Mass: 80 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Advanced Rules
Era: Dark Ages
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-D-A
Production Year: 3097
Cost: 3,951,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,329
Power Plant: GM 240 Fusion Engine
Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h
Flanking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Armor: Starslab-1 Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 Armstrong Industries Long Tom
2 Bright-Bloom ER Medium Lasers
Manufacturer: Arcadia Atelier(ARAT) Incorporated
Primary Factory: Erdvynn
Communications System: Olmstead 30
Targeting and Tracking System: Omicron IX
Napoleon Bonaparte once said “God fights on the side with the best Artillery,” and in the 31st Century, with the exception of space based capital-class weaponry, the most devastating piece of artillery is the Long Tom Rifle. Yet to every commander's continuing frustration since the days of the Star League the only commercially available mobile platform for the massive artillery piece was the Martian MOB-LT-25, a five hundred year old relic with so many design flaws that the word cumbersome would be a charitable appellation.
Major Clint Dyson of the Alcyone Gunslingers had long envisioned having a flying battery of Long Toms to support his unit on the attack but even at the already stately pace of his assault-class machines, the MOB-LT-25 was just plain unwieldy; too slow to keep up and too thin-skinned to take of care of itself with a configuration that was impractical for all but the flattest of highways. Fielding the Mobile Long Tom would have necessitated a dedicated escort detail to protect the massive guns to say nothing of the train of supply vehicles necessary to keep the fuel-guzzling machines running.
Initially Clint pinned his hopes on the Paladin Superheavy Artillery Vehicle that was being developed by Kallon Weapon Industries but that machine was decades away from production even before one factored in the inevitable delays caused by Free Worlds League's war on virtually the entire Inner Sphere. Equally foreboding was the Paladin's projected cost, mounting an XL engine, the machine was likely to have a purchase price equivalent to an entire artillery battery.
A more pragmatic solution presented itself in the form of the Demolisher Artillery Tank, of which the Gunslinger and their parent unit, the Black Stars, were some of the most prolific users. A technician working on one of the aforementioned tanks had laconically pointed out that the Demolisher's twin Arrow IV batteries weighed exactly the same as a single Long Tom Rifle and thus the Destroyer I was born, the first fusion powered self-propelled artillery tank to carry the Long Tom Rifle into battle.
Capabilities:
An unimaginative yet practical design, the Destroyer I is simple turret swap of the Demolisher Arrow IV, replacing the twin Luxor Mobile Battery 1 Arrow IV systems with a single Armstrong Industries Long Tom Rifle imported from Bainsville, with seven tons of ammunition. ARAT Inc., the regiment's subsidiary manufacturing firm on Erdvynn, purchases turret-less Demolisher hulls from Aldis Industries and mates them to locally assembled turrets. They also replaced the original front-mounted Omicron 950 Medium Lasers with Bright-Bloom Extended Range Medium Lasers taken from spares for their Kruger Combat Car, another vehicle in common use among the Black Stars.
In all other respects the Destroyer I is completely identical to the Demolisher Arrow IV.
Variants:
Destroyer II
Another turret swap of the Demolisher Arrow IV, this time replacing the twin Arrow IV Launchers with two Defiance Industries Thumper Artillery Tubes imported from Hesperus II and 7 tons of ammunition, the Destroyer II trades raw power for sheer volume. With 140 rounds of ammunition, the Destroyer II can fight long battles while still remaining liberal with its firepower. It also bears noting that engineers pruposefully sculpted the Destroyer II's appearance to be similar to the original Demolisher, no doubt to confuse and intimidate artillery hunting light mechs. BV: 760, Cost: 3,816,000.
Code: Select all
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
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Internal Structure: Standard 40 points 8.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 240 17.50
Cruise MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Control Equipment: 4.00
Lift Equipment: 0.00
Turret: 3.00
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous AV - 152 8.50
Armor
Factor
Front 38
Left/Right 28/28
Turret 38
Rear 20
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Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
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2 ER Medium Lasers FR 10 2 2.00
Long Tom T 20 1 30.00
@Long Tom (35) BD - 0 7.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 5 Points: 13
3t 4 1 0 0 4 0 Structure: 4
Special Abilities: ARTLT, TUR(3/0/0)