ShivaI am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
Note: All images above are from CamoSpecs. They are not mine; I make no claim on them.
Overview:
For the final Quicksilver Combat OmniVehicle Competition, Khan Ian Hawker of Clan Diamond Shark was determined to present the Clans with a capable and effective design that could meet or exceed all of the ilKhan's requirements. Despite the vehement opposition the OmniVehicle Phase of Quicksilver inspired from certain 'traditionalist' Clans, Hawker was convinced that the Clans needed to adopt some greater emphasis on supporting vehicular elements. Tukayyid, and the lessons learned there, remained seared into his memory.
The effectiveness of the ComGuard vehicles had played a large role in the defeat of the Clans. And while the Invasion itself was stopped (and the Sharks with control over one solitary world far from the front lines) . . . the terms of the Truce did not forbid additional fighting. Hawker noted that there were plenty of worlds 'above' the Truce Line; further, the Inner Sphere powers were not restricted from attacked worlds that the Clans had already conquered.
And while the Falcons and Jaguars were loath to admit it, the Clans had been seriously weakened by the battles that raged across Tukayyid and those which had preceded them.
Turning to his Scientists, Hawker demanded of them that they create a Main Battle Omni-Tank suitable for the Clans of Kerensky. Designated as
Shiva (the Hindu god known as 'The Destroyer'), this tank would have to be the finest Shark creation in order to win acceptance.
To that end, Hawker turned to Khan Fletcher of the Horses and Khan Kerensky of the Wolves and, in an unprecedented move, he requested their aid and assistance in designing the
Shiva.
To say the Wolf and the Horse were taken aback would be an understatement . . . but in the end, both decided to aid the Sharks . . . for a price. But the Sharks were no weak Clan to be intimidated; nor was their leader inept at negotiating a bargain. In the end, despite their initial demands, both Wolf and Horse would receive 10% of
Shiva production for the next ten years.
With the deal enacted, Khan Hawker unveiled the concept that he had in mind.
DevelopmentThe new Clan OmniTank would be based on the Lyran
Rommel/
Patton design used so effectively against Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon during the second year of the Invasion. Hundreds of these tanks had been destroyed during Revival; hundreds more abandoned due to damage or outright captured in their depots by fast-moving Clan assaults on scores of worlds.
Hawker requested that Khan Kerensky ship every available
Rommel and
Patton, damaged or not, back to the Homeworlds. He even approached Khan Crichell about purchasing examples of these tanks languishing in the Falcon Occupation Zone. However, in a fit of piqué over the Quicksilver Vehicle Trials, Crichell not only refused, he ordered every captured
Rommel and
Patton in Falcon possession to be destroyed!
Luckily, the Sharks had already managed to acquire (throughout 3050-52) several dozen examples of the design for their Scientists and Technicians to study in detail.
Work began on these examples even as the Wolves began to ship hundreds more to Strana Mechty.
The
Rommels and
Pattons were rebuilt, their fusion engines, armor, turrets, sensors, and electronics removed. Demanding that the
Shiva be able to keep pace with common Clan heavy-weight OmniMechs, the Horses were pushed to provide an ample supply of Fusion 325 Extra-Light engines from their
Hellbringer production lines. These engines would give the
Shiva a cruise speed of 54 kilometers per hour and a flank speed of 86.4 kph . . . enough to match a
Timber Wolf over open ground.
The communications array was the TDWS-37 Mk. 2.2 taken from the Diamond Shark DSF-12 facility on Tathis. Originally developed for the
Warhammer IIC, this comm array was robust and easy to maintain. Likewise, the Sharks donated the Hermes CT-44 tracking & targeting array from the same production, along with the Forging ZM15 ferro-fibrous armor plating.
Eleven and one-half tons of armor would be fitted to the design, giving the
Shiva greater protection than the
Rommel for the same weight penalty as the
Patton.
Arguments erupted during the design as Sharks, Horses, and Wolves began to debate the armament. The Horses insisted on eliminating the short-ranged anti-infantry weapons of the
Rommel/
Patton, to which the Wolves howled in disagreement. The two teams almost came to blows, when Khan Hawker stepped in and asked the Horses why they should eliminate those systems?
The Horses snorted and then slammed one fist down on the proposed schematics. "It is an
Omni-Tank, Khan Hawker! Able to carry five Elementals as mechanized battle armor riders into combat. Why waste the tonnage and cooling ability on a pair of Flamers or Small Pulse Lasers when those Elementals can do the job so much better?"
And Hawker agreed; seeing that the Shark and Horse were standing together, the Wolves let the anti-personnel weapons slide.
But that led to the next great debate, for the Wolves demanded that all of the weapons be concentrated in the turret--which this time, the Horses did not want!
Hawker ended this argument by siding with the Wolves . . . telling the Horses that to add an Omni-bay on the front of the tank would require changing the internal layout and weakening the frontal armor protection. The final design would have all of the weapons within the turret.
And yet, it seemed as though there would not be enough surface area to fit the available mass and internal volume; not without a complete turret redesign that would be visually distinctive. But Khan Hawker wanted the design to remain as close in visual appearance to existing
Rommels and
Pattons as possible. Neither the Horses nor the Wolves would condone the inclusion of a five-tube LRM mount--and a larger mount would require repositioning the main gun . . . which was from the beginning intended as a modular Omni-mount.
Determined to keep the appearance as close as possible, Hawker ordered a search of his Archives . . . and even called upon the Goliath Scorpions (for forgiveness of a small (
very small) portion of their debt) to research a more compact LRM system.
And they found one. The FarFire Maxi-Rack LRM-20 originally used on the SLDF
Atlas. This LRM system contained just five launch tubes, but fired four missile flights in rapid succession; although the system was as heavy as a conventional LRM-20, it was far more compact and required the surface area of just a five-tube launch system. And it was
exactly what the Shark needed.
Except, it was too big and too massive. He knew that neither the Wolf nor the Horse would accept a fixed LRM-20 system that would leave less than fifteen tons of pod-space for other systems. So, he ordered his engineers to convert the existing Clan Type XV "Crossbow" fifteen-tube LRM launcher into a new weapon using the same principles as the FarFire Maxi-Rack. And it worked. While still retaining the five external tubes of the
Rommel and
Patton designs, the
Shiva would mount a fixed LRM-15 system (with Artemis IV fire-control) and three full tons of ammunition stored within the body of the tank.
Predictably, neither Kerensky nor Fletcher were very happy with this idea, but after realizing that 16.0 tons would remain for pod-space, the two agreed to Hawker's demand. Besides, both Khans came to the realization that the fixed LRM system would provide the design with no-heat flexibility to supplement and support the modular Omni-weapons mounts.
Configurations:
All configurations of the
Shiva include a fixed Type XVb "Crossbow (Compact)" LRM-15 with Artemis IV fire-control and three tons of LRM ammunition (24 missile salvoes); the ammunition is stored within the body of the vehicle while the Type XVb is fitted to the turret on the right-hand side of the main gun.
The
Shiva Prime is also armed with a Thunderstroke Series 2b Gauss Rifle (with three tons of ammunition for 24 shots) and a Series 2 ER Medium Laser.
Configuration A features a Type 9 Ultra AC-10 (three tons of ammunition for 30 single bursts or 15 double-taps), two Series 2 ER Medium Lasers, and a Pattern Iota ECM Suite.
Configuration B is armed with a Type KOV LB-10X autocannon (three tons of ammunition for 30 bursts) and a Series 14 Medium Pulse Laser. A Pathfinder Series Active Probe has also been fitted to the turret.
Configuration C mounts a Devastator Ultra AC-20 with four tons of ammunition (20 single bursts or 10 double-taps).
Configuration D features a Type Q7 LB-20X autocannon with three tons of ammunition (15 bursts) and a Series 2 ER Medium Laser.
configuration E is armed with a Type DAK LB-5X autocannon with two tons of ammunition (40 bursts), a Series 7 ER Large Laser, and a Hellion Class Homing TAG. Two additional heat sinks have been added to deal with heat production from the laser.
The
Shiva F has been outfitted with a Type DDS "Kingston" ER PPC, a Series 4 Small Pulse Laser, a Pathfinder Series Active Probe, and a Pattern Iota ECM Suite. Seven additional heat sinks have been added to cool the excess heat production of these weapons.
And finally, there is Configuration G. A Kolibri Series Delta Large Pulse Laser is mounted co-axial to a Type 21 Ultra AC-5 autocannon (with two tons of ammo for 40 single bursts or 20 double-taps). Two Type VII Rotary Cannon Machine-Guns (fed by a half-ton of ammunition for 100 bursts of fire) are also mounted.
Shiva
Mass: 65 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Motive Type: Tracked OmniVehicle
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Clan Invasion
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X
Production Year: 3053
Cost: 13,170,312 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,105
Power Plant: Fusion 325 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 54.0 km/h
Flanking Speed: 86.4 km/h
Armor: Forging ZM15 Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 Type XVb "Crossbow (Compact)" LRM-15 w/ Artemis IV FCS
1 CASE
16.0 tons of pod space.
Manufacturer: DSF-12
Primary Factory: Tathis
Communications System: TDWS-37 Mk 2.2
Targeting and Tracking System: Hermes CT-44
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 35 points 6.50
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 325 18.00
Cruise MP: 5
Flank MP: 8
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Control Equipment: 3.50
Lift Equipment: 0.00
Turret: 2.00
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous AV - 220 11.50
Armor
Factor
Front 50
Left/Right 45/45
Turret 50
Rear 30
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 11
5 2 2 2 0 3 0 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: Prime Cost: 14,014,062
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,856
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
Gauss Rifle T 1 1 12.00
ER Medium Laser T 5 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@Gauss Rifle (24) BD - 0 3.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 19
5 4 4 3 0 3 0 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: A Cost: 14,608,812
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,867
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
Ultra AC/10 T 3 1 10.00
2 ER Medium Lasers T 10 2 2.00
ECM Suite T 0 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@Ultra AC/10 (30) BD - 0 3.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 19
5 3 3 2 0 3 2 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, ECM, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: B Cost: 14,575,562
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,552
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
LB 10-X AC T 2 1 10.00
Medium Pulse Laser T 4 1 2.00
Active Probe T 0 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@LB 10-X (Cluster) (10) BD - 0 1.00
@LB 10-X (Slug) (20) BD - 0 2.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 16
5 3 3 2 0 3 0 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, PRB, RCN, CASE, IF 1, FLK 1/1/1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: C Cost: 14,240,312
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,794
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
Ultra AC/20 T 7 1 12.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@Ultra AC/20 (20) BD - 0 4.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 18
5 3 3 1 0 3 2 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: D Cost: 14,646,812
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,701
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
LB 20-X AC T 6 1 12.00
ER Medium Laser T 5 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@LB 20-X (Cluster) (5) BD - 0 1.00
@LB 20-X (Slug) (10) BD - 0 2.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 17
5 3 3 1 0 3 1 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, CASE, IF 1, FLK 1/1/0
================================================================================
Loadout Name: E Cost: 14,233,812
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,605
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 12 2.00
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
LB 5-X AC T 1 1 7.00
ER Large Laser T 12 1 4.00
TAG T 0 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@LB 5-X (Cluster) (20) BD - 0 1.00
@LB 5-X (Slug) (20) BD - 0 1.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 16
5 3 3 3 0 3 0 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, TAG, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: F Cost: 14,675,937
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,788
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 17 7.00
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
ER PPC T 15 1 6.00
Small Pulse Laser T 2 1 1.00
Active Probe T 0 1 1.00
ECM Suite T 0 1 1.00
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 18
5 3 3 3 0 3 0 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, PRB, RCN, ECM, CASE, IF 1
================================================================================
Loadout Name: G Cost: 13,982,875
Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X BV2: 1,691
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LRM-15 T 5 1 3.50
Artemis IV FCS T - 0 1.00
Large Pulse Laser T 10 1 6.00
Ultra AC/5 T 1 1 7.00
2 Machine Guns T 0 2 0.50
CASE BD - 0 0.00
@LRM-15 (Artemis) (24) BD - 0 3.00
@Ultra AC/5 (40) BD - 0 2.00
@MG (1/2) (100) BD - 0 0.50
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 17
5 3 3 3 0 3 1 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: OMNI, CASE, IF 1Reaction:
The
Shiva is either admired or hated. Clans such as Star Adder and Goliath Scorpion (though they do not use vehicles), Coyote and Blood Spirit; all of these acknowledged that the design was well armored, adequately armed, and incredibly fast (for a 65-ton Clan tracked vehicle!). Others, such as the Jade Falcons and Smoke Jaguars, consider the design a pure abomination . . . and the fact that the Sharks used an
Inner Sphere design as their basis for the OmniTank has made their blood boil even further.
While the Falcons have simply refused to have any further dealings with the Sharks (other than destroying all existing Lyran tanks in their Occupation Zone), the Jaguars have (as usual) leapt before they looked. They have declared that if the
Shiva is declared the winner of the competition, that they will seize Tathis from the Sharks and
raze manufacturing facility DFS-12 to the ground!
To which Ian Hawker (much to the delight of his rank-and-file Warriors in the Homeworlds) replied:
"Bring it, you brainless excuse for a free-birth
surat."
It took eight Khans to hold Khan Osis back before the Ebon Keshik arrived to separate the two men. This rift between the Sharks and the Jaguars has been taken quite seriously by some among the Khans; Khan N'Buta of Clan Star Adder (for example) has suggested to the ilKhan that should the two Clans go to war, it might well be necessary to activate one or more fresh Clans to secure the Jaguar Occupation Zone. A suggestion which Khan Lereoux has (reluctantly) endorsed.
Author
Topic: Quicksilver Program #35: Clan Main Battle Tank (Tracked) (Read 15296 times)