Northern Gun LAV Upgrades & Augmentations

Northern Gun LAV Upgrades & Augmentations:

Since it was first founded, Northern Gun has manufactured repair parts from other designs along with their own products. Many of these products that they manufactured parts were Pre-Rifts designs. Virtually all of the manufactures of Pre-Rifts designs perished when the Rifts came. While there have been ups and downs for Northern Gun, generally business has been quite good. Recently, this has changed. While nowhere near taking a loss, Northern Gun's profits are down. This started with Iron Heart Industry's competition but has not ended with that. Other companies have begun springing up including Iron Armory and Metalworks Incorporated. As well, some small governments have begun manufacturing products and selling surplus to support themselves. Still, Metalworks and Iron Armory are considered the most competitive to their company. Northern Gun started to look into ways of cutting into the two companies own fields. One of Iron Armory's products is an eight wheeled vehicle known as the LAV-800 Mountain Lion. Golden Age Weaponsmiths produces a similar design based on a Pre-Rifts armored vehicle design. While not nearly as advanced as the Mountain Lion, the Golden Age design was seen as having a lot of potential.

Northern Gun purchased one of each model of the LAV and began exploring ways of improving each design. They have designed new weapon systems and external armor for the vehicles. In addition, they offer to upgrade sensors and internal systems to the standards of robot vehicles and can replace internal engines with a fusion reactor. While these upgrades greatly increase the cost of the vehicle, they are often still cheaper than the Iron Armory design and are far less expensive than true tanks are. Most of the augmentations are designed for the versions of the LAV which are newly manufactured by Golden Age.

Northern Gun sales representatives have come up with a special name for the upgraded models of the LAV. They call them Strykers. One item that Northern Gun pushes heavily is the upgrading of the engine from conventional to being powered by a fusion reactor.

Fusion Reactor Conversion:
Replace Conventional engine with 10 year fusion reactor from Mountaineer ATV. Can only be done to new manufacture versions of the LAV.
Black Market Cost: 500,000 credits

External Armor Kits: Requires about two hours to attach the external armor by most trained crews. Can be done to all models of the
Adds 100 MDC to the main body and 25 MDC to the turret
Reduce road speed to 56 mph (90.1 kph) and off road speed to 46 mph (74 kph)
Black Market Cost: 450,000 credits

Sensor Upgrades:
Upgrades sensors to the same standard as robot vehicles
Black Market Cost: 800,000 credits

Life Support:
Upgrades life support to the same standard as robot vehicle
Black Market Cost: 250,000 credits

Weapon Upgrades: Weapon system such as missile launchers are not altered.

LAV-25 Armored Personnel Vehicle:
1. Rapid Fire Howitzer Rail Gun (1): Replaces 25 mm auto cannon and although an anti-aircraft design is also a very effective combat weapon against an armored vehicle. The cannon is controlled by the gunner. It is identical to the NG-H155, with the exception of a slightly different turret and external barrel, from the NG-V7 Hunter Mobile Gun. The turret can angle 90 degrees up and 30 degrees down and has 360 degree rotation.
  Maximum Effective Range: 6,000 feet (1,828 meters).
  Mega Damage: Short Burst of 40 rounds: 1D6x10. Long Burst of 80 rounds: 2D6x10.
  Rate of Fire: Equal to the pilots combined hand to hand of gunner (usually 5 or 6).
  Payload: Carries 8000 (200 short burst or 100 long bursts) rounds in a drum magazine. The cargo area has up to two additional drums. Reloading is done inside the vehicle and takes two melee rounds (30 seconds) for two crewmen or passengers and six melees (90 seconds) if only one person is involved or the people aren't trained in the reload procedure.
  Black Market Cost: 1.5 million credits.
LAV-AD Air Defense Vehicle:
1. NG-44L Vulcan Laser (1): This is a direct copy of the Iron Heart IH-44L cannon and is quite powerful and directly replaces the 25 mm GAU-12 Gatling Cannon. The weapon consists of six rotating laser cannons, cycling through bursts of six blasts per second. While the original Iron Heart tank had a special battery to store power for the weapon on versions of the tank that were not fusion powered, this weapon is only available by Northern Gun on versions of the LAV-AD powered by a fusion reactor.
  Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)
  Mega-Damage: 3D4 x 10 M.D. per instantaneous burst (counts as one blast/attack).
  Rate of Fire: Can shoot up to six times per melee!
  Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
LAV-MGS Mobile Gun System:
1. 90 mm Electro Thermal Cannon (1): Replaces the 105 mm cannon carried on the GAW LAV-MGS and is quite a bit more powerful. The weapon is identical to the weapon carried on the Lightning Fight scout tank. The projectile is loaded into the barrel, behind which there is a "propellant", which is a dot of light metal. A powerful electromagnetic force is applied to the metal, which causes its atoms to "switch" directions. This happens so violently that the metal turns to plasma, and this expanding gas then drives the projectile forward. Since the cannon is built into a turret, it can rotate 360-degrees and can aim upwards 60 degrees - allowing it to engage low-flying aircraft and creatures. The cannon is controlled by a gunner inside the turret compartment. This weapon requires that the vehicle be converted to fusion power.
  Maximum Effective Range: 3.5 miles (5.6 km).
  Mega Damage: A single round 3D6x10 (optional rule is that cannon gets a critical on a natural 18, 19, or 20 due to its high penetration). Can use High Explosive rounds that does 2D4x10 M.D. with a blast radius of 20 ft (6.1 m). High Explosive Anti Tank does 2D6x10 M.D. with a blast radius of 10 ft (3.0 m).
  Rate of Fire: Maximum of four per melee.
  Payload: 32 rounds (smaller and require less propellent). Normally 16 rounds are of standard anti-tank slugs.
  Black Market Cost: 2 million credits.
Machine-gun Replacements: Several different weapon systems can be used as replacements for the standard machine-guns carried. Most versions of the LAV have at least two weapon mounts and the replacements must be purchased for each mount replaced.
1. Pulse Laser Mount: This weapon has the main advantage of not requiring any ammunition but has the disadvantage of not effecting targets which are impervious to energy. It is similar to hand held lasers but has a greater range. The weapon plugs directly into the power supply for the vehicle.
  Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)
  Mega-Damage: 3D6 for single shot and 1D6x10 for three round burst.
  Rate of Fire: Equal to gunners hand to hand
  Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
  Black Market Cost: 200,000 credits each
2. NG-101 Rail Gun: Smaller and lighter rail gun manufactured by Northern Gun. The main advantage of the Rail Gun is against targets which are impervious to energy weapons. While it does not inflict as much damage as other rail gun designs, it still inflicts greater damage than the machine-guns it replaces.
  Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet ( 1,200 m)
  Mega-Damage: A burst is 30 rounds and inflicts 6D6 M.D. One round does 1D4 M.D.
  Rate of Fire: Equal to number of combined hand to hand attacks (usually 4-6) of the gunner.
  Payload: 6000 round drum for 200 bursts.
  Black Market Cost: 50,000 credits each
3. NG-202 Rail Gun (1): Available in two different versions. One version fires bursts of 40 rounds at a time and one version fires bursts of 60 rounds at a time. The version which fires long bursts inflicts greater damage but uses up ammunition faster. The main advantage of the Rail gun is against targets which are impervious to energy weapons. Both weapons inflict far more damage than the rail guns they replace.
  Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet ( 1,200 m)
  Mega-Damage: Normal Version: A burst is 40 rounds and inflicts 1D4x10 M.D. One round does 1D4 M.D. Upgrade Version: A burst is 60 rounds and inflicts 1D6x10 M.D. One round does 1D4 M.D.
  Rate of Fire: Equal to number of combined hand to hand attacks (usually 4-6) of the gunner.
  Payload: 600 round drums (150 bursts for standard version and 100 bursts for upgraded model)
  Black Market Cost: 70,000 credits each for standard model and 125,000 credits each for upgraded model.
4. WI-NFT-1 Napalm P Plasma Flamethrower: While Northern Gun and Wellington Industries are not on the best terms, the need for this weapon system has forced Northern Gun to purchase them as an option for the armored vehicle. While not effective against aircraft, the wide area the weapon covers is very effective. This weapon fires a stream of liquid which when activated "burns" for a short period of time (1D4 minutes) and inflicts damage during that duration. This is not a conventional plasma weapon that heats materials to the point beyond gas and has some interesting properties. Because the canisters for the plasma cannon are well inside of the tank, the damage from explosion are minimal unless the tank is destroyed.
  Maximum Effective Range: 500 feet (152.4 meters)
  Mega-Damage: A short plasma burst inflicts 3D6 M.D. A concentrated plasma burst (counts as two attacks; 7 seconds) inflicts 1D4x10 M.D. As an additional option, the plasma weapon can be used to cover a wide area. Up to an area of 10 ft radius can be effected per melee attack. All targets within the area of effect will take 2D6 M.D. and will continue to receive 2D6 M.D. of damage per melee for a period of 1D4 minutes. The plasma fire cannot be extinguished with water, instead sand or special chemicals designed to fight metal fires must be used.
  Rate of Fire: Equal to number of combined hand to hand attacks (usually 4-6) of the gunner.
  Payload: The armored vehicle has 4 Napalm-P tanks which gives the weapon 400 "shots".
  Black Market Cost: 60,000 credits each
5. WI-GL 21 Automatic Grenade Launcher: Another Wellington product available for the armored vehicle. While Northern Gun is very competitive with Wellington, the amount of demand for this weapon has caused Northern Gun to offer the weapon system for their upgrade packages. It inflicts a lot of damge and while shorter in range, it is actually a match in damage for the main weapon of the vehicle.
  Maximum Effective Range: 3,000 feet (914 meters)
  Mega-Damage: 4D6 for Fragmentation with a blast area of 12 feet (3.7 meters) and 1D4x10 for Armor Piercing with a blast area of 3 feet (0.9 meters), burst of 10 rounds does 2D6x10 for Fragmentation with a blast area of 40 feet (12.2 meters) and 3D6x10 for Armor Piercing with a blast area of 8 feet (2.4 meters).
  Rate of Fire: Equal to combined hand to hand attacks of gunner
  Payload: 400 Rounds
  Black Market Cost: 200,000 credits each

[Northern Gun TM, NG TM, Golden age TM, Wellington Industries TM, and WI TMare trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).