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[Tank] Sandhopper Mk.I (Mars Camo) (Artillery)

The Battle of Mars was the United Earth Federation’s first combat engagement in which they were the aggressors. The Martian colonies had just seceded from the Federation government and had begun to implement opposing ideals. With a pseudo cold war beginning to brew, the Federation took the initiative and decided to strike a blow before the colonies could bolster their military forces. This would be the first live-fire combat exercise of the newly formed U.E.F. Military Corps.
With the battle of Mars well underway, and the Colonial Martian’s fortifications proving to be too much for sappers & bombers to deal with – a new solution was needed fast. The Federation had begun R&D on a new weapons system before the war - although it was still in it infancy, they made the decision to provide a limited number of these new 50mm cannons to the UEF combat engineers on mars. They immediately found a use for these cannons by mounting them atop the sturdy Sandhoppers. These canons proved to be exceptionally devastating against large fortifications & slow-moving airborne combatants. While these cannons could be operated from the tank’s driver seat, they could only hold a few shots before having to be reloaded manually. To combat the issue of dividing the loaders in their crew – some Sandhopper crews modified their sponson turrets to be automatically loading. This system was complex and at times quite unreliable, with even mild shrapnel being able to jam the loading mechanism. Aside form the issues with the new modifications the Sandhopper faced other difficulties while serving on Mars. The fighting compartment would almost always fill with a thick, sandy smog during combat that would make navigation and crew coordination difficult. The lack of pressurisation in the fighting compartment meant that spalling damage to the crew’s pressure-suits could be fatal. In spite of all this – the physical performance of the Sandhopper had actually been boosted by Federation R&D during their 5-year peace-period.

Crew:
1 seated pilot + up to 7 standing crew + 1 optional top-deck loader
Armament:
2x Automated dual 200mm unguided missile turrets + 1x roof mounted 50mm artillery cannon (+ 4 crew-operated machine gun slots)
Powerplant:
2x Large Nuclear Reactors + 2x Large Battery Packs
Top Speed:
25 m/s
Locomotion:
6x Wheels (rear wheel steering) + 1 Gyroscope

Tactical Advice:
Best used from a range against large-grid fortifications and as a mobile cover system if necessary. Close quarters combat is strongly discouraged. Still exceptionally vulnerable against airborne hover drones, however if they are struck by the 50mm cannon they have a high chance of being critically damaged. They are extremely difficult to recover once stuck in trenches. The 50mm can prove devastating against enemy armour if the gun is not hindered by it’s low depression angle.


This one's really fun to use against stations & fighters. Hope you like it :) - Hellcat