Mortar Truck

Mortar Truck
A haphazardly constructed Mortar truck
Minor Faction	Vietcong
Other Faction(s)	None
Unit Type	Truck
Designation	Anti Ground
Production Building	Tunnel Complex
Secondary Ability	Smoke Rounds File:AbilityVCMortarTruck.png Slows down enemies in a radius
Cost	800
Production Time	0:10
Heroic Upgrade	High Impact Rounds • Stuns on impact
Dev. Status	In game

Country of Origin	North Vietnam
Produced by/ Recovered from	Someone's backyard
Key Features	» Homemade 88mm mortar  » "Stealth generator" made from fishing nets  » Long range advanced targeting device (pair of binoculars)  » Extremely old and worn V6 engine  » Spare tire (often borrowed by other vehicles)

"Where the HELL is that mortar fire coming from?"

-Peacekeeper under fire from Mortar Trucks

Tactical Analysis

• Can't catch me: The Mortar Truck is one of the fastest artillery platforms around. Capable of outrunning MBTs and most light vehicles, it works best when used in hit-and-run attacks.

• Can't hit me: The Mortar Truck can fire two types of mortar shells, high-explosive and smoke. Both are inaccurate, but high-explosive shells deal splash damage while smoke rounds slow down enemies moving through the cloud of smoke. The long range makes the Mortar Truck an excellent artillery-ish support unit.

• Can't stop me: Some Mortar Truck drivers have been able to implement rounds that stun their targets on impact, allowing them to lock down enemies with a barrage of rounds.

• Ouch, they see me: Due to their lack of armour and minimum range, Mortar Trucks should avoid direct combat as much as possible and make sure to stay away from enemies.

Background

Vietcong Mortar truck photograph, taken by an Allied spy plane near Hue City

Hit-and-run is the primary tactic used by the Vietcong to weaken ARVN and Allied forces in their vicinity. Every infantry, every vehicle, every last tank (except for the Mammoth), is tailored to suit the role of hit-and-run. This unorthodox tactic has proven highly effective against mobile ARVN and Allied units, but when the Allies succeed in securing a foothold and setting up a frontal outpost, there is little the Vietcong can do.

Their infantry squadrons are easily mowed down by Heavy Defender emplacements, and their thin-skinned vehicles are ill-equipped to deal with Multigunner turrets. In the end, such attempts to weaken the Allied foothold in the area only result in countless Vietcong casualties.

With Allied outposts springing up left, right and centre, the Vietcong had to act fast before the Allies finally overran them. The primary flaw with their tactics was that their troops had to close the distance with the enemy before they could engage their targets. While this was effective against unprepared ground forces, Allied sentries are far more alert and would open fire before the Vietcong got close enough to engage. Vietcong soldiers quickly noticed this problem, and set to work in creating a weapon which could engage Allied static defences from beyond their effective range.

The solution was simple, but brilliant. Using bits of steel, lengths of copper pipe and a homemade furnace, a Vietcong soldier was able to create a improvised but effective mortar that could lob 88mm shells with some degree of accuracy to hit targets up to a kilometre away. The homemade mortars were then mounted onto rusting pickup trucks, creating a relatively fast light artillery platform. The idea quickly spread, and soon Mortar Trucks were appearing within the Vietcong ranks.

Capable of bombarding Allied emplacements and then disappearing without leaving a trace when they pushed out, the Mortar Truck soon became a sentry's worst nightmare. Overnight, the construction of Allied outposts slowed dramatically as the Allies struggled to reinforce current bases with Steelrain Artillery platforms and fast-response Hawker Spectres to deal with this potent new threat, and even then, most Mortar Trucks escaped unharmed after raids on Allied bases.

When the Vietcong were able to get their hands on a shipment of phosphorus smoke rounds (which were quite coincidentally 88mm calibre, though no one knows why), they were quick to utilise the rounds to their Mortar Trucks (since their weapons were the only ones capable of firing them), and Mortar Truck drivers soon took to producing smoke rounds of their own when the initial supply ran out.

The other disadvantage was somewhat less problematic. The rear wheels had a tendency to get stuck in the jungle mud, so the Vietcong requested help from the Soviet Union, who sent them a large number of broken Loshadka tracks, which the Vietcong bolted on to the flatbed. Now, the Mortar Truck was just as able to get in (and out of) range of the enemy as much as it is able to destroy them.

Just the Stats

Mortar Truck
Amphibious, Move Through Cover, Camouflaged
Truck
Cost	800
Build Time	10
Health	100
Speed	60
Armour Type	Light Armour

88mm Mortar
Indirect, Splash, Pinning, Inaccurate
Burst
Range	450/900
RPS	1/3
Damage
Suppression	200
DPS