Approved Vehicle Z-50T Siege Tank

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Image Source: http://foxi-5.deviantart.com/art/Siege-Tank-41182738| http://foxi-5.deviantart.com/art/Terran-Siege-Tank-41227390
Intent: To provide the Galactic Republic with a high powered, dual-purpose tank for the purpose of protecting its' citizens during war.
Development Thread: If Required

Manufacturer: The Galactic Republic
Model: Z-50T Siege Tank
Affiliation: The Galactic Republic
Modularity: None
Production: Minor
Material: Durasteel (45%), Neutronium (35%)l, Duralium (10%), Lanthanide (10%)
Role: Multipurpose Siege Tank

Height: 4.1 meters
Length: 10.4 meters
Width: 5 meters
Weight: 69,419.41kg

Minimum Crew: 3 (1 Driver, 1 Gunner, 1 loader)
Optimal Crew: 4 (1 Commander, 1 Loader, 1 Driver, 1 Gunner)
Propulsion: Track Driven
Top Speed: 75 km/h (Tank Mode) | 0 km/h (Siege Mode)

Armaments:

• 2x 150mm Howitzer Main Gun [ Elevation Range: 15 degrees | Traverse Range: 360 degrees | Max Effective Range: 7250 meters]
• 1x Particle Cannon Turret [ Elevation range: 80 degrees | Traverse Range: 360 degrees | Max Effective Range: 9000 meters (Anti-Air) | 14,000 meters (Ground)]

Squadron Count: 4

Passenger Capacity: 0
Cargo Capacity: 68 Howitzer Rounds

Misc. Equipment:

• Target Acquisition And Tracking System
• Target ID Network
• Advanced Encryption Network
• Advanced Targeting Systems
• Limited Deflector Shields
• Smoke Launcher

Strengths:

• Multiple deployment modes allow for anti-aircraft and anti-vehicle purposes
• Heavily armored
• Quad tracks allow for ease of traverse in difficult terrain
• Highly accurate and secure tracking and communications relays

Weaknesses:

• Only one weapon variant may be used at a time. (Tank Mode for Twin 150mm Howitzer | Siege Mode for Particle Cannon Turret)
• Each mode (Siege/Tank) deployment takes three minutes to complete.
• Electronics and deployment modes susceptible to EMP
• Deflector shields can only be activated when in siege mode

Description: The Z-50T Siege Tank has two purposes: Anti-Vehicle and Anti-Aircraft. Utilizing a pair of 150mm main howitzer cannons, the tank is capable of devastating damage to exposed enemy vehicles and heavy artillery. The highly sophisticated communications network, and friend/foe acquisition system makes communications and positioning interception exceptionally difficult. The tank is also equipped with a single Particle Cannon Turret. This turret is highly accurate and capable of reaching distances of 9,000 meters when engaging low altitude aircraft such as dropships, freighters, and transports, and 14,000 meters when engaging ground targets, as well as a small 5 meter area of detonation upon impact. It should be noted that the act of engaging small framed aircraft such as starfighters and similar vessels would be difficult without substantial numbers as these aircraft tend to move much faster, making target acquisition and firing near impossible. The quad tracks give this tank a boost in terms of land speed travel when in the standard tank mode, and allow for ease of travel when undertaking rough terrain.

When in the standard tank mode, the 150mm guns are capable of being fired, and the vehicle can operate as normal. When engaging siege mode, a pair of bipeds extend from within, and secure the vehicle to the ground. This prevents the vehicle from moving, giving it heightened stability due to the massive recoil of the plasma turret, and takes approximately three minutes to complete the process. When in siege mode, the plasma cannon turret can be fired and the vehicle's deflector shields become active. The tank's sophisticated electronics are susceptible to EMP, and can disrupt, damage, or destroy the systems in place that give it a battlefield edge, and also prevent the vehicle from entering and exiting its two modes, locking it to whatever mode it was in when hit by the EMP.

Primary Source: N/A

 

[Popo]

RESEARCH REVIEW<br /> <br />Star Wars Canon:<br />Pending initial review<br /> <br />Starwars Chaos: <br />Pending initial review<br /> <br />WITHOUT DEV THREADS<br />Pending initial review<br /><br />WITH DEV THREADS<br />Pending Initial review<br /><br />SUGGESTIONS<br />Pending Inital review

 

[Popo]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]
Okay, sorry it took so long. Bit of a hectic weekend. Anyways, only one real main concern of mine right at the moment. How is this capable of firing against enemy aircraft?

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

[member="Popo"] - Particle cannon has an elevation range of 80 degrees. Lead & fire. By all means not the grandest strategy, but capable none the less. The term aircraft is meant more toward slower vehicles such as dropships/transports, not exactly enemy fighters.

 

[Popo]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]
Alright. Once again, my apologies. My dad arrived home recently from a 4 month deployment right after my brother's graduation, so it's been far more hectic than I had planned for it to be >.<

Anyways, let's get to work.

Particle cannon has an elevation range of 80 degrees. Lead & fire. By all means not the grandest strategy, but capable none the less. The term aircraft is meant more toward slower vehicles such as dropships/transports, not exactly enemy fighters.

You'll want to clarify that it's for anti-large aerial craft. That said, however, I'm going to suggest dropping the anti-aircraft role entirely. At least in as much as a deliberate design for said role. Here's why.

[ Elevation range: 80 degrees | Traverse Range: 360 degrees | Effective Range: 5000 meters]

Your range is only around 5,000 meters effective. Sure, it can go a little beyond that, but effectively your range is limited to 5km. Using RL aircraft as a general aide in determining the usual flying altitude, logically most aerial craft you'd be targeting would be flying higher than that. Cruising altitude for commercial jets is ~30,000-40,000 feet (9,000-12,000 meters or 9-12 kilometers). Toss in some of the rather high speeds of some of these aerial craft when flying at low altitude and even with sophisticated sensors you're going to have a hard time. The argument of blast radius of the particle cannon is viable, but ultimately would do minimal damage due to short range.

Actually, I'll tell you what. Ignore that suggestion to drop AA. From the sounds of the sub, you're looking at something that can engage ground targets both up close and afar and help out against airborne targets as well. WWII AA Artillery (mainly using these as I'm familiar with them) generally have a rough range of around 7-9km against aircraft with around 11km maximum range. Your howitzers in tank mode also seem a bit short ranged. Using the WWII 8.8cm Flak cannon (again, ease of familiarity), you'd have a ~14-15km range direct fire on ground targets. The barrels are short, but that mostly effects accuracy. I'd be okay with you bumping the range up there, too. Somewhere around the 10-12km max range (effective range would be probably around the 5-8km range, but that's just a guess on my part) based on a quick glance at a RL short 150mm howitzer cannon. The blast diameter (I'm assuming you meant diameter) of 5m (a 2.5m radius) would remain the same, however.

That said, either way, you're not going to be taking out starfighters and bombers with accurate fire with these except in massed fire (much like how AA artillery is designed to do). Gunships and dropships, however, would be far easier to hit.

To recap, here's what I'm suggesting:

• Bump up the range on your howitzers to somewhere around 5-8km effecitve, 10-12km maximum range.
• Bump up the range on the particle cannons to around 7-9km effective against aircraft, 11ish km maximum against aircraft, and around 14-15km against ground targets.

And here's what I'm requiring:

• Clarify the difficulty of accurate targeting and engagement of smaller aircraft and how the weapon is primarily designed to engage larger, slower aircraft in an AA Artillery mode.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

[member="Popo"]

Edits made as suggested and requested.

 

[Popo]

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]
Alright, looks good. Now, I'll just need a 10,000 word essay on the Glories of Popo and your left kidney.

I'm kidding. Abuse and suffer and blah blah blah fear the wrath of the factory yada yada yada insert fear inducing statements here.

Approved-ed pending secondary

[member="Tefka"]

 

[Tefka]

Approved.