Po

While often derided as a poor man's Rommel/Patton tank, the simply constructed and dependable Po Heavy Tank, named by Romano Liao for the mischievous and vengeful spirit of Chinese tradition, has become the principal combat vehicle on Capellan worlds lacking 'Mech units.

Desperate to rebuild after the devastation wrought on Capellan Confederation by the Fourth Succession War, Chancellor Romano Liao sent out call for affordable weapons with which to defend her realm. An up and coming military weapon designer, and more importantly Liao's paramour at the time, named Ivan Maladev took inspiration from the history of ancient Terran Soviet Union and designed what would become the Po. Even with the design hastily rushed into production, due to Capellan court intrigue he never survived to see how popular his design would become.

Introduced in 3031, the Po is built around the rugged, dependable and cheap Ceres 240 internal combustion engine, which gives the tank a maximum flank speed of 65 kph. Ten and half tons of armor provides respectable protection for a heavy tank. Along with its ease of maintenance and decent firepower, this protection has made the Po a popular choice among cash strapped mercenaries, lower ranked garrison units, the Free Worlds League and Word of Blake, with such export sales keeping much needed funds flowing into the Confederation's coffers.

Weapons and Equipment
The Po carries an uninspired but serviceable weapon array, main offensive punch coming from a turret mounted Ceres Arms Model T Class 10 autocannon. A weapon with an excellent combat record, the Model T makes the Po a serious combat threat to light and medium 'Mechs. Two Maxi Mini Machine Guns - one turret-mounted alongside the autocannon and another mounted in a ball joint on the front of the Po - constitute the tank's secondary weapons.

Variants

 * Light Gauss : Selected as a Light Gauss Rifle testbed by the FWLM in the late 3050's, while boasting far superior range compared to the old AC/10, the reduction in firepower made it unpopular with tank crews with Ceres discontinued production of the variant in 3064. BV (1.0) = ??, BV (2.0) = 739


 * LB 10-X Variant : Introduced in 3069 and seen in large numbers in the CCAF's "shadow lances", this variant replaces the standard autocannon with an Oriente Model O Class LB 10-X AC, the weight saved being devoted to an extra ton of autocannon rounds, allowing it to use both standard and cluster rounds and doubling its combat endurance. BV (1.0) = ??, BV (2.0) = 778


 * HV Variant : This version of the Po uses experimental Hardened Armor for protection. The standard weaponry has been replaced with a Streak SRM-6 launcher and a Hypervelocity Autocannon/10. To maintain the tank's top speed designers had to use a Fusion Engine. BV (2.0) = 870


 * HV Variant (Production) : The 3079 production version of the HV Variant keeps the same weapons, but trades the fusion engine of the prototype for a Fuel Cell Engine. This reduces the weight of the engine and reduces the cost of the tank. To fill the weight left by the smaller engine, designers fitted an extra three and a half tons of Hardened Armor, bringing the total armor weight to fourteen tons. BV (2.0) = 1,021

Related Designs

 * Po II‎ - A late Jihad upgrade to the original Po tank, the so-called Po II was an advanced and expensive version of the cheap and simplistic original.

Design Quirks
The Po HV (Production) variant is subject of the following Design Quirks:
 * Easy to Maintain
 * Poor Sealing
 * Rumble Seat
 * Trailer Hitch