Ares-class Heavy Tank
(Ares-class Heavy Tanks of the Audacian 56th Regiment under General Hans Trutzig lining up for inspection after field maneuvers)
Name/Type: Ares-class Heavy Tank
Designer/Manufacturer: Contegorian Confederation
Combat Role: Main Battle Tank
Crew: 5 + 2 LE Repair Droids
Length: 20 Meters
Propulsion: Tracked.
Speed: 50 Kph (25 Kph cruise speed).
Shield Rating: 400 SBD
Hull Rating: 400 RU
Weapons: 2 150mm Railguns, 4 ¾-inch missile pods.
Cargo Capacity: 450 Kg.
Confederation armored forces up till now have consisted of Sentinel Tanks and outdated vehicles incorporated from planetary defence forces when the planets joined the Confederation. These armored forces were successful in fighting off those forces of minor powers. At Valinor, the Sentinel Tanks were pitted up against Imperial tanks. It was found that while the multi-purpose tanks excelled at providing heavy fire support and anti-aircraft fire, they were not very effective in close combat with other tanks; as previously predicted by the Sentinel’s design team.
Hans Trutzig spearheaded an effort to rectify this glaring weakness within the Confederation ground forces. The Audacian general began a program to produce a heavy tank which would allow Confederation forces to directly confront heavy vehicles like the AT-AT in combat. In this mindset, the resulting Ares-class Heavy Tank was designed to confront the AT-AT. Like its designed opponent, the Ares Tank sports very heavy defenses and a powerful armament at the cost of low speed. At the time of its completion, the Ares was the most powerful tank known to Confederation Security and Intelligence Service.
The Ares was designed for long-range operations in harsh environments, and it is a prevalent design theme within the tank. It is a fully sealed environment, with its own air supply, which allows the tank to operate in vacuum environments like those of asteroids and some moons, or work in areas with toxic or unbreathable air. It sports thick, hexagonal armor which not only protect it from enemy weapons, but from environmental hazards such as falling rocks, or if deployed on Endor, Ewoks.
The primary advantage of the Ares is its heavy defences. It utilizes two of the shielding systems found on the Sentinel Tank to get the same thickness of shielding as on the medium tank. Its heavy armor is of the same chemical composition and thickness as the AT-AT with the exception of including photo-reactive cells like the Leopard for its active camouflage system. Like its designed opponent, the Are’s armor is virtually impervious to ordinary blasters, both infantry and vehicular, and lighter laser cannons. Previously, electric reactive armor was used to great effect on Confederate warships. However, the demands of ground warfare are considerably different than those of space. When a weapon hits electric reactive armor, it is prematurely detonated. On a ground vehicle, the occupants would still suffer from heat and some blast damage, and more dire, friendly soft units nearby would suffer from the premature detonation. Thus, Non-energetic Reactive armor was devised. It operates similarly to electric reactive armour, but without the electrical charging. Two durasteel plates sandwich an inert liner, usually synthetic rubber. When struck by a shaped charge's metal jet, some of the impact energy is dissipated into the inert liner layer, and the resulting high pressure causes a localized bending or bulging of the plates in the area of the impact. As the plates bulge, the point of jet impact shifts with the plate bulging, increasing the effective thickness of the armour. Because this armor does not prematurely detonate the weapon, it is safer for nearby infantry. Because of this innovation, the Ares is capable of withstanding some, but not all, direct hits from missiles, shells, and similar weapons even without its shields up.
The primary weapons are the two turreted 150mm railguns; both of which were designed and constructed with the long Confederate experience with the similar weapons. Ares tanks can fire a myriad of shells, many whose core warheads are those used on the Sentinel’s missiles, but the main general purpose projectile is a ferrocarbon shell filled with highly-pressurized, frozen slivers of hydrogen. The firing process superheats the hydrogen into a plasma state. When the plasma hits the enemy target, its high heat and violent reaction with common elements incurs damage similar to that of the dual defence cannons of the Confederate Navy. An alternative shell, called the Polemos, is also carried. The Polemos consists of a Quadanrium Carbide shell which is completely solid for its first half for penetration. Directly after that is a shaped proton charge which detonates when the shell losses its momentum. The subsequent detonation pierces through even the heaviest armor at the cost of the area of effect. On the sides of the turrets are the rocket pods, which can fire several sets of Kelvarex Consolidated Arms MM9 mini concussion rockets (the same type of rocket employed by Boba Fett on his left wrist). These are generally used on soft targets or for destroying airborne projectiles such as enemy missiles.
Part of the tank’s protection lies in not being able to be detected as easily. To this end, it uses what is basically an enlarged Audio Performance Inc. No-Show, which uses electromagnetic sheathing to conceal energy emissions including heat and sonic vibrations. When this system is engaged, the tank losses its own scanning abilities, making its use a double-edged sword. A sophisticated network of sensors, including infra-red, magnetic spectrums,full-spectrum transcievers, and Novaless Soni-Optics Target Imager allow the tank to operate unfettered in most conditions. These sensors also used to detect and target enemy vehicles, personnel, and weapons. Adding to these capabilities, each Ares carries a squad of Mark IV Sentry Remotes for sentry, patrol, and targeting purposes. Along with those droids are two LE Repair Droids for maintenance and repair purposes. Operation of the tank requires security codes and the completion of the standard rank cylinder procedure from each crewmember unless overrode by the audio command code of the tank’s commander or his/her superiors. Initially, Ares-class tanks will only be fielded by elite Confederate army units, notably Trutzig’s own elite Audacian 56th Regiment.
Weaknesses: The most glaring weakness of the vehicle is its speed, in which several other heavy tanks, such as the Imperial Repulsortank 1-H, are literally 6 times faster than it. Thus, it is not especially difficult to outmaneuver or simply bypass the tanks. The lack of close-range anti-personnel weapons sometimes makes it prone to infantry assaults.
Test Thread: Ares-class Heavy Tank Test Thread