Digital World Combat Vehicles

[Mani4c]

What is a Combat Vehicle?:

For the purposes of this thread, a Combat Vehicle is classified as any vehicle separate from an avatar's personal speeder designed for the express purpose of providing vehicle support in a combat situation. These vehicles can be either ground, water, or aerial craft.

Vehicle Types:

There are several types of craft, I will separate them into three Categories to start: Ground, Water, or Air. These can then be divides into various classes and/or groups based on what the vehicle type's function is.

GROUND:

APCs: An APC(Armored Personnel Carrier) is primarily used to ferry troops into and out of a combat zone safely, they come in many shapes and sizes, but there are several defining traits among them. ((IMPORTANT: Vehicles are not limited to these traits alone! These are merely things that ALL examples of this specific class of vehicle posses. Specific things like Countermeasures, the exact type of weapon or how much armor is on a model of vehicle varies from model to model. So don't limit yourself one what you can do, these guidelines are to make things easier and provide some basic rules, not to restrict you on your idea! This goes for all models of vehicle from ground to water.))

1:An APC is usually Armored, while this armor is not as thick as the armor on a tank, it is far superior to the plating found on most standard vehicles, and it allows it to move faster than a more heavily armored vehicle. This plating is normally capable of resisting standard small-arms fire and small explosives (I.E. hand grenades.).

2: An APC is usually armed with light anti Infantry weapons. This can range from large caliber automatic cannons, which are essentially small, faster firing tank guns. to light/heavy machine guns, which have an incredible rate of fire, but anything tougher than a foot soldier or an unarmored vehicle will be able to shrug off most or all damage dealt by these weapons.

3: APC's carry more than just the crew of the vehicle, they can carry anywhere from 5-15 soldiers, depending on the armor and gear that the soldiers are equipped with. This is the primary cargo of an APC, and as such the passenger compartment is usually the most heavily armored portion of the APC, aside from the crew compartment.

Tanks: Tanks in the digital world function in much the same manner as a tank in the physical world would, They are heavily armed and armored combat vehicles designed to destroy structures and vehicles that normal Infantry cannot. They also act as support for ground troops, with their thick armor allowing them to act as mobile cover against small arms or machine gun emplacements. The main traits of a Tank are as follows:

1: The primary armament on a tank is normally a heavy turreted cannon. This allows it to fire in 360 degrees, as well as allowing it to elevate and hit targets above it. This cannon is slow firing but is a death sentence to any unarmored vehicle or infrantry hit by it. Other Weapons mounted on tank turrets en lieu of a heavy cannon are:

• Missile Pods: this allows a Tank to function as an anti-air emplacement. The missiles are usually laser or thermally guided, and can be fired at buildings or at vehicles if needed. 
  
  

• Heavy Beam Turret: This weapon is primarily used as a heavy anti-infantry tool. The intense energy output of the beam turret's laser allows it to burn through anything lighter than an APC's armor plating with little trouble, and even then, given enough time the beam can melt through even tank armor. These Turrets require an extensive coolant system to function for an extended period, which has kept the weapons from being effectively shrunken down to a hand held size without a tremendous power drop.
  

2: A Tank is also usually mounted with a coaxial machine-gun or some other rapid fire weapon to keep infantry from boarding the tank and dropping an explosive inside of it. This can include rapid fire grenade launchers(an example of a current day model of this weapon is the Mark-19 used by NATO military forces.) or a small scale beam turret, these smaller versions of the anti-infantry weapon mounted on some tank models is much weaker, unable to pierce even unarmored vehicles without needing time to burn through their chassis, but personal shielding and armor suits are useless against this weapon.

However, beam turrets generate a tremendous amount of heat, and without the integrated cooling units that allow the larger turreted versions of the weapon to function for an extended period of time, they can only be fired in sweeping bursts if they wish to be used effectively. Most tank units that utilize these weapons arrange themselves in large "Firing Squads" with each tank's beam turret arc overlapping with the ones beside it, this eliminates any blind spots in the turrets firing arc and allows the beams to cool while the others keep the enemy at bay.
 
3: Finally, Tanks are, like in the real world, covered in heavy armor. The exact amount varies from model to model, but Tanks are, as a rule, the most heavily armored ground vehicle around at this point in time, smaller amounts of armor are usually compensated by some kind of auxilliary protection, succh as a deployable barrier or an energy shield to supplement the lighter physical armor.
    

[Mani4c]

AIR: Aircraft are among the most numerous units in most modern armies, pounding the enemy to dust beneath a seemingly endless barrage of firepower. As a result of the widespread adoption of Aircraft in the digital world, the amount of different classes of craft are staggering. From gargantuan Dreadnoughts with enough firepower to level a city and enough troops within it's belly to conquer whatever is left afterwards, to flying drones no bigger than an average two person speeder.

Ship Classes: 

Frigates: Frigates are the smallest and most nimble of the capital ship classes, with no known Frigate Exceeding 50 meters(164 feet) in length, and with the smallest reaching only 25 meters(82 feet) and as such are usually used as scout and reconnaissance craft, other uses include search and rescue and as "Hunter Killers", frigates that function in this last capacity hunt in packs of 4-6 and use their higher agility and speed to strafe enemy craft. When a Hunter Killer pack locates it's target, they usually cripple the ship in order to make for an easy kill, striking the core of the ship to disable it's weapons before gutting it's engines to bring it down.

Frigates are also occasionally used as heavy air support, streaking over enemy forces and bombarding them with missiles and laser fire, the ship-to-ship grade weapons are even more powerful than the armaments found on most tank craft, and the heat from the barrage is often enough to turn the ground in the strike zone to glass.

The weapons one a Frigate are incredibly powerful compared to most ground craft, most frigates carry a stock of Seeker Torpedoes, powerful explosives that once locked onto a target, can only be shaken by either detonating them before they strike, or by deploying a tactical EMP that shorts out their engines and guidance systems. Another standard weapon found on most Frigates is an octet of powerful laser cannons. These lasers are cooled by a liquid lithium coolant system, allowing them to fire for long periods of time without overheating. The damage dealt by these cannons is 10 times as damaging as the output delivered by a tank mounted cannon, a drawback however is firing rate, there is a lull of about 3 seconds in between salvos, allowing time for the laser to warm up and gather power before firing.


Cruisers: Cruisers are the main combatant in most large scale naval battles, with the largest known frigate, the German NPD's Blitzkrieg reaching a length of 500 meters in length (~1640.5 feet), However, most Cruisers do not exceed any more than 350 meters in length(1148 feet).

This size is due in part to the massive main gun found on every Cruiser, a spinal mounted Mass Accelerator, which fires a solid slug of data the size of an american football at a speed of Mach 12. The amount of force in this single projectile is enough to obliterate anything but another cruiser or a dreadnought in a single shot. Cruisers pack the remaining portions of their hull with autocannons that are normally used to destroy incoming ships or missiles, but can easily become an aerial howitzer, to devastating effect.

Cruisers are adorned with incredibly thick armor, which is impervious to most forms of ground based weaponry, there are only two known things that can stand up to a cruiser in a one on one fight, another cruiser, or a dreadnought.


Dreadnoughts: Dreadnoughts are the most powerful capital ship ever made, a flying fortress the size of a small city, and with the firepower to match. With a power draw so high that even most countries only posses a single dreadnought, if a dreadnought darkens an enemy's skies, than chances are good that everything within a 3 mile radius is going to vanish from the face of cyber earth.

Dreadnoughts are gargantuan in scale, with the largest Dreadnought ever recorded, the Japanese Government's Kobayashi Maru reaching an astounding 1.19 Kilometer's long(~0.7 miles), most dreadnoughts are not much smaller, averaging out at 800 meters (~0.5 miles) long.

Dreadnoughts are incredibly well armed, with over 1500 point defense cannons spread along it's length, these cannons are supplemented by missile pods, with each pod possessing 50 rockets. these point defense weapons can also be calibrated to function as artillery, the effect of these weapons on enemy ground forces is devastating. For ship to ship combat, Dreadnoughts posses a massive spinal mounted Mass driver, which possesses enough destructive power to wipe part of a city off the map with a single shot, for this reason, Dreadnoughts are forbidden from using their main guns as support for ground troops, as the "Kill-Zone" of the round's impact is often times large enough to delete large swaths of friendly troops as well as the enemy.
 
Carriers: Carriers are about the size of a dreadnought, but their function is incredibly different. Whereas a Dreadnought is used to wipe out an enemy flotilla with extreme prejudice, Carriers are used to deliver ground troops and fighter craft to a combat zone.

Carriers are not heavily armed, possessing only a suite of point defense laser weapons and de-rez cannons, this lack of heavy firepower is made up by it's armor, which is as thick as a Dreadnought's. Carriers can carry up to two divisions of troops(Maximum of 40,000 troops.) and 20 squadrons (~200 fighters)

[Mani4c]

CAPITAL SHIP: DURENDAL

Vehicle Type: Aircraft

Ship Class: Frigate

Length: 115 meters (377 feet)

Crew: 90

History: The NY-NPD Frigate Durendal was originally conceived as a flying precinct, with a large suite of sensors and the ability to be anywhere within Cyber City within minutes at most, it was seen as possibly the most valuable piece of equipment that the NPD had ever produced. Unfortunately, the ship racked up a massive tally when it came to cost, many of the ship's countermeasures were new and untested, and simply MAKING them was a massive drain on resources.

Despite the massive drain on income and manpower, the Durendal's frame, engines, and most of it's subsystems were completed before the project was scrapped due to costs. Commissioner Burns, not wanting to waste such a massive investment, mothballed the craft instead of breaking down it's code. The Doctor eventually learned about the craft, and petitioned to have it brought into service so he could finish it using his military programming skills. While the Request was denied due to the multitude of problems facing the NY-NPD at the time, it seems that the massive viral attack spearheaded by Zeus has pushed Commissioner Burns into recommissioning the ship.

Armaments: The Durendal's weapons are installed, locked into place and ready for use...once their firmware is installed.

Westinghouse M-115 Rapid Charge Laser Cannons(x6): These are the Durendal's light weaponry, the Westinghouse M-115 rapid charge laser system is well suited for hit and run attacks. While they aren't as damaging as other, higher draw laser weaponry systems, they need very little time to charge, and the heat buildup is substantially lower. These weapons deal a small amount of damage and require a 1 post cool down in between salvos if all lasers are fired at the same time. (Note: this damage calculation is for CAPITAL SHIPS ONLY, ground vehicles and infantry will take FAR more damage due to thinner armor.)

General Dynamics Mark 5 Light Rail Cannons(x2): The main weapon of the Durendal is a pair of light rail cannons, one mounted on each side of the ship's stern, slightly forward of it's four thrusters. These Cannons are easily capable of crippling or destroying another frigate, and even dealing a decent amount of damage against a cruiser class ship. Unfortunately, the power draw for these weapons means that aside from the Durendal's lasers and anti-missile defenses, they ship is incapable of mounting any more weaponry. Petitions from The Doctor and Noxus to create an improved power core for more weapons have already been filed.

EMP generator: The Durendal possesses an Electromagnetic Pulse generator to disable enemy missiles, this pulse can also be used as close range to disable a vehicle's engine. The EMP has a maximum radius of 500 feet, and requires a 3 turn cool down before it can be used again.

[Mani4c]

Personal Speeder: Rand

Vehicle Type: Aircraft

Ship Class: Gunship

Dimensions: 10 meters long (approximately 32 feet long) 7 meters wide (approximately 23 feet wide)

Crew: 4 (1 Pilot: Sylux, 3 Crewmembers)

History: A prototype gunship model designed by the US military, the Delano-Class model was intended to be closer to a dropship than a fighter, posessing heavier armor than most, as well as heavier weaponry, the Delano-Class gunship was meant to drop off a small team of special forces members before providing heavy air support during their mission.

Unfortunately, the theft of the data and destruction of any valid prototypes by Brigadier's forces led to the project being abandoned. This model, named the Rand by Sylux, is the only surviving example of this aircraft, which has been replaced by the lighter, but more nimble Hermes class dropship.

Armament: 

Combat - Rotary Auto-Cannons(x6): These guns are the Rand's main weapons, mounted three on each side of it's cockpit. The guns are standard, military grade vehicle Rotary guns, which deal a moderate amount of damage per 60 round burst to vehicles and an extreme amount to unarmored infantry (armor program damage reductions apply to these weapons as well.)

Combat - Multi-Purpose Rockets (3 Launchers total): These rockets are capable of Guided or unguided firing, blasting targets in barrages of 6 rockets with every attack. The warheads are simple, high explosive yield, breaching armor and dealing a devastating amount of damage to infantry while dealing a large amount of damage to enemy vehicles.