Copyright 2000 by Brandon Cope
 

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Lancer Mark I main battle tank (TL8)

In my TL8 campaign (horror/fantasy/dimension travel), this represents the best MBT used in any quantity. In most other TL8 campaigns, this would represent a capable, if middle-of-the-road, design. The turret has plenty of free space for additional electronics, if desired. Ammo for the main gun is in four 15 round magazines. Per 30 rounds, the cost is $19800 HEDP and $52800 APFSDS. Many users replace some some (or all) APFSDS rounds with cheaper HEAT rounds, or underload the magazines.

Some buyers omit (or remove) the open mount; this saves $14,201 and 396.5 lbs. A more costly variant upgrades the standard laminate armor to expensive; multipy body and turret DRs by 1.6 and increase cost to $3,704,470. An electrothermal gun adds $191,100 (incl. extra ammo), increases ammo from 30 to 36 per magazine, and requires 4900 kWs per shot (one rechargable E-cell is good for 36 shots, so four are required).

The Lancer Mark II (not posted yet) is a very different, less capable, design. The main gun is only 100mm and frontal armor is DR 1400. It is also smaller and much lighter and cheaper.

 Subassemblies: two tracks, full rotation turret, open mount on turret
 Body Features: Slope on body and turret: 60 degress front, 30 degrees left and right
 Propulsion: 1200 kW tracked drivetrain
 Weaponry (Turret): 120mm LP smoothbore tank gun, 15mmC chaingun, 90x120mm LP APFSDS rounds, 30x120mm LP HEDP rounds, 600x15mmC AP rounds
 Weaponry (Open Mount): 15mmC chaingun, 1000x15mmC AP rounds
 Weapon Accessories: full stabilization for both turret guns, universal mount for open mount gun
 Instruments and electronics (turret): PESA (5 mile, Scan 15), laser rangefinder, two terminals, HUDWAC
 Instruments and electronics (body): one medium range scrambled radio, light amplification, military GPS, HUDWAC, two hardened small computers with Targeting programs and databases, one terminal
 Miscellaneous: ST 6200 winch (body), 8 Dischargers w/4 Hot Smoke and 4 Prism (turret), full fire supression (body)
 Controls: Computer
 Occupancy: Short
 Passengers: None
 Crew: Commander and Gunner in 2 normal crew stations (turret), Driver in normal crew station (body)
 Envirnmental Systems: 3 NBC kits
 Power: 1250 kW turbo ceramic, 37.5 gph
 Fuel: self-sealing 280 gallon tank, 280 gallons diesel fuel
 Access, Cargo and Empty Space: Turret - 24.46 cf empty space, Body - 1.2 cf empty, 5 cf cargo and 123.4 cf access space, Open Mount - 0.1 cf empty space
 Volumes: Body 700 cf, Turret 400 cf, Open mount 4 cf, Tracks 420 cf; Surface Area: Body 473 sf, turret 326 sf, tracks 336 sf, open mount 15 sf; Total Area
 Structure: very heavy frame
 Hit Points: Body 2838, Turret 1956, Track (each) 1008
 Structural Options: sealed, improved suspension, basic IR cloaking
 Armor (Turret): std laminate, PD 6 DR 2000 F, PD 5 DR 450 L,R, PD 4 DR 300 B, PD 4 DR 150 T
 Armor (Body): as turret, but also PD 4 DR 200 U
 Armor (Tracks): expensive metal, PD 4 DR 125
 Statistics: Empty Weight 131,407, Loaded Weight 119603 lbs (59.8 tons), Volume 1524 cf, Size Modifier +7, Price $2,849,295, HT 10
 Ground Performance: Speed 58 mph, gAccel 4 mph/s, gDecel 20 mph/s, gMR 0.75, gSR 7, Low ground pressure [barely!], 2/3 off-road speed

New Weapons
120mm liquid propellant smoothbore cannon: one long barrel, slow autoloader, smoothbore, LP
Dam 6dx18, Malf Ver, Type Cr, SS 30, Acc 15, 1/2 Dam 3100 yds, Max 9700 yds, ROF 1/6
APFSDS ammo is 6dx36(2), 1/2Dam 4650 yds, Max 14550 yds, +1 Acc
HEDP ammo is 6dx20(5), HE damage 6dx54 [12d]
Beehive is 2d+1 Imp

The APFSDS is best against DR 1500 or less (50% chance of penetration). The HEDP rounds are actually better vs non-laminated armor (average DR 2100 vs DR 1050 laminated), but are mainly carried to deal with APCs and infantry. HEAT and Beehive may be useful in some settings.

15mmC chaingun
see p.VE43, TL8 15mm chaingun