Author's Note:

This is a Tank that I've created in the Airship Pirates server using the really fun Car craft type. Thanks to the movecraft plugin, this thing can move, and the turret can rotate just fine, like a real battle tank. If you want to use this build, post a refit, or use it on one of your own builds, please, feel free. Only condition is that you need to credit me, a name mention will do :)

The background behind this vehicle is based on roleplay lore only, and has nothing to do with real life beyond references.

(I should really just copypaste a sample of this babbling, instead of making up a new one for each build...)

Background: The Leclerc Series 2 Tank, officially nicknamed the Broadsword-class Tactical Enforcer, the primary ground assault vehicle of the French National Army after the proclamation of the Fifth French Republic, and the beginning of the second Armed Forces Modernization Program, or 3rd AFMP. Despite the complete and total dominance of air warships over air and land and the fate of warfare being reduced mostly to naval combat, the high command of the french National Military and the french admiralty agreed on an unexpected newfound appreciation for advanced ground vehicles. As a response to the growing number of bomb-equipped warships of the french fleet, the royal navy and other rival nations began fortifying their territories with multiple armed ground-based outposts for anti-air operations whenever a full fledged defensive fleet or response force was insufficient or anavailable, something that was noted after multiple defeats during sieges of swarms of french cruisers. Thus a new ground based vehicle was devised to answer to these issues and adopt the idea of attacking from the ground.




The two first ground vehicles built by the french factories were both Leclerc products - a flak tank (known communly as SAAT) and the Leclerc Series 2 "Broadsword". a benefit with these ground vehicles was that no lift was required, making it meaningless to set them afire. moreover, these vehicles, whilst not particularily well armored, were still quite durable and could take a light beating before going down. they had minimal crew requirements - so much as one or two crew members were generally enough - and were given a powerful ranged, scattershot artillery cannon, capable of blowing holes through the toughest of fortifications. to shield themselves against the frequent airstrikes, the Broadswords were equipped with a light AA armament - four manual AA guns mounted on the turrets - designed to force the fighter to change direction and abort their attack rather than destroying them, due to their low rate of fire.



Whilst excellent ground vehicles and armed enough to attack any fort, the tanks had a difficult time emerging post-production, and many viewed their existence and more importantly relevance as more of a dream or loose exotic idea rather than a consistent strategy. their vulnerability to airships were undeniable, and their limits were all too visible. Not only that, but the deployment of tanks generally required the use of airship carriers, and the early deployment - for carriers designed to carry fighter aircraft - proved to be a nightmare. the tank projects were almost abandonned, until it was discovered that other nations, in response to the few victories earned by the french ground tanks, started making ground vehicles of their own. some smaller states even employed such vehicles as their only power projection force, and the threat of ground based assaults returned. to counter this slow rise and appreciation in ground vehicles, the french tanks were maintained, and hundreds of units were produced and fitted into dedicated carriers. As new strategies were elaborated, tanks like the broadsword, and just in general the idea of ground based warfare, was secondary at best, and still meant little to the potential of airpower. nevertheless, they still represented a growing fraction of military engagements, and whether or not the unexpected, delusional and somewhat lucky rise of ground attack vehicles like the broadsword was a good idea, a changing one, or even a necessary one is a question which could be answered by yes or no, but as history progressed and battles were fought, it was difficult to determine. And few sights were more terrifying to a ground military base than the sound and shape of a french ground assault squashing infantry troops like insects, and piercing through defenses with ease.


Armament:

x1 GIAT CN120-26/52 120mm turreted heavy cannon - a heavy artillery scattershot TNT cannon design, with 8 propellant and 14 projectiles. short range compared to an airship, but long enough in a ground fight. no arc control system, but elevation and range can be controlled by lifting the trapdoor at the front of the gun (yes)
x4 Manual AA Guns