Lyrans love their heavy combat vehicles, even if “heavy” is a bit of a relative term. The Drillson Heavy Hover Tank is as large as a hovercraft can be and still be a combat vehicle, so it certainly lives up to the name.
Weighing in at the same tonnage as its spirit-cousin the Condor Heavy Hover Tank, the 50 ton Drillson is much faster, able to achieve cruising speeds of 97 kph, and when flanking able to achieve a blistering 151 kph, as fast as any 'Mech in the Inner Sphere at the time of its construction, and faster than the vast majority. Only the Hermes can hope to match it before the Clan invasion, and it can't surpass it. Powering this impressive speed is a 215-rated fusion engine, although TRO: 3026 seems to have some discrepancy about the engine manufacturers. The power plant is listed as a MaxLift Hover Engine in the overview, but a Core Tek Fusion in the technical data below. Anomalous discrepancy aside, the engine is more than suited for the hovertank's needs, as well as providing ten free heat sinks for the weapons load. Moving on from the engine, the armor is fairly substantial for a hover, six and a half tons of ArcShield Heavy standard armor arranged to protect the vehicle from most incoming fire. The bulk of the armor protects the front and turret, although the sides and rear aren't lacking either. Sticking with period weapons, all locations can survive at least an AC/20 hit, and although the side and rear armor will buckle, the vehicle itself will survive, even if a rudimentary small laser would finish it from the rear, and a pair of SRMs from the sides. The front and turret will still have armor left, however, and it'll take another pair of SRMs to even strip in completely, much less destroy the vehicle. All things considered, a solid amount of armor for such a fast unit.
The weapons load on a Drillson is fairly hefty, and is centered primarily around one weapon, the Cyclops Eye Large Laser, produced by the same company that produces the Drillson itself, and mounted in the turret. The free heat sinks provided by the fusion engine are more than enough to deal with the heat load of the laser along, and the lack of any other energy weapons means that no others need to be added. Mounted alongside the laser lies a pair of Hovertec SRM-2 launchers with a single ton of ammo. Supporting the turret armament is a front mounted Light-Crossbow LRM-10 unit for long range punch, also with a single ton of ammo. Rounding out the last of the armament is a pair of front mounted Kicker Machine Guns that share a half ton of ammo. All in all, an acceptable armed, acceptably armored, superbly maneuverable vehicle. As the vehicle was developed in the late Succession Wars period, there is no C.A.S.E. included in the vehicle, and with two and a half tons of ammo, its lack is sorely felt by vehicle crews.
Four variants exist, although the viability of one or more is certainly questionable. The first variant is called the Drillson S2, or more simply, the Drillson (SRM). This variant trades out the LRM-10 to mount an additional four SRM-2 launchers and brings the ammunition total up to a total of three tons. The ammunition is perhaps a bit overboard, with 150 salvos for six launcher systems, but you do get a good bit of versatility, and the ability to mount standard, inferno, or another specialty ammunition of your choice to use in the field, and you're very unlikely to run out of ammo in even an extended operation. All four of the added launchers are front-mounted, giving this variant more forward firepower than the stock model, although at the cost of reduced range. No other part of the vehicle is changed for this variant.
The only other full production model available is a higher tech refit of the original. This version keeps the engine and speed of both previous models, but the primary point of the refit is to rip out all of the launchers on the craft and replace them with a quartet of Streak SRM-2 launchers, two in the turret, two in the front, fed by two tons of ammo in the body. Again, arguably overstocked with ammunition, with a full 25 shots available for each launcher. For whatever reason, the signature large laser was also replaced with a large pulse laser. The engagement range for this model is even further reduced than the S2, but highly accurate, precise close range fire helps to somewhat offset this. The Streak variant is very good at avoiding collateral damage if you happen to be fighting in a populated area, so there is that going for it. Even though this is a refit for the Clan invasion era, C.A.S.E. is not added, and instead the leftover half ton goes toward armor, raising the overall level of protection to a full seven tons of standard armor. This is enough to cover every section against an AC/20 hit, although the side armor will be a shadow of its former self. The front and turret are fully capable of taking a close range heavy gauss rifle slug without breaching, although there won't be any more armor left after that. No other significant modifications were made to the chassis.
The remaining variants are all either experimental, never mass produced, or impossible to reproduce. The first of these is a rumored upgrade to the original model, and changes very little. Dropping one of the turret SRM-2s, one of the forward mounted machine guns, and half a ton of armor, the Drillson manages to fit 12 heat sinks to support the new primary weapon: the then-experimental Cyclops XII ER Large Laser. No other modifications are made to the vehicle. The armor changes may not be very much in an absolute sense, but it makes the vehicle significantly less survivable. An AC/20 hit to the rear of the vehicle leaves the entire assembly just a hair's breadth from falling apart or shutting down, while the sides can't even survive an additional small laser hit after such a beating. The front and turret are also down-armored, although they can still survive a single AC/20 hit without breaching, requiring another SRM strike to break all the way through. C.A.S.E. is still notably absent, even as the ammunition doesn't change but the number of weapons decreases. Combined with the lowered armor, this is definitely a concern for the crew of one of these vehicles.
The most advanced and last variant is a more radical departure from the normal Drillson. All weaponry has been removed to instead mount a pair of Light PPCs in the turret and a single MML-3 launcher in the front of the vehicle. The MML launcher has the typical Drillson overabundance of ammo, with 33 salvos of short range munitions and fully 40 salvos of longer ranged missiles. The other change to the basic chassis is to render it flotation capable, and also Enviro-sealed resulting in a significant price mark-up. Finally, half a ton was added to the armor, bringing it up in line with the Streak variant. The last half ton is unused, relegating it to cargo space. Personally, I think it could have used another half ton of armor, but the designers felt otherwise.
On the less numbers intensive side of things, the Drillson was first produced in 3025 by Cyclops Incorporated, and is notable for a few unorthodox practices in construction. The targeting system is of particular note, and the so-called Evil Eye Tracking & Targeting System is markedly superior to most vehicle sensors, allowing for a much larger range of emission spectra, including the normal visible light range, but also adding IR and radar frequencies, although this kind of utility isn't particularly useful in any given battle, it can tip the tide in conditions hazardous to normal visibility. Additionally, the primary weapon of the primary variant, the Cyclops Eye Large Laser, isn't a traditional large laser, instead functioning as a hybrid of laser and particle cannon. This doesn't change its performance meaningfully, but it's reputed to be easier to maintain than your standard large laser.
Deployment wise, the standard Drillson was the first out of the factories in the already mentioned 3025 Lyran Commonwealth. The second production model, the S2, began rolling off the lines in 3028, and infantry all over the Inner Sphere cursed their luck. The ER Large Laser variant was tested at least briefly in 3039, but never saw full-scale production, and the Streak Drillson entered the scene a bit late for the brunt of the Clan invasion in 3053, but it certainly benefited from the upswing in technology. Bringing up the latter part of the timeline, the Sealed Drillson first tasted combat during the fires of the Jihad.
Aside from being a generally solid, speedy tank, the Drillson is otherwise unremarkable, with only a single notable pilot to its name, one Bernard “Banzai” Simon. His sole claim to fame is that he used his unit's Drillsons to run down a unit of Cappellan Confederation 'Mechs as they were mired in a swamp.
Using the Drillson varies only slightly by model. The base version is simple enough. Harass from long range with your LRM tubes, and once you've closed, use your turret mounted weapons to stay out of the line of fire as much as you can, popping laser hits and SRMs into the unprotected rears of enemy units. Your machine guns are there in case you run into an infantry platoon, not to encourage you to close to three hexes and light 'em up. The armor on all the variants can usually take a couple of the solid PPC or AC/10 hits that characterize the era it was introduced, but not enough to cure a case of terminal stupidity, and if you rush out against any 'Mech your size or smaller, you deserve the holy beating you're going to get. The ER large laser model can afford to hang back beyond medium range weapons and plink at range, but lacks a bit of the close ranged punch, and is less capable of dealing with infantry surprise parties.
The way weapons are mounted on the SRM Drillson doesn't make circle-strafing the poor, confused 'Mech jock trying to kill you any harder, but it certainly pales in effectiveness to your newly strengthened forward firepower. Play it safe and circle-strafe from cover to cover with your turret, or go for broke and hail SRMs on a vital section, either will usually accomplish the objective. This holds true for the Streak Drillson as well, with the added benefit that you can't waste ammunition, and your missiles won't miss unless there's ECM or a wall in the way. The large pulse laser means you have to get closer to engage in the first place, but you've still got the punch to make a 'Mech know it's been touched, and enough range to keep yourself out of dead-to-rights territory where all weapons are at short range while still being able to hit without needing to be an elite pilot. The last variant, the Sealed Drillson, operates the most radically different. The twin light PPCs in the turret give you an acceptable punch at range, and the front mounted MML-3 can help out, but your overall firepower is much reduced.
All Drillsons are vehicles, more specifically hovers, and that means they are exceptionally vulnerable to cluster-hit generating weapons and motive critical hits. An LB-10X is probably the best way to stop one, as it easily outranges all but the LRM-10 on the standard model, and the ER large on the 3039 model. The Sealed Drillson can be a bit more difficult to pin down, but will ultimately be almost as easily disabled. Once the motive system is out, it shouldn't take too terribly long to knock out. If you get the opportunity for rear hits, take them, as that's the quickest way to drop one of these guys, as it is with most vehicles and 'Mechs. Other than LBX autocannons, some of the bigger weapons can take down a Drillson in one volley, particularly the 20 rated autocannons, or heavy gauss rifles. Precision autocannon ammunition at range can also be quite helpful in slowing the buggers down enough to hit them before they can do serious damage to your forces. To sum up: deal with it like any other fast vehicle. Disable the motive system, and then destroy with impunity.
You can find additional information and artwork at the Master Unit List, and Camospecs has the minis as always.
This is my first article, so comments are even more appreciated than usual.
