Mercury Class Fast Attack Hovercraft

The Mercury hovercraft is used by the Desert Alliance as both scout and initial attack units for surface combat. Their fast speed and lethal firepower have earned them a great respect from the other branches of military services.

The crews that man this vehicle look at themselves being somewhat like the Berserkers of the past. Racing in where others fear to tread, attacking hard and fast. They have suffered numerous loses to the demons of death valley but not without decimating the demons first.

The pilots of the Mercury are a close nit group. The air force pilots jokingly refer to them as the fighter-jocks that are afraid to leave the ground. There is an ongoing friendly rivalry between the Mercury pilots and those that fly the ground support aircraft. In time of combat these two groups work closely together. There have been more than a few occasions where downed pilots were rescued by a Mercury crew racing across enemy lines, picking up the downed pilot and then fighting their way back to friendly territory. This also occurs with pilots of disabled PA, robots, and standard infantry troops. The most notable of these rescues involved two hovercraft and twenty troops who were hanging on to whatever they could find, who raced their way out of a group of 100 demons.

The usual tactic is to deploy the Mercury as the first wave of ground assault units, after the air strikes, to confuse the enemy with their speed and missile volleys. They are then followed by the heavier tanks and Robot vehicles, who had been previously acting as artillery.

The skirt of the Mercury is used to keep the noise level of the hovercraft down to a minimum. It also stops the vehicle from causing a massive dust cloud from forming behind them as they travel. The skirts are sometimes removed for large scale attacks. From a distance, 20 - 50 hovercraft will cause what would appear to be one of the many and frequent sand storms that affect the DA's region. Effectively hiding them from view as they make their advance. The enemy will have no idea what's coming until the Mercury's begin to open fire.

Model Type : Fast Attack Hover Craft
Class : Mercury Class
Crew : 2 (one pilot, one gunner) - all weapon systems can be operated by the pilot freeing up the second spot for a passenger. When the missile pods are open, the bays in which they opened from can each be used to carry two people in body armor or one perons in Power armor. A total of 20 people can ride on this hovercraft before the weight becomes too much for safe operation (assuming they can find somthing to hang-on to).

M.D.C. By location :

*Main Body - 300

**Underside : 125

Skirt : 100 or 10 sections of 10 M.D. each

Reinforced pilots compartment : 100

***engines(2): 150

***jet intakes(2):80

***Main gun : 75

***Lasers(2): 50

***Missile pods : 75

****Sensor antennas(3): 10

*****Tail fins(3): 50

* Depleting the M.D.C. from the main body will render the vehicle immobile and shut it down.
** Depleting the M.D.C. of a skirt will render sound dampening system useless and will kick up a large sand/dust cloud until it is replaced. Replacing the skirt will take 1D8x10 minutes by a trained crew (2 replacement skirts are carried on the vehicle) or three times as long by a untrained crew. Changing the skirt is normally done only outside of combat. losing the skirt does not affect the overall performance of the vehicle.
*** These targets are small and difficult to hit. Each requires a called shot at a -2 penalty.
**** If the sensor system is destroyed, all radar targeting is lost, the gunner loses all bonuses to strike, and attacking targets is limited to visual range.
***** If one of the tail fins is destroyed, handling is cut by 10%. If two are destroyed by 25%. If all three are destroyed the vehicle can still be maneuvered by altering the individual thrust of each of the two jets but handling is cut by 40%.

Speed :

300 mph (480 kph)

- Standard cruising speed varies depending on the situation But is generally around 150 - 200 mph.

- The Mercury can reach speeds of 450 mph with its afterburners but this makes it very difficult to control (-30% to piloting). This is used only in cases of emergency escape and evasion from hostile forces. The best use for this is on calm open water and flat desert conditions.

Range :

Nuclear powered, giving it continual energy, but the engines begin to over heat after 20 hours of driving time at cruising speeds. Occasional rest stops of 4 to 6 hours, giving the engines 1 hour to cool down, will allow the Hovercraft to travel indefinitely.

Statistical Data :

Height: 12 ft
Width: 25 ft
Length: 60 ft
Weight: 28 tons
Cargo: 1000 lbs (can easily store all the survival gear needed for the 2 man crew - including a small suit of PA for each crew member.
Power System : Nuclear, 10 year life span
Features of Note : Pilot compartment ejection system.
Black market cost : Not available, Desert Alliance military only.

Weapon Systems :

1. DA-12 Vulcan Rail-gun -

Primary purpose : Anti-vehicle

Secondary purpose : Anti-personnel

Damage : 2d4x10 M.D.

Rate of fire : burst only (each 2 second burst shoots 100 rounds)

Effective range : 5,000 feet (1800 m)

Payload : 10,000 rounds

Notes: This gun is operated by the pilot using the helmet mounted sighting system (similar to that used by the AH-64 Apache).

2. DA-6 AV-Pulsed Frequency Laser -

Primary purpose : anti-vehicle

Secondary purpose : anti-air

Damage : 1d4x10 each

Rate of fire : Standard (the guns can be fired individually or simultaneously)

Effective range : 3000 ft

Payload : unlimited (connected to vehicle power source)

Notes: These can be linked into the pilots helmet sighting system, but usually an A.I. is used as a targeting system and gunner for these guns, freeing up the Weapons System Officer to operate the targeting for the missiles. The A.I. has five attacks per melee and attacks targets based on a target threat assessment, database of all known vehicles, aircraft, robots, P.A., and enemy alien lifeforms (89%), and will attack targets on a priority rating. The A.I. will also accept any target parameters from the gunner or driver. A.I. has +2 to strike.

3. Missile pods (2) -

Primary purpose : Anti-vehicle

Secondary purpose : Anti-fortification

Damage : varies on type of missile

Rate of fire : single missile or in volleys of 4

Effective range : varies on type of missile

Payload : 8 (4 per missile pod)

Notes: Used primarily for destruction of enemy vehicles and fortifications with Plasma or HE warheads. They are also sometimes fitted with anti-aircraft missiles. It takes about 40 min to reload all 8 missiles by trained personnel. 1 hour for untrained personnel.

4. Mini-missile mortar rack (located on top of the vehicle - retracted in diagram) -

Primary purpose : anti-vehicle/personnel

Secondary purpose : Anti-fortification

Damage : varies on # and type of missile

Rate of fire : volleys of 4, 8, 16, or 24

Effective range : 1 mile

Payload : 240

Notes: Used primarily for saturation of enemy positions with Plasma or HE warheads. It takes a trained crew 15 minutes to change the rack with the proper equipment, 25 minutes with 4 men and without the equipment. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to reload a rack. Untrained personnel will take approximately 5 to 10 minutes longer in all of these situations.

Sensor Systems -

Has all standard vehicle features plus ...

Enhanced Radar : Can identify and simultaneously track up to 100 different targets in all types of weather with a range of 100 miles. This vehicle is also equipped with a sensor system similar to the Japanese SNARLS sensors. Range 8 miles.

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