Craft: Rendilli Practical Design MTT Mudrat Mark 4
Type: Amphibious transport
Scale: Speeder
Length: 17 meters
Skill: Repulsorlift Operations; Mudrat
Cost: 22,500 credits
Crew: 2
Passengers: 60 fully armed troops
Cover: Full
Cargo Capacity: 500 metric tons
Move: 77; 220 kph
Maneuverability: 1D+1
Body Strength: 4D
Altitude Range: 12 meters (see below)
Weapons:
1 Heavy blaster cannon
Scale: Speeder
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: Pilot
Skill: Vehicle Blasters
Fire Control: 2D
Range: 10-50m/250m/500m
Damage: 5D
1 Heavy cutting laser
Scale: Speeder
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: Co-Pilot
Skill: Vehicle Blasters
Fire Control: 1D
Range: 10m/40m/80m
Damage: 7D
2 Repeating blasters
Scale: Character
Fire Arc: 1 Right, 1 Left
Crew: 1 Each
Skill: Blasters; Repeating Blasters
Fire Control: 3D
Range: 10-20m/100m/200m
Damage: 6D
1 Light blaster cannon
Scale: Speeder
Fire Arc: Rear
Crew: 1
Skill: Vehicle Blasters
Fire Control: 1D
Range: 10-50m/200m/600m
Damage: 4D
The first of RPD's major successes, the Mudrat is known for
it's ability to slog through some of the worst terrain known, from
typhoon ridden seas, to heavy brush, to windswept ice plains, to
just about anything else. While the Mudrat will not move it's
passengers with any degree of comfort, it will get them anywhere
they want to go, and has proved indispensable in numerous
campaigns. The listed passenger and cargo statistics are when both
are carried. The passenger area can be converted for cargo quite
easily, and the cargo area can hold passengers with equally little
difficulty.
The Mudrat travels as a normal repulsorlift vehicle, but has
far more powerful flight stabilizers than most other craft, and can
only be affected by the most truly catastrophic atmospheric
conditions. When these stabilizers are disengaged, the Mudrat has
a flight ceiling of 100 meters, allowing it to ascend to higher
altitudes to avoid short patches of greater than average
difficulty. Mudrats are also equipped with small and weak tractor
beams that it can use to enable it to ascend virtually sheer walls,
up to 87ø inclination.
The cutting laser is lifted right off of Primeworld's Snake
series (Python, Fer De Lance, Anaconda) of exploration vehicles, as
several of the engineers involved in that project were later
recruited by RPD. When combined with the heavy blaster cannon, the
Mudrat's laser can cut a trail extremely quickly. The repeating
blasters are anti-personnel weapons, and the rear cannon is there
to hold off enemy craft long enough to allow escort speeders to
engage them. The heavy blaster is the Mudrat's main weapon, and is
there to enable the Mudrat to hold it's own when attempting to
establish a beach-head on hostile territory.