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Mar 24th Kraken – heavy quadruped amphibious walker

Designed to defend static emplacements or settlements from land, sea, or air units, these massive four-legged combat walkers have a heavily armored hull that is streamlined for underwater movement. This allows them to also serve as fire-support platforms assisting amphibious assaults, or to attack boats and naval forces from the darkness of the sea.

The primary armament of the Kraken is an immense 35 mm mass driver. Mounted in a turret and fired from the walker’s stable four-legged chassis this mass driver has a range of 25 kilometers and is capable of destroying almost any target smaller than an armored spaceship.

For attacking targets while under the water, the Kraken uses a “blue-green” laser cannon that is wavelength-tuned for optimal sub-marine range in a small chin turret, typically operated by the Kraken’s commander.

Finally, to strike airborne targets, they mount an anti-aircraft TAC missile with a range of 50 kilometers. On an external hard point, it can instead carry an anti-armor or anti-personnel TAC missile.

For more information on this mech’s extensive use on planet Eden in the Skein Reach, see this page.

Kraken	heavy quadruped amphibious walker, designed for defense against amphibious forces
Cost	5,817,000 Cr.
TL	10
Skill	Drive (walker)
Agility	0 (-1 aquatic)
Speed	49 kph (49 kph aquatic)
Range	300 km (400 km aquatic)
Crew	1 commander, 1 pilot, 1 gunner
Cargo	none
Open	no
Hull	16
Structure	17
Armor	40, (60 front, 40 right, 40 left, 20 rear, 40 top, 40 bottom, 60 turret front, 40 turret side, 20 turret rear)
Shipping Size	75 tons
Height	24.5 meters
Weapons	large turret 35mm rail gun (12d6 super-AP, very distant range) + 200 rounds
	small turret blue-green laser cannon (7d6, very long range) and advanced support weapon (4d6 SAP, rifle range) + 1,000 rounds
	hard point anti-air light TAC missile (9d6, extreme range)
Extras	AFV
	2 extra legs (+1 DM on rough terrain, +1 to hit)
	aquatic drive
	advanced controls (+1 agility)
	standard navigation (+2 DM)
	advanced sensors (+2, very distant range)
	standard underwater sensors (+2, very long range)
	TL 8 encrypted communications
	TL 10 laser anti-missile system
	reduced speed (%40)
	long-term life support (90 days)

A note on these designs

These three mechs were built using the rules in the Mongoose Traveller Vehicle Handbook (VH). While choosing weaponry I couldn’t help noticing that the statistics listed for weapons in the Vehicle Handbook do not all agree with the statistics for weapons in the Mongoose Central Supply Catalog (CSC).

Mainly the difference is in ranges, but some weapons differ in size as well. For example gatling lasers are listed as firing up to 25 km in the CSC but only 5 km in the VH. Contrast to the 35mm rail gun which fires 4 km in the CSC and 25 km in the VH.

As the Vehicle Handbook was published after the Central Supply Catalog, I have designed these walkers using the statistics from the more recent supplement. It also has the range tables for these weapons, so I feel is is more authoritative.

Keep watching Claw/Claw/Bite for more combat walkers – we have another half dozen designs in the works, and a scenario to use them in your home game on the way!

Posted in Equipment, Traveller and tagged mech by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.