Gorgon

The Gorgon is an Assault OmniVehicle designed by Clan Ashen Corsac and built by Vanguard Industries' Grenze plant. Despite being an Omni vehicle, it is relatively cheap - especially for its size and firepower - and was designed primarily for planetary defense in Garrison Clusters.

## Technical Information

### Armament

* 2x LBX-20
* 4x Machineguns

### BV

1'793

Design work on the Gorgon began almost immediately after Clan Ashen Corsac took control of Grenze, and with it, of Vanguard Industries' assets. The corporation's engineers and designers were anxious at their first meeting with their new Clan overlords, whom they expected to come dictate and micro-manage everything. What they received instead was extensive information about the workings of Omni-pod technology, and a set of design requirements for a new, heavily armed and armored garrison juggernaut to act as a companion for their already extant Enforcer line.

The premise was simple: The Corsacs wanted an assault vehicle that could obliterate heavy modern Assault Battlemechs in close quarters, but at a relatively low cost as the design would need to be built in large numbers for the Garrison Clusters of the Touman. Speed and range were not important factors as the tank was expected to be a primarily defensive weapon protecting high-value assets such as important cities and war factories. Ease of maintenance and versatility - via Omni-pods - however were, as garrison forces with less experienced technicians and fewer resources would need to make the tank go a long way.

The result was the Gorgon, a monstrous OmniVehicle that cost less than half as much than even their Inner Sphere counterpart, and whose base chassis could be built and repaired using relatively simple technology. It would not need to wait long for its baptism of fire, which would come as early as 3071 during Operation ICE STORM. When Clan Ice Hellion invaded the Clan Jade Falcon occupation zone with the intention to take it over, their attention turned to the nearby Corsacs, and mistakenly assumed the small, self-proclaimed and - in their eyes - illegitimate Clan as an easy, weak target. This assumption was savagely refuted by the Corsacs' Aegis garrison clusters defending Tiegel IV, mostly equipped with Gorgon and urban warfare trained jump infantry, which were able to frustrate and bloodily repel any and all attempts by the Hellions to occupy the capital city of Kern. The jump infantry observing from rooftops kept track of advancing mechs and relayed their position in real time while the ECM-equipped Gorgons suddenly fell upon them like grizzly bears straight out of a dense foliage. By the time Beta Galaxy arrived to 'save' the garrison, the Hellion task force was already in no shape to pursue its siege and was immediately forced to withdraw in a panic.

## Weapons and Equipment

The base chassis of the Gorgon is built around a 'Proton-300FC' conventional fuel cell engine which allows it a modest top speed of 54 kilometers per hour. Its tracked chassis mounts a mammoth 3-tons Omni turret base and 16 tons of 'PanzerLicht' ferro-fibrous armor, giving it almost the maximum amount of protection possible for such a large vehicle. The only truly 'fixed' equipment in the design is the Cellular Ammunition Storage in the Omni turret.

The prime configuration of the Gorgon is a dedicated Mech-Hunter armed with twinned 'Fallbeil' serie LBX-20 auto-cannons capable of destroying Mechs in a single salvo at close range. 6 tons of mixed solid shot and cluster shells give it plenty of endurance to hunt down many times its numbers while the 'Vanguard Hawkeye' Targeting Computer ensures each of these shots will count and ram home. A pair of machineguns at the front with a single half-ton of ammunition provide some defense against infantry with a death wish which the crew would rather not waste cluster rounds on, while the ECM suite allows it to prowl urban centers more discretely, making full use of cover and passive sensors.

## Variants

* **Configuration B**

This configuration turns the Gorgon in a heavily armored fire support artillery piece by mounting a pair of Arrov IV launchers in its turret. With 8 tons dedicated to ammunition storage, the Gorgon B can keep firing continuously for a long time and can afford to squeeze in various specialty missiles as well. A pair of SRM4s are located at the front and read with a mix of standard and inferno warheads as a modest protection against infiltrator units that could surprise it. The Targeting system is downgraded to a regular Vanguard-Universal, but the ECM suite remains to make the tank harder to locate for attack or counter-battery. *Cost: 6'624'000 C-Bills, BV: 1'799*

* **Configuration C**

This configuration is intended to turn the Gorgon's traditional vulnerabilities - short range, low speed - on its head by making it a long-range sniper. The Gorgon C replaces its twinned Fallbeil auto-cannons with a pair of StarkReiter' Gauss Rifles, which are further supplemented by a pair of 'Shutze VS-10' missile batteries in the upper corners, giving the turret a very distinctive silhouette. Just in case anything might survive such an onslaught, the Gorgon C's turret also features a Target Acquisition Gear nestled between the two Gausses, with which it may direct further heavy fire, such as that of a Gorgon B. Four tons of ammunition for the Gausses and three tons for the LRMs ensure ample supplies for protracted firing. The Gorgon C lacks anti-infantry ammunition, but one ton of Inferno rounds is often carried for the LRMs for that purpose. Due to size constraints and and the different battlefield role, both of the advanced Targeting Computer and ECM suite were removed. *Cost: 6'004'000 C-Bills, BV: 2'004.*

## Design Quirks

The Gorgon features the following Design Quirks:

* Rugged (2)
* Distracting
* Oversized