The Tank is clearly the coolest kind of ground fighting vehicle. A steed for modern day cavalrymen. Fast moving, heavily armored and with gun that can blow holes in anything it can see.

The role of cavalry in modern warfare remains to add tone to what would otherwise be an unseemly brawl.

Years of experimentation have found the purest form of the tank.

It is low and wide. It has ONE turret more or less in the middle. It is armed with ONE main weapon - a long barreled direct fire cannon. The driver sits in the middle at the front. The vehicle has no windows other than small vision blocks.

It has tracks, not wheels.

What does this mean?

For the sci-fi artist, what this means is that if you are drawing a tall and narrow wheeled vehicle with three turrets, each with two stubby guns and a missile rack where the crew are clearly visible behind big panes of glass you are doing it wrong.

This is a faux pas on the scale of drawing a two man fighter spacecraft where the crew sit next to each other rather than one in front and one behind!

It is acceptable to replace the tracks with grav units or thrust fans, so long as these do not alter the profile too much.

Artists don't like to be constrained by reality. It's similar to a sci-fi setting I vaguely recall where spherical ships are the ideal with variations only used for specific functions (aerodynamic shapes for atmospheric interface, etc). Mecha games always fly in the face of reality since big man-shaped machines are inefficient. At the end of it all, it's just supposed to look different from what we have even if it's not really going to work well (or at all).

Not so much a about being realistic (I mean, the next real generation of AFVs may not much resemble the cold war Steel Beasts above) but if your fantasy tank doesn't look cooler than real tanks:-

something has gone badly wrong.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/S-1_FireHawke_Heavy_Repulsortank

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/2-M_Saber-class_repulsor_tank

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Imperial-class_Repulsortank_line

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Armored_Assault_Tank

All of the above fit normal armored fighting vehicle design points. They break the support weapon out into a separate remote turret rather than keeping it coaxil, but that is actually becoming a common feature in real world fighting vehicles these days.

And just an FYI from someone in the weapon biz, many of the features Erik is brignig up are actually artifacts of existing technology, not advantageous design choices. Treads for one example, exist because the vehicle is so heavy they would get bogged down if they were wheels, not because they provide any serious mobility advantage. As a matter of fact, the US Army is continually looking for a way to make a tank light enough (without sacrificing protection) that treads can be eliminated entirely and replaced with wheels, which are easier and cheaper to maintain and repair, especially in a deployed setting. Under the Future Combat Systems program there was actually a "mounted fighting vehicle" that was intended to replace armor with an anti missile and rocket system to lighten the vehicle enough to use wheels and make it more air mobile. Additionally it was also to carry a cannon capable of direct fire and indirect fire. FCS got broken up when the US got involved in counter insurgency instead of conventional war, but a lot of FCS hardware that wasn't a new tank is still in testing and in some cases being fielded.

Anotherpoint, more relavent to this thread, is the vision block. If transparent steel were available in the real world, armored vehicles would have huge windows to allow the driver and commander as clear a view as possible. In a galaxy far far away transparasteel is a thing, so armored vehicle drivers can get that nice big sexy windshield. Only the AAT doesn't have windows, but as a vehicle operated by droids You have the uniques ability for the crews to plug into the vehicle, using its sensors as if it were their own senses...

If you want to talk walkers you may, but they serve a slightly different purpose within military doctrine And tactics then convential armor, so it would be like saying helicopters serve no military purpose because airplanes fly already...

I don't think lightweight future fighting vehicles are ever going to be as cool as heavyweight main battle tanks like Challengers/Abrams/Leopards, and since cool is kind of what one is going for here, I think they make a good example to look at.

A modern guided missile armed unarmored warship may be a more effective system than a gun armed dreadnought but I don't think they fire the imagination in the same way, which is why space opera ships lean more towards armoured behemoths trading broadsides at 100 yards.

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I think all these hovertanks have potential:-

However, by changing you're criteria from "is the ideal tank design" to "is cooler" aren't uou kind of moving the goal posts a bit?

you are doing it wrong.

Who cares that AT-AT have a high center of gravity, multiple fully-exposed chinks in their armor, extremely poor visibility, can be easily tripped and disabled, offensive weapons which only point forward, and no way to defend against an attack from below. They're freakin' awesome and The Rule of Cool trumps reality any day of the week at my table.

However, by changing you're criteria from "is the ideal tank design" to "is cooler" aren't uou kind of moving the goal posts a bit?

I don't think so. I am saying the most perfect expression of "Tank" is to be found in the last generation of cold war MBTs. They most tankiest tanks there are.

Similarly, an AT-AT is a walker, not a tank, and so the most perfect and hence pleasing expression of Imperial Walker will be different from the most perfect tank.

If you are calling something a tank, I want to see low and wide, one turret, one long gun, no windows and no untracked wheels.

While it lacks a turret, I always liked the Stidsvagn 103 (S-tank) and felt that a repulsorlift version of it would be pretty cool.

When I was a girl, I had those four toys (one of them was the Interceptor flying thingie) that came out at the same time as the Wampa. One had a little transparent dome and treads. One had claws like the lifting thing in 'Aliens'.

They looked absolutely ridiculous (and were never in the movies!) but I loved them. I was the envy of the girls who had Sindy dolls, because Sindy never had a frickin' lightsaber.

Nice to see ErikB is talking about something other than S***e N***s though.

Aw man, are tanks being friend-zoned? Does Star Wars need more tanks or something? Doesn't seem to be missing them, as already noted. Or are they not cool looking?

When I was a girl, I had those four toys (one of them was the Interceptor flying thingie) that came out at the same time as the Wampa. One had a little transparent dome and treads.

Yeah, the MLC-3 was the coolest of the Mini Rigs Kenner did.

Yeah, that's the one! I'm pretty sure it never appeared in the films, and I didn't know the name of it. I used to drive my Hoth Leia around in it!

Wonder what it's EoE stats would be?

If the size in that photo is " authentically to-scale ", why not call it a single-seat tracked groundcar using a forward-mounted blaster cannon with Linked 1 and a degree of gun elevation for potential long-range anti-air-artillery use?

Disclosure : I have now imagined a Hoth skirmish where the Empire also deployed MLC-like vehicles and the resulting skirmish looked suspiciously like " go karts with guns ".

Wonder what it's EoE stats would be?

They never did anything official, but I banged out some stats for the WEG engine. Let me see if I can find them and perhaps I can try my hand at conversion here soon.

* * * *edit* * * *

Okay - here's the work in progress, based on what details I could get from Wookieepedia and from Kener's write-ups:

One of the up and coming weapons manufacturer to recently appear in the galaxy is Kenar Products INC, based out of Ravalox Station in the Astoria sector. In the short 10 years since their debut, the company has perfected cheap and functional weapons for smaller military needs. Kenar started with the support lines including the Vehicle Maintenance Energizer, and the Battle Action Laser Cannon before moving up to the more versatile Mini-rig vehicles collection. The best selling unit of the line is the MLC-3 mobile laser cannon unit.

The MLC-3 is a light mobile artillery unit, designed to be a small quick assault vehicle without sacrificing firepower or armor and protection. Even thought more powerful and sleek models have appeared on the market, the relatively low cost of the MLC-3 keeps sales high and encourages Kenar to continue the production line.

The MLC-3 seats one driver, who doubles as a gunner, operating the combined steering mechanism and fire control. The cockpit is an enclosed assembly, providing additional protection from the elements and light enemy fire. A small cargo area to the rear of the unit comes equipped with a simple survival pack, designed to allow the operator to cope with short-term deployment in the field. Also, there is additional room under the cockpit seat for a variety of hand weapons. The front mounted weapons, although fixed into the front fire arc, have a full field of elevation, allowing the MLC the ability to engage low flying repulsor craft.

The MLC-3 is an agile unit with an extremely tight turning radius. This, combined with the low profile the unit presents on the battlefield, makes the MLC-3 a difficult target to the enemy to hit. All these factors, combine with a low price tag and a high availability makes the MLC-3 a highly desirable battlefield vehicle.

SILHOUETTE: 2

SPEED: 2

HANDLING: 0

DEF FORE: 0

DEF AFT: 0

ARMOR: 2

HT THRESHOLD: 4

SS THRESHOLD: 5

VEHICLE TYPE / MODEL: Self Propelled Artillery / MLC-3

MANUFACTURER: Kenar Products

SENSOR RANGE: Close

CREW: 1

ENCUMBRANCE CAPACITY: 10

PASSENGER CAPACITY: 0

COST/RARITY: 10,500 credits (new) 4,000 (used) / 6

CUSTOMIZATION HARD POINTS: 1

WEAPONS:

Forward Mounted Twin Light Blaster

Fire Arc: Forward

Damage: 3

Critical: 4

Range: Short

Linked 1

When I was a girl, I had those four toys (one of them was the Interceptor flying thingie) that came out at the same time as the Wampa. One had a little transparent dome and treads.

Yeah, the MLC-3 was the coolest of the Mini Rigs Kenner did.

I'll bet ya a nickel that shows up in Rebels.

However, by changing you're criteria from "is the ideal tank design" to "is cooler" aren't uou kind of moving the goal posts a bit?

Please. He's gotten so good at moving goal posts you'd need the Hubble Telescope to find them.