Grand Admiral, First Order Central Command
Image Source: flaketom
Intent: A fast cruiser tank with a powerful punch to provide armor support for Helldiver infantry.
Development Thread: Here
Manufacturer: Shadowline
Model: C60 'Hetairoi' Cruiser Tank
Affiliation: Shadowline
Modularity: Yes, see below.
Production: Minor
Material: Durasteel Chassis with Quadanium/Terenthium&Desh/Durasteel Composite Armor
Role: Cruiser Tank
Height: 2.85m
Length: 7.8m
Width: 3.5m
Weight: 60 tons
Minimum Crew: 2 (Driver, Gunner)
Optimal Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, Commander)
Propulsion: 8 x Repulsorlift, with a max ceiling of 25 meters. However the tank gets unstable past 5 meters and is unable to fire it's main gun.
Top Speed: 160 km/h at top speed, but the tank vibrates a lot at that speed and gyro's are unable to compensate, rendering it unable to fire on the move. Cruise speed is around 90 km/h, but the main gun can only be fired at 60 km/h or slower.
Armaments:
Hetairoi Tank
- 1 x 120mm Electromagnetic Railgun
- 1 x Remote E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster
- 1 x 6-shot Concussion Missile Launcher
- 2 x 8 Tube Multipurpose Grenade Launcher
- 1 x 160mm Smoothbore Mass Driver Cannon
- 1 x Remote E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster
- 1 x 6-shot Concussion Missile Launcher
- 2 x 8 Tube Multipurpose Grenade Launcher
- 1 x Electromagnetic Plasma Cannon
- 1 x Remote E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster
- 1 x 6-shot Concussion Missile Launcher
- 2 x 8 Tube Multipurpose Grenade Launcher
- 1 x 20mm “Shredder' Electromagnetic Chaingun
- 1 x Remote E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster
- 1 x 6-shot Concussion Missile Launcher
- 2 x 8 Tube Multipurpose Grenade Launcher
Cargo Capacity: Weapons and personal gear
Squadron Size: 4
Misc. Equipment:
- Integrated Sensor/Visual Array (lots of backup camera's and weird angle lenses, it's hard to sneak up on this tank).
- 4-cell Shield Generator. Each cell provides its own, comparatively weak shield. Versus small arms the tank commander cycles teh cells on and off to allow each to recharge and present a constant force against weapons fire. Against heavy anti-armor weapons, the four shields are layered, and provide somewhat better protection against a single powerful shot, at the risk of burning out any number of the cells.
- Standard Communications Array.
- ECM Countermeasure Package.
- Standard Tank Stuff.
- Repulsor Power Boost (attached under each repulsor ski, enable the tank to maintain stability and fall control at high altitudes, allowing it to be airdropped safely, and giving it a limited ability to 'jump' high in the air and then make a controlled fall over hazerdous terrain or urban environments).
When Cyrus Tregessar first devised the concept of the Imperial Force Recon, he envisioned a unit that would pave the way for the Atrisian Empire's conventional forces, and could be backed up as necessary by heavier troops and equipment. Following the creation of Shadowline and the Force Recon's development into the Helldiver Air Cavalry, the need became apparent that depending on how the employer was, the Helldivers would need to be able to back themselves up with heavy equipment. The UA-50 Thunderbird was imagined around this concept, acting as a heavy lift dropship and gunboat, but somewhat ironically it was being produced before there was even heavy equipment to lift.
The 'Hetairoi' Cruiser Tank is the first piece of truly heavy support equipment made by Shadowline. It was imagined as a fast, capable, anti-armor and anti-fortification tank with fire support capabilities. Generally speaking, it succeeds in that role, though it doesn't exactly measure up against other heavier tanks.
The tank succeeds primarily in being fast and comparatively small. Speed was primarily achieved by using eight repulsorlift skis, twice as many as normal, and placing them all around the hull. This has the disadvantage of rendering them susceptible to damage, though the tank can operate with one damaged ski per side (at significantly reduced capability).
A quirk of the design process meant that the tank ended up with a somewhat oversized turret. Taking inspiration from then still being designed SF/A-40 'Aries,' the engineers devised a system to allow for weapon modularity given the extra room in the turret. The result was four different variants of the tank being moved into production (each variant can be considered 'limited' in production).
Standard on every tank was a repeating blaster with limited anti-munition capability, a 6-tube Concussion Missile Launcher, and two eight-tube grenade launchers, which can be loaded with smoke, fragmentation, chaff, and other grenade types (typical loudout is 2 each of smoke, chaff, frag, concussion).
The main variant mounts a 120mm short-barrel Railgun, which fires dedicated armor piercing rounds with an average muzzle velocity of 6 km/s. This weapon excels at defeating armor but has limited ability against softer targets (it's sort of overkill) and tends to be traveling at too high a velocity to be effective at clearing terrain. It suffers from an incredible amount of recoil, and can only be fired at slow speeds. Pilots tend to halt the tank and disable repulsorlifts entirely in order to line up an accurate shot. The supports for the rails are also extremely exposed and susceptible to damage if the shield fails.
The second variant is the 'Long Fang,' which sports a more conventional 160mm Smoothbore Mass Driver Cannon. The effective muzzle velocity is significantly lower (around 3 km/s) but a variety of munitions can be used and the shot has a longer effective range (it can be arced and used as artillery if there's a spotter). Being an almost conventional tank weapon, this gun suffers significantly less issues with traveling at high speeds, and can be fired at up to 120 km/h.
The third variant is the 'Cataphract,' which utilizies a version of the infamous Umbaran Electromagnetic Plasma Cannon. Most effective against shields and other kinetic-energy-resistant targets (and also has a large blast radius), this weapon suffers from similar limitations as the 120mm Railgun.
The final variant is the 'Phalanx,' which mounts a downsized version of the specialized 30mm 'Grinder' Chaingun found on the SF/A-40 'Aries.' The 'Shredder' is a 6-barrel gun with a muzzle velocity of around 1.1 km/s that fires at a rate of nearly 6000 rounds a minute. The rounds have a Terenthium&Desh jacket with a Turadium penetrator, and are typically of a High-Explosive Incendiary make. The gun must be fired in bursts or the weapon risks overheating. While it doesn't have nearly the destructive capability of its bigger brother, the 'Shredder' is nevertheless horrifyingly effective against softer targets, and has marginal capability against low-flying aircraft, munitions, and other fast movers, providing the turret can be slewed around quickly enough.
The faults of the tank rest primarily in its defensive capabilities. Besides it's speed, it boasts only a thin layer of composite armor which, while providing relative immunity to small arms (a trait common to most tanks) is relatively easy to defeat by anti-armor munitions. The main advantage it has is that the tank itself presents a very low profile, and it can be tricky to get a direct penetrating hit. Shots from above or below with anti-armor rounds or rockets are all but guaranteed to disable or kill the tank. Additionally, the repulsor skis are basically unprotected once the shield fails.
The tank is also incredibly cramped due to it's small size, and the modular turret plus lots of respulsor ski's make it very maintenance intensive. As with most Helldiver equipment, it is meant to fight in a battle and then go back home, not stick it out in a long engagement or war of attrition.
Overall the tank is a fine addition to the Helldiver armory, and an excellent heavy hitting support unit for the infantry and gunships.
