SPECIFICATIONS

GOVERNMENT: Ceres Regency
TYPE: Heavy Battlerobot
MODELS: PanzerWeirMech PzWM-01
DATE INTRODUCED: 2065 AD
LENGTH: 15.35 feet
WIDTH: 29.5 feet
HEIGHT: 57.45 feet
MATERIAL: Composite-Alloy
POWER PLANT: Ceres Energy CEFR-235
OUTPUT: 235 megawatts
ARMOR TYPE: Composite-Alloy
ARMOR THICKNESS: 5.5 inches
DISPLACEMENT: 50 tons
CREW: 2 (1 Pilot, 1 Gunner)

PROPULSION

             PRIMARY (FLIGHT):
             2x Hygiea Factory #8 IE-7.5  nuclear rocket engine
             SPEED: 11,400 mph each (22,800 mph total)

             PRIMARY (WALKER):
             1x Hygiea Factory #6 WE-01
             SPEED: 20 mph

WEAPONS:

             PRIMARY (OFFENSIVE):
             2x Mawzer EMPAC-01 35-megawatt electromagnetic particle accelerator cannon; Effective Range: 175 miles; Payload: unlimited with nuclear battery clutch; ROF: 1 blast every ten seconds per cannon, 6 blasts per cannon per minute or 12 blasts per minute combined.

              SECONDARY (ASSAULT):
              4x Watzler SRML-54 missile launcher; Missile Type: Ceres CSRM-005 short-range television-guided missile with 5-pound warhead; Effective Range:  1.1 miles; Payload: 16 missiles each launcher (64 total); ROF: 1-4 missiles per salvo (2 second discharge) per launcher.

ELECTRONICS:

             1x Microwave Radio Communications array with a 18,000-mile range.
             1x RADAR array with a range of 500 miles.
             1x Laser Communications array with a 80,000-mile range.
             1x Multispectral video sensor array with a 1000 miles range.

Description/Overview:
         As their plans for ousting the Solar Empire commenced into their initial phases of motion, the Regency conspirators of the UNSC came to the realization that they would need a vast army of mechanized units to overwhelm the battalions of UNSC tank forces.  Of particular concern was the dreaded Type-55 Main Battle Hover Tank.  The Type-55 was the mainline combat unit for nearly all of the UN Solar Empire’s forces, and if any attempt at a coup were to succeed, then an effective countermeasure was needed to overcome this obstacle.
         As news of the EFR MBR-01 reached the ears of the conspirators from their EFR co-conspirators in 2065 AD, they began looking towards the creation of a battlerobot design to fill the ranks of their new army rather than a new tank design.  Thus, the Regency conspirators set out searching for ideas and possible configurations for the mecha that would lead the charge to form their grand new Republic. UNSC research and development teams had been looking at building the KV-1 (Kosmo-Vehicle type 1) since the end of the Great War to replace their force of hovertanks.  The KV-1 was essentially a traditional tracked tank with the top half of a robot instead of a standard turret.  They abandoned the design in 2063 as the focus of the UNSC combat missions moved towards dealing with spacecraft like the Kentucky, Ogre, and Juno vessels rather than actual planetary combat.
         The top portion of the KV-1 had a pair of EMPAC cannons mounted in the “palms” of a pair of robotic arms and four anti-vehicle multi-shot missile launchers on the sides of the torso.  The Regency conspirators knew as soon as they laid their eyes on the classified blueprints of the KV-1 that the top half of the abandoned tank project would serve as the upper body design for thier new battlerobot.  As the leaders of the conspiracy perused the KV-1 documents, they came across a “future development stage” KV-2 suggestion, which was exactly what they had envisioned for their new battlerobot.  The machine was the standard KV-1 top body mounted on a two-legged, rugged, battlerobot design with both planetary and space applications.  Within a month of his discovery, the secret Hygiea factories loyal to the conspirators began churning out the KV-2 renamed PanzerWeirMech-01 or PzWM-01.
         Even though the PzWM-01 was an amazing battlerobot for its time, it ran into a snare, so the PanzerWeirMech was not put to use until 2073.  This problem for the Regency conspirators was the discovery of the alien factory at Alpha Centauri and The Order of the Aleph surviving the planetoid impact.  These two factors prevented the Regency conspirators from launching their coup until the 1st Interplanetary War had already begun.  By that time, much of the technology of the PzWM-01 was nearing obsolescence and the design itself was not as menacing on the battlefield as it would have been a decade earlier, as was proven during the Mars campaign when numerous PzWM-01s fell prey to the EFSM HBR-01D and HBR-01T type battlerobots. However, the PzWM-01 was still adequate to perform its mission and go head-to-head with most of the Earth Federal Forces inventory of battlerobots (MBR-01 series).
         The greatest flaw in the PzWM-01 was its Hygiea Factory #6 WE-01 walker engine. Due to the prohibitive size of walker engines of the 2060s, the PanzerWeirMech had a miserably slow maximum speed of twenty miles per hour.  This drawback of the design did not matter in space, but on planets like Mars and Venus, it was the difference between victory and defeat.  It was for this reason that the PzWM-01 was fitted with a pair of Hygiea Factory #8 IE-7.5 low yield ion engines for flight.  These engines had nearly unlimited range and were the mecha’s primary form of movement.  These engines were able to push the battlerobot at speeds of 11,400 mph each, or 22,800 mph total.  This speed was perfect for the PanzerWeirMech, as it was not fitted with an antigravity/gravitational control unit.  This limited speed prevented pilots, who could not safely withstand speeds in excess of Mach 35 (26,600 mph) without blacking out, from pushing the g-comp systems of the battlerobot beyond safe tolerances.
         The main weapons of the PanzerWeirMech were far more powerful than anything fielded by the UN or EFR during the 2060s and the early 2070s (initial years of the 1st Interplanetary War).  The pair of Mawzer EMPAC-01 35-megawatt electromagnetic particle accelerator cannons mounted in the arms of the mecha was able to melt through the armor of nearly any MBR-01 type or UN hovertank with a single dual blast from both cannons.  The range of these beam weapons also gave them a distinct advantage over most other weaponry in use by any of the other contenders for control of the Sol System during the 1st Interplanetary War, as the Earth Federal Space Marines found out on Mars in 2077 AD.
         In addition to its pair of heavy beam weapons, the PzWM-01 had four “proximal” missile launchers.  These four Watzler SRML-54 missile pods were initially intended for anti-vehicle and anti-personnel uses, and thus fired the Ceres CSRM-005 short-range television-guided missile with 5-pound warhead.  The effective range of this missile was only 1.1 miles.  However, after the UN Solar Empire’s legions of heavily armed and armored multiped tanks had fallen to the USR and EFSM forces due mostly to the use of powerful proximal weapons, the Ceres Regency decided to use the four launchers as a close-range/anti-armor set of weaponry. Therefore, these launchers were normally filled with HEAP missiles.  Each of these four launchers held a payload of 16 missiles and was able to fire in volleys of one to four missiles.  This provided the machine with a meager means of self-defense should an enemy unit get in close to try to use its proximal weapon.
         The PanzerWeirMech-01 was unusual for a battlerobot of its day because it had a crew of two: one pilot and one gunner.  The reason for this crew arrangement was due to the fact that the battlerobot lacked fibro-carbon muscles, and thus the craft required a dedicated pilot to control and fly the vehicle without the distraction of also handling the weapons.  The gunner was also free to watch for enemy units while the pilot drove the craft.  This combination was very effective and gave the crew a slight advantage over other battlerobots. Unfortunately, this advantage was lost due to the slow reaction time of the PzWM-01 itself.
         The PzWM-01 lacked any form of defense systems except its exceptionally thick armor plating.  The fifty-seven-foot giant was a walking battleship in so far as its armor was concerned.  This attribute alone was enough to spur the enemies of Ceres into developing devastating weaponry used to fight this monster.  The Saturn PF-4U was among the most prominent of the anti-Ceres machines built due to the PzWM-01.
         The PanzerWeirMech type one was produced from some time in late 2065 at Hygiea up until the outbreak of the 1st Interplanetary War.  Subsequently, all PzWM-01s produced up to that point were transported to the Second Object in the asteroid belt.  Production began again in 2076, only this time on Ceres and Pallas, although at a greatly reduced pace due to the mass production of the JägerWeirMech, which had proven to be superior to the PzWM-01 in combat with the MBR-01 series.  Exact numbers of PzWM-01s built during the 2060s and 70s is sketchy at best, but some experts claim that as many as 55,000 units may have been produced.  The vast majority of these were destroyed at the Battle of the Vesta Atlas gap in 2077.  The PzWM-01 was produced at Ceres and Pallas until 2079 AD.