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Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
Posts: 4820
Location: Czech Republic
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 Posted: 01-Nov-2013 15:31 Post subject: Ontos IIC/PAC |
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Not what everyone expected. This is what in the end summed-up the result of coupling the top technologies with necessity.
The situation toward the end of the Jihad looked grimm for everyone and Ghost Bear dominion, just like many others faced uneanding stream of troubles. Each of the problems spelled only one thing in the end - loss of war materiel. Ghost Bears fought battle after battle and in the end their production capacity was strained to breaking point and stoskpiles of clan materiel was depleted. With warrior caste also loosing men end women in droves the decision was made to bring more spheroid people to solahma clusters to augment territorial defense against possible blakist incursions and along with them inferior spheroid wepons. While the thechnology was indeed antiquated, it was readily available and old rasalhague troops knew how to handle it. While not exactly in fighting shape the oldsters were quite capable as a training cadre. This arrangement worked for a while, but the technology lag prooved too great. An upgrade program followed soon after.
An obvious choice for upgrade, one of the most proliferated assault tanks in Kuritan and thus Rasalhague space, the Ontos, was one of the first to receive attention, but one of the last with settled configuration. Targeting, Tracking and sensor arrays were brought up to date, but just after that the problems have started. Fusion engine and battery of clan medium lasers looked like an obvious choice, but Dominion armament manufacturers proved to be incapable of producing the sufficient quantitiest to keep Kodiak production running while Ontos upgrades are underway. a few laser armed tanks were poduced, but Clan's signature 'mech was expectedly preferred. In 3074 the project has almost been shelved, but in the end a suitable replacement for the lasers has been found in Protomech ACs, that could be produced in sufficient quantities while lacking any significant use elsewhere. Lasers have been replaced with miniaturised guns and as a final touch the fusion engine has been replaced with fuel cell to free some tonnage, as the masive built-in dissipation units were no longer needed. Almost as an afterthought ECM suite has been added, which later proved to be an extremely important addition.
Ontos PAC proved to be a cheap and reliable second line unit. It's handling is almost the same as that of the older Spheroid tank. Octet of PAC/4s may lack the penetrating power of the old lasers, in fact only the shell impact causes 20 % less overal damage, but it's range neatly matches that of a clan ER medium laser. LRM 15 provides additional augmentation of ranged firepower, but surprisingly the missiles are seldom used in their long range bracket. Veteran Spheroids had no qualms about using stealth and ambushes and thus the new Ontos usually lies hidden and opens-up fire only when the target is well within AC range. Surprisingly the low tech downgrade proved to enhance the ability to remain undetected. Simple sensor distortion camo net can make the tank indiscernible from a large boulder or hillock at distance greater than 70 meters. The ECM merely distorts the sensors and unlike the fusion engine the fuel cell can be truly stoped, not merely powered down to minimal level of operation. Expert scouts have learned to look for tell-tale signs of fusion engine running, like minuscule magnetic distortion caused by active shielding. Fuel cell on the other hand can, thanks to a pyrotecnic capsles, be brought to full power from coplete stop in under 3 seconds. While this consumes a lot of fuel and severely strains the engine, the practice is quite popular among the crew. Certainly many blakist enemies of the Dominion have nightmares of ninety ton monsters suddenly charging out of nowhere.
Ontos IIC/PAC
Tonnage: 95 t
Internal Structure: 9.5 t
Engine: 285 Fuel cell 20 t
MP Cruise/Flank: 3/5
Heat Sinks: 1 Single 0 t
Control Equipment: 5 t
Turret: 4 t
Armour: 160 pts Standard 10 t
Location (Internal) Armour
Front (10) 35
R/L Side (10/10) 30
Rear (10) 30
Turret (10) 35
Weapons and Equipment / Location / Tonnage
8 Protomech AC/4 / Turret / 36 t
LRM-15 / Turret / 3.5 t
ECM Suite / Body / 1 t
Protomech AC/4 (4x40) / Body / 4 t
LRM-15 (2x8) / Body / 2 t
_________________
The dragon NEVER sleeps!
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