In another part of the Philippines, the Philippine Constabulary was able to find the rumored 'third MCV' invasion force. Stripped of much of its leaders by Commander Ninja (not his real name) for the Day X invasion, this third base is run by a more normal, conventional, Japanese commanding officer. This commanding officer is, however, so normal and conventional that he remains unremarkable to this story at best, and thus will not be expounded upon. Since most of the Allied forces under direct Philippine control are committed to eliminating the Imperial presence under Admiral 898, the Philippine Constabulary had to eliminate this second base before the whole Philippines is overrun.
It was a gloomy, rainy day as usual, now that the monsoon season has come. The Imperial Warriors on guard were mesmerized by the monotonous pitter-patter of the rain on their helmets. It was such a boring, sleepy day that they could not hear Philippine tanks rumbling in the distance. By the time they noticed, they had just gripped their carbines when they were trampled by treads. A few kilometers down the mudpath, down the depression, lies the Imperial base barely off the sea, guarded by Defender VX's, Striker-VX's and Tankbusters bunched up together. The Philippine tanks could see the base, and the group commander decided to overwhelm the base. There was only one problem: they had a handful of tanks and a bunch of Engineeros against an enemy composed of anti-armor units. Nonetheless they had the advantage of surprise because they had just squished the advance guard. So they descended downhill in a classic, if Tankbuster-doomed, tank rush.
Except that strike team had more audacious ideas. They gunned their engines to full RPM and then powered down the muddy hill, sliding faster and faster down the path. Teasing up the controls of their tanks, the Philippine tank commanders were able to execute a "tactical drift" with devastating results: 38 Tankbusters were instantly killed by "squishing", or direct-impact concussions with a tank, when the Filipinos performed the first tactical tank drifting in actual combat conditions. The Engineeros, barely holding on to the handrails crudely welded to the tanks, then gunned down the rest of the spider-holed Tankbusters with the carbines they have just acquired from squished Imperial Warriors.
The weird tank desant force was just beginning to advance gloatingly when they spotted Chopper-VX's closing in. It was then that the tank crews understood why the default 85mm gun was replaced with 6 Javelin launchers,and popped those hostile airbornes in no time. They still could not understand though why their tanks are loaded with so many optical stuff until they encountered Defender VX's, which were quickly demolished when targeted them with the Spyglass Target Designator, and further locked-on by the Javelins' nasty tracer round painter (in lieu of the slower laser lock on normal Javelin launchers). When some of the damaged Philippine tanks saw the large group of Striker VX's just sitting there, they were Leech-Beamed to repair the tank, as well as to pick up those snazzy Rocket Pods. The unremarkable Imperial commander tried to escape with the rest of his staff in the Sudden Transport, but to their great horror the Filipino tanks deployed their pontoons and pursued them on water.
The rest of the Imperial base was then finally captured by Engineeros, the MCV taken back to Manila for further analysis of Imperial technology. The Imperial officers were then detained for questioning. This attack was a resounding success, and when word broke of the operation recruitment rates greatly improved. That, without relying on skimpily-dressed officers. The Philippine strike proved the worth of the pimped-out tanks, as well as the worth of the Philippine Constabulary as a whole.
In-game Unit Profile: Martel Tank
Designation: General-purpose Tank
Manufacturer: Sarao Motors, Inc.
National Origin: Philippines
Mass-Produced at: Workshop
Creed: Imba? Why not?
Key Features:
» Basic Soviet Hammer Tank
» Javelin missile launchers (X6), in lieu of 85mm autoloader*
» PKX 12.7mm heavy machine gun, with tracer rounds in lieu of Javelin laser lock-on*
» Spyglass target designator*
» Inflatable air cushion for littoral combat*
» Handrails with optional carabiner system*
*subject to change without prior notice
History:
One of perhaps the most flexible units in the war, the Martel tank is named after a corruption of the local word for "hammer", which in turn comes from the Spanish word for "hammer", which the Spaniards adopted from some other European nation. This mish-mashed etymology sums up the tank quite nicely, it being basically a Soviet Hammer tank (chosen because of its durability and Tsarsky Leech-Beam), with the 85 mm. tank gun replaced by the powerful and easy-to-make Javelin launcher fielded by the Allies. There are many merits to this change, since now designers can install a Spyglass target designator and leave it on always since they reasoned correctly that the Javelins' recoil is insignificant, thus the Spyglass's targeting would not be thrown away whenever the main armament is used. Also, since the bulky recoil compensator and the rest of the original gun is taken away, the designers were able to fit an inflatable cushion ripped from Allied Prospectors for crossing the seas as is necessary for inter-island combat common in the Philippines. The elegant Leech-Beam and secondary firing module, a fixture from its predecessor, is still there for an added punch, as well as in-combat repairs and upgrades.
The laser lock technology of the Allies for Javelins were incorporated into the Spyglasses, though the increase of firing rate is incremental rather than sudden-with-a-long-delay characteristic of man-portable version because the small window when the tank is not firing is the time when it is mostly useless, and Philippine top brass dislikes that. The targeting can also be accomplished manually by shooting the target with a tracer-laden heavy machine gun, such as the Soviet PKX. Upon hitting the target with the tracer rounds, it is understood that there is somewhat of a "lock" on the target, and so more missiles are jammed down the launchers for faster launching. This feature, while considered obsolete, is still a standard since it deals with pesky infantry as well.
Despite all of the abilities of the tank, it does have problems. Technically the machine is good and manages to be reliable while still high-tech and novel, but the production run of the vehicle is limited to only the Philippines for political reasons. It could not be sold to any other country, despite its obvious appeal at a reasonable price, since Allied and Soviet authorities forbid the Philippines from marketing their respective technologies. Furthermore, the development of the tanks is originally clandestine, and despite its obvious benefits in the battlefield employing even one of these leads to a convoluted minefield of patent infringement cases from Germany, Britain, the Soviet Union, and America, giving it the moniker of "Litigation Tank", or "Lawyer's Tank". In fact, had it not been for the law experts and law twisters of the Philippines this tank would not have been fielded in the first place, forcing the Philippines to use crummy normal MBTs alongside it despite their obvious defects.
Game unit:
It is obviously an imbalanced unit, so don't expect it to come up in your nearest mod unless it is nerfed so badly to being unusable. It is a Soviet Hammer Tank, thus it is as tough as a Soviet Hammer Tank, as fast as one, and also shares the very useful Leech Beam and secondary firing port found in the conventional Hammer. However, replacing the single 85mm cannon with six Javelin launchers, while stupid-sounding in real life, makes the Martel hit six times as hard and at a greater range compared to its predecessor's conventional weapon layout. The tank also has a Spyglass always active at all times, which means that it supports other units by default by virtually cutting the target's armor. What makes this Javelin setup special though is that the laser lock-on is integrated to the (always-on) Spyglass, and the rate of fire is modified to increase over time instead of waiting for the missile to lock. This in effect makes the tank somewhat act like a stereotypical Gatling Tank...but with missiles.
All normal counters against MBTs are considered ineffective against this...thing because it can trample infantry or machine-gun them down, can shoot down aircraft with the six Javelin launchers, and attack ships because it can swim. Also, it has handrails and a carabiner system so that infantry can ride outside these tanks for a greater total punch as well as making it makeshift transport/dragoon, but they are more exposed to the hostilities. Finally, as the story continues upgunning the tank becomes more and more feasible, with one such proposal being to replace the Javelins with Japanese rocket pods. Another is to modify the excellent Spyglass target designator so as to blind the enemy.
Notes From the Field:
Laser-guided Gatling Missiles - The hexa-Javelin setup fires faster the longer it shoots, making it devastating against anything that cannot run away from its range, be it vehicles, buildings, aircraft, ship, or even infantry. Its Spyglass weakens the tank's targets further, making it somewhat of a support unit as well.
Landing Craft, Tank - Foot soldiers are encouraged to hitch a free ride to the next island to save on transports, because fighting across 7,107 islands meant that amphibious abilities for the Philippine MBT is a must. This is achieved by crudely welded handrails from which infantry can clamp themselves to while firing, and a shameless rip-off (sometimes literally) of a Prospector's inflatable air cushion.
Conventional in Another Universe - The machine gun, a holdover from the prototype which eschewed the advanced optical targeting system for good old tracer rounds, is still kept as a developmental relic. But still, being the only MBT to feature a decent anti-infantry weapon (that does not involve removing bones from the caterpillars for weeks) has to count for something.
Hammer vs. Gavel - Despite all of its abilities, it still is just a heavily modified Hammer Tank. Though yes, it still keeps the very useful Leech Beam and secondary weapon pods for its alternative attack, it still is just a Hammer tank. As such, it could not be expected to fly (so far), or soak up damage like an Apocalypse Tank (yet), or bombard targets from extreme range (but we're working on it). Much as the design team would like to modify the tank further, they can not since so many cases were brought to court over the development and deployment of the tank that it is a miracle that the tank is fielded in the first place. Thus, whatever it does for now is all that it can legally do for now until the mess with foreign governments and corporations are sorted out. Sorry for that.