Veritech Hovertank

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The VHT-1 Spartas Veritech Hovertank is a fictional transformable mecha from the anime series Robotech, based upon the ATAC-SCA-01 Spartas of Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross.

The Spartas Hovertank was one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of the Army of the Southern Cross (ASC), and operated exclusively by the Alpha Tactical Armored Corps branch of the ASC. Significantly smaller than the larger Robotech Defense Force (RDF) Veritech mecha of the First Robotech War, the Spartas Hovertank was a fast response unit capable of fighting on most terrains or cityscapes without destroying the buildings in the crossfire.

Highly mobile and heavily armored, the Spartas boasted a number of lethal weapon systems. The mecha's tank mode was a high speed form that allowed the vehicle to close with the enemy with considerable maneuverability, it's hovering jets allowing it traverse almost any terrain without pause. In this mode, the mecha's only weapon is the gunpod which is aligned on top of the forward hood. Its most powerful weapon was revealed in the transformation to the intermediary Guardian mode, and was the large cannon mounted in its right arm shield with a back-up tri-barreled cannon housed on the opposite arm. However, engaging this mode could be dangerous considering its sharply limited mobility, a trade-off sacraficed for the vehicle's maximum firepower. When that situation was ill advised, the tank could go into Battloid mode which reconfigured the tank into a humanoid fighting machine which allowed the pilot more flexibility for both defense and offense. Like most Veritech mecha, it also carried a gun pod, which was forward mounted at the mecha's tank mode and held as a long arm in battloid, although in the Spartas' case this was energy-based.

Unlike most ASC vehicles and mecha in the early part of the Second Robotech War, the Spartas was highly effective in ground-to-air battles against the invading Robotech Masters Bioroid forces. Their involvement in several crucial battles would account for the few victories the ASC could point to.

During the latter part of the Second Robotech War, the Spartas Hovertank was equipped with jettison-able parts including a cockpit cover and space thrusters. Other improvements to late model hovertanks included the Nichols Vision Track Firing System. By using computerized systems to follow the pupil responses of the tank's pilot, the VTFS (or Pupil Pistol) drastically improved the mecha's weapon targeting and threat response capabilities.

The VHT, and the Logan fighter to a lesser degree, indicate a shift in mecha design policy in terms of firepower. The original RDF mecha and their REF descendents are all highly reliant on missles to provide a large part of their firepower. The Earth of the mid- to late-2010s just didn't have the industrial capacity to support that doctrine and missle use was sharply rationed. The Spartas and the Logan were both designed with energy-based weaponry that had an effecitvly unlimited capacity as long as the mecha itself was powered. This in combination with the extremely tough armour plating gave the Spartas a great battlefield staying power in that they could withstand and deal vast amounts of damage to any number of enemies.

Few Spartas Hovertanks survived the subsequent Invid Invasion and even less would participate in the Third Robotech War.