Zaku
04/28/21 05:52 AM
82.40.9.192
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Bailey Plasma Tank MBPT01
Mass: 30 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: Tracked
Rules Level: Advanced Rules
Era: Clan Invasion
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E-D
Production Year: 3073
Dry Cost: 897,000 C-Bills
Total Cost: 917,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 780
Power Plant: GM 150 Fusion Engine
Cruise Speed: 54.0 km/h
Flanking Speed: 86.4 km/h
Armor: ProtecTech 9 Standard Armor
Armament:
1 Plasma Rifle
Manufacturer: Johnston Industries
Primary Factory: New Syrtis Plant
Communications System: CommuTech XL
Targeting and Tracking System: JI Plasma Track
Overview:
First developed in 3073, following the abysmal failure of Operation SOVEREIGN
JUSTICE, during the Jihad. The Bailey was commissioned by the Minister of the
Capellen March Angela Hasek as a relatively cheap MBT that could act in the roll
of garrison, anti-personal, and anti-armour rolls, that could match the MBT of
the Capellen Confederation, the Po Heavy Tank. Needless to say it was a
confusing series of conflicting design specifications, but Johnston Industries
on New Syrtis set to work and by 3072 produced a variant prototype that was
accepted into the Capellen March local forces as a Garrison Tank.
Originally a 60 ton machine, weight and speed issues quickly led to run up of
costs, as the designers kept adding technology to fulfil the demands of Angela
Hasek and the commanding officers of the Capellen March. At one point a APC,
another a 80 ton dual turreted monster which barely went 30 KPH, the team at
Johnston Industries soon scrapped all their projects by 3071, and decided to
take the risk with a lighter fusion design.
The true saving of the Bailey came when one designer picked up on the
Capellen's new Plasma tech, and its similarities to autocannon loading systems.
Noticing how it fitted snugly in with a fusion engine, its great Anti Personal
effect and anti armour damage, as well as the ability to overheat a target the
designers set to work reverse engineering the weapon system: not to mention the
fear factor involved of Plasma. When all was said and done the Bailey was half
the weight of its initial designs, being much faster and only mildly cheaper to
produce over the base Po variant. In addition with a reliable auto loading
system and a 2 man crew, the Bailey became a low maintenance, low crew cost anti
armour nightmare that could zoom across the battlefield at 85 KPH. Accepted as
a Garrison Tank to help combat both Capellan and Jihadist incursions into the
Capellan March, the Bailey saw a fearsome reputation soon develop around it.
Still this reputation was also tarnished by its horrific damage it did to
infantry and battle armour, which when deployed on home soil soon saw the tank
develop a rather morbid reputation, only worsened by the knowledge it utilised
Capellen Technology.
Variants
MBPT02: 864,600 C-Bills
A alteration made by request following feedback reports from units, the 02 swaps the 150 GM for a 120, as speed was considered secondary while on patrol duty. This allowed the price to be lowered armour to be increased to be more comparable to heavier tanks, to around 9 tons and had a extra ton of ammunition added. This design greatly increased the Bailey's staying power, though most of these units were deployed to the Federated Suns side of the Capellen March away from active combat.
MBPT03: 2,490,000 C-Bills 'The Fire Frog'
A post Jihad Variant, developed in 3091, the 03 was a experiment in seeing how far the Bailey could be pushed. Utilising a XL Engine, allowed the tank to go 97KPH and maximised the protection found in the 02 model, but switched the armour to Light Ferro Fibrous armour. Still the additional weight savings were put towards a Fully Amphibious upgrade for the 03, allowing it to move across rivers and swampy terrain with relative ease. This upgrade while considered questionable did allow for interesting counter insurgency tactics against groups who would often use rivers or swamps to flee from garrison units. Nicknamed the Fire Frog, for its popular tactic of firing its Plasma cannon from the safety of the water while torching resistance members in woodland shore areas.
MBT04: 2,250,313 C-Bills
Developed concurrently with the 03, the Bailey 4 was a attempt to see if switching the 03's fully amphibious mode out for a Environmental Sealing equipment could create a cost effective void capable tank. The result was less than satisfactory, with costs running up quite quickly the designers reduced the armour to the 01 model and added Heavy Ferro Fibrous, six and half tons of it. While also switching to a 150 Light Fusion Engine to further reduce costs. Considered a bit of a failure of a concept the tanks ability to fight in toxic environments meant it very often did not face the same units it was designed to combat. While its quick ground speed and ability heat up a enemy in often hard to heat sink area made it a potent enemy, its costs made it a limited production unit.
Design Quirks
Fast Reloaded (1)
Bad Reputation (-1)
Design Idea
The Bailey was a weird idea I had for a Plasma tank in the vein of the Po or
Vedetta. Ultra fast low amount of weapons. The reason I picked this is the
damage a Plasma Rifle can do to Tanks, infantry and battle armour not wearing
fire resistant armour. An extra 2d6 damage for those who did not know. I kept
lowering the weight to make it as cheap as the Po which while cost some armour
added speed, while the Plasma Rifle can pull triple duty as a main armament,
a tank buster and infantry clearer at long range. The thin armour is issue but
its not overly thin. I picked fast reloaded quirk as while it has 2 tons of
ammo, I feel as the weapon is so diverse reloads would be very important.
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 15 points 3.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 150 8.50
Cruise MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Control Equipment: 1.50
Lift Equipment: 0.00
Turret: 1.00
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 128 8.00
Armor
Factor
Front 30
Left/Right 25/25
Turret 28
Rear 20
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plasma Rifle T 10 1 6.00
@Plasma Rifle (20) BD - 0 2.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 4 Points: 8
5t 1 1 0 0 1 0 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: ENE, TUR(1/1/0)
Edited by Zaku (04/28/21 06:49 AM)
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Karagin
04/28/21 10:50 AM
70.118.172.64
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So what not going with 7 tons of armor and give this something to deal with infantry besides the main gun? You could put a machine gun of some kind thus freeing up the main gun for targets that it needs to engage, thus saving the ammo it has for that.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Zaku
04/28/21 11:53 AM
82.40.9.192
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A Plasma cannon is ironically a Anti Infantry weapon, and deals its base damage +2d6 damage to infantry and battle armour. Its also long range.
I understand split fire could work in that regards but I felt the tank needed the armour and the main gun fulfils the roll well enough. Though split fire rules could work well in tighter areas. Also I veered away from MG ammo because explosions. A small risk I know but relying on Plasma keeps the vehicle from going boom.
Edited by Zaku (04/28/21 12:07 PM)
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ghostrider
04/28/21 12:14 PM
66.74.60.165
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Have you considered making a hover version of this tank? Might save some weight that can be used for other things. It would be faster, though a little more susceptible to movement crits.
If alone, the lack of secondary weapons to deal with things like massed infantry can be an issue, but I would think different or multiple units would be deployed at once. In the case of the plasma cannon, it isn't as harsh as the ac 10 on the Po. The reduced damage to infantry for acs makes the mg on the Po almost necessary.
I can see the amphibious version being a nightmare to guerillas. Most believe they have the advantage over tracked armor in areas like swamps.
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Zaku
04/28/21 12:30 PM
82.40.9.192
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I have been brainstorming ideas for a Hover version, though it does run up the costs a tiny bit. One version I am looking at with Megamek is 35 tons, hover with 8/12 move 2 tons of ammo, though sadly only 4.5 tons of heavy ferro fibrious, but the thing costs over 2.3 million C-Bills. Though if we ditch the armoured motive system we can lower the weight to 30 tons up the armour to 6 tons and likely lower the price to around 1.3 mil with a 9/14 move.
Personally I like the idea of the tracked version more, as hover vehicles often have control issues, though it is as fast at standard speed as the MK03 is with a XL for half the cost (but less armour)
Still I am glad you like the fire frog variant . Still I wish I could pack more into the Bailey, but I want to keep the armour high as its design was meant to make it compete with the Po at a similar price.
But yes I completely agree this unit should be deployed in unison with others to help deal with multiple enemies.
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ghostrider
04/28/21 10:50 PM
66.74.60.165
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Like most hovercraft, it would be more for specific types of missions. One of the missions would be sit in the ocean and pepper infantry and other units that can't touch it at range. Open terrain is the other major area hovers accel in. But then that may not really show a good reason for having a hover version.
Another variant might be a VTOL. But then it would lose the feel for a tank.
The movement modifiers are the key to keeping damage down. It won't stop it, but more then a few shots will miss with the extra +1 or so to hit. The armored motive system is nice, but not really necessary.
The price thing is where you run into a lot of issues with not being able to do more.
The big issue with a lot of units is the inability to deal with armored units and infantry at the same time. Something I have said to other units that have been posted. I don't want to sound like I changed for this one. City fighting would make infantry more of a pain. But this goes to specific missions again.
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Karagin
04/29/21 12:53 AM
70.118.172.64
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So you have 20 shots for the main weapon, and you are going to use it on mechs and infantry and vehicles...so all I have to do is swarm you with numbers and your vehicle is dead. Regardless of the damage, the main weapon does to infantry, it can still be taken out by that same said infantry.
Having the secondary weapon allows for a longer living tank, and 7 tons of armor is not something to laugh at, but it's your vehicle.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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Zaku
04/29/21 05:26 AM
82.40.9.192
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I can agree a variant can be made with a machine gun. Though most battles do not last 20 rounds, as such I gave it fast reloaded to replenish as quickly as possible, and it has the speed needed to withdraw.
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Wick
05/03/21 06:34 PM
173.247.25.195
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I like it. I wouldn't call it fast though - 5/8 isn't overly mobile. You do say its a garrison tank though, so I don't mind the 20 ton shot limit or the 5/8 speed to withdraw to safer defenses. Nor to I miss the machine gun mentioned above - by 3073 Battle Armor is starting to replace infantry in offenses, so a defensive tank would not face unarmored infantry as often as they would have in earlier eras.
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Zaku
05/04/21 04:14 AM
82.40.9.192
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Your right its not overly mobile compared to a mech, but for a tank it is, and compared to other tracked combat vehicles I am comparing it to, its got the edge in speed. Your also right as to it not facing unarmoured infantry, however unless the enemy battle armour has flame resistant armour they also suffer the extra 2d6 damage. One reason I went for a plasma based weapon system, its quite versatile in either heat or extra damage. If the battle armour do have flame resistant armour yeah its limited but Plasma deal a lot of damage to enemies, and also few units mount the Capellan anti heat armour tanks and battle armour can use.
Edited by Zaku (05/04/21 06:18 AM)
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AmaroqStarwind
05/17/21 12:28 AM
8.20.123.59
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Can vehicles even use XL engines? Because I remember something in the rules saying that they couldn't.
Discord: Amaroq the Kitsune#1092
Telegram: @Lycanphoenix
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Wick
05/17/21 06:46 PM
173.247.25.195
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They can. TRO:2750 said mechs only, but that's since been retconned. Only Endo Steel remains a mech-only component.
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Karagin
05/18/21 09:19 AM
70.118.172.64
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Quote:
They can. TRO:2750 said mechs only, but that's since been retconned. Only Endo Steel remains a mech-only component.
Mechs get Endo and DHS, the two things vehicles truly need, but for some reason, TPTB claim giving them DHS and Endo would make them too powerful, however, based on my experiments with allowing the two items for vehicles I haven't seen any munchkin way they could upset the mechs and their role as king of the battlefield in this game.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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