BattleTech Vehicle Technical Readout

Type/Model: Hetzer II Wheeled Assault Gun HTZ II  
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3055 
Config: Wheeled Vehicle 
Rules: Level 2, Modified design 
    
Mass: 40 tons 
Power Plant: 140 SitiCide I.C.E. 
Cruise Speed: 43.2 km/h 
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h 
Armor Type: StarSlab 6 Standard 

Armament: 
1 Inokuma Gauss Rifle 
1 GM MiniGun Machine Gun 
Manufacturer:    Quickcell Company 
   Location:    (Unknown) 
Communications System:    Johnston Q-Band 
Targeting & Tracking System: Scantrex Dual Tac 


Overview: 
         The Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun was designed to provide cheap fire support to
 troops assigned to planets important enough to protect but not important enough to warrant 
a full garrison of troops. The Hetzer II was an attempt to return to the original premise 
after the expensively disastrous LB Hetzer.


         The LB Hetzer replaced the Crusher Super Heavy Cannon with an LB version.
 That alone was a great idea but then Quickcell added a fusion engine and additional armor. 
Suddenly some commanders tried to use it in more offensive or perilous defensive
 situations.
 

The Hetzer II still has almost all the pitfalls of the original Hetzer, no turret, slow,
 wheeled, medium to light armor, but now it carries a big gun with really long range, the
 Inokuma Gauss Rifle. A GM Minigun was also added to keep infantry at bay.
 

The longer range has given the Hetzer the ability to damage enemies before they can
 close and the low armor and maneuverability becomes a serious liability. 
Addition of the Mini-gun was critical as reports showed about 20% of all Hetzers lost 
was due to infantry. Finally the redone crew box made it at least possible for a crew to
 bail in a bad situation.
 

In the end they came up with a design that was only 10,000 C bills more expensive than
 the original but over half the cost of the Fusion LB version.



Capabilities: 
The Hetzer II is like the original Hetzer and is a very simple vehicle to manufacture. Once
 again they went for cheap and simple. The main difference being they had to redesign
 for the Inokuma Gauss rifle and spend some money on the housing. The Box is the left
 half of the front and entire rear of the chassis.
 

The Gauss Rifle is put in a housing to help protect it and is separate from the main
 compartment. In an unusual maneuver Quikcell convinced Inokuma to make the
 housing. It has 4 horizontal and 2 vertical hydraulic aiming adjusters. The amount of
 movement is minimal and not very effective on the move but it allows the crew to the
 Hetzer more effectively and then dials in the last few degrees of aim.
 

         The manufacturing technique is still cheap and fast, but not as slipshod as
 before. It is said everything works but it take a day or two to get use to all the little
 nuisance differences between two different Hetzer IIs.
 

     Electrical issues have not been solved though. They had to put in a new capacitor
 and battery system for the Gauss rifle but this added new problems. There are stories
 of repeated fast firing of the Gauss rifle drains the battery dead and the Hetzer a
 sitting duck. Or a power surge rips through the vehicle taking out various systems,
 
       
     Like the previous Hetzer the Hetzer II is nothing but a moving platform for the nickel
 slugs being shot at hypersonic speeds by the Gauss Rifle. The slightly less hitting
 power is made up by range. This makes the Hetzer move versatile and usable on
 perimeter defense and not interior. Also a few well scored hits early may make he
 enemy fall back. Two tons of ammo is usually sufficient for most engagements.

         
     The GM mini gun is a welcome addition but it is 50 years to late. Still helps in some
 situations and gives the crew a little bit of a comfort factor Battle Armor has changed the
 nature of infantry attacks.   Any medium weight Battle Armor can easily rip a Hetzer II
 to shreds in moments. 




Battle History: 
Various skirmishes but no serious engagement to report to analyze
 performance. 

Variants: 
None-

Deployment 
The new low price coupled with a new tech weapon has made it very attractive. Local
 Militias and various lesser nobles have put orders in for the Hetzer II. The backlog of
 orders is at least 6 months. At least a regiments worth have been shipped to date.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type/Model: Hetzer II Wheeled Assault Gun HTZ II 
Mass: 40 tons 
Equipment:   Items Mass 

Internal Structure: 16 pts Standard 0 4.00 
Engine: 140 I.C.E.  0 10.00 
   Cruise MP: 4     
   Flank MP: 6     
Heat Sinks: 0 Single 0 .00 
Cockpit & Controls:  0 2.00 
Crew: 3 Members 0 .00 
Armor Factor: 96 pts Standard 0 6.00 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Internal Armor 
    Structure Value 
  Front: 4 30 
  Left / Right Sides: 4 22/22 
  Rear: 4 22 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons & Equipment: Loc Heat Ammo Items Mass 
1 Gauss Rifle  Front  0 16 2 17.00 
1 Machine Gun  Front  0 100 2 1.00 
TOTALS:   0   4 40.00 
Items & Tons Left:       9 .00 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calculated Factors: 
Total Cost: 670,600 C-Bills 
Battle Value: 536 
Cost per BV: 1,251.12 
Weapon Value: 242 / 242 (Ratio = .45 / .45) 
Damage Factors:    SRDmg = 14; MRDmg = 11; LRDmg = 7 
BattleForce2: MP: 4W,   Armor/Structure: 0 / 4 
    Damage PB/M/L: 1/2/2,   Overheat: 0 
    Class: GM,   Point Value: 5