Macross tank info?

[Sgt Anjay]

No, seriously, does anyone have anything on this thing? Design info, data, lineart, something?

[glitterboy2098]

i'd actually asked Seto that a few months back, and the answer i'd gotten at the time was basically "nothing in the normal sources"
if there is information out there, either it is in some less well known publication, or its in some unreleased notes.

personally i suspect that since it got all of a few seconds of screen time, and that only to be slagged and then fried, it probably didn't have much if any development info. probably just a case of "we have a scene with a tank being destroyed, go draw one".

personally, until the RPG says otherwise, i'm using my own take on it, where it is a light tank to replace the M551 Sheridan, which in real life was being retired around the same time the Global war started up in Robotech. so i cribbed a few things from the various programs to replace the M551. since the one we saw in show didn't look to have a traditional cannon, and the gun/missile system of the M551 was one reason for it being phased out, i decided the original would use a cannon, and there would be a later upgrade model using a Particle Beam weapon. said later model supposed to represent the one we saw in the scene.

[jaymz]

Honestly, considering when the show was made it is likely supposed to be a quickly drawn sherridan

[Seto Kaiba]

No, seriously, does anyone have anything on this thing? Design info, data, lineart, something?

i'd actually asked Seto that a few months back, and the answer i'd gotten at the time was basically "nothing in the normal sources"
if there is information out there, either it is in some less well known publication, or its in some unreleased notes.

That remains the case, sadly... I've been through my (significant) library of Macross publications, and the only picture I've come across of that tank is a screen capture from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series that appeared on one of the misc. vehicles mechanic sheets in the official Macross encyclopedia Macross Chronicle. It looks, for all the world, to have been a throwaway design that was not part of the series model sheets that were given to all the various studios that animated the series. Barring the emergence of new art in Macross the First, I expect that we'll probably never find any line art or specs for it.

personally i suspect that since it got all of a few seconds of screen time, and that only to be slagged and then fried, it probably didn't have much if any development info. probably just a case of "we have a scene with a tank being destroyed, go draw one".

That would be my interpretation as well.

[ArmySGT.]

Looking at the picture this tank has a driver and a bow machine gun position, so a rear engine/transmission.

Tank commander, gunner loader, or Tank commander/gunner, loader, or Tank commander, gunner/loader? Depends really so it can have 5 / 4/ 3 crew member if the loader and the MG bow gunner are later deleted.

Also noted no roof mounted AA MG or roof mounted loaders MG. What appears to be gunners sight for the main gun has the armored shutters open. Anyone's guess as to the box mounted to the turret side, could be smoke, ATGM, or stores....

Looks like a conversion of an M48 series.

Correction going to go with M24 Chaffee. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m24.htm

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

I for one hope the Macross and MOSPEADA tanks show up in the Tactics game eventually. I can't remember, but I don't think either of them are even listed in the 2E RPG....

[glitterboy2098]

macross tank, no. only the APC and those misc support and civilian vehicles.
southern cross has the APC, the command vehicle, the MLRS vehicle, and the hovertruck.

[taalismn]

Hmmmm.....small size judging by the scale of the people on it...maybe the size of an old Sheridan light tank? A littler bigger than the Alvis Scorpion? that would make it airportable even by pre-Tunny airlifters, and good for rapid-response forces.
That barrel looks rather squarish from this angle...maybe a housing for a laser weapon?
Using derived technology from the VFs' and Gladiators' laser head weapons might make for a decent low-intensity weapon still capable of dealing with most SDC-level threads. With variable power, the crew could dial the weapon's beam-strength as necessary(especially if it's drawing from a conventionally-powered battery system).

Also looks like side-mounted grenade or missile launcher, and maybe a bow-mounted light weapon.


That's my take on it before reading glitterboy2098's version.

[Seto Kaiba]

That barrel looks rather squarish from this angle...maybe a housing for a laser weapon?
Using derived technology from the VFs' and Gladiators' laser head weapons might make for a decent low-intensity weapon still capable of dealing with most SDC-level threads.

My guess for its equipment, based on the available data for similar AFVs in Macross's universe(s), would be that that's likely a tank design that was rolled out by Viggers* or Chrauler* during the Unification Wars (1999-2008). Depending on its date of development, it probably uses a hydrogen gas turbine instead of a petroleum-multifuel turbine. It's hard to be sure, but my guess would be that it's probably armed with a rapid-fire cannon similar to those on its successors... likely firing the latest high-explosive anti-ECA shells. The square housing around the barrel might be reinforcement, to cope with the much greater power behind HEACA shells.

In theory, it could be a housing for a (comparatively) low-powered laser cannon like the ROV-15 used on the VF-0 Phoenix flight test units. That weapon was able to operate off the excess power from an overtuned conventional turbine, through the use of a capacitor recharging system. Its power and fire rate were much lower than those of laser weapons installed aboard combat-ready units like the Tomahawk or Valkyrie, but it's still very definitely a mega-damage weapon. I wouldn't call the lasers on the VF-1 or destroids low-intensity though... in the OSM, those are megawatt-scale laser weapons with fire rates of a hundred discharges a second. They're a good deal nastier than a modern main battle tank's cannon.

Non-infringing "bland name" versions of real-life contractors Vickers and Chrysler, most companies listed in specs from the original series are like this.

[Jefffar]

I believe that is what the old RPG called the Tornado.

[taalismn]

[. I wouldn't call the lasers on the VF-1 or destroids low-intensity though... in the OSM, those are megawatt-scale laser weapons with fire rates of a hundred discharges a second. They're a good deal nastier than a modern main battle tank's cannon.
]

Still, then, a good choice for a light tank weapon(compared to pre-Visitor weapons)

[ShadowLogan]

I believe that is what the old RPG called the Tornado.

I don't think the old RPG every really connected the Tornado or the Dark Knight to specific vehicles in the show with line art.

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

I believe that is what the old RPG called the Tornado.

I don't think the old RPG every really connected the Tornado or the Dark Knight to specific vehicles in the show with line art.

I dunno, IIRC the Tornado had a recoilless rifle as its main gun and the Macross tank from that scene seems to be a good candidate......

[drewkitty ~..~]

No, seriously, does anyone have anything on this thing? Design info, data, lineart, something?

Which episode is that from?

I believe that is what the old RPG called the Tornado.

Which 1st ed book do you think it is in?

[Jefffar]

RDF Manual and Invid Invasion

[Seto Kaiba]

Which episode is that from?

Macross: "Love Drifts Away"
Robotech: "Force of Arms"

[ArmySGT.]

It is neither tank from the RPG based upon the in game descriptions.