Sagittarius

Specifications
Use	Fire support Strider
Production Code	OWCS-54X
Manufacturer	Allied Defense Works
Height	7.8 meters
Speed	Walker: 60 kph

The Sagittarius is one of the most recent strider designs developed by the preceptors assigned to weapon research in the Humanist Alliance. An unusual bipedal strider chassis, the Sagittarius is intended to provide heavy long range support to very mobile armored forces. The strider is quite agile and fast for a vehicle of its size (in great part because of its unstable two-legged design), but suffers from overly fragile lower body actuators and long maintenance downtime. The main weakness of the legs are the overexposed actuators, which require more room than usual in order to function and are thus relatively easy to damage.

As the Sagittarius is not intended to directly confront hostile units, this was not termed a decisive weakness and is still present on the pre-production models presently in testing.

This is more than offset by the speed and maneuverability of the machine, which allows it to follow Gears in rough terrain and enables mixed groups to be posted in sectors so rough that opposing forces would never suspect an enemy battery might be placed there. The mobility also comes in handy to avoid counter-battery fire, an ever-present threat for support units.

The Sagittarius, thanks to advanced drive and fire control computers, can be operated by just two persons. The pilot and the system operator sit side-by-side in the large pod-like main body. A large clamshell-type armored hatch provides excellent protection, though it forces the crew to rely on the vehicle’s sensor apparatus (which is otherwise excellent) for vision.

The Sagittarius’ nickname comes from the rack of eight Spiculum hyper-velocity artillery missiles carried atop the main hull. Each carries eight sub-munition warheads that can be set for grouped or wide dispersion, depending on the requirement of the fire mission. A light autocannon and a heavy machinegun round out the close-in defense armament of the vehicle, although the Sagittarius is not expected to have to face direct enemy fire. Both are mounted side by side in an underslung turret on standard modular mount for easy removal (they can even be exchanged to suit the pilot's preferences). They are present to give the crew something to fight with should they encounter hostile infantry or light vehicles. Any opposants heavier than a Gear will defeat a lone Sagittarius with ease.

Usage

The Sagittarius has begun limited distribution to front line Alliance units under the watchful eye of the Republican military observers. Because the strider is a completely new design, not based on or even derived from an existing chassis, all systems and components were tested for several thousands of hour in the computers before being crafted. As such, they are no “true” prototypes for the vehicle, the first twenty models built being the early production version. Still, the preparations paid off and the first completed Sagittarius walked off the Thebes assembly line last cycle without a hitch. The crew were immediatly impressed by the sheer physical size of the vehicle, which towers nearly eight meters above the ground on two spindly backward-canted legs. Early live-fire tests are extremely promising, with the missiles flying true on target every time.

Though the vehicle cannot fire its missiles on the run, it has demonstrated good aptitudes for hit-and-scamper artillery bombardments by making extensive use of hard cover. Pilots were quick to program special macros allowing them to "squat" their machines at will, cutting its height to a more respectable 5.5 meters. Other than the random minor glitches of a new vehicle type, the testing program is going extremely well. Crews from the 28th Provisional Protector Groups are having a field day, lobbing scores of blue-painted inert Spiculum missiles at polymer and fiberglasss targets, both mobile and immobile, on the experimental artillery testing range on the outskirt of Thebes’ territory. Despite the vehicle’s design weaknesses (such as short ammunition supplies and fragile legs), the crews have been quite enthusiastic about it.

Gallery

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