Mortar Bioroid

## Mortar Bioroid (T'sienszrax)

A variant of the standard Soldier Bioroid, the **Mortar Bioroid** (**T'sienszrax**) was a dedicated fire support model used by the Tirolian Empire.

## Background

One of the few deficiencies of the Bioroid design was the lack of integrated fire support capabilities. While Zentraedi Mecha had access to the missile-armed Artillery Pods to provide ground-based fire support, the Bioroids lacked such capabilities. And while the Assault Dropship was capable of providing fire support, doing such was dependent on having vessels available and not being in circumstances where they could not be used. Furthermore, doing such risked exposing the vessels, which also served as command platforms, to enemy fire.

The Mortar Bioroid was created to overcome this limitation. A remarkably thrifty design, it amounted to a variation of the standard Soldier Bioroid that still shared most of the components of its progenitor, with the most important difference being the addition of a plasma mortar to one shoulder. This weapon allowed the Mortar Bioroid to provide bot direct line and indirect fire support to Bioroid units, as well as giving them broad area saturation abilities. At the same time, the Mortar Bioroid was easy to mass produce and support.

Due to its specialised nature, the Mortar Bioroid was never particularly common within the Tirolian Empire's forces. It was more often employed by ground-based garrison units on colony worlds who had more need of its fire-support capabilities. As a result, comparatively few Mortar Bioroids were in among the Masters' forces during the Second Robotech War, where they saw only limited use. However, it also needs to be said that due to its design and colour scheme, the Mortar Bioroid could easily be mistaken for the more common Soldier Bioroid.

Between the destruction of the Tirolian holdings at the hands of the Invid and the cataclysmic conclusion of the Second Robotech War, no Mortar Bioroids are known to still exist.

## Capabilities

The design of the Mortar Bioroid was directly based on that of the Soldier Bioroid, to the point where the two shared the majority of their components. Due to its role, the Mortar Bioroid was less heavily armoured, however it still maintained the same degree of resilience through redundant internal systems. Due to the combination of lighter armour and refined movement systems, the Mortar Bioroid boasted a higher ground speed than the Soldier Bioroid, allowing it to rapidly reposition as needed without using its Hover Sled.

Despite its role, the Mortar Bioroid was equipped with the same sensory systems as the Soldier Bioroid. This system was deemed adequate for most fire support duties, including targeting for both direct and indirect fire. The lack of advanced targeting capabilities was not seen as being a flaw in the design, given that the Mortar Bioroid was expected to be working with the extensive and highly-integrated C3i systems possessed by the Tirolian forces. The Mortar Bioroid was typically operated by the same low-level clones as the Soldier Bioroid.

The armor of the Mortar Bioroid is composed of an advanced titanium-steel alloy. The armor stops all small arms and heavy infantry weapons fire, provides excellent resistance to light mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Zentraedi 22.3mm HE autocannon round, and fair resistance to medium mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the GU-11's 55mm APFSDS round. Note that the Bioroids' redundant systems and advanced design made them exceedingly capable of coping with battle damage, and the total protection afforded by the Bioroid was hence more than the armor data would suggest.

## Weapons and Equipment

**E'ver-Gorul Plasma Mortar:** Mounted on the left shoulder, directly connected to the Protoculture Reactor. Fires discrete coherent plasma energy packets. The weapon has a range of approximately 5 km when fired in direct-fire mode, after which point the packets begin to lose coherence. Can be fired at a rate of approximately 20 packets per minute with effectively unlimited endurance. Higher rates of fire are also possible for area saturation, but extended use will drain the energy supply until it can recharge.

* **Dotz-Meghor Drum Gun Pod:** Ion Beam/Pulse Cannon, fires ion discs. Alternatively, the weapon drum can fire this ion salvo as a particle beam. It can fire at a rate of 450 discs per minute for up to 56 seconds in automatic mode, after that limited to one burst/3 seconds, unless sub-maximum rate of fire allows replenishment of the ready ion supply.

* Optionally other gun pods could be used. See the main file for more information.

## Notes

* Design Notes
* Bioroid Main File
* Bioroid Hover Sled