Pannar Mobile Artillery

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An extreme example of the Venrock people’s approach to warfare. The Golsar Class Mobile Artillery platform is capable of firing six projectiles in relatively rapid succession, at a range of more than fifty miles. Its immense size is rivaled only by the amount of damage it can inflict at such great range.

The GCMA features a barrel 55 meters long, with an inner diameter of 2.25 meters. It can fire a wide variety of shells, including Heavy Kinetic energy rounds, High Explosive rounds and Armor Piercing, for smashing bunkers buried under layers of concrete. The weapon is fed by a six-cylinder rotary chamber, which is loaded while the barrel is in its parked position at 0 degrees. All six chambers are loaded, then the cannon elevates into firing position, where it can fire one shell every ten seconds. The entire cannon assembly recoils back in a track built into the chassis of the vehicle, while the vehicle itself is also free to roll backwards with its treads set in neutral. Maximum elevation is 55 degrees, with minimum firing elevation being 9 degrees. Vehicles accompanying the platform almost always position themselves behind and off to the sides of the artillery while it is firing, due to the immense shockwave created during firing. When the cycle is complete, the vehicle parks or repositions while the cannon resets, and all chambers are emptied of their now spent shell casings. These are taken from the bolts as they unlock and slide out of their chambers, and are set aside by the crane and reloaded later. The platform carries 18 rounds internally, and is supplied by a sizeable cargo train of vehicles and support units.

The remote-controlled crane is used for basic maintenance of the vehicle, along with reloading the cannon, and taking on supplies and ammo. The cannon itself is rated at 500-600 rounds before its barrel will need to be refurbished, so a new barrel is usually shipped to the firing site when it is predicted to need to be replaced. The unique ammunition that the cannon fires increases its longevity dramatically, though.

The platform fires massive 1.5 meter diameter rounds which are encased in self-discarding sabots. When tested with 2.25 meter rounds, performance was deemed unsatisfactory due to range and inaccuracy issues (the cannon is smooth-bore). This was rectified by adding sleeves that would peel away from the round when it was fired. These dramatically increased the range and accuracy of the projectiles, as their construction would cause the round to spin in the barrel without the need of rifling.

The platform is crewed by 190 soldiers and technicians, their numbers and workload made significantly less by the large amount of automation onboard. There were two Golsar Class Mobile Artillery Platforms constructed during the height of fighting in the Great War, both were shipped to conquered areas of Vulpesant Country in pieces and assembled outside of the ports they were brought into. The first platform was named Pannar, and was deployed immediately after its construction to aide in the siege of the fortress city of Cassoul, in a mountainous reigon to the west. Her sister platform, Chriesa, was sent north, to destroy Vulpesant military bases and artillery positions guarding a pass through the same mountains, but was destroyed soon after she began shelling. The Vulpesant was aware of the platforms existence, but not of their locations so when Chriesa began shelling, she immediately gave away her position. The Vulpesant Air Force massed their forces and launched a brutal attack, and managed to destroy the platform while its magazine doors were open. The ensuing explosion threw the cannon itself some three hundred meters, and destroyed the entirety of the Venrock forces defending it.

Learning from the loss of the Chriesa, platform Pannar is constantly surrounded by at least three rings of anti aircraft defense along with a massive armored ground force. The platform served its purpose till the end of the war, destroying a number of cities and key Vulpesant installations before being knocked out of commission due to a failure in the cannons elevation struts. She was brought back into working order before the war ended, but was unable to reach firing range to bombard her intended target of the Vulpesant Capital city of Nanaar.

With peace formed between the Vulpesants and the Venrocks, the platform was disassembled by its own crew, its raw materials used to help reconstruct the broken Vulpesant nation. Its massive generators were used in the city is was intended to destroy, and the leftover high explosives were put to use excavating new materials in quarries around the planet.