Bolo MK. XXXIII/D-1025-AKH (Achilles)

Last crawled date: 9 months, 3 weeks ago

A Bolo is a fictional type of artificially intelligent super heavy tank featured in a continuing series of future Science Fiction stories first imagined by Keith Laumer in the short story 'Combat Unit' in 1960 and follows the long evolution of these ground based defensive machines as they parallel mankind’s efforts to reach for the stars. Beginning with the first Bolo Mk.1, a semi-automated diesel powered heavy tank produced by the Bolo Division of General Motors in the early 21st century, the stories follow the evolution of both humanity and machine through Earths WW3 in 2040, the slow reunification of nations into the single Concordiant Earth Government in 2092, its thousand year expansion to the stars and its eventual collapse after the destruction of Earth with humanities near extinction following the 200 year “Final War” in 3400 – 3600 with the Melconian Empire, and finally it’s rise again after the 400 year period of barbaric dark ages called the “Long Night” as the New Republic in 4000 AD. And all during mankind’s long march to the stars, its decline and eventual rebirth, the Bolos were there, steadily evolving as the protectors of humanity, until the final recorded variant, the MK. XXXIII, a 32,000 ton sentient behemoth with enough firepower to protect a planet developed in 3400 AD. And it was the handful of these machines, remnants of the Final war and survivors of the famous Bolo Dinochrome Brigade, who protected and nurtured the scattered pockets of human survivors through the Long Night. This model represents the final recorded evolution of the Bolo models, the Bolo Mk. XXXIII/D-1025-AKH), codename Achilles, shown in jungle camouflage coloring. It is 40 meters tall, 190.5 meters long, and 79.5 meters wide, driven by quad 15 meter wide caterpillar tracks capable of a max speed of 125 km/h. Its hull armor consists of 50 cm of endurochrome with reactive armor overlay, surrounded by 70 cm side hull add-on reactive armor shields. Primary armament consists of three extendable mount 200 cm. Super Hellbore long range deuterium-fusion pulse canon turrets, each with a firing rate of one 5-megaton pulse / sec., constructed from 50 cm endurachrome overlaid with reactive appliqués armor. Secondary armament consists of (20) turret mounted 35 cm ion-bolt infinite repeaters in two ten-gun lateral batteries, (4) turret mounted 110 cm howitzers in two lateral batteries with dual mount 20cm ion-bolt infinite repeaters atop each turret, and (33) hull perimeter mounted 5.75 cm “dual Gatling style infinite repeaters on extendable mounts. Defensive systems include (48) hull mounted short-range 30cm mortars in two lateral banks, a hull mounted VLS (Vertical Launch) missile system consisting of 36 hyper-velocity surface-to-space and 352 anti-air / anti-personal missiles in four lateral banks, dual drone hangers equipped with UAV and UGV hover drones as well as launch able MILSAT spy satellites, while protecting the entire unit is a dual ply mono-permeable anti-kinetic battle screen designed to convert a percentage of most types of hostile energy fire into useful power for the unit. The Mk. XXXIII features an advanced spectrum sensor suite covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including FTL communications, while all vehicle computer and control functions are handled through an advanced direct human-Bolo neural-psychotronic interface, although the units advanced A.I. system is fully capable of independent operations without human intervention. Finally, the unit is powered by (3) cold-fusion reactors, with ionic battery backups, allowing overall unit operations for decades, while main psychotronic A.I. core functions could potentially function for centuries on their built-in self-contained power systems. Thanks go out to J.R. Stewart of the 3d warehouse whose Bolo model formed the basis of this model, along with thanks to cyberia23, kareem E., Neko, dragoonphill, Andywerk, Rock-n-Roll, and abdyla for their numerous contributions. Note that both the main turrets and the 33 Gatling gun perimeter turrets are dynamic components that can rise from their traveling to operational positions, while a representation of the Bolo’s battlescreen can be activated from the Layers menu. A model of the current Abrams A-1 tank is included for scale. #sci_fi, #Keith_Laumer,#tank,#Bolo, #Hellbore