#RPGThursday – Heavy Hover Tank Design for #CepheusEngine RPG

I absolutely love David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers series of military science fiction stories. I was so excited when Mongoose Publishing rolled out a Hammer’s Slammers supplement for Mongoose Traveller First Edition (MgT1E). Unfortunately, Mongoose did a very amateur job, demonstrating they really don’t understand the military and leaving us consumers with a poor product. Mongoose claimed that all the vehicles were created with the Traveller Vehicle Creation System and were supposed to be fully compatible with every other Traveller books. NOT SO!

The Cepheus Engine Vehicle Design System is Cepheus Engine RPG successor to The Vehicle Handbook for MgT1E. I have had the CEVDS for a while now and decided to try to recreate something close to a Slammer’s hover tank.

TL-12 Heavy Plasma Hover Tank

Using a closed 5-ton chassis (3 Hull, 3 Structure), Armor 25, the Heavy Plasma Hover Tank is a main battle tank. It has the Hostile Environmental Protections System. It carries a Fusion power plant, Code K, and a hover propulsion system, Code K, giving it a top speed of 150kph, a cruising speed of 112 kph, and an Agility DM of +1. Three kiloliters of hydrogen support the power plant for 1 week of use. This vehicle is equipped with the Advanced Vehicle Control System, Class II Laser Comms (LOS or 50 km), Basic Military Sensors (-2), and a Model 2 computer. There is a Basic Cockpit for the Driver and a Standard Seat for the Gunner/Tank Commander. The vehicle has one weapon points. A large, heavy turret carries a TL-12 Rapid Fire Plasma Gun. Cargo capacity is 7 spaces. The chassis is armored with Superdense (x5). It also mounts an Explosive Belt. The vehicle costs 690.12 KCr and takes 1,125 hours or 47 days to build.

Total time to create this design was about 30 minutes. This is still a lot more time that a GM wants to take to create a vehicle at the table, but fine for a prep session. The design is not a Slammer’s blower tank – it doesn’t have a powergun nor the armor to match. But it was a good exercise of the CEVDS and an encouraging start to designing vehicles for Cepheus Engine RPG adventuring.