[WWII] Amphibious battlesuit (Generic)

[copeab]

Amphibious Battlesuit
Copyright 2011 by Brandon Cope

The amphibious battlesuit was designed primarily for underwater demolition teams. The AB normally carries up to 60 lbs of explosives, such as fifteen limpet mines or two satchel charges, but is otherwise unarmed. Some frogmen will carry a pistol or SMG (or even hand grenades) in the body's watertight cargo space as a latch ditch defense. However, with the thin armor, enemy soldiers with rifles can dispatch a frogman in an AB with little difficulty above water.

Despite the limitations of arms and armor, one amphibious battlesuit platoon was used as assault troops against a seaside installation. While the objective was destroyed, only six of the assault troops made it out. One unplanned use, though, for which the AB has proved useful is the underwater salvage role, although dive belts are often worn to prevent the AB from floating.

With Body ST 14, the amphibious battlesuit punches for 1d cr and swings for 2d. The AB uses 0.02 gallons of diesel per hour at routine usage. Range is 125 miles at 6 mph on land. The batteries last 9.26 hours at routine use.

Subassemblies: Sealed Medium Scout Suit +1.
Powertrain: 0.6-kW gas engine with 0.59-kW legged transmission and 0.59 screw propeller and 0.5-gallon self-sealing fuel tank; 2,000-kWs batteries
Occupancy: 1 BS body (96-120 lb pilot) Cargo: 0.75 Body, 0.4 Head.

Armor
All: 3/6

Equipment
Body: 4.8 hour limited life support. Arms: ST 14 waldo motors. Head: Small radio transmitter and receiver.

Statistics
Size: 2.5'x2.5'x7'
Payload : 0.09 tons
Lwt: 0.42 tons
Volume: 2.7
Maint.: 104 hours
Price: $3,700

HT: 9
HP: 18 Body, 8 each Arm,8 each Leg, 6 Head.

gSpeed: 9
gAccel: 4
gDecel: 20
gMR: 2.5
gSR: 1
Very Low Ground Pressure. Full Off-Road Speed.

uSpeed: 2.8
uAccel: 0.1
uDecel: 10
uMR: 0.25
uSR: 1
Crush Depth: 25 yards.
Draft: 9.5'.
Flotation Rating: 0.42 tons

Design Notes
All the mecha rules from W:WW were used, except for the “cheap” transmission cost from the core book (see Variants for an “expensive” transmission). An exception is gAccel, which uses the “kick start” rule from VE2. The design gAccel, which was used for gSpeed determination was 1 (for mecha with a top speed under 30 mph, the “kick start” acceleration is: 4 x top speed/ speed factor (p.W146)).

Legged transmissions under 5 kW weigh 160 lbs times kW. Diesel engines under 5 kW weigh 20 lbs per kW. Body ST is (Leg kW – weight in tons) x 80, with a minimum of HP/2 and a maximum of HPx2.

Volume of the entire battlesuit (not just the body) was used to calculate flotation rating. Ninty more pounds of explosives could be carried, but that would reduce Body ST to 10 until dropped or emplaced.

Variants
With an "expensive" transmission, cost becomes $5,400 and Maint 86.