So - here's the vehicle entries of my fanbook - keep in mind these are hand-produced. I've tried - lord how I've tried - to follow the book, but the late effort on my part to come up with a trailer vehicle for Takiro's Quicksilver project are a good indicator. I suspect the engine shielding on these has been forgotten, but I'm not pulling out the books to look it up.
The first is a fast VTOL, intended to offer the MH a versatile unit amenable to conversion to BA transport, interception, and a military cargo transport. I enjoyed this one, I think I could have gone in several different directions, including an airborne minelayer for indirect combat if I had felt like slogging through the rules, but kept it fairly short. I do like the cargo variant; I feel most people don't realized just how important keeping the combat troops supplied with - well, everything - really is. The idea the Caesar thought they would make a good personal aircrew and supported them made a good human interest hook, I thought.
CU-1 Cucurum Attack Helicopter
Produced By: Marian Hegemony
Introduced: 3078
Mass: 30 Tons
Classification: Light Vehicle
Engine Type: ICE
Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Modern)
Movement Type: VTOL Maximum Speed: 154.1 kph
Weapons and Equipment:
2 x Machine Gun (100)
8 x Rocket Launcher-10
Origin
The Legion’s expansion under Caesar Julius had been piecemeal, as military units and equipment were gathered by various means from several sources only to be lost in the Jihad and the aftermath. That began to change under Caesar Cassius, however. Utilizing the pressures that re-introduced Primitive BattleMechs to the armies of the Inner Sphere, Cassius turned to create domestic production to replenish the fallen ranks of the MHAF.
Seeking a quick, reliable VTOL aircraft to fill several bat-tlefield roles, the Cucurum (Quiver) was immediately de-signed and put into production as part of the Hegemony’s greater efforts to create domestic production as soon as possible after the end of the Jihad.
Capabilities
Able to move at a top speed of 150 kph, the Cucurum is heavily armored for a helicopter, as part of the Caesar’s em-phasis on preserving the trained solders under his command. Intended to salvo its rockets and return to friendly territory to re-arm, the Cucurum utilizes a system of quick-mounting pods to allow quick turn-around rather than force ground crews to reload by hand, a laborious and sometimes danger-ous practice, especially in the field. Armed only with Ma-chine Guns for self-defence, Cucurum Pilots generally avoid confrontations after expending their rockets.
Battle History
Perhaps the most famous incident involving the Cucurum took place during graduation exercises at the Alphard Flight Academy, where Miles (Probationary) Arnus Rammage and Saul Goldman successfully penetrated the AA network around the firing range and volley-fired their practice rockets into the target. The two were hauled up on charges after judges determined that the duo had broken most of the school’s standing flight regulations during the exercise.
3104 saw the Cucurum cross the border into the former FWL as part of raiding parties sent to assess the fallout of the civil war, where it encountered the Hawk Moth and Yellow-jacket VTOLs of Michaelson Heavy Industries. Unable to compete with the sustained and direct firepower of the Marik vehicles, the Marians were forced to order their VTOLs to support the main force as they engaged the defenders. Denied the opportunity to focus on the Legion’s ‘Mechs and supporting conventional vehicles, the slower enemy VTOLs were engaged by the Legion’s Cucurum pilots en masse, relying on their greater speed and the scatter abilities of their Rocket Launchers to make up for their lack of staying power.
Although these tactics were successful on several occa-sions, Marian pilots desperate enough to resort to the Cucu-rum’s machine guns rarely succeeded.
Variants
Growing accustomed to the growing strength of Battlear-mor on the modern battlefield, Hadrian Mechanized Indus-tries has reduced the Cucurum’s weaponry to create the CU-1i, allowing it to carry a 5-ton Infantry Bay or Battlearmor Compartment with an extra half-ton of armor. Further modi-fication created the CU-1e, a lightly armed executive transport with twin machine guns, a pair of underslung RL-10s, and a 3-ton Infantry compartment to accommodate one or two wealthy executives and their bodyguards or security forces.
As a final variant, the CU-1c creates an unarmed domestic freight hauler, with a bare half-ton of armor to protect the craft. The 10-ton cargo compartment has created a stir among smugglers in the Periphery, as exports of the versatile Cucurum continue to grow.
Notable Vehicles and Crews
Miles Arnus Rammage, Saul Goldman, and Cucunaut
Having survived the wrath of the Commandant of the Academy with the quiet political support of a mysterious benefactor, the two have become the personal flight crew and aircraft of Caesar Cassius. The two have since become familiar with most of the movers and shakers of Hegemony society, many of whom are eager to learn of the other pas-sengers the two have carried recently and the conversations they might have overheard.
Type: Cucurum
Tech base: Inner Sphere (Modern)
Engine Type: ICE
Movement Type: VTOL
Armor Type: Standard
Tonnage: 30
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure: 3.0
Engine: 160 12.0
Cruising MP: 10
Flank MP: 15
Heat Sinks: 0
Equipment
Control Equipment: 1.5
Lift Equipment: 3.0
Power Amplifier:
Turret:
Armor Factor: 80 AP 5.0
Front 28
L/R Side 19/19
Rear 12
Rotors 2
W & E Loc Mass
2 Machine Guns F 1.0
Ammo (MG) 100 B 0.5
8 RL-10 F 4.0
Author
Topic: THE VEHICLES OF FANBOOK, THE PERIPHERY: 3145 (Read 6179 times)