Menaulion Tank Destroyer
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:33 am
It's been a while since I posted anything, so here is a nice little tracked tank destroyer I put together a month or so ago. I hope to post my anti-gravity tank soonish. The MOCpages link is http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/315277
The Basilikoi military is divided into two main sections. The mobile field armies are known as the tagmata, while the planetary garrison troops are called the themata. These garrison troops are raised locally and expected only to defend their homeworlds, barring some emergency situation requiring full mobilization of all armed citizens.
Rather than spend countless resources and empty the treasury in a futile attempt to arm every single garrison unit with expensive and powerful anti-gravity tanks, the Basilikoi came up with a pragmatic alternative. Since the primary role of the themata is defensive, why not equip them with a defensively-oriented anti-tank vehicle? Thus, the Menaulion was born. Its frontal armor is thick and sloped, so that it can bear repeated blows from enemy heavy guns, while its own main gun, a massive gravity-accelerated kinetic penetrator cannon, is the same as that mounted on the heavy anti-gravity tanks of the tagmata. The Menaulion can take a beating and hit back just as hard, all while costing far less than a true tank would.
These savings come at a cost in performance, though. The Menaulion is turret-less, making it useless in a mobile battle. This weakness is largely moot, however, when the tank destroyer is deployed in the role for which it was designed. Whether firing from a prepared position or using the restricted quarters of urban warfare, it excels at dominating firing lanes and killing enemy vehicles.
It is also primarily geared toward frontal assaults. Its rear armor is relatively thin and entirely flat, without any slope to mitigate damage. Its armored skirts are designed to ablate, allowing the main hull to remain intact even as the skirts fall apart under enemy fire. That does not mean that it is defenseless, however. Mounted just before the well-protected hatch is a pair of gravity-accelerated kinetic penetrator rifles. This double-mounted weapon system is more than capable of fending off small-scale infantry attacks, and even provides a modicum of anti-air defense. Still, the tank destroyer was built with one thing in mind, and that one thing it does very well indeed.
The Basilikoi military is divided into two main sections. The mobile field armies are known as the tagmata, while the planetary garrison troops are called the themata. These garrison troops are raised locally and expected only to defend their homeworlds, barring some emergency situation requiring full mobilization of all armed citizens.
Rather than spend countless resources and empty the treasury in a futile attempt to arm every single garrison unit with expensive and powerful anti-gravity tanks, the Basilikoi came up with a pragmatic alternative. Since the primary role of the themata is defensive, why not equip them with a defensively-oriented anti-tank vehicle? Thus, the Menaulion was born. Its frontal armor is thick and sloped, so that it can bear repeated blows from enemy heavy guns, while its own main gun, a massive gravity-accelerated kinetic penetrator cannon, is the same as that mounted on the heavy anti-gravity tanks of the tagmata. The Menaulion can take a beating and hit back just as hard, all while costing far less than a true tank would.
These savings come at a cost in performance, though. The Menaulion is turret-less, making it useless in a mobile battle. This weakness is largely moot, however, when the tank destroyer is deployed in the role for which it was designed. Whether firing from a prepared position or using the restricted quarters of urban warfare, it excels at dominating firing lanes and killing enemy vehicles.
It is also primarily geared toward frontal assaults. Its rear armor is relatively thin and entirely flat, without any slope to mitigate damage. Its armored skirts are designed to ablate, allowing the main hull to remain intact even as the skirts fall apart under enemy fire. That does not mean that it is defenseless, however. Mounted just before the well-protected hatch is a pair of gravity-accelerated kinetic penetrator rifles. This double-mounted weapon system is more than capable of fending off small-scale infantry attacks, and even provides a modicum of anti-air defense. Still, the tank destroyer was built with one thing in mind, and that one thing it does very well indeed.