Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To provide a more typical main battle tank in Lucerne Lab's product line-up
Image Source: Spartan Games Retalatior-class Medium Crawler concept rendering (company website now defunct)
Canon Link: N/A
Primary Source: N/A
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Katarn-class Main Battle Tank
Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed Market
Modularity: Ammunition, secondary coaxial weapon mount, MAST Turret
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Argentum-series Matrix Armor Plating, Beskar frame, ceraglass viewports, standard vehicle components
Classification: Main Battle Tank
Role: Attack Tank
Size: Average
Weight: Average
Minimum Crew: 2
Optimal Crew: 4 (1 pilot, 1 gunners, 1 mechanic droid, and 1 commander)
Propulsion: Tracks
Speed: Average (70 km/h)
Maneuverability: Low
Armament: High
1 Turreted Firestorm Plasma Turbolaser- 1 Secondary Coaxial mount capable of carrying one of the following options:
1 Repeating Laser Cannon - 1 SW-4 Double Ion Cannon
- 1 Reaper Mag Cannon
- 1 LLT-7 General Purpose Warhead Launcher
- 2 Stormflash Ion Encumbrance Systems
- 1 Sunfire 1000 Flamethrower
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Defenses: Very High
Beskar Frame
Argentum-series Matrix Armor
Aegis II Anti-concussion Field Generator
LV-F Deflector Shield
Modular Auxiliary Systems Turret
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Squadron Count: Average: 12
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Passenger Capacity: 0
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Cargo Capacity: Very Small
SPECIAL FEATURES
Partially Automated: Katarns contain a droid brain used to process sensor and targeting information, communicate with other Katarn tanks, and provide diagnostic information to the vehicle's crew.
Environmentally Sealed: Katarns have environmental sealing and full internal life-support for three days of continual operation, allowing the tanks to be deployed in hazardous environments such as vacuum or toxic atmospheres and to enable limited submersion in water.
Networked Vehicle: Lucerne Labs took their experience with the IX-6 combat droid and designed the partially automated Katarn's droid brains to collectively process and share sensor and targeting data.
Heavy Defense: The Katarn sports impressively thick matrix armor which is further augmented by powerful shielding technology and as well as active defense in the form of the Modular Auxiliary Systems Turret.
Adaptable Weapons: The Katarn has highly adaptable weapons, with its main cannon being capable using a variety of damage types, and a modular coaxial secondary weapon mount capable of using a variety of weapons types.
Sluggish: Like many tanks, the Katarn is not a very maneuverable vehicle, nor is it very fast compared to many other combat vehicles on the battlefield.
Linked Firepower: The Katarn's two primary weapons move together because they are coaxial weapons, meaning that the Katarn in most cases only target one thing at a time, despite having multiple weapon systems.
Technical Explanations:
Crew: Katarns have a pretty typical crew for a tank, with a driver and gunner needed to operate the tank at a bare minimum to have any sort of combat value. But to obtain normal combat performance, the Katarn needs a full crew, including having a commander and a mechanic/communication's operator (typically a droid). The driver and mechanic are housed in the main chassis right underneath the turret, while the gunner and commander have their places in the Katarn's massive turret. All stations have small ceraglass viewports, normally covered by retractable plating, which provide the crew with very limited vision. Because the field of view from these is actually quite poor in order to better protect the crew, miniature photoreceptors located across the hull provide the visual feed for driving the vehicle and firing its weapon.
Engine Systems: The Katarn moves about on four separate continuous tracks which use overlapping road wheels. Each track is powered by a separate hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell engine derived from the Lab's previous Myrmidon-class APC. This drive system provides the Katarn with a robust drive system that is capable of navigating through many terrains, though it is not as fast nor as capable of maneuvering around objects as many repulsorlift vehicles. The tradeoff is that the Katarn's drive system is more resistant to electromagnetic fluctuations, making it more resistant to EMP attacks and allowing it to work on worlds with unusual magnetic fields, such as Jabiim. Additionally, with its sealed hull, this allows the Katarn to crawl underwater at the depths of a typical continental sea shelf.
Defensive Systems: The Katarn's most basic defense its reinforced beskar frame, which is then covered in a thick layer of Argentum Matrix Armor plating that is carefully designed to act as sloped armor from most attack angles. Thus the actual arrangement of plates combined with its frame is designed to resist kinetic weaponry, while the plating composition itself is designed to resist a wider variety of attack types. This protection is then supplemented by LV-F deflector shield generator, whose low power is typically used to reduce damage before it hits the tank's dispersive armor. However, when the tank is stationary, it can reroute its engine power to activate this shield system's fortress mode, making it significantly stronger and ideal for engaging in lengthy slugging matches. The Katarn also sports the revised Aegis II Anti-Concussion Field Generator for protection against physical threats. While it has a dedicated power source to keep it low-power at all times, power must be drained from the vehicle's plasma turbolaser to keep it powered at its most potent state. The Katarn also sports a MAST turret mounted on its main turret. This is typically outfitted with a sensor jammer or directional particle shield, providing the Katarn with a more active means of defense.
Hull: Katarns have a pretty conventional layout for a tank, with a base chassis and a turret. Like the company's Howlrunner Tank and many older Baktoid Armor Workshop products, the Katarn has most of its more vulnerable components placed in the rear, including the power generator, in order to better protect them against incoming fire. Internally, the tank has a single, environmentally sealed working space that encompasses the entire turret and the driver and mechanic/communications operator stations just beneath and in front of the turret.
Weapons Systems: Katarn's primary weapon is a Firestorm Plasma Turbolaser, which is actually a railgun that throws superheated bolts of searing plasma at targets. This is a fairly potent anti-vehicle weapon that is even dangerous to small starships. While each Firestorm can support two different types of plasma ammunition, the two most commonly encountered when used on the Katarn are pure thermal and explosive. The thermal's searing bolts are usually effective at burning through or superheating enemy armor, while the explosive bolts are ideal general purpose ammunition for bombardments. Just to the right of this massive cannon and more centrally mounted is a modular weapons mount designed to easily fit a variety of smaller auxiliary weapons. Repeating Laser Cannons and Reaper Mag Cannons are the most common choices for Katarns, as their relatively high rates of fire excel at hitting small or fast targets, making them complementary in use to the slower firing Firestorm Plasma Turbolaser. The warhead launcher is often equipped when specialty ordinance is needed for missions or when enemy aircraft are expected to be encountered, while flamethrowers are usually equipped when operating in dense vegetation or when assaulting enemy fortifications.
Carrying Capacity: Katarns are dedicated battle tanks, and consequently have little carrying capacity. There is no room inside the tank for passengers, albeit a few daring individuals can elect to ride on top of the tank. Cargo space is similarly small, with scattered internal compartments for a few of the crewmembers' personal effects. These are typically sidearms, rations, and other like items. For prolonged operations where the tank needs to carry more supplies, it's not unusual to see bags and other containers fastened externally to the tank's hull.
Electronics: Katarns have a basic droid brain not unlike those found in many tramp freighters. Like those brains, the Katarn's brain is primarily used for basic diagnostic and information processing. Taking a cue from the IX-6, the droid brains between Katarns communicate and interact with each other to form a shared, collective understanding of the environment and tactical situation around them. They most notably pool information gathered by their sensors to collectively map out their surroundings and keep track of targets in a form of a Target Identification Network. Perhaps also somewhat unusually for a manned tank, the Katarn's droid brain usually also controls the MAST, allowing collective groups of Katarns to not only react individually to emerging threats, but to collectively produce an area of active defense around their squadron mates.