Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a heavy repulsorlift tank in Lucerne Labs line-up
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed-Market
- Model: Balyeg-class Heavy Repulsorlift Tank
- Modularity: General purpose launcher loadout, MAST module
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Argentum-series Matrix Armor (primary armor belt), Impervium armor plate (secondary armor belt), Alusteel Frame, Ceraglass viewports, standard vehicle components
- Classification: Repulsorlift Tank
- Role: Heavy Tank
- Size: Large
- Weight: Very Heavy
- Armaments: Very High
- 1 MegaCaliber Six Turbolaser Cannon
- 1 turreted Laser Cannon
- 2 recessed LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launchers
- Defenses: Very High
- Maneuverability Rating: Low
- Speed Rating: High
- Propulsion: Repulsorlift
- Minimum Crew: 1 Driver
- Optimal Crew: 5 (Driver, Gunner, Commander, auxiliary systems operator, mechanic droid)
- Passenger Capacity: None
- Cargo Capacity: Small
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Partially Automated: Balyeg contain a droid brain used to process sensor and targeting information, communicate with other Balyegs and Howlrunner tanks, and provide diagnostic information to the vehicle's crew.
- Jump Jets: Balyegs have auxiliary jets on its dorsal side. These jets allow the tank to be deployed midair from dropships and other starships by controlling its rate of descent. It also allows the tank to make brief 'jumps' of up to 15 meters (normal repulsorlift flight ceiling is 4 meters) or act as a temporary back-up propulsion if the repulsorlifts are somehow disabled.
- Seekers: Balyegs carry a quartet of Mark VII Seeker Droids in charging stations at the rear of the tank. These are often deployed to act as forward recon elements, to act as sentries for the tanks and crews at rest, and to aid in disposing of smaller enemies that get too close to the tank.
STRENGTHS
- Impressive Firepower: The tank's main armament is MegaCaliber-6 Turbolaser Cannon, which was explicitly designed to be able to punch through extensively shielded ground fortifications. While it is not often fired at this full power due to power useage and recharge time, it is still quite capable of destroying or severely damaging many large battle tanks even when not fired at full power.
- Resilient: The Balyeg is exceptionally durable, using two layers of armor, Argentum-series Matrix Armor and Impervium, along with a deflector shield generator that has an overcharge mode. It can usually go head to head with some of the largest and most powerful vehicles on the battlefield and expect reasonably good odds of survival with a competent crew and commander.
- Jump-jet Assist: Few tanks have the unusual vertical mobility afforded by the Balyeg's jump jets, which can allow it to escape traps, surmount obstacles, and perform maneuvers that many armored vehicles its size cannot perform.
- Big Target: The Balyeg is fairly large tank, being roughly the length and width of the classic AT-AT. If still or slow moving, it's not very hard to hit, and it's almost never hard to detect.
- Ungainly: Balyeg's propulsion is oriented to providing good thrust, which gives it excellent speed and its unusual 'hopping' ability, but it is not very good at turning, and is very bad at turning at high speeds; for practical purposes, the tank has to slow down substantially when making any short or sharp turns.
- Narrow Field of Vision(driver): The driver's compartment is bounded on either side by propulsion outriggers that rob him of much of his peripheral vision. While he does have sensors to help show him some of what's there, it's still a significant blind spot.
DESCRIPTION
The Balyeg is a heavy repulsor tank specifically designed to spearhead attacks during orbital assaults, where it can use its jump-jets to deploy from aircraft midflight. Once it descends to the ground to the point where it can run on its repulsorlifts, the tank really comes into its own. Possessing exceptionally thick and layered armor along with a starfighter grade deflector shield, the Balyeg can often withstand immediate attacks from surprised enemies while it brings its own weaponry online to deal with threats.
The Balyeg's primary weapon is a massive MegaCaliber-6 turbolaser cannon, originally designed to be used to quickly reduce sieges by shooting straight through shielded fortifications. The Balyeg rarely uses it at this full power because it very quickly drains the tank's ammunition supply and it has a long recharge time. Instead, it typically fires this gun at much more rapid and lower power pace, making it roughly equivalent to the typical heavy turbolaser, and thus reasonably effective against most heavily armored vehicles, such as other heavy tanks and walkers. On top its main turret is a secondary turret which houses a single laser cannon, which is typically used as a point defense weapon to eliminate threats that move too quickly to be targeted by the MegaCaliber-6, such as enemy warheads, aircraft, and enemy infantry attempting to engage the tank at close range. This laser cannon usually is operated by the tank's droid brain, which proactively uses it to deal with these threats, taking full advantage of the droid brain's superior reaction time and better situational awareness due its integration with the tank's sensor systems. The Balyeg also has a pair of forward-facing LLT-7 General purpose warhead launchers concealed in its chassis behind retractable armor plates. These are typically loaded with concussion missiles to attack and destroy enemy aircraft or targets too fast for the MegaCaliber-6 to track yet too tough for the laser cannon to handle. However, these are sometimes loaded with specialty munitions such ion torpedoes (against foes who are heavily technology dependent) or incendiary flame-carpet warheads to burn down foliage and enemies concealed within it. While strictly not a piece of onboard weaponry, the Balyeg does carry a quartet of seeker droids who can also act to attack small threats attempting to creep up to the tank. But the tank has other active defenses, including a MAST (typically fitted with a sensor jammer or enhanced targeting package), to help provide protection. Despite these technologies, one of the Balyeg's better defenses is mobility.
Repulsorlift vehicles are exceptionally mobile, and while the Balyeg isn't as fast as the famous TX-130 Fighter Tank, it still often has a slight edge in speed over many of its contemporaries. Balyegs can often make quick transits across the battlefield to either escape more powerful or numerous forces, or otherwise suddenly threaten enemy weakpoints en mass. The Balyeg's speed here is sometimes enhanced by its unusual jump jets, which can allow it to jump over some obstacles. But each jump is frequently a rough ride for the crew and jarring as well to the point where some tank crews prefer to use the tank's high speed and heavy defenses to simply bulldoze through small barriers and obstacles rather than jumping over them.
Balyegs are designed to work as part of team, especially with the integrated droid brain's sharing information with other Balyegs and the company's older Howlrunner tanks. Typically, this allows the tanks to conduct coordinated time on target attacks, or engage enemies that aren't in direct line of sight or immediately readable by their own sensors (but seen or targeted by other members of the tactical network). This is especially true of those tanks using the MAST's targeting package module to paint targets for massed artillery strikes. Balyegs consequently are often augmenting existing armor groups within Lucerne Lab's customer base. Sales seem likely remain steady as long conflict wracks the galaxy.
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