Cray
09/26/02 08:09 AM
64.83.29.242
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The Quikscell T-90 started as an upgrade to the venerable and popular Scorpion, but turned into something else along the way. Quikscell executives were reportedly aghast at the 100 million C-bills spent on research and development, saying, "No R&D project of this company should ever come near the catering bill of the R&D projects of our competitors." As the maker of the Scorpion and the Hetzer, the sentiment was understandable.
The T-90 is not a fast tank, though it compares well with many tanks over the centuries, particularly diesel piston engine-powered tanks. In fact, it would be faster if much of its power generation was not dedicated to charging its impressive main weapon, a Sarlon Railgun. (Funding some lingering development of Sarlon's weapon and licensing it accounted for must of the T-90's R&D expenses.) Replacing the gauss rifle with an autocannon immediately frees 4 tons of engine's power system for movement.
With much of the "huge" R&D budget going to the gauss rifle, little was left for the T-90 to muck around with other components. The GM 120 ICE is an unexciting multi-fuel, four-stroke, air cooled V-12 diesel lubricated by its own fuel. Given the target market probably won't have much in the way in consistent refining technology, the engine's ability to run on biofuels (peanut, soy, or even corn-derived oils) and various diesel and kerosene grades is a plus. On the topic of fuel, the T-90 can carry an additional one thousand liters in an ejectable rear deck tank. A small secondary generator keeps the batteries and compressed air bottles of the T-90 charging without the rabid fuel consumption of the main engine.
Aside from the direct mechanical transmission, the huge gauss rifle dynamo, and normal minor electrical systems, the tank is entirely pneumatic. The suspension combines pneumatic pistons with torsion bars. The turret motors are pneumatic. The starter motor is pneumatic. Most small motors (hatches, climate control, etc.) are pneumatic. Simple, cheap, and easily understood by shadetree mechanics from Timbuktu to BFE and Waythehelloutthere, most planets find the T-90 easy to maintain and produce replacement parts.
The rest of the tank is similarly simple and low tech. The T-90 screams "Quikscell" in its crude slab hull and turret. The Sarlon Railgun is a model of simplicity, too: any planet capable of manufacturing modern armor plate can meet the material demands of the rails. After that, the railgun's capacitors are no different (just more numerous) than those of many lasers. The feed mechanism, which only needs to deliver 6 slugs a minute, is no mechanical wonder. The commander's 20mm Gatling Gun is the same as the Scorpion's. The radio and thermal night vision equipment were introduced in the Terran Alliance.
The T-90 has a self-raising snorkel across its rear deck that allows it to ford 4- to 5-meter water at the touch of a button. The engine is quite happy submerged so long as air is fed to it; a few horsepower are lost as the exhaust must be forced out under higher pressure. On the topic of the exhaust, Quikscell saved some metal-stamping trouble by replacing the muffler with a piezoelectric sleeve. The self-tuning sleeve (made with commonly available stereo equipment) almost completely cancels the exhaust noise, making the T-90 as quiet as many turbine- and fuel cell-powered vehicles.
Amazingly (and almost accidentally), the T-90 offers an unusual amount of crew protection for a Quikscell vehicle. Recognizing the buyers would be interested in salvaging the tank, they protected the gauss rifle's capacitors and nearby MG ammo in an armored bin with a blow away lid. The gauss rifle filled the compact turret, forcing Quickscell's engineers to put the 2 crewmen into the body in front of the turret. The lack of hydraulic fluid in the tank, isolation from explosives, and distance from the fuel tanks does wonders for keeping the crew alive.
The T-90 entered production in 3053 and sold briskly to Periphery nations, who found it easy to produce ammo and spare parts for the tank. It gained a new lease on life when the Chaos March burst into existance. Federated Suns Planetary Guard Units purchased the tanks in large numbers in the 3060s.
COMBAT HISTORY
The T-90, like many other Quikscell vehicles, rarely have any glamorous battles to write home about. They're made, they're bought, they die. They die on some backwater worlds at the hands of rebels with molotov cocktails, they die at the guns of pirate mechs, they die when participants in a military coup destroy their garages and hangars, they die while badly and incompetently fighting front line military units.
In the mean time, the T-90s (usually found in large numbers) belch out sheets of nickel-iron to wreck the fanciest XL-powered Wundertanks and shatter the endosteel skeletons of mechs that invaders bring. They hose down protest marchers with their crowd-shattering 20mm Gatling Guns and blow apart makeshift rebel road blocks. A column of rumbling, slow moving T-90s is usually a sign the local government has pulled out the stops and is going to get heavyhanded.
T-90
40 tons tracked
4 tons internal structure
8 tons 120 ICE
....Cruise: 3
....Flank: 5
0 tons 0 SHS
2 tons controls
1.75 tons turret
5.75 tons armor
....Front: 25
....Sides: 16
....Rear: 15
....Turret: 20
15 tons Gauss Rifle (turret)
.5 tons MG (turret)
2 tons GR ammo (body)
.5 tons MG ammo (turret)
.5 tons CASE (turret)
VARIANTS
The modular armor of the T-90 (an excuse to bolt on the armor rather than more expensively weld it) is easily upgraded to ferrofibrous by motivated owners. The simple slab shaping is easy to produce, to.
The T-90U replaces the Sarlon Gauss Rifle with a Sarlon Maxicannon, a class-10 AC. It also faster at 4/6, but more lightly armored. The T-90D uses a Sarlon LB10X to keep the same armor but has not sold as well. Periphery buyers do not like the advanced LBX (the metallurgy is hard to match) and Davion buyers do not like the inability of the LBX to use advanced shells recently available in the Suns.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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Cray
09/26/02 08:43 PM
12.91.129.77
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New for the 3068 model year: the T-92 rocket support tank. The Sarlon Railgun is replaced with a Harverster Arrow IV. Few clients have shown interest in the fancy guided munitions, citing local production difficulties, but the ethylene glycol solid rockets and monstrous unitary warhead of the standard Arrow IV shells are well within the capacity of many T-92 owners to manufacture locally. And the crews like the T-92 because it lacks the brutal recoil of the Sarlon Railgun.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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Nightmare
09/27/02 02:37 AM
194.251.240.106
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Consider this one entered into my HmVee! Simple, cheap and efficient, the T-90 will cause a nasty surprise yet...My friend`s merc unit is getting involved in the Chaos March, and this is just the vehicle to spring on him 
Advice for Evil Overlords:
My legions of terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.
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Karagin
04/15/08 08:19 PM
24.26.220.4
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I had a guy use these in a game a while back...it was a nice blast from the past.
Have you anything more with them?
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Askhati
04/16/08 04:25 AM
146.232.65.7
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Quick note on your fluff regarding the armor: bolting/riveting armor onto the chassis can be extremely dangerous, primarily due to the fact that any shot hitting a bolt/rivet will drive the bolt/rivet loose and blast it back into the interior of the tank at high speed. The result mess will stump even the best CSI team in identifying body parts.
For notable designs, look at any tank from WWI, and also the French SOMUA S-40 from WWII. The S-40 had the very nasty habit of splitting in half if hit on any of the bolts keeping the top and bottom parts of the chassis together.
Evolve or DIE!
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Cray
04/24/08 05:38 PM
147.160.136.10
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Quote:
Quick note on your fluff regarding the armor: bolting/riveting armor onto the chassis can be extremely dangerous,
It's extremely dangerous if done poorly and with little concern about failure modes - such as leaving the bolt directly exposed to incoming fire and not backing the bolt with a blind hole. However, those problems are avoidable. For example, the bolts don't have to be on the outside, and they don't have to go directly through the plate.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
Edited by Cray (04/24/08 06:50 PM)
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Dester
04/25/08 11:36 AM
216.57.96.1
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I like this chassis, is cheap no frills, get the job done type. For a variant I would suggest stripping out the Gauss rifle and replacing it with some LRMs. An LRM-20 w/ Artimis and 4 tons of ammo could keep this baby in the fight alot longer with a simialr damage profile with the advanage of being able to indirecly fire w/ spotters. You lose the concetrated burst and head capping ability of the gauss is the only down side.
An alternate variate of swaping the gauss for an AC-20 would make this a feared mini demolisher for urban or restricted terrain fighting where everything happens at close ranges.
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Christopher_Perkins
04/25/08 09:42 PM
76.120.212.36
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nice... Very nice
the fluff for this tank and the bulldog's 20 mm makes me wonder why the Powers that Be keep incorrectly claiming that the Innersphere does not have anything similar to the Bear hunter... Even on Vehicles.
Christopher Robin Perkins
It is my opinion that all statements should be questioned, digested, disected, tasted, and then either spit out or adopted... RHIP is not a god given shield
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Cray
04/25/08 10:58 PM
68.205.198.74
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Quote:
the fluff for this tank and the bulldog's 20 mm makes me wonder why the Powers that Be keep incorrectly claiming that the Innersphere does not have anything similar to the Bear hunter... Even on Vehicles.
Why the heck would the Inner Sphere want a kludge like the Bear Hunter? It's already got the BA MG (1 less slot, 50kg less, 1 more range, 1 less damage), the BA Small Laser (50kg more, 1 less slot, 1 more range), MagShot (1 more slot, 25kg more, 1 less damage, 7 more range), Medium Recoilless Rifle, etc. Actually, all factions have much more enticing weapons than the Bear Hunter.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
Edited by Cray (04/25/08 10:59 PM)
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