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Design Overview
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                 Combat Vehicle Technical Readout

Name/Model:         Ballista Self-Propelled Artillery SLDF
Designer:           Dr. B, Banzai
Source(s):          Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology:         Inner Sphere
Technology Rating:  D
Tonnage:            55
Role:               Missile Boat
Configuration:      Combat Vehicle
Era/Year:           Star League / 2770
Rules (Current):    Advanced
Rules (Era):        Advanced
Rules (Year):       Advanced
Total Cost:         986,188 C-Bills
Battle Value:       535

Movement Type:        Tracked
Power Plant:          PowerTech 165 HighLift 165 Internal Combustion
Cruising Speed:       32.4 kph  
Maximum Speed:        54 kph    
Armor:                Quantum Heavy Plate
Armament:             
    1 Hegemony Arms DAT/91 Sniper Artillery Ca Sniper
    3 KKL/h-12 Machine Guns Machine Guns
Manufacturer:         Unknown
    Primary Factory:  Unknown
Communications:       Dushen Electronics Collective DEC/ML-5WB
Targeting & Tracking: Kallon Set DC-5

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Overview:
    Many of the military technologies and vehicles that the Star
    League nations depended upon following the Reunification War
    in fact originated during the Age of War BattleMechs such as the
    Archer and the Orion were not the only “ancient” designs to continue
    serving the Star League-era armies centuries after they were first
    introduced The Ballista self-propelled artillery tank and its clones
    could still be found serving in the artillery forces of every Star League
    member-state during the Amaris Civil War, and in fact throughout
    the Succession Wars, some three hundred years after the very first
    “modern” Ballista rolled off its production line on Nanking

Capabilities:
    Rivverson Technologies took full advantage of new technologies
    and manufacturing processes in the last decades of the twenty-fifth
    century to develop a modernized self-propelled artillery piece for
    the Terran Hegemony Compared to the artillery pieces used during
    the Age of War, this Ballista was lighter, faster, better armored,
    carried more ammunition and could operate with a smaller crew It
    utilized a Sniper artillery gun, which was light enough to be carried
    by a tank but could deliver a relatively heavy shell at long ranges
    Most importantly, the Ballista mounted its gun in a turret, giving it
    the almost unprecedented ability to direct fire into multiple zones
    of attack without having to reposition the entire artillery piece
    Organized into batteries of four or six guns, the Ballista could
    devastate an enemy formation or fortification with a continuous
    five-minute barrage before reloading It also had the mobility to
    very effectively “shoot-and-scoot”—fire a handful of rounds and
    immediately relocate to avoid return fire from enemy artillery
    Its seven-and-a-half tons of armor was enough to survive
    aerial and counter battery strikes, or even the first volley from a
    direct enemy attack, and possibly give it the chance to retreat
    to safety Three hull-mounted machine guns—two fore and one
    aft—provided its crew the additional ability to respond to enemy
    infantry that discovered their position
    The vehicle itself was powered by a reliable and low-cost internal
    combustion engine that most armor crews were already skilled at
    maintaining and repairing Though only able to push the Ballista to
    a top sustained speed just over fifty kph, its horsepower and tracked
    suspension allowed it to cross almost any kind of terrain with ease

Deployment:
    The Ballista was the progenitor of at least a dozen different
    virtual clones produced across the Inner Sphere and Periphery,
    all except the Ballista itself debuting at various times during
    the twenty-sixth century (and at least two Periphery versions
    built long after the end of the Reunification War) The SLDF took
    possession of hundreds of Ballista clones when it formed prior to
    the Reunification War, though the logistical nightmare of operating
    so many different models meant that most were retired as soon as
    possible to be replaced with “genuine” Ballistae after the war
    The Ballista remained the standard SLDF mobile field artillery
    piece until the more mobile and better armored Sniper and
    Marksman supplanted it in the twenty-eighth century Nevertheless,
    the Ballista continued to serve in SLDF artillery batteries, and
    especially in reserve and garrison units, throughout the Amaris Civil
    War It and its clones lived on for centuries more—seeing action in
    the Exodus Civil War as well as each of the Succession Wars

Variants:
    Despite, or perhaps because of, its nearly ubiquitous use, the
    Ballista saw no major upgrades to its weapons or performance
    Apart from occasional updates that installed modernized engines
    and electronics to increase reliability and decrease operating costs,
    the Ballista of the 2770s was still very much the same machine that
    debuted three centuries earlier

================================================================================================
Equipment                                                             Mass                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure:                          Standard                  5.50                     
Engine:                              165 Internal Combustion          12.00                     
    Cruising MP:                                3                                               
    Flanking MP:                                5                                               
Heat Sinks (Single):                            0                      0.00                     
Control Equipment:                                                     3.00                     
Lift Equipment:                                                        0.00                     
Power Amplifier:                                                       0.00                     
Turret:                                                                2.00                     
Armor Factor:                                  120                     7.50                     
    Type:                                    Standard                                           

                                              Armor                                             
                                              Value                                             
    Front:                                      25                                              
    R/L Side:                                   25                                              
    Rear:                                       15                                              
    Turret:                                     30                                              

================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo                                            Location              Tonnage       
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Machine Guns                                                Front                1.00         
Sniper                                                       Turret                20.00        
Machine Gun                                                   Rear                 0.50         
Machine Gun (Ammo 100)                                        Body                 0.50         
Sniper (Ammo 20)                                              Body                 2.00         
Sniper (Ammo 10) [Fuel-Air]                                   Body                 1.00         

================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics                                                    
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Point Value (PV): 27
TP: CV,  SZ: 2,  TMM: 1,  MV: 6"t
Damage: (S) 0* / (M) 0 / (L) 0
Armor (A): 4,  Structure (S): 3
Specials: ARTS-1, EE, REAR0*/-/-, SRCH, TUR(ARTS-1)
 
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Code Release 2.24.13.1 (2024-09-02T12:52:21-04:00)