon are notoriously unkind to their host vehicle, hence the use of iridium armor. Though considered by many to be an odd choice for armor, the metal is extremely refractory. Of all the naturally occurring elements, only osmium is more dense, and it is the only one known to maintain good mechanical properties at temperatures above 1600°C. Additionally, it's the most chemically resistant of all pure elements, being able to resist nearly all commonly used acids and oxidizers, even at high temperatures. It's extremely difficult to machine, however, so in order to work with it, Oxidation Industries had to resort to casting the hull of the vehicle. While this ensures a hull that's among the most durable ever constructed, it also means that, if it is breached, there's no easy way to patch it.
To provide mobility to the hull, an air cushion system was chosen. Eight ducted fans pressurize a plenum chamber underneath the vehicle, bounded by duraplast skirts. As the air tries to escape, it lifts the vehicle slightly. By angling the fans, the driver can provide forward momentum. Though overcoming the inertia takes some time, given a decent straightaway, the HT Mk1 can build up a decent straightline speed. It's not setting any records, but it'll get to where you want to go, provided you don't ask it to do much turning. Since that also has to be accomplished through angling the fans, and they have to work against the inertia of the vehicle on a frictionless bearing, this is not something that can be accomplished quickly or easily. In an emergency, a driver could partially ground the skirts in order to provide friction, but the enormous strain placed on the skirts makes it ill advised.
In addition to the driver, the blower requires a gunner and a commander for optimal efficiency. The gunner responds to directions from the commander to find the target. Though his sights have magnification, low light, and thermal options, there is no computer assistance. Since the beams travel at in a straight line and will hit more or less instantaneously, within their operation range, there's no need to lead the target, and targeting computers would only slow the process down. The downside is, the GRTD coaxial machinegun is not a beam weapon, and as such, using it effectively without aids requires a great deal of skill and experience.
The commander's primary job is to provide leadership for the crew, as well as spot potential targets and hazards. His position has a number of viewscreens, which are hooked up to cameras outside the vehicle, as well as traditional vision blocks, in this case made out of transparent duraplast, and a magnified periscope. The HT Mk1 has no active sensors aside from the AA-3's dedicated package, and has no target detection software. Once again, this requires the commander to know their stuff to get the most out of it, but a good commander can shave noticeable time off the reaction to threats. A smart commander will use this to their advantage, setting up ambushes and moving to engage at knife fighting range, where the enemy tank's perceived advantages do it no good, especially not in the face of the sort of firepower packed into the HT Mk1.
All of this adds up to a vehicle designed by and for professional tankers of exceptional pedigree. Mediocrity will get you killed in the HT Mk1. Excellence will leave a trail of dead in your wake.
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