Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 22:35:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: Leonard Balsera <a027280t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us>
Subject: More designs...and good news...
To: All <jae+sw-rpg@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU>
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Okay, this is a project I just finished. You see, I needed an excuse to 
get Landon Darkwood back into an adventuring life, so I had him looking 
to buy a new vehicle for his collection. He didn't find anything on the 
open market that he liked except for the KAAC Freerunner. The only 
problems were that you need five people to man the Freerunner and he 
can't spare those people all the time. So, he entered into a limited 
contract with Sienar/Santhe Technologies to do research and development 
on a new type of combat speeder. Unfortunately, Landon got very little 
funding for the project, and ended up spending over 400,000 credits 
before it was done. The result was a vehicle that didn't fulfill any of 
the goals Landon had set for it. When it was released to the open market, 
no one bought it. Landon and Sienar/Santhe took incredible losses on the 
things. This wasn't really due to any deficiency in the speeder, it just 
wasn't what it was supposed to be. So, Landon is now poorer (notice I 
didn't say poor), and is trying to make money again, any way he can. 
Fortunately, with the recent sightings of the Sovereign-class Super Star 
Destroyer, he has been reunited with Adol Larynth and Maranda, and the 
party is back together once more. So, without further ado, here is my 
newest plot device.

New Vehicles

LIGHT SPEEDER TANK
Craft: Sienar/Santhe/Darkwood Technologies Firestar Light Speeder Tank
Type: Light repulsorlift combat vehicle
Scale: Speeder
Length: long enough to fit everything in the stats
Skill: Repulsorlift operation
Crew: 1, gunners: 1 (optional)
Crew Skill: varies tremendously
Cargo Capacity: 10 kilograms
Cover: Full
Altitude Range: Ground level-2 meters; cannot exceed flight ceiling
Cost: 30,000 credits (new); 19,500 (used)
Maneuverability: 2D
Move: 225; 650 kmh
Body Strength: 2D+1
Shields: 1D
Weapons:
  Medium Repeating Blaster
    Fire Arc: Left/Front/Right (can be turned 1 fire arc per round)
    Crew: 1 (gunner); can be fixed to front and fired by pilot at -1D FC
    Skill: Vehicle Blasters
    Fire Control: 2D
    Range: 50-400m/900m/2km
    Damage: 4D+2
  Anti-Infantry Medium Blaster Cannon (can be fire-linked)
    Fire Arc: Front
    Crew: 1 (pilot)
    Skill: Vehicle Blasters
    Fire Control: 2D
    Range: 50-300m/800m/1.5km
    Damage: 4D (5D fire-linked)
  Light Fragmentation Grenade Launcher
    Fire Arc: Left/Front/Right (can be turned 1 fire arc per round)
    Crew: 1 (gunner); can be fixed to front and fired by pilot at -1D FC
    Scale: Character
    Skill: Missile Weapons
    Fire Control: 3D
    Range: 25-200/400/600
    Blast Radius: 0-2m/4m/6m/10m
    Damage: 5D/4D/3D/2D 

The Light Speeder Tank is an attempt to create a weapons platform to match the
 speed of the Slayn & Korpil V-wing airspeeder, the durability of the KAAC 
Freerunner, and the power of a tank droid. Unfortunately, none of these goals 
were accomplished. The armaments of this speeder, far exceeding that of any 
normal speeder of the same size, needed power generators that were too large 
to fit with the original hull design. Excess hull plating was removed, 
lowering the body strength of the vessel. The decision to add an energy shield
 took most of the free cargo space to implement. The weapons systems, although
 numerous, are not as singularly powerful as those on a Republic Combat 
Airspeeder. While it did manage to beat out the Freerunner for speed, it fell 
in maneuverability under the V-wing. The area in which the Speeder Tank did 
succeed was crew efficiency. In a Freerunner, you need 2 pilots and three 
gunners to be at full operating status. If you had no gunners, there were no 
weapons links to the cockpit. If you were missing a co-pilot, maneuverability 
effectively dropped. Five people were needed at all times to pilot the thing. 
Not so with the Firestar. If necessary, all weapon systems can be fixed to the
 pilot's control, and even then, only one gunner is needed to completely 
operate all of the auxiliary weapons. The cost of the Firestar is half that of
 a KAAC Freerunner, but slightly higher than that of a military airspeeder. 
Despite this, not many have been sold. Rumor has it that New Republic Field 
Captain Landon Darkwood, co-designer, has a good number of Firestars 
stockpiled somewhere. Darkwood himself denies such claims. 

Designer's Notes: Basically, this is the intermediate weapon for those who 
can't afford large numbers of Freerunners or Hoverscouts, but want more punch 
than a modified civilian speeder or a Century Tank. It could also be useful as
 a vehicle for small groups, who simply can't spare the personnel to man 
something bigger, which is something that might endear it to many PC groups.


Of course, opinions are welcome. Oh, yeah, and I might have convinced 
long-time List veteran Bill Knight to rejoin us here. I, for one, have 
missed his insight, and look forward to seeing him here again.


Landon C. Darkwood, Captain (retired)
Adol Larynth, Jedi Knight (certainly NOT retired)
a027280t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us