Bakalaponan Gizmorg Armored Fighting Vehicle

[taalismn]

Bakalaponan Gizmorg Armored Fighting Vehicle
(aka ‘Swiss Army Tank’, ‘Schizoklank’)

“There are three turret system specialists on a Gizmorg, responsible for overseeing and operating all the available turret options. Even with three of them, these crewmen have to be the most overworked personnel in the entire Bakalaponan military. One minute they’re manning artillery, the next missile launchers, the one after that they might be responsible for operating a crane arm or a sonic cannon. If they aren’t already schizoprenic when they signed on, chances are they soon will be.”

“Are we facing an artillery regiment or an air defense battery up there?! I’m getting confused reports! Sensors are counting no more than a regiment’s worth of effectives, but they keep changing their deployment profile! Get me hard data and NOW!”
---TransGalactic Empire Expeditionary Force

“Ah, why does the weapons selection console look like a slot machine?”

The Gizmorg is the principle terrestrial fighting vehicle of the armed forces of Bakalapona, the emergenct star nation founded by the abandoned inmates of a Golgan mental hospital colony. The Bakalaponans recognized that they needed to beef up their planetary security against pirates, social workers, or psychiatrists; infantry just couldn’t cut it against a well-armed invasion force. However, the Bakalaponans couldn’t decide what to develop; a cannon-armed tank, an energy weapon-armed one, a missile primary armament, anti-aircraft or artillery? And what about support vehicles? Building all of the above would be time consuming and expensive, but building only one type at a time would leave their army wholly without the benefit of the other types. Decisions, decisions, decisions! The answer? In Bakalaponan style, they would build them ALL...in one vehicle. And the way they did it was...insane.
The Gizmorg has a standardized treadlaying chassis with a set of secondary armaments on it, and a central turret-bay, The turret-bay actually generates a local pocket of warped phase-space that can hold several different turrets ‘parked’ in subspace. Depending on the situation, the crew can punch in a call number and the requested turret materializes in place, swapped out for the previous turret, which is rotated into fold-space.
The system is not without its faults; switching turrets often leads to a short period of vulnerability while the turrets connect to the main chassis systems. The pocket-space generator is also not without its quirks, and doesn’t always deliver the weapons called up. Despite these faults, the Bakalaponan military felt that the versatility outweighed the problems, and ordered the tank into full production to equip the star nation’s armed ground forces.
The Gizmorg has become the primary AFV of the BAS(Bakalaponan Armed Services), outnumbering even the parnoyds’ Safety-Vans. Amazingly enough, it has been made available to affiliates, though only Bakalaponan technicians are allowed to service the pocket-space generator(that, and Promethean phase-techs could probably figure out how to work and service them).

Type: BAFV-0X Gizmorg
Class: Armored Fighting Vehicle
Crew: 6(driver, co-driver, radio/sensor operator, 3 gunner/turret specialists)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 700
Reinforced Crew Compartment 200
Treads(2) 180 each
Main Turret 350
Height: 9 ft
Width: 15 ft
Length: 29 ft
Weight: 110 tons
Cargo: Small space in crew compartment for sidearms, packs, and a few personal possessions.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:(Treads) 90 MPH
Can climb a 25 degree gradient
(Water) Fully Amphibious, and can motor/paddle along on the surface at 15 MPH.

Market Cost: Costs about 200 million credits with all the turrets(though the Bakalaponans give themselves a very heft discount on the production price of these things). Rarely available, mainly due to the reputation about insane Bakalaponan engineering.

Systems of Note:
Basic Robot Features, plus:
*Carousel Music---Goes off whenever the tank rotates in a new turret from phase-space. At least the Bakalaponan military has managed to mute it so it isn’t heard outside the tank.

Weapons Systems:
1) Bow & Tail Glacis-Plate Gun Mounts(2)---These are two small secondary weapons, meant mainly for anti-personnel use, mounted at either end of the tank. They consist of a light pulse laser mounted alongside a light rail gun. The rail gun can also fire special reduced-lethality stun munitions that are charged up by passage through the rail gun’s stator rings.
Range:(Laser) 3,000 ft
(Rail Gun) 4,000 ft
*ShocPlugs 700 ft
Damage:(Laser) 6d6 MD per blast
(Rail Gun) 1d4 MD single rd, 4d6 MD per 20 rd burst.
*ShocPlugs---Fires gel-battery tazer rounds that stick to a target and deliver repeated electrical shocks.
Damage: None against inorganic targets.
Against organic targets, the stun-plug inflicts an electrical shock that does 1d6 SDC/HP per jolt. However, this is STUN damage and not tissue-damage. Being shocked five or more times, or with less than HALF hit points remaining, and failing a roll of 15 or better means falling unconscious for 2d4 melee rounds, and suffering stun penalties for a minute (4 melees) afterwards. Stunned victims are -6 to strike, parry, dodge and reduce Speed and APMs by HALF.
The Stun Plug has enough capacity for 60 charges. Depending on the situation and intended target, the Stun Plug can be set to discharge at rates of 1-5 shocks per melee until they run dry or the target falls unconscious, whichever comes first. If the person regains consciousness with the Stun Plug still attached (and with remaining charges in it), there’s a 60% chance of the Stun Plug re-activating and proceeding to discharge.
Note that even if/when the Plug runs out of electrical charge, it may still be attached and the tracker chip will still be active for up to 4 hours.
Effects from multiple stun-plugs are cumulative.
A full charge discharge (as can occur when tampering) does 4d6 SDC/HP damage. Unlike the stun-shock, this IS tissue damage, and at 8 or less hit points remaining, there’s a 01-60% chance of cardiac arrest and death within 1d4 minutes unless CPR is administered or a successful save versus coma/death is made. Recovery from such will leave the victim feeling stunned (same penalties) for 2d4x10 minutes.
Removing the stun-plug isn’t as easy as one would think; touching the stun-plug with an unprotected hand incurs an electrical shock (1d6 SDC) to the grasper, and risks (75% chance) discharging the entire battery load into the victim. Furthermore, the adhesive head uses a molecular ‘flesh glue’ binder, so simply yanking hard on the plug will take off a swath of skin (1d4 SDC or 1 MD damage, depending on the constitution of the taget). Trying to blast or cut the plug off behind the adhesive head also risks the same chance of discharging the full shock load into the victim (note: the tough plastic plug has 15 SDC). Safe removal of the plug requires either deft work with an insulated scalpel(1d4 SDC damage, no damage on a successful Field Surgery roll) or application of a special solvent (allows for safe removal in 1d4 minutes).
Note that it IS possible to kill targets with this weapon if not used carefully (or used sadistically), if a struck target is knocked unconscious and unable to be helped (being subjected to repeated shocks in the meantime).
Rate of Fire:(Laser) EGCHH
(Rail Gun) EGCHH
Payload:(Laser) Effectively Unlimited
(Rail Gun)2,000 rd drum per cannon

2) Smoke Mortars(2)---Each side of the tank mounts a set of grenade mortars, used for launching smoke/countermeasure munitions.
Range: 500 ft
Damage: Varies by warhead type; equivalent to standard hand grenades.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3,4, or 5(all)
Payload: 5 per launcher(20 total)

3) Main Turret----The Bakalaponans couldn’t decide what they wanted to arm their tanks with, so they decided to try them all.
a) 155mm Autocannon---Hypergolic liquid-propellant projectile cannon, for those occasions when g-cannons lack the range, or just won’t work. Comes complete with autoloader.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage:High Explosive(HE): 2d4x10 MD to 25 ft blast radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT): 4d4x10 MD to 11 ft blast radius
Armor Piercing(AP) 1d4x10+10 MD, no blast radius
APSD: 2d4x10+25 MD, no blast radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: 80 rds internal stowage

b) Ballistic Cannon---155mm long-barreled artillery piece.
Note: Cannot engage targets at ranges of less than 5,000 ft
Range: 110,000 ft (22 miles)
Damage:High Explosive(HE)---- 3d6x10 MD to 50 ft radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT)---- 4d6x10+20 MD to 10 ft radius
Fragmentation---2d6x10 MD to 60 ft radius
Plasma----- 1d6x 40+10 MD to 50 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: 80 rds internal stowage

c) Heavy Mortar ---High-angle ballistic weapon throwing a 60 lb shell
Note: Cannot engage targets at ranges of less than 2,000 ft
Range: 18,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD to 40 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: 120 rds internal stowage

d) Rail Gun ---Rather than use a regular G-cannon, this uses older technology to fire bursts of armor-piercing KEWs.
Range:10 ,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD single rd, 2d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 2,000 rds(100 bursts)

e) Anti-Aircraft Cannon Mount---Two light caliber weapons with superior range and rapid fire, mounted on either side of an advanced fire control system.
Range: 13,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst per single gun.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 800 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonus: +2 to strike airborne targets

f) Heavy Laser ---Copied from a TGE weapon.
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

g) Anti-Aircraft Laser Mount---Two lighter caliber weapons with superior range and rapid fire, mounted on either side of an advanced fire control system.
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast, 2d6x10 MD combined blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, or 5 attacks per melee under automated control
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonus: +3 to strike airborne targets

h) Plasma Cannon/Heat Gun
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 2d6x10 MD to a 10 ft wide area
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

i) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 4d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

j) Disrupter Cannon---Actually a knockoff of a Golgan weapon(a relative of one of the abandoned inmates of the original Bakalapona mental hospital slipped the plans to the BAS).
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD, plus 1/4 that to a 10 ft radius
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

k) Sonic Cannon---For some reason, the gunners love shouting ‘MUD-DWEEB!’ when using this weapon.
Range: 2,500 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast, plus 3d6 MD to a 10 ft diameter area around the blast area
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

l) Ballista---For some reason the BAS staff wanted to include a giant tension-powered weapon(the giant slingshot got voted down, however, in favor of the more realistic ballista).
The Arbalest can be wound back up by an electric winch or, if electrical power is somehow not available, can be manually cranked by the crew(internal cranks inside the crew cabin are provided).
Range: 1,600 ft
Damage:(Varies)(Solid Shot) 1d6x10 SDC
(Vibro-Head/Molecular Dense/Sharp Penetrating Head) 4d6 MD
(Incendiary) 3d6 MD to a 15 ft radius, plus burns, doing 2d4 MD per melee for 1d4 minutes. 80% chance of setting other flammable materials ablaze and spreading the fire.
(Explosive) 1d6x10 MD to a 5 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Single shot. The electric winch can rewind the arms and drawlines fast enough to get off one shot every other melee.
If manually cranked, it requires a combined PS of 35 to crank the weapon up for a rate of fire of once every 12 melees.
Payload: Single shot, but the arbalest module has enough magazine rack space for 40 projectiles.

m) Missile Launcher---Box-style launcher that can hold either 64 mini-missiles OR 32 short range missiles, OR 18 medium range missiles, OR 6 long range missiles

n) Flame Thrower---Giant thermal-chemical sprayer. Man do some of those Bakalaponans love fire.
Range: 250 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per blast, 1d4x10+10 MD per concentrated burst(counts as two attacks). 2d6 MD per melee for 1d4 minutes.
Note: The flamethrower can also be used to cover an area with fluid: up to 10 ft per attack used, this does 2d6 MD.
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 270 blasts per tank

o) Water Cannon---Liquids sprayer. Beware the seltzer spray option.
Range: 500 ft
Damage: Varies by chemical carried;
(Water)None, if carrying water, but human-sized beings struck with the stream but roll versus the ‘cannon’s To Strike roll, or be bowled off their feet. Does 2d6x10 HP to vampires per blast
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 260 blasts per tank

p) Pliers--A giant robotic arm ending in a basic manipulator claw. The arm has 250 MDC and a robotic P.S. of 40. While not fast enough to punch, the manipulator can do 4d6 MD on a crush/snip.

q) Bridge/Pontoon-Layer---Folding/sliding multi-section floatable bridge; 121 ft span. Span has 100 MDC.

r) Engineering Crane---Folding/extendable gantry-crane w/ 15 ton lift/35 ton pull capacity.

s) Hook & Ladder---An extendable ladder with grapples at the top. Good for rescue work or scaling fortifications. 75 ft reach.

t) Buzzsaw----A giant chainsaw or rotating blade on the end of an armature(185 MDC). 3d6 MD, or 2d6x10 MD for a full melee cut.

u) EW Module---Requires the services of a trained EW specialist to operate optimally. Has signal intercept/decrypt capabilities and sensor jamming transmitters.
Decryption Bonuses: +10% to Cryptography Skill
+15% to Radio skill rolls to defeat jamming
Jamming Range: 25 mile radius.
EW Cloaking: -20% to enemy Read Sensory Instruments rolls using ground search radars(NOT optical and thermographic systems). Emissions CAN be detected by HARM(Hostile Anti-Radiation Munitions) sensors.

v) Mine Clearance Rollers----An extendable gantry arm that can place a set of anti-IED/mine rollers approximately 30 ft away from the tank, and used to both ground-scan and detonate mines. Some versions include a short range EMP generator for shorting out the electronics of command- and sensor-detonated mines.

w) Wrecking Ball Gantry---Rather than mount a heavy weapon, the turret can mount a raisable crane armature and wrecking ball.
Range: 30 ft swing
Damage: 4d6 MD on a swing (-1 to strike)
Rate of Fire: ECHH

x) Chain Flail---This fits a powered sprocket armature on the end of an extendable gantry arm, to which multiple lengths of heavy chain are affixed. In action, these beat the ground ahead of the advancing Mauler, and can flay anything that gets too close. Roll to strike; a natural 20(critical strike) means that the victim is _entangled_ briefly in the chains for 1d4 melees, taking DOUBLE damage each melee as they are spun around and smashed about.
Range: Armature can extend 30 ft. Chains have a 10 ft reach
Damage: 1d6 MD per strike
Rate of Fire: Can be left on all melee; anyone caught in the path AUTOMATICALLY gets attacked. Any effort to DELIBERATELY ram someone counts as 1 attack action.

y) Cherry-Picker Assembly-----Basically a 30 ft long robot arm with
an armored basket on the end, which can be equipped with tools, spray
cannon, or remote-control weaponry(can carry a weapons cluster identical to the glacis-plate laser/rail gun combo, or an 8-shot mini-missile launcher). Great for sniping from behind cover.

z) Tunneler Head----A giant armature-mounted excavator/boring shield with 300 MDC. It’s too heavy and awkward to be used to parry shots effectively, but it can be used to cut the tank a tunnel through rock at a rate of 1d4x10 ft per minute, or do 2d4x10 MD per melee to structures like walls. Some versions resemble giant corkscrews(no change to their effectiveness, however).


Mis-call Chart
Every time the Pocket Space Turret system is engaged, there is a 5% chance of a mis-call. This chance rises to 20% if the system is engaged more than 4 times an hour.
Other conditions causing Miscall include:
*Damage inflicted with phase weaponry---If hit with phase weaponry, there is a cumulative 10% chance per every 10 MDC so inflicted that the system will fail when next engaged.
01- 30% System locks; cannot call up a new turret until the system is rebooted; this takes 4d6 minutes.
31-50% Spontaneous Recall----Works just fine, but 2d4 melees later, the system spontaneously pulls up the previous turret.
51-75% Nothing---Nothing appears, leaving an open hole in the hull and armor(-1 to hit with a called shot, but any shot that lands inside automatically does CRITICAL damage). Somebody push the button again quick!
76-95% Giant Mechanical Chicken Head. It pecks for 2d4 MD. As this doesn’t appear on the official list of available weapons systems, and nobody at the factory has seen such a system being installed, nobody knows how the hell it got there.
96-00% System tries to bring up ALL the turrets at once. This effectively destroys the system as all the turrets manifest and bury the rest of the tank in a pile of turrets. This is also the security default against anybody tampering with the pocket-space generator.

Variants:
The Bakalaponans are reportedly working on a hoverjet-propelled upgraded variant of the Gizmorg to address the issues of the design’s mobility issues(compared to other Three Galaxy AFVs). A fully submersible variant equipped with a greater range of aquatic weaponry is also in the works.
Of course, additional turret types are in development all the time. Area of effect forcefield generators, munitions launchers, and ‘brain-curdlers’ are reportedly under development.