Palladium - Div100 Van (Elemental)

Van (C/A), Xhvy Ch., Hvy-Active Sus., driver & gunner, 150 cu ICE (blue/tube/VP/Spr) + 5 gal duel tank (8DP); 6 Solid (FP/Radial) tires; 3 space pop-up cupola with gunner + ITL + HR (AP) and 3 space rocket mag (all AP); VFRP (30/AP) in 3-space sponson turret front, LGL to ITL front, smartlink between 2 ITL, ID back (25/reg), 10 dischargers: 8 hot smoke (2 R,L,T, 1 each F & B) with F-B-R-L-T linked to laser-reactive nets, 2 Oil (Under); Fake Ramplate; Spoiler & Airdam; HD-ABS; 2 HRSWC (driver to front IRL); no-paint windshield, ID-VFRP link, all dischargers panic linked; 4 bumper triggers, driver has blended BA + FP suit; 9 Pts LR-FP WH/WG on each (36 total); 152 pts Sloped LR-FP Plastic Armor: F30 B30 L33 R33 T16 U10; Acc. 15, Top 82.5, HC 4 (5), 7197 lbs., $99,445.00

• Option 1: cupola is regular, remove fake ramplate, add 2 HR (AP) front - linked to front ITG, 9 pts LR-FP CA for VFRP; 1 pt vehicle armor, blended BA for gunner, 7199.8 lbs., $100,340
  
  
• Option 2: Non C/A option - original design but change Solids to PR Tires (same mods), remove: fake ramplate, spoiler & airdam, 1 pt WH, and 38 pts armor (114 total), 7196.4 lbs, $73,035.
  
  
• Option 3: Non C/A with just FP armor: Solids to PR, remove ramplate, spoiler, airdam, have full 10 pt WH/WG only remove 27 pts armor (125 total), add FP suit for gunner, 7199.8 lbs, $72,305 <

Design Notes - This design was in my head all weekend; it's based on the concept of how to best use the idiotic restrictions of vans (see full rant here): too much space, too little carrying capacity. One way to go with vans is to go with large space, low weight weapons - often defensive, but Rockets fit in this as well. Many of my van designs are like that (see whole list here.) And, as usual, I'm drawn/stuck with a C/A frame. One of these days I'll make a decent non-C/A van. I did include a non-C/A option but 109 pts of armor is just suicide.

In any case, one thing I felt was totally missing in any design I've read is the cupola, and especially the pop-up cupola. Are Q-devices/disguised weapons useful at all? Most arena battles seem to take place over a few game seconds and first-choice targets are often chosen by proximity and luck - i.e. where your car started in the arena and who's next to you. In that (common) situation, does the walk-around info matter? Possibly a fake ramplate is good with a C/A frame (I've designed that a few times before), hoping that a ICE's acceleration will dupe a few people. But does this cupola - limited on a van to a 1 space weapon - give any strategic advantage?

With the 1 space limit of a cupola, I'm limited to pissant weapons; the mighty guided missiles are totally impractical for the arena; MMLs/LL/HMGs are all that's left, and are not worth the elaborate pop-up ruse; so I felt that the laser guided HR trick should work. I don't know if it's legal to smartlink anything in a cupola - it's possible that the cupola rules have lain fallow for a long time because nobody really cares. The only real advantage that I can see to a cupola is the (hopefully legal) +1 accuracy added onto any targeting computer.

Note, this design could be moot if I need a laser battery for the targeting laser. Logically, I shouldn't - because even the normal internal combustion engines of today have a, what do they call those things, oh yeah, BATTERIES! There's a mess of electronics on a 21st Century gas burning car... that's what the battery is used for. Gas powered Main Battle Tanks have batteries for that reason too.

I also wanted to use some stuff I generally eschew (e.g. VFRP, sponson mounts) and some things I need to use all the time (laser reactive nets).

Name Notes - From the element, which, according to the Wiki, is "a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas."

[Updated Nov 5, 2013]