Şoarece Superheavy MBT

The Şoarece was an experimental superheavy combat vehicle produced for the Free Worlds League in the early decades of the Third Succession War. The design was commissioned by then-Captain-General Philippa Marik in 2881. It was envisioned as a low-cost, highly survivable design that could engage BattleMechs and equip the League's depleted defensive formations. It would be over two decades (2904) until the final form of this design was settled, by which time it had become a mammoth of a tank.

The Şoarece was put into limited production at the Keystone factory, but barely a hundred units had been produced when the League captured Shiro III and with it Grumman Amalgamated's Ontos Heavy Tank production facility. With access to the Ontos, a smaller and ultimately superior combat vehicle, the demand for the slow and ponderous Şoarece fell off. Production ceased a few years later.

Weapons and Equipment
Originally designed as a heavy-hitting armored vehicle, the Şoarece sports three classes of Autocannon for its principal firepower, all mounted in the turret. The Smoothie-2 Light Autocannon serves as anti-aircraft weapon, while other, larger Class 10 and 20 autocannons serve as the tank's offensive punch. All three cannons have generous amounts of ammunition, which allows the tank to stay active on the field in a prolonged fight. It also has a front-mounted machine gun to serve as its principal anti-infantry weapon.

For economic reasons, the tank's power plant is a 350-rated Fuel Cell engine, which propels the mammoth tank to a maximum of 30 kph. The vehicle's hull is protected by 40.5 tons of Standard armor.

Variants
No proper variants of the Şoarece tank are known.

There was an early prototype of the Şoarece project called "Soarecar". Arguably an early predecessor rather than a variant, his mundane vehicle had very heavy armor but only a pair of Class 5 autocannons as its weapons. The Soarecar was judged underarmed by the LCCC, heralding a development cycle of two decades that ultimately resulted in the 175-ton Şoarece. ("Soarecar" was original project name before it was renamed to Şoarece—"mouse"—as a pun by the engineers).

Design Notes
The Şoarece MBT features following Design Quirks: It also features limited amphibious equipment.
 * Obsolete/2915
 * Difficult to Maintain
 * Non-Standard Parts
 * Poor Performance
 * Accurate Weapon (AC/2).